diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-22 05:28:37 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-22 05:28:37 -0800 |
| commit | 39ee6f55c1d0a8f64d9a67f53fd03e2233c76101 (patch) | |
| tree | 1e87801530f39de95297e531de840f48c7cc4672 | |
| parent | 0be84f0c6223b71d4b49b46053a862a9d2bf0b06 (diff) | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-0.txt | 14809 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-0.zip | bin | 345308 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h.zip | bin | 2292862 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/67345-h.htm | 19026 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 129266 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/images/i_014fp.jpg | bin | 119879 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/images/i_062fp.jpg | bin | 126795 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/images/i_086fp.jpg | bin | 125828 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/images/i_110fp.jpg | bin | 127153 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/images/i_154fp.jpg | bin | 118157 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/images/i_182fp.jpg | bin | 118929 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/images/i_234fp.jpg | bin | 126805 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/images/i_270fp.jpg | bin | 127362 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/images/i_276fp.jpg | bin | 129023 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/images/i_288fp.jpg | bin | 112878 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/images/i_318fp.jpg | bin | 124749 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/images/i_364fp.jpg | bin | 110876 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/images/i_372fp.jpg | bin | 122141 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/images/i_444fp.jpg | bin | 112969 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67345-h/images/i_frontispiece.jpg | bin | 110581 -> 0 bytes |
23 files changed, 17 insertions, 33835 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a3959e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #67345 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67345) diff --git a/old/67345-0.txt b/old/67345-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 7c30fec..0000000 --- a/old/67345-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14809 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the -Phoenician, by Edwin Lester Arnold - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phoenician - -Author: Edwin Lester Arnold - -Illustrator: H. M. Paget - -Release Date: February 6, 2022 [eBook #67345] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Tim Lindell, SF2001, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was - produced from images made available by the HathiTrust - Digital Library.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF -PHRA THE PHOENICIAN *** - - - - - -[Illustration: I unsheathed my Saxon sword _See Page 140_ ] - - - - - The Wonderful Adventures - of - Phra the Phoenician - - - Retold by - Edwin Lester Arnold - - With an Introduction by - Sir Edwin Arnold, K. C. I. E. - - _With Fifteen Illustrations by - H. M. Paget_ - - - G. P. Putnam’s Sons - New York and London - The Knickerbocker Press - 1917 - - - - -Publisher’s Note. - - -This is a new edition of an extraordinary and original book, first -published many years ago. - - -The Knickerbocker Press, New York - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - - I unsheathed my Saxon sword _Frontispiece_ - - Slipped a length of twisted cloth over his wicked neck and - tightened it with a jerk 12 - - I gave him the spear as he lowered his head 62 - - “Die, then!” she yelled; “and may a thousand curses weigh down - your souls!” 84 - - The Princes stood hesitating as I towered before them 110 - - Stern, inflexible, I frowned upon them 154 - - “By Abraham! noble Sir, those greaves become your legs!” 182 - - “I will not trust you!” she screamed 234 - - Five hundred of us charged boldly ten thousand Frenchmen! 270 - - Flamaucœur had taken it full in his side 276 - - Looking gently in the dead girl’s face, was Blodwen--Blodwen--my - thousand-years-dead wife 288 - - She proffered it to me 318 - - He kept those yellow orbs turned upon the garden 364 - - The great bird was dropping his ivory beak into the sweet chalice 372 - - Then came the scoundrel Spaniard, his lean, hungry face all drawn - and puckered with his wicked passions 446 - - - - - The Wonderful Adventures - of - Phra the Phoenician - - - - -INTRODUCTION - -BY SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.I.E. - - -In the garden of my Japanese home in Tokyo I have just perused the last -sheets of my son’s philosophical and historical romance, “Phra the -Phœnician.” - -Amid other scenes I might be led to analyze, to criticize, perhaps a -little to argue about the singular hypothesis upon which he builds -his story. Here, with a Buddhist temple at my gate, and with Japanese -Buddhists around me, nothing seems more natural than that an author, -sufficiently gifted with imagination and study, should follow his hero -beyond the narrow limits of one little existence, down the chain of -many lives, taken up link by link, after each long interval of rest and -reward in the Paradise of Jô-Dô. I have read several chapters to my -Asiatic friends, and they say, “Oh, yes! It is _ingwa_! it is _Karma_! -That is all quite true. We, also, have lived many times, and shall live -many times more on this earth.” One of them opens the _shoji_ to let a -purple and silver butterfly escape into the sunshine. She thinks some -day it will thank her--perhaps a million years hence. - -Moreover, here is a passage which I lately noted, suggestive enough -to serve as preface, even by itself, to the present book. Commenting -on a line in my “Song Celestial,” the writer thus remarks: “The human -soul should, therefore, be regarded as already in the present life -connected at the same time with two worlds, of which, so far as it is -confined to personal unity to a body, the material only is clearly -felt. It is, therefore, as good as proved, or, to be diffuse, it could -easily be proved, or, better still, it will hereafter be proved (I know -not where or when), that the human soul, even in this life, stands in -indissoluble community with all immaterial natures of the spirit-world; -that it mutually acts upon them and receives from them impressions, of -which, however, as man it is unconscious, as long as all goes well. It -is, therefore, truly one and the same subject, which belongs at the -same time to the visible and to the invisible world, but not just the -same person, since the representations of the one world, by reason of -its different quality, are not associated with ideas of the other, and, -therefore, what I think as spirit is not remembered by me as man.” - -I, myself, have consequently taken the stupendous postulates of Phra’s -narrative with equanimity, if not acceptance, and derived from it a -pleasure and entertainment too great to express, since the critic, in -this case, is a well-pleased father. - -The author of “Phra” has claimed for Romance the ancient license -accorded to Poetry and to Painting-- - - Pictoribus atque poetis - Quidlibet audendi semper fuit æqua potestas. - -He has supposed a young Phœnician merchant, full of the love of -adventure, and endowed with a large and observant if very mystic -philosophy--such as would serve for no bad standpoint whence to witness -the rise and fall of religions and peoples. The Adventurer sets out for -the “tin islands,” or Cassiterides, at a date before the Roman conquest -of England. He dies and lives anew many times, but preserves his -personal identity under the garb of half a dozen transmigrations. And -yet, while renewing in each existence the characteristic passions and -sentiments which constitute his individuality and preserve the unity of -the narrative, the author seems to me to have adapted him to varying -times and places with a vraisemblance and absence of effort which are -extremely effective. - -A Briton in British days, the slave-consort of his Druid wife, he -passes, by daring but convenient inventiveness, into the person of a -Centurion in the household of a noble Roman lady who illustrates in her -surroundings the luxurious vices of the latter empire with some relics -still of the older Republican virtues. Hence he glides again into -oblivion, yet wakes from the mystical slumber in time to take part in -King Harold’s gallant but fatal stand against the Normans. - -He enjoys the repose, as a Saxon thane, which the policy of the -Conqueror granted to the vanquished; but after some startling -adventures in the vast oak woods of the South kingdom is rudely ousted -from his homestead by the “foreigners,” and in a neighboring monastery -sinks into secular forgetfulness once more of wife and children, lands -and life. - -On the return of consciousness he finds himself enshrined as a saint, -thanks to the strange physical phenomena of his suspended animation, -and learns from the Abbot that he has lain there in the odor of -sanctity, according to indisputable church records, during 300 years. - -He wanders off again, finding everything new and strange, and becomes -an English knight under King Edward III. He is followed to Crecy by a -damsel, who, from act to act of his long life-drama, similarly renews -an existence linked with his own, and who constantly seeks his love. -She wears the armor of a brother knight, and on the field of battle she -sacrifices her life for his. - -Yet once more, a long spell of sleep, which is not death, brings this -much-wandering Phra to the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and it is there, -after many and strange vicissitudes, he writes his experiences, and the -curtain finally falls over the last passage of this remarkable record. - -Such, briefly, is the framework of the creation which, while it has -certainly proved to me extremely seductive as a story, is full, I -think, of philosophical suggestiveness. As long as men count mournfully -the years of that human life which M. Renan has declared to be so -ridiculously short, so long their fancies will hover about the -possibility of an _elixir vitæ_, of splendidly extended spans like -those ascribed to the old patriarchs, and meditate with fascination -the mystical doctrines of Buddhism and the Vedantes. In such a spirit -the Egyptians wrapped their dead in careful fashion, after filling the -body with preservatives; and if ancient tomes have the “Seven Sleepers” -of the Koran, the Danish King who dozes under the Castle of Elsinore, -and our own undying King Arthur, do we not go to see “Rip Van Winkle” -at the play, and is not hibernation one among the problems of modern -science which whispers that we might, if we liked, indefinitely adjourn -the waste of corporeal tissue, and spread our seventy or eighty years -over ever so many centuries? - -But to be charming, an author is not obliged to be credible, or -what would become of the “Arabian Nights,” of “Gulliver,” and of -the best books in the library? Personally, I admire and I like -“Phra” enormously, and, being asked to pen these few lines by way of -introduction, I counsel everybody to read it, forgetting who it is that -respectfully offers this advice until the end of the book, when I shall -be no longer afraid if they remember. - -Tokyo, Japan: April 14, 1890. - - - - -The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phœnician - - - - -PROLOGUE - - -Well and truly an inspired mind has written, “One man in his time plays -many parts,” but surely no other man ever played so many parts in the -course of a single existence as I have. - -My own narrative seems incredible to me, yet I am myself a witness of -its truth. When I say that I have lived in this England more than one -thousand years, and have seen her bud from the callowest barbarity to -the height of a prosperity and honor with which the world is full, I -shall at once be branded as a liar. Let it pass! The accusation is -familiar to my ears. I tired of resenting it before your fathers’ -fathers were born, and the scorn of your offended sense of veracity is -less to me than the lisping of a child. - -I was, in the very distance of the beginning, a citizen of that -ancient city whose dominion once stretched from the blue waters of the -Ægean round to and beyond the broad stream of the Nile herself. Your -antiquities were then my household gods, your myths were my beliefs; -those facts and fancies on the very fringe of records about which you -marvel were the commonplace things of my commencement. Yes! and those -dusty relics of humanity that you take with unholy zeal from the -silent chambers of sarcophagi and pyramids were my boon companions, -the jolly revelers I knew long ago--the good fellows who drank and -sang with me through warm, long-forgotten nights--they were the great -princes to whom I bent an always duteous knee, and the fair damsels who -tripped our sunny streets when Sidon existed, and Tyre was not a matter -of speculation, or laughed at their own dainty reflections, in the -golden leisure of that forgotten age, where the black-legged ibis stood -sentinel among the blue lotus-flowers of the temple ponds. - -Since then, what have I not done! I have traveled to the corners of -the world, and forgotten my own land in the love of another. I have -sat here in Britain at the tables of Roman Centurions, and the last -of her Saxon Kings died in my arms. I have sworn hatred of foreign -tyrants in the wassail bowls of serfs, and bestrode Norman chargers in -tiltyards and battlefields. The kingdoms of the misty western islands -which it was my wonderful fortune to see submerged by alternate tides -of conquest, I have seen emerge triumphant, with all their conquerors -welded into one. I have seen more battles than I can easily recall, and -war in every shape; I have enjoyed all sorts of peace, from the rudest -to the most cultivated. - -I have lived, in fact, more than one thousand years in this seagirt -island of yours; and so strange and grim and varied have been my -experiences that I am tempted to set them down with a melancholy faith -in my own uniqueness. Though it is more than probable few will believe -me, yet for this I care nothing, nor do I especially seek your approval -of my labors. I, who have tasted a thousand pleasures, and am hoary -with disappointments, can afford to hold your censure as lightly as I -should your commendation. - -Here, then, are my adventures, and this is how they commenced. - - - - -CHAPTER I - - -Regarding the exact particulars of my earliest wanderings I do confess -I am somewhat uncertain. This may tempt you to reply that one whose -memory is so far-reaching and capacious as mine will presently prove -might well have stored up everything that befell him from his very -beginning. All I can say is, things are as I set them down; and those -facts which you cannot believe you must continue to doubt. The first -thirty years of my life, it will be guessed in extenuation, were full -of the frailties and shortcomings of an ordinary mortal; while those -years which followed have impressed themselves indelibly upon my mind -by right of being curious past experience and credibility. - -Looking back, then, into the very remote past is like looking upon a -country which a low sun at once illuminates and blurs. I dimly perceive -in the golden haze of the ancient time a fair city rising, tier upon -tier, out of the blue waters of the midland sea. A splendid harbor -frames itself out of the mellow uncertainty--a harbor whereof the long -white arms are stretched out to welcome the commerce of all the known -world; and under the white fronts, and at the temple steps of that -ancient city, Commerce poured into the lap of Luxury every commodity -that could gratify cupidity or minister to human pleasure. - -I was young then, no doubt, nor need I say a fool; and very likely the -sight of a thousand strange sails at my father’s door excited my daily -wonder, while the avarice which recognizes no good fortune in a present -having was excited by the silks and gems, the rich stuffs and the gums, -the quaint curiosities of human ingenuity and the frolic things of -nature, which were piled up there. More than all, my imagination must -have been fired by the sea captains’ tales of wonder or romance, and, -be the cause what it may, I made up my mind to adventure like them, and -carried out my wilful fancy. - -It is a fitting preface to all I have learned since that my first -real remembrance should be one of vanity. Yet so it was. More than a -thousand years ago--I will not lower my record by a single luster to -propitiate your utmost unbelief--I set out on a first voyage. It might -be yesterday, so well it comes before me--with my youthful pride as -the spirit of a man was born within, and I felt the strong beat of the -fresh salt waves of the open sea upon my trading vessel’s prow, and -knew, as I stood there by her steering-oar, that she was stuffed with -a hundred bales of purple cloth from my father’s vats along the shore, -and bound whither I listed. Who could have been prouder than I?--who -could have heard finer songs of freedom in the merry hum of the warm -southern air in the brown cordage overhead, or the frothy prattle of -the busy water alongside, as we danced that day out of the white arms -of Tyre, the queenly city of the ancient seas, and saw the young world -unfurl before us, full of magnificent possibilities? - -It is not my wish or intention to write of my early travels, were it -possible. On this voyage (or it may be on some others that followed, -now merged into the associations of the first) we traded east and west, -with adventure and success. The adventure was sure enough, for the -great midland sea was then the center of the world, and what between -white-winged argosies of commerce, the freebooters of a dozen nations -who patroled its bays and corners, and rows of royal galleys sailing to -the conquest of empires, it was a lively and perilous place enough. As -for the profit, it came quickly to those who opened a hundred virgin -markets in the olden days. - -We sailed into the great Egyptian river up to Heliopolis, bartering -stuffs for gold-dust and ivory; at another time we took Trinacrian -wine and oranges into Ostia--a truly magnificent port, with incredible -capacities for all the fair and pleasant things of life. Then we sailed -among the beautiful Achaian islands with corn and olives; and so, -profiting everywhere, we lived, for long, a jolly, uncertain life, full -of hardship and pleasure. - -For the most part, we hugged the coasts and avoided the open sea. -It was from the little bays, whose mouths we thus crossed, that -the pirates we greatly dreaded dropped down upon merchantmen, like -falcons from their perches. When they took a vessel that resisted, -the crew, at those rough hands, got scant mercy. I have come across a -galley drifting idly before the wind, with all her crew, a grim row -of skeletons, hanging in a row along her yard, and swinging this way -and that, and rattling drearily against the sail and each other in -melancholy unison with the listless wallow of their vessel. At another -time, a Roman trireme fell upon a big pirate of Melita and stormed and -captured her. The three hundred men on board were too ugly and wicked -to sell, so the Romans drove them overboard like sheep, and burned the -boat. When we sailed over the spot at sundown the next day she was -still spluttering and hissing, with the water lapping over the edge of -her charred side, and round among the curls of yellow smoke overhead a -thousand gulls were screeching, while a thousand more sat, gorged and -stupid, upon the dead pirates. Not for many nights did we forget the -evil picture of retribution, and how the setting sun flooded the sea -with blood, and how the dead villains, in all their horror, swirled -about in twos and threes in that crimson light, and fell into our wake, -drawn by the current, and came jostling and grinning, and nodding after -us, though we made all sail to outpace them, in a gloomy procession -for a mile or so. - -It often seemed to me in those days there were more freebooters afloat -than honest men. At times we ran from these, at times we fought them, -and again we would give a big marauder a share of cargo to save the -ship from his kindred who threatened us. It was a dangerous game, and -one never knew, on rising, where his couch would be at night, nor -whether the prosperous merchant of the morning might not be the naked -slave of the evening, storing his own wealth in a robber cave under the -lash of some savage sea tyrant. - -Yet even these cruel rovers did me a good turn. We were short of water, -and had run down along a lonely coast to a green spring we knew of to -fill water-butts and skins. When we let go in the little inlet where -the well was to be found, another vessel, and, moreover, a pirate, lay -anchored before us. However, we were consciously virtuous, and, what -was of more consideration, a larger vessel and crew than the other, -so we went ashore and made acquaintance round the fresh water with as -villainous a gang of sea-robbers as ever caused the blood of an honest -trader to run cold in his veins. The very air of their neighborhood -smelled so of treachery and cruelty we soon had but one thought--to -load up and be gone. - -But this was a somewhat longer process than we wished, as our friends -had baled the little spring dry, and we had to wait its refilling. -While we did so, I strolled over to a group of miserable slaves turned -out for an airing, and cowering on the black and shadeless rocks. There -were in that abject group captives from every country that fared upon -those seas, and some others besides. The dusky peasant of Bœotia, that -fronts the narrow straits, wrung her hands by the fair-cheeked girl -snapped up from the wide Gulf of Narbo; the dark Numidian pearl-fisher -cursed his patron god; and the tall Achaian from the many islands of -Peloponnesian waters gritted his teeth as he cowered beneath his rags -and bemoaned the fate that threw him into the talons of the sea-hawks. - -I looked upon them with small interest, for new-taken slaves were no -great sight to me, until I chanced, a little way from the others, upon -such a captive as I had rarely or never seen. She struck me at once as -being the fiercest and most beautiful creature that mortal eyes had -ever lit upon. Never was Umbrian or Iberian girl like that; never was -Cyprian Aphrodite served by a maid so pink and white. Her hair was -fiery red gold, gleaming in the sunshine like the locks of the young -goddess Medusa. Her face was of ruddy ivory, and her native comeliness -gleamed through the unwashed dust and tears of many long days and -nights. Her eyes were as blue under her shaggy wild hair as the sky -overhead, and her body--grimy under its sorrow-stains--was still as -fair as that of some dainty princess. - -Knowing the pirate captain would seek a long price for his property, I -determined to use a little persuasion with him. I went back to my men, -and sent one of them, proficient in the art of the bowstring, to look -at the slaves. Then I drew the unsuspecting scoundrel up there for a -bargain, and, well out of sight of his gang, we faced the red-haired -girl and discussed her price. The rascal’s first figure was three -hundred of your modern pounds, a sum which would then have fetched the -younger daughter of a sultan, full of virtue and accomplishments. As -this girl very likely had neither one nor the other, I did not see why -it was necessary to pay so much, and, stroking my beard, in an agreed -signal, with my hand, as my man was passing behind the old pirate, he -slipped a length of twisted cloth over his wicked neck and tightened it -with a jerk that nearly started the eyes from his head, and brought -him quickly to his knees. - -[Illustration: Slipped a length of twisted cloth over his wicked neck -and tightened it with a jerk] - -“Now, delicately-minded one,” I said, “I don’t want to fight you and -your crew for this maid here, on whom I have set my heart, but you know -we are numerous and well armed, so let us have a peaceful and honest -bargain. Give me a fairer price,” and, obedient to my signal, the band -was loosened. - -“Not a sesterce will I take off,” spluttered the wretch, “not a -drachma, not an ounce!” - -“Come! come! think again,” I said, persuasively, “and the cloth shall -help you.” Thereon, another turn was taken, and my henchman turned his -knuckles into the nape of the swarthy villain’s neck until the veins on -his forehead stood out like cordage and the blood ran from his nose and -eyes. - -In a minute the rover threw up his hands and signed he had enough, and -when he got his breath we found he had knocked off a hundred pounds. -We gave him the cord again, and brought him down, twist by twist, -to fifty. By this time he was almost at his last gasp, and I was -contented, paying the coins out on a rock and leaving them there, with -the rogue well bound. I was always honest, though, as became the times, -a trifle hard at bargains. - -Then I cut the red maid loose and took her by the elbow and led her -down to the beach, where we were secretly picked up by my fellows, and -shortly afterward we set sail again for the open main. - -Thus was acquired the figure-head of my subsequent adventures--the -Siren who lured me to that coast where I have lived a thousand years -and more. - -It was the inscrutable will of Destiny that those shining coins I -paid down on the bare, hot African rock should cost me all my wealth, -my cash and credit at many ports, and that that fair slave, who I -deemed would serve but to lighten a voyage or two, should mock my -forethought, and lead my fate into the strangest paths that ever were -trodden by mortal foot. - -In truth, that sunny virago bewitched me. She combined such ferocity -with her grace, and was so pathetic in her reckless grief at times, -that I, the immovable, was moved, and softened the rigor of her -mischance as time went on so much as might be. At once, on this, like -some caged wild creature, which forgives to one master alone the -sorrows of captivity, she softened to me; and before many days were -over she had bathed, and, discarding her rags for a length or two of -cloth, had tied up her hair with a strand of ribbon she found, and, -looking down at her reflection in a vessel of water (her only mirror, -for we carried women but seldom), she smiled for the first time. - -After this, progress was rapid, and, though at first we could only -with difficulty make ourselves understood, yet she soon picked up -something of the Southern tongue from me, while I very fairly acquired -the British language of this comely tutoress. Of her I learned she was -of that latter country, where her father was a chief; how their coast -village had been surprised by a Southern rover’s foray; she knew not -how many of the people slain, or made captive, and herself carried -off. Afterward she had fallen into the hands of other pirates by an -act of sea barter, and they were taking her to Alexandria, hoping, as -I guessed, in that luxurious city to obtain a higher price than in the -ordinary markets of Gaul or Italy. - -What I heard of Britain from these warm lips greatly fired my -curiosity, and, after touching at several ports and finding trade but -dull, chance clenched my resolution. - -We had sailed northward with a cargo of dates, and on the sixth day -ran in under the high promontory of Massilia, which you moderns call -Marseilles. Here I rid myself of my fruit at a very good profit, and, -after talking to a brother merchant I met by chance upon the quay, -fully determined to load up with oil, wine, stuffs, and such other -things as he recommended, and sail at once for Britain. - -Little did I think how momentous this hasty decision would be! It was -brought about partly as I have explained, and partly by the interest -which just then that country was attracting. All the weapons and -things of Britain were then in good demand: no tin and gold, the -smiths roundly swore, were like the British; no furs in winter, the -Roman ladies vowed, were so warm as those; while no patrician from -Tarentum to the Tiber held his house well furnished unless a red-haired -slave-girl or two from that remote place idled, sad and listlessly, in -his painted porticoes. - -In these slaves there was a brisk and increasing traffic. I went into -the market that ran just along the inner harbor one day, and saw there -an ample supply of such curious goods suitable for every need. - -All down the middle of a wide street rough booths of sailcloth had been -run up, and about and before these crouched slaves of every age and -condition. There were old men and young men--fierce and wild-looking -barbarians, in all truth--some with the raw, red scars on chest and -limbs they had taken a few weeks before in a last stand for liberty, -and some groaning in the sickness that attended the slaver’s lash and -their condition. - -There were lank-haired girls, submitting with sullen hate to the -appraising fingers of purchasers laughing and chatting in Latin or -Gaulish, as they dealt with them no more gently than a buyer deals with -sheep when mutton is cheap. Mothers again--sick and travel-stained -themselves--were soothing the unkempt little ones who cowered behind -them and shrank from every Roman footstep as the quails shrink from -a kestrel’s shadow. Some of these children were very flowers of -comeliness, though trodden into the mire of misfortune. I bought a -little girl to attend upon her upon my ship, who, though she wore at -the time but one sorry cloth, and was streaked with dirt and dust, -had eyes clear as the southern sky overhead, and hair that glistened -in uncared-for brightness upon her shoulders like a tissue of golden -threads. Her mother was loth to part with her, and fought like a tiger -when we separated them. It was only after the dealer’s lash had cut a -dozen red furrows into her back, and a bystander had beat her on the -head with the flat of his sword, that she gave in and swooned, and I -led the weeping little one away. - -So we loaded up again with Easter nothings, such as the barbarians -might be supposed to like, and in a few weeks started once more. We -sailed down the green coast of Hispania, through the narrow waters -of Herculis Fretum, and then, leaving the undulating hills of that -pleasant strait behind, turned northward through the long waves of the -black outer sea. - -For many days we rolled up a sullen and dangerous coast, but one -morning our pilot called me from my breakfast of fruit and millet -cakes, and, pointing over the green expanse, told me yonder white surf -on the right was breaking on the steep rocks of Armorica, while the -misty British shore lay ahead. - -So I called out Blodwen the slave, and told her to snuff the wind -and find what it had to say. She knew only too well, and was vastly -delighted, wistfully scanning the long gray horizon ahead, and being -beside herself with eagerness. - -We steered westwardly toward the outer islands, called Cassiterides, -where most of our people collected and bought their tin, but we were -fated not to reach them. On the morrow so fierce a gale sprang out of -the deep we could by no means stand against it, but turned and fled -through the storm, and over such a terrible expanse of mighty billows -as I never saw the like of. - -To my surprise, my girl thought naught of the wind and sea, but came -constantly to the groaning bulwarks, where the angry green water -swirled and gleamed like a caldron, and, holding on by a shroud, looked -with longing but familiar eyes at the rugged shore we were running -down. At one time I saw her smile to recognize, close in shore, and -plunging heavily toward some unknown haven, half a dozen of her own -native fisher-boats. Later on, Blodwen brightened up even more as the -savage cliffs of the west gave way to rolling downs of grass, and when -these, as we fled with the sea-spume, grew lower, and were here and -there clothed with woods, and little specks among them of cornfields, -she shouted with joy, and, leaping down from the tall prow, where she -had stood, indifferent to the angry thunder of the bursting surges upon -our counter, and the sting and rattle of the white spray that flew up -to the swinging yard every time we dropped into the bosom of the angry -sea, she said exultingly, with her face red and gleaming in a salt wet -glaze, she could guide us to a harbor if we would. - -I was by this time a little sick at heart for the safety of all my -precious things in bales and boxes below, and something like the long -invoice of them I knew so well rose in my throat every time we sank -with a horrible sinking into one of those shadowy valleys between the -hissing crests--so I nodded. Blodwen at once made the helmsman draw -nearer the coast. By the time we had approached the shore within a -mile or so the white squalls were following each other fast, while -heavy columns of western rain were careering along the green sea in -many tall, spectral forms. But nothing cared that purchase of mine. -She had gone to the tiller, and, like some wild goddess of the foam, -stood there, her long hair flying on the wet sea wind, and her fierce, -bright eyes aglow with pleasure and excitement as she scanned the white -ramparts of the coast down which we were hurtling. She was oblivious -of the swarthy seamen, who eyed her with wonder and awe; oblivious of -the white bed of froth which boiled and flashed all down the rim of our -dipping gunwale; and equally indifferent to the heavy rain that smoked -upon our decks, and made our straining sails as hard and stiff as wood. - -Just as the great shore began to loom over us, and I sorely doubted -my wisdom in sailing these unknown waters with such a pilot, she gave -a scream of pleasure--an exulting, triumphant note that roused a -sympathetic chorus in the piping wild fowl overhead--and, following the -point of her finger, we saw the solid rampart of cliffs had divided, -and a little estuary was opening before us. - -Round went our felucca to the imperious gesture of that girl, and, -gripping the throbbing tiller over the hands of the strong steersman, -aglow with excitement, yet noting everything, while the swart brown -sailors shouted at the humming cordage, she took us down through an -angry caldron of sea and over a foaming bar (where I cursed, in my -haste, every ounce I had spent upon her) into the quieter waters -beyond; and when, a few minutes later--reeking with salt spray, but -safe and sound--we slowly rolled in with the making tide to a secure, -landlocked haven, that brave girl left the rudder, and, going forward, -gave one look at the opening valley, which I afterward knew was her -strangely recovered home, and then her fair head fell upon her arms, -and, leaning against the mast, under the tent of her red hair, she -burst into a passionate storm of tears. - -She soon recovered, and stealing a glance at me as she wiped her lids -with the back of her hands, to note if I were angry, her feminine -perception found my eyes gave the lie to the frown upon my forehead, -so she put on some extra importance (as though the air of the place -suited her dignity), and resumed command of the ship. - -Well! There is much to tell, so it must be told briefly. We sailed -into a fair green estuary, with woods on either hand dipping into the -water and nodding their own glistening reflections, until we turned -a bend and came upon a British village down by the edge. There were, -perhaps, two hundred huts scattered round the slope of a grassy mound, -upon top of which was a stockade of logs and mud walls encompassing a -few better-built houses. Canoes and bigger boats were drawn up on the -beach, and naked children and dogs were at play along the margin; while -women and some few men were grinding corn and fashioning boat-gear. - -As our sails came round the headland, with one single accord the -population took to flight, flung down their meal-bags and tools, -tumbling over each other in their haste, and, yelling and scrambling, -they streamed away to the hill. - -This amused Blodwen greatly, and she let them run until the fat -old women of the crowd had sorted themselves out into a panting -rear guard halfway up, and the long-legged youngsters were already -scrambling over the barrier; then, with her hand over her mouth, she -exerted her powerful voice in a long, wailing signal cry. The effect -was instantaneous. The crowd stopped, hesitated, and finally came -scrambling down again to the beach; and, after a little parley, being -assured of their good-will, and greatly urged by Blodwen, we landed, -and were soon overwhelmed in a throng of wondering, jostling, excited -British. - -But it was not me to whom they thronged, but rather her; and such -wonder and surprise, broadening slowly in joy as she, with her nimble -woman’s tongue, answered their countless questions, I never witnessed. -At last they set up yelling and shouting, and, seizing her, dragged and -carried her in a tumultuous procession up the zigzag into the fortalice. - -Blodwen had come home--that was all; and from a slave girl had -blossomed into a Princess! - -Never before was there such a yelling and chattering and blowing of -horns and beating of shields. While messengers rushed off down the -woodland paths to rouse the country, the villagers crowded round me and -my men, and, having by the advice of one of their elders, relinquished -their first intention of cutting all our throats in the excess of their -pleasure, treated us very handsomely, feeding and feasting the crew to -the utmost of their capacity. - -I, as you will suppose, was ill at ease for my fair barbarian who had -thus turned the tables upon me, and in whose power it was impossible -not to recognize that we now lay. How would the slave Princess treat -her captive master? I was not long in doubt. Her messenger presently -touched me on the shoulder as I sat, a little rueful, on a stone apart -from my rollicking men, and led me through that prehistoric village -street up the gentle slope and between the oak-log barrier into the -long, low dwelling that was at once the palace and the citadel of the -place. - -Entering, I found myself in a very spacious hall, effective in its -gloomy dignity. All round the three straight sides the massive walls -were hidden in drapery of the skins and furs of bear, wolf, and deer, -and over these were hung in rude profusion light round shields embossed -with shining metal knobs, javelins, and boar spears, with a hundred -other implements of war or woodcraft. Below them stood along the -walls rough settles, and benches with rougher tables, enough to seat, -perhaps, a hundred men. At the crescent-shaped end of the hall, facing -the entrance door, was a daïs--a raised platform of solid logs closely -placed together and covered with skins--upon which a massive and ample -chair stood, also of oak, and wonderfully fashioned and carved by the -patient labor of many hands. - -Nigh it were a group of women, and one or two white-robed Druids, as -these people call their priests. But chief among them was she who -stepped forth to meet me, clad (for her first idea had been to change -her dress) in fine linen and fair furs--how, I scarcely know, save -that they suited her marvelously. Fine chains of hammered gold were -about her neck, a shining gorget belt set with a great boss of native -pearls upon her middle, and her two bare white arms gleamed like ivory -under their load of bracelets of yellow metal and prismatic pearl shell -that clanked harmoniously to her every movement. But the air she put -on along with these fine things was equally becoming, and she took me -by the hand with an affectionate condescension, while, turning to her -people, she briefly harangued them, running glibly over my virtues, -and bestowing praise upon the way in which I had “rescued and restored -her to her kindred,” until, so gracefully did she pervert the truth, I -felt a blush of unwonted virtue under my callous skin; and when they -acclaimed me friend and ally, I stood an inch taller among them to find -myself of such unexpected worth--one tall Druid alone scowling on me -evilly. - -For long that pleasant village by the shallow waters remembered the -coming of Blodwen to her own. Her kinsmen had all been slain in the -raid of the sea-rovers which brought about her captivity, and thus--the -succession to headship and rule being very strictly observed among the -Britons--she was elected, after an absence of six months, to the oak -throne and the headship of the clan with an almost unbroken accord. -But that priest, Dhuwallon, her cousin, and next below her in birth, -scowled again to see her seated there, and hated me, I saw, as the -unconscious thwarter of his ambition. - -Those were fine times, and the Princess bought my cargo of wine and -oil and Southern things, distributing it to all that came to pay her -homage, so that for days we were drunk and jolly. Fires gleamed on -twenty hilltops round about, and the little becks ran red down to the -river with the blood of sheep and bullocks slaughtered in sacrifice; -and the foot-tracks in the woods were stamped into highways; and the -fords ran muddy to the ocean; and the grass was worn away; and birds -and beasts fled to quieter thickets; and fishes swam out to the blue -sea; and everything was eaten up, far and wide; that time my fair slave -girl first put her foot upon the daïs and prayed to the manes of her -ancestors among the oak trees. - - - - -CHAPTER II - - -Nothing whatever have I to say against Blodwen, the beautiful British -Princess, and many months we spent there happily in her town: and she -bore a son, for whom the black priest, at the accursed inspiration of -his own jealous heart and thwarted hopes, read out an evil destiny, to -her great sorrow. - -Going down one morning to the shore, somewhat sad and sorry, for the -inevitable time of parting was near, my ship lying ready loaded by the -beach, I rubbed my eyes again and again to see that the felucca had -gone from the little inlet where she had lain so long. Nor was comfort -at hand when, rushing to a promontory commanding a better view, to my -horror there shone the golden speck of her sail in the morning sunlight -on the blue rim of the most distant sea. - -I have often thought, since, the crafty Princess had a hand in this -desertion. She was so ready with her condolence, so persuasive that -I should “bide the winter and leave her in the spring” (the which -was said with her most detaining smile), that I could not think the -catastrophe took my gentle savage much by surprise. - -I yielded, and the long black winter was worn through among the -British, until, when the yellow light came back again, I had married -Blodwen before all the tribe and was rich by her constant favor, nor, -need it be said, more loth than ever to leave her. In truth, she was -a good Princess, but very variable. Blodwen the chieftainess urging -her clansmen to a tribal fight, red hot with the strong drink of war, -or reeking with the fumes and cruelty of a bloody sacrifice to Baal, -was one thing; and, on the other hand, Blodwen tending with the rude -skill of the day her kinsmen’s wounds, Blodwen the daughter, weeping -gracious, silent tears in the hall of her fathers as the minstrels -chanted their praises, or humming a ditty to the listening, blue-eyed -little one upon her knee--his cheek to hers--was all another sight; and -I loved her better than I have ever loved any of those other women who -have loved me since. - -But sterner things were coming my erratic way. The proud Roman Eagle, -having in these years long tyrannized over fertile Gaul, must needs -swoop down on our brothers along that rocky coast of Armorica that -faces our white shore, carrying death and destruction among our kinsmen -as the peregrines in the cliffs harry the frightened seamews. - -Forthwith the narrow waters were black with our hide-sailed boats -rushing to succor. But it was useless. Who could stand against the -Roman? Our men came back presently--few, wounded, and crestfallen, -with long tales of the foeman’s deadly might by sea and shore. - -Then, a little later on, we had to fight for ourselves, through -scantily we had expected it. Early one autumn a friendly Veneti came -over from Gaul and warned the Southern Princes the stern Roman Consul -Cæsar was collecting boats and men to invade us. At once on this news -were we all torn by diverse counsels and jealousies, and Blodwen hung -in my arms for a tearful space, and then sent me eastward with a few -men--all she could spare from watching her own dangerous neighbors--to -oppose the Roman landing; while the priest Dhuwallon, though exempt by -his order from military service, followed, sullen, behind my warlike -clansmen. - -We joined other bodies of British, until by the beginning of the -harvest month we had encamped along the Kentish downs in very good -force, though disunited. Three days later, at dawn, came in a runner -who said that Cæsar was landing to the westward--how I wished that -traitor lie would stick in his false throat and choke him!--and -thither, bitterly against my advice, went nearly all our men. - -Even now it irks me to tell this story. While the next young morning -was still but a yellow streak upon the sea, our keen watchers saw -sails coming from the pale Gaulish coast, and by the time the primrose -portals of the day were fully open, the water was covered with them -from one hand to the other. - -In vain our recalling signal-fires smoked. A thousand scythed chariots -and four thousand men were away, and by noon the great Consul’s -foremost galley took the British ground where the beach shelved up to -the marshy flats, which again rose, through coppices and dingles, to -our camp on the overhanging hills. Another and another followed, all -thronged with tawny stalwart men in brass and leather. What could -we do against this mighty fleet that came headlong upon us, rank -behind rank, the white water flashing in tangled ribbons from their -innumerable prows, and the dreaded symbols of Roman power gleaming from -every high-built stern? - -We rushed down, disorderly, to meet them, the Druids urging us on with -song and sacrifice, and waded into the water to our waists, for we -were as courageous as we were undisciplined, and they hesitated for -some seconds to leave their lurching boats. I remember at this moment, -when the fate of a kingdom hung in the balance, down there jumped a -Centurion, and waving a golden eagle over his head, drew his short -sword, and calling out that “he at least would do his duty to the -Republic,” made straight for me. - -Brave youth! As he rushed impetuous through the water my ready javelin -took him true under the gilded plate that hung upon his chest, and the -next wave rolled in to my feet a lifeless body lapped in a shroud of -crimson foam. - -But now the legionaries were springing out far and near, and fighting -hand to hand with the skin-clad British, who gave way before them -slowly and stubbornly. Many were they who died, and the floating -corpses jostled and rolled about among us as we plunged and fought and -screamed in the shallow tide, and beat on the swarming, impervious -golden shields of the invaders. - -Back to the beach they drove us, hand to hand and foot to foot, and -then, with a long shout of triumph that startled the seafowl on the -distant cliffs, they pushed us back over the shingles ever farther from -the sea, that idly sported with our dead--back, in spite of all we -could do, to the marshland. - -There they formed, after a breathing space, in the long, stern line -that had overwhelmed a hundred nations, and charged us like a living -rampart of steel. And as the angry waves rush upon the immovable -rocks, so rushed we upon them. For a moment or two the sun shone upon a -wild uproar, the fierce contention of two peoples breast to breast, a -glitter of caps and javelins, splintered spears and riven shields, all -flashing in the wild dust of war that the Roman Eagle loved so well. -And then the Britons parted into a thousand fragments and reeled back, -and were trampled under foot, and broke and fled! - -Britain was lost! - -Soon after this all the coppices and pathways were thronged with our -flying footmen. Yet Dhuwallon and I, being mounted, had lingered behind -the rest, galloping hither and thither over the green levels, trying to -get some few British to stand again; but presently it was time to be -gone. The Romans, in full possession of the beach, had found a channel, -and drawn some boats up to the shelving shore. They had dropped the -hinged bulwarks, and, with the help of a plank or two, had already -got out some of their twenty or thirty chargers. On to these half a -dozen eager young patricians had vaulted, and, I and Dhuwallon being -conspicuous figures, they came galloping down at us. We, on our lighter -steeds, knowing every path and gully in the marshlands, should have got -away from them like starlings from a prowling sheepdog; but treachery -was in the black heart of that high priest at my elbow, and a ravening -hatred which knew neither time nor circumstance. - -It was just at the scraggy foothills, and the shouting Centurions were -close behind us; the last of our fighters had dashed into the shelter -ahead, and I was galloping down a grassy hollow, when the coward -shearer of mistletoe came up alongside. I looked not at him, but over -my other shoulder at the red plumes of the pursuers dancing on the -sky-line. All in an instant something sped by me, and, shrieking in -pain, my horse plunged forward, missed his footing, and rolled over -into the long autumn grass, with the scoundrel priest’s last javelin -quivering in his throat. I heard that villain laugh as he turned for a -moment to look back, and then he vanished into the screen of leaves. - -Amazed and dizzy, I staggered to my feet, pushed back the long hair and -the warm running blood from my eyes, and, grasping my sword, waited the -onset of the Romans. They rode over me as though I were a shock of ripe -barley in August, and one of them, springing down, put his foot to my -throat and made to kill me. - -“No, no, Fabrius!” said another Centurion from the back of a white -steed. “Don’t kill him! He will be more useful alive.” - -“You were always tender-hearted, Sempronius Faunus,” grumbled the first -one, reluctantly taking his heel from me and giving permission to rise -with a kick in the side. “What are you going to do with him? Make him -native Prefect of these marshes, eh?” - -“Or, perhaps,” put in another gilded youth, whose sword itched to think -it was as yet as innocent of blood as when it came from its Tuscany -smithy--“perhaps Sempronius is going to have a private procession of -his own when he gets back to the Tiber, and wishes early to collect -prisoners for his chariot-tail.” - -Disregarding their banter, the Centurion Sempronius, who was a comely -young fellow, and seemed just then extremely admirable in person and -principles to me, mounted again, and, pointing with his short sword to -the shore, bid me march, speaking the Gallic tongue, and in a manner -there was no gainsaying. - -So I was a prisoner to the Romans, and they bound me, and left me -lying for ten hours under the side of one of their stranded ships, -down by the melancholy afternoon sea, still playing with its dead -men, and rolling and jostling together in its long green fingers the -raven-haired Etrurian and the pale, white-faced Celt. Then, when it was -evening, they picked me up, and a low plebeian, in leather and brass, -struck me in the face when, husky and spent with fighting, I asked for -a cup of water. They took me away through their camp, and a mile down -the dingles, where the Roman legionaries were digging fosses and making -their camp in the ruddy flicker of watch-fires, under the British oaks, -to a rising knoll. - -Here the main body of the invaders were lying in a great crescent -toward the inland, and crowning the hillock was a scarp, where a rough -pavilion of skins, and sails from the vessels on the beach, had been -erected. - -As we approached this all the noise and laughter died out of my guard, -who now moved in perfect silence. A bowshot away we halted, and -presently Sempronius was seen backing out of the tent with an air of -the greatest diffidence. Seizing me by my manacled arms, he led me to -it. At the very threshold he whispered in my ear: - -“Briton, if you value that tawny skin of yours I saved this morning, -speak true and straight to him who sits within,” and without another -word he thrust me into the rough pavilion. At a little table, dark -with usage, and scarred with campaigning, a man was sitting, an ample -toga partly hiding the close-fitting leather vest he wore beneath it. -His long and nervous fingers were urging over the tablets before him -a stylus with a speed few in those days commanded, while a little -earthenware lamp, with a flickering wick burning in the turned-up -spout, cast a wavering light upon his thin, sharp-cut features--the -imperious mouth that was shut so tight, and the strong lines of his -dark, commanding face. - -He went on writing as I entered, without looking up; and my gaze -wandered round the poor walls of his tent, his piled-up arms in one -place, his truckle bed in another, there a heap of choice British -spoil, flags, and symbols, and weapons, and there a foreign case, half -opened, stocked with bags of coins and vellum rolls. All was martial -confusion in the black and yellow light of that strange little chamber, -and as I turned back to him I felt a shock run through me to find the -blackest and most piercing pair of eyes that ever shone from a mortal -head fixed upon my face. - -He rose, and, with the lamp in his hand, surveyed me from top to toe. - -“Of the Veneti?” he said, in allusion to my dark un-British hair, and I -answered “No.” - -“What, then?” - -I told him I was a knight just now in the service of the British King. - -“How many of your men opposed us to-day?” was the next question. - -“A third as many as you brought with you where you were not invited.” - -“And how many are there in arms behind the downs and in this southern -country?” - -“How many pebbles are there on yonder beach? How many ears of corn did -we pull last harvest?” I answered, for I thought I should die in the -morning, and this made me brave and surly. - -He frowned very blackly at my defiance, but curbing, I could see, his -wrath, he put the lamp on the table, and, after a minute of communing -with himself, he said, in a voice over which policy threw a thin veil -of amiability: - -“Perhaps, as a British knight and a good soldier, I have no doubt you -could speak better with your hands untied?” - -I thanked him, replying that it was so; and he came up, freeing, with -a beautiful little golden stiletto he wore in his girdle, my wrists. -This kindly, slight act of soldierly trust obliged me to the Roman -general, and I answered his quick, incisive questions in the Gaulish -tongue as far as honestly might be. He got little about our forces, -finding his prisoner more effusive in this quarter than communicative. -Once or twice, when my answers verged on the scornful, I saw the -imperious temper and haughty nature at strife with his will in that -stern, masterful face and those keen black eyes. - -But when we spoke of the British people I could satisfy his curious and -many questions about them more frankly. Every now and then, as some -answer interested him, he would take a quick glance at me, as though -to read in my face whether it were the truth or not, and, stopping by -his little table, he would jot down a passage on the wax, scan it over, -and inquire of something else. Our life and living, wars, religions, -friendships, all seemed interesting to this acute gentleman so plainly -clad, and it was only when we had been an hour together, and after he -had clearly got from me all he wished, that he called the guard and -dismissed me, bidding Sempronius, in Latin, which the General thought I -knew not, to give me food and drink, but keep me fast for the present. - -Sempronius showed the utmost deference to the little man in the toga -and leather jerkin, listening with bent head, and backing from his -presence; while I but roughly gave him thanks for my free hands, and -stalked out after my jailer with small ceremony. - -Once in the starlight, and out of earshot, the Centurion said to me, -with a frown: - -“Briton, I feel somewhat responsible for you, and I beg, the next -time you leave that presence, not to carry your head so high or turn -that wolf-skinned back of yours on him so readily, or I am confident -I shall have orders to teach you manners. Did you cast yourself down -when you entered?” - -“Not I.” - -“Jove! And did not kneel while you spoke to him?” - -“Not once,” I said. - -“Now, by the Sacred Flame! do you mean to say you stood the whole time -as I found you, towering in your ragged skins, your bare, braceleted -arms upon your chest, and giving Cæsar back stare for stare in his very -tent?” - -“Who?” - -“Cæsar himself. Why, who else? Cæsar, whose word is life and death from -here to the Apennines; who is going to lick up this country of yours as -a hungry beggar licks out a porringer. Surely you knew that he to whom -you spoke so freely was our master, the great Prætor himself!” - -Here was an oversight. I might have guessed so much; but, full of -other things, I had never supposed the little man was anything but a -Roman general sent out to harry and pursue us. Strange ideas rose at -once, and while the Tyrian in me was awe-struck by the closeness of my -approach to a famous and dreaded person, the Briton moaned at a golden -opportunity lost to unravel, by one bold stroke--a stroke of poniard, -of burning brand from the fire, of anything--the net that was closing -over this unfortunate island. - -So strong rose these latter regrets at having had Cæsar, the unwelcome, -the relentless, within arms’ length, and having let him go forth with -his indomitable blood still flowing in his lordly veins, that I stopped -short, clapped my hand upon my swordless scabbard, and made a hasty -stride back to the tent. - -At once the ready Sempronius was on me like a wild cat, and with two -strong legionaries bore me to the ground and tied me hand and foot. -They carried me down to the camp, and there pitched me under a rock, -to reflect until dawn on the things of a disastrous day. - -But by earliest twilight the bird had flown! At midnight, when the -tired soldiers slept, I chafed my hempen bonds against a rugged angle -of earth-embedded stone, and in four hours was free, rising silently -among the snoring warriors and passing into the forest as noiselessly -as one of those weird black shadows that the last flashes of their -expiring camp-fires made at play on the background of the woods. - -I stole past their outmost pickets while the first flush of day was in -the east, and, then, in the open, turned me to my own people and ran, -like a hind to her little one, over the dewy grasslands and through -the spangled thickets, scaring the conies at their earliest meal, and -frightening the merles and mavis ere they had done a bar of their matin -songs, throwing myself down in the tents of my kinsmen just as the -round sun shone through the close-packed oak trunks. - -But, curse the caitiff fools who welcomed me there! It would have been -far better had I abided Cæsar’s anger, or trusted to that martial boy, -Sempronius Faunus! - -The British churls, angry and sullen at their defeat of yesterday, -were looking for a victim to bear the burden of their wrongs. Now the -priest Dhuwallon, who had turned livid with fear and anger when I had -come back unharmed from the hands of the enemy, with a ready wit which -was surely lent him from hell, saw he might propitiate the Britons -and gratify his own ends by one more coward trick to be played at my -expense. I do not deny his readiness, or grudge him aught, yet I hate -him, even now, from the bottom of my heart, with all that fierce old -anger which then would have filled me with delight and pride if I -could have had his anointed blood smoking in the runnels of my sword. - -Well. It was his turn again. He procured false witnesses--not a -difficult thing for a high priest in that discontented camp--and by -midday I was bound once more, and before the priests and chiefs as a -traitor and Roman spy. - -What good was it for me to stand up and tell the truth to that gloomy -circle while the angry crowd outside hungered for a propitiary -sacrifice? In vain I lied with all the resources I could muster, and in -vain, when this was fruitless, denounced that pale villain, my accuser. -When I came to tell of his treachery in killing my horse the day -before, and leaving me to be slain by the enemy, I saw I was but adding -slander, in the judges’ eyes, to my other crimes. When I declared I was -no Roman, but a Briton--an aged fool, his long, white locks fileted -with oak leaves, rose silently and held a polished brass mirror before -me, and by every deity in the Northern skies I must own my black hair -and dusky face were far more Roman than native. - -So they found me guilty, and sentenced me to be offered up to Baal next -morning, before the army, as a detected spy. - -When that silvery dawn came it brought no relief or respite, for the -laws of the Druids, which enjoined slow and deliberate judgments, -forbade the altering of a sentence once pronounced. It was as fine -a day as could be wished for their infernal ceremonial, with the -mellow autumn mist lying wide and flat along the endless vistas of -oak and hazel that then hid almost all the valleys, and over the mist -the golden rays of the sun spread far and near, kissing with crimson -radiance the green knobs of upland that shone above that pearly ocean, -and shining on the bare summits of the lonely grass hills around us, -and gleaming in rosy brilliancy upon the sea that flashed and sparkled -in gray and gold between the downs to the southward. Here in this fairy -realm, while the thickets were still beaded with the million jewels of -the morning, and the earth breathed of repose and peace, they carried -out that detestable orgie of which I was the center. - -My memory is a little hazy. Perhaps, at the time, I was thinking of -other things--a red-haired girl, for instance, playing with her little -ones outside her porch in a distant glen; my shekels of brass and tin -and silver; my kine, my dogs, and my horses, mayhap; such things will -be--and thus I know little of how it came. But presently I was on the -fatal spot. - -A wide circle of green grass, kept short and close, in the heart of a -dense thicket of oak. Round this circle a ring of great stone columns, -crowned by mighty slabs of the same kind, and hung, to-day, with all -the skins and robes and weapons of the assembled tribesmen; so that the -mighty enclosure was a rude amphitheater, walled by the wealth of the -spectators, and in the center an oblong rock, some eight feet long, -with a gutter down it for the blood to run into a pit at its feet. This -was the fatal slip from which the Druids launched that poor vessel, the -soul, upon the endless ocean of eternity. - -All round the great circle, when its presence and significance suddenly -burst upon me, were the British, to the number of many hundreds, -squatting on the ground in the front rows, or standing behind against -the gray pillars, an uncouth ring of motley barbarians, shaggy with -wolf and bear skins, gleaming in brass and golden links that glistened -in the morning light against the naked limbs and shoulders, traced and -pictured in blue woad with a hundred designs of war and woodcraft. - -They forced me and two other miserable wretches to the altar, and then, -while our guards stood by us, and the mounted men clustered among the -monoliths behind, a deadly silence fell upon the assembly. It was so -still we could hear the beat of our own hearts, and so intolerable that -one of us three fell forward in a swoon ere it had lasted many minutes. -The din of battle was like the murmur of a pleasant brook before that -expectant hush; and when the white procession of executioners came -chanting up the farther avenue of stones, into the arena, I breathed -again, as though it was a nuptial procession, and they were bringing me -a bride less grim than the golden adze which shone at their head. - -They sang round the circle their mystic song, and then halted before -the rude stone altar. Mixing up religion and justice, as was their -wont, the chief Druid recited the crimes of the two culprits beside me, -with their punishment, and immediately the first one, tightly bound, -was pitched upon the stone altar; and while the Druids chanted their -hymns to Baal the assembled multitude joined in, and, clanging their -shields in an infernal tumult which effectually drowned his yells for -mercy, the sacred adze fell, and first his head, and then his body, -rolled into the hollow, while twenty little streams of crimson blood -trickled down the sides of the altar stone. The next one was treated in -the same way, and tumbled off into the hollow below, and I was hoisted -up to that reeking slab. - -While they arranged me, that black priest stole up and hissed in my -ear: “Is it of Blodwen you think when you shut your eyes? Take this, -then, for your final comfort,” he said, with a malicious leer--“I, even -I, the despised and thwarted, will see to Blodwen, and answer for her -happiness. Ah!--you writhe--I thought that would interest you. Let your -last thought, accursed stranger, be I and she: let your last conception -be my near revenge! Villain! I spit upon and deride you!” And he was -as good as his word, glowering down upon me, helpless, with insatiate -rage and hatred in his eyes, and then, stepping back, signed to the -executioner. - -I heard the wild hymn to their savage gods go ringing up again through -the green leaves of the oaks; I heard the clatter of the weapons upon -the round, brass-bound targets, the voices of the priests, and the cry -of a startled kite circling in the pleasant autumn mist overhead. I saw -the great crescent of the sacred golden adze swing into the sky, and -then, while it was just checking to the fall which should extinguish -me, there came a hush upon the people, followed by a wild shout of fear -and anger, and I turned my head half over as I lay, bound, upon the -stone. - -I saw the British multitude seethe in confusion, and then burst and -fly, like the foam strands before the wind, as, out of the green -thickets, at the run, their cold, brave faces all emotionless over -their long brass shields, came rank upon rank of Roman legionaries. -I saw Sempronius, on his white charger, at their head, glittering -in brass and scarlet, and, finding my tongue in my extremity, -“Sempronius!” I yelled, “Sempronius to the rescue!” But too late! - -With a wavering, aimless fall, the adze descended between my neck and -my shoulder, the black curtain of dissolution fell over the painted -picture of the world, there was a noise of a thousand rivers tumbling -into a bottomless cavern, and I expired. - - - - -CHAPTER III - - -I do confess I can offer no justification for the continuation of my -story. Once so fairly sped as I was on that long-distant day, thus -recalled in such detail as I can remember, the natural and regular -thing would be that there should be an end of me, with, perhaps, -a page or two added by some kindly scribe to recall my too quickly -smothered virtues. Nevertheless, I write again, not a whit the worse -for a mischance which would have silenced many a man, and in a mood to -tell you of things wonderful enough to strain the sides of your shallow -modern skepticism, as new wine stretches a goat-skin bottle. - -All the period between my death on the Druid altar and my reawakening -was a void, whereof I can say but little. The only facts pointing to a -faint clue to the wonderful lapse of life are the brief phenomena of my -reawakening, which came to hand in sequence as they are here set down. - -My first consciousness was little better than a realization of the -fact that practically I was extinct. To this pointless knowledge there -came a dawning struggle with the powers of mortality, until very -slowly, inch by inch, the negativeness was driven back, and the spark -of life began to brighten within me. To this moment I cannot say how -long the process took. It may have been days, or weeks, or months, or -ages, as likely as not; but when the vital flame was kindled the life -and self-possession spread more quickly, until at last, with little -fluttering breaths like a new-born baby’s, and a tingling trickle of -warm blood down my shrunken veins, in one strange minute, four hundred -years after the close of my last spell of living (as I afterward -learned), I feebly opened my eyes, and recognized with dull contentment -that I was alive again. - -But, oh! the sorrows attendant on it! Every bone and muscle in me ached -to that awakening, and my very fiber shook to the stress of the making -tide of vitality. You who have lain upon an arm for a sleepy hour or -two, and suffered as a result ingenious torments from the new-moving -blood, think of the like sorrows of four hundred years’ stagnation! It -was scarcely to be borne, and yet, like many other things of which -the like might be said, I bore it in bitterness of spirit, until life -had trickled into all the unfamiliar pathways of my clay, and then at -length the pain decreased, and I could think and move. - -In that strange and lonely hour of temporal resurrection almost -complete darkness surrounded me, and my mind (with one certain -consciousness that I had been very long where I lay) was a chaos of -speculation and fancy and long-forgotten scenes. But as my faculties -came more completely under control, and my eyes accepted the dim -twilight as sufficient and convenient to them, they made out overhead -a dull, massy roof of rock, rough with the strong masonry of mother -earth, and descending in rugged sides to an uneven floor. In fact, -there could be no doubt I was underground, but how far down, and where, -and why, could not be said. All around me were cavernous hollows and -midnight shadows, round which the weird gleam of rude pillars and -irregular walls made a heavy, mysterious coast to a black, uncertain -sea. I sat up and rubbed my eyes--and as I did so I felt every rag of -clothing drop in dust and shreds from my person--and peered into the -almost impenetrable gloom. My outstretched hands on one side touched -the rough rocks of what was apparently the arch of a niche in this -chamber of the nether world, and under me they discovered a sandy -shelf, upon which I lay, some eight or ten feet from the ground, as -near as could be judged. Not a sound broke the stillness but the gentle -monotony of falling water, whereof one unseen drop, twice a minute, -fell with a faint silver cadence on to the surface of an unknown -pool. I did not fear, I was not frightened, and soon I noticed as a -set-off to the gloom of my sullen surroundings the marvelous purity -of the atmosphere. It was a preservative itself. Such an ambient, -limpid element could surely have existed nowhere else. It was soft -as velvet in its absolute stillness, and pure beyond suspicion. It -was like some thin, sunless vintage that had mellowed, endless years, -in the great vat of the earth, and it now ran with the effect of a -delicate tonic through my inert frame. Nor was its sister and ally--the -temperature--less conducive to my cure. In that subterranean place -summer and winter were alike unknown. The trivial changes that vex -the cuticle of the world were here reduced to an unalterable average -of gentle warmth that assimilated with the soulless air to my huge -contentment. You cannot wonder, therefore, that I throve apace, and -explored with increasing strength the limits of my strange imprisonment. - -All about me was fine, deep dust, and shreds, which even then smelt -in my palm like remnants of fur and skins. At my elbow was a shallow -British eating-dish, with a little dust at the bottom, and by it a -broken earthenware pitcher such as they used for wine. On my other -side, as I felt with inquisitive fingers, lay a handleless sword, one -of my own, I knew, but thin with age, the point all gone, rusty and -useless. By it, again, reposed a small jar, heavy to lift, and rattling -suggestively when shaken. My two fingers, thrust into the neck, told me -it was full of coins, and I could not but feel a flush of gratitude in -that grim place at the abortive kindness which had put food and drink, -weapons and money, by my side, with a sweet ignorance, yet certainty, -of my future awakening. - -But now budding curiosity suggested wider search, and, rising with -difficulty, I cautiously dropped from my lofty shelf on to the ground. -Then a wish to gain the outer air took possession of me, and, peering -this way and that, a tiny point of light far away on the right -attracted my attention. On approaching, it turned out to be a small -hole in the cave, out of reach overhead; but, feeling about below this -little star of comfort, the walls appeared soft and peaty to the touch, -so at once I was at work digging hard, with a pointed stone; and the -farther I went the more leafy and rough became the material, while hope -sent my heart thumping against my ribs in tune to my labor. - -At last, impulsive, after half an hour’s work, a fancy seized me that -I could heave a way out with my shoulder. No sooner said than done. I -took ten steps back, and then plunged fiercely in the darkness of the -great cavern into the moldy screen. - -How can I describe the result! It gave way, and I shot, in a whirlwind -of dust, into a sparkling, golden world! I rolled over and over down -a spangled firmament, clutching in my bewilderment, my hands full of -blue and yellow gems at every turn, and slipping and plunging, with a -sirocco of color--red, green, sapphire, and gold--flying round before -my bewildered face. I finally came to a stop, and sat up. You will not -wonder that I glared round me, when I say I was seated at the foot of -all the new marvels of a beautiful limestone knoll, clothed from top -to bottom with bluebells and primroses, spangled with the young spring -greenery of hazel and beech overhead, and backed by the cloudless blue -of an April sky! - -On top of this fairy mountain, at the roots of the trees that crowned -it, hidden by bracken and undergrowth, was the round hole from which I -had plunged; nor need I tell you how, remembering what had happened in -there, I rubbed my eyes, and laughed, and marveled greatly at the will -of the Inscrutable, which had given me so wonderful a rebirth. - -To you must be left to fill up the picture of my sensations and slowly -recurring faculties. How I lay and basked in the warmth, and slowly -remembered everything: to me belongs but the strange and simple -narrative. - -One of my first active desires was for breakfast--nor, as my previous -meal had been four centuries earlier, will I apologize for this -weakness. But where and how should it be had? This question soon -answered itself. Sauntering hither and thither, the low shoulder of the -ridge was presently crossed, and a narrow footway in the woods leading -to some pleasant pastures entered upon. Before I had gone far up this -shady track, a pail of milk in her hand, and whistling a ditty to -herself, came tripping toward me as pretty a maid as had ever twisted a -bit of white hawthorn into her amber hair. - -I let her approach, and then, stepping out, made the most respectful -salutation within the knowledge of ancient British courtesy. But, alas! -my appearance was against me, and Roman fancies had peopled the hills -with jolly satyrs, for one of which, no doubt, the damsel took me. As I -bowed low the dust of centuries cracked all down my back. I was tawny -and grim, and unshaved, and completely naked--though I had forgotten -it--and even my excellent manners could not warrant my disingenuousness -against such a damning appearance. She screamed with fear, and, letting -go her milk-jar, turned and fled, with a nimbleness which would have -left even the hot old wood-god himself far in the rear. - -However, the milk remained, and peering into the pitcher, here seemed -the very thing to recuperate me by easy stages. So I retired to a -cozy dell, and, between copious draughts of that fine natural liquor, -overwhelmed with blessings the sleek kine and the comely maid who -milked them. Indeed, the stuff ran into my withered processes like a -freshet stream into a long-dry country; it consoled and satisfied me; -and afterward I slept as an infant all that night and far into another -sun. - -The next day brought several needs with it. The chief of these were -more food, more clothes, and a profession (since fate seemed determined -to make me take another space of existence upon the world). All three -were satisfied eventually. As for the first two, I was not particular -as to fashion or diet, and easily supplied them. In the course of a -morning stroll a shepherd’s hut was discovered, and on approaching it -cautiously the little shed turned out to be empty. However, the owner -had left several sheepskin mantles and rough homespun clothes on pegs -round the walls, and to these I helped myself sufficiently to convert -an unclothed caveman into a passable yeoman. Also, I made free with his -store of oat-cakes and coarse cheese, putting all not needed back upon -his shelf. - -Here I was again, fed and clothed, but what to do next was the -question. To consider the knotty matter, after spending most of the day -in purposeless wandering, I went up to the top of my own hill--the one -that, unknown to every one, had the cavern in it--and there pondered -the subject long. The whole face of the country perplexed me. It was -certainly Britain, but Britain so amplified and altered as to be hardly -recognizable. Wide fields were everywhere, broad roads traversed the -hills and valleys with impartial straightness, the great woodlands of -the earlier times were gone, or much curtailed, while wonderful white -buildings shone here and there among the foliage, and down away in the -west, by a river, the sunbeams glinted on the roofs and temple fronts -of a fine, unknown town. That was the place, it seemed to me at length, -to refit for another voyage on the strange sea of chance; but I was -too experienced in the ways of the world to travel cityward with an -empty wallet. While meditating upon the manner in which this deficiency -might be met, the golden store of coins left in the cave below suddenly -presented themselves. The very thing! And, as heavy purple clouds -were piling up round the presently sinking sun, earth and sky alike -presaging a storm that evening, the cavern would be a convenient place -to sleep in. - -Finding the entrance with some difficulty, and noticing, but with no -special attention, that it looked a little larger than when last seen, -my first need was fire. This I had to make for myself. In the pouch of -the shepherd’s jerkin was a length of rough twine; this would do for -matches, while as a torch a resinous pine branch, bruised and split, -served well enough. Fixing one end of the string to a bush, I took a -turn round a dry stick, and then began laboriously rubbing backward and -forward. In half an hour the string fumed pleasantly, and, something -under the hour--one was nothing if not patient in that age--it charred -and burst into flame. - -Just as the evening set in, and the earth opened its pores to the first -round drops of the warm-smelling rain that pattered on the young forest -leaves, and the thunder began to murmur distantly under the purple -mantle of the coming storm, my torch spluttering and hissing, I entered -the vast gloomy chamber of my sleep, and, not without a sense of awe, -stole up along the walls a hundred yards or more, to my strange couch. - -The coins were safe, and shining greenly in their earthen jar; so, -sticking the light into a cleft, I poured them on to the sand, and then -commenced to tuck the stuff away, as fast as might be, into my girdle. -It was strange, wild work, the only company my own contorted shadow on -the distant rocks and such wild forms of cruel British superstition -as my excited imagination called up; the only sound the rumble of the -storm, now overhead, and the hissing drip of the red resin gleaming on -the wealth, all stamped with images of long-dead Kings and Consuls, -that I was cramming into my pouch! - -By the time the task was nearly finished, I was in a state of nerves -equal to seeing or hearing anything--no doubt long fasting had shaken a -mind usually calm and callous enough--and therefore you will understand -how the blood fled from my limbs and the cold perspiration burst out -upon my forehead, when, having scarified myself with traditions of -ghouls and cave devils, I turned to listen for a moment to the dull -rumble of the thunder and the melancholy wave-like sough of the wind in -the trees, even here audible, and beheld, twenty paces from me, in the -shadows, a vast, shaggy black form, grim and broad as no mortal ever -was, and red and wavering in the uncertain light, seven feet high, and -possessed of two fiery, gleaming eyes that were bent upon my own with a -horrible fixity! - -I and that monstrous shadow glared at each other until my breath came -back, when, leaning a moment more against the side of the cavern, I -suddenly snatched the torch from its cleft with a yell of consternation -that was multiplied a thousand times by the echoes until it was like -the battle-cry of a legion of bad spirits, and started off in the -supposed direction of the entrance. But before ten yards had been -covered in that headlong rush, I tripped over a loose stone, and in -another moment had fallen prone, plunging thereby the spluttering torch -into one of the many little pools of water with which the floor was -pitted. With a hiss and a splutter the light went out, and absolute -darkness enveloped everything! - -Just where I had fallen stood a round boulder, a couple of yards broad, -it had seemed, and some five feet high. I sprang to this, instinctively -clutching it with my hands, just as those abominable green eyes, -brighter than ever in the vortex, got to the other side, and hesitated -there in doubt. Then began the most dreadful game I ever played, with a -forfeit attaching to it not to be thought of. You will understand the -cave was absolute sterile blackness to me, a dim world in which the -only animated points were the twin green stars of the cruel ghoul, my -unknown enemy. As those glided round to one side of the little rock, I -as cautiously edged off to the other. Then back they would come, and -back I went, now this way and now that--sometimes only an inch or two, -and sometimes making a complete circle--with every nerve at fullest -stretch, and every sense on tiptoe. - -Why, all this time, it may be asked, did I not run for the entrance? -But, in reply, the first frightened turn or two round the boulder had -made chaos of my geography, and a start in any direction then might -have dashed me into the side of the cave prone, at the mercy of the -horrible thing whose hot, coarse breath fanned me quicker and quicker, -as the game grew warm and more exciting. So near was it that I could -have stretched out my hands, if I had dared, and touched the monstrous -being that I knew stood under those baleful planets that glistened in -the black firmament, now here and now there. - -How long, exactly, we dodged and shuffled and panted round that stone -in the darkness cannot be said--it was certainly an hour or more; -but it went on so long that even in my panting stress and excitement -it grew dull after a time, so monotonous was it, and I found myself -speculating on the weather while I danced _vis-à-vis_ to my grim -partner in that frightful pastime. - -“Yes,” I said, “a very bad storm indeed [once to the left], and nearly -overhead now [right]. It is a good thing [twice round and back again] -to be so [a sharp spin round and round--he nearly had me] conveniently -under cover [twice to the left and then back by the opposite side]!” - -Well, it could not have lasted forever, and I was nearly spent. The -boulder seemed hot and throbbing to my touch, and the floor was -undulating gently, as it does when you land from a voyage; already -fifty or sixty green eyes seemed circling in fiery orbits before me, -when an extraordinary thing befell. - -The thunder and lightning had been playing wildly overhead for some -minutes, and the rain was coming down in torrents (even the noise -of rushing hill streams being quite audible in that clear, resonant -space), when, all of a sudden, there came a pause, and then the fall of -a Titanian hammer on the dome of the hill, a rending, resounding crash -that shook mother earth right down to her innermost ribs. - -At the same instant, before we could catch our breath, the whole -side of the cave opposite to us, some hundred paces of rugged wall, -was deluged with a living, oscillating drapery of blue flame! That -magnificent refulgence came down from above, a glowing cascade of -light. It overran the rocks like a beautiful gauze, clinging lovingly -to their sinuousness, and wrapping their roughness in a tender, -palpitating mantle of its own winsome brightness. It ran its nimble, -fiery tendrils down the veins and crevices, and leaped in fierce -playfulness from point to point, spinning its electric gossamers in -that vacuum air like some enchanted tissue spread between the crags; it -ran to the ledges and trickled off in ambient, sparkling cascades, it -overflowed the sandy bottom in tender sheets of blue and mauve, feeling -here and there with a million fingers for the way it sought, and then -it found it, and sank, as silent, as ghostly, as wonderful as it had -come! - -All this was but the work of an instant, but an instant of such -concentrated brightness that I saw every detail, as I have told you, -of that beautiful thing. More; in that second of glowing visibility, -while the blue torch of the storm still shone in the chamber of the -underground, I saw the stone by me, and beyond it, towering amazed and -stupid, with his bulky strength outlined against the light, a great -cave bear in all his native ruggedness! Better still, a bowshot on my -right was the narrow approach of the entrance--and as the gleam sank -into the nether world, almost as quick as that gleam itself, with -a heart of wonder and fear, and a foot like the foot of the night -wind overhead, I was gone, and down the sandy floor, and through the -gap, and into the outer world and midnight rain I plunged once more, -grateful and glad! - - * * * * * - -After such hairbreadth escapes there was little need to bemoan a wet -coat and an evening under the lee of a heathery scar. - -When the morning arrived, clear and bright, as it often does after a -storm, I felt in no mood to hang about the locality, but shook the rain -from my fleece, and breakfasting on a little water from the brook, a -staff in my hand, and my dear-bought wealth in my belt, set out for the -unknown town, whose wet roofs shone like molten silver over the dark -and dewy oak woods. - -Five hours’ tramping brought me there; and truly the city astonished -me greatly. Could this, indeed, be Britain, was the constant question -on my tongue as I trod fair white streets, with innumerable others -opening down from them on either hand, and noticed the evidence of such -art and luxury as, hitherto, I had dreamed the exclusive prerogative -of the capital of the older empires. Here were baths before which the -Roman youth dawdled; stately theaters with endless tiers of seats, from -whose rostra degenerate sons of the soil, aping their masters in dress -and speech, recited verse and dialogue trimmed to the latest orator in -fashion by the Tiber. Mansions and palaces there were, outside which -the sleek steeds of Consuls and Prætors champed gilded bits while -waiting to carry their owners to gay procession and ceremonial; temples -to Apollo, and shrines to Venus, dotted the ways, forums, market -places, and the like, in bewildering profusion. - -And among all these evidences of the new age thronged a motley mixture -of people. The thoughtful senator, coming from conclave, with his toga -and parchments, elbowed the callow British rustic in the rude raiment -of his fathers. The wild, blue-eyed Welsh Prince, upon his rough -mountain pony, would scarce give right of way to the bronzed Roman -mercenary from the Rhine: Umbrians and Franks, pale-haired Germans, and -olive Tuscans, laughed and chaffered round the booths and fountains, -while here and there legionaries stood on guard before great houses, -or drank on the tressels of wayside wine-shops. Now and again two or -three soldiers came marching down the street with a gang of slaves, or -a shock-headed chieftain from the wild north, fierce and sullen, on his -way to Rome; and over all the varied throng the crows and kites circled -in the blue sky, and the little sparrows perched themselves under the -lintel and in the twisted column tops of their mistress’s fane. - -Half the day I stared, and then, having eaten some dry Etrurian -grapes--the first for four hundred years--I went to the bath and threw -down a golden coin in the doorkeeper’s marble slab. - -“Why, my son,” said that juvenile official of some trivial fifty -summers, “where in the name of Mercury did you pick up this antique -thing?” and he handled it curiously. But being in no mind to tell my -tale just then, I put him off lightly, and passed on into the great -bathing place itself. Stage by stage, “balneum,” “con-camerata,” -“sudatio,” “tepidarium,” “frigidarium,” and all their other chambers, I -went through, until in the last a mighty slave, who had rubbed me with -the strength of Hercules himself for half an hour, suddenly stopped, -and, surveying me intently, exclaimed: - -“Master! I have scrubbed many a strange thing from many a Roman body, -but I will swallow all my own towels if I can get this extraordinary -dirt from you,” and he pointed to my bare and glowing chest. - -There, to my astonishment, revealed for the first time, was a great -serpent-like mark of tattoo and woad circling my body in two wide -zones! What it meant, how it came, was past my comprehension. Shrunk -and shriveled as I was with long abstemiousness, it seemed but like -a gigantic smudge meandering down my person--a smudge, however, that -with a little goodly living might stretch out into an elaborate design -of some nature. Of course, I knew it was thus the British warriors -were accustomed to adorn themselves, but who had been thus purposely -decorating one that had never knowingly submitted to the operation, and -to what end, was past my guessing. - -“Never mind, sir, don’t despond,” said the slave. “We will have another -essay.” And hitching me on to the rubbing couch, he knelt upon my -stomach--these bath attendants were no more deferential than they are -now--and exerted his magnificent strength, armed with the stiffest -towel that ever came off a loom, upon me, until I fairly thought that -not only would he have the tattoo off, but also all the skin upon which -it was engrossed. But it was to no purpose. He rose presently and -sulkily declared I had had my money’s worth. “The more he rubbed, the -bluer those accursed marks became.” This might well be, so I tossed him -an extra coin, and, dressing hastily, covered my uninvited tattoo and -went forth, fully determined to examine and read it--for those things -were nearly always readable--more closely on a better and more private -opportunity. - -My next visit was to an Etruscan barber, who was shaving all and sundry -under a green-white awning, in a pleasant little piazza. To him I sat, -and while he reaped my antique stubble, with many an exclamation of -surprise and disgust at its toughness, my thoughts wandered away to the -train of remembrances the bath slave’s discovery had started. Again -I thought of Blodwen and my little one; the seaport, with its golden -beaches, and the quiet pools where the trout and salmon of an evening -now and again shattered the crystal mirror of the surface in their -sport as she and I sat upon some grassy bank and talked of village -statecraft, of conquests over petty princelings, of crops and harvests, -of love and war. Then, again, I thought of the Roman galleys, and -Cæsar the penman autocrat; of the British camp, and, lastly, the great -mischance which had, and yet had not, ended me. - -“Ah, that was a bad slash, indeed, sir, wasn’t it?” queried the barber -in my ear. “May I ask in what war you took it?” - -This very echo of my fancy came so startlingly true, I sprang to my -feet and glowered upon him. - -“O culler of herbs,” I said, “O trespasser along the verge of mystery -and medicine”--pointing to the dried things and electuaries with which, -in common then with his kind, his booth was stocked--“where got you the -power of reading minds?” - -He shook his head vaguely, as though he did not understand, pointing -to my neck, and replying he knew naught of what my thoughts might have -been, but there, on my shoulder, was obvious evidence of the “slash” he -had alluded to. - -I took the steel mirror he offered me, and, sure enough, I saw a -monstrous white seam upon my tawny skin, healed and well, but very -obvious after the bath and shaving. - -“Why, sir, I have dressed many a wound in my time, but that must have -been about as bad a one as a man could get and live. How did it happen?” - -“Oh, I forget just now.” - -“Forget! Then you must have a marvelously bad memory. Why, a thing -like that one might remember for four hundred years!” said the -sagacious little barber, bending his keen eyes on me in a way that -was uncomfortable. In fact, he soon made me so ill at ease, being -very reluctant that my secret should pass into possession of the town -through his garrulous tongue, that I hastily paid him another of those -antique green coins of mine, and passed on again down the great wide -street. - -Even he who lives two thousand years is still the serf of time, -therefore I cannot describe all the strange things I saw in that -beautiful foreign city set down on the native English land. But -presently I tired, and, having become a Roman by exchanging my -sheepskins for a fine scarlet toga, over a military cuirass of -close-fitting steel, inlaid, after the fashion, with turquoise and -gold enamel, sandals upon my feet, and a short sword at my side, I -sought somewhere to sleep. First, I chanced upon a little house set -back from the main thoroughfare, and over the door a withered bush, and -underneath it, on a label, was written thus: - - ........................................ - . . - . _Hic Habitat Felicitas_ . - . . - ........................................ - -“Ah!” I said, as I hammered at the portal with the brass knob of -my weapon, “if, indeed, happiness is landlord here, then Phra the -Phœnician is the man to be his tenant!” But it would not do. Bacchus -was too bibulous in that little abode, and Cupid too blind and -indiscriminate. So it was left behind, and presently an open villa was -reached where travelers might rest, and here I took a chamber on one -side of the square marble courtyard, facing on a garden and fountain, -and looking over a fair stretch of country. - -No sooner had I eaten, than, very curious to understand the nature of -the bath slave’s discoveries upon my skin, I went to the disrobing-room -of the private baths, and, discarding my gorgeous cuirass, and piling -the gilded arms and silken wrappings with which a new-born vanity had -swathed me, in a corner, I stood presently revealed in the common -integument--the one immutable fashion of humanity. But rarely before -had the naked human body presented so much diversity as mine did. I was -mottled and pictured, from my waist upward, in the most bewildering -manner, all in blue and purple tints, just as the slave had said. There -were more pictures on me than there are on an astrologer’s celestial -globe; and as I turned hither and thither, before my great burnished -metal mirror, a whole constellation, of dim, uncertain meaning, rose -and set upon my sphere! Now this was the more curious, because, as I -have said, I had never in my life submitted me for a moment to the -needle and unguents of those who in British times made a practice of -the art of tattooing. I had seen young warriors under that painful -process, and had stood by as they yelled in pain and reluctant patience -while the most elaborate designs grew up, under the stolid draftsman’s -hands, upon their quivering cuticle. But, to Blodwen’s grief, who would -have had me equal to any of her tribesmen in pattern as in place, I had -ever scorned to be made a mosaic of superstition and flourishes. How, -then, had this mighty maze, this pictorial web of blue myth and marvel, -grown upon me during the night time of my sleep? On studying it closely -it evolved itself into some order, and, though that night I made not -very much of it, yet, as time went on, and my body grew sleek and -fair with good living, the design came up with constantly increasing -vigor. Indeed, the narrative I translated from it was so absorbingly -interesting to one in my melancholy circumstances that again and again -I would hurry away to my closet and mirror to see what new detail, what -subtle deduction of stroke or line, had come into view upon the scroll -of the strangest diary that ever was written. - -For, indeed, it was Blodwen’s diary that circled me thus. It began in -the small of my back with the year of my demise upon the Druid altar, -and ever as she wrote it she must have rolled, with tender industry, -her journal over and over, and so worked up from my back, in a splendid -widening zone of token and hieroglyphic, for twenty changing seasons, -until my chest was reached, and there the tale ran out in a thin and -tremulous way, which it made my heart ache to understand. - -There is no need to describe exactly the mode of deduction, or how -I came to comprehend, without key or help, the sense of the things -before me, but you will understand my wits were sharp in the quest, and -once the main scheme of the idea was understood the rest came easily -enough. The Princess, then, had taken a sheaf of corn as her symbol of -the year. There were twenty of them upon me, and I judged their very -varying sizes were intended to indicate good or bad harvest seasons in -the territories of my careful chieftainess. Round these central signs -she had grouped such other marks or outlines as served to hint the -changing fortunes of the times. There were heads of oxen by each sheaf, -varying in size according to the conditions of her herds; and fishes, -big or small, to indicate what luck her salmon spearsmen had met with -by the tuneful rapids of that ancient stream I knew so well. - -Following these early designs was one that interested me greatly. -The gentle chieftainess had, when I left her, expectation of another -member to her tribe of her own providing. I had thought when we -should have beaten the Romans to hurry back, and mayhap be in time to -welcome this little one; but you know how I was prevented; and now -here upon my skin, nigh over to my heart, was the sketch and outline -of what seemed a small, new-born maid, all beswaddled in the British -fashion, and very lovingly limned. But what was more curious, was that -its wraps were turned back from its baby shoulder, and there, to my -astonished interpretation, in that silent maternal narrative, was just -the likeness, broad, lasting, indelible, of the frightful scar I wore -myself! Long I pondered upon this. Had that red-haired slave-princess -by some chance received me back--perhaps at Sempronius’s compassionate -hands--all hurt as I was, and had that portentous wound set its seal -during anxious vigils upon the unborn babe? I could not guess--I could -but wonder--and, wondering still, pass on to what came next. - -Here was a graphic picture, no bigger than the palm of my hand, and not -hard to unriddle. An eagle--no doubt the Roman one--engaged in fierce -conflict with a beaver--that being Blodwen’s favorite tribal sign, for -there were many of those animals upon her river. Jove! how well ’twas -done! There were the flying feathers, and the fur, and the turmoil and -the litter of the fight, and well I guessed the proud Roman bird--that -day he brought my gallant tribe under the yoke--had lost many a -stalwart quill, and damaged many a lordly pinion! - -And besides these main records of this fair and careful chancelloress -of her State, there were others that moved me none the less. Yes! by -every gloomy spirit that dwelt in the misty shadows of the British -oaks, it gave me a hot flush of gratified revenge to see--there by the -symbol of the first year--a severed, bleeding head, still crowned with -the Druid oak. - -“Oh! oh! Dhuwallon, my friend,” I laughed, as I guessed the meaning of -that bloody sign, “so they tripped you up at last, my crafty villain. -By all the fiends of your abominable worship, I should like to have -seen the stroke that made that grisly trophy! Well, I can guess how it -came about! Some slighted tribesman who saw me die peached upon you. -Liar and traitor! I can see you stand in that old British hall, strong -in your sanctity and cunning, making your wicked version of the fight -and my undoing, and then, methinks, I see Blodwen leap to her feet, red -and fiery with her anger. Accursed priest! how you must have sickened -and shrunk from her fierce invective, the headlong damnation of her -bitter accusation, with all the ready evidence with which she supported -it. Mayhap your cheeks were as pale that day, good friend, as your -infernal vestments, and first you frowned, and pointed to the signs and -symbols of your office, and pleaded your high appointment before the -assembled people against the answering of the charge. And then, when -that would not do, you whined and cringed, and called her kinswoman. -Oh, but I can fancy it, and how my pretty Princess--there upon her -father’s steps--scorned and cursed you before them all, and how some -ready, faithful hand struck you down, and how they tore your holy linen -from you and dragged you, screaming, to the gateway, and there upon the -threshold log struck your wicked head from your abominable shoulders! -By the sacred mistletoe, I can read my Blodwen’s noble anger in every -puncture of that revenge-commemorating outline!” - -Here again, in the years that followed, it pleasured me to see her -little State grow strong and wide. At one time she typified the coming -and destruction of two peak-sailed southern pirates, and then the -building of a new stockade. She also made (perhaps to the worship of my -manes!) a mighty circle. It began with a single upright on my side. The -next year there were two. In the summer that followed she crossed them -by a third great slab, and so on for ten years the tribesmen seemed -to have toiled and labored until they had such a temple of the sun as -must have given my sweet heathen vast pleasure to look upon! She feared -comments and portents much, and punctured me with them most exactly; -she kept her memoranda of corn-pots and stores of hides upon me, like -the clever, frugal mother of her tribe she was; and now and then she -acquired territory, or made new alliances--printing the special tokens -of their heads in a circle with her own, until I was illustrated from -waist to shoulder--a living lexicon of history. - -Many were the details of that strange blue record I have not mentioned; -many are the strokes and flourishes that still expand and contract to -the pulsations of my mighty life--undeciphered, unintelligible. But I -have said enough to show you how ingenious it was--how sufficient in -its variety, how disappointing in its pointless end. For, indeed, it -stopped suddenly at the twentieth season, and the cause thereof I could -guess only too well! - -There, in that Roman hotel, I stayed, reflecting. It was in this -rest-house, from the idle gossip of the loungers and chatter of Roman -politicians, that I came to comprehend the extent of my sleep in the -cave, and as the truth dawned upon me, with a consciousness of the -infinite vacuity of my world, I went into the garden, and there was -no light in the sunshine, and no color in the flowers, and no music -in the fountain, and I threw my toga over my head and grieved for my -loneliness, with the hum of the crowd outside in my ears, and mourned -my fair Princess and all the ancient times so young in memory, yet so -old in fact. - -Many days I sorrowed purposeless, and then my grief was purged by the -good medicine of hardship and more adventure. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - - -One day I was sitting, in gloomy abstraction, in the sunny garden, -when, looking up suddenly, a little maid stood by, demurely, and -somewhat compassionately, regarding me. Grateful then for any sort of -sympathy, I led her to talk, and presently found, as we thawed into -good-fellowship, drawn together by some mutual attraction, that she -was of British birth, and more--from my old village! This was bond -enough in my then state; but think how moved and pleased I was when the -comely little damsel laughingly said, “Oh, yes! it is only you Roman -lords who come and go more often than these flowers. We British seldom -move; I and my people have lived yonder on the coast for ages!” So I -let my lonely fancy fill in the blanks, and took the little maid for a -kinswoman, and was right glad to know some one in the void world into -which four hundred years’ sleep had plunged me. - -Strange, too, as you will take it, Numidea, who, now and then, to my -mind, was so like the ancestress she knew naught of: Numidea, the -slave-girl who had stood before me by predestined chance in that hour -of sorrow--it was she who directed my destiny and saved and ruined me -in this chapter, just as her mother had done distant lifetimes before! - -Between this fair little friend and my inexhaustible wallet I dried -up my grief and turned idle and reckless in that fascinating town of -extravagance and debauchery. It was not a time to boast much of. The -degenerate Romans had lost all their valor and most of their skill in -the arts of government. All their hardihood and strength had sunk under -the evil example of the debased capital by the Tiber; and, though some -few unpopular ones among them railed against the effeminate luxury of -the times, few heeded, and none were warned. It shamed me to find that -all these latter-day Romans thought of was silks and linens, front -seats at the theater, pageantry and spectacles, trinkets and scents. -It roused my disdain to see the senators go by with gilded trains of -servitors and the young Centurions swagger down the streets in their -mock armor--their toy, peace-time swords hanging in golden chains from -their tender sides, and the wind warning one of their perfumed presence -even before they came in sight. Such were not the men to win an empire, -I thought, or to hold it! - -As for the native British, a modicum of them had dropped the sagum for -the toga, and had put on with it all its vices, but few of its virtues. -Such a witless, vain, incapable medley of arrogant fools never before -was seen. To their countrymen they represented themselves as possessed -of all the keys of statecraft and government, stirring them up as far -as they durst to discontent and rebellion, while to their masters -they stood acknowledged sycophants and apes of all the meannesses of -a degenerate time. All this was the more the pity, for magnificent -and wide were the evidences of what Rome had done for Britain during -the long years she had held it. When I slept, it was a chaotic wild, -peopled by brave but scattered tribes; when I awoke, it was a fair, -united realm--a beautiful territory of fertility, rich in corn and -apple-yards, arteried by smooth, white-paved roads, and ruled by half -a dozen wonderful capitals, with countless lesser cities, camps, and -villas, wherein modern luxury, like a rampant, beautiful-flowered -parasite, had overgrown, and choked and killed the sturdy stuff on -which it grew. - -Well, it is not my province to tell you of these things. The gilded -fops who thronged the city ways, I soon found, were good enough for -drinking bouts and revelry, and, by all Olympus! my sleep had made me -thirsty, and my sorrow full of a moroseness which had to be constantly -battened down under the hatches of an artificial pleasure. All the -old, cautious, frugal, merchant spirit had gone, and the Roman Phra, -in his gold and turquoise cincture, his belt full of his outlandish, -never-failing coins, was soon the talk of the town, the life and soul -of every reckless bout or folly, the terror of all lictors and honest, -benighted citizens. - -And, like many another good young man of like inclinations, his exit -was as sudden as his entry! Well I remember that day, when my ivory -tablets were crowded with suggestions for new idleness and vanities, -and bore a dozen or two of merry engagements to plays and processions -and carnivals, and all my new-found world looked like a summer sea of -pleasure. Under these circumstances, I went to my hoard one evening, as -I had done very often of late, and was somewhat chagrined to discover -only five pieces of money left. However, they were big plump ones, -larger than any I had used before, and, as all those had been good -gold, these still might mean a long spell of frolic for me--when they -were nearly spent it would be time to turn serious. - -I at once sat down to rub the general green tint of age from one, -noticing it was more verdant than any of its comrades had been, and -rubbed with increasing consternation and alarm, moment after moment, -until I had reduced it at last to an ancient British copper token, a -base, abominable thing, not good enough to pitch to a starving beggar! - -Another and another was snatched up and chafed, and, as I toiled on by -my little flickering earthen lamp in my bachelor cell, every one of -those traitor coins in an hour had shed its coating of time and turned -out, under my disgusted fingers, common plebeian metal. There they lay -before me at length, a contemptible five pence, wherewith to carry on a -week’s carousing. Five pence! Why, it was not enough to toss to a noisy -beggar outside the circus--hardly enough for a drink of detestable -British wine, let alone a draught of the good Italian vintages that -I had lately come to look upon as my prerogative! Horrible! and as I -gazed at them stolidly, that melancholy evening, the airy castle of my -pleasure crumbled from base to battlement. - -As the result of long cogitation--knowing the measure of my friends -too well to think of borrowing of them--I finally decided to make a -retreat, and leave my acquaintance my still unblemished reputation in -pawn for the various little items owing by me. Taking a look round, -to assure myself every one in the house was asleep, I argued that -to-night, though a pauper, I was still of good account, whereas with -daylight I should be a discredited beggar; so that it was, in fact, a -meritorious action to leave my host an old pair of sandals in lieu of a -month’s expenses, and drop through the little window into the garden, -on the way to the open world once more. Necessity is ever a sophist. - -It is needless to say the gray dawn was not particularly cheerful as -I sprang into the city fosse and struck out for the woods beyond. -The fortune which makes a man one day a gentleman of means and the -next a mendicant is more pleasant to hear of when it has befallen -one’s friends than to feel at first hand. It was only the fear of the -detestable city jail, and the abominable provender there, added to the -ridicule of my friends, perhaps, that sent me, scripless, thus afield. -Gray as the prospect ahead might be, behind it was black: so I plodded -on, with my spear for a staff and Melancholy for a companion. - -The leafy shades reached in an hour or so invited rest, and in their -seclusion an idle spell was spent watching, through the green frame -of branches, the fair, careless city below wake to new luxurious -life; watching the blue smoke rise from the temple courtyards, and -the pigeons circling up into the sky, and the glitter of the sun on -the legionaries’ arms as they wheeled and formed and re-formed in the -open ground beyond the Prefect’s house. Oh, yes! I knew it all! And -how pleasantly the water spluttered in the marble baths after those -dusty exercises; and how heavy the lightest armor was after such -nights as I and those jolly ones down there were accustomed to spend! -As I, breakfastless, leaned upon the top of my staff, I recalled the -good red wine from my host’s coolest cellars, and the hot bread from -slaves’ ovens in the street, and how pleasant it was to lie in silk and -sandals, and drink and laugh in the shade, and stare after the comely -British maids, and lay out in those idle sunny hours the fabrics of fun -and mirth. - -On again, and by midday a valley opened before me, and at the head, a -mile or so from the river, was a very stately white villa. Thither, out -of curiosity, my steps were turned, and I descended upon that lordly -abode by coppices, ferny brakes, and pastures, until one brambly field -alone separated us. An ordinary being, whom the Fates had not set -themselves to bandy forever in their immortal hands, would have gone -round this enclosure, and so taken the uneventful pathway, but not so -I; I must needs cross the brambles, and thus bring down fresh ventures -on my head. In the midst of the enclosure was an oak, and under the oak -five or six white cows, with a massive bull of the fierce old British -breed. This animal resented my trespass, and, shaking his head angrily -as I advanced, he came after me at a trot when half way across. Now, a -good soldier knows when to run, no less than when to stand, and so my -best foot was put forth in the direction of the house, and I presently -slipped through a hole in the fence directly into the trim gay garden -of the villa itself. - -So hasty was my entry that I nearly ran into a stately procession -approaching down one of the well-kept terraces intersecting the -grounds: a seneschal and a butler, a gorgeously arrayed mercenary or -two, men and damsels in waiting, all this lordly array attending a -litter borne by two negro slaves, whereon, with a languidness like that -of convalescence, belied, however, by the bloom of excellent health and -the tokens of robust grace in the every limb, reclined a handsome Roman -lady. There was hardly time to take all this in at a glance, when the -gorgeous attendants set up a shout of consternation and alarm, and, -glancing over my shoulder to see the cause, there was that resentful -bull bursting the hedge, a scanty twenty paces away, with vindictive -purpose in his widespread nostrils and angry eyes. - -Down went the seneschal’s staff of office, down went the base -mercenaries’ gilded shields; the butler threw the dish of grapes he was -carrying for his lady’s refreshment into the bushes; the waiting-maids -dropped their fans, and, shrieking, joined the general rout. Worse -than all, those base villains, the littermen, slipped their leather -straps, and in the general panic dropped the litter, and left to her -fate that mistress who, with her sandaled feet wrapped in silks and -spangled linens, struggled in vain to rise. There was no time for fear. -I turned, and as the bull came down upon us two in a snorting avalanche -of white hide and sinew, I gave him the spear, driving it home with all -my strength just in front of the ample shoulder, as he lowered his -head. The strong seven-foot haft of ash, as thick as a man’s wrist, -bent between us like a green hazel wand, and then burst into splinters -right up to my grasp. The next moment I was hurled backward, crashing -into the flowers and trim parterres as though it were by the fist of -Jove himself I had been struck. Hardly touching the ground, I was up -again, my short sword drawn, and ready as ever--though the gay world -swam before me--to kill or to be killed. - -[Illustration: I gave him the spear as he lowered his head] - -It was not necessary. There had been few truer or more forceful spears -than mine in the old times; and there lay the great white monster on -his side in a crimson pool of blood, essaying in vain to lift his head, -and dying in mighty tremors all among the pretty things the servants -had thrown down. The gush of red blood from his chest was wetting even -the silken fringes of the comely dame’s skirts and wrappings, while -she, now at last on her feet, frowned down on him, with angry triumph -rather than fear in her countenance. - -Though there was hardly a change of color on her face or a tremor in -the voice with which she thanked me, yet I somehow felt her ladyship -was in a fine passion behind that disdainful mask. But whether it -were so or not, she was civil enough to me, personally evincing a -condescending interest in a trifling wound that was staining my bare -right arm with crimson, and sending her “good youth” away in a minute -or two to the house to get it bound. As I turned to go, the stately -lady gathered up tunic folds and skirt in her white fist and moved -down upon the group of trembling servants, who were gathering their -wits together slowly under the nervous encouragement of the seneschal. -What she said to them I know not, but if ever the countenances of men -truly reflected their sensations, her brief whispers must have been -exceedingly unpleasant to listen to. - -The damsel who bound the scratch upon my shoulder told me something of -this beautiful and wealthy dame. But, in truth, when she called her -Lady Electra, I needed to hear little more. It was a name that had -circulated freely in the city yonder, and especially when wine was -sparkling best and tongues at lightest! I knew, without asking, the -lady was niece to an emperor, and was reputed as haughty and cruel as -though she had been one of the worst herself; I knew her lawful spouse -was away, like most Romans, from his duty just then, and she stood in -his place to tyrannize over the British peasants and sweep the taxes -into his insatiate coffers. I knew, too, why Rome was forbidden for a -time to the vivacious lady, as well as some stories, best untold, of -how she enlivened the tedium of her exile in these “savage” places. - -In fact, I knew I had fallen into the gilded hold of a magnificent -outlaw, one of the worst productions of a debased and sinking State, -and, being wayward by predestination, I determined to play with the -she-wolf in her own den. - -No fancy of mine is so rash but that Fate will countersign it. When -Electra sent for me presently in the great hall, where the fountains -played into basins of rosy marble, it was to inform me that the -destruction of the bull, and my bearing thereat, had caught her -fancy, and I was to “consider myself for the present in her private -service, and attached to the body-guard.” This decision was announced -with an easy imperialness which seemed to ignore all suggestion of -opposition--a suavity such as Juno might use in directing the most -timorous of servitors--so, as my wishes ran in unison, I bowed my -thanks, and kissed the fringe of my ladyship’s cloak, and thought, as -she lay there before me on her silken couch in the tessellated hall -of her stately home, that I had never before seen so beautiful or -dangerous-looking a creature. - -Nor had I long to wait for a sight of the Vice-Prefect’s talons. While -she asked me of my history, the which I made up as I told it (and, -having once balked the truth, never afterward told her the real facts), -a messenger came, and, standing at a respectful distance, saluted his -mistress. - -“Ah!” she said, with a pretty look of interest in her face, and rising -on her elbow, “are they dead?” - -“One is, madam,” the man responded: “one of your bearers fled, but the -other we secured. We took him into the field and tied him, as your -ladyship directed, to the horns of the strongest white cow. She dragged -him here and there, and gored him for full ten minutes before he -died--and now all that remains of him,” with a wave of the hand toward -the vestibule, “most respectfully awaits your ladyship’s inspection in -the porch!” And the messenger bowed low. - -“It is well. Fling the dog into a ditch! And, my friend, let my brave -henchmen know if they do not lay hands on the other villain before -sunset to-morrow, I shall come to them for a substitute.” - -The successful termination of this episode seemed to relieve my new -mistress. - -“Ah! my excellent soldier,” she said, with a pretty sigh, “you cannot -conceive what a vexation my servants are to me, or how rebellious -and unruly! Would there were but a man here, such as yourself, for -instance, to protect and soften a lonely matron’s exile.” - -This was very flattering to my vanity, more especially as it was -accompanied by a gracious look, with more of condescension in it than -I fancied usually fell to the lot of those who met her handsome eyes. -In such circumstances, under a lordly roof, and careless again of -to-morrow, a new spell of experience was commenced in the Roman villa, -and I learned much of the ways of corrupt Roman government and a -luxurious society there which might amuse you were it not all too long -to set down. For a time, when her ladyship gave, as was her frequent -pleasure, gorgeous dinners, and all the statesmen and soldiers of the -neighboring towns came in to sup with her, I pleaded one thing and -another in excuse for absence from the places where I must have met -many too well known before. But Electra, as the time went on, was proud -of her handsome, stalwart Centurion, and advanced me quicker than my -modest ambition could demand, clothed me in the gorgeous livery of her -household troops, raised me to the chief command, and finally, one -evening, sat me at her side on her own silken couch, before all the -lords and senators, and, deriding their surprise and covert sarcasm, -proclaimed me first favorite there with royal effrontery. - -Did I but say Electra was proud of her new find? Much better had -it been simply so; but she was not accustomed to moderation in -any matters, and perhaps my cold indifference to her overwhelming -attractions, when all else fawned for an indulgent look, excited her -fiery thirst of dominion. Be this as it may, no very long time after -my arrival it was palpable her manner was changing; and as the days -went by, and she would have me sit on the tiger-skin at her knee, a -second Antony to this British Cleopatra, telling wonderful tales of war -and woodcraft, I presently found the unmistakable light of awakening -love shining through her ladyship’s half-shut lids. Many and many a -time, before and since, has that beacon been lit for me in eyes of -every complexion--it makes me sad to think how well I know that gentle -gleam--but never in all my life did I experience anything like the -concentrated fire that burned silently but more strongly, day by day, -in those black Roman eyes. - -I would not be warned. More; I took a lawless delight in covertly -piling on material and leading that reckless dame, who had used and -spurned a score of gallant soldiers or great senators, according to her -idle fancy, to pour out her over-ample affection on me, the penniless -adventurer. And, like one who fans a spark among combustible material, -the blaze that resulted was near my undoing. - -The more dense I was to her increasing love, the more she suffered. -Truly, it was pitiful to see her, who was so little accustomed to know -any other will, thwarted by so fine an agency--to see her imperialness -strain and fret at the silken meshes of love, and fume to have me -know and answer to her meaning, yet fear to tell it, and at times be -timorous to speak, and at others start up, palely wrathful, that she -could not order in this case as elsewhere. Indeed, my lady was in a -bad way, and now she would be fierce and sullen, and anon gracious -and melancholy. In the latter mood she said one day, as I sat by her -_bisellium_: - -“I am ill and pale, my Centurion. I wonder you have not noticed it.” - -“Perhaps, madam,” I said, with the distant respect that galled her so, -“perhaps your ladyship’s supper last night was over-large and late--and -those lampreys, I warned you against them that third time.” - -“Gross! Material!” exclaimed Electra, frowning blackly. “Guess again--a -finer malady--a subtler pain.” - -“Then, maybe the valley air affects my lady’s liver, or rheumatism, -perhaps, exacts a penalty for some twilight rambles.” - -Such banter as this, and more, was all the harder to bear since she -could not revenge it. I was sorry for the tyrantess, for she was -wonderfully attractive thus pensivewise, and wofully in earnest as she -turned away to the painted walls and sighed to herself. - -“Fie! to be thus withstood by a fameless mercenary. Why thus must I, -unaccustomed, sue this one--the least worthy of them all--and lavish -on his dull plebeian ears the sighs that many another would give a -province or two to hear?--I, who have slighted the homage of silk and -scarlet, and Imperial purple, even! Lucullus was not half so dull--or -Palladius, or Decius; and that last of many others, my witty Publius -Torquatus, would have diagnosed my disease and prescribed for it all in -one whisper.” - -Poor lady! It was not within me--though she did not know it--to -hold out for long against the sunshine and storm of her impetuous -nature. Neither her abominable cruelties nor her reckless rapacity -could suffice to dim her attractions--many a time since, when that -comely personage has been as clearly wiped from the page of life, as -utterly obliterated from the earth as the very mound of her final -resting-place, have I regretted that she was not born to better days, -and then, perchance, her fine material might have been run into a -nobler mold. - -She was jealous, too; and it came about in this way. Very soon after I -had taken service with her, whom should I espy, one morning, feeding -the golden pheasants outside the veranda, but my little friend, -Numidea. Often I had thought of that maid, and determined to discover -that “big house” where she had told me she was bondwoman, and the -“great lady” who sent her tripping long journeys into the town for the -powders and silk stuffs none could better choose. And now here she was -on my path again, a roofmate by strange chance, with her graceful, -tender figure, and her dainty ways, and that chronic friendly smile -upon her mouth that brought such strange fancies to my mind every time -I looked upon it. Of course, I befriended the maid as though she were -my own little one, not so many times removed, and equally, of course, -Lady Electra noticed and misread our friendship. Poor Numidea! She -had a hard life before I came, and a harder, perhaps, afterward. You -compassionate moderns will wonder when I tell you that Numidea has -shown me her white silk shoulders laced with the red scars of old -floggings laid on by Electra herself, and the blood-spotted dimples -here and there, where that imperious dame had thrust, for some trivial -offense, a golden bodkin from her hair deep into that innocent flesh. -No one knew better than my noble mistress how to give acute torture to -a slave without depreciating the market price of her property. - -But when I became of more weight--when, in brief, my comely tigress -was too fast bound to be dangerous--I spoke up, and Electra grew to be -jealous and to hate the small Christian slave-girl with all the unruly -strength that marked her other passions. - -Thus, one day having discovered Numidea weeping over a new-made wound, -I sought out the offender, and as she sauntered up and down her -tessellated pavements I shook my fist at her Queenship, and said: - -“By the bright flame of Vesta, Lady Electra, and by every deity, old -or new, in the endless capacity of the skies, if you get out your -abominable flail for that girl again, or draw but once upon her one of -your accursed bodkins, I will--marry her among the smoking ruins of -this white sty of yours!” - -When I spoke to her thus under the lash of my anger, she would -uprise to the topmost reach of her height, and thence, frowning down -upon me, her shapely head tossed back, and her draperies falling -from her crossed arms and ample shoulders to the marble floor, she -would regard me with an imperious start that might have withered an -ordinary mortal. So beautiful and statuesque was her ladyship on these -occasions, towering there in her own white hall like an image of an -offended Juno in the first flush of her queenly wrath, that even I -would involuntarily step back a pace. But I did not cower or drop my -eyes, and when we had glowered at each other so for a minute or two -the royal instinct within her was no match for traitor Love. Slowly -then the woman would come welling into her proud face, and the glow -of anger gave way upon her cheeks; her arms dropped by her sides; she -shrank to mortal proportions, and lastly sank on the ebony and ivory -couch in a wild gust of weeping, wofully asking to know, as I turned -upon my heels, why the slave’s trivial scars were more to me than the -mistress’s tears. - -My Vice-Prefect was avaricious, too. There was stored in the spacious -hollows below her villa I know not how much bronze and gold squeezed -from those reluctant British hinds whose old-world huts clustered -together in the oak clumps dotting the fertile vales as far as the -eye could see from our roof-ledges on every hand. Had all the offices -of the Imperial Government been kept as she kept her duties of tax -collecting, the great empire would have been further by many a long -year from its ruin. And the closer Electra made her accounts, the more -deadly became her exactions, the more angry and rebellious grew the -natives around us. - -Already they had heard whispers of how hard barbarians were pressing -upon Rome, day by day they saw Britain depleted of the stalwart -legionaries who had occupied the land four hundred years, and as -phalanx after phalanx went south through Gaul to protect the mother -city on the Tiber, their demagogues secretly stirred the people up to -ambition and discontent. - -Nor can it be denied the villains had something to grumble for. Society -was dissolute and debased, while the country was full of those who made -the good Roman name a byword. The British peasant had to toil and sweat -that a hundred tyrants, the rank production of social decay, might -squander and parade in the luxury and finery his labor purchased. -Added to this, the pressing needs of the Emperor himself demanded -the services of those who had taken upon themselves for centuries -the protection of the country. As they retired, Northern rovers, at -first fitfully, but afterward with increasing rigor, came down upon -the unguarded coasts, and sailing up the estuaries, harried the rich -English vales on either side, and rioted amid the accumulated splendor -and plenty of the luckless land to their heart’s content. - -Saddled thus with the weight of luxurious conquerors who had lost -nearly every art but that of extortion, miserable at home, and -devastated from abroad, who can wonder that the British longed to throw -off the Roman yoke and breathe the fresher air of a wholesome life -again? And as the shadow of the Imperial wings was withdrawn from them -their hopes ripened; they thought they were strong and ruleworthy. -Fatal mistake! I saw it bud, and I saw it bitterly fruitful! - -If you turn back the pages of history you will find these hinds did -indeed make a stand for a moment, and when Honorius had withdrawn his -last legionaries, and given the islanders their liberty, for a few -brief years there was a shepherd government here--the British ruled -again in Britain. Then came the next strong tide of Northern invasion, -and another conquest. - -I well remember how, in the throes of the first great change that -heralded a new era in Britain, the herdsmen and serfs were crushed -between waning Roman terrors, such as Electra wielded, and the growing -horrors of the Northmen. - -Of these latter I saw something. On one occasion when the storm was -brewing, I was away down in the coast provinces hunting wolves, -and thus by chance fell in with a “sea king’s” foray and a British -reprisal. On that occasion the spoilers were spoiled, and we taught -the Northern ravishers a lesson which, had they been more united so -that such a blow might have been better felt by the whole, would have -damped their ardor for a long time. As it was, to rout and destroy -their scattered parties was but like mopping up the advancing tide of -those salt waves that brought them on us. - -Those down there by the Kentish shore had been unmolested for some -years; they had lived at their leisure, had got their harvests in, had -rebuilt their villages out in the open, and set up forges, and hammered -spearheads and bosses, rings for the women, of silver and brass, and -chains and furniture for their horses, of gold; shearing their flocks, -and living as though such things as Norsemen were not--when one day the -infliction came upon them again. - -It was a gusty morning in early summer--I remember it well--and most -of the men were from the villages, hunting, when away toward the coast -went up to the brightening sky a thin curl of smoke, followed by -another and another. The sight was understood only too well. Line after -line crept up in the silence of the morning over the green tree tops -and against the gray of the sea, while groups of black figures (flying -villagers we knew them to be) went now and then over the sky-line of -the wolds into the security of the valleys to right and left. As the -wail went up from the huts where I rested, a mounted chief, his toes -in the iron rings of his stirrups, and his wolf skins flying from his -bare shoulders, came pounding through the woods with the bad news the -raiders were close behind. - -Rapid packing was a great feminine accomplishment in those days, and, -while the women swept their children and more portable valuables -into their clothes and disappeared into the forest, we sent the -quickest-footed youths that were with us to call back the hunters, and -made our first stand there round the huts and mounds of the old village -of Caen Edron. - -And we kept its thatch and chattels inviolate, for, by this time, the -countryside was all in arms, and, as the sea was far behind them, the -despoilers but showed themselves on the fringe of the open, exchanged a -javelin or two, and turned. - -Hot on their track that morning of vengeance we went after them; over -the scrubby open ground and down through the tangles of oak and hazel. -We pressed them back past the charred and smoking remnants of the -villages they had burned, back by the streams that still ran streaky in -quiet places with blood, back down the red path of ruin and savagery -they had trodden, back by the cruel finger-posts of dead women, back -by the halting places of the ravishers--ever drawing new recruits and -courage, till we outnumbered them by six to one--and thus we trampled -that day on the heels of those laden pirates from the valley-head down -to the shore. - -It was a time of vengeance, and our women and children crowded, singing -and screaming, after us, to kill and torture the wounded. Every now -and then those surly spoilers turned, and we fled before them as the -dogs fly from a big boar who goes to bay; but each time we came on -again, and their standing places by the coverts and under the lichened -rocks were littered with dead, and all bestrewn amid the ferns in the -pink morning light was the glittering spoil they disgorged. Truly that -was an hour of victory, and the Britons were drunk with success. They -followed like starving wolves after a herd of deer, leaping from rock -to rock, crowding every point of vantage, and running and yelling -through the underwood until surely the Northmen must have thought the -place in possession of a legion of devils. - -But all this noise was as nothing to the frightful yell of savage -joy which went up from us when we saw the raiders draw together on -the shingle ridge of the beach, and knew instinctively by their pale, -tideward faces and hesitation, that they were trapped--the sea was out, -and their ships were high and dry! - -Somehow, I scarcely know how it was, when those men turned grimly and -prepared to make their last stand under their ships, a strange silence -fell upon both bands, and for a minute or two the long, wild rank of -our warriors halted at the bottom of the slope, every man silent and -dumb by a strange accord, while opposite, against the sky-line, were -the mighty Norsemen, clustered together, and looking down with fierce, -sullen brows, equally silent and expectant, while the sun glinted on -their rustling arms and tall, peaked casques. - -We stood thus a minute or two, and I heard the thumpings of my own -heart, like an echo of the low wash of the far-away sea--a plover -piping overhead, and a raven croaking on the distant hills, but -not another sound until--suddenly some British women who had come -red-handed to a mound behind broke out into a wild war song. Then -the spell was loosed, and we were again at them, sweeping the sea -kings from the ridge into the tangle of long grass and sand and -stunted bushes that led to the shore, and there, separated, but dying -stubbornly, powerless against our numbers, we pulled them down, and -killed them one by one, lopping their armor from them and stripping -their cloths, till the pleasant lichened valleys of the seashore wood -and the green footways of the moss were stamped full of crimson puddles -and littered with the naked bodies of those tawny giants. - -The last man to fall was a chief. Twice I had seen him hard pressed, -and had lifted my javelin to slay him, but a touch of silly compunction -had each time held my hand, and now he stood with his back to his -ship, like some fierce, beautiful thing of the sea. His plated brass -and steel cuirass was hacked and dented, his white linen hung in shreds -about him; his arms were bare, and blood ran down them, while his long -fair hair lifted to the salt wind that was coming in freshly with -the tide, and the sun shone on his cold blue eyes, and his polished -harness, and his tall and comely proportions, standing out there -against the dark side of his high-sterned vessel. - -But what cared the Britons for flaxen locks or the goodliness of a -young Thor? He had in his hands a broken spear, his own sword being -snapped in two; and with this weapon he lay about fiercely every now -and then as the men edged in upon him. Luckless Viking! there is no -retreat or rescue! He was bleeding heavily, and, even as I watched, his -chin sank upon his chest. At once the Britons ran in upon him, but the -life flared up again, and the gallant robber crushed in a pair of heads -with his stave and sent the others flying back, still glaring upon -the wide circle of his enemies with death and defiance struggling for -mastery in his eyes in a way wonderful to behold. Again and again the -yellow head of the young Thor nodded and sank, and again and again he -started up and scowled upon them, as each savage cry of joy, to see him -thus bleeding to death, fell upon his ears. Presently he wavered for -a moment and leaned his shoulder against the black side of his ship, -and his lids dropped wearily; at once the Britons rushed, and, when I -turned my face there again, they were hacking and stripping the armor -from a mutilated but still quivering corpse! - -A few such episodes as this repulse of the Northmen, magnified and -circulated with all the lying exaggeration that a coward race ever -wraps about his feats of arms, made the Britons bold, and their -boldness brings me to the end of my chapter. - -Many a pleasant week and month did I live and enjoy all the best -things life has to give: the master of my Roman mistress; the foremost -spearman where the boar went to bay among the rocks on the hillside; -the jolliest fellow that was ever invited to a lordly banquet; the -penniless adventurer whose fortune every one envied--and then fate put -me by again, and wiped my tablets clean for another frolic epoch. - -It came about this way. The British grew more and more unruly as time -went on, and legion after legion left us. At length, when the last of -the Romans were down to the coast, about to embark, Electra made up her -mind to go, too--and with all her hoards. But in this latter particular -the new authorities in the neighboring town could not concur, and they -sent two brand-new civilian senators to expostulate and detain her, -the last representative of the old rule. Electra had those gentlemen -stripped in the vestibule, and flogged within an ace of their lives, -and then sent them home, bound, in a mean country cart. - -All that afternoon we were busy sewing up the gold and bronze in bags, -and by dusk a long train of mules set out for the coast, in charge of a -score of our mercenaries, who, having served a long apprenticeship to -cruelty and extortion, had more to fear from the natives than even we. -Nor was it too soon. As the last of the convoy went into the evening -darkness, Electra and I ascended the flat, wide roof of her home, and -there we saw, westward, under the stormy red of the setting sun, the -flashing of arms and the dust-wreaths against the glow which hung above -the bands of people moving out and bearing down on us in a mood one -well could guess. - -Her ladyship, having safely packed, was disdainful and angry. Her fine -lips curled as she watched the gray column of citizens swarming out -to the assault; but when her gaze wandered over the fair valleys she -had ruled and bled so long, she was, perhaps, a little regretful and -softened. - -“My good and stalwart Captain,” she said, coming near to me, “yonder -sun, I fear, will never rise again on a Roman Briton! We must obey the -Fates. You know what I would do, had I the power, to yonder scum; but, -since we must desert this house to them (as I see too clearly we must), -how can we best ensure the safety of the treasure?” - -We arranged there and then, with small time for parley, that I should -stay with a handful of her mercenaries and make a stand about the -villa, while she, with the last of her servants, should go on and -hurry up by every means in her power the slow caravan of her wealth. -In truth, my mistress was as brave as she was overbearing, and but for -those endless shining bags of gold, I do believe she would have stayed -and fought the place with me. - -As it was, she reluctantly consented to the plan, and bid me adieu -(which I returned but coldly), and came back again for another kiss, -and said another good-by, and hung about me, and enjoined caution, -and held my hands, and looked first into my eyes and then back into -the darkness where the laden mules were, as much in love as a rustic -maid, as anxious as a usurer, and torn and distracted between these -contending feelings. - -At last she and all the women were gone, whereon with a lighter mind we -set ourselves down to cover their retreat. Here must it be confessed -that for myself I was ill at ease; treachery lurked within me. I had -grown somewhat weary of her ladyship, nor had longer a special wish to -be dragged in her golden chains, the restless spirit chance had bred -within moved, and I had determined to see my enamored Vice-Prefect safe -to her ships, and then--if I could--if I dared--break with her! I well -knew the wild tornado of indignation and love this would call up, and -hence had not confessed my intentions earlier, but had been cold and -distant. The dame, you will see presently, had been sharper in guessing -than I supposed. - -We made such preparation as we could, with the small time at our -disposal, barricading the white façade of the villa and closing all -approaches. Then we pulled the winter stacks to pieces in the yard, -making two great mounds of fagots in front of the porch, pouring oil -upon each, and stationing a man to fire them, by way of torches, at a -given signal. My hope was that, as the wide Roman way ran just below -the villa, the avengers of the Ambassadors would not think of passing -on until they had demolished the house and us. - -Of the loyalty of the few men with me I had little fear. They were -brave and stubborn, all their pay was on Electra’s mules, and the -British hated them without compunction. There were in our little -company that black evening, seven wild Welshmen, under a shaggy-haired, -blue-eyed princeling: Gwallon of the Bow, he called himself--fifteen -swarthy Iberians, all teeth and scimitar--a handful of Belgic -mercenaries, with great double-headed axes--but never a Roman among -them all in this last stand of Roman power in Britain! - -Was I a Roman, I wondered, as I stood on the terrace, waiting the onset -of the liberated slaves? What was I? Who was I? How came it that he -who was first in repelling the stalwart Roman adventurers of endless -years before was the last to lift a sword in their defense? And, more -personally, was this night to be, as it greatly seemed, the last of -all my wild adventures; or had fate infinite others in store for her -bantling? - -You will guess how I wondered and speculated as my golden Roman armor -clanked to my gloomy stride in Electra’s empty corridors, and the wet, -fleecy clouds drifted fitfully across the face of a broad, full moon, -and a thousand things of love or sorrow crowded on my busy mind. - -We had not long to wait, however. In an hour the mob came scuffling -round the bend, shouting disorderly, with innumerable torches borne -aloft, and they set up a yell when they caught sight of our shining -white walls silently agleam in the moonlight. - -There could be no parley with such a leaderless rush, and we attempted -none. Without a thought of discipline they stormed the pastures and -swarmed into the garden, a motley, angry crowd, armed with scythes and -hooks and axes, and apparently all the town pressing on behind. - -Well, we fired our fagots, and they gleamed up fiercely to welcome the -scullion levies to their doom. Never did you see such a ruddy, wild -scene--such a motley parody of noble war! The bright flames leaped into -the tranquil sky in volcanoes of spark and hissing tongues, the British -rushed at us between the fires like imps of darkness, and we met them -face to face and slew them like the dogs they were. In a few minutes we -were hemmed in the veranda, under whose columns we had some shelter, -and then my brave Welshmen showed me how they could pull their long -bows, which indeed they did in right good earnest, until all the trim -terraces were littered with writhing, howling foemen. - -But again they drove us back, this time into the house, and there we -soon had a better light to fight by, for the sparks had caught the -roof, and soon everything far and near was ablaze. Every man with -me that night fought like a patrician, and Electra’s walls, with -their endless painted garlands of oak and myrtle, their cooing doves -and tender Cupids, were horribly besmeared and smudged; and her -marble pillars were chipped by flying javelins and gashed by random -axe-strokes. - -Ten times we hurled ourselves upon the invaders and drove -them staggering backward over the slippery pavements into the -passages--sixteen men had fallen to my own arm alone, and we crammed -their bodies into the doorways for barricade. But it would not do. The -sheer weight of those without made the men within brave against their -will. Nothing availed the stinging shafts of my Welshmen, the Iberian -scimitars played hopelessly (like summer lightning in the glare) upon -a solid wall of humanity, and the German axes could make no pathway -through that impenetrable civilian tangle. - -Overhead and among us the smoke curled and eddied, and the flames -behind it made it like a hot noonday in our fighting-place. And in the -wreaths of that pungent vapor, circling thick and yellow in the great -open-roofed hall of the noble Roman villa, her ladyship’s statues of -faun and satyr still fluted and grinned imbecilely as though they liked -the turmoil. Niobe wept for new griefs as the marble little ones at her -feet were calcined before her eyes, and the Gorgon head wore a hundred -frightful snakes of flame; the pale, proud Pallas Athene of the Greeks -looked disdainfully on the dying barbarians at her feet, and Pan, -himself in bronze, leered on us through the reek until his lower limbs -grew white hot--and gave way, and down he came--whereon a mighty Briton -heaved him up by his head, and with this hissing, glowing flail carried -destruction and confusion among us. - -It was so hot in that flaming marble battle-place that foreigner -and Briton broke off fighting now and then to kneel together for a -moment at the red fountain basins where the jets still played (for the -fugitives had forgotten to turn them off), and quenched their thirst -in hurried gasps, ere flying again at each other’s throats, and so wild -the confusion and uproar, and so dense the smoke and flame, so red and -slippery were the pavements, and so thick the dead and dying, that -hardly one could tell which were friends and which foes. - -For an hour we kept them at bay, and then, when my arms ached with -killing, all of a sudden the face of a man unknown to me, whom I never -had seen before, shone in the gleam at my shoulder. - -“Phra the Phœnician,” he said, calling me by an appellation no living -man then knew, “I am bidden to get you hence. Come to the inner -doorway--quick!” - -I hardly knew what he meant, but there was that about him which I could -not but obey, so I turned and followed his retreating figure. - -I ran with him across the courtyard, under the white marble pillars all -aglow, through the silent banquet-hall that had echoed so often to the -haughty laughter of my mistress, and then when we reached the cool, -damp outer air--like a wreath of mist in November, like an eddy among -the dead leaves--my guide vanished and left me! - -Angry and surprised, but with no time for wonder, I turned back. - -Even as I did so there was a mighty crack, a groaning of a thousand -timbers, and there before my very face, with a resounding roar, -Electra’s lordly mansion, and all the wings, and buttresses, and -basements, the rooms, and colonnades, and corridors of that splendid -home of luxury and power, lurched forward, and heaved, and collapsed -in one mighty red ruin that tinctured the sky from east to west, and -buried alike in one vast, glowing hecatomb besiegers and besieged! - - * * * * * - -It had fallen, the last stronghold of Roman authority, and there was -nothing more to defend! I turned, and took me to the quiet forest -pathways, every nook and bend of which I knew. As I ran, the sweet, -moist air of the evening was like an elixir to my heated frame; -now into the black shadows I plunged, and anon brushing the silver -moonlight dew from bramble and bracken, while a thousand fancies of our -stubborn fight danced around me. - -In a little time the road went down to a river that sparkled in flood -under the moonbeams. Here the laden mules had crossed into comparative -safety, and now I had to follow them with a single guide-rope to feel -my way alone across the dangerous ford. I struggled through the swollen -stream safely, though it rose high above my waist, and then who should -loom out of the dark on the far side but Electra, standing alone and -expectant at the brink. - -Faithful, stately matron! She was so glad to see me again I was really -sorry I did not love her more. I told her something of the fight, and -she a little of the retreat. Some time before the long train of mules -and slaves had gone on up the steep slowing bank, and into the coppice -beyond, and now I and the Roman dame lingered a minute or so by the -brink of the turgid stream to see the last flickers of her burning -home. We were on the point of turning; indeed, Lady Electra seemed -anxious to be gone, when, stepping out of the dark pathway into a -patch of moonlight on the farther shore, a little silver casket in her -duteous hands, and those dainty skirts in which she took so much pride -muddy and soiled, appeared the poor little slave Numidea. - -She tripped fearfully forth from the shadows and down to the brink, -where the water was swirling against the stones in an ivory and silver -inlay; and when she saw (not perceiving us in the shadow) that all the -people had gone on and she was deserted to the tender mercies of the -foemen behind, she dropped her burden, and threw up her white, clasped -hands in the moonlight, and wailed upon us in a way that made my steel -cuirass too small for my swelling heart. - -Surely such a pitiful sight ought to have moved any one, yet Electra -only cursed those nimble feet under her breath, and from this, though -I may do her heavy injustice, I have since feared she had planned the -desertion and sent the maid back to be killed or taken on some false -errand which for her jealous purpose was too quickly executed. - -That noble Roman lady pulled me by the hand, and would have had me -leave the girl to her fate, scolding and entreating; and when I angrily -shook myself free, turning her wild, untutored passions into the -channels of love, told me she had guessed my project of leaving her -“for Numidea,” and clung to me, and endeared me, and promised me “the -tallest porch on Palatina” (as I threw off my buckler and broadsword -to be lighter in the stream) and “the whitest arms for welcome there -that ever a Roman matron spread” (as I pitched my gilded helmet into -the bushes and strode down to the torrent), if I would but turn my back -once for all upon my little kinswoman. - -Three times the white arms of that magnificent wanton closed round -me, and three times I wrenched them apart and hurled her back, three -times she came anew to the struggle, squandering her wild, queenly love -upon me, while, under the white light overhead, the tears shone in her -wonderful upturned eyes like very diamonds; three times she invoked -every deity in the hierarchy of the southern skies to witness her -perjured love, and cursed, for my sake, all those absent youths who had -fallen before her. Three times she knelt there on the black and white -turf, and wrung her fair hands and shook out her long, thick hair, -and came imploring and begging down to the very lapping of the water. -And there I stood--for I too was a Southern, and could be hot and -fierce--and spoke such words as she had never heard before--abused and -scoffed and derided her: laughed at her sorrow and mocked her grief, -and then turned and plunged into the torrent. - -The ford was not long: in a minute or two I struggled out on the -farther shore, and Numidea, with a cry of pleasure and trustfulness, -came to my dripping arms. - -The British, hot on the track, were shouting to one another in the dark -pursuit, so the little maid was picked up securely, and, with her in -my left arm upon my hip, her warm wrists about my neck, and my other -hand on the guide-rope, we went back into the stream again. By the -sacred fane of Vesta, it ran stronger than a mill sluice, and tugged -and worried at my limbs like the fingers of a fury! I felt the pebbly -gravel sifting and rolling beneath my feet, and the strong lift of the -water, as it swirled, flying by in the moonlight, hissing and bubbling -at my heaving chest in a way that frightened me--even me. At last, with -every muscle on fire with the strain and turmoil, and my head giddy -with the dancing torrent all about it, I saw the farther bank loom over -us once more, and, heaving a heavy sigh of fatigue, collected myself -for one more crowning effort. - -But I had forgotten that royal harpy, my mistress; and, even as I -gathered my last strength in the swirl of the black water below, she -sprang to the verge of the bank overhead, vengeance and hatred flashing -in the eyes that I had left full of gentleness and tears, and gleaming -there in her wrath, her white robes shining in the moonlight against -the ebony setting of the night, and glowered down upon us. - -“Down with the maid!” she screamed, with all the tyrant in her voice. -“Down with her, Centurion, or you die together!” - -“Never! never!” I shouted, for my blood was boiling fiercely, and I -could have laughed at a hundred such as she. But while I shouted my -heart sank, for Electra was terrible to behold--an incarnation of -beautiful cruelty, hot, reckless hatred ruling the features that had -never turned upon me before but in sweetness and love. For one minute -the passion gathered head, and then, while I stood in the current -with dread of the coming deed, she snatched my own naked sword from -the ground. “Die, then!” she yelled; “and may a thousand curses weigh -down your souls!” As she said it the blade whirled into the moonlight, -descending on the guide-rope just where it ran taut and hard over the -posts, severing it clean to the last strands with one blow of those -effective white arms, and the next minute the hempen cord was torn out -of my grasp, and over and over in a drowning, bewildered cascade of -foam we were swept away down the stream. - -[Illustration: “Die, then!” she yelled; “and may a thousand curses -weigh down your souls!”] - -It was the wildest swim that ever a mortal took. So fiercely did we -spin and fly that heaven and earth seemed mixed together, and the white -clouds overhead were not whiter than the sheets of foam that ran down -seaward with us. I am a good swimmer, but who could make the bank in -such a caldron of angry waters? and now Numidea was on top, and now -I. It went to my heart to hear the poor little Christian gasp out on -“Good St. Christopher!” and to feel the flutter of her breast against -my leather jerkin, and then presently I did not feel it at all. Many an -island of wreckage passed us, but none that I could lay hold on, until -presently a mighty log came foaming down upon us, laboring through -that torrent surf like a full-sailed ship. As it passed I threw an arm -over a strong root, and thus, for an hour, behind that black midnight -javelin we flew downward, I knew not whither. Then it presently left -the strong stream, and towing me toward a soft alluvial beach, just -as dawn was breaking in the east, deposited me there, and slowly -disappeared again into the void. - -This is all I know of Roman Britain; this is the end of the chapter. - -As I reeled ashore with my burden some friendly fisherfolk came -forward to help, but I saw them not. Numidea was dead! my poor little -slave-girl--the one speck of virtue in that tyrant world--and I bent -over her, and shut her kindly eyes, and spread on the sand her long wet -braids, and smoothed the modest white gown she was so careful of, with -a heart that was heavier than it ever felt yet in storm or battle! - -Then all my grief and exertions came upon me in a flood, and the last -thing I remember was stooping down in the morning starlight to kiss the -fair little maid upon that pallid face that looked so wan and strange -amid the wild-spread tangles of her twisted hair. - - - - -CHAPTER V - - -When consciousness came to my eyes again, everything around me was -altered and strange. The very air I drew in with my faint breaths had -a taste of the unknown about it, an impalpable something that was not -before, speaking of change and novelty. As for surroundings, it was -only dimly that any fashioned themselves before those dull and sleepy -eyes of mine that hesitated, as they drowsily turned about, whether to -pronounce this object and that true material substance, or still the -idle fantasy of dreams. - -As time went on certainty developed out of doubt, and I found myself -speculating on as strangely furnished a chamber as any one was ever in. -All round the wall hung the implements of many occupations in bunches -and knots. Here the rude tools of husbandry were laid aside, the -mattock and the flail; the woodman’s axe and the neatherd’s goad, just -as though they had been suspended on the wall by some invisible laborer -after a good day’s work. Yonder were a sheaf of arrows and a stout bow -strangely shaped, a hunting horn, and there again a long withy peeled -for fishing, and a broad, rusty iron sword (that truly looked as if it -had not been used for some time) over against a leash for dogs, and a -herdsman’s cowl, with other strange things festooning the walls of this -dim little place. - -Among these possessions of some many-minded men were shelves I noted -with clay vessels of sorts upon them, and bunches of dried herbs and -roots and apples put by for the winter, and, more curious still, in the -safest niche away in the quietest corner were stored up in many tiers -more than a score of vellums and manuscripts, all neatly rolled and -tagged with colored ribbons, and wound in parchments and embroidered -gold and colored leathers, forming such a library of learning as only -the very studious could possess in those days. Beyond them were flasks -and essences, and dried herbs, and ink-horns, and sheafs of uncut reeds -for writing, with such other various items as astonished me by their -incongruous complexity and novelty. - -All these lay in the shadows most commendable to my weakly eyes. As for -the center of the room, I now began to notice it was a brilliant golden -haze, a nebulous cloud of yellow light, to my enfeebled sense without -form or meaning, whence emerged constantly a thin metallic hammering, -as though it might be some kindly invisible spirit were forging a -golden idea into a human hope behind that shining veil. - -I shut my eyes for a minute or two to rest them, and then looked again. -The haze had now concentrated itself into a circle of light, radiating, -as I perceived, from a lamp hung from the low roof, and under that -pale, modest radiance, seated at a trestle table, was a venerable -white-bearded old man. Never, so far, perhaps, in long centuries of -intercourse with brave but licentious peoples, had a face like his -been before me. It was restful to look at, a new page in history it -seemed, full of a peace which had hitherto passed all understanding and -a dignity beyond description or definition. Before him, on the board, -was a brilliant mass of shining white metal, and, as he eagerly bent -over it, absorbed in his work, his thin and scholarly hands, wielding -a chisel and a mallet and obeying the art that was in his soul, caused -the rhythmed hammering I had noticed, while they forced with loving -zeal the bright chips and spiral flakes from the splendid dazzling -crucifix he was shaping. - -And all behind that lean and kindly anchorite the black shadows -flickered on the walls of his lonely cell, and his little fire of -sticks burned dimly on the open hearth, and the shining dust of his -labor sparkled in his grizzly beard as brightly as the reverent -pleasure in his eyes while the symbol before him took form and shape. - -So pleasant was he to look upon, I could have left him long -undisturbed, but presently a sigh involuntarily escaped me. Thereon, -looking up for the first time from his work, the recluse peered all -round him into the recesses, and, seeing nothing, fell to his task -once more. Again I sighed, and then he arose without emotion or fear, -and stared intently into the shadows where I lay. In vain I essayed to -speak--my tongue clove to my mouth, and naught but a husky rattle broke -the stillness. At that sound he took down the lamp and came forward, -wonder and astonishment working in his face; and when, as the light -shone on me, with a great effort my head was turned to one side, even -that placid monk started back and stood trembling a little by the table. - -But he soon mastered his weakness and advanced again, muttering, as he -did so, excitedly to himself, “He was right! He was right!” And when at -last my tongue was loosened I said: - -“Who was right, thou gray-bearded chiseler?” - -“Who? Why, Alfred. Alfred, the son of Ethelwulf, the son of -Egbert--Alfred the great Thane of England!” - -“One of your British Princelings, I suppose,” I muttered huskily. “And -wherein was he so right?” - -“He was right, O marvelous returner from the dim seas of the past, -in that he prophesied your return! To him you owe this shelter and -preservation.” - -“All this may be so, my host,” I replied, beginning to feel more myself -again; “but it matters not. I fought a stubborn fight last night, and I -was carried away by a midnight torrent. If you have sheltered and dried -me, and”--with a sudden sinking of my voice--“if you have protected -the little maid I had with me, then I am grateful to you, Alfred or -no Alfred,” and I threw off a mountain of moldy-seeming rags and -coverlets, and staggered up. - -But that worthy monk was absolutely dumb with astonishment, and as I -tottered to my feet, holding out to him a gaunt, trembling hand, brown -with the dust of ages, and drunkenly reeled across his floor, he edged -away, while the long hair of his silvery head bristled with wonder. - -“My son, my son!” he gasped at length, over the shining crucifix; “this -is not so; none of us know the beginning of that sleep you have slept; -that night of yours is of immeasurable antiquity. History has forgotten -your very battles, and your maid, I fear, has long since passed into -common, immaterial dust.” - -This was too much, and suddenly, overwhelmed by the tide of hot -Phœnician passion, I shook my fist in his face, and swearing in my -bitter Roman that he lied, that he was a grizzle-bearded villain with a -heart as black as his tongue, I staggered to the doorway, and pushing -wide the hinges tottered out on to a grassy promontory just as the -primrose flush of day was breaking over the hilltops. There, holding -on to a post, for my legs were very weak and frail, and peering into -the purple shadows, I lifted my voice in anger and fear, and shouted in -that green loneliness, “Numidea! Numidea!” then waited with a beating, -beating heart until--thin, sullen, derisive--from the hills across the -ravine came back the soulless response: - -“Numidea! Numidea!” - -I could not believe it. I would not think they could not hear, and -stamping in my impatience, “Electra!” I shouted, “Numidea! ’tis -Phra--Phra the friendless who calls to you!” then again bent an ear to -listen, until, from the void shadows of the purple hills, through the -pale vapors of the morning mist, there came again in melancholy-wise -the answer: - -“’Tis Phra, Phra the friendless who calls to you!”--and I dropped my -face into my hands and bent my head and dimly knew then that I was -jettisoned once more on the shore of some unknown and distant time! - -It was of no use to grieve; and when the kindly hand of the monk was -placed upon my shoulder I submitted to his will, and was led back to -the cell, and there he gave me to drink of a sweet, thin decoction that -greatly soothed these high-strung nerves. - -Then many were the questions that studious man would have me answer, -and busy his wonder and awe at my assertions. - -“What Emperor rules here now?” I said, lying melancholy on my elbow on -the couch. - -“None, my son. There are no Emperors but the Sovereign Pontiff now--may -St. Peter be his guide!” - -“No Emperor! Why, old man, Honorius held sway in Rome that night I went -to sleep!” - -“Honorius!” said the monk, incredulously stopping his excited pacings -to stare at me; and he took down a portly tome of history and ran his -fingers over the leaves, until, about midway through that volume, they -settled on a passage. - -“Look! look! you marvelous man!” he cried; “all this was history before -you slumbered; and all this, nigh as much again, has been added while -you slept! Five hundred years of solid life!--a thousand changing -seasons has the germ of existence been dormant in that mighty bulk of -yours! Oh! ’tis past belief, and had you not been my lodger for so long -a time, though all so short in comparison, I would not hear of it.” - -“And how has the world spun all this period?” I said, with dense -persistence. “Who is Consul now in Gaul? And are all my jolly friends -of the Tenth Legion still quartered where I left them?”--and I -mentioned the name of the town by which Electra lived. - -“I tell thee, youth,” the priest replied quite hotly, “there is no -Consul, there are no legions. All your barbarous Romans are long since -swept to hell, and the noble Harold is here anointed King of Saxon -England.” - -“I never heard of him,” I said coldly. - -“Perhaps not, but, by the cowl of St. Dunstan! he flourishes -nevertheless,” responded my saintly entertainer. - -“And is this Harold of yours successor to the other Thane, Alfred, whom -you describe as taking such a kindly interest in me?” - -“Yes; but many generations separate them. It was the great Bretwalda -you have mentioned who, tradition says, once found you inanimate, yet -living, in a fisherman’s hut where he sheltered one day from a storm, -and, struck by the marvel and the tale of the poor folk that their -ancestors had long ago dragged you from a swollen river in their nets, -and that you slumbered on without alteration or change from year to -year, from father to son, there on your dusty shelf in their peat smoke -and broken gear, he bought and gave you to the holy Prelate at the -blessed Cathedral of Canterbury, whence you came a few months ago into -my hands. All else there is to know, my strangely gifted son,” the monk -went on, “is locked in the darkness of that long slumber, and such acts -of your other life as your vacant mind may recall.” - -This seemed a wonderful thing, very briefly told, but it was obviously -all there was to hear, and sufficient after a style. The old man said -that, having a mind for curiosities, and observing me once in danger of -being broken up as rubbish by careless hands, he had claimed me, and -brought the strange living mummy here to his cell “on the hill Senlac, -by the narrow English straits.” - -“That, inscrutable one,” he added with a twinkle in his eye, “was only -some months ago, and the mess I made my hut in cleaning and wiping you -down was wonderful. Yonder little stream you hear prattling in the -valley ran dusty for hours with your washings, and your form was one -shapeless bulk of cobwebs and dishonored wrappings. Many a time as I -peeled from you the alternate layers of peat smoke and rags with which -generations of neglect had shrouded that body, did I think to roll you -into the valley as you were, and see what proportions the weather and -the crows would make of it. But better counsels prevailed, and for -seven days you have been free and daily rubbed with scented oils!” - -I thanked him meetly, and hoped I had not been a reluctant patient? - -“A more docile never breathed.” - -“Not an expensive lodger afterward?” - -“Never was there one more frugal, nor one who less criticized his -entertainment!” - -Then it was the good monk’s turn, and his wise and kindly eyes sparkled -with pleasure and astonishment as I told him in gratitude such tales -of the early times--drew for him such brilliant, fiery pictures on the -dark background of the past--illumined and vivified his dry histories -with the colors of my awakening memory, and set all the withered -puppets of his chronicles a-dancing in the tinsel and the glitter of -their actual lives; until, over the lintel of his doorway and under -the lappets of his roof, there came the first thin, fine fingers of -the morning sunshine, trickling into our dim arena thronged thus with -shadowy imagery, and playing lovingly, about the great silver crucifix -that lay thus ablaze under it in the gloom! Then I slept again for two -days and two nights as lightly and happily as a child. - - * * * * * - -When I awoke I was both hungry and well. Indeed, it was the scent of -breakfast that roused me. But, alas! the meal was none of mine. The -little table had been cleared, and at it, on clean white napkins, were -places for three or four people. There were wooden platters with steel -knives upon them, oaten loaves, great wooden tankards of wine and mead, -with fish and fowl flesh in abundance. Surely my entertainer was going -to turn out a jolly fellow, now the night’s vigils were over! But as -I speculated in my retired couch there fell the beat of marching men, -a clatter of arms outside and a shouting of many voices in clamorous -welcome, the ringing of stirrup-irons and the champing of bits, and -then, to my infinite astonishment, in stalked as comely a man as I had -ever seen, and leading by the hand a fair, pale, black-haired girl, who -looked jaded and red in her eyes. - -“There, my Adeliza,” he said; “now dry those lashes of yours and cheer -up. What! A Norman girl like you, and weeping because two hosts stand -faced for battle! What will our Saxon maids say to these shining drops?” - -“Oh, Harold!” the girl exclaimed, “it is not conflict I fear, or I -would not have come hither to you, braving your anger; but think of the -luckless chance that brings my father from Normandy in arms against -my Saxon love! Think of my fears, think how I dread that either side -should win--surely grief so complicated should claim pardon for these -simple tears.” - -“Well, well,” said he--whom I, unobserved in the shadows, now -recognized as the English monarch himself--“if we are bound to die, we -can do so but once, and at least we will breakfast first,” and down -he sat, signing the girl to get herself another stool in rough Saxon -manner. - -And a very good meal he made of it, putting away the toasted ortolans -and cheese, and waging war with his fingers and dagger upon all the -viands, washing them down with constant mighty draughts from the wooden -flagons, and this all in a jolly, light-hearted way that was very -captivating. Ever and anon he called to the “churls” outside, or gave a -hasty order to his captains with his mouth full of meat and bread, or -put some dainty morsel into the idle fingers of his damsel, as though -breakfasting was the chief thing in life, and his kingdom were not -tottering to the martial tread of an invader. - -But even gallant Harold, the last King of the Saxons, had finished -presently, and then donning his pointed casque and his flowing -silken-filigreed cloak, thrusting his whinger into his jeweled girdle, -he threw his round steel target on his back--then held out both -his arms. Whether or not his Norman love, the reluctant seal of a -broken promise, had always loved him, it is not for me to say, but, -woman-like, she loved him at the losing, and flew to him and was -enfolded tight into his ample chest, and mixed her raven tresses with -his yellow English hair, and sobbed and clung to him, and took and gave -a hundred kisses, and was so sweet and tearful that my inmost heart was -moved. - -When Harold had gone out, and when presently the clatter of arms and -shouting proved he was moving off to the field of eventful battle, -Adeliza the proud bowed her head upon the table, and abandoned herself -to so wild a grief that I was greatly impelled to rise and comfort her. -But she would not be consoled, even by the ministrations of two of her -waiting maidens, who soon entered the place; and seeing this I took an -opportunity when all three were blending their tears to slip out into -the open air. - -There I found my friendly Saxon monk in great tribulation, with a -fragment of vellum in his hand. - -“Ah, my son,” he said--“the very man. Look here, the air is heavy with -event. Yonder, under the sheen of the sun, William of Normandy is -encamped with sixty thousand of his cruel adventurers, and there, down -there among the trees, you see the gallant Harold and his straggling -array, sorry and muddy with long marching, on the way to oppose them. -But the King has not half his force with him, nor a fourth as many as -he needs! Take this vellum, and, if you ever put a buskin in speed -to the grass, run now for the credit of England and for the sake of -history--run for that ridge away there behind us, where you will find -the good Earl of Mercia and several thousand men encamped--and, if not -asleep, most probably stuffing themselves with food and drink,” he -added bitterly under his breath. “Give him this, and say Harold will -not be persuaded, say that unless the reserves march at once the fight -will be fought without them--and then I think Dane and Saxon will be -chaff before the wind of retribution. Run! my son--run for the good -cause, and for Saxon England!” - -Without a word I took the vellum and crammed it into my bosom and -spun round on my heels and fled down the hillside, and breasted the -dewy tangles of fern and brambles, and glided through the thickets, -and flying from ridge to ridge, and leaping and running as though the -silver wings of Mercury were on my heels, in an hour I dashed up the -far hillside, and, panting and exhausted, threw down the missive under -the tawny beard of the great Earl himself. - -That scion of Saxon royalty was, as the monk had foreseen, absorbed in -the first meal of the day, but he was too much of a soldier, though, -like all his race, a desperate good trencherman, to let such a matter -as my errand grow cold, and no sooner had he read the scroll and put me -a shrewd question or two than the order went forth for his detachments -to arm and march at once. But only a captain of many fights knows how -slow reluctant troops can be in such case. Surely, I thought, as I -stood by with crossed arms watching the preparations it was none of my -business to help--surely a nation, though gallant enough, which quits -its breakfast board so tardily, and takes such a perilous time to -cross-garter its legs, and buckle on its blades, and peak its beard, -and tag out its baldric so nicely, when the invader is on foot--surely -such a nation is ripe to the fall! And these comely English troops -were doubly weary this morning, for they were fresh, as one of them -told me, from a hard fight in the far north of the kingdom, where -Harold had just overthrown and slain Hardrada, King of Norway, and the -unduteous Tosti, Harold’s own brother. Less wonder, then, I found them -travel-stained and weary, no marvel for the once they were so slow to -my fatal invitation. - -It was noon before the English Earl led off the van of his men, and -an hour later before I had seen the last of them out of the camp and -followed reflective in the rear--a place that never yet sorted with -my mood--wondering, with the happy impartiality of my circumstances, -whether it were best this morning to be invader or invaded. - -When we had gone a mile or two through the leafy tangles, a hush fell -upon the troop with which I rode, and then with a shout we burst into -a run, for up from the valley beyond came the unmistakable sound of -conflict and turmoil. We breasted the last ridge, I and two hundred -men, and there, suddenly emerging into the open, was the bloody valley -of Senlac beneath us, and the sunny autumn sea beyond, and at our -feet right and left the wail and glitter and dust of nearly finished -battle--Harold had fought without us, and we saw the quick-coming -forfeit he had to pay. - -The unhappy Saxons down there on the pleasant grassy undulations and -among the yellow gorse and ling stood to it like warriors of good -mettle, but already the day was lost. The Earl and his tardy troops had -been merged into the general catastrophe, and my handful would have -been of naught avail. The English array was broken and formless, galled -by the swarming Norman bowmen, the twang of whose strings we could -mark even up here, and fiercely assailed by foot and horsemen. In the -center alone the English stood stubbornly shoulder to shoulder around -the peaked flag, at whose foot Harold himself was grimly repelling the -ceaseless onset of the foeman. - -But alas for Harold, alas for the curly-headed son of Ethelwulf, and -all the Princes and Peers with him! - -We saw a mighty mass of foreign cavalry creeping round the shoulder -of the hill, like the shadow of a raincloud upon a sunny landscape: -we saw the thousand gonfalons of the spoilers fluttering in the wind: -we saw the glitter on the great throng of northern chivalry that -crowded after the black charger of William of Normandy and the sacred -flag--accursed ensign--that Toustain held aloft: we saw their sweeping -charge, and then when it was passed, the battle was gone and done, the -Saxon power was a hundred little groups dying bravely in different -corners of the field. - -The men with me that luckless afternoon melted away into the woods, -and I turned my steps once more to the little hill above Senlac and my -hermit’s cell. - -There the ill news had been brought by a wounded soldier, and the women -were filling the evening air with cries and weeping. All that night -they wept and wailed, Harold’s wife leading them, and when dawning came -nothing would serve but she must go and find her husband’s body. Much -the good monk tried to dissuade her, but to no purpose, and swathing -herself in a man’s long cloak, with one fair maiden likewise disguised, -and me for a guide, before there was yet any light in the sky the brave -Norman girl set out. - -And sorry was our errand and grim our success. The field of battle was -deserted, save of dead and dying men. On the dark wind of the night -went up to heaven from it a great fitful groan, as all the wounded -groaned in unison to their unseen miseries. Alas! those tender charges -of mine had never seen till now the harvest field of war laid out with -its swaths of dead and dying! Often they hesitated on that gloomy walk -and hid their faces as the fitful clouds drifted over the scene, and -the changing light and shadows seemed to put a struggling ghastly life -into the heaps of mangled corpses. Everywhere, as we threaded the mazes -of destruction or stepped unwitting in the darkness into pools of blood -and mire, were dead warriors in every shape and contortion, lying all -asprawl, or piled up one on top of another, or sleeping pleasantly in -dreamless dissolution against the red sides of stricken horses. And -many were the pale, blood-besmeared faces of Princes and chiefs my -white-faced ladies turned up to the starlight, and many were the sodden -yellow curls they lifted with icy fingers from the dead faces of thanes -and franklins, until in an hour the Norman girl, who had gone a little -apart from us, suddenly stood still, and then up to the clear, black -vault of heaven there went such a clear, piercing shriek as hushed even -the very midnight sorrows of the battlefield itself. - -The King was found! - -And Editha, the handmaiden, too, made her find presently, for there, -over the dead Prince’s feet, their left hands still clasping each as -when they had died, were her father and her two stalwart brothers. - -Never did silenter courtiers than we six sit at a monarch’s feet until -the day should break; and then we who lived covered the comely faces -with the hems of their Saxon tunics, and were away as fast as we could -go to the Norman camp, that the poor Princess-girl might beg a trophy -of her victorious father. - -We entered the camp without harm, but had to stand by until the -Conqueror should leave his tent and enter the rough shelter that had -already been erected for him. Here, while we waited, a young knight, -guessing Editha’s sex through her long cloak, roughly pulled down the -kerchief she was holding across her face. Whereupon I struck him so -heavily with my fist that, for a minute, he reeled back against the -horse he was leading, and then out came his falchion, and out came -mine, and we fell upon each other most heartily. - -But before a dozen passes had been made the bystanders separated us, -and at the same moment the Normans set up a shout, and the brand-new -English tyrant strode out of his tent, and, encircled by a glittering -throng, entered the open audience-hall. Adeliza dropped her white veil -as he sat himself down, and called to him, and ran to the foot of his -chair, and wept and knelt, so that even the stern son of Robert the -Devil was moved, and took her to him, and stroked her hair, and soothed -and called her, in Norman-French, his pretty daughter, and promised her -the first boon she could think of. - -And that boon was the body of Harold _Infelix_. - -Turn back the pages of history, and you will see that she had her wish, -and Waltham Abbey its kingly patron.[1] - -[1] Exact historians say it was Harold’s mother who found his body upon -the field of battle, and offered William its weight in gold for it. But -our narrator ought to know the truth better than any of them. - -Meanwhile, a knight led the weeping Princess away to her father’s -tent, but when I and Editha would have followed two iron-coated rogues -crossed their halberds in our path. - -“Not so fast there, my bulky champion!” called William the Bastard to -me. “What is this I heard about your striking a Norman for glancing at -yonder silly Saxon wench? By St. Denis! your girls will have to learn -to be more lenient! Whence come you? What was your father’s name?” - -“I hardly know,” I said, without thinking. - -“Ah! a too common ignorance nowadays!” sneered the Conqueror, turning -to his laughing knights. - -Whereon wrathfully I replied: “At least, my father never mistook, under -cover of the night, a serving-wench for a Princess!” - -The shaft took the soldier in a very tender spot, and his naturally -sallow countenance blanched slowly to a hideous yellow as a smile went -round the steel circle of his martial courtiers at my too telling -answer. Yet even then I could not but do his iron will justice for -the stern resolution with which the passion was restrained in that -cold and cruel face, and when he turned and spoke in the ear of his -marshal standing near there was no tremor of anger or compassion in -the inflexible voice with which he ordered me to be taken outside and -hanged “to the nearest tree that will bear him” in ten minutes. - -“As for the Saxon wench----Here, Des Ormeux”--turning to a grim villain -in steel harness at his side--“this girl has a good fief, they say: she -and it are yours for the asking!” - -“My mighty liege,” said the Norman, dropping on one knee, “never was -a gift more generously given. I will hold the land to your eternal -service, and make the maid free of my tent to-day, and to-morrow we -will look up a priest for the easing of her conscience.” - -Loudly the assembled soldiers laughed as Des Ormeux pounced upon the -shrieking Editha and bore her out of one door, while, in spite of -my fierce struggles to get at him, I was hustled into the open from -another. - -They dragged me into a green avenue between the huts of the invader’s -camp while they went for a rope to hang me with. And as I stood thus -loosely guarded and waiting among them, down the Norman ravisher came -pacing toward us on his war-horse, bound toward his tent, with my white -Saxon flower fast gripped in front of him. - -Oh, but he was proud to think himself possessed of a slice of fair -English soil so easily, and to have his courtship made so simple for -him, and he looked this way and that, with an accursed grin upon his -face, no more heeding the tears and struggles of his victim than the -falcon cares for the stricken pigeon’s throes. When they came opposite -to us Editha saw me and threw out her hands and shrieked to me, and, -when I turned away my eyes and did not move, surely it seemed as -though her heart would have broken. - -Three more paces the war-horse made, and then, with the spring of a -leopard thirsting for blood, I was alongside of him, another bound -and I was on the crupper behind, and there, quicker than thought, -quicker than the lightning strikes down the pine-tree, I had lifted -the Norman’s steel shoulder-plate, and stabbed him with my long, keen -dagger so fiercely in the back that the point came out under his -mid-rib, and the red blood spurted to his horse’s ears. Quicker, too, -than it takes to tell I had gripped the maiden from the spoiler’s dying -hands, and, pushing his bloody body from the saddle, had thrown my own -legs over the crescent peak, and before the gaping scullion soldiers -comprehended my bold stroke for freedom I had turned the horse’s head -and was thundering through the camp toward the free green woods beyond. - -And we reached them safely; a rascal or two let fly their cross-bows at -us as we fled by, and I heard the bolts hum merrily past my ears, but -they did no harm; and there was mounting and galloping and shouting, -but the mailed Normans were wonderfully slow in their stirrups! I -laughed to see them scrambling and struggling into their seats, two or -three men to every warrior who got safely up, and we soon left them far -behind. Down into the dip we rode, my good horse spurning in his stride -the still fresh bodies of yesterday’s fighters, and spinning the empty -helmets, and clattering through all the broken litter of the bitter -contest, until we swept up the inland slopes into the stunted birch -and hazels, and then--turning for a moment to shake my fist at the -nearest of the distant Normans--I headed into the leafy shelter, and -was speedily free from all chance of pursuit. - -Then, and not before, was there time to take a glance at my beautiful -prize, lying so gentle and light upon my breast. Alas! every tint of -color had gone from her fair features, and she lay there in my arms, -fainting and pulseless. I loosened her neckscarf. “So!” I said, “fair -Saxon blossom, this is destiny, and you and I are henceforth to be -joined together by the wondrous links of fate”--and, stooping down as -we paced through the pleasant green and white flicker of the silent -wood, I endorsed the immutable will of chance with a kiss upon her -forehead. - -Presently she recovered, and all that day we rode forward through the -endless vistas of the southern woods by bridle tracks and swine paths, -until at nightfall, far from other shelters, we halted among the rocks -and hollows of a little eminence. No doubt my gentle comrade would -have preferred a more peopled habitation, but there was none in all -that mighty wilderness, so she, like a wise girl, submitted without -complaint to that which she could not avoid. - -There was naught much to tell you of this evening, but it lives forever -in my memory for one particular which consorted strangely with the -thoughts the flight with and rescue of Editha had aroused. I had found -her a roomy hollow in the rocks, and there had cut with my dagger and -made a bed of rushes, built a fire, and got her some roots to eat, and -when darkness fell we talked for a time by the cheerful blaze. - -Without surprise I heard that though true Saxon in name and face, there -was some British blood in her veins--a fact, indeed, of which I had -been certain without her assurance. Then she went on to tell, with -tearful pauses, of the home and broad lands of which she was now lady -paramount, as well as of the gallant kinsman lying out yonder dead in -the night dew, and wept and sighed in gentle melancholy, yet without -the wild, inconsolable grief latter times have taught to women, until -presently those tearful blue eyes grew heavier and heavier, and the -shapely chin dropped in grief and weariness upon her white breast, and -Editha of Voewood slept in the hands of the stranger. - -Then I went out and looked at the blackness of the night. Over the -somber forest the shadowy pall of the evening was spread, and a -thousand stars gleamed brightly on every hand. Very still and strange -was that unbroken fastness after the red turmoil of yesterday, with -nothing disturbing the silence but the cry of an owl to its mate across -the coppices, the tinkle of a falling streamlet, and now and then the -long, hungry howling of a wolf, or, nearer by, the sharp barking of -the foxes. I fed my horse, then went in and pulled the fire together, -and fell a-ruminating, my chin on my hands, upon a hundred episodes of -happiness and fear. - -“Oh, strange eternal powers who set the goings and comings of humanity, -what is the meaning of this wild riddle you are reading me?” I said -presently aloud to myself. “Oh! Hapi and Amenti, dark goddesses of the -Egyptians--oh! Atropos, Lachesis, Clotho, fatal sisters whom the Romans -dread--Mista, Skogula, Zernebock, of these dark Saxon shadows--why am I -thus chosen for this uncertain immortality, when will this long drama, -this changeful history of my being, end?” - -As I muttered thus to myself I glanced at the white girl sleeping in -the ruddy blaze, and saw her chest heave, and then--strange to tell, -stranger to hear--with a sound like the whisper of a distant sea her -lips parted, and there came unmistakably the word: - -“Never!” - -Perhaps she was but dreaming of that amorous Norman’s fierce proposals, -and so again I mused. - -“Is it possible some unfinished spell of that red high priestess of -the Druids plays this sport with me? Is it possible Blodwen’s abiding -affection--stronger than time and changes--accompanies me from age -to age in these her sweet ambassadors forever crossing my path? Tell -me, you comely sleeper, tell me your embassy, which is it that lasts -longest, life or love?” - -Slowly again, to my surprise, those lips were parted, and across the -silent cavern came, beyond mistake or question, the word--“Love!” - -At this very echo of my thoughts I stared hard at her who answered so -appropriately, but there could be no doubt Editha was asleep with an -unusually deep and perfect forgetfulness, and when I had assured myself -of this it was only possible for me to suppose those whispered words -were some delusion, the echo of my questioning. - -Again I brooded, and then presently looked up, and there--by Thor and -Odin! ’twas as I write it--between me and the bare earth and tangled -rootlets of the cavern side, over against the fitful sparkle of the -fire, was a thin impalpable form that oscillated gently to the draughts -creeping along the floor, and grew taller and taller, and took mortal -air and shape, and rose out of nebulous indistinctness into a fine -ethereal substance, and was clothed and visaged by the concentration of -its impalpable material, and there at last, smiling and gentle, in the -flicker of the camp-fire, the gray shadow of my British Princess stood -before me! - -That man was never brave who has not feared, and then for a moment I -feared, leaping to my feet and staggering back against the wall under -the terrible sweetness of those eyes that burned into my being with a -relentless fire that I could not have shunned if I would, and would not -if I could. For some time I was thus motionless and fascinated, and -then the gentle shadow, who had been regarding me intently, appeared -to perceive the cause of my enthrallment, and lifting a shapely arm of -lavender-colored essence for a minute veiled the terrible bewitchment -of her face. Shrewd, observant shadow! As she did so I was myself -again--my blood welled into my empty veins, my heart knocked fiercely -at my ribs, and when Blodwen lowered her hand there seemed to me -endless enchantment but nothing dreadful in the glance of kindly wonder -with which her eyes met mine. - -Surely it was as strange an encounter as ever there had been--the -little rocky recess all ruddy and shadowy in the dancing flames; the -silent white Saxon girl there on the heaped-up rushes, her breast -heaving like a summer sea with a long, smooth undulation; and I against -the stones, one hand on my dagger and the other outspread fearful -on the wall, scarce knowing whether I were brave or not, while over -against the eddying smoke--calm, passive, happy, immutable, was that -winsome presence, shining in our dusky shelter with a tender violet -light, such as was never kindled by mortal means. - -When I found voice to speak I poured forth my longings and pent-up -spirit in many a reckless question, but to all of them the Princess -made no answer. Then I spread my arms and thought to grasp her, and -ever as they nearly closed upon her she moved backward, now here and -now there, mocking my foolish hope and passing impalpable over the -floor, always gentle and compassionate, until the uselessness of the -pursuit at last dawned upon me, and I stood irresolute. - -I little doubt that immaterial immortal would have mustered courage or -strength to speak to me presently, but the sleeping girl sighed heavily -at this moment and seemed so ill at ease that, without a thought, I -turned to look at her. When my eyes sought the opposite side of the -fire again the presence was not half herself: under my very glance she -was being absorbed once more by the dusky air. To let her go like -that was all against my will, and, leaping to those printless feet, -“Princess! Wife!” I called, “stay another moment!” and as I said it I -swept my arms round the last vestige of her airy kirtle, and drew into -my bosom an armful of empty air! - -She had gone, and not a sign was left--not a palm’s breadth of that -lovely sheen shone against the wall as I arose ashamed from my knee and -noticed Editha was awaking. - -“My kind protector,” said that damsel, “I have been feeling so -strange--not dreaming quite, but feeling as though some one were -borrowing existence of me, yet leaving in my body the blood and pulse -of life. Now, how can this be? I must surely have been very tired -yesterday.” - -“No doubt you were, fair franklin,” I answered. “Yesterday was such a -day as well excuses your weariness. Sleep again, and when the sun rises -in an hour you shall rise with it as fresh as any of the little birds -that already preen themselves.” So she slept--and presently I too. - - * * * * * - -All the next day we rode on through endless glades and briery paths -toward Editha’s home, and as we went, I afoot and she meekly perched -upon our mighty Norman charger, I wooed her with a brevity which the -times excused, and poured my nimble lover wit into ears accustomed only -to the sluggish flattery of woodland thanes and princely swineherds. -And first she blushed and would not listen, and then she sighed and -switched the low wet boughs of oak and hazel as we passed along, and -then she let me say my say with downcast, averted eyes, and a sweet -reluctance which told me I might stoutly push the siege. - -As we went we picked up now and then a straggling soldier or two from -the fight behind us, and now and then a petty chieftain joined us, -until presently we wound through the bracken toward Voewood, a very -goodly train. - -Editha had got a palfrey and I my horse again; but as she neared her -home the thought of its desolation weighed heavier and heavier upon her -tender nature. She would not eat and would not speak, and at last took -her to crying, and so cried until we saw, aglint through the oak-stems, -a very fair homestead and ample, with broad lands around, and kine and -deer about it, and all that could make it fair and pleasant. This was -her Voewood; and when the servants came running to meet us (knowing -nothing of the fight or its results, and thinking we were their master -and his sons come again) with waving caps and shouts of pleasure, it -was too much for the overwrought girl. She threw up her white hands, -and, with a cry of pain and grief, slipped fainting from her palfrey -before us all. - -Then might you have seen a score of saddles featly emptied to the -service of the heiress! Down jumped Offa the Dane, whose unchanged -doublet was still red to his chin with mud and Norman gore. Down -jumped Edred and Egbert, those blue-eyed brothers who had left their -lands by the northern sea a month ago to follow Harold’s luckless -banner; Torquil, the grim, and Wulfhere of the white beard, sprang -to the ground: and Clywin the fair Welsh princeling, and his shadow, -Idwal ap Cynan, the harper-warrior, vaulted to their feet--spent and -battle-weary as they were, with many another. But, lighter and quicker -than any of them, Phra the Phœnician had leaped to earth, and stood -there astride of the senseless girl, his hand upon his dagger-hilt, and -scowling round that soldier circle wrathful to think that any other but -he should touch her! - -Then he took her up, as if it were a mother with a sleeping babe, -and the serfs uncapped and stood back on either hand, and the grim -warriors fell in behind, and so Editha came home, her loose arms -hanging down and her long bright hair all adrift over the broad -shoulders of the strangest, most many-adventured soldier in that motley -band. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - - -When I come to look back upon that Saxon period, spent in the green -shades of my sweet franklin’s homestead, it seems, perhaps, that -never was there a time so peaceful before in the experience of this -passion-tossed existence! We hunted and we hawked, we feasted and we -lay abask in the sunshine of a jolly, idle life all these luxurious -months, drinking scorn and confusion amid our nightly flagons to remote -care and (as it seemed) remoter Normans. - -But first to tell you how I won the right to lord it over these merry -Saxon churls and dissolute thanes. Editha had hardly come to her home -and dried, in a day or two, her weeping eyes, when all the noble -vagrants from yonder battle were up in arms to woo her. Never was maid -so sued! From morning till night there was no rest or peace. From the -uppermost bower looking over the fair English glades, down into the -thickets of nut and hazel, the air reeked of love and petitions. The -mighty Dane, like a sick bear, slept upon her curtained threshold -and growled amorousness into her timid ear before the sun was up. -The Welsh Prince wooed her all her breakfast-time, and his tawny -harper spent many a golden morning in outlining his noble patron’s -genealogy. In faith--ap Tudor, ap Griffith, ap Morgan, ap Huge, and I -know not how many others, it seemed all had a hand in the making of -that paragon--but Editha blushed and said she feared one Saxon girl -was all too few for so many. They besought her up and down, night and -morning, full and empty, to wed them. The English Princelings dogged -her footsteps when she went afield, and Torquil and Wulfhere, those -bandaged lovers, were ready for her with sighs and plaintive proposals -when she came flitting, frightened and fearful, home through the -bracken. - -How could this end but in one way for the defenseless girl? She was -sued so much and sued so hot that one day she came creeping like a -hunted animal to the turret nook where I sat brooding over my fortunes, -and, timorous and shy, begged me to help her. I stood up and touched -her yellow disheveled hair, and told her there was but one way--and -Editha knew it as well as any one--and had made her choice and slipped -into my arms and was happy. - -That was as noisy a wedding as ever had been in Voewood. Editha freed -a hundred serfs, and all day long the noise of files on their iron -collars echoed through her halls. She fed at the door every miscreant -or beggar who could crawl or hobble there, and remitted her taxes to a -score of poorer villains. - -In the hall such noisy revelers as the rejected suitors surely never -were seen. They began that wedding feast in the morning, and it was -not finished by night. To me, who had so lately supped amid the costly -detail, the magnificent and cultivated license of a patrician Roman -table, these Saxon rioters seemed scrambling, hungry dogs. Where -Electra would taunt her haughty courtiers over loaded tables which the -art of three empires had furnished, firing her cruel, witty arrows of -spite and arrogance from her rose-strewn couches, these rough, uncivil -woodland Peers but wallowed in their ceaseless flow of muddy ale, -gorged themselves to sleep with the gross flesh of their acorn-fed -swine, and sang such songs and told such tales as made even me, -indifferent, to scowl upon them and wonder that their kinswoman and her -handmaids could sit and seem unwotting of their gross, obscene, and -noisy revels. - -And late that night blood was nearly spilled upon the oaken floor of -Voewood. The thanes had fairly pocketed their disappointment, but now, -deep in drink and stuffed with food and courage, they began to eye me -and my thin-hid scorn askance, and then presently, like the mutter -of a quick-coming storm, came the whisper, “Why should she fall to -the stranger? Why? Why?” It flew round the tables like wildfire, and -half-emptied beakers were set down, and untasted food stopped on its -way to the mouth, and then--all on a sudden, the drunken chiefs were -on foot advancing to the upper table, where I sat by Editha’s right -hand, their daggers agleam in the torchlight shining upon their red and -angry faces as they came tumbling and shouting toward us, “Death to the -black-haired stranger! Voewood for a Saxon! Why should he win her?” - -’Tis not my fashion to let the foeman come far to seek me, and I was up -in an instant--overturning the table with all its wines and meats--and, -whipping out my sword, I leaped into the middle of the rushy space -before them. - -“Why?” I shouted. “Why? you drunken, Norman-beaten dogs! Why? Because, -by Thor and Odin! by all the bones of Hengist and his brother! I can -throw a straighter javelin, and whirl a heavier sword, and sit a -fiercer steed than any of you. Why? Because my heart is stronger than -any that ever beat under your dirty scullion doublets. Why? Because I -scorn, and spit upon, and deride you!” - -It was braggart boasting, but I noticed the Saxons liked their talk -of that complexion. And in this case it was successful. The Princes -stood hesitating and staring as I towered before them, fiery and -disdainful, in the red gleaming banquet lights; until presently the -youngest there burst into a merry laugh to see them all thus at bay, -chewing the hilts of their angry daggers, and each one waiting for his -neighbor to prove himself the braver, by dying first upon my weapon. -That laugh had hardly reached the ruddy oaken rafters overhead when -it was joined by a score of others, and in a moment those wilful -Saxon lordlings were all laughing and jerking back their steels, and -scrambling into their supper-places as if they had not broken their -fast since morning, and I were their mother’s son. - -[Illustration: The Princes stood hesitating as I towered before them] - -Deep were their flagons that night, after the women had stolen away, -and Idwal ap Howell filled the hall with wild Welsh harping that -stirred my soul like a battle-call; for it was in my dear British -tongue, and full of the color, light, and the life that had illuminated -the first page of my long pilgrimage. And the Saxon gleemen, not to be -outdone, each sang the song that pleased him best; and the Welshman -strove to drown them with his harping; and the thanes sang, all at -once, whatever songs were noisiest and most licentious. Mighty was the -fire that roared up the open hearthplace; deep was the breathing of -vanquished warriors from under the tables; red was the spilled wine -upon the floor--when presently they put me upon a tressel, and, bearing -me round the hall in discordant triumph, finally bore me away to the -inner corridors, and left me at a portal where I never yet had entered! - -There is but little to say of that quiet Saxon rest that befell me in -pleasant Voewood. Between each line I pen you must suppose an episode -of pleasure. In the springtime, when the woods were shot with a carpet -of blue and yellow flowers, we lay a-basking in the sunny angles or -rode out to count our swine and fallow deer. In the summer, when all -Editha’s mighty woodlands were like fair endless colonnades, we basked -amid the flickering shadows and watched the sunny sheen upon the -treetops, to the orchestra of little birds. And autumn, that touched -the vassals’ corn-clearings with yellow, saw my proud Norman charger -grow fat and gross with new grain. September rains and mists rusted my -silent weapon into its sheath; even winter, that heard the woodman’s -axe upon the forest trees, and saw bird and beast and men and kine -draw in to the gentle bounty of my white-handed lady, was but a long, -inglorious holiday of another sort. - -Many and many a time, in those merry months, did this Phœnician -laugh to his mirror to see how fitly he could wear upon his -Eastern-British-Roman body the Danish-Saxon-English tunic! It was all -of fine linen the franklin’s own fair fingers had spun, and pointed -and tasseled and parti-color, and his legs were cross-gartered to his -knees, and his little luncheon-dagger hung by his jeweled belt, and -a fillet of pure English gold bound down the long black locks that -fell upon his shoulders. Every morning Editha combed them out with her -silver comb, and double-peaked his beard, kissing and saying it was the -best in all Voewood. He had more servants than necessities in those -times, and almost his only grievance was a lack of wants. - -The Normans for long had left us wholly alone, partly through the -usurper cunning which prompted our new tyrant to deal gently with those -who had stood in arms against him, but principally in our case since -the strong tide of invasion had swept northward beyond us, and Voewood -slept unharmed, unnoticed among its green solitudes--a Saxon homestead -as it had been since Hengist’s white horse first flaunted upon an -English breeze and the seven kingdoms sprang from the ashes of old -Roman Britain. - -So we lived light-hearted from day to day, forgetting all about the -battle by Senlac, and drinking, as I have said, in our evening wassails -confusion and scorn of the invaders who seemed so distant. It was a -good time, and I have little to note of it. Many were the big boars -which died upon my eager spear down in the morasses to the southward, -and I came to love my casts of tiercelets and my hounds as though I had -been born to a woodman’s cape and had watched the fens for hernshaws -and followed the slot of wounded deers from my youth upward. - -All these things led me into many a wild adventure and many a desperate -strait; but one of them stands out from the rest upon the crowded -pages of my memory. I had, one day when Editha was with me, mounted -as she would be upon her palfrey, slipped the dogs upon a stag an -arrow of mine had wounded in the foreleg, and, excited by the chase -and reluctant as ever to turn back from an unaccomplished purpose, we -followed far into the unknown distances, and all beyond our reckonings. -I had let fly that shaft at midday, and at sundown the stag was still -afoot, the dogs close behind him, and I, indomitable, muddy, and torn -from head to foot, but with all the hunter instinct hot within me, was -pressing on by my Saxon’s bridle rein. Endless, rough, and tangled -miles had we run and scrambled in that lengthy chase, and neither of us -had noticed the way, or how angry the sun was setting in the west. - -Thus it came about that when the noble hart at length stood at bay in -the lichened coverts under a bushy crag, there was hardly breath in me -to cheer the weary dogs upon him, and hardly light enough to aim the -swift thrust of my subduing javelin which laid him dead and bleeding -at our feet. Yes, and before I could cut a hunter’s supper from that -glossy haunch the dome of the sky closed down from east to west, and -the first heavy drops of the evening rain came pattering upon the -leaves overhead. Thor! how black it grew as the wind began to whistle -through the branches and the murky clouds to fly across the face of the -somber heaven, while neither east nor west could any limit be seen to -the interminable vastnesses of the endless woodlands! In vain was it we -struggled for a time back upon our footsteps, and then even those were -lost; and, as the sky in the east burned an angry yellow for a moment -before the remorseless night set in, it gave us just light to see we -were hopelessly mazed in the labyrinths of the huge and lonely forest. - -It was thus we turned to take such shelter as might offer, and that -gleam shone for a moment pallid, yellow, and ghastly upon a cluster -of gray stones standing on a grassy mound a quarter of a mile away. -Thither we struggled through the black mazes of the storm, the headlong -rain whistling through the misty thickets like flights of innumerable -arrows, the angry wind lashing the treetops into bitter complaining, -and waving abroad (in the sodden dismal twilight) all the long beards -of goblin lichens hanging in ghostly tapestry across our path that -dreary October evening. - -Reeling and plunging to the shelter through a black world of tangled -witnesses, with that mocking gleam behind shining like a window of the -nether world, and overhead a gaunt, hurrying array of cloudy forms, we -were presently upon the coppice outskirt, and there I stopped as though -I had grown to the ground. - -I stopped before that great, gaunt amphitheater of gray stones and -stared and stared before me as though I were bereft of sense. I rubbed -my eyes and pointed with trembling, silent finger, and looked again and -again, while the Saxon girl crouched to my side, and my hounds whined -and shivered at my feet, for there, incredible! monstrous!--yellow and -shining in the pallid derision of the twilight, stern, hoary, ruinous, -mocking--overthrown and piled one upon another, clasped and knotted -about their feet by the knotted fingers of the woodland growth, swathed -in the rocking mists which gave a horrid life to their cruel, infernal -deadness, were the stones, the very stones of that Druid altar-place -upon which I was sacrificed nearly a thousand years before! - -Here was a pretty welcome! Here was a cheerful harborage! What man -ever born of a woman who would not have been dazed and dumfounded -at this sudden confronting--this extraordinary reminiscence of the -long-forgotten? It overwhelmed for the moment even me--me, Phra the -Phœnician, to whom the red harvest-fields of war are pleasant places, -who have dallied with the infinite, and have been a melancholy -coadjutor of Time itself. Even me, who never sought to live, yet live -endlessly by my very negligence--who have received from the gods that -gift of existence that others ask for unanswered. - -I might have stood there as stolid and grim as any one of those ancient -monoliths all through the storm but for the dear one by my side. -Her nestling presence roused me, and, gulping down the last of my -astonishment, and seeing no respite in the yellow eye of the night over -my shoulder, I took the hand that lay in mine with such gentle trust -and, with a strange feeling of awe, led her into the magic circle of -the old religion. - -The very altar of my despatch was still there in the center, but -time and forest creatures had worn out from under that mighty slab a -little chamber, roofed with that vast flagstone and sided by its three -supports--a space perhaps no bigger than the cabin of my first trading -felucca, yet into this we crept, with the reluctant hounds behind us, -while the tempest thundered round, and, loth to lose us, sought here -and there, piping in strange keys among those time-worn relics of -cruelty, and singing uncouth choruses down every crevice of our wild -retreat. - -Pleasure and Pain are sisters, and the little needs of life must be -fulfilled in every hour. I comforted my comrade, piling for her a rough -couch of the broken litter upon the floor, stuffing up the crannies -as well as might be with damp sods, and then making her a fire. This -latter I effected with some charcoal and burned ends of wood that lay -upon an old shepherd’s hearth in the center of the chamber, and we kept -it going with a little store of wood which the same absent wanderer had -gathered in one corner but had failed to use. More; not only did we -mend our circumstances by a ruddy blaze that danced fantastically upon -our rugged walls and set our reeking clothes steaming in its flicker, -but I rolled a stone to the opposite side of the hearth for Editha, and -found another for myself, and soon those venison steaks were hissing -most invitingly upon the glowing embers, and filling every nook and -corner of the Druid slaughter-place with the suggestive fragrance of -our supper. - -Manners were rude and ready in that time. We supped as well and -conveniently that night, carving the meat with the little weapons at -our girdles, and eating with our fingers, as though we sat in state at -the high thane’s table of distant Voewood and looked down the great -rushy hall upon three hundred feeding serfs and bondsmen. And Editha -laughed and chattered--secure in my protection--and I echoed her -merriment, while now and then my thoughts would wander, and I heard -again in the tempest’s whistling the scream of the hungry kites who -had seen me die, and in the lashing of the branches the clamor and the -beating of the British tribesmen who many a long lifetime before had -shouted around this very place to drown my dying yells. - -The good food and the warmth and a long day’s work soon brought my -fair mistress’s head upon her hand, and presently she was lying upon -the withered leaves in the corner, a fair white flower shut up for the -night-time. So I finished the steak and divided the remnants between -the dogs, and lay back very well contented. But here only commences the -strangest part of that evening! - -I had warmed my cross-gartered, buskined Saxon legs by the blaze for -the best part of an hour, thinking over all the strange episodes of -my coming to these ancient isles, and seeing again, on the blank -hither wall, this very circle all aglow with the splendid color of -its barbarous purpose, the mighty concourse of the Britons set in the -greenery of their reverent oaks--the onset of the Romans, the flash and -glitter of their close-packed ranks, and the gallant Sempronius--alas! -that so good a youth should be reduced to dust--and thus, I suppose, I -dozed. - -And then it seemed all on a sudden a mighty gust of wind swept down -upon the flat roof overhead, shaking even that ponderous stone--those -fierce and brawny hounds of mine howled most fearfully--crouching -behind with bristling hair and shaking limbs--and, looking up, -there--strange, incredible as you will pronounce it--seated beyond -the fire on the stone the Saxon had so lately left, drawing her wild, -rain-wet British tresses through her supple fingers--calm, indifferent, -happy--gazing upon me with the gentle wonder I had seen before, was -Blodwen, once again herself! - -Need it be said how wild and wonderful that winsome apparition seemed -in that uncouth place, how the hot flush of wonder burned upon my swart -and weathered cheeks as I sat there and glared through the leaping -flame at that pallid outline? Absently she went on with her rhythmical -combing, bewitching me with her unearthly grace and the tender -substance of her immaterial outline, and as I glowered with never a -ready syllable upon my idle tongue, or any emotion but wonder in the -heart beating tumultuously under my hunter tunic, the dogs lay moaning -behind me, and the wild fantastic uproar of the tempest outside forced -through the clefts of our retreat the rain-streaks that sparkled and -hissed in the fire-heap. - -That time I did not fear, and presently the Princess looked up and -said, in a faint, distant voice, that was like the sound of the breeze -among seashore pine-trees: - -“Well done, my Phœnician! Your courage gives me strength.” And as she -spoke the words seemed gradually clearer and stronger, until presently -they came sweeter to me than the murmur of a sunny river--gentler than -the whispers of the ripe corn and the south wind. - -“Shade!” I said. “Wonderful, immaterial, immortal, whence came you?” - -“Whence did I come?” she answered, with the pretty reflection of a -smile upon her face. “Out of the storm, O son of Anak!--out of the -wild, wet night-wind!” - -“And why, and why--to stir me to my inmost soul, and then to leave me?” - -“Phœnician,” she said, “I have not left you since we parted. I have -been the unseen companion of your goings--I have been the shadowless -watcher by your sleep. Mine was the unfelt hand that bore your chin up -when you swam with the Christian slave-girl--mine was the arm that has -turned, invisibly, a hundred javelins from you--and to-night I am come, -by leave of circumstance, thus to see you.” - -“I should have thought,” I said, becoming now better at my ease, “that -one like you might come or go in scorn of circumstances.” - -“Wherein, my dear master, you argue with more simplicity than -knowledge. There are needs and necessities to the very verge of the -spheres.” - -But when I questioned what these were, asking the secret of her wayward -visits, she looked at the sleeping Editha, and said I could not -understand. - -“Yes, by Wodin’s self! but I think I can. Yon fair-cheeked girl helps -you. There are a hundred turns and touches in your ways and manners -that speak of her, and show whence you got that borrowed life.” - -“You are astute, my Saxon thane, and I will not utterly refute you.” - -“Then, if you can do this, how was it, Blodwen, you never came when I -was Roman?” - -“In truth, I often tried,” she said, with something like a sigh, -“but Numidea was not good to fit my subtle needs, and the other one, -Electra, was all beyond me.” And here that versatile shadow threw -herself into an attitude, and there before me was the Roman lady, so -sweet, so enticing, that my heart yearned for her--ah! for the queenly -Electra!--all in a moment. But before I could stretch out my arms the -airy form had whisked her ethereal draperies toga-wise across her -breast, and had risen, and there, towering to the low roof, flashing -down scorn and hatred on me, quaking at her feet, shone the very -semblance of Electra as I saw her last in the queenly glamour of her -vengeance. - -“Yes,” said Blodwen, resuming her own form with perfect calmness before -I, astounded, could catch my breath, and stroking out the tangles of -her long red hair, “there was no doing anything with her, and so, -Phœnician, I could not get translated to your material eyes.” - -All this was very wonderful, yet presently we were chatting as though -there were naught to marvel at. Many were the things we spoke of, many -were the wonders that she hinted at, and as she went my curiosity -blazed up apace. - -“And, fair Princess,” I said presently, “turner of javelins, favorer of -mortals, is it then within the power of such as yourself to rule the -destiny of us material ones?” - -“Not so; else, Phœnician, you were not here!” - -This made me a little uncomfortable, but, nothing daunted, I looked the -strangest visitor that ever paid a midnight visit full in the face, and -persisted: “Tell me, then, you bright reflection of her I loved, how -seems this tinsel show of life upon its over side? Is it destiny or man -that is master? How looks the flow of circumstances to you?--to us, you -will remember, it is vague, inexplicable.” - -“You ask me more than I can say,” she answered, “but so far I will -go--you, material, live substantially, and before you lies unchecked -the illimitable spaces of existence. Of all these you are certain heir.” - -“Speak on!” I cried, for now and then her voice and attention flagged. -“And is there any rule or sequence in this life of ours--is it for you -to guide or mend our happenings?” - -“No, Phœnician! You are yourselves the true forgers of the chains that -bind you, and that initial ’prenticeship you serve there on your world -is ruled by the aggregate of your actions. I tell you, Tyrian,” she -exclaimed, with something as much like warmth as could come from such -a hazy air-stirred body--“I tell you nothing was ever said or done but -was quite immortal; all your little goings and comings, all your deeds -and misdeeds, all the myriad leaves of spoken things that have ever -come upon the forests of speech, all the rain-drops of action that have -gone to make the boundless ocean of human history, are on record. You -shake your head, and cannot understand? Perhaps I should not wonder at -it.” - -“And have all these things left a record upon the great books of life, -and is it given to the beings of the air to refer to them, even as -yonder hermit finds secreted on his yellow vellums the things of long -ago?” - -“It is so in some kind. The actions of that life of yours leave -spirit-prints behind them from the most infinitesimal to the largest. -Now, see! I have but to wish, and there again is all the moving -pantomime around you of that unhappy day when you well-nigh died upon -this spot,” and the chieftainess leaped to her feet and swept her arm -around and looked into the void and smiled and nodded as though all the -wild spectacle she spoke of were enacting under her very eyes. “Surely, -you see it! Look at the priests and the people, and there the running -foreigners and that tall youth at their head--why, O trader in oils and -dyes! it is not the remembrance of the thing, it is, I swear it, the -thing itself----” - -But never a line or color could I perceive, only the curling smoke -overhead looped and hung like tapestries upon the gray lichened walls, -and the black night-time through the crevices. And, discovering this, -Blodwen suddenly stopped and looked upon me with vexed compassion. “I -am sorry, I am no good teacher to so outrun my pupil. Ask me henceforth -what simple questions you will, and they shall be answered to the best -I can.” - -And so presently I went on: “If those things which have been are thus -to you--and it does not seem impossible--how is it with those other -things of to-day, or still unborn of the future? How far can you more -favored ones foresee or guide those things to which we, unhappy, but -submit?” - -“The strong tide of circumstance, Phœnician, is not to be turned by -such hands as these”--and she held her pallid wrists toward the blaze, -until I saw the ruddy gleam flash back from the rough gold bosses of -her ancient bracelets. “There are laws outside your comprehension which -are not framed for your narrow understanding. We obey these as much -as you, but we perceive with infinitely clearer vision the inevitable -logic of fate, the true sequence of events, and thus it is sometimes -within our power to amend and guide the details of that brief episode -which you call your life.” - -“Do you say that priceless span, my comrades, yonder sleeping girl, and -all the others set so high a value on is but ‘an episode’?” - -“Yes--a halting step upon a wondrous journey, half a gradation upon the -mighty spirals of existence!” - -“And time?” I asked, full of a wonder that scarce found leisure to -comprehend one word of hers before it asked another question. “Is there -time with you? Even I, reflective now and then upon this long journey -of mine, have thought that time must be a myth, an impossibility to -larger experience.” - -“Of what do you speak, my merchant? I do not remember the word.” - -“Oh, yes; but you must. Is there period and change yonder? Is -Time--Time, the great braggart and bully of life, also potent with you?” - -“Ah! now I do recall your meaning; but, my Tyrian, we left our -hour-glasses and our calendars behind us when we came away! There is, -perhaps, time yonder to some extent, but no mortal eyes, not mine even, -can tell the teaching of that prodigious dial that records the hours of -universes and of spaces.” - -I bent my head and thought, for I dimly perceived in all this a meaning -appearing through its incomprehensibleness. Much else did we talk -through the live-long night, whereof all I may not tell, and something -might but weary you. At one time I asked her of the little one I had -never seen, and then she, reflective, questioned whether I would wish -to see him. “As gladly,” was my reply, “as one looks for the sun in -springtime.” At this the comely chieftainess seemed to fall a-musing, -and even while she did so an eddy in the curling smoke of the low red -fire swung gently into consistency there by her bare shoulder, and -brightened and grew into mortal likeness, and in a moment, by the -summons of his mother’s will, from where I knew not, and how I could -not guess, a fair, young, ruddy boy was fashioned and stood there -leaning upon the gentle breast that had so often rocked him, and gazing -upon me with a quiet wonder that seemed to say, “How came you here?” -But the little one had not the substance of the other, and after a -moment, during which I felt somehow that no slight effort was being -made to maintain him, he paled, and then the same waft of air that had -conspired to his creation shredded him out again into the fine thin -webs of disappearing haze. - -Comely shadow! Dear British mistress! Great was thy condescension, -passing strange thy conversation, wonderful thy knowledge, perplexing, -mysterious thy professed ignorance! And then, when the morning was -nigh, she bade me speak a word of comfort to the restless-sleeping -Editha, and when I had done so I turned again--and the cave was empty! -I ran out into the open air and whispered “Blodwen!” and then louder -“Blodwen!” and all those gray, uncouth, sinful old monoliths, standing -there in the half-light up to their waists in white mist, took up -my word and muttered out of their time-worn hollows one to another, -“Blodwen, Blodwen!” but never again for many a long year did she answer -to that call. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - - -In the days that followed, it seemed the cruse of contentment would -never run dry, and I, foolish I, thought angry destiny had misled me, -and that these green Saxon glades were to witness the final ending of -my story. Vain hope! Illusive expectation! The hand of fate was even -then raised to strike! - -In that pleasant harborage, outside the ken of ambition, and beyond the -limits of avarice, surrounded by almost impenetrable mazes of forest -land, life was delightful indeed. The sun shone yellow and big in those -early days upon our oak-crowned hillocks--sometimes I doubt if it is -ever so warm and ruddy now--and December storms told mightily in praise -of the great Yule fires wherewith we defied the winter cold. In the -summer time, when the sunny Saxon orchards sheltered the herds of kine -in their flickering shadows, and the great droves of black swine lay -a-basking among the ferns on the distant hangers, we lived more out of -doors than in. Editha then would bring out under the oaks the little -ruddy-cheeked Gurth, and set him upon my knee, that I might cut him -reed whistles or bows and arrows, while the flaxen-haired Agitha played -about her mother, tuning her pretty prattle to the merry clatter of the -distaff and the wheel. - -In the winter the blaze that went leaping and crackling from our -hearthstone shone golden upon the hair of those little ones as they -sat wide-eyed by me, and saw among the ruddy embers the white horse of -Hengist and the banner of his brother winning these fertile vales for -a noble Saxon realm. Never was there a better Saxon than I! And when -I told of Harold, and softened to those tender ears the story of his -dying, the bright drops of sympathy stood in my small maiden’s eyes, -while Gurth’s flashed hatred of the false Norman and scorn of foreign -tyrants. Under such circumstances it will readily be understood that -I ought to have had little wish to draw weapons again or bestride the -good charger growing so gross and sleek in his stall all this long -peace time. - -And yet the silken meshes of felicity were irksome against all reason, -and I would grow weary of so much good fortune, finding my pretty -deckings and raiment heavier--more burdensome wear--than ever was -martial harness. My fair Saxon wife noticed these moods, and strove -to mend them. She would take me out to the hawking, were I never so -gloomy, and then I would envy the wild haggards of the rocks who got -their living from day to day in the free mid air, and asked no favor -of either gods or men. Or, perhaps, she would make revelries upon the -level green before her homestead, and thither would come all the fools -and pedlers, all the bear-baiters, somersaulters, and wrestlers of the -shire. But I was not to be pleasured so, and I slew the bear in single -combat, and tossed, vindictive, the somersaulters over the hucksters’ -stalls, and broke the ribs in the wrestlers’ sides--till none would -play with me, and all of the people murmured. Then, of a night, Editha -got the best gleemen in Mercia to sing to me, and when they sang of -peace, and sheep and orchards, or each praised his leman’s moonlike -eyes and slender middies, I would not listen. Nor was it better when -they tuned their strings to martial ditties, for that doubled my -malady, since then their rhyming stirred my soul to new unrest, making -worse that which they sought to cure. - -I sometimes think it was all this to-do which brought Voewood under -Norman notice. But, perhaps, it was the slow and steady advance of the -invaders’ power percolating like a rising tide into all the recesses -of the land which drew us into the fatal circle of the despoilers, and -not my waywardness. Be this as it may, the result was the same. - -Over to the northward, a score of miles away, where the great road -ran east, we heard from wandering strollers the Normans were passing -daily. Then, later, there came in the news-budget of a Flemish pedler -tidings that the hungry foreigners had licked up all the fat meadows -around the nearest town, had hung its aldermen over the walls, and -built a tower and dungeon (after their wont) in the middle of it. Yes! -and these messengers of ill omen said there were left no men of note -or Saxon blood to uphold the English cause--there was no proper speech -in England but the Norman--there was no way of wearing a tunic but -the Norman--nothing now to swear by but by Our Lady of Tours and Holy -St. Bridget--all Saxon wives were in danger of kissing--and all Saxon -abbots were become barefooted monks! - -Never was a country turned inside out so soon or quietly; and as I -looked over our wide, fair meadows, and upon my sweet girl and her -flaxen little ones, and thought how already for her I had risked my -life, I could not help wondering how soon I might have to venture it -again. - -On apace came the outer conquest into our inner peace. Towns and burghs -went down, and the hungry flames of lust and avarice fed upon what they -destroyed. All the vales and hills the swords of Hengist and Horsa -had won, and baptized with foemen’s blood, in the mighty names of old -Norsemen and Valhalla, were being christened anew to suit a mincing, -latter tongue. Thane and franklin uncapped them at the roadside to -these steel-bound swarms of ruthless spoilers, and nothing was sacred, -neither deed nor covenant, neither having nor holding, which ran -counter to the wishes of the western scourges of our English weakness. - -When I thought of all this I was extraordinarily ill at ease, and, -before I could settle upon how best to meet the danger, it came upon -us, and we were overwhelmed. Briefly, it was thus: About twelve years -after the battle where Harold had died, the Norman leader had, we -heard, taken it into his head to poll us like cattle, to find the sum -and total of our feus and lands, our serfs and orchards, and even of -our very selves! Now, few of us Saxons but felt this was a certain -scheme to tax and oppress us even more severely than the people had -been oppressed in the time of St. Dunstan. Besides this, our free -spirits rose in scorn of being counted and weighed and mulcted by -plebeian emissaries of the usurper, so we murmured loud and long. - -And those thanes who complained the bitterest were hanged by the -derisive Normans on their own kitchen beams--on the very same hooks -where they cured their mighty sides of pork--while those who complied -but falsely with the assessor’s commands were robbed of wife and -heritage, children and lands, and shackled with the brass collar of -serfdom, or turned out to beg their living on the wayside and sue the -charity of their own dependants. Whether we would thus be hanged or -outcast, or whether we would humble us to this hateful need, writing -ourselves and our serfs down in the great “Doom’s Day” book, all had to -choose. - -For my own part, after much debating, and for the sake of those who -looked to me, I had determined to do what was required--and then, if -it might be, to bring all the Saxon gentlemen together--to raise these -English shires upon the Normans, and with fire and sword revoke our -abominable indenture of thraldom. But, alas! my hasty temper and my -inability to stomach an affront in any guise undid my good resolutions. - -Well, this mighty book was being compiled far and wide, we heard, -in every shire: there were some men of good standing base enough to -countenance it, and, taking the name of the King’s justiciaries, they -got together shorn monks--shaveling rascals who did the writing and -computing--with reeves hungry for their masters’ woodlands, and many -other lean forsworn villains. This jury of miscreants went round from -hall to hall, from manor to manor, with their scrips and pens and -parchment, until all the land was being gathered into the avaricious -Norman’s tax roll. - -They cast their greedy eyes at last on sunny, sleepy Voewood, though, -indeed, I had implored every deity, old or new, I could recall that -they might overlook it; and one day their hireling train of two score -pikemen came ambling down the glades with a fat Abbot--a Norman -rascal--at their head, and pulled up at our doorway. - -“Hullo!” says the monk. “Whose house is this?” - -“Mine,” I said gruffly, with a secret fancy that there would be some -heads broken before the census was completed. - -“And who are you?” - -“The Master of Voewood.” - -“What else?” - -“Nothing else!” - -“Well, you are not over-civil, anyhow, my Saxon churl,” said the man of -scrolls and goose-quills. - -“Frankly,” I answered, “Sir Monk, the smaller civility you look for -from me to-day the less likely you are to be disappointed. Out with -that infernal catechism of yours, and have done, and move your black -shadows from my porch.” - -At this the clerk shrugged his shoulders--no doubt he did not look to -be a very welcome guest--and coughed and spit, and then unfurled in -our free sunshine a great roll of questions, and forthwith proceeded to -expound them in bastard Latin, smacking of moldy cathedral cells and -cloister pedantry. - -“Now, mark me, Sir Voewood, and afterward answer truly in everything. -Here, first, I will read you the declaration of your neighbor, the -worthy thane Sewin, in order that you may see how the matter should -go, and then afterward I will question you yourself,” and, taking -a parchment from a junior, he began: “Here is what Sewin told us: -_Rex tenet in Dominio Sohurst; de firma Regis Edwardi fuit. Tunc se -defendebat pro 17 Hidis; nihil geldaverunt. Terra est 16 Carucatæ; -in Dominio sunt 2æ Carucatæ, et 24 Villani, et 10 Bordarij cum 20 -Carucis. Ibi Ecclesia quam Willelmus tenet de Rege cum dimidia Hida in -Elemosina, Silva 40 Porcorum et ipsa est in parco Regis----_” - -But hardly had my friend got so far as this in displaying the -domesticity of Sewin the thane, when there broke a loud uproar from -the rear of Voewood, and the tripping Latin came to a sudden halt as -there emerged in sight a rabble of Saxon peasants and Norman prickers -freely exchanging buffets. In the midst of them was our bailiff, a -very stalwart fellow, hauling along and beating as he came a luckless -soldier in the foreign garb just then so detestable to our eyes. - -“Why,” I said, “what may all this be about? What has the fellow done, -Sven, that your Saxon cudgel makes such friends with his Norman cape?” - -“What? Why, the graceless yonker, not content with bursting open the -buttery door and setting all these scullion men-at-arms drinking my -lady’s ale and rioting among her stores, must needs harry the maidens, -scaring them out of their wits, and putting the whole place in an -uproar! As I am an honest man, there has been more good ale spilled -this half-hour, more pottery broken, more linen torn, more roasts -upset, more maids set screaming, than since the Danes last came round -this way and pillaged us from roof to cellar!” - -“Why, you fat Saxon porker!” cried the leader of the troops, pushing to -the front, “what are you good for but for pillage? Drunken serf! And -were it not for the politic heart of yonder King, I and mine would make -you and yours sigh again for your Danish ravishers, looking back from -our mastery to their red fury with sickly longing! Out on you! Unhand -the youth, or by St. Bridget, there will be a fat carcass for your -crows to peck at!” and he put his hand upon his dagger. - -Thereon I stepped between them, and, touching my jeweled belt, said: -“Fair Sir, I think the youth has had no less than his deserts, and as -for the Voewood crows they like Norman carrion even better than Saxon -flesh.” - -The soldier frowned, as well as he might, at my retort, but before we -could draw, as assuredly we would have done, the monk pushed in between -us, and the athelings of the commission, who had orders to carry out -their work with peace and despatch as long as that were possible, -quieted their unruly rabble, and presently a muttering, surly order was -restored between the glowering crowds. - -“Now,” said the scribe propitiatingly, anxious to get through with -his task, “you have heard how amiably Sewin answered. Of you I will -ask a question or two in Saxon, since, likely enough, you do not know -the blessed Latin.” (By the soul of Hengist, though, I knew it before -the stones of that confessor’s ancient monastery were hewn from their -native rock!) “Answer truly, and all shall be well with you. First, -then, how much land hast thou?” - -But I could not stand it. My spleen was roused against these braggart -bullies, and, throwing discretion to the wind, I burst out, “Just so -much as serves to keep me and mine in summer and winter!” - -“And how many plows?” - -“So many as need to till our cornlands.” - -“Rude boar!” said the monk, backing off into the group of his friends, -and frowning from that vantage in his turn. “How many serfs acknowledge -your surly leadership?” - -“Just so many,” I said, boiling over, “as can work the plows and reap -the corn, and keep the land from greedy foreign clutches! There, put up -your scroll and begone. I will not answer you! I will not say how many -pigeons there are in our dovecotes--how many fowls roost upon their -perches--how many earthen pots we have, or how many maids to scrub -them! Get you back to the Conqueror: tell him I deride and laugh at him -for the second time. Say I have lived a longish life, and never yet saw -the light of that day when I profited by humility. Say I, the swart -stranger who stabbed his ruffian courtier and galloped away with the -white maid, Editha of Voewood--I, who plucked that flower from the very -saddle-bow of his favorite, and thundered derisive through his first -camp there on the eastern downs--say, even I will find a way to keep -and wear her, in scorn of all that he can do! Out with you--begone!” - -And they went, for I was clearly in no mood to be dallied with, while -behind me the serfs and vassals were now mustering strongly, an -angry array armed with such weapons as they could snatch up in their -haste, and wanting but a word or look to fall upon the little band of -assessors and slay them as they stood. Thus we won that hour--and many -a long day had we to regret the victory. - -My luck was against me that time. I hoped, so far as there was any -hope or reason in my thoughtless anger, to have had a space to rouse -the neighboring thanes and their vassals upon these our tyrants, -and I had dreamed, so combustible was the country just then, somehow -perhaps the flame would have spread far and wide. I saw that abominable -thing, Rebellion, for once linked hand in hand with her sweet rival, -Patriotism, I saw the red flames of vengeance in the quarrel I had -made my own sweeping through the land and lapping up with its hundred -tongues every evidence of the spoilers! Yes! and even I had fancied -that, as there were no true Saxon Princes for our English throne, there -was still Editha, my wife; and if there were no swords left to fence a -throne so filled, yet there was the sword of Phra the Phœnician! Vain -fantasy! The faces of the Fates were averted. - -Those hateful inquisitors had not gone many hours’ journey northward, -when, as ill-luck would have it, they fell in with a Norman Captain, -Godfrey de Boville, and two hundred men-at-arms, marching to garrison -a western city. To these they told their tale, and, ever ready for -pillage and bloodshed, the band halted, and then turned into the -woodlands where we had our lair. - -The sun was low that afternoon when an affrighted herdsman came running -in to me with the news that he knew not how many soldiers were in the -glades beyond. And before he could get his breath or quite tell his -hasty message their prickers came out of the wood--the gallant Norman -array (whose glitter has since grown dearer to me than the shine of -a mistress’ eyes) rode from under our oak-trees, the banners and -bannerets fluttered upon the evening wind--their trumpets brayed until -our very rafters echoed to that warlike sound--the level twilight rays -flashed back from those serried ranks and the steel panoply of the -warriors in as goodly a martial show as ever, to that day, I had seen. - -What need I tell you of the negotiations which followed while this -silver cloud, charged with ruin and cruelty, hung on the dusky velvet -side of the twilight hill above us? What need be said of how I swore -between my teeth at the chance which had brought this swarm hither in -a day rather than in the week I had hoped for, or how my heart burned -with smothered anger and pride when we had to tamely answer their -haughty summons to unconditional surrender? - -Yet by one saving clause they did not attack us at once. Only to me was -it clear how utterly impossible was it with the few rugged serfs at -my command to defend even for one single onset that great straggling -house against their overwhelming force. To them our strength was quite -unknown; this and the gathering darkness tempted the Norman to put -off the attack until the daylight came again, and the respite was our -saving. It was not a saving upon which to dwell long, for ’twas no more -glorious than the retreat of a wolf from his hiding-place when the -shepherds fire the brake behind him. - -All along the edge of the hill their watch-fires presently twinkled -out, and as Editha and Sven the Strong came to me in gloomy conference -upon the turret we could see the soldiers pass now and again before -the blaze, we could hear their laughter and the snatches of their -drinking-song, the hoarse cry of the wardens, and the champing and -whinny of the chargers picketed under the starlight in lines upon our -free Saxon turf. And for Sven and all his good comrade hinds we knew -to-morrow would bring the riveting of new and heavier collars than any -they had worn as yet. For me and my contumacy, though I feared it not, -there could be naught but the swift absolution of a Norman sword; while -for her--for her, that gentle, stately lady to whose pale sweetness -my rough, unworthy pen can do no sort of justice--there was nameless -degradation and half a wandering bully’s tent. - -The serf suggested, with his rugged northern valor, we should set light -to the hall and, with the women and children in our midst, sally out -and cut a way to freedom, and I knew the path he would choose would -have been through the hostile camp. But his lady suggested better. She -proposed both hind and bondsmen should steal away in the darkness, -and, since valor here was hopeless, disperse over the countryside, and -there, secure in their humbleness, await our future returning. We, on -the other hand, would follow them through the friendly shadows that -lay deep and nigh to the house on the unguarded side, and then turn us -to a monastery some few miles away, where, if we could reach it, in -Sanctuary and the care of one of the few remaining Saxon abbots, we -might bide our chance, or at least make terms with our conquerors. - -So it was settled, and soon I had all those kind, shaggy villains -in the dining-hall standing there uncapped upon the rushes in the -torchlight, and listening in melancholy silence to the plan, and then -presently, with the despatch our situation needed, they were slipping -in twos and threes out of the little rearward portal and slinking off -to the thickets. - -Presently our turn came, and as I stood gloomy and stern in that -voiceless, empty hall that was wont to be so bright and noisy, -fingering my itching dagger and scowling out of the lattice upon the -red gleam in the night air hanging over the Norman camp-fires, there -came the fall of my wife’s feet upon the stairway. In either hand she -had a babe, swaddled close up against the night air, and naught but -their bright wonder-brimming eyes showing as she hugged them tight -against her sides. For them, for them alone, the frown gave way, and I -stooped to that escape. We crept away, and Editha’s heart was torn at -leaving thus the hall where she had been born and reared, and when, -presently, in the shadows of the crowded oaks, she found all her slaves -and bondsmen in a knot to wish her farewell, the tears that had been -brooding long overflowed unrestrainedly. - -Even I, who had dwelt among them but a space on my way from the further -world of history toward the unknown future, could not but be moved by -their uncouth love and loyalty. There were men there who had stood in -arms with her father when the cruel Danes had ravished these valleys -for a score of miles inland, and some who had grown with her in the -goodly love and faith of thane and servitor as long as she herself -had lived. These rugged fellows wept like children, called me father, -_klafod_, “bread bestower,” and pressed upon her in silent sorrow, -kissing her hands and the hem of her robe, and taking the little ones -from her arms, and pressing their rude unshaven faces to their rosebud -cheeks until I feared that Gurth or Agitha might cry out, or some wail -from that secret scene of sorrow would catch the ears of our watchful -foemen. - -So, as gently as might be, I parted the weeping mistress and her -bondsmen, and set her upon a good horse Sven had stolen from the -paddock, and springing into the saddle of my own strong charger, gave -my broad jeweled belt to the Saxon that he might divide it among his -comrades, and, taking a long tough spear from his faithful hand, turned -northward with Editha upon our dangerous journey. - - * * * * * - -We stole along as quietly as might be for some distance in safety, -riding where the moss was deepest and the shadows thick, and then, just -when we were at the nearest to the Norman camp in the curve we were -making toward the monastery beyond, those ill-conditioned invaders set -up their evening trumpet-call. As the shrill notes came down into the -dim starlight glade, strong, clear, and martial in the evening quiet, -they thrilled that gallant old charger I had borrowed from the camp at -Hastings down to his inmost warlike fiber. He recognized the familiar -sound--mayhap it was the very trumpet-call which had been fodder and -stable to him for years--and, with ears pricked forward and feet that -beat the dewy turf in union to his pleasure, he whinnied loud and long! - -Nothing it availed me to smite my hand upon my breast at this deadly -betrayal, or lay a warning finger upon his brave, unwitting, velvet -nozzle--luckless, accursed horse, the mischief was done! But yet, I -will not abuse him, for the grass grows green over his strong sleek -limbs, and right well that night he amended his error! Hardly had his -neigh gone into the stillness when the chargers in the camp answered -it, and in a moment the men-at-arms and squires by the nearest fire -were all on foot, and in another they had espied us and set up a shout -that woke the ready camp in a moment. - -There was small time to think. I clapped my hand upon Editha’s bridle -rein and gave my own a shake, and away we went across the checkered -moonlight glade. But so close had we been that a bow-string or two -hummed in the Norman tents, and before we were fairly started I heard -the rustle of the shafts in the leaves overhead. It was more than -arrows we had to dread, and, turning my head for a moment ere we -plunged again into dark vistas of the forest road, there, sure enough, -was the pursuit streaming out after us, and gallant squires and knights -tumbling into their saddles and shouting and cheering as they came -galloping and glittering down behind us--a very pretty show, but a -dangerous one. - -By the souls of St. Dunstan and his forty monks! but I could have -enjoyed that midnight ride had it not been for the pale, brave rider -at my side, and the little ones that lay fearfully a-nestling on our -saddle-bows. For hours the swift, keen gallop of our horses swallowed -the unseen ground in tireless rhythm--all through the night field and -coppice and hanger swept by us as we passed from glade to glade and -woodland to woodland--now ’twas a lonely forester’s hut that shone -for a moment in ghostly whiteness between the tree-stems with the -nightshine on its lifeless face, and anon we sped through droves of -Saxon swine, sleeping upon the roadway under their oak-trees, round -a muffled swineherd. And the great forest stags stayed the fraying -of their antlers against the tree-trunks in the dark coppices as we -flew by, and the startled wolf yelped and snarled upon our path as -our fleeting shadows overtook him; and then, there, ever behind, low, -remorseless, stern, came the murmuring hoofbeats of our pursuers, now -rising and now falling upon the light breath of the night-wind, but -ever, as our panting steeds strode shorter and shorter, coming nearer -and nearer, clearer and clearer. - -Had this somber race, whereof Death held the stakes, continued so as -it began, straight on end, I do not think we could have got away. But -when we had ridden many an hour, and the heavy streaks of white foam -were marking Editha’s horse with dreadful suggestion, and his breath -was coming hot and husky through his wide red nostrils, for a moment or -two the sound of the pursuers stopped. Blessed respite. They had missed -the woodland road--but for all too short a space. We had hardly made -good four or five hundred yards of advantage when, terribly near to -us, sounded the call of one of their horsemen, and soon all the others -were in his footsteps again. This one, he who now led the pursuers by, -perhaps, a quarter of a mile, gained on us stride by stride, until I -could stand the thud of his horsehoofs on the turf behind no more. -“Here!” I said fiercely to Editha, “take Gurth,” and put him with his -sister in her arms, then, bidding them ride slowly forward, turned my -good charger and paced him slowly back toward the oncoming knight, with -stern anger smoldering in my heart. - -There was a smooth, wide bit of grassy road between us in that center, -midnight Saxon forest. And never a gleam of light fell upon that -ancient thoroughfare; never the faintest, thin white finger of a star -pierced the black canopy of boughs overhead; it was as black as the -kennel of Cerberus, and as I sat my panting war-horse I could not see -my own hand stretched out before me--yet there, in that grim blackness, -I met the Norman lance to lance, and sent his spirit whirling into the -outer space! - -I let him come within two hundred yards, then suddenly rose in my -stirrups and, shouting Harold’s war-cry, since I did not deign to fall -upon him unawares, “Out! Out! England! England!” awaited his answer. It -came in a moment, strange and inhuman in the black stillness, “Rou! Ha -Rou! Notre Dame!” and then--muttering between my tight-set teeth that -surely that road was the road to hell for one of us--I bent my head -down almost to my horse’s ears, drove the spurs into him, and, gripping -my long, keen spear, thundered back upon my unseen foeman. With a shock -that startled the browsing hinds a mile away, we were together. The -Norman spear broke into splinters athwart my body--but mine, more truly -held, struck him fair and full--I felt him like a great dead weight -upon it, I felt his saddle-girths burst and fly, and then, as my own -strong haft bent like a willow wand and snapped close by my hand, that -midnight rider and his visionary steed went crashing to the ground. -Bitterly I laughed as I turned my horse northward once more, and from -a black cavern-mouth on the hillside an owl echoed my grim merriment -with ghastly glee. - -Well, the night was all but done, yet were we not out of the toils. A -little further on, Editha’s floundering steed gave out, and, just as we -saw the pale turrets of the monastery shining in the open a mile ahead -of us, the horse rolled over dead upon the grass and bracken. - -“Quick, quick!” I said, “daughter of Hardicanute,” and the good Saxon -girl had passed the little ones to the pommel and put her own foot -upon my toe and sprang on to my saddle crupper sooner than it takes to -tell. Ah! and the nearer we came to our goal the closer seemed to be -the throb and beat of the pursuing hoofs behind. And many an anxious -time did I turn my head to watch the rogues closing with us, now ever -and anon in sight, and many a word of encouragement did I whisper to -the gallant charger whose tireless courage was standing us in such good -case. - -Noble beast! right well had he atoned his mistake that evening, and in -a few minutes more we left the greenwood, and now he swept us over the -Abbot’s fat meadows, where the white morning mist was lying ghostly -in wreaths and wisps upon the tall wet grass, and then we staggered -into the foss and spurned the short turf, and so past the checkered -cloisters, and pulled up finally at a low postern door I had espied as -we approached the nearest wall of the noble Saxon monastery. Surely -never was a traveler in such a hurry to be admitted as I, and I beat -upon that iron-studded door with the knob of my dagger in a way which -must have been heard in every cell of that sacred pile. - -“My friend,” said a reverend head which soon appeared at a little -window above, “is this not unseemly haste at such an hour, and my Lord -Abbot not yet risen to matins?” - -“For the love of Heaven, father,” I said, “come down and let us in!” -for by this time the Normans were not a bowshot away, and it still -looked as if we might fall into their hands. - -“Why,” said the unwotting monk, “no doubt the hospitality of St. Olaf’s -walls was never refused to weary strangers, but you must go round to -the lodge and rouse the porter there--truly he sleeps a little heavy, -but no doubt he will admit you eventually.” - -“Sir Priest,” I shouted in my rage and fear as the good old fellow -went meandering on, “our need is past all nicety of etiquette! Here is -Editha of Voewood, the niece of your holy Abbot himself, and yonder are -they who would harry and take her. Come down, come down, or by the Holy -Rood our blood will forever stain your ungenerous lintel!” - -By this time the horsemen were breasting the smooth green glacis that -led up to the monastery walls--half a dozen of them had outlived that -wild race--the reins were upon their smoking chargers’ necks, their -reeking spurs red and ruddy with their haste, the spattered clay -and loam of many a woodland rivulet checkering their horses to the -shoulders, and each rider as he came shouting and clapping his hands -upon the foam-speckled neck of these panting steeds that strained with -thundering feet to the last hundred yards of green sward and the prize -beyond. - -Nearer and nearer they came, and my fair, tall Saxon wife put down her -little ones by the opening of the door and covered them with her skirt -as she turned her pale, white, tearless face to the primrose flush of -the morning. And I--with bitterness and despair in my heart--unsheathed -my Saxon sword and cast the scabbard fiercely to the ground, and stood -out before them--my bare and heaving breast a fair target for those -glittering oncoming Norman lances! - -And then--just when that game was all but lost--there came the sweet -patter of sandaled feet within, bolt by bolt was drawn back; willing -hands were stretched out; the mother and her babes were dragged from -the steps--even my charger was swallowed by the friendly shelter, and -I myself was pulled back lastly--the postern slammed to, and, as the -great locks turned again, and the iron bars fell into their stony -sockets, we heard the Norman chargers’ hoofs ringing on the flagstones, -and the angry spear-heads rattling on the outer studs of that friendly -oaken doorway. - - * * * * * - -Thus was the gentle franklin saved; but little did I think in saving -her how long I was to lose her. I had but stabled my noble beast -down by the Abbot’s own palfrey, and fed and watered him with loving -gratitude, and then had gone to Editha and my own supper (waited on by -many a wondering, kindly one of these corded, russet Brothers), when -that strange fate of mine overtook me once again. I know not how it -was, but all on a sudden the world melted away into a shadowy fantasy, -my head sank upon the supper-board, and there--between the goodly Abbot -and the fair Saxon lady--I fell into a pleasant, dreamless sleep. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - - -It was with indescribable sensations of mingled pain and satisfaction -that life dawned again in my mind and body after the drowsy ending -of the last chapter. To me the process was robbed of wonder--no idea -crossed my mind but that I had slept an ordinary sleep; but to you, -knowing the strange fate to which I am liable, will at once occur -suspicion and expectation. Both these feelings will be gratified, yet -I must tell my story, in my simple fashion, as it occurred. - -This time, then, wakefulness came upon me in a prolonged gray -and crimson vision; and for a long spell--now I think of it -closely--probably for days, I was wrestling to unravel a strange web of -light and gloom, in which all sorts of dreamy colors shone alternate in -a misty blending upon the blank field of my mind. These colors were now -and again swallowed up by an episode of deep obscurity, and the longer -I studied them in an unwitting, listless way the more pronounced and -definite they became, until at last they were no more a tinted haze of -uncertain tone, but a checkered plan, silently passing over my shut -eyelids at slow, measured intervals. Well, upon an afternoon--which, -you will understand, I shall not readily forget--my eyes were suddenly -opened, and, with a deep sigh, like one who wakes after a good night’s -repose, existence came back upon me, and, all motionless and dull, but -very consciously alive and observant, I was myself again. - -My first clear knowledge on that strange occasion was of the strains of -a merle singing somewhere near; and, as those seraphic notes thrilled -into the dry, unused channels of my hearing, the melody went through me -to my utmost fiber. Next I felt, as a strong tonic elixir, a draught -of cool spring air, full of the taste of sunshine and rich with the -scent of a grateful earth, blowing down upon me and dissipating, with -its sweet breath, the last mists of my sleepfulness. While these soft -ministrations of the good nurse Nature put my blood into circulation -again, filling me with a gentle vegetable pleasure, my newly opened -eyes were astounded at the richness and variety of their early -discoverings. - -To the inexperience of my long forgetfulness everything around was -quaint and grotesque! Everything, too, was gray, and crimson, and -green. As I stared and speculated, with the vapid artlessness of a -baby novice, the new world into which I was thus born slowly took -form and shape. It opened out into unknown depths, into aisles and -corridors, into a wooden firmament overhead, checkered with clouds of -timber-work and endless mazes (to my poor untutored mind) of groins -and buttresses. Long gray walls--the same that had been the groundwork -of my fancy--opened on either side, a great bare sweep of pavement was -below them, and a hundred windows letting in the comely daylight above, -but best of all was that long one by me which the crimson sun smote -strongly upon its varied surface, and, gleaming through the gorgeous -patchwork of a dozen parables in colored glasses, fell on the ground -below in pools of many-colored brightness. As I, inertly, watched these -shifting beams, I perceived in them the cause of those gay mosaics with -which the outer light had amused my sleeping fancies! - -All these things in time appeared distinct enough to me, and tempted a -trial of whether my physical condition equaled the apparent soundness -of my senses. I had hardly had leisure as yet to wonder how I had -come into this strange position, or to remember--so strong were the -demands of surrounding circumstances on my attention--the last remote -pages of my adventures--remote, I now began to entertain a certain -consciousness, they were--I was so fully taken up with the matter of -the moment, that it never occurred to me to speculate beyond, but the -pressing question was in what sort of a body were those sparks of sight -and sense burning. - -It was pretty clear I was in a church, and a greater one than I had -ever entered before. My position, I could tell, spoke of funeral -rites, or rather the stiff comfort of one of those marble effigies -with which sculptors have from the earliest times decorated tombs. -And yet I was not entombed, nor did I think I was marble, or even the -plaster of more frugal monumenters. My eyes served little purpose -in the deepening light, while as yet I had not moved a muscle. As I -thought and speculated, the dreadful fancy came across me that, if I -were not stone, possibly I was the other extreme--a thin tissue of dry -dust held together by the leniency of long silence and repose, and -perhaps--dreadful consideration!--the sensations of life and pleasure -now felt were threading those thin wasted tissues, as I have seen the -red sparks reluctantly wander in the black folds of a charred scroll, -and finally drop out one by one for pure lack of fuel. Was I such a -scroll? The idea was not to be borne, and, pitting my will against the -stiffness of I knew not what interval, I slowly lifted my right arm and -held it forth at length. - -My chief sentiment at the moment was wonderment at the limb thus held -out in the dim cathedral twilight, my next was a glow of triumph at -this achievement, and then, as something of the stress of my will was -taken off and the arm flew back with a jerk to its exact place by my -side, a flood of pain rushed into it, and with the pain came slowly -at first, but quickly deepening and broadening, a remembrance of my -previous sleeps and those other awakenings of mine attended by just -such thrills. - -I will not weary you with repetitions or recount the throes that -I endured in attaining flexibility. I have, by Heaven’s mercy, a -determination within me of which no one is fit to speak but he who -knows the extent and number of its conquests. A dozen times, so keen -were these griefs, I was tempted to relinquish the struggle, and as -many times I triumphed, the unquenched fire of my mind but burning the -brighter for each opposition. - -At last, when the painted shadows had crept up the opposite wall inch -by inch and lost themselves in the upper colonnades, and the gloom -around me had deepened into blackness, I was victorious, and weak, and -faint, and tingling; but, respirited and supple, I lay back and slept -like a child. - -The rest did me good. When I opened my eyes again it was with no -special surprise (for the capacity of wonder is very volatile) that -I saw the chancel where I lay had been lighted up, and that a portly -Abbot was standing near, clad in brown fustian, corded round his ample -middle, and picking his teeth with a little splinter of wood as he -paced up and down muttering to himself something, of which I only -caught such occasional fragments as “fat capons,” “spoiled roasts” -(with a sniff in the direction of the side door of the abbey), and a -malison on “unseemly hours” (with a glance at an empty confessional -near me), until he presently halted opposite--whereon I immediately -shut my eyes--and regarded me with dull complacency. - -As he did so an acolyte, a pale, grave recluse on whose face vigils -and abnegation had already set the lines of age, stepped out from the -shadow, and, standing just behind his superior, also gazed upon me with -silent attention. - -“That blessed saint, Ambrose,” said the fat Abbot, pointing at me with -his toothpick, apparently for want of something better to speak about, -“is nearly as good to us as the miraculous cruse was to the woman of -Sarepta: what this holy foundation would do just now, when all men’s -minds are turned to war, without the pence we draw from pilgrims who -come to kneel to him, I cannot think!” - -“Indeed, sir,” said the sad-eyed youth, “the good influence of that -holy man knows no limit: it is as strong in death as no doubt it was -in life. ’Twas only this morning that by leave of our Prior I brought -out the great missals, and there found something, but not much, that -concerned him.” - -“Recite it, brother,” quoth the Abbot with a yawn, “and if you know -anything of him beyond the pilgrim pence he draws you know more than I -do.” - -“Nay, my Lord, ’tis but little I learned. All the entries save the -first in our journals are of slight value, for they but record from -year to year how this sum and that were spent in due keeping and care -of the sleeping wonder, and how many pilgrims visited this shrine, and -by how much Mother Church benefited by their dutiful generosity.” - -“And the first entry? What said it?” - -“All too briefly, sir, it recorded in a faded passage that when the -saintly Baldwin--may God assoil him!” quoth the friar, crossing -himself--“when Baldwin, the first Norman Bishop in your Holiness’s -place, came here, he found yon martyr laid on a mean and paltry shelf -among the brothers’ cells. All were gone who could tell his life and -history, but your predecessor, says the scroll, judging by the outward -marvel of his suspended life, was certain of that wondrous body’s holy -beatitude, and, reflecting much, had him meetly robed and washed, and -placed him here. ’Twas a good deed,” sighed the studious boy. - -“Ah! and it has told to the advantage of the monastery,” responded his -senior, and he came close up and bent low over me, so that I heard him -mutter, “Strange old relic! I wonder how it feels to go so long as -that--if, indeed, he lives--without food. It was a clever thought of my -predecessor to convert the old mummy-bundle of swaddles into a Norman -saint! Baldwin was almost too good a man for the cloisters; with so -much shrewdness, he should have been a courtier!” - -“Oh!” I thought, “that is the way I came here, is it, my fat friend?” -and I lay as still as any of my comrade monuments while the old Abbot -bent over me, chuckling to himself a bibulous chuckle, and pressing -his short, thick thumb into my sides as though he was sampling a plump -pigeon or a gosling at a village fair. - -“By the forty saints that Augustine sent to this benighted island, -he takes his fasting wonderfully well! He is firm in gammon and -brisket--and, by that saintly band, he has even a touch of color in his -cheeks, unless these flickering lights play my eyes a trick!” whereupon -his Reverence regarded me with lively admiration, little witting it was -more than a breathless marvel, a senseless body, he was thus addressing. - -In a moment he turned again: “Thou didst not tell me the date of this -old fellow’s--Heaven forgive me!--of this blessed martyr’s sleep. How -long ago said the chronicles since this wondrous trance began?” - -“My Lord, I computed the matter, and here, by that veracious, -unquestionable record, he has lain three hundred years and more!” - -At this extraordinary statement the portly Abbot whistled as though he -were on a country green, and I, so startling, so incredulous was it, -involuntarily turned my head toward them, and gathered my breath to -cast back that audacious lie. But neither movement nor sign was seen, -for at that very moment the quiet novice laid a finger upon the monk’s -full sleeve and whispered hurriedly, “Father!--the Earl--the Earl!” and -both looked down the chancel. - -At the bottom the door swung open, giving a brief sight of the -pale-blue evening beyond, and there entered a tall and martial figure -who advanced in warlike harness to the altar steps, and, placing down -the helm decked with plumes that danced black and visionary in the dim -cresset light, he fell upon one knee. - -“Pax vobiscum, my son!” murmured the Abbot, extending his hands in -blessing. - -“Et vobis,” answered the gallant, “da mihi, domine reverendissime, -misericordiam vestram!” And at the sound of their voices I raised me -to my elbow, for the young warlike Earl, as he bent him there, was -sheathed and armed in a way that I, though familiar with many camps, -had never seen before. - -Over his fine gold hauberk was a wondrous tabard, a magnificent -emblazoned surtout, and, as he knelt, the light of the waxen altar -tapers twinkled upon his steel vestments, they touched his yellow curls -and sparkled upon the jeweled links of the chain he had about his -neck; they gleamed from breast-plate and from belt; they illuminated -the thick-sown pearls and sapphires of his sword-hilt, and glanced -back in subdued radiance, as befited that holy place, from gauntlets -and gorget, from warlike furniture and lordly gems, down to the great -rowels of the golden spurs that decked his knightly heels. - -The acolyte had shrunk into the shadows, and the Earl had had his -blessing, when the Abbot drew him into the recess where I lay in the -moonbeams, that he might speak him the more privately--that Churchman -little guessing what a good listener the stern, cold saint, so trim and -prone upon his marble shrine, could be! - -“Ah, noble Codrington,” quoth the monk, “truly we will to the -confessional at once, since thou art in so much haste, and thou shalt -certainly travel the lighter for leaving thy load of transgressions to -the holy forgiveness of Mother Church; but first, tell me true, dost -thou really sail for France to-night?” - -“Holy father, at this very moment our vessels are waiting to be gone, -and all my good companions chafe and vex them for this my absence!” - -“What! and dost thou start for hostile shores and bloody feuds with -half thy tithes and tolls unpaid to us? Noble Earl, wert thou to meet -with any mischance yonder--which Heaven prevent!--and didst thou stand -ill with our exchequer in this particular, there were no hope for thee! -I tell thee thou wert as surely damned if thou diedst owing this holy -foundation aught of the poor contributions it asks of those to whom it -ministers as if thy life were one long count of wickedness! I will not -listen--I will not shrive thee until thou hast comported thyself duly -in this most important particular!” - -“Good father, thy warmth is unnecessary,” replied the Earl. “My worldly -matters are set straight, and my steward has orders to pay thee in full -all that may be owing between us; ’twas spiritual settlement I came to -seek.” - -“Oh!” quoth his Reverence, in an altered tone. “Then thou art free at -once to follow the promptings of thy noble instinct, and serve thy King -and country as thou listest. I fear this will be a bloody war you go -to.” - -“’Tis like to be,” said the soldier, brightening up and speaking out -boldly on a subject he loved, his fine eyes flashing with martial -fire--“already the yellow sun of Picardy flaunts on Edward’s royal -lilies!” - -“Ah,” put in the monk, “and no doubt ripens many a butt of noble -malmsey.” - -“Already the red soil of Flanders is redder by the red blood of our -gallant chivalry!” - -“Yet even then not half so red, good Earl, as the ripe brew of -Burgundy--a jolly mellow brew that has stood in the back part of the -cellar, secure in the loving forbearance of twenty masters. Talk -of renown--talk of thy leman--talk of honor and the breaking of -spears--what are all these to such a vat of beaded pleasures? I tell -thee, Codrington, not even the fabled pool wherein the rhymers say the -cursed Paynim looks to foretaste the delights of his sinful heaven -reflects more joy than such a cobwebbed tub. Would that I had more of -them!” added the bibulous old priest after a pause, and sighing deeply. -As he did so an idea occurred to him, for he exclaimed, “Look thee, -my gallant boy! Thou art bound whither all this noble stuff doth come -from, and ’tis quite possible in the rough and tumble of bloody strife -thou may’st be at the turning inside out of many a fat roost and many -a well-stocked cellar. Now, if this be so, and thou wilt remember me -when thou seest the gallant drink about to be squandered on the loose -gullets of base, scullion troopers, why then ’tis a bargain, and, -in paternal acknowledgment of this thy filial duty, I will hear thy -confession now, and thy penance, I promise, shall not be such as will -inconvenience thine active life.” - -The knight bent his head, somewhat coldly I thought, and then they -turned and went over to the oriel confessional, where the moonlight was -throwing from the window above a pallid pearly transcript of the Mother -and her sweet Nazarene Babe, all in silver and opal tints, upon the -sacred woodwork, and as the priest’s black shadow blotted the tender -picture out I heard him say: - -“But mind, it must be good and ripe--’tis that vintage with the two -white crosses down by the vent that I like best--an thou sendest me -any sour Calais layman tipple, thou art a forsworn heretic, with all -thy sin afresh upon thee--so discriminate,” and the worthy Churchman -entered to shrive and forgive, and as the casement closed upon him the -sweet, silent, indifferent shadows from above blossomed again upon the -doorway. - -Dreamy and drowsy I lay back and thought and wondered, for how long I -know not, but for long--until the dim aisles had grown midnight-silent -and the moon had set, and then an owl hooted on the ledges outside, and -at that sound, with a start and a sigh, I awoke once more. - -“Fools!” I muttered, thinking over what I had heard with dreamy -insequence--“fools, liars, to set such a date upon this rest of -mine! Drunken churls! I will go at once to my fair Saxon, to my -sweet nestlings--that is, if they be not yet to bed--and to-morrow I -will give that meager acolyte such a lesson in the misreading of his -missal-margins as shall last him till Doomsday. By St. Dunstan! he -shall play no more pranks with me--and yet, and yet, my heart misgives -me--my soul is loaded with foreboding, my spirit is sick within me. -Where have I come to? Who am I? Gods! Hapi, Amenti of the golden -Egyptian past, Skogula, Mista of the Saxon hills and woods, grant that -this be not some new mischance--some other horrible lapse!” and I sat -up there on the white stone, and bowed my head and dangled my apostolic -heels against my own commemorative marbles below, while gusts of -alternate dread and indignation swept through the leafless thickets of -remembrance. - -Presently these meditations were disturbed by some very different -outward sensations. There came stealing over the consecrated pavements -of that holy pile the sound of singing, and it did not savor of angelic -harmony; it was rough, and jolly, and warbled and tripped about the -columns and altar steps in most unseemly sprightliness. “Surely never -did St. Gregory pen such a rousing chorus as that,” I thought to -myself, as, with ears pricked, I listened to the dulcet harmonies. -And along with the music came such a merry odor as made me thirsty to -smell of it. ’Twas not incense--’twas much more like cinnamon and -nutmegs--and never did censer--never did myrrh and galbanum smell so -much of burnt sack and roasted crab-apples as that unctuous, appetizing -taint. - -I got down at once off my slab, and, being mighty hungry, as I then -discovered, I followed up that trail like a sleuth-hound on a slot. It -was not reverent, it did not suit my saintship, but down the steps I -went hot and hungry, and passed the reredos and crossed the apse, and -round the pulpit, and over the curicula, and through the aisles, and by -many a shrine where the tapers dimly burned I pressed, and so, with the -scent breast high, I flitted through an open archway into the checkered -cloisters. Then, tripping heedlessly over the lettered slabs that kept -down the dust of many a roystering abbas, I--the latest hungry one of -the countless hungry children of time--followed down that jolly trail, -my apostolic linens tucked under my arm, jeweled miter on a head more -accustomed to soldier wear, and golden crook carried, alas! like a -hunter lance “at trail” in my other hand, till I brought the quest to -bay. At the end of the cloisters was a door set ajar, and along by -the jamb a mellow streak of yellow light was streaming out, rich with -those odors I had smelled and laden with laughter and the sound of -wine-soaked voices noisy over the end, it might be, of what seemed a -goodly supper. I advanced to the light, listened a moment, and then in -my imperious way pushed wide the panel and entered. - -It was the refectory of the monastery, and a right noble hall wherein -ostentation and piety struggled for dominion. Overhead the high -peaked ceiling was a maze of cunningly wrought and carved woodwork, -dark with time and harmonized with the assimilating touches of age. -Round by the ample walls right and left ran a corridor into the dim -far distance; and crucifix and golden ewer, cunning saintly image, -and noble-branching silver candlesticks, gleamed in the dusk against -the ebony and polish of balustrade and paneling. Under the heavy glow -of all these things the Brothers’ bare wooden table extended in long -demure lines; but wooden platter and black leathern mugs were now all -deserted and empty. - -It was from the upper end came the light and jollity. Here a wider -table was placed across the breadth of the hall, and upon it all was -sumptuous magnificence--holy poverty here had capitulated to priestly -arrogance. Silver and gold, and rare glasses from cunning Italian -molds, enriched about with shining enamels wherein were limned many an -ancient heathen fancy, shone and sparkled on that monkish board. On -either side, in mighty candelabra, bequeathed by superstition and fear, -there twinkled a hundred waxen candles, and up to the flames of these -steamed, as I looked, many a costly dish uncovered, and many a mellow -brew beaded and shining to the very brim of those jeweled horns and -beakers that were the chief accessories to that pleasant spread. - -They who sat here seemed, if a layman might judge, right well able to -do justice to these things. Half a dozen of them, jolly, rosy priors -and prelates, were round that supper table, rubicund with wine and -feeding, and in the high carved chair, coif thrown back from head, his -round, ruddy face aflush with liquor, his fat red hand asprawl about -his flagon, and his small eyes glazed and stupid in his drunkenness, -sat my friend the latest Abbot of St. Olaf’s fane. - -He had been singing, and, as I entered, the last distich died away upon -his lips, his round, close-cropped head, overwhelmed with the wine he -loved so much, sank down upon the table, the red vintage ran from the -overturned beaker in a crimson streak, and while his boon comrades -laughed long and loud his holiness slept unmindful. It was at this -very moment that I entered, and stood there in my ghostly linen, stern -and pale with fasting, and frowning grimly upon those godless revelers. -Jove! it was a sight to see them blanch--to see the terror leap from -eye to eye as each in turn caught sight of me--to see their jolly jaws -drop down, and watch the sickly pallor sweeping like icy wind across -their countenances. So grim and silent did we face each other in that -stern moment that not a finger moved--not a pulse, I think, there beat -in all their bodies, and in that mighty hall not a sound was heard save -the drip, drip of the Abbot’s malmsey upon the floor and his own husky -snoring as he lay asleep amid the costly litter of his swinish meal. - -Stern, inflexible, there by the black backing of the portal I frowned -upon them--I, whom they only deemed of as a saint dead three hundred -years before--I, whom lifeless they knew so well, now stood vengeful -upon their threshold, scowling scorn and contempt from eyes where no -life should have been--can you doubt but they were sick at heart, with -pallid cheeks answering to coward consciences? For long we remained so, -and then, with a wild yell of terror they were all on foot, and, like -homing bats by a cavern mouth, were scrambling and struggling into the -gloom of the opposite doorway. I let them escape, then, stalking over -to the archway, thrust the wicket to upon the heels of the last flyer, -and glad to be so rid of them, shot the bolt into the socket and barred -that entry. - -[Illustration: Stern, inflexible, I frowned upon them] - -Then I went back to my friend the Abbot, and stood, reflective, -behind him, wondering whether it were not a duty to humanity to rid -it of such a knave even as he slept there. But while I stood at his -elbow contemplating him, the unwonted silence told upon his dormant -faculties, and presently the heavy head was raised, and, after an -inarticulate murmur or two, he smiled imbecilely, and, picking up the -thread of his revelry, hiccoughed out: “The chorus, good brothers!--the -chorus--and all together!” - - Die we must, but let us die drinking at an inn. - Hold the winecup to our lips sparkling from the bin! - So, when angels flutter down to take us from our sin, - “Ah! God have mercy on these sots!” the cherubs will begin. - -“Why, you rogues!” he said, as his drunken melody found no echo in the -great hall--“why, you sleepy villains! am I a strolling troubadour that -I should sing thus alone to you?” And then, as his bleared and dazzled -eyes wandered round the empty places, the spilled wine and overturned -trestles, he smiled again with drunken cunning. “Ah!” he muttered; -“then they must be all under the tables! I thought that last round of -sack would finish them! Hallo, there! Ambrose! De Vœux! Jervaulx! Jolly -comrades!--sleepy dogs! Come forth! Fie on ye!--to call yourselves good -monks, and yet to leave thy simple, kindly Prior thus to himself!” and -he pulled up the table linen and peered below. Sorely was the Churchman -perplexed to see nothing; and first he glared up among the oaken -rafters, as though by chance his fellows had flown thither, and then -he stared at the empty places, and so his gaze wandered round, until, -in a minute or two, it had made the complete circle of the place, and -finally rested on me, standing, immovable, a pace from his elbow. - -At first he stared upon me with vapid amusement, and then with stupid -wonder. But it was not more than a second or two before the truth -dawned upon that hazy intellect, and then I saw the thick, short hands -tighten upon the carving of his priestly throne, I saw the wine flush -pale upon his cheeks, and the drunken light in his eyes give place to -the glare of terror and consternation. Just as they had done before -him, but with infinite more intensity, he blanched and withered before -my unrelenting gaze, he turned in a moment before my grim, imperious -frown, from a jolly, rubicund old bibber, rosy and quarrelsome with -his supper, into a cadaverous, sober-minded confessor, lantern-jawed -and yellow--and then with a hideous cry he was on foot and flying for -the doorway by which his friends had gone! But I had need of that good -confessor, and ere he could stagger a yard the golden apostolic crook -was about the ankle of the errant sheep, and the Prior of St. Olaf’s -rolled over headlong upon the floor. - -I sat down to supper, and as I helped myself to venison pasty and -malmsey I heard the beads running through the recumbent Abbot’s fingers -quicker than water runs from a spout after a summer thunder shower. -“Misericordia, Domine, nobis!” murmured the old sinner, and I let him -grovel and pray in his abject panic for a time, then bade him rise. -Now, the fierceness of this command was somewhat marred, because my -mouth was very full just then of pasty crust, and the accents appeared -to carry less consternation into my friend’s heart than I had intended. -The paternoster began to run with more method and coherence, and, -soon finding he was not yet halfway to that nether abyss he had seen -opening before him, he plucked up a little heart of grace. Besides, the -avenger was at supper, and making mighty inroads into the provender -the Abbot loved so well: this took off the rough edge of terror, and -was in itself so curious a phenomenon that little by little, with -the utmost circumspection, the monk raised his head and looked at -me. I kept my baleful eyes turned away, and busied me with my loaded -platter--which, by the way, was far the most interesting item of the -two--and so by degrees he gained confidence, and came into a sitting -position, and gazed at the hungry saint, so active with the victuals, -wonder and awe playing across his countenance. “I see, Sir Priest,” I -said, “you have a good cook yonder in the buttery,” but the Abbot was -as yet too dazed to answer, so I went on to put him more at his ease -(for I designed to ask him some questions later on), “now, where I come -from, the great fault of the cooks is, they appreciate none of your -Norman niceties--they broil and roast forever, as though every one had -a hunter appetite, and thus I have often been weary of their eternal -messes of pork and kine.” - -“Holy saints!” quoth the Abbot. “I did not dream you had any cooks at -all.” - -“No cooks! Thou fat wine-vat, what, didst thou think we ate our viands -raw?” - -“Heaven forbid!” the Abbot gasped. “But, truly, your sanctity’s -experiences astound me! ’Tis all against the canons. And if they be -thus, as you say, at their trenchers, may I ask, in all humbleness and -humility, how your blessed friends are at their flagons?” - -“Ah! Sir, good fellows enough my jolly comrades, but caring little for -thy red and purple vintages, liking better the merry ale that autumn -sends, and the honeyed mead, yet in their way as merry roysterers for -the most part as though they were all Norman Abbots,” I said, glancing -askance at him. - -By this time the Prior was on his feet, as sober as could be, but -apparently infinitely surprised and perplexed at what he saw and heard. -He cogitated, and then he diffidently asked: “An it were not too -presumptive, might I ask if your saintship knows the blessed Oswald?” - -“Not I.” - -“Nor yet the holy Sewall de Monteign?” he queried with a sigh--“once -head of these halls and cells.” - -“Never heard of him in my life.” - -“Nor yet of Grindal? or Gerard of Bayeux? or the saintly Anselm, my -predecessor in that chair you fill?” groaned the jolly confessor. - -“I tell you, priest, I know none of them--never heard their names or -aught of them till now.” - -“Alas! alas!” quoth the monk, “then if none of these have won to -heaven, if none of these are known to thee so newly thence, there can -be but small hope for me!” And his fat round chin sank upon his ample -chest, and he heaved a sigh that set the candles all a-flickering -halfway down the table. - -“Why, priest, what art thou talking of?--Paradise and long-dead saints? -’Twas of the Saxons--Harold’s Saxons--my jolly comrades and allies in -arms when last in life, I spoke.” - -“Ho! ho! Was that so? Why, I thought thou wert talking of things -celestial all this while, though, in truth, thy speech sorted -astounding ill with all I had heard before!” - -“I think, Father,” I responded, “there is more burnt sack under thy -ample girdle than wit beneath thy cowl. But never mind, we will not -quarrel. Sit down, fill yon tankard (for dryness will not, I fancy, -improve thy eloquence), and tell me soberly something of this nap of -mine.” - -“Ah, but, Sir, I was never very good at such studious work,” the monk -replied, seating himself with uneasy obedience: “if I might but fetch -in our Clerk--though, in truth, I cannot imagine why and whither he has -gone--he is one who has by heart the things thou wouldst know.” - -“Stir a foot, priest,” I said, with feigned anger, “and thou art but a -dead Abbot! Tell me so much as your muddled brain can recall. Now, when -I supped here before that yellow-skinned Norman William sat upon the -English throne----” - -“Saints in Paradise! what, he who routed Harold, and founded yonder -abbey of Battle--impossible!” - -“What, dost thou bandy thy ‘impossible’ with me? Slave, if thou cast -again but one atom of doubt, one single iota of thy heretic criticism -here, thou shalt go thyself to perdition and seek Sewall de Monteign -and Gerard of Bayeux,” and I laid my hand upon my crook. - -“Misericordia! misericordia!” stammered the Abbot. “I meant no ill -whatever, but the extent of thy Holiness’s astounding abstinence -overwhelmed me.” - -“Why, then to your story. But I am foolish to ask. You cannot, you -dare not, tell me again that lie of thy acolyte, that three hundred -years have passed since then. Look up, say ’twas false, and that single -word shall unburden here,” and I struck my breast, “a soul of a load -of dread and fear heavier than ever was lifted by priestly absolution -before.” - -But still he hung his face, and I heard him mutter that fifty -white-boned Abbots lay in the cloisters, heel to head, and the first -one was a kinsman of William’s, and the last was his own predecessor. - -“Then, if thou darest not answer this question, who reigns above us -now? Has the Norman star set, as I once hoped it might, behind the red -cloud of rebellion? or does it still shine to the shame of all Saxons?” - -“Sir Saint,” answered the monk, with a little touch of the courage and -pride of his race gleaming for a moment through his drunken humility, -“rebellion never scared the Norman power--so much I know for certain; -and Saxon and Norman are one by the grace of God, linked in brotherhood -under the noble Edward. Expurgate thy divergences; erase ‘invaders and -invaded’ from thy memory, and drink as I drink --if, indeed, all this -be news to thee--for the first time to ‘England and to the English!’” - -“Waes hael, Sir Monk--‘England and the English!’” - -“Drink hael, good saint!” he answered, giving me the right acceptance -of my flagon challenge, “and I do hereby receive thee most paternally -into the national fold! Nevertheless, thou art the most perplexing -martyr that ever honored this holy fane”--and he raised the great -silver cup to his lips and took a mighty pull. Then he gazed -reflectively for a moment into the capacious measure, as though -the pageantry of history were passing across the shining bottom in -fantastic sequence, and looked up and said--“Most wonderful--most -wonderful! Why, then, you know nothing of William the Red?” - -“The William I knew was red enough in the hands.” - -“Ah! but this other one who followed him was red on the head as well, -and an Anselm was Archbishop while he reigned.” - -“Well, and who came next in thy preposterous tale?” - -“Henry Plantagenet--unless all this sack confuses my memory--I have -told thee, good saint, I am better at mass and breviar than at missals -and scroll.” - -“And better, no doubt, than either at thy cellar score-book, priest! -But what befell your Henry?” - -“Frankly, I am not very certain; but he died eventually.” - -“’Tis the wont of kings no less than of lesser folk. Pass me yon bread -platter, and fill thy flagon. So much history, I see, makes thee husky -and sad!” - -“Well, then came Stephen de Blois, the son of Adeliza, who was daughter -to the Conqueror.” - -“Forsworn priest!” I exclaimed at that familiar name, leaping to my -feet and swinging the great gold flail into the air, “that is a falser -lie than any yet. The noble Adeliza was troth to Harold, and had no -children; unsay it, or----” and here the crook poised ominously over -the shrieking Abbot’s head. - -“I lied! I lied!” yelled the monk, cowering under the swing of my -weapon like a partridge beneath a falcon’s circlings, and then, as the -crook was thrown down on the table again, he added: “’Twas Adela, I -meant; but what it should matter to thee whether it were Adeliza or -Adela passes my comprehension,” and the monk smoothed out his ruffled -feathers. - -“Proceed! It is not for thee to question. Wrought Stephen anything more -notable to thy mind than Henry?” - -“Well, Sir, I recall, now thou puttest me to it, that he laid rough -hands upon the sacred persons of our Bishops once or twice, yet he was -much indebted to them. Didst ever draw sword in a good quarrel, Sir -Saint?” - -“Didst ever put thy fingers into a venison pasty, Sir Priest? Because, -if thou hast, as often, and oftener, have I done according to thy -supposition.” - -“Why, then, I wonder you lay still upon yonder white marble slab while -all the northern Bishops were up in arms for Stephen, and on bloody -Northallerton Moor broke the power of the cruel Northmen forever. That -day, Sir, the sacred flags of St. Cuthbert of Durham, St. Peter of -York, St. John of Beverley, St. Wilfred of Ripon, not to mention the -holy Thurstan’s ruddy pennon, led the van of battle. ’Tis all set out -in a pretty scroll that we have over the priory fireplace, else, as you -will doubtless guess, I had never remembered so much of detail.” - -“Anyhow, it is well recalled. Who came next?” - -“Another Henry, and he made the saintly Thomas Becket Archbishop in -the year of grace 1162, and afterward the holy prelate was gathered to -bliss.” - -“Thy history is mostly exits and entries, but perhaps it is none the -less accurate for all that. And now thou wilt say this Henry was no -more lasting than his kinsman--he too died.” - -“Completely and wholly, Sir, so that the burly Richard Cœur de Lion -reigned in his stead; and then came John, who was at best but a wayward -vassal of St. Peter’s Chair.” - -“Down with him, jolly Abbot! And mount another on the shaky throne of -thy fantastic narrative. I am weary of the succession already, and -since we have come so far away from where I thought we were I care for -no great niceties of detail. Put thy Sovereigns to the amble, make them -trot across the stage of thy hazy recollection, or thou wilt be asleep -before thou canst stall and stable half of them.” - -“Well, then, a Henry came after John, and an Edward followed him--then -another of the name--and then a third--that noble Edward in whose sway -the realm now is, and in whom (save some certain exactions of rent and -taxes) Mother Church perceives a glorious and a warlike son. But it is -a long muster roll from the time of thy Norman monarch to this year of -grace 1346.” - -“A long roll!” I muttered to myself, turning away from my empty -plate--“horrible, immense, and vast! Good Lord! what shadows are these -men who come and go like this! Wonderful and dreadful! that all those -tinseled puppets of history--those throbbing epitomes of passion and -godlike hopes--should have budded, and decayed, and passed out into the -void, finding only their being, to my mind, in the shallow vehicle of -this base Churchman’s wine-vault breath. Dreadful, quaint, abominable! -to think that all these flickering human things have paced across the -sunny white screen of life--like the colored fantasies yonder stained -windows threw upon my sleeping eyes--and yet I only but wake hungry -and empty, unchanged, unmindful, careless!--Priest!” I said aloud, so -sudden and fiercely that the monk leaped to his feet with a startled -cry from the drunken sleep into which he had fallen--“priest! dost fear -the fires of thy purgatory?” - -“Ah, glorious miracle! but--but surely thou wouldst not----” - -“Why, then, answer me truly, swear by that great crucified form there -shining in the taper light above thy throne, swear by Him to whom thou -nightly offerest the hyssop incense of thy beastly excesses--swear, I -say!” - -“I do--I do!” exclaimed St. Olaf’s priest in extravagant terror, as -I towered before him with all my old Phrygian fire emphasized by the -sanctity of my extraordinary repute. “I swear!” he said; but, seeing me -hesitate, he added, “What wouldst thou of thy poor, unworthy servant?” - -’Twas not so easy to answer him, and I hung my head for a moment; then -said: “When I died--in the Norman time, thou rememberest--there was a -woman here, and two sunny little ones, blue in the eyes and comely to -look upon---- There, shut thy stupid mouth, and look not so astounded! -I tell thee they were here--here, in St. Olaf’s Hall--here, at this -very high table between me and St. Olaf’s Abbot--three tender flowers, -old man, set in the black framing of a hundred of thy corded, wondering -brotherhood. Now, tell me--tell me the very simple truth--is there such -a woman here, tall and fair, and melancholy gracious? Are there such -babes in thy cloisters or cells?” - -“It is against the canons of our order.” - -“A malison on thee and thy order! Is there, then, no effigy in yon -chancel, no tablet, no record of her--I mean of that noble lady and -those comely little ones?” - -“I know of none, Sir Saint.” - -“Think again. She was a franklin, she had wide lands; she reverenced -thy Church, and in her grief, being woman, she would turn devout. -Surely she built some shrine, or made thee a portico, or blazoned a -window to shame rough Fate with the evidence of her gentleness?” - -“There is none such in St. Olaf’s. But, now thou speakest of shrines, I -do remember one some hours’ ride from here; unroofed and rotten, but, -nevertheless, such as you suggest, and in it there is a cenotaph, and -a woman laid out straight. She is cracked across the middle and mossy, -and there be two small kneeling figures by her head, but I never looked -nicely to determine whether they were blessed cherubin or but common -children. The shepherds who keep their flocks there and shelter from -the showers under the crumbling walls call the place Voewood.” - -“Enough, priest,” I said, as I paced hither and thither across the -hall in gloomy grief, and then taking my hasty resolution I turned to -him sternly--“Make what capital thou list of to-night’s adventure, but -remember the next time thou seest a saint may Heaven pity thee if thou -art not in better sort--turn thy face to the wall!” - -The frightened Abbot obeyed; I shed in a white heap upon the floor -my saintly vestments, my miter and crook on top, and then, stepping -lightly down the hall, mounted upon a bench, unfastened and threw open -a lattice, and, placing my foot upon the sill, sprang out into the -night and open world again! - -I walked and ran until the day came, southward constantly, now and -again asking my way of an astonished hind, but for the most part guided -by some strange instinct, and before the following noon I was at my old -Saxon homestead. - -But could it be Voewood? Not a vestige of a house anywhere in that wide -grassy glade where Voewood stood, not a sign of life, not a sound to -break the stillness! Near by there ran a little brook, and against -it, just as the monk had said, were the four gray walls of a lonely -roofless shrine. Over the shrine, on the very spot where Voewood -stood--alas! alas!--was a long, grassy knoll, crowned with hawthorns -and little flowers shining in the sunlight. I went into the ruined -chapel, and there, stained and lichened and broken, in the thorny -embrace of the brambles, lay the marble figure of my sweet Saxon wife, -and by the pillow--green-velveted with the tapestry of nature--knelt -her little ones on either side. I dropped upon my knee and buried my -face in her crumbling bosom and wept. What mattered the eclipse while -I slept of all those kingly planets that had shone in the English -firmament compared to the setting of this one white star of mine? I -rushed outside to the mound that hid the forgotten foundations of my -home, and, as the passion swept up and engulfed my heart, I buried -my head in my arms and hurled myself upon the ground and cursed that -tender green moss that should have been so hard--cursed that golden -English sunlight that suited so ill with my sorrows--and cursed again -and again in my bitterness those lying blossoms overhead that showered -down their petals on me, saying it was spring, when it was the blackest -winter of desolation, the night-time of my disappointment. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - - -I am not of a nature to be long overwhelmed. All that night and -far into the next day I lay upon Voewood, alternately sleeping and -bewailing the chance which tossed me to and fro upon the restless ocean -of time, and then I arose. I threw my arms round each in turn of those -dear, callous ones in the chapel, and pushed back the brambles from -them, and wept a little, and told myself the pleasure-store of life -was now surely spent to the very last coin--then, with a mighty effort, -tore myself away. Again and again, while the smooth swell of the -grassy mound under which the foundations of the long-destroyed Saxon -homestead with the little chapel by the rivulet were in sight, I turned -and turned, loth and sad. But no sooner had the leafy screen hid them -than I set off and ran whither I knew not, nor cared--indeed, I was so -terribly drawn by that spot--so close in the meshes of its association, -so thralled by the presence of the dust of all I had had to lose or -live for, that I feared, if the best haste were not made, I should -neither haste nor fly from that terribly sweet hillock of lamentations -forever. - -What could it matter where my wandering feet were turned? All the -world was void and vapid, east and west alike indifferent, to one so -homeless, and thus I stalked on through glades and coppices for hours -and days, with my chin upon my chest, and feeling marvelously cheap and -lonely. But enough of this. Never yet did I crave sympathy of any man: -why should I seem to seek it of you--skeptical and remote? - -There were those who appeared at that time to take compassion on -me unasked, and I remember the countrywomen at whose cottage doors -I hesitated a moment--yearning with pent-up affection over their -curly-headed little ones--added to the draught of water I begged such -food as their slender stores provided. One of these gave me a solid -green forester’s cape and jerkin; another put shoes of leather upon my -feet; and a third robbed her husband’s pegs to find me headwear, and so -through the gifts of their unspoken good-will I came by degrees into -the raiment of the time. - -But nothing seemed to hide the inexpressible strangeness I began to -carry about with me. No sorry apparel, no woodman’s cap drawn down -over my brows, no rustic clogs upon my wandering feet, masked me -for a moment from the awe and wonder of these good English people. -None of them dared ask me a question, how I came or where I went, but -everywhere it was the same. They had but to look upon me, and up they -rose, and in silence, and, drawn involuntarily by that stern history -of mine they knew naught of, they ministered to me according to their -means. The women dropped their courtesies, and--unasked, unasking--fed -the grim and ragged stranger from their cleanest platter, the men stood -by and uncapped them to my threadbare russet, and whole groups would -watch spellbound upon the village mounds as I paced moodily away. - -In course of time my grief began to mend, so that it was presently -possible to take a calmer view of the situation, and to bend my -thoughts upon what it were best to do next. Though I love the -greenwood, and am never so happy as when solitary, yet my nature -was not made, alas! for sylvan idleness. I felt I had the greatest -admiration and brotherhood with those who are recluse and shun the -noisy struggles of the world; yet had I always been a leader of men, -I now remembered, as all the pages of my past history came one by one -before me and I meditated upon them day and night. No, I was not made -to walk these woods alone, and, if another argument were wanting, it -were found in the fact that I was here exposed to every weather, hungry -and shelterless! I could not be forever begging from door to door, -eternally throwing my awe-inspiring shadow across the lintels of these -gentle-mannered woodland folk, and my tastes, though never gluttonous, -rebelled most strongly against the perpetual dietary of herbs and roots -and limpid brooks. - -Reflecting on these things one day, as I lay friendless and ragged -in the knotty elbow of a great oak’s earth-bare roots, after some -weeks of homeless wandering, I fell asleep, and dreamed all the fair -shining landscape were a tented field, and all the rustling rushes -down by the neighboring streamlet’s banks were the serried spears of a -great concourse of soldiers defiling by, the sparkle of the sunlight -on the ripples seeming like the play of rays upon their many warlike -trappings, the yellow flags and water-flowers making no poor likeness -of dancing banners and bannerets. - -’Twas a simple dream, such as came of an empty stomach and a full -head, yet somehow I woke from that sleep with more of my old pulse of -pleasure and life beating in my veins than had been there for a long -time. And with the wish for another spell of bright existence, spent in -the merry soldier mood that suited me so well, came the means to attain -it. - -In the first stage of these wanderings, while still fresh from the -cloister shrine, I had paid but the very smallest heed to my attire -and its details. I was clad in clean, sufficient wraps, so much was -certain, with a linen belt about me, and sandals upon my feet; yet -even this was really more than I noticed with any closeness. But as I -ran and walked, and my flesh grew hot and nervous with the fever of -my sorrow, a constant chafing of my feet and hands annoyed me. I had -stopped by a woodside river bank, and there discovered with wrathful -irritation that upon my bare apostolic toes and upon my sanctified -thumbs--those soldier thumbs still flat and strong with years of -pressing sword-hilts and bridle-reins--there were glistening in holy -splendor such a set of gorgeous gems as had rarely been taken for a -scramble through the woods before! There were beryls and sapphires -and pearls, and ruddy great rubies from the caftans of Paynim chiefs -slain by long-dead Crusaders, and onyx and emerald from Cyprus and the -remotest East set in rude red gold by the rough artificers of rearward -ages, and all these put upon me, no doubt, after the manner in which -at that time credulous piety was wont to bedeck the shrine and images -of saints and martyrs. I was indeed at that moment the wealthiest -beggar who ever sat forlorn and friendless on a grassy lode. But what -was all this glistening store to me, desolate and remorseful, with -but one remembrance in my heart, with but one pitiful sight before -my eyes? I pulled the shining gems angrily from my swollen fingers -and toes and hurled them one by one, those princely toys, into the -muddy margin of the stream, and there, in that rude setting, ablazing, -red, and green, and white, and hot and cool, with their wonderful -scintillations they mocked me. They mocked me as I sat there with my -chin in my palms, and twinkled and shone among the sludge and scum so -merrily to the flickering sunshine, that presently I laughed a little -at those cheerful trinkets that could shine so bravely in the contumacy -of chance, and after a time I picked up one and rinsed it and held it -out in the sunshine, and found it very fair--so fair, indeed, that a -glimmer of listless avarice was kindled within me, and later on I broke -a hawthorn spray and groped among the sedge and mire and hooked out -thus, in better mood, the greater part of my strange inheritance. - -Then, here I was, upon this other bank, waking up after my dream, and, -turning over the better to watch the fair landscape stretching below, -my waistcloth came unbound, and out upon the sand amid the oak roots -rolled those ambient, glistening rings again. At first I was surprised -to see such jewels in such a place, staring in dull wonderment while -I strove to imagine whence they came, but soon I remembered piece by -piece their adventure as has been told to you, and now, with the warm -blood in my veins again, I did not throw them by, but lay back against -the oak and chuckled to myself as my ambitious heart fluttered with -pleasure under my draughty rags, and crossed my legs, and weighed upon -my finger-tips, and inventoried, and valued, all in the old merchant -spirit, those friendly treasures. - -How unchanging are the passions of humanity! I tossed those radiant -playthings up in the sunlight and caught them, I counted and recounted -them, I tore shreds from my clothing and cleaned and polished each in -turn, I started up angry and suspicious as a kite’s wheeling shadow -fell athwart my hoard. Forgotten was hunger and houselessness--I no -longer mourned so keenly the emptiness of the world or the brevity of -friendships: I, to whom these treasures should have been so light, -overlooked nearly all my griefs in them, and was as happy for the -moment in this unexpected richness as a child. - -And then, after an hour or so of cheerful avarice, I sat up sage and -reflective, and, having swathed and wrapped my store safely next my -heart, I must needs climb the first grassy knoll showing above the -woodlands and search the horizon for some place wherein a beginning -might be made of spending it. Nothing was to be seen thence but a -goodly valley spread out at a distance, and there my steps were -turned--for men, like streams, ever converge upon the lowlands. - -Now that I had the heart to fall into beaten tracks, coming out of -the sheltering thicket byways for the first time since quitting the -mounds over the ashes of Voewood, I observed more of the new people -and times among whom fate had thus thrown me. And truly it was a -very strange meeting with these folk, who were they whom I had known -when last I walked these woods, and yet were not. I would stare at -them in perplexity, marveling at the wondrous blend of nations I -saw in face and hair and eyes. Their very clothes were novel to me, -and unaccountable, while their speech seemed now the oddest union of -many tongues--all foreign, yet upon these English lips most truly -native--and wondrous to listen to. I would pass a sturdy yokel -leading out his teams to plowing, and when I spoke to him it made my -ears tingle to hear how antique Roman went hand in hand with ancient -British, and good Norman was linked upon his lips with better Saxon! -That polyglot youth, knowing no tongue but one, was most scholarly in -his ignorance. To him ’twas English that he spoke; but to me, who had -lived through the making of that noble speech, who knew each separate -individual quantity that made that admirable whole, his jargon was most -wonderful! - -Nor was I yet fully reconciled to the unity of these new people and -their mutual kinsmanship. I could not remember all feuds were ended. -When down the path would come a more than usually dusky wayfarer--a -trooper, perhaps, with leather jerkin, shield on back, and sword by -side--I would note his swart complexion and dark black hair, and then -’twas “Ho! ho! a Norman villain straying from his band!” And back I -would step among the shadows, and, gripping the staff that was my -only weapon, scowl on him while he whistled by, half mindful, in my -forgetfulness, to help the Saxon cause by rapping the fellow over his -head. On the other hand if one chanced upon me who had the flaxen hair -and pleasant eyes of those who once were called my comrades--if he wore -the rustic waistless smock, as many did still, of hind or churl--why, -then, I was mighty glad to see that Saxon, and crossed over, friendly, -to his pathway, bespeaking him in the pure tongue of his forefathers, -asked him of garth and homestead, and how fared his thane and -heretoga--all of which, it grieved me afterward to notice, perplexed -him greatly. - -Not only in these ways was there much for me to learn, but, with speech -and fashions, modes and means of life had changed. At one time I met -a strange piebald creature, all tags and tassels, white and red, with -a hundred little bells upon him, a cap with peaks hanging down like -asses’ ears, and a staff, with more bells, tucked away under his arm. -He was plodding along dejected, so I called to him civilly: - -“Why, friend! Who are you?” - -“I am a fool, Sir!” - -“Never mind,” I replied cheerfully, “there is the less likelihood of -your ever treading this earth companionless.” - -“Why, that is true enough,” he said, “for it was too much wisdom that -sent me thus solitary afield,” and he went on to tell me how he had -been ejected that morning from a neighboring castle. “I had belauded -and admired my master for years--therein I had many friends, yet was -a fool. Yesterday we quarreled about some trifle--I called him beast -and tyrant, and therein, being just and truthful, I lost my place and -comrades over the first wise thing I said for years!--it is a most -sorry, disorderly world.”[2] - -[2] The Phœnician must have failed to recognize in the new finery of -the time the latest representative of a brotherhood that had long -existed. - -This strange individual, it seemed, lived by folly, and, though I had -often noticed that wit was not a fat profession, I could not help -regarding him with wonder. He was, under his veneer of shallowness, a -most gentle and observant jester. Long study in the arts of pleasing -had given him a very delicate discrimination of moods and men. He could -fit a merriment to the capacity of any man’s mind with extraordinary -acumen. He had stores of ill-assorted learning in the empty galleries -of his head, and wherewithal a kindly, gentle heart, a whimsical -companionship for sad-eyed humanity which made him haste to laugh at -everything through fear of crying over it. We were companions before we -had gone a mile, and many were the things I learned of him. When our -way parted I pressed one of my rings into his hand. “Good-by, fool!” I -said. - -“Good-by, friend!” he called. “You are the first wise man with whom I -ever felt akin”; and indeed, as his poor buffoon’s coat went shining up -the path, I felt bereft and lonely again for a spell. - -Then I found another craftsman of this curious time. A little way -farther on, near by to a lordly house standing in wide stretches of -meadow and park lands, a most plaintive sound came from a thicket lying -open to the sun. Such a dismal moaning enlisted my compassion, for -here, I thought, is some luckless wight just dying or, at least, in -bitterest extremity of sorrow: so I approached, stepping lightly round -the blossoming thicket--peering this way and that, and now down on my -hands and knees to look under the bushes, and now on tiptoe, craning -my neck that I might see over, and so, presently, I found the source -of the sighs and moans. It was a young man of most dainty proportions, -with soft, fine-combed hair upon his pretty sloping shoulders, his -sleeves so long they trailed upon the moss, his shoes laced with -golden threads and toed and tasseled in monstrous fashion. A most -delicate perfume came from him: his clothes were greener than grass in -springtime, turned back, and puffed with damask. In his hand he had a -scroll whereon now and again he looked, and groaned in most plaintive -sort. - -“Why, man,” I asked, “what ails you? Why that dreadful moaning? What -are you, and what is yon scroll?” So absorbed was he, however, it was -only when I had walked all round him to spy the wound, if it might -be, that he suffered from, and finally stood directly in his sunshine, -repeating the question, that he looked up. - -“Interrupter of inspiration! Hast thou asked what I am, and what this -is?” - -“Yes; and more than once.” - -“Fie! not to see! I am a minstrel--a bard; my Lord’s favorite poet up -at yonder castle, and this is an ode to his mistress’s eyebrows. I was -in travail of a rhyme when thy black shadow fell upon the page.” - -“Give me the leaf! Why, it is the sickliest stuff that ever did -dishonor to virgin paper! There, take it back,” I said, angry to find -so many fools abroad, “and listen to me! You may be a poet, for I -have no experience of them, but as I am a man thou art not a bard! -You a bard! You the likeness and descendant of Howell ap Griffith -and a hundred other Saxon gleemen! You one of the guild of Gryffith -ap Conan--you a scop or a skald!--why, boy, they could write better -stuff than thou canst though they had been drunk for half a day! You -a stirrer of passions--you a minstrel--you a tightener of the strong -sinews of warrior hearts!--fie! for shame upon your silly trivial -sonnets, your particolored suits and sweet insipid vaporings! Out, I -say! Get home to thy lady’s footstool, or, by Thor and Odin, I will -give thee a beating out of pure respect for noble rhyming!” - -The poet did not wait to argue. I was angry and rough, and the -rudest-clad champion that ever swung a flail in the cause of the muses. -So he took to his heels, and as I watched that pretty butterfly aiming -across the sunny meadows for his master’s portals, and stopping not for -hedge or ditch, “By Hoth,” I said, laughing scornfully, “we might have -been friends if he could but have writ as well as he can run!” - -Then I went on again, and had not gone far, when down the road there -came ambling on a mule a crafty-looking Churchman, with big wallets -hanging at his saddle-bows, a portentous rosary round his neck, and -bare, unwashed feet hanging stirrupless by his palfrey’s side. - -“Now here’s another tradesman,” I muttered to myself, “of this most -perplexing age. Heaven grant his wares are superior to the last ones! -Good-morning, Father!” - -“Good-morning, Son! Art going into the town to take up arms for Christ -and His servant Edward?” - -“Yes,” I answered, “I am bound to the town, but I have not yet chosen a -master.” - -“Then you are all the more sure to go to the fighting, for every one, -just now, who has no other calling, is apprentice to arms.” - -“It will not be the first time I have taken that honorable indenture.” - -“No, I guess not,” said the shrewd Friar, eyeing me under his penthouse -eyebrows, “for thou art a stout and wiry-looking fellow, and may I -never read anything better than my breviary again if I cannot construe -in your face a good and varied knowledge of camps and cities. But there -was something else I had to say to you.” [“Here comes the point of the -narrative,” I thought to myself.] “Now, so trim a soldier as you, and -one wherewithal so reflective, would surely not willingly go where -hostile swords are waving and cruel French spears are thicker than -yonder tall-bladed glass, unshriven--with all thy sins upon thy back?” - -“Why then, monk, I must stay at home. Is that what you would say?” - -“Nay, not at all. There is a middle way. But soft! Hast any money with -thee?” - -“Enough to get a loaf of bread and a cup of ale.” - -“Oh!” said the secret pardoner (for his calling was then under ban -and fine), a little disappointedly, “that is somewhat small, but yet, -nevertheless,” he muttered partly to himself, “these are poor times, -and when all plump partridges are abroad Mother Church’s falcons must -necessarily fly at smaller game. Look here! good youth. Forego thy -mortal appetites, defer thy bread and ale, and for that money saved -thereby I will sell thee one of these priceless parchments here in my -wallet--scrolls, young man, hot from the holy footstool of our blessed -father in Rome, and carrying complete unction and absolution to the -soul of their possessor! Think, youth! is not eternal redemption worth -a cup of muddy ale? Fie to hesitate! Line thy bosom with this blessed -scroll, and go to war cleaner-hearted than a new-born babe. There! I -will not be exacting. For one of those silver groats I fancy I see tied -in thy girdle I will give thee absolute admittance into the blessed -company of saints and martyrs. I tell thee, man, for half a zecchin I -will make thee comrade of Christ and endow thee with eternity! Is it a -bargain?” - -Silent and disdainful, I, who had seen a dozen hierarchies rise and -set in the various peopled skies of the world, took the parchment from -him and turned away and read it. It was, as he said--more shame on -human intellect!--a full pardon of the possessor’s sins wrote out in -bad Norman Latin, and bearing the sign and benediction of St. Peter’s -chair. I read it from top to bottom, then twisted its red tapes round -it again and threw it back to that purveyor of absolutions. Yes; and I -turned upon that reverend traveler and scorned and scouted him and his -contemptible baggage. I told him I had met two sad fools since noon, -but he was worse than either. I scoffed him, just as my bitter mood -suggested, until I had spent both breath and invention, then turned -contemptuous, and left him at bay, mumbling inarticulate maledictions -upon my biting tongue. - -No more of these shallow panderers fell in my path to vex and irritate -me, and before the white evening star was shining through the brilliant -tapestry of the sunset over the meadow-lands in the west, I had drawn -near to and entered the strong, shadowy, moated walls of my first -English city. - - - - -CHAPTER X - - -I took lodgings that evening with some rough soldiers who kept guard -over the town gate, and slept as soundly by their watch-fire as though -my country clothes were purple, and a stony bench in an angle of the -walls were a princely couch. But when the morning came I determined to -better my condition. - -With this object in view one of the smallest of my rings was selected, -and, with this conveniently hidden, I went down into the town to search -for a jeweler’s. A strange town indeed it struck me as being. Narrow -and many were the streets, and paved with stones; timber and plaster -jutting out overhead so as to lessen the fair, free sky to a narrow -strip, and greatly to compress my country spirit. At every lattice -window, so amply provided with glass as I had never known before, they -were hanging out linen at that early hour to air; and the ’prentice -lads came yawning and stretching to their masters’ shutter booths, and -every now and then down the quaint streets of that curious city which -had sprung--peopled with a new race--from the earth during the long -night of my sleep, there rumbled a country tumbril loaded with rustic -things, whereat the women came out to chaffer and buy of the smocked -cartsmen who spoke the glib English so novel to my ear and laughed -and gossiped with them. The early ware I noticed in his cart was still -damp and sparkling with the morning dew, so close upon the dawn had he -come in, and there in the town where the deep street shadows still lay -undisturbed, now and then a Jew, still ashamed, it seemed, to meet any -of those sleepy Christian eyes, would steal by to an early bargain, -wrapped to his chin in his gabardine--I knew that garment a thousand -years ago--and fearfully slinking, in that intolerant time, from house -to house and shadow to shadow. - -Now and then as I sauntered along in a city of novelties, a couple -of revelers in extraordinary various clothes, their toes longer than -their sleeves, their velvet caps quaintly peaked, and slashed doublets -showing gay vests below, came reeling and singing up the back ways, -making the half-waked dogs dozing in the gutters snarl and snap at -them, and disturbing the morning meal of the crows rooting in the -litter-heaps. - -As the sun came up, and the fresh, white light of that fair Plantagenet -morning crept down the faces of the eastward walls, the city woke -to its daily business. A page came tripping over the cobbles with a -message in his belt, the good wives were astir in the houses, and the -’prentices fell to work manfully on booth and bars as merchant and -mendicant, early gallant and basketed maid, began the day in earnest. - -All these things I saw from under the broad rim of my rustic hat--my -ragged, sorrel-green cloak thrown over my shoulder and across my face, -and, so disguised, silent, observant--now recognizing something of that -yesterday that was so long ago, and anon sad and dubious, I went on -until I found what I sought for, and came into a smooth, broad street, -where the jewelers had their stalls. I chose one of those who seemed in -a fair way of business, and entered. - -“Are you the master here?” I asked of a gray-bearded merchant who was -searching for the spectacles he had put away overnight. - -“My neighbors say so,” he answered gruffly. - -“Then I would trade with you.” - -Whereon--having found and adjusted his great hornglasses--he eyed me -superciliously from head to foot; then said, in a tone of derision: - -“As you wish, friend countryman. But will you trade in pearl and -sapphire, or diamond pins and brooches, perhaps--or is it only for -broken victuals of my last night’s supper?” - -“Keep thy victuals for thy lean and hungry lads! I will trade with -you in pearl and sapphire.” And thereon, from under my moldy rags, I -brought a lordly ring that danced and sparkled in the clear sunlight -stealing through the mullioned windows of his booth, and threw -quivering rainbow hues upon the white walls of the little den, dazzling -the blinking, delighted old man in front of me. “How much for that?” I -asked, throwing it down in front of him. - -It was a better gem than he had seen for many a day, and, having turned -it over loving and wistful, he whispered to me (for he thought I had -surely stolen it) one-sixteenth of its value! Thereon I laughed at him, -and threw down my cap, and took the ring, and gave him such a lecture -on gems and jewels--all out of my old Phrygian merchant knowledge--so -praised and belauded the shine and water of each single shining point -in that golden circlet, that presently I had sold it to him for near -its value! - -Then I bought a leather wallet and put the money in, and traded again -lower down the street with another ring. And then again at good -prices--for competition was close among these goldsmiths, and none -liked me to sell the beautiful things I showed them one by one to their -rivals--I sold two more. - -“Surely! surely! good youth,” questioned one merchant to me, “these -trinkets were made for some master Abbot’s thumb, or some blessed -saint.” - -“And surely again, my friend,” I answered, “you have just seen them -drawn from a layman’s finger.” - -“Well, well,” he said, “I will give you your price,” and then, as he -turned away to pack them, he muttered to himself, “A stout cudgel seems -a good profession nowadays! If it were not through fear yon Flemish -rascal over the road might take the gem, I at least would never deal -with such an obvious footpad.” - -By this time I was rich, and my wallet purse hung low and heavy at -my girdle, so away I went to where some tailors lived, and accosted -the best of them. Here the cross-legged sewers who sat on the sill -among shreds of hundred-colored stuffs and the bent, white-fingered -embroiderers stopped their work and gaped to hear the ragged, wayworn -loafer, whose broad shadow darkened their doorway, ask for silks and -satins, yepres and velvet. One youthful churl, under the master’s -eyes, unbonneted, and in mock civility asked me whether I would -have my surtout of crimson or silver--whether my jupons should be -strung with seedling pearls, or just plain sewn with golden thread -and lace. He said, that harmless scoffer, he knew a fine pattern a -noble lord had lately worn, of minever and silver, which would very -neatly suit me--but I, disdainful, not putting my hand to my loaded -pouch as another might have done, only let the ragged homespun fall -from across my face, and, taking the cap from my raven hair and grim, -weather-beaten face, turned upon them. - -The laughter died away in that little den as I did so, the -embroiderer’s needle stuck halfway through its golden fabric, the -workers stared upon me open-mouthed. The cutter’s shears shut with a -snap upon the rustling webs, and then forgot to open, while ’prentice -lads stood, all with yardwands in their hand, most strangely spellbound -by my presence. The conquest was complete without a word, and no one -moved, until presently down shuffled the master tailor from his dusky -corner, and, waving back his foolish boys, bowed low with sudden -reverence as he asked with many epithets of respect in how he might -serve me. - -“Thanks,” I said, “my friend. What I need is only this--that you should -express upon me some of these tardy but courteous commendations. -Translate me from these rags to the livery of gentility. Express in -good stuffs upon me some of that ‘nobility’ your quick perception has -now discovered--in brief, suit me at once as a not too fantastic knight -of your time is clad; and have no doubt about my paying.” Whereon I -quickened his willingness by a sight of my broad pieces. - -Well, they had just such vests and tunics and hose as I needed, and -these, according to the fashion, being laced behind and drawn in at -the middle by a loose sword-belt, fitted me without special making. My -vest was of the finest doeskin, scalloped round the edge, bound with -golden tissue, and worked all up the front with the same in leaves -and flowers. My hose were as green as rushes, and my shoes pointed -and upturned halfway to my knees. On my shoulders hung a loose cloak -of green velvet of the same hue as my hose, lined and puffed with the -finest grass-green satin that ever came in merchant bales from over -seas. Over my right arm it was held by a gold-and-emerald brooch--a -“morse” that worthy clothier termed it--bigger than my palm, and this -tunic hung to my small-laced middle. My maunch-sleeves were lined by -ermine, and hung to my ankles a yard and more in length. On my head, -my cap, again, was all of ermine and velvet, bound with strings of -seed-pearls. That same kindly hosier got me a pretty playtime dagger -of gold and sapphire for my hip, and green-satin gloves, sewn thick -upon the back with golden threads. This, he said, was a fair and -knightly vestment, such as became a goodly soldier when he did not wear -his harness, but with naught about it of the courtly sumptuousness -which so hard and warlike-seeming a lord as I no doubt despised. - -From hence I went by many a cobble pavement to where the noisy sound -of hammers and anvils filled the narrow streets. And mighty busy I -discovered the armor-smiths. There was such a riveting and hammering, -such a fitting and filing and brazing going on, that it seemed as -though every man in the town were about to don steel and leather. There -were long-legged pages in garb of rainbow hue hurrying about with -orders to the armorers or carrying home their masters’ finished helms -or warlike gear; there were squires and men-at-arms idly watching at -the forge doors the pulsing hammers weld rivets and chains; and ever -and anon a man-at-arms would come pushing through these groups with -sheaves of broken arrows to be ground, or an armful of pikes to be -rehandled, casting them down upon the cumbered floor; or perhaps it -was a squire came along the way leading over the cobbles a stately -war-horse to the shoeing. - -In truth, it was a sight to please a soldier’s eyes, and right pleasant -was it to me to hear the proud neighing of the chargers, the laughing -and the talk, the busy whirr of grindstone on sword and axes, the -clangor of the hammers as the hot white spearheads went to the noisy -anvil, while forges beat in unison to the singing of the smiths! Ah! -and I walked slowly down those streets, wondering and watching with -vast pleasure in the busy scene, though every now and then it came over -me how solitary I was--I, the one impassive in this turmoil, to whom -the very stake they prepared to fight for was unknown! - -A little way off were the booths where stores of Milan armor were -for sale. To them I went, and was shown piles and stacks of harness -such as never man saw before, all of steel and golden inlay, covering -every point of a warrior, and so rich and cumbersome that it was only -with great hesitation I submitted my free Phrygian limbs to such a -steel casementing. But I was a gentleman now, whereof to witness -came my gorgeous apparel, backing the grim authority of my face, -and the bargaining was easy enough. Skogula and Mista! but those -swart, olive-skinned, hook-nosed Jewish apprentices screwed me up and -braced me down into that suit of Milan steel until I could scarcely -breathe--their black-eyed master all the time belauding the sit and -comfort of it. - -“Gads! Sir,” quoth he, “many’s a hauberk I have seen laced on knightly -shoulders, but by the mail from the back of the Gittite, who fell -in Shochoh, I never saw a coat of links sit closer or truer than -that!” and then again, “There’s a gorget for you, Sir! Why, if Ahab -had but possessed such a one, as I am a miserable poor merchant and -your Valor’s humble servant, even the blessed arrows of Israel would -have glanced off harmlessly from his ungodly body!” And the cunning, -sanctimonious old Jew went fawning and smiling round while his helpers -pent me up in my glittering hide until I was steel-and-gold inlay from -head to heel. - -“By Abraham! noble Sir, those greaves become your legs!--Pull them in a -little more at the ankles, Isaac!--And here’s a tabard, Sir, of crimson -velvet and emblazoned borderings a prince might gladly wear!” - -[Illustration: “By Abraham! noble Sir, those greaves become your -legs!”] - -Then they put a helm upon me with a visor and beaver, through which -I frowned, as ill at ease as a young goshawk with his first hood, -and girded me with a broad belt chosen from many, and a good English -broadsword, the dagger “misericordia” at my other hip, and knightly -spurs (they gave me that rank without question) upon my heels, so that -I was completely armed at last, after the fantastic style of the time, -and fit to take my place again in the red ranks of my old profession. - -I will not weary you with many details of the process whereby I adapted -myself to the times. From that armorer’s shop I went--leaving my mail -to be a little altered--to a hostelry in the center square of the -town, and there I fed and rested. There, too, I chose a long-legged -squire from among those who hung about every street corner, and he -turned out a most accomplished knave. I never knew a villain who -could lie so sweetly in his master’s service as that particolored, -curly-headed henchman. He fetched my armor back the next day, cheating -the armorer at one end of the errand and me at the other. He got me a -charger--filling the gray-stoned yard with capering palfreys that I -might make my choice--and over the price of my selection he cozened the -dealers and hoodwinked me. He was the most accomplished youth in his -station that ever thrust a vagrom leg into green-and-canary tights, -or put a cock’s feather into a borrowed cap. He would sit among the -wallflowers on the inn-yard wall and pipe French ditties till every -lattice window round had its idle sewing-maid. He would swear, out in -the market-place, when he lost at dice or skittles, until the bronzed -troopers looking on blushed under their tawny hides at his supreme -expurlatives. There was not such a lad within the town walls for strut, -for brag, or bully, yet when he came in to render the service due to -me he ministered like a soft, white-fingered damsel. He combed my long -black hair, anointing and washing it with wondrous scents, whereof -he sold me phials at usurious interest; he whispered into my sullen, -unnoticing ear a constant stream of limpid, sparkling scandal; he -cleaned my armor till it shone like a brook in May time, and stole my -golden lace and a dozen of the sterling links from my dagger chain. He -knew the wittiest, most delicately licentious songs that ever were writ -by a minstrel, and he could cook such dishes as might have made a dying -anchorite sit up and feast. - -Strange, incomprehensible! that wayward youth went forth one day on his -own affairs, and met in the yard two sturdy loafers who spoke of me, -and calling me penniless, unknown, infamous--and French, perhaps--for -they doubted I was good English--whereon that gallant youth of mine -fell on them and fought them--there right under my window--and beat -them both, and flogged their dusty jackets all across the market-place -to the tune of their bellowings, and all this for his master’s honor! -Then, having done so much, he proceeded with his private errand, which -was to change, for his own advantage at a mean Fleming’s shop, those -pure golden spurs of mine, secreted in his bosom, into a pair of common -brass ones. - -For five days I had lain in that town in magnificent idleness, and had -spent nearly all my rings and money, when, one day, as I sat moody -and alone by the porch of the inn drinking in the sun, my idle valor -rusting for service, and looking over the market square with its -weather-worn central fountain, its cobblestones mortared together with -green moss and quaint surroundings, there came cantering in and over -to my rest-house three goodly knights in complete armor with squires -behind them--their pennons fluttering in the wind, tall white feathers -streaming from their helms, and their swords and maces rattling at -the saddle bows to the merriest of tunes. They pulled up by the open -lattice, and, throwing their broad bridles to the ready squires, came -clattering up, dusty and thirsty, past where I lay, my inglorious -silken legs outstretched upon the window bench, and the sunlight all -ashine upon the gorgeous raiment that irked me so. - -They were as jolly fellows as one could wish to see, and they tossed up -their beavers and called for wine and poured it down their throats with -a pleasure pleasant enough to watch. Then--for they could not unlace -themselves--in came their lads and fell to upon them and unscrewed -and lifted off the great helms, and piece by piece all the glittering -armor, and piling it on the benches--the knights the while sighing with -relief as each plate and buckle was relaxed--and so they got them at -last down to their quilted vests, and then the gallants sat to table -and fell to laughing and talking until their dinner came. - -From what I gathered, they were on their way to war, and war upon that -fair, fertile country yonder over the narrow seas. Jove! how they did -revile the Frenchman and drain their beakers to a merry meeting with -him, until ever as they chattered the feeling grew within me that here -was the chance I was waiting for--I would join them--and, since it was -the will of the Incomprehensible, draw my sword once more in the cause -of this fair, many-mastered island. - -Nor was there long to wait for an excuse. They began talking of King -Edward’s forces presently, and how that every man who could spin a -sword or sit a war-horse was needed for the coming onset, and how more -especially leaders were wanting for the host gathering, so they said, -away by the coast. Whereon at once I arose and went over, sitting down -at their table, and told them that I had some knowledge of war, and -though just then I lacked a quarrel I would willingly espouse their -cause if they would put me in the way of it. - -In my interest and sympathy I had forgot they had not known I was so -close, and now the effect which my sudden appearance always had on -strangers made them all stare at me as though I were a being of another -world--as, indeed, I was--of many other worlds. And yet the comely, -stalwart, raven-tressed, silk-swathed fellow who sat there before -them at the white-scrubbed board, marking their fearful wonder with -regretful indifference, was solid and real, and presently the eldest of -them swallowed his surprise and spoke out courteously for all, saying -they would be glad enough to help my wishes, and then--warming with -good fellowship as the first effect of my entry wore off--he added -they were that afternoon bound for the rendezvous (as he termed it) at -a near castle; “and if I could wear harness as fitly as I could wear -silk, and had a squire and a horse,” they would willingly take me along -with them. So it was settled, and in a great bumper they drank to me -and I to them, and thus informally was I admitted into the ranks of -English chivalry. - -We ate and drank and laughed for an hour or two, and then settled with -our host and got into our armor. This to them was customary enough, -nor was it now so difficult a thing to me, for I had donned and doffed -my gorgeous steel casings, by way of practice, so often in seclusion -that, when it came to the actual test, assisted with the nimble fingers -of that varlet of mine, I was in panoply from head to heel, helmeted -and spurred, before the best of them. Ah! and I was not so old yet but -that I could delight in what, after all, was a noble vestment! And as I -looked round upon my knightly comrades draining the last drops of their -flagons while their squires braced down their shining plates, and girt -their steel hips with noble brands, the while I knew in my heart that -if they were strong and stalwart I was stronger and more stalwart--that -if they carried proud hearts and faces shining there, under their -nodding plumes, of gentle birth and handsome soldierliness--no less -did I: knowing all this, I say, and feeling peer to these comely peers, -I had a flush of pride and contentment again in my strangely varied -lot. Then the grooms brought round our gay-ribboned horses to the -cobbles in front, where, mounting, we presently set out, as goodly a -four as ever went clanking down a sunny market-place, while the maids -waved white handkerchiefs from the overhanging lattices and townsmen -and ’prentices uncapped them to our dancing pennons. - -We rode some half-score miles through a fertile country toward the -west, now cantering over green undulations, and anon picking a way -through woodland coppices, where the checkered light played daintily -upon our polished furniture, and the spear-points rustling ever and -anon against the green boughs overhead. - -“What of this good knight to whose keep we are going?” asked one of my -companions presently. “He is reputed rich, and, what is convenient in -these penurious times, blessed only with daughters.” - -“Why!” responded the fellow at his elbow, who set no small store by -a head of curly chestnut hair and a handsome face below it, “if that -is so, in truth I am not at all sure but that I will respectfully -bespeak one of those fair maids. I am half convinced I was not born to -die on some scoundrel Frenchman’s rusty toasting-iron. ’Tis a cursed -perilous expedition this of ours, and I never thought so highly of -the advantages of a peaceful and Christian life as I have this last -day or two. Now, which of these admirable maids dost thou think most -accessible, good Delafosse?” he asked, turning to the horseman who -acted as our guide by right of previous knowledge here. - -“Well,” quoth that youth, after a moment’s hesitation, “I must frankly -tell you, Ralph, that I doubt if there are any two maids within a score -of miles of us who have been tried so often by such as you and proved -more intractable. The knight, their father, is a rough old fellow, as -rich as though he were an abbot, hale and frank with every one. You -may come or go about his halls, and (for they have no mother) lay what -siege you like to his girls, nor will he say a word. So far so well, -and many a pretty gallant asks no better opportunity. But, because you -begin thus propitious, it does not follow either fair citadel is yours! -No! these virgin walls have stood unmoved a hundred assaults, and as -much escalading as only a country swarming with poor desperate youths -can any way explain.” - -“St. Denis!” exclaimed the other, “all this but fans the spark of my -desire.” - -“Oh, desire by all means. If wishes would bring down well-lined -maidenhoods, those were a mighty scarce commodity. But, soberly, does -thy comprehensive valor intend to siege both these heiresses at once, -or will one of them suffice?” - -“One, gentle Delafosse, and, when my exulting pennon flutters -triumphant from that captured turret, I will in gratitude help thee to -mount the other. Difference them, beguile this all too tedious way with -an account of their peculiar graces. Which maid dost thou think I might -the most aptly sue?” - -“Well, you may try, of course, but remember I hold out no hope, neither -of the elder nor the younger. That one, the first, is as magnificent -a shrew as ever laughed an honest lover to scorn. She is as black and -comely as any daughter of Zion. ’Tis to her near every Knight yields -at first glance; but--gads!--it does them little good! She has a heart -like the nether millstone; and, as for pride, she is prouder than -Lucifer! I know not what game it may be this swart Circe sees upon the -skyline--some say ’tis even for that bold boy the young Prince himself, -now gone with his father to France, she waits; and some others say she -will look no lower than a Duke backed by the wealth of the grand Soldan -himself. But whoever it be, he has not yet come.” - -“By the bones of St. Thomas à Becket,” the young Knight laughed, “I -have a mind that that Knight and I may cross the drawbridge together! -Canst tell me, out of good comradeship, any weak place in this damsel’s -harness?” - -“There is none I know of. She is proof at every point. Indeed, I am -nigh reluctant to let one like you, whose heart has ripened in the -sun of experience so much faster than his head, engage upon such a -dangerous venture. They say one gallant was so stung by the calm scorn -with which she mocked his offer that he went home and hung himself to -a cellar beam; and another, blind in desperate love, leaped from her -father’s walls, and fell in the courtyard, a horrid, shapeless mass! -Young De Vipon, as you know, stabbed himself at her feet, and ’tis told -the maid’s wrath was all because his spurting heart’s-blood soiled -her wimple a day before it was due to go to wash! How thrives thy -inclination?” - -“Oh! well enough: ’twould take more than this to spoil my appetite! -But, nevertheless, let us hear something of the other sister. This -elder is obviously a proud minx, who has set her heart on lordly game, -and will not marry because her suitors seem too mean. How is it with -the other girl?” - -“Why,” said Delafosse, “it is even more hopeless with her. She will not -marry, for the cold sufficient reason that her suitors be all men!” - -“A most abominable offense.” - -“Ah! so she thinks it. Such a tender, shy and modest maid there is not -in the boast of the county. While the elder will hear you out, arms -crossed on pulseless bosom, cold, disdainful eyes fixed with haughty -stare to yours, the other will not stop to listen--no, not so much -as to the first inkling of your passion! Breathe so little as half a -sigh, or tint your speech with a rosy glint of dawning love, and she -is away, lighter than thistledown on the upland breeze. I know of -but two men--loose, worldly fellows both of them--who cornered her, -and they came from her presence looking so crestfallen, so abashed -at their hopes, so melancholy to think on their gross manliness as -it had appeared against the white celibacy of that maid, that even -some previous suitors sorrowed for them. This is, I think, the safer -venture, but even the least hopeful.” - -“Is the maid all fallow like that? Has she no human faults to set -against so much sterile virtue?” - -“Of her faults I cannot speak, but you must not hold her altogether -insipid and shallow. She is less approachable than her sister, and -contemns and fears our kind, yet she is straight and tall in person, -and, I have heard from a foster-brother of hers, can sit a fiery -charger, new from stall, like a groom or horse boy, she is the best -shot with a crossbow of any on the castle green, and in the women’s -hall as merry a romp, as ready for fun or mischief, as any village girl -that ever kept a twilight tryst on a Saturday evening.” - -“Gads! a most pleasant description. I will keep tryst with this one for -a certainty, not only Saturdays, but six other days out of the week. -The black jade may wait for her princeling for a hundred years as far -as I am concerned. How far is it to the castle?--I am hot impatience -itself!” - -“Nor need your patience cool! Look!” said Delafosse, and as he spoke -we turned a bend in the woodland road, and there, a mile before us, -flashing back the level sun from towers and walls that seemed of -burnished copper, was the noble pile we sought. - -Certes! when we came up to it, it was a fine place indeed, cunningly -built with fosses round about, long barbican walls within them, -turreted and towered, and below these again were other walls so shrewd -designed for defense as to move any soldier heart with wonder and -delight. But if the walls did pleasure me, the great keep within, -towering high into the sky with endless buttresses, and towers, and -casements, grim, massive, and stately, rearing its proud circumference, -embattled and serrated far beyond the reach of rude assault or -desperate onset, filled me with pride and awe. I scarce could take -my eyes from those red walls shining so molten in the setting sun, -yet round about the country lay very fair to look at. All beyond -that noble pile the land dropped away--on two sides by sheer cliffs -to the shining river underneath--and on the others in gentle, grassy -undulations, dotted with great trees, whereunder lay, encamped by tent -and watchfire, the rear of King Edward’s army, and then on again into -the pleasant distance that lay stretched away in hill and valley toward -the yellow west. - -All over that wide campaign were scattered the villages of serfs and -vassals who grew corn for the lordly owner in peace-time, and followed -his banner in battle. And in that knightly stronghold up above there -were, I found when I came to know it better, many kinsmen and women who -sheltered under my Lord’s liberality. Dowagers dwelt in the wings, and -young squires of good name--a jolly, noisy, unruly crew--harbored down -in the great vaulted chambers by the sally-port. There were kinsmen -of the left-hand degree in the warder’s lodge by the gates, and poor -wearers of the same noble escutcheon up among the jackdaws and breezes -of the highest battlements. And so generous was the Knight’s bounty, -so ample the sweep of his castellated walls and labyrinthine the mazes -of the palace keep they encircled, so abundant the income of his -tithes and tenure, dues and fees, that all these folk found living and -harborage with him; and not only did it not irk that Lord, but only to -his steward and hall porter was it known how many guests there were, -or when a man came or went, or how many hundred horses stood in the -stalls, or how many score of vassals fed in the great kitchen. - -On Sundays, after mass, the smooth green in the center of the castle -would be thronged with men and maids in all their finery; while the -quintains spun merrily under the mock onsets of the young knights, -and dame and gallant trode the stony battlements, and down among the -wide shadow of the cedar-trees on the slope (’twas a Crusader who -brought the saplings from Palestine) vassal and yeoman idled and made -love or frolicked with their merry little ones. Over all that gallant -show my Lord’s great blazon snapped and flaunted in the wind upon the -highest donjon; and in the halls beneath the lords and ladies sat -in the deep-seated windows, and laughed and sang and jested in the -mullion-tinted sunshine with all the courtly extravagance of their -brilliant day. - -Ah! by old Isis! at that time the world, it seemed to me, was less -complex, and the rules of life were simpler. Kingcraft had found its -mold and fashion in the courageous Edward, and the first duty of -a noble was then nobility: the Knights swore by their untarnished -chivalry, and the vassals by their loyalty. Yes! and it was priestly -then to fear God and hell, and every woman was, or would be, lovely! So -ran the simple creed of those who sang or taught, while nearly every -one believed them. - -But you who live in a time when there is no belief but that of -Incredulence, when the creative skill and forethought of the great -primeval Cause is open to the criticism and cavil of every base human -atom it has brought about--you know better--you know how vain their -dream was, how foolish their fidelity, how simple their simplicity, -how contemptible their courage, and how mean by the side of your love -of mediocrity their worship of ideals and heroes! By the bright Theban -flames to which my fathers swore! by the grim shadow of Osiris which -dogged the track of my old Phœnician bark! I was soon more English than -any of them. - -But while I thus tell you the thoughts that came of experience, I keep -you waiting at the castle-gate. They admitted us by drawbridge and -portcullised arch into the center space, and there we dismounted. Then -down the steps, to greet guests of such good degree, came the gallant, -grizzled old Lord himself in his quilted under-armor vest. We made -obeisance, and in a few words the host very courteously welcomed his -guests, leading us in state (after we had given our helmets to the -pages at the door) into the great hall of his castle, where we found a -throng of ladies and gallants in every variety of dress filling those -lofty walls with life and color. - -In truth, it was a noble hall, the walls bedecked with antlers or -spoils of woodcraft, with heads and horns and bows and bills, and -tapestry; and the ceiling wonderfully wrought with carved beams as far -down that ample corridor as one could see. The floor of oak was dark -with wear, yet as smooth and reflective to many-colored petticoats and -rainbow-tinted shoes as the Parian marble of some fair Roman villa. -And on the other side there were fifty windows deep-set in the wall, -with gay stainings on them of parable and escutcheon; while on the -benches, fingering ribboned mandolins, whispering gentle murmurs under -the tinseled lawn of fair ladies’ kerchiefs, or sauntering to and fro -across the great chamber’s ample length, were all these good and gentle -folk, bedecked and tasseled and ribboned in a way that made that -changing scene a very fairy show of color. - -Strange, indeed, was it for me to walk among the glittering throng, -all prattling that merry medley they called their native English, and -to remember all I could remember, to recall Briton, Roman, Norseman, -Norman, Saxon, and to know each and all of those varied peoples were -gone--gone forever--gone beyond a hope or chance of finding--and yet, -again, to know that each and every one of those nations, whose strong -life in turn had given color to my life, was here--here before me, -consummated in this people--oh, ’twas strange, and almost past belief! -And ever as I went among them in fairer silks and ermines than any, yet -underneath that rustling show I laughed to know that I was nothing but -the old Phœnician merchant, nothing but Electra’s petted paramour, the -strong, unruly Saxon Thane! - -And if I thought thus of them, in sooth, they thought no less strangely -of me! Ever, as my good host led me here and there from group to group, -the laughter died away on cherry lips, and minstrel fingers went all -a-wandering down their music strings as one and all broke off in mid -pleasure to stare in mute perplexity and wonder at me. From group to -group we went, my host at each making me known to many a glittering -lord and lady, and to each of those courtly presences I made in return -that good Saxon bow, which subsequently I found instable fashion had -made exceeding rustic. - -Presently in this way we came to a gay knot of men collected round -two fair women, the one of them seated in a great velvet chair, -holding court as I could guess by word and action over the bright -constellations that played about her, the other within the circle, yet -not of it, standing a little apart and turned from us as we approached. -Alianora, the first of these noble damsels, was the elder daughter -of the master of the house, and the second, Isobel, was his younger -child. The first of these was a queen of beauty, and from that first -moment when I stood in front of her, and came under the cold, proud -shine of those black eyes, I loved her! Jove! I felt the hot fire of -love leap through my veins on the instant as I bowed me there at her -footstool and forgot everything else for the moment, merging all the -world against the inaccessible heart of that beautiful girl. Indeed, -she was one who might well play the Queen among men. Her hair was black -as night, and, after the fashion of the time, worked up to either side -of her head into a golden filigree crown, beaded with shining pearls, -extraordinary regal. Black were her eyes as any sloe, and her smooth, -calm face was wonderful and goddess-like in the perfect outline and -color. Never a blush of shame or fear, never a sign of inward feeling, -stirred that haughty damsel’s mood. By Venus! I wonder why we loved -her so. To whisper gentle things into her ear was but like dropping -a stone into some deep well--the ripples on the dark, sullen water -were not more cold, silent, intangible than her responsive smile. -She was too proud even to frown, that disdainful English peeress, -but, instead, at slight or negligence she would turn those unwavering -eyes of hers upon the luckless wight and look upon him so that there -was not a knight, though of twenty fights, there was not a gallant, -though never so experienced in gentle tourney with ladies’ eyes, who -durst meet them. To this maid I knelt--and rose in love against all my -better instinct--wildly, recklessly enamored of her shining Circean -queenliness--ah! so enthralled was I by the black Alianora that my -host had to pluck me by the sleeve ere he whispered to me, “Another -daughter, sir stranger! Divide your homage,” and he led me to the -younger girl. - -Now, if the elder sister had won me at first sight, my feelings -were still more wonderful to the other. If the elder had the placid -sovereignty of the evening star, Isobel was like the planet of the -morning. From head to heel she was in white. Upon her forehead her fair -brown hair was strained back under a coverchief and wimple as colorless -as the hawthorn flowers. This same fair linen, in the newest fashion of -demurity, came down her cheeks and under her chin, framing her face in -oval, in pretty mockery of the steel coif of an armed knight. Her dress -below was of the whitest, softest stuff, with long, hanging sleeves, a -wondrous slender middle drawn in by a silk and silver cestus belt made -like a warrior’s sword-wear, and a skirt that descended in pretty folds -to her feet and lay atwining about them in comely ampleness. She was as -supple as a willow wand, and tall and straight, and her face--when in a -moment she turned it on me--was wondrous pleasant to look at--the very -opposite of her sister’s--all pink and white, and honestly ashine with -demure fun and merriment, the which constantly twinkled in her downcast -eyes, and kept the pretty corners of her mouth a-twitching with covert, -ill-suppressed, unruly smiles. A fair and tender young girl indeed, -made for love and gentleness! - -Unhappy Isobel!--luckless victim of an accursed fate! Wretched, -perverse Phœnician! Ill-omened Alianora! Between us three sprang up two -fatal passions. Read on, and you shall see. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - - -Now, when that fair young English girl, at her father’s voice, turned -to acknowledge my presence--thinking it was some other new knight of -the many who came there every hour, she lifted her eyes to mine--and -then, all on a sudden, without rhyme or reason, she started back and -blanched whiter than her own wimple, and then flushed again, equally -unaccountably, and fell a-trembling and staring at me in a wondrous -fashion. She came a step forward, as though she would greet some -long-looked-for friend, and then withdrew--and half held out her hand, -and took it back, the while the color came and went upon her cheeks in -quick flushes, and, stirred by some strange emotion, her bosom rose -and fell under the golden cestus and the lawn with the stress of her -feelings. The sudden storm, however invoked, shook that sweet fabric -most mightily. There, in that very minute, it seemed--there, in that -merry, careless place in sight of me, but a gaudy gallant a little more -thoughtful-looking, perhaps, than those she often saw, yet, all the -same, naught but a stranger gallant, unknown and nameless to her--moved -by some affinity within us, just as the alchemist’s magic touch -converts between two breaths one elixir in his crucibles to another, -so, before my eyes, I saw in that fair girl’s pallid face love flush -through her veins and light her heart and eyes with a responding blush. - -And I--I the unhappy, I the sorrow bestower, as I saw her first, what -of all things in this wide world should I think of--what should leap up -in my mind as I perked my gilded scabbard and bowed low to the polished -floor in my glittering Plantagenet finery--what vision should come to -me in that latter-day hall, among those mandolin-fingering courtiers, -before that costly raimented maiden, the fair heiress of a thousand -years of care and gentle living, that girl leaning frightened and shy -upon the arm of her strong father like a soft white mist-cloud in the -shadow of a mountain--what thought, what idea, but a swift revision, of -Blodwen, my wild, ruddy, untutored British wife! - -All those gaudy butterflies of the new day, that stately home and that -fair flower herself, shrank into nothing; and as the white lightning -leaps through the dull void of midnight, and shows for one dazzling -second some long-remembered country, ashine in every leaf and detail, -to the startled pilgrim, and then is gone with all the ghostly mirage -of its passage, so in that surprising moment, so full of import, -Blodwen rose to my mind against all reason and likelihood--Blodwen -the Briton, the ruddy-haired--Blodwen radiant with her gentle -motherhood--Blodwen who could scream so fiercely to her clansmen in the -forefront of conflict, and drive her bloody chariot through the red mud -of battle with wounded foemen writhing under her remorseless wheels -more blithely than a latter-day maid would trip through the spangled -meadow grass of springtime--Blodwen rose before me! - -Oh! ’twas wild, ’twas foolish, past explaining, nonsense: and, angry -with myself and that white maid who stood and hung her head before me, -I stroked my hand across my face to rid me of the fancy, and, gathering -myself together, made my bow, murmuring something fiercely civil, and -turned my back upon her to seek another group. - -Yes; but if you think I conquered that fancy, you are wrong. For days -and days it haunted me, even though I laughed it to scorn, and, what -made the matter more difficult, more perplexing, was that I had not -guessed in error--the unhappy Isobel had loved me from first sight, -and, against every precedent her nature would have warranted, grew -daily deeper in the toils. And I, who never yet had turned from the -eyes of suppliant maid, watched her color shift and fly as I came or -went, and strode gloomy, unmindful, through all her pretty artifices of -maiden tenderness, burning the meanwhile with love for her disdainful -sister. It was a strange medley, and in one phase or another pursued -me all the time I was in that noble keep. When I was not wooing I was -being wooed. Alas! and all the coldness I got from that black-browed -lady with the goddess carriage and the faultless skin I passed on to -the poor, enamored girl who dogged my idle footsteps for a word. - -Thus, on one day we had a tournament. All round the great castle, under -the oaks, were pitched the tents of the troopers, while the pennons -and bannerets of knights and barons, as we saw them from the turret -top, shone in the sunlight like a field of flowers. The soldier-yeomen -had their sports and contests on the greensward, and we went down to -watch them. Thor! but I never saw such bronzed and stalwart fellows, or -witnessed anything like the truth and straightness of those stinging -flights of shafts the archers sent against their butts! Then the next -day, following the sports of the common people, in the tiltyard inside -the barbican, we held a tourney, a mock battle and a breaking of -spears, a very gorgeous show indeed, and near as exciting as an honest -mêlée itself. - -So tuneful in my ears proved the shivering of lances and the clatter -of swords on the steel panoply of the knights, that, though at first -I held aloof, stern and gloomy with my futile passion, yet presently -I itched to take a spear, and, since those sparkling riders liked the -fun so much, to let them try whether my right hand had lost the cunning -it learned before their fathers were conceived. And as I thought so, -standing among the chief ones in that brilliant tourney ring, up came -the white rose and tempted me to break a lance, and sighed so softly -and brushed against me with her scented draperies, and tried with -feeble self-command to meet my eyes and could not, and was so obviously -wishful that I should ride a course or two, and so prettily in love, -that I was near relenting of my coldness. - -I did unbend so much as to consent to mount. A page fetched my armor -and my mighty black charger draped in crimson-blazoned velvet and -ribboned from head to tail, and then I went to the rear of the lists -and put on the steel. - -“Thanks, good squire!” I said to the youth who thrust my pointed toes -into the stirrups when I was on my horse. “Now give me up my gauntlets -and post me in my principles.” - -“Fie, Sir, not to know,” quoth he, “the worship of weapons and the -honor of fair ladies!” - -“Thanks. That is not difficult to remember; and as to my practice?” - -“Ah! there you confuse him,” put in a jester standing by. “No good -knight likes to be bound too closely as to that.” - -As I rode round the lists, a white hand from under the sister’s -daïs--to whom belonging I well could guess--threw me a flower, the -which fell under my sleek charger’s hoofs and was stamped into the -trodden mold. And then the trumpet sounded. “Avant!” called the -glittering marshal--and we met in mid career. - -Seven strong knights did I jerk from their high-peaked saddles that -morning, and won a lady’s golden head-ring, and rode round about the -circus with it on my lance-point. When I came under where Isobel sat, -I saw her fair cheeks redder than my ribbons with maiden expectation; -but, as I passed without a sign, they grew whiter than her lawn. And -then I reined up and deposited that circlet at the footstool of her -sister. The proud, cold maid accepted the homage as was her duty, but -scarcely deigned to lower her eyes to the level of my helmet-plumes -while her father put it on her forehead. - -A merry time we had in that courtly place waiting for the signal to -start; and much did I learn and note--soon the favorite gallant in that -goodly company, the acknowledged strongest spearman in the lists, the -best teller of strange stories by an evening fire! But never an inch of -way could I make with the impenetrable girl on whom my wayward heart -was set, while the other--the younger--made her sweet self the pointing -stock of high and low, she was so blindly, so obviously in love. - -One day it came to a climax. We met by chance in a glade of black -shadows among the cedar branches, I and that damsel in white, and, -finding I would not woo her, she set to work and wooed me--so sweet, so -strong, so passionate, that to this day I cannot think how I withstood -it. Yes, and that fair, slim maid, renowned through all the district -for her gentle reticence, when I would not answer love with love, and -glance for glance, fired up with white-hot passion, threw hesitance to -the wind, and besought and knelt to me, and asked no more than to be -my slave, so sweet, so reckless in her passion, that it was not the -high-born English lady who knelt there, but rather it seemed to me my -dear, fiery, untutored British Princess! Fool I was not to see it then, -witless after so much not to guess the tameless spirit, the intruder -soul that poor girl at my feet held unwitting in her bosom! - -She came to me, as I have said, all in a gust of feeling unlike -herself, and, when I would not say that which she longed to hear, she -wrung her hands, and then down she came upon her knees and clipped me -round my jeweled belt and confessed her love for me in such a headlong -rush of tearful eloquence I durst not write it. - -“Lady,” I said, lifting the supple girl to her feet. “I grieve, but it -is useless. Forget! forgive! I cannot answer as you would.” - -“Ah, but,” she answered, rushing again to the onset, sighing as now -the hot, strange love that burned within her, and now her sweet native -spirit strove for mastery--(“surely, I think, I am possessed), I -will not take ‘No’ for an answer. I am consumed (oh! fie to say it) -for thee. I am not first in thy dear affection--why, then, I will -be second. Not second! then I will be the hundredth from thy heart! -My light, my life and fate, I cannot live without thee. Oh! as you -were born by your mother’s consummated love, as thou hast ever felt -compunction for a white-cheeked maid, have pity on me! I tell thee I -will follow thee to the ends of the earth (Lord! how my tongue runs -on!). For one moiety of that affection perhaps a happier woman has I -will serve thee through life. Thou hast no wife, ’tis said, to hinder; -thou art a soldier, and a score of them, ere I was touched with this -strange infection, have sued hopeless for but a chance of that which -is proffered thee so freely. Truth! they have told me I was fair and -tall, with a complexion that ridiculed the water-lilies on the moat, -and hair, one said, was like ripe corn with a harvest sun upon it (it -makes me blush”--I heard her whisper to herself--“to apprise myself -like this), and yet you stand there averse and sullen, with eyes turned -from me, and deaf ears! Am I a sight so dreadful to you?” - -“Maid!” I cried, shutting out her suppliant beauty from my -heart--overfull, as I thought it, of that other one, her sister--“no -man could look at you and not be moved. The wayward Immortals have -given you more sweetness than near any other woman I ever saw--‘a sight -so dreadful to me?’--why, you are fairer than an early morning in May -when the new sun gets up over the wet-flowered hawthorns! And for -this very reason, for pity on us both, stand up, and dry your tears! -Believe me, dear maid, where I go you cannot come. You tread the rough -soldier’s path! Why, those pretty velvet buskins would wear out in the -first march. And turn those dainty hands to the rough craft of war, to -scouring harness and grooming chargers--oh! that were miserable indeed; -those cherry lips are worse suited than you know for the chance fare of -camp and watchfire, and those round arms would soon find a sword was -heavier than a bodkin--there, again forget, forgive--and, perhaps, when -I come back----” - -But why should I further follow that sad love-scene under the -broad-spreading cedars? Let it be sufficient for you that I soothed her -as well as might be and stanched her tears and modified my coolness, -taking her pretty hands and whispering to as dainty and greedy an -ear as ever was opened to hear, perhaps, a little more of lover -friendliness than I truly meant, and so we parted. - - * * * * * - -Now see the shield turned. That very afternoon did the other sister -unbend a point with cruel suavity, and set me joyous by promising -to meet me at nightfall, whereat, as you will readily understand, -every other event of the day faded into nothingness. At the appointed -hour, just as the white mist floated in thin fine wisps from the -shadowed moat on the eastward of the castle wall and the red setting -sun was throwing the strong black shadows of cedar branches upon the -copper-gleaming windows and walls of the side that faced him, I rose, -and, making some jesting excuse, slipped away from my noisy comrades -in the hall into the shadows of the corridors. Yes! and, though you -may smile, he who thought this Phœnician had plumbed the well of -mortal love to the very depth, had learned all there was to learn, -and left nothing that could stir him so much as a heart-beat in this -fair field of adventure, was now tripping through the ruddy and black -dust, anxious and alert, his pulses beating a quicker measure than his -feet, the native boldness of his nature all overlaid with new-born -diffidence, fingering his silken points as he went, and conning -pretty speeches, now hoping in his lover hesitance the tryst would -not be kept, and then anon spurning himself for being so laggard and -faint-hearted, and thus progressing in moods and minds as many as the -gentle shadows checkering his path from many an oriel window and many a -fluted casement, he came at length within sight of the deep-set window -looking down over the pale-shining water and the heavy woods beyond, -where his own love-tale was to be told. - -And there as I plucked back the last tapestry that barred my passage -and stood still for a moment on the threshold--there before me sitting -on the tressels under the mullions in the twilight, was the figure of -my fair and haughty English girl. - -She had her face turned away from the evening glow, her ample white -cap, peaked and laced with gold on either crescent point, further threw -into shadow the features I knew so well, while the fine shapely hands -lay hidden in the folds of the ample dress which shone and glimmered -in the dusk against the oak panelings of that ancient lobby in misty -uncertainty. Gentle dame! My heart bounded with expectant triumph to -see how pensive and downcast was her look--how still she sat and how, -methought, the white linen and the golden ceinture above her heart rose -and fell even in that silent place with the tumult of maidenly passion -within. My heart opened to her, I say, as though I were an enamored -shepherd about to pour a brand-new virgin love into the frightened -ears of some timid country maid, and within my veins, as the heavy -arras fell from my hands behind me, there surged up the molten stream -of Eastern love! I waited neither to see nor hear else, but strode -swiftly over the floor and cast myself down there at her feet upon one -knee--gods! how it makes me smart to think of it!--I who had never bent -a knee before in supplication to earth or heaven, and poured out before -her the offering of my passion. Hot and swiftly I wooed her, saying I -scarce know what, loosening my heart before that silent shrine, laying -bare the keen, strong throb of life and yearning that pulsed within me, -persuading, entreating, cajoling, until both breath and fancy failed. -And never under all that stream of love had the damsel given one sign, -one single indication of existence. - -Then on I went again, deeming the maid held herself not yet wooed -enough, disporting myself before her, and pleading the simplicity of my -love, saying how that, if it brought no great riches with it, yet was -it the treasure of a truthful heart. Did she sigh to widen her father’s -broad lands? I swore by Osiris I would do it for her love better than -any petty lordling could. Did she desire to shine, honored above all -women, where spears were broken or feasts were spread? Think of yon -littered lists, I cried, and told her there was not a champion in all -the world I feared--none who should not come humbled to her footstool; -while, as for honor and recognition--Jove! I would pluck them from the -King himself, even as I had plucked them from his betters. Yet never a -sign that fair girl gave. - -Full of wonder and surprise, I waited for a moment for some sign -or show, if not of answering fire, at least of reason; and then, -as I checked in full course my passionate pleadings, that wretched -thing before me burst, not into the tears I expected of maidenly -capitulation, nor into the proud anger of offended virgins, but into -a silly, plebeian simper, which began in ludicrous smothered merriment -under the folds of the lawn she held across her face, and ended amid -what appeared contending feelings in a rustic outburst of sobs and -exclamations. - -I was on my feet in an instant, all my wild love-making dammed back -upon my heart by suspicion and surprise, and as I frowned fiercely -at that dim-seen form under the distorting shadow of the windows, it -rose--to nothing like Alianora’s height--and stepped out where the -evening light better illumined us. And there that poor traitress tore -off in anger and remorse the lace and linen of a well-born English -maiden, and stood revealed before me the humblest, the meanest-seeming, -and the most despised kitchen wench of any that served in that baronial -hall! - -You will guess what my feelings were as this indignity I had been put -to rushed upon me, how in my wounded pride I crossed my arms savagely -upon my breast, and turned away from that poor, simpering, rustic fool, -and clenched my teeth, and swore fierce oaths against that cruel girl -who, in her pride and insolence, had played me this sorry trick. Wild -and bitter were the gusts of passion that swept through my heart, and -all the more unruly since it was by and for a woman I had fallen, and -there was none for me to take vengeance on. - -In a few minutes I turned to the wretched tool of a vixen mistress. -“Hast any explanation of this?” I sternly asked, pointing to the -disordered finery that lay glimmering upon the floor. - -The unhappy kitchenmaid nodded behind her tears and the thick red hands -wherewith she was streaking two wet, round cheeks with alternate hues -of grief and dinginess, and put a hand into her bosom and handed me -a folded missive. I tore it open and read, in prettily scrawled old -Norman French, that cruel message: - - _This is to tell that nameless knight who has nothing to - distinguish him but presumption, that although the daughter - of an English peer must ever treat his suit with the - contempt it deserved, yet will she go so far as to select - him from among her father’s vassals one to whom she thinks - he might very fitly unburden his soul of its load of “love - and fealty.”_ - -Such was the missive, one surely penned by as ungentle a hand as ever -ministered to a woman’s heart. I tore it into a hundred fragments, and -then grimly pointed my traducer to the narrow wicket in the remote wall -leading down by a hundred stony stairs to the scullion places whence -she had come. She turned and went a little way toward it, then came -sobbing back, and burst out into grief anew, and “Alas! alas! Sir,” -she cried, “this is the very worst task that ever I was put to! Shame -upon Lady Alianora, and double shame upon me for doing her behests. -I am sorry, Sir! indeed I am! Until you began that wonderful tale I -thought ’twas but a merry game; but, oh, Sir! to see you there upon -your knee, to see your eyes burning in the dark with true love for my -false mistress--why, Sir, it would have drawn tears from the hardest -stone in the mill down yonder. And ever as your talk went on just now, -I kept saying to myself, Sure! but it must be a big heart which works -a tongue like that; and when you had done, Sir, ah! before you were -halfway through, though I could not stop you, yet I loathed my errand. -I am sorry, Sir, indeed I am! I cannot go until I be forgiven!” - -“There, there, silly girl,” I said, my wrath quenched by her red eyes -and humble amendment, “you are fully absolved.” - -She kissed my hands and dried her eyes, and swept together, with woman -swiftness, the tattered things in which she had masqueraded, and then, -as she was about to leave, I called her back. - -“Stay one moment, damsel! How much had you for thus betraying me?” - -“Two zequins, Sir,” she answered with simplicity. - -“Why, then, here’s three others to say naught about this evening’s -doings in the servants’ hall. You understand? There, go! and no more -tears or thanks,” and, as the curtain fell upon her, I could not help -muttering to myself, “What! two zequins to undo you, Phra, and three -to mend it? Why, Phœnician, thou hast not been so cheap for thirteen -hundred years!” - - - - -CHAPTER XII - - -Grim and angry, all that night I chewed the bitter cud of my rejection, -and before the new day was an hour old determined life was no longer -worth the living in that place. I determined to leave those walls at -once, to leave all my songs unsung, my trysts unkept, to leave all my -jolly comrades, the tiltyards and banquets. But I could not do this so -secret as I would. The very paying off of my score down in the buttery, -the dismissing of my attendants, each with largess, the seriousness I -could not but give to my morning salutation of some of those I should -never see again, betrayed me. And thus a whisper, first down in the -vaulted guard-room, and then a rumor, and anon a widening murmur the -news was spread, until surely the very jackdaws on the battlements were -saying to themselves, “Phra is going! Phra!--Phra is going!” - -Yes! and the tidings spread to that fair floor of a hundred corridors, -where the Norman-arched windows looked down four score feet upon the -river winding amid its shining morning meadows, bringing a sigh to more -than one silken pillow. It reached the unhappy, red-eyed Isobel, and -presently she tripped down the twining stone staircase, the loose folds -of her skirt thrown over her arm to free her pretty feet, and in her -hand a scrap of writing, a “cartel” she called it, seeming newly opened. - -She came to the sunny empty corridor where I stood alone, and touched -me on the arm as I watched from a lattice my charger being armed and -saddled in the courtyard underneath, and when I turned held out her -hand to me in frank and simple fashion. How could I refuse the proffer -of so fair a friendship? and, pulling my velvet cap from my head, I -put her white fingers to my lips. And was it true, she asked with a -sigh, I was really going that morning, and so suddenly? Only too true, -I answered, and, saving her presence, not so sudden as my inclination -prompted. Much I saw she wished to question the why and wherefore, but -of this, as of nothing touching her stern sister, would I tell her. - -So presently she come to her point, and, fingering that scroll she had, -very downcast and blushful, said: “You are a good knight, Sir Stranger, -and strong and experienced in arms.” - -“Your Ladyship’s description wakes my ambition to deserve your words.” - -“And generous, I have noticed, and as indulgent to page and squire of -tender years as you are the contrary to stronger folk.” - -“And if this were so, Madam,” I asked, “what then?” - -“Oh! only,” she said, wondrous shy and frightened, “that I have here a -cartel from a friend of mine, a youth of noble family, who has heard -of thee, and would go to the wars in your company--as your comrade, I -mean: that is, if you would take him.” - -“Why, damsel, the wars are free to every one; but I am in no mood just -now to tutor a young gallant in slitting Frenchmen’s throats!” - -“But this one, Sir, very particularly wishes to travel with you, of -whose prowess he is so convinced. He has, alas! quarreled with those at -whose side he should most naturally ride--he will be no trouble; for my -sake you must take him. And,” said the cunning girl, standing on tiptoe -to be the nearer to my ear, “he is rich, though friendless by a rash -love--he will gladly see to both your horses and disburse your passage -over to France, even for the honor of remembering that he did it.” - -Now, this touched me very nearly. One by one my rings had gone, and -that morning, after paying scores and largess, in truth I had found -my wallet completely empty once again! If this youth had money, even -though it were but sufficient to buy corn for our chargers on the way, -and pay the ferry over to yonder fair field of adventure, why, there -was no denying he would be a very convenient traveling companion, -and it would go hard but that I could teach him something in return. -Thinking this, I lifted my eyes, and found those of Isobel watching the -workings of my face with pretty cunning. - -“In truth, maid, if thy friend has so much gold as would safely land us -with King Edward in Flanders, why, I must confess that just at present -that does greatly commend him to me. What sort of a man is he?” - -This question seemed to overwhelm the lady, who blushed and hung her -head like a poppy that has stood a week’s drought. - -“In truth, Sir,” she murmured, “I do not know.” - -“Not know! Why, but you said he was your friend.” - -“Oh! so I did. And, now I come to think of it, he is a tall -youth--about my size and make.” - -“Gads! but he will be a shapely, if somewhat sapling gallant,” I -laughed, letting my eye roam over the supple maiden figure before me. - -“But though he be so slim,” the girl hastened to add, as if she feared -she had been indiscreet, “you will find the youth a rare good horseman, -and clever in many things. He can cook (if thou art ever belated) like -a Frenchman, and can read missals to thee, and write like a monk--thy -comrade, Sir knight, will be one in a thousand--he can sing like a -mavis on a fir-top.” - -“I like not these singing knights, fair maid: their verses are both too -smooth for soldier ears, and too licentious for maidens’.” - -“Ah! but my friend,” quoth Isobel, with a blush, “never sang an -ungentle song in his life; you will find him a most civil, most -simple-spoken companion.” - -“Well, then, I will have him--no doubt we shall grow as close together -as boon companions should.” - -“Would that you might grow so close together as I could wish!” said the -English girl, with a sigh I did not understand. - -“And now, how am I to know this friend,” I asked, “this slim and gentle -youth? What is his name, and what his face?” - -“I had near forgotten that; and it was like a woman, for they say they -ever keep the most important matter to the last! This boy, for good -reasons that I know but may not mention, has sworn a vow, after the -fashion of the chivalry he delights in, not to show his face, not to -wear his honorable name, until some happier times shall come for him. -He is in love--like many another--and does conceive his heart to be -most desperately consumed thereby. Wherefore he has taken the name of -Flamaucœur, and bears upon his shield a device to that effect. This -alone will point him out to you, over and above the dropped visor, -which no earthly power will make him lift until this war and quest -of his be over. But you will know him, I feel in my heart, without -consideration. Sir knight, you will know this youth when you meet him, -something in my innermost heart does tell me, even as I should know one -that I loved or that loved me behind twenty thicknesses of steel. And -now, good-by until we meet again!” - -The fair maid gave me her hand as though to part, and then hesitated a -moment. Presently she mustered up courage and said: - -“Thou bear’st me no ill-will for yonder wild meeting of ours?” - -“Maiden, it is forgotten!” - -“Well, let it be so. I do not know what possessed me. I was hurried -down the stream of feeling like a leaf on a tide. ’Twas I that met -thee there by the cedars, and yet it was not me. Something so wild -and fierce, such a hot intruder spirit burned within this poor -circumference, that I think I was damnate and bewitched. Thou dost most -clearly understand that this hot fit is over now.” - -“I clearly understand!” - -“And that I love thee no longer,” quoth the lady, with a sigh, “or, at -least, not near so much?” - -“Madam, so I conceive it. Be at ease: it is sacred between us two, and -I will forget.” - -“Thanks! a thousand thanks, even for the relief that cold forgetfulness -does give me. And now again, good-by. Be gentle to Flamaucœur, -and--and,” burst out the poor girl, as her control forsook her--“if -there is an eye in the whole of wide heaven, oh, may it watch thee! if -ever prayers of mine can pierce to the seat of the Eternal, oh, may -they profit thee! Gods! that my wishes were iron bars for thy dear -body, and my salt tears could but rivet them! Good-by! good-by!” and, -kissing my hands in a fierce outburst of weeping, that fair white girl -turned and fled, and disappeared through the tapestries that screened -the Norman archways. - - * * * * * - -Before nightfall I was down by the English coast and made many a long -league from the castle. Thoughtful and alone, my partings made, I had -paced out from its gloomy archway, the gay feathers on my helmet-top -near brushing the iron teeth of the portcullis lowering above, and my -charger’s hoofs falling as hollow on the echoing drawbridge as my heart -beat empty to the sounds of happy life behind me. Away south went the -pathway, trodden day after day by contingents of gallant troops from -that knightly stronghold. Jove! one might have followed it at midnight: -those jolly bands had made a trail through copse and green wood, -through hamlet and through heather, like the track of a storm-wind. -They had beaten down grass and herbage, they had robbed orchards and -spinneys, and here their wayside fires were still a-smoldering, and -there waved rags upon the bushes, and broken shreds and baggage. Now -and then, as I paced along, I saw in the hamlets the folk still looking -southward, and standing gossiping on the week’s wonders, the boys -meanwhile careering in mock onset with broken spear-shafts or discarded -trappings. Oh! ’twas easy enough to know which way my friends had gone! - -So plain was the track, and so well did my good horse acknowledge it, -that there was little for me to do but sit and chew the bitter cud of -fancy. All through the hot afternoon, all through the bright sunshine -and shining green bracken, did we saunter, back toward the gray sea I -knew so well, back toward that void beginning of my wanderings, and as -my sad thoughts turned to when I last had sat a charger in such woods -as these, to my fair Saxon homestead, Editha, the abbey and its Abbot, -my donning English mail and breaking spears for a smile from yon cold -Peeress, with much more of like nature, went idly flitting through my -head. But hardly a thought among all that motley crowd was there for -Isobel or her tears, and my promised meeting with her playmate. - -Thus it happened that as evening fell and found me still some two miles -from where our troops lay camped along the shore, waiting to-morrow’s -ferrying across to France, I rode down the steep bank of a small river -to a ford, and slowly waded through. There be episodes of action that -live in our minds, and incidents of repose that recur with no less -force. So, then--that placid evening stream has come before me again -and again--in the hot tumult of onset and mêlée, in court and camp, in -the cold of winter and in summer’s warmth, I have ridden that ford once -more. I have gone down sad and thoughtful as I did, my loose reins on -my charger’s arching neck, watching the purple shine of the water where -it fretted and broke in the evening light against his fetlocks; again -and again I have listened to the soft lisp of the stream as he drank of -that limpid trough, and I have seen in its cool, fresh mirror my own -tall image, my waving crimson plumes, and the one white star of the -evening above, reflected upon it. And yet, if these things of a remote -yesterday are fresh in my mind, even more so is my meeting with the -slim gallant whose figure rose before me as I emerged from the ford. - -As my good English charger bore me up from the hollow, on the brow -of the opposite rise was a mounted figure standing out clear and -motionless against the yellow glow of the sunset. At first I thought it -would be some wandering spearman bound on a like errand with myself, -for more than one or two such had passed that day. But something in -the steadfast interest of that silent horseman roused my curiosity -even before I was near enough to see the color of his armor or the -device upon his shield. Up we scrambled up that sandy, heathery scar, -the strong sinews of my war-horse playing like steel cordage under my -thighs as he lifted me and my armor up the gravelly path, and then, -as we topped the rise and came into the evening breeze, that strange -warrior advanced and held out a hand. - -Never in all my experience had I known a knight extend the palm of -friendship to another so demure and downcast. “Truth!” I thought to -myself, “this friend of Isobel’s is, in fact, as she said, the most -modest-mannered soldier who ever took a place in the rough game of -war!” But I was pledged to like him, and therefore, in the most hearty -manner possible, as we came up knee to knee, I slapped my heavy hand -into his extended fingers and welcomed him loudly as a long-looked-for -comrade. And in truth he was a very pretty fellow, whose gentle -presence grew upon me after that first meeting each hour we lived -together. He seemed, as far as I could judge, no more than twenty-five -years of age, yet even that was but a guess, for his armor was complete -from top to toe, his visor was down, and there was, indeed, naught to -judge by but a certain slightness of limb and suppleness that spoke of -no more mature years. In height this gallant was very passable enough, -and his helmet, with its nodding plumes, added some grace and inches -to his stature, while his pale-gray mail was beautifully fashioned and -molded, and spoke through every close joint and cunning finished link -of a young but well-proportioned soldier. - -The arms this warrior carried were better suited to his strength than -to that of the man who rode beside him. His lance was long and of -polished inlay, while mine beside it was like the spear of Goliath to -a fisher’s hazel wand. His dagger was better for cutting the love-knot -on a budget of sonnets than for disburdening foemen’s spirits of their -mortal shackles. His cross-hilted sword was so light it made me sigh to -look at it. On his shield was a heart wrapped in flames, most cunningly -painted, and expressive enough in those days, when every man took a -pride in being as vulnerable to women as he was unapproachable among -men. - -But who am I that I should judge that gentle knight by myself--by me, -whose sinews countless fights have but matured, who have been blessed -by the gods with bulk and strength above other mortals? Why should I -measure his brand-new lance, gleaming in the pride of virgin polish, -against the stern long spear I carried; or that dainty brand of his, -that mayhap his tender maid had belted on him for the first time some -hours before, with such a broad blade as long use had made lighter to -my hand than a lady’s distaff? - -Before we had paced a mile, Flamaucœur had proved himself the -sprightliest companion who ever enlivened a dull road with wit and -laughter. At first ’twas I that spoke, for he had not one word in all -the world to say--he was so shy. But when I twitted him for this, and -laughed, and asked him of his lady-love, and how she had stood the -parting--how many tears there had been, and whether they all were hers; -and whose heart was that upon his shield, his own or the damsel’s; and -so on, in bantering playfulness, I got down to the metal of that silent -boy. He winced beneath my laughter for a little time, and fidgeted -upon his saddle, and then the gentle blood in his veins answered, as -I hoped it would, and he turned and gave me better than I offered. -Such a pretty fellow in wordy fence I never saw: his tongue was like -a woman’s, it was so hard to silence. When I thought I had him at -disadvantage on a jest, he burked the point of my telling argument, -and struck me below my guard; when I would have pinned him to some -keen inquiry regarding that which he did not wish to tell, he turned -questioner with swift adroitness, and made--quicker than it takes to -write--his inquisitor the humble answerer to his playful malice. He was -better at that fence than I, there could be no doubt, and very speedily -his nimble tongue, which sounded so strange and pleasant in the hollow -of his helmet, had completely mastered mine. So, with a laugh, I did -acknowledge to the conquest. - -Whereon that generous youth was pleased, I saw, and laid aside his -coyness, and chattered like a millstream among the gravels on an idle -Sunday. He turned out both shrewd and witty, with a head stuffed full -of romance and legend, just such as one might have who had spent a -young life listening to troubadours and minstrels. And I liked him -none the less because he trimmed the gross fables of that time to -such a decent shape. He told me one or two that I had heard before, -although he knew it not. And as I had heard them from the licentious -lips of courtly minstrels they are not fit to write or tell, but my -worthy wayfarer clipped and purged them so adroitly, and turned them -out so fair and seemly, all with such a nice unconsciousness, I scarce -could recognize them. He was a most gentle-natured youth, and there -was something in his presence, something in the half-frankness he put -forth, and something in that there was strange about him which greatly -drew me. Now you would think, to listen to him, he was all a babbling -stream as shallow as could be, and then, anon, a turn of sad wisdom or -a sigh set you wondering, as when that same stream runs deep into the -shadows, and you hear it fret and fume with gathering strength far away -in unknown depths of mother Earth. A most enticing, a most perplexing -comrade. - -Beguiling the way in this fashion, and liking my new ally better and -better as we went, we came a little after nightfall on a wet and -windy evening to the hamlet near the sea where the rearguard of the -English troops were collected for ferrying over to France. Here we -halted and sought food and shelter, but neither were to be had for -the asking. That little street of English dwellings was crowded with -hungry troopers. They were camping by their gleaming watch-fires all -along the grassy ways, so full was every lodgment, while every yellow -window of the dim gabled alehouse in the midst shone into the wet, dark -night, and every room within was replete with stamping, clanking, noisy -gallants. Their chargers filled the yard and were picketed a furlong -down the muddy road, that sloped to the murmuring, unseen sea, and -there was not space, it seemed, for one single other horse or rider in -the whole friendly village. - -But the insidious Flamaucœur found a way and place. He sought out -the master of the inn himself, and, unheeding of his curt refusals, -made request so cunning and used his money-pouch so liberal that that -strong and surly yeoman, with much to do, found us a loft to sleep in, -which was a bedroom better than the wayside, though still but a rough -one. Then Flamaucœur waylaid the buxom, hurrying housewife, and, on -an evening when many a good gentleman was going supperless to bed, -got us a loaf of white bread and a wooden bowl of milk, the which we -presently shared most comrade-like, my friend lifting his visor so -much as might suffice to eat, but yet not enough to show his face. He -waylaid a lad, and, for a coin or two, and a little of his sweet-voiced -cajoling, got our steeds watered and sheltered, though many another -lordly, sleek-limbed beast stood all night unwashed, unminded. A most -persuasive youth was Flamaucœur! - -And then, our frugal supper made and our horses seen to, we went to -bed. Diffident, ingenious young knight! He made my couch (while I was -not by) long and narrow--no bigger than for one--of all the soft things -he could lay his hands on--as though, forsooth, I were some tender -flower--and for himself hardly spread a horsecloth on the bare floor! - -Now, when I came up and found this done, without a word I sent the boy -to go and see what the night was like, and if the moon yet showed, or -if it rained, and, when he went forthwith, pulled that couch to bits, -respreading it so it was broad enough for two good comrades side by -side. Ah! And when Flamaucœur came back, I rated him soundly, telling -him that, though it was set in the laws of arms that a young knight -should show due deference to an older, yet all that comrades had of -hard or soft was equally dividable, both board and bed, and good luck -and misfortune. And he was amenable, though still a little strange, -and unbuckled his armor by our dim rushlight, and then--poor, tired -youth!--with that iron mask upon his head, in his quilted underwear, -threw himself upon the couch, and slept almost before he could -straighten out those shapely limbs of his. - -And I presently lay down by his side and slept, while all through my -dreams went surging the wildest fancies of tilt and tourney and lady’s -love. And now I heard in the uproar of the restless village street -and the neighing of the chargers at their pickets the noise of battle -and of onset. And then I thought I had, on some unknown field, five -thousand spearmen overset against a hundred times as many; and while -my heart bounded proudly in answer to that disadvantage, and I rode up -and down our glittering ranks speaking words of strength and courage -to those scanty heroes, waving my shining sword in the sun that shone -for victory on us and curbing my fretting charger’s restless valor, -methought, somehow, the words dried up upon my lips, and the proud -murmur of my firm-set veterans turned to a low moaning wail, and a gray -mist of tears put out the sun, and black grief drank up the warriors; -and while I wrestled with that melancholy, Blodwen, my Princess, was -sitting by my side, cooling my hot forehead with her calm, immortal -hand, and calling me, with smiling accent, “dull, unwitful, easily -beguiled,” and all the time that young gallant by me lay limp, supine, -asleep, and soulless. - -So passed the checkered fancies of the night, and the earliest dawn -found us up, in arms, and ready for sterner things. - - * * * * * - -Again I had to owe to Flamaucœur’s ready wit and liberal purse -precedence for our needs above all the requirements of the many good -knights who would have crossed with the haste they could, but had, -perforce, to wait. It was he who got us a vessel sufficient for our -needs when the fisher folk were swearing there was not a ship to be -hired for twenty miles up or down the coast. In this we embarked with -our horses, and one or two other gentlemen we knew, and in a few hours’ -sailing the English shore went down and the sunny cliffs of Normandy -rose ahead of us. - -Will you doubt but that I stood thoughtful and silent as the green -and silver waves were shivered by our dancing prow, and that strange, -familiar land rose up before us? I, that British I, who had seen -Cæsar’s galleys, heavy with Umbrian and Etrurian, put out from that -very shore: I, who had stood on the green cliffs of Harold’s kingdom -and shaken a Saxon javelin toward that home of Norman tyranny: I, this -knightly, steel-bound I, stood and watched that country grow upon us, -with thoughts locked in my heart there were none to listen to and none -to share. - -Oh! it was passing strange, and I did not rouse me until our iron keel -went gently grinding up the Norman gravel, and our vessel was beached -upon the hostile shore. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - - -Strange, eventful, and bloody, were the incidents that followed. -King Edward, burning for glory, had landed in Normandy a little time -before, had knighted on these yellow beaches that gallant boy his -son, and with the young Prince and some fourteen thousand English -troops, ten thousand wild Welshmen, and six thousand Irish, pillaging -and destroying as he went, he had marched straight into the heart of -unready France. With that handful of men he had burned all the ships in -Hogue, Barfleur, and Cherbourg; he had stormed Montebourg, Carentan, -St. Lo, and Valognes, sending a thousand sails laden with booty back -to England, and now, day by day, he was pressing southward through -his fair rebellious territories, deriding the French King in his own -country, and taking tithe and taxes in rough fashion with fire and -sword. - -Nor had we who came late far to seek for the Sovereign. His whereabouts -was well enough to be told by the rolling smoke that drifted heavily -to leeward of his marching columns and the broad trail of desolation -through the smiling country that marked his stern progress. To travel -that sad road was to see naked War stripped of all her excusing -pageantry, to see gray desolation and lean sorrow following in the gay -train of victory. - -Gods! it was a sad path. Here, as we rode along, would lie the still -smoldering ashes of a burned village, black and gray in the smiling -August sunshine. In such a hamlet, perhaps, across a threshold, his -mouth agape and staring eyes fixed on the unmoved heavens, would lie -a peasant herdsman, his right hand still grasping the humble weapon -wherewith he had sought to protect his home, and the black wound in his -breast showing whence his spirit had fled indignant to the dim Place of -Explanations. - -Neither women nor babes were exempt from that fierce ruin. Once we -passed a white and silent mother lying dead in mid-path, and the babe, -still clasped in her stiff arms, was ruddy and hungry, and beat with -tiny hands to wake her and crowed angry at its failure, and whimpered -so pitiful and small, and was so unwotting of the merry game of war -and all it meant, that the laughter and talk died away from the lips -of those with me, as, one by one, we paced slowly past that melancholy -thing. - -At another time, I remember, we came to where a little maid of some -three tender years was sitting weaving flowers on the black pile of a -ruined cottage, that, though her small mind did not grasp it, hid the -charred bodies of all her people. She twined those white-and-yellow -daisies with fair smooth hands, and was so sunny in the face and -trustful-eyed I could not leave her to marauding Irish spears, or the -cruel wolfdogs who would come for her at sunset. I turned my impatient -charger into the black ruin, and, _maugre_ that little maid’s consent, -plucked her from the ashes, and rode with her upon my saddle-bow until -we met an honest-seeming peasant woman. To her I gave the waif, with a -silver crown for patrimony. - -Out in the open the broad stream of war had spread itself. The yellow -harvests were trodden under foot, and hedge and fence were broken. The -plow stood halfway through the furrow, and the reaper was dead with -the sickle in his hand. Here, as we rode, went up to heaven the smoke -of coppice and homestead; and there, from the rocks hanging over our -path, luckless maids and widowed matrons would hail and spit upon us in -their wild grief, cursing us in going, in coming, in peace and in war, -while they loaded the frightened echoes with their shrieks and wailings. - -Now and then, on grass and roadside, were dark patches of new-dried -blood, and by them, maybe, lay country cloaks and caps and weapons. -There we knew men had fallen singly, and had long lain wounded or dead, -until their friends had taken them to grave or shelter. Out in the -open again, where skirmishes had happened and bill and bow or spear -had met their like, the dead lay thicker. Gods! how drear those fair -French fields did lie in the autumn moonlight, with their scattered -dead in twos and threes and knots and clusters! There were some who -sprawled upon the ground--still clutching in their dread white fingers -the grass and earth torn up in the moment of their agony. And here was -he who scowled with dead white eyes on the pale starlight, one hand on -his broken hilt and the other fast gripped upon the spear that pinned -him to the earth. Near him was a fair boy, dead, with the shriek still -seeming upon his livid lips, and the horrid rent in his bosom that had -let out his soul looming black in the gloom. Yonder a tall trooper -still stared out grimly after the English, and smiled in death with a -clothyard shaft buried to the feather in his heart. Some there were -of these horrid dead who still lay in grapple as they had fallen--the -stalwart Saxon and the bronzed Gaul with iron fingers on each other’s -throats, smiling their black hatred into each other’s bloodless white -faces. Others, again, lay about whose arms were fixed in air, seeming -still to implore with bloody fingers compassion from the placid sky. - -One man I saw had died stroking the thin, pain-streaked muzzle of his -wounded charger--his friend, mayhap, for years in camp and march. -Indeed, among many sorrowful things of that midnight field, the dead -and dying horses were not least. It moved me to compassion to hear -their pain-fraught whinnies on every hand, and to see them lying so -stiff and stark in the bloody hollows their hoofs had scooped through -hours of untempered anguish. What could I do for all those many? -But before one I stopped, and regarded him with stern compassion -many a minute. He was a splendid black horse, of magnificent size -and strength; and not even the coat of blood and mud with which his -sweating sides were covered could hide, here and there, the care that -had but lately groomed and tended him. He lay dying on a great sheet -of his own red blood, and as I looked I saw his tasseled mane had been -plaited not long before by some soft, skilful fingers, and at every -point was a bow of ribbon, such as might well have been taken from a -lady’s hair to honor the war-horse of her favorite knight. That great -beast was moaning there, in the stillness, thinking himself forgotten, -but when I came and stood over him he made a shift to lift his shapely -head, and looked at me entreatingly, with black hanging tongue and -thirst-fiery eyes, the while his doomed sides heaved and his hot, dry -breath came hissing forth upon the quiet air. Well I knew what he asked -for, and, turning aside, I found a trooper’s empty helmet, and, filling -it from the willowed brook that ran at the bottom of the slope, came -back and knelt by that good horse, and took his head upon my knee and -let him drink. Jove! how glad he was! Forgot for the moment was the -battle and his wounds, forgotten was neglect and the long hours of pain -and sorrow! The limpid water went gurgling down his thirsty throat, and -every happy gasp he gave spoke of that transient pleasure. And then, as -the last bright drops flashed in the moonlight about his velvet nozzle, -I laid one hand across his eyes and with the other drew my keen -dagger--and, with gentle remorselessness, plunged it to the hilt into -his broad neck, and with a single shiver the great war-horse died! - -In truth, ’twas a melancholy place. On the midnight wind came the wail -of women seeking for their kindred, and the howl and fighting of hungry -dogs at ghastly meals, the smell of blood and war--of smoldering huts -and black ruins! A stern pastime, this, and it is as well the soldier -goes back upon his tracks so seldom! - -We passed two days through such sights as I have noted, meeting many -a heavy convoy of spoil on its way to the coast, and not a few of our -own wounded wending back, luckless and sad, to England; and then on -the following evening we came upon the English rear, and were shortly -afterward part and parcel of as desperate and glorious an enterprise as -any that was ever entered in the red chronicles of war. From the coast -right up to the white walls of the fair capital itself, King Edward’s -stern orders were to pillage and kill and spoil the country, so that -there should be left no sustenance for an enemy behind. I have told -you how the cruel Irish mercenaries and the loose soldiers of a baser -sort accomplished the command. Our English archers and the light-armed -Welsh, who scoured the front, were mild in their methods compared to -them. They mayhap disturbed the quiet of some rustic villages, and in -thirsty frolics broached the kegs of red vintage in captured inns, -robbed hen-roosts, and kissed matrons and set maids screaming, but -they, unlike the others, had some touch of ruth within their rugged -bosoms. But, as for keeps and castles, we stormed and sacked them as we -went, and he alone was rogue and rascal who was last into the breach. -Our wild kerns and escaladers rioting in those lordly halls, many a -sight of cruel pillage did I see, and many a time watched the red -flame bursting from the embrasures and windows of these fair baronial -homes, and could not stay it. The Frenchmen in these cases, such of -them as were not away with the army we hoped to find, fought brave and -stubborn, and we piled their dead bodies up in their own courtyards. -Many a comely dame and damsel did I watch wringing white hands above -these ghastly heaps, and tearing loose locks of raven hair in piteous -appeal to unmoved skies, the while the yellow flames of their comely -halls went roaring from floor to floor, and in mockery of their sobs, -crashing towers and staircases mingled with the yells of the defenders -and the shouting of the pillage. - -I fear long ages begin to sap my fiber! There was a time when I would -have sat my war-horse in the courtyard and could have watched the red -blood streaming down the gutters and listened to the shrieking as -cold amid the ruin as any Viking on a hostile conquered strand. But, -somehow, with this steel panoply of mine I had put on softer moods; I -am degenerate by the pretty theories of what they called their chivalry. - -Far be it from me to say the English army was all one pack of -bloodhounds. War is ever a rough game, the country was foreign, and the -adventure we were on was bold and desperate, therefore these things -were done, and chiefly by the unruly regiments, and the scullion Irish -who followed in our rear, led by knights of ill-repute, or none. These -hung like carrion crows about our flanks and rear, and, after each -fight, stole armor from dead warriors bolder hands had slain, and -burned, and thieved from high and low, and butchered, like the beasts -of prey they were. - -On one occasion, I remember, a skirmish befell shortly after we joined -the main army, and a French noble, in their charge, was unhorsed upon -our front by an English archer. Now, I happened to be the only mounted -man just there, and as this silver shining prize staggered to his feet, -and went scampering back toward his friends with all his rich sheathing -safe upon his back, his gold chains rattling on his iron bosom, and his -jeweled belt sparkling as he fled, a savage old English swashbuckler, -whose horse was hamstrung--Sir John Enkington they called him--fairly -wrung his hands. - -“After him, Sir Knight,” screamed that unchivalrous ruffian to me, -“after him, in the name of hell! If thou rid’st hard he cannot get -away, and run thy spear in under his gorget so as not to spoil his -armor--’tis worth, at least, a hundred shillings!” - -I never moved a muscle, did not even deign to look down at that cruel -churl. Whereon the grizzly old boar-hound clapped his hand upon his -dagger and turned on me--ah! by the light of heaven, he did. - -“What! not going, you lazy braggart!” he shouted, beside himself with -rage--“not going, for such a prize? Beast--scullion--coward!” - -“Coward!” Had I lived more than a thousand years in a soldier-saddle -to be cowarded by such a hoary whelp of butchery--such a damnable old -taint on the honorable trade of arms? I spun my charger round, and with -my gloved left hand seized that bully by his ragged beard, and perked -him here and there; lifted him fairly off his feet; stretched his -corded, knotted throttle till his breath came thick and hard; jerked -and pulled and twisted him--then cast the ruffian loose, and, drawing -my square iron foot from my burnished stirrup, spurned him here and -there, and kicked and pommeled him, and so at last drove him howling -down the hill, all forgetful for the moment of prize and pillage! - -These lawless soldiers were the disgrace of our camp, they did so rant -and roar if all went well and when the battle was fairly won whereto -they had not entered, they were so coward and cruel among the prisoners -or helpless that we would gladly have been rid of them if we could. - -But, after the manner of the time, the war was open to all: behind the -flower of English chivalry who rode round the Sovereign’s standard, -and the gallant bill and bowmen who wore his livery and took his pay, -observing the decencies of war, came hustling and crowding after us -a host of rude mercenaries, a horde of ragged adventurers, who knew -nothing of honor or chivalry, and had no canons but to plunder, ravish, -and destroy. - -They made a trade of every villainy just outside the camp, where, with -scoundrel hawkers who followed behind us like lean vultures, they -dealt in dead men’s goods, bought maids and matrons, and sold armor or -plunder under our marshal’s very eyes. - -One day, I remember, I and my shadow Flamaucœur were riding home after -scouting some miles along the French lines without adventure, when, -entering our camp by the pickets farthest removed from the Royal -quarter, we saw a crowd of Irish kerns behind the wood where the King -had stocked his baggage, all laughing round some common object. Now, -these Irish were the most turbulent and dissolute fighters in the -army. Such shock-headed, fiery ruffians never before called themselves -Christian soldiers. They and the Welsh were forever at feud; but, -whereas the Welshmen were brave and submissive to their chiefs, keen -in war, tender of honor, fond of wine-cups and minstrels--gallant, -free soldiers, indeed, just as I had known their kin a thousand years -before; these savage kerns, on the other hand, were remorseless -villains, rude and wild in camp, and cutthroat rascals, without -compunction, when a fight was over. In ordinary circumstances we should -have ridden by these noisy rogues, for they cared not a jot for any -one less than the Camp Marshal with a string of billmen behind him, and -feuds between knights of King Edward’s table and these shock-haired -kerns were unseemly. But on this occasion, over the hustling ring of -rough soldiers, as we sat high-perched upon our Flemish chargers, we -saw a woman’s form, and craned our necks and turned a little from our -course to watch what new devilry they were up to. - -There, in the midst of that lawless gang of ruffian soldiers, their -bronzed and grinning faces hedging a space in with a leering, -compassionless wall, was a fair French girl, all wild and torn with -misadventure, her smooth cheeks unwashed and scarred with tears, her -black hair wild and tangled on her back, her skirt and bodice rent and -muddy, fear and shame and anger flying alternate over the white field -of her comely face, while her wistful eyes kept wandering here and -there amid that grinning crowd for a look of compunction or a chance -of rescue. The poor maid was standing upon an overturned box such as -was used to carry cross-bow bolts in, her hands tied hard together in -front, her captor by her side, and as we came near unnoticed he put her -up for sale. - -“By Congal of the Bloody Fingers,” said that cruel kern in answer to -the laughing questions of his comrades, interlarding his speech with -many fiery and horrid oaths, the which I spare you--“I found this -accursed little witch this morning hiding among the rubbish of yonder -cottage our boys pulled to pieces in the valley; and, as I could not -light on better ware, I dragged her here. But may I roast forever if -I will have anything more to do with her. She is a tigress, a little -she-devil. I have thrashed and beat and kicked her, but I cannot get -the spirit out. Let some other fellow try, and may Heaven wither him if -he turns her loose near me again! Now then, what will the best of you -give? She is a little travel-stained, perhaps--that comes of our march -hither, and our subsequent disagreements--but all right otherwise, and, -an some one could cure her of her spitfire nature and make her amenable -to reason, she would be an ornament to any tent. Now you, Borghil, -for instance--it was you, I think, who split the mother’s skull this -morning--give me a bid for the daughter: you are not often bashful in -such a case as this.” - -“A penny then!” sang out Borghil of the Red Beard; “and, with maids -as cheap as they be hereabouts, she’s dear at that,” and, while the -laughter and jest went round, those rude islanders bid point by point -for the unhappy girl who writhed and crouched before them. What could -I do? Well I knew the vows my golden spurs put upon me, and the policy -my borrowed knighthood warranted--and yet, she was not of gentle -birth--’twas but the fortune of war. If men risked lives in that stern -game, why should not maids risk something too? King Edward hated -turmoil in the camp, and here on desperate venture, far in a hostile -country, my soldier instinct rose against kindling such a blaze as -would have burst out among these lawless, hot-tempered kerns, had I -but drawn my sword a foot from its scabbard. And, thinking thus, I sat -there with bent head scowling behind my visor-bars, and turning my eyes -now to my ready hilt that shone so convenient at my thigh, and anon to -the tall Normandy maid, so fair, so pitiful, and in such sorry straits. - -While I sat thus uncertain, the girl’s price had gone up to fivepence, -and, there being no one to give more, she was about to be handed over -to an evil-looking fellow with a scar destroying one eye, and dividing -his nose with a hideous yellow seam that went across his face from -temple to chin. This gross mercenary had almost told the five coins -into the blood-smudged hand of the other Irishman, and the bargain was -near complete, when, to my surprise, Flamaucœur, who had been watching -behind me, pushed his charger boldly to the front, and cried out in -that smooth voice of his: “Wait a spell, my friends! I think the maid -is worth another coin or two!” and he plunged his hand into the wallet -that hung beside his dagger. - -This interruption surprised every one, and for a moment there was a -hush in the circle. Then he of the one eye, with a very wicked scowl, -produced and bid another penny, the which Flamaucœur immediately capped -by yet another. Each put down two more, and then the Celt came to the -bottom of his store, and, with a monstrous oath, swept back his money, -and, commending the maid and Flamaucœur to the bottom-most pit of hell, -backed off amid his laughing friends. - -Not a whit disconcerted, my peaceful gallant rode up to the grim -purveyor of that melancholy chattel, and having paid the silver, with a -calm indifference which it shocked me much to see, unwound a few feet -of the halter-rope depending from his Fleming’s crupper. The loose end -of this the man wound round and tied upon the twisted withies wherewith -the maid’s white wrists were fastened. - -Such an escape from the difficulty had never occurred to my slower -mind, and now, when my lad turned toward the quarter where his tent -lay, and, apparently mighty content with himself, stepped his charger -out with the unhappy girl trailing along at his side, his lightness -greatly pained me. Nor was I pleasured by the laughter and gibes of -English squires and knights who met us. - -“Hullo! you valorous two,” called out a mounted captain, “whose -hen-roosts have you been robbing?” And then another said, “Faith! -they’ve been recruiting,” and again, “’Tis a new page they’ve got to -buckle them up and smooth their soldier pillows.” All this was hard -to bear, and I saw that even Flamaucœur hung his head a little and -presently rode along by byways less frequented. At one time he turned -to me most innocent-like and said: - -“Such a friend as this is just what I have been needing ever since I -left the English shore.” - -“Indeed!” I answered, sardonically, “I do confess I am more surprised -than perhaps I should be. It is as charming a handmaid as any knight -could wish. Shall you send one of those long raven tresses home to thy -absent lady with thy next budget of sighs and true-love tokens?” - -But Flamaucœur shook his head, and said I misunderstood him bitterly. -He was going on to say he meant to free the maid “to-morrow or the next -day,” when we turned a corner in our martial village street, and pulled -up at our own tent doors. - -Now, that Breton girl had submitted so far to be dragged along, in -a manner of lethargy born of her sick heart and misery, but when we -stayed our chargers the very pause aroused her. She drew her poor -frightened wits together and glared first at us, and then at our -knightly pennons fluttering over the white lintels of our lodgment; -then, jumping to some dreadful, sad conclusion, she fired up as fierce -and sudden as a trapped tigress when the last outlet is closed upon -her. She stamped and raged, and twisted her fair white arms until the -rough withies on her wrists cut deep into the tender flesh and the -red blood went twining down to her torn and open bodice; she screamed -and writhed, and struggled against the glossy side of that gentle and -mighty war-horse, who looked back wondering on her and sniffed her -flagrant sorrow with wide velvet nostrils--no more moved than a gray -crag by the beating of the summer sea--and then she turned on us. - -Gads! she swore at us in such mellow Bisque as might have made a -hardened trooper envious! Cursed us and our chivalry, called us -forsworn knights, stains upon manhood, dogs and vampires!--then dropped -upon her knee, and there suppliant, locked her swollen and bloody -hands, and, with the hot white tears sparkling in her red and weary -eyes, knelt to us, and in the wild, tearful grief of her people, “for -the honor of our mothers, and for the sake of the bright distant maid -we loved,” begged mercy and freedom. - -And all through that storm of wild, sweet grief that callous libertine, -Flamaucœur, made no show of freeing her. He sat his prick-eared, -wondering charger, stared at the maid, and fingered his dagger-chain -as though perplexed and doubtful. The hot torrent of that poor -girl’s misery seemed to daze and tie his tongue: he made no sign of -commiseration and no movement, until at last I could stand it no -longer. Wheeling round my war-horse, so that I could shake my mailed -fist in the face of that sapling villain: - -“By the light of day!” I burst out, half in wrath and half in amused -bewilderment, “this goes too far. Why, Flamaucœur, can you not see -this is a maid in a hundred, and one who well deserves to keep that -which she asks for? Jove! man, if you must have a handmaiden, why, the -country swarms with forlorn ones who will gladly compound with fate -by accepting the protection of thy tent. But this one!--come!--let my -friendship go in pawn against her, and free the maid. If you must have -something more solid--still, set her free, unharmed, and I will give -thee a helmetful of pennies--that is to say, on the first time that I -own so many.” - -But Flamaucœur laughed more scornfully than he often did, and, -muttering that we were “all fools together,” turned from me to the wild -thing at his side. - -“Look here,” he said, “you mad girl. Come into my tent and I will -explain everything. You shall be all unharmed, I vow it, and free to -leave me if you will not stop--this is all mad folly, though out here I -cannot tell you why.” - -“I will not trust you,” she screamed, in arms again, straining at -those horrid red wrists of hers and glaring on us--“Mother of Christ!” -she shouted, turning to a knot of squires and captains who had -gathered around us--“for the dear Light of Heaven some of you free my -wretched spirit with your maces, here--here--some friendly spear for -this friendless bosom--one dagger-thrust to rid me from these cursed -tyrants, and I will take the memory of my slayer straight to the seat -of mercy and mix it forever with my grateful prayers. Oh, in Christian -charity unsheath a weapon!” - -[Illustration: “I will not trust you!” she screamed] - -I saw that slim soldier Flamaucœur groan within his helmet at this, -then down he bent. “Mad, mad girl!” I heard him say, and then followed -a whisper which was lost between his hollow helmet and his prisoner’s -ear. Whatever it was, the effect was instantaneous and wonderful. - -“Impossible!” burst out the French girl, starting away as far as the -cords would let her, and eyeing her captor with surprise and amazement. - -“’Tis truth, I swear it.” - -“Oh, impossible!--thou a----” - -“Hush, hush,” cried Flamaucœur, putting his hand upon the girl’s mouth, -and speaking again to her in his soft low voice, and as he did so her -eyes ran over him, the fear and wonder slowly melted away, and then, -presently, with a delighted smile at length shining behind her undried -tears, she clasped and kissed his hand with a vast show of delight -as ungoverned as her grief had been, and when he had freed her and -descended from his charger, to our amazement, led rather than followed -that knight most willing to his tent, and there let fall the flap -behind them. - -“Now that,” said the King’s jester, who had come up while this matter -was passing--“that is what I call a truly persuasive tongue. I would -give half my silver bells to know what magic that gentleman has that -will get reason so quickly into an angry woman’s head.” - -“If you knew that,” quoth a stern old knight through the steel bars of -his morion, “you might live a happy life, although you knew nothing -else.” - -“Poor De Burgh!” whispered a soldier near me. “He speaks with -knowledge, for men say he owns a vixen, and is more honored and feared -here by the proud Frenchman than at his own fireside.” - -“Perhaps,” suggested another to the laughing group, “he of the burning -heart whispered that he had a double Indulgence in his tent. Women will -go anywhere and do anything when it is the Church which leads them by -the nose.” - -“Or, perhaps,” put in another, looking at the last speaker--“perhaps -he hinted that if the maid escaped from his hated clutches she would -fall into thine, St. Caen, and she chose the lesser evil. It were an -argument that would well warrant so sudden a conversion!” - -“Well! Well!” quoth the fool, “we will not quarrel over the remembrance -of the meat which another dog has carried off. Good-by, fair Sirs, and -may God give you all as efficient tongues as Sir Flamaucœur’s when next -you are bowered with your distant ladies!” and laughing and jesting -among themselves the soldiers strolled away, leaving me to seek my -solitary tent in no good frame of mind. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - - -Such sights and scenes as these will show the chivalrous army with whom -I served in but an indifferent light. And ill it would beseem me, who -remember this time with pride, and the gloomy pleasure of my latter -life, to stain the fair fame of English chivalry or to discredit with -the foul life of its outer remnant our gallant army or that Royal -person who shone in the white light of his day, the bravest knight and -the gentlest king of any then living. - -This Sovereign was, above everything, a soldier. He observed all -that passed in his camp with extraordinary acumen. It was my chance, -soon after we joined the army, to catch his eye by some small deed -of prowess in a mêlée near his standard, and that shrewd Sovereign -called me to him, and asked my name and fame--the which I answered -plausibly enough, for my tongue was never tied to the cold sterility -of truth--and then, pointing to where there lay on his shield a famous -dead English captain of mercenaries, asked me if I would do duty -for that soldier. I knew the troops he had led. They were grizzled -veterans, rough old dogs every one of them, who had rode their -close-packed chargers, shoulder to shoulder, through the thick tangles -of a hundred fights. I had seen them alone, those stern old fellows, -put down their lances and, altogether, like the band of close-united -brothers that they were, go thundering over the dusty French campagnas, -and, to the music that they loved so well, of ringing bits and -hollow-sounding scabbards, of steel martingale and harness--delighting -in the dreadful odds--charge ten times their number, and burst through -the reeling enemy, and override and trample him down, and mow great -swathes from his seething ranks, and revel in that thunderous carnage, -as if the red dust of the mêlée were the sweetest air that had ever -fanned their aged beards! - -“Ah! Prince!” I said, speaking out boldly as that remembrance came -before me, “by Thor! if those good fellows will take so young a one as -I for leader, in place of a better, I will gladly let it be a compact.” - -“They will have you readily enough,” replied the King, “even if it were -not mine by right to name their captain, according to their rules.” -And, mounting the gray palfrey, he rode in camp, the better to spare -his roan war-horse, he took me to where the troops were ranged up after -the charge that had cost them their leader, and gave them over to me. - -Thus was I provided with a lordly following, and the King’s gratitude -for my poor service expressed; but still I appeared strangely to haunt -the Sovereign’s memory. He looked back at me once or twice as though I -were something most uncommon, and not long afterward he would have me -sup with him. - -It happened as we fell back from the farthest limit of our raid, -burning and plundering as we went along the Somme. One evening a fair -French chateau on a hill, bending down by grassy slopes to the slow -stream below, had fallen to our assault. In truth, that fair pile had -found us rude visitors. Twice in the storm the red flames had burst -out of its broad upper corridors, and twice had been subdued. Its -doors and gateways were beaten in, its casements burst and empty, -the moat about it was full of dead men, the ivy hung in unsightly -tatters from its turrets, and on the smooth grass glacis copingstone -and battlements--hurled on us by the besieged as we swarmed up the -ladders--lay in crumbling ruins. Yet it was, as I say, a stately place, -even in its new-made desolation; and I was standing at the close of a -long, dusty autumn day by my tent door, watching the yellow harvest -moon come over the low French hills, and shedding as it rose a pale -light over the English camp and that lordly place a little set back -from it, when down through the twilight came a page who wore on sleeve -and tunic-breast the royal cognizance. Was I, he questioned, the -stranger knight new come from England? and, that being answered, he -gave his message: “King Edward would be glad if that knight would take -his evening meal with him.” - -I went--how could I else?--and there in the great torn and disordered -hall of the castle we had taken was a broad table spread and already -laid with rough magnificence. Page and squire were hurrying here -and there in that stately pillared chamber, spreading on the tables -white linens that contrasted most strangely with the black, new-made -smoke-stains on the ceiling; piling on them gold and silver basins -and ewers and plates bent and broken, just as our men-at-arms had -saved them from pillaged crypts or rifled treasure-cells. Others were -fixing a hundred gleaming torches to the notched, scarred columns of -that banquet-place, and while one would be wiping half-dried blood -of French peer and peasant from floor and doorway, or sprinkling -rushes or sawdust on those gory patches, another was decanting redder -burgundy--the which babbled most pleasantly to thirsty soldier ears as -it passed in gushing streams from the cellar skins to supper flagon! It -was an episode full of quaint contradictions! - -But it was not at the feast I looked--not at the gallant table already -flashing back the gleaming crimson lights from its stored magnificence. -There round that hall in groups and two and threes, chatting while -they waited, laughing and talking over the incidents of the day, were -some hundred warlike English nobles. And amid them, the most renowned -warrior where all were famous, the tallest and most resolute-looking -in a circle of heroes, stood the King. His quick, restless eye saw me -enter, and he came toward me, slighting my reverence, and taking my -hand like one good soldier welcoming another. He led me round that -glittering throng, making me known to prince and captain, and knight -and noble, and ever as we went a hush fell upon those gallant groups. -Maybe ’twas all the King’s presence, but I doubt it. It was not on him -all eyes were fixed so hard, it was not for him those stern soldiers -were silent a spell and then fell to whisper and wondering among -themselves as we passed down the pillared corridor--ah! nor was it all -on account of that familiar, knightly host that the page-boys in gaping -wonder upset the red wine, and the glamoured servers forgot to set down -their loaded dishes as they stood staring after us! No matter! I was -getting accustomed to this silent awe, and little regarded it. It was -but the homage, I thought, their late-born essences paid unwitting to -my older soul. - -Well! we talked and laughed a spell, seeming to wait for something, -the while the meat grew cold, and then the arras over the great arch -at the bottom of the hall lifted, and with hasty strides, like those -late to a banquet, came in two knights. The first was black from top to -toe--black was his dancing plume, black was his gleaming armor, black -were his gloves and gyves, and never one touch of color on him but the -new golden spurs upon his heels and the broad jewel belt that held his -cross-handled sword. - -As this dusky champion entered a smile of pleasure shone over the -King’s grave face. He ran to him and took his hand, the while he put -his other affectionately on his shoulder. - -“My dear boy!” he said, forgetting monarch in father, “I have been -thinking of thee for an hour. You are working too hard; you must be -weary. Are there no tough captains in my host that you must be in -the saddle early and late, and do a hundred of the duties of those -beneath you, trying with that young hand of yours each new-set stake -of our evening palisades, sampling the rude soldiers’ supper-rations, -seeing the troop go down to water, and counting and conning the lay -of the Frenchman’s twinkling watch-fire? My dear hungry lad, you are -over-zealous--you will make me grieve for that new knighthood I have -put upon you!”[3] - -[3] The Black Prince, then sixteen years old, was knighted on the -Normandy beach, where the expedition landed. - -“Oh, ’tis all right, father! I am but trying to infuse a little shame -of their idle ways into this silken company of thine. But I do confess -I am as hungry as well can be--hast saved a drink of wine and a loaf -for me?” - -“Saved a loaf for thee, my handsome boy! Why, thou shouldst have a -loaf though it were the last in France and though the broad stream of -England’s treasure were run dry to buy it. We have waited--we have not -e’en uncovered.” - -“Why, then, father, I will set the example. Here! some of you squires -discover me; I have been plated much too long!” and the ready pages ran -forward, and with willing fingers rid the young prince of his raven -harness. They unbuckled and unriveted him, until he stood before us -in the close-fitting quilted black silk that he wore beneath, and I -thought, as I stood back a little way and watched, that never had I -seen a body at once so strong and supple. Then he ran his hands through -his curly black hair, and took his place midway down the table; the -King sat at the head; and when the chaplain had muttered a Latin grace -we fell to work. - -It was a merry meal in that ample hall, still littered under the arches -with the broken rubbish of the morning’s fight. The courteous English -King sat smiling under the stranger canopy, and overhead--rocking in -the breeze that came from broken casements--were the tattered flags -our dead foeman’s hands had won in many wars. Our table shone with -heaped splendor shot out from the spoil-carts at the door; the King’s -seneschal blazed behind his chair in cloth of gold; while honest rough -troopers in weather-stained leather and rusty trappings (pressed on -the moment to do squires’ duty) waited upon us, and ministered, after -the fashion of their stalwart inexperience, to our needs. Amid all -those strange surroundings we talked of wine, and love, and chivalry; -we laughed and drank, tossing off our beakers of red burgundy to the -health of that soldier Sovereign under the daïs, and drank deep bumpers -to the gray to-morrow that was crimsoning the eastern windows ere we -had done. Indeed, we did that night as soldiers do who live in pawn -to chance, and snatch hasty pleasures from the brink of the unknown -while the close foeman’s watch-fires shine upon their faces, and each -forethinks, as the full cups circle, how well he may take his next meal -in Paradise. Of all the courtly badinage and warrior-mirth that ran -round the loaded table while plates were emptied and tankards turned, -but one thing lives in my mind. Truth, ’twas a strange chance, a most -quaint conjunction, that brought that tale about, and put me there to -hear it! - -I have said that when the Black Prince entered the banquet hall there -came another knight behind him, a strong, tall young soldier in -glittering mail, something in whose presence set me wondering how or -where we two had met before. Ere I could remember who this knight might -be, the King and Prince were speaking as I have set down, and then the -trumpets blew and we fell to meat and wine with soldier appetites, -and the unknown warrior was forgotten, until--when the feast was well -begun, looking over the rim of a circling silver goblet of malmsey I -was lifting, at a youth who had just taken the empty place upon my -right--there--Jove! how it made me start!--unhelmeted, unharnessed, -lightly nodding to his comrades and all unwotting of his wondrous -neighborhood, was that same Lord Codrington, that curly-headed -gallant who had leaned against me in the white moonlight of St. Olaf’s -cloisters when I was a blessed relic, a silent, mitered, listening, -long-dead miracle! - -Gods! you may guess how I did glare at him over the sculptured rim -of that great beaker, the while the red wine stood stagnant at my -lips--and then how my breath did halt and flag as presently he turned -slow and calm upon me, and there--a foot apart--the living and the -dead were face to face, and front to front! I scarce durst breathe as -he took the heavy pledge-cup from my hand--would he know me? would he -leap from his seat with a yell of fear and wonder, and there, from -some distant vantage-point among the shadowy pillars, with trembling -finger impeach me to that startled table? Hoth! I saw in my mind’s -eye those superstitious warriors tumbling from their places, the -while I alone sat gloomy and remorseful at the littered tressels, and -huddling and crowding to the shadows--as they would not for a thousand -Frenchmen--while that brave boy with chattering teeth and white fingers -clutched upon the kingly arm did, incoherent, tell my tale, and with -husky whisper say how ’twas no soldier of flesh and blood who sat there -alone at the long white table, under the taper lights, self-damned by -his solitude! I waited to see all this, and then that soldier, nothing -wotting, glanced heedlessly over me--he wiped his lips with his napkin, -and took a long draught of the wine within the cup. Then smiling as he -handed it on, and turning lightly round as he laughed, “A very good -tankard, indeed, Sir Stranger--such a one as is some solace for eight -hours in a Flemish saddle! But there was just a little too much nutmeg -in the brew this time--didst thou not think so?” - -I murmured some faint agreement, and sat back into my place, watching -the great beaker circle round the table, while my thoughts idly hovered -upon what might have chanced had I been known, and how I might have -vantaged or lost by recognition. Well! the chance had passed, and I -would not take it back. And yet, surely fate was sporting with me! The -cup had scarcely made the circle and been drained to the last few drops -among the novices at the farther end, when I was again in that very -same peril! - -“You are new from England, Lord Worringham,” the young Earl said across -me to a knight upon my other hand: “is there late news of interest to -tell us?” - -“Hardly one sentence. All the news we had was stale reports of what -you here have done. Men’s minds and eyes have been all upon you, and -each homeward courier has been rifled of his budget at every port and -village on his way by a hundred hungry speculators, as sharply as -though he were a rich wanderer beset by footpads on a lonely heath. The -common people are wild to hear of a great victory, and will think of -nothing else. There is not one other voice in England--saving, perhaps, -that some sleek city merchants do complain of new assessments, and -certain reverend abbots, ’tis said, of the havoc you have played with -this year’s vintage.” - -“Yes,” answered the Earl with a laugh, “one can well believe that last. -Sanctity, I have had late cause to know, is thirsty work. Why, the very -Abbot of St. Olaf’s himself, usually esteemed a right reverend prelate, -did charge me at my last confessional to send him hence some vats of -malmsey! No doubt he shrewdly foresaw this dearth that we are making.” - -“What!” exclaimed the other Knight, staring across me. “Hast thou -actually confessed to that bulky saint? Mon Dieu! but you are in -luck! Why, Lord Earl, thou hast disburdened thyself to the wonder of -the age--to the most favored son of Mother Church--the associate of -beatified beings--and the particularly selected of the Apostles! Dost -not know the wonder that has happened to St. Olaf’s?” - -“Not a whit. It was ordinary and peaceful when I was there a few weeks -back.” - -“Then, by my spurs, there is some news for you! You remember that -wondrous thing they had, that sleeping image that men swore was an -actual living man, and the holy brothers, who, no doubt, were right, -declared was a blessed saint that died three hundred years ago? You too -must know him, Sir,” he said, turning to me, and looking me full in the -face: “you must know him, if you ever were at St. Olaf’s.” - -“Yes,” I answered, calmly returning his gaze. “I have been at St. -Olaf’s at one time or another, and I doubt if any man living knows that -form you speak of better than I do myself.” - -“And I,” put in the devout young Earl, “know him too. A holy and very -wondrous body! Surely God’s beneficence still shields him in his sleep?” - -“Shields him! Why, Codrington, he has been translated; removed just as -he was to celestial places; ’tis on the very word of the Abbot himself -we have it, and, where good men meet and talk in England, no other tale -can compete for a moment with this one.” - -“Out with it, bold Worringham! Surely such a thing has not happened -since the time of Elijah.” - -“’Tis simple enough, and I had it from one who had it from the Abbot’s -lips. That saintly recluse had spent a long day in fast and vigils -amid the cloisters of his ancient abbey--so he said--and when the -evening came had knelt after his wont an hour at the shrine, lost -in holy thought and pious exercise. Nothing new or strange appeared -about the Wonder. It lay as it had ever lain, silent, in the cathedral -twilight, and the good man, full of gentle thoughts and celestial -speculations, if we may take his word for it--and God forfend I should -do otherwise!--the holy father even bent over him in fraternal love and -reverence the while, he says, the beads ran through his fingers as Ave -and Paternoster were told to the sleeping martyr’s credit by scores -and hundreds. Not a sign of life was on the dead man’s face. He slept -and smiled up at the vaulted roof just as he had done year in and out -beyond all memory, and therefore, as was natural, the Abbot thought he -would sleep on while two stones of the cathedral stood one upon another. - -“He left him, and, pacing down the aisles, wended to the refectory, -where the brothers had near done their evening meal, and there, still -in holy meditation, sat him down to break that crust of dry bread -and drink that cup of limpid water which (he told my friend) was his -invariable supper.” - -“Hast thou ever seen the reverend father, good Worringham?” queried a -young knight across the table as the story-teller stopped for a moment -to drink from the flagon by his elbow. - -“Yes, I have seen him once or twice.” - -“Why, so have I,” laughed the young soldier--“and, by all the Saints in -Paradise, I do not believe he sups on husks and water.” - -“Believe or not as you will, it is a matter between thyself and -conscience. The Abbot spoke, and I have repeated just what he said.” - -“On with the story, Lord Earl,” laughed another: “we are all -open-mouthed to hear what came next, and even if his Reverence--in -holy abstraction, of course--doth sometime dip fingers into a venison -pasty by mistake for a bread trencher, or gets hold of the wine-vessel -instead of the water-beaker--’tis nothing to us. Suppose the reverent -meal was ended--as Jerome says it should be--in humble gladness, what -came then?” - -“What came then?” cried Worringham. “Why, the monks were all away--the -tapers burned low--the Abbot sat there by himself, his praying hands -crossed before him--when wide the chancery door was flung, and there, -in his grave-clothes, white and tall, was the saint himself!” - -Every head was turned as the English knight thus told his story, and, -while the younger soldiers smiled disdainfully, good Codrington at -my side crossed himself again and again, and I saw his soldier lips -trembling as prayer and verse came quick across them. - -“Ah! the saint was on foot without a doubt, and it might have chilled -all the breath in a common man to see him stand there alive, and -witful, who had so long been dead and mindless, to meet the light of -those sockets where the eyes had so long been dull! But ’tis a blessed -thing to be an abbot!--to have a heart whiter than one’s mother’s milk, -and a soul of limpid clearness. That holy friar, without one touch of -mortal fear--it is his very own asseveration--rose and welcomed his -noble guest, and sat him in the daïs, and knelt before him, and adored, -and, bold in goodness, waited to be cursed or canonized--withered by a -glance of those eyes no man could safely look on, or hoist straight to -St. Peter’s chair, just as chance should have it.” - -“Wonderful and marvelous!” gasped Codrington, “I would have given -all my lands to have knelt at the bottom of that hall whose top was -sanctified by such a presence.” - -“And I,” cried another knight, “would have given this dinted suit of -Milan that I sit in, and a tattered tent somewhere on yonder dark -hillside (the which is all I own of this world), to have been ten miles -away when that same thing happened. Surely it was most dread and grim, -and may Heaven protect all ordinary men if the fashion spreads with -saints!” - -“They will not trouble you, no doubt, good comrade. This one rose in -no stern spirit to rebuke, but as the pale commissioner of Heaven to -reward virtue and bless merit. Ill would it beseem me to tell, or you, -common, gross soldiers of the world, to listen to what passed between -those two. ’Twere rank sacrilege to mock the new-risen’s words by -retailing them over a camp table, even though the table be that of the -King himself; and who are we, rough, unruly sons of Mother Church, that -we should submit to repetition the converse of a prelate with one we -scarce dare name!” Whereon Worringham drank silently from his goblet, -and half a dozen knights crossed themselves devoutly. - -“And there is another reason why I should be silent,” he continued. -“The Abbot will not tell what passed between them. Only so much as -this: he gives out with modest hesitance that his holy living and great -attainments had gone straighter to Heaven than the smoke of Abel’s -altar-fire, and thus, on these counts and others, he had been specially -selected for divine favors, and his ancient Church for miracle. The -priest, so the Wonder vowed, must be made a cardinal, and have next -reversion of the Papal chair. Meanwhile pilgrims were to hold the -wonder-shrine of St. Olaf’s no less holy tenantless than tenanted, to -be devout, and above all things liberal, and pray for the constant -intercession of that Messenger who could no longer stay. Whereon, quoth -the Abbot, a wondrous light did daze the watcher’s sight--unheard, -unseen of other men the walls and roof fell wide apart--and then and -there, amid a wondrous hum of voices and countless shooting stars, that -Presence mounted to the sky, and the Abbot fell fainting on the floor!” - -“Truly a strange story, and like to make St. Olaf’s coffers fuller than -King Edward’s are.” - -“And to do sterling service to the reverend Prior! What think you, -Sir?” said one, turning to me, who had kept silent all through this -strange medley of fact and cunning fiction. “Is it not a tale that -greatly redounds to the holy father’s credit, and like to do him -material service?” - -“No doubt,” I answered, “it will serve the purpose for which ’twas -told. But whether the adventure be truly narrated or not only the Abbot -and he who supped with him can know.” - -“Ah!” they laughed, “and, by Our Lady! you may depend upon it the -priest will stick to his version through thick and thin.” - -“And by all oaths rolled in one,” I fiercely cried, striking my first -upon the table till the foeman’s silver leaped (for the lying Abbot’s -story had moved my wrath), “by Thor and Odin, by cruel Osiris, by the -bones of Hengist and his brother, that saint will never contradict him!” - -Shortly after we rose, and each on his rough pallet sought the rest a -long day’s work had made so grateful. - - * * * * * - -Yes! we sought it, but to one, at least, it would not come for long! -Hour after hour I paced in meditation about my tent with folded arms -and bent head, thinking of all that had been or might have been, -and, after that supper of suggestions, the last few weeks rose up -strongly before me. Again and again all that I had seen and done in -that crowded interval swept by my eyes, but the one thing that stayed -while all others faded, the one ever-present shadow among so many, -was the remembrance of the fair, unhappy girl Isobel. Full of rougher -thoughts, I have not once spoken of her, yet, since we landed on this -shore, her winning presence had grown on me every day I lived, and -now to-night, here, close on the eve, as we knew it, of a desperate -battle, wherefrom no man could see the outcome, the very darkness all -about me, after the flickering banquet lights, were full of Isobel. I -laughed and frowned by turn to myself in my lonely walk that evening, -to find how the slighted girl was growing upon me. Was I a silly squire -at a trysting-place, decked out with love-knots and tokens, a green -gallant in a summer wood, full of sighs and sonnets, to be so witched -by the bare memory of a foolish white wench who had fallen enamored -of my swart countenance? It was idle nonsense; I would not yield. I -put it behind me, and thought of to-morrow--the good King and my jolly -comrades--and then there again was the outline of Isobel’s fair face -in the yellow rift of the evening sky; there were Isobel’s clear eyes -fixed, gentle and reproachful, on me, and the glimmer of her white -draperies amid the shifting shadow of the tent, and even the evening -wind outside was whispering as it came sighing over the wild grass -lands--“Isobel!” Ah! and there was something more behind all that -thought of Isobel. There were eyes that looked from Isobel’s shadowy -face, wherever in my fancy I saw it, that filled me with a strange -unrest, and a whisper behind the whispers of that maiden voice that was -hers and yet was not--a fine thin music that played upon the fibers of -my heart; a presence behind a haunting presence; a meaning behind a -meaning that stirred me with the strangest fancies. And before another -night was over I understood them! - -Well, in fact and in deed, I was in love like many another good -soldier, and long did I strive to find a specific for the gentle -malady, but when this might not be--why, I laughed!--the thing itself -must needs be borne; ’twas a common complaint, and no great harm; when -the war was over, I would get back to England, and, if the maid were -still of the same way of thinking--had I not stood a good many knocks -and buffets in the world?--a little ease would do me good. Ah! a very -fair maid--a fair maid, indeed! And her dower some of the fattest land -you could find in a dozen shires! - -Thus, schooling myself to think a due entertainment of the malady -were better than a churlish cure, I presently decided to write to the -lady; for, I argued, if to-morrow ends as we hope it may, why, the -letter will be a good word for a homeward traveling hero crowned with -new-plucked bays; and if to-morrow sees me stiff and stark, down in yon -black valley, among to-morrow’s silent ones, still ’twill be a meet -parting, and I owe the maid a word or two of gentleness. I determined, -therefore, to write to her at once a scroll, not of love--for I was not -ripe for that--but of compassion--of just those feelings that one has -to another when the spark of love trembles to the kindling but is not -yet ablaze. And because I did not know my own mind to any certainty, -and because that youth Flamaucœur was both shrewd and witty--as -ready-witted and as nimble, indeed, with tongue and pen as though he -were a woman--I determined it should be he who should indite that -epistle and ease my conscience of this duty which had grown to be so -near a pleasure. - -I sent forthwith for Flamaucœur, and he came at once, as was his wont, -sheathed in comely steel from neck to heel, his close-shut helm upon -his head, but all weaponless as usual, save for a toy dagger at his -side. - -“Good friend,” I said, “you carry neither sword nor mace. That is not -wise in such a camp as this, and while the Frenchman’s watchfires smoke -upon the eastern sky. But, never mind, I will arm thee myself for the -moment. Here”--passing him the things a writer needs--“here is a little -weapon wherewith they say much mischief has been done at one time or -another in the world, and some sore wounds taken and given; wield it -now for me in kinder sort, and write me the prettiest epistle thou -canst--not too full of harebrained love or the nonsense that minstrels -deal in--but friendly, suave and gentle, courteous to my lady-love!” - -“To whom?” gasped Flamaucœur, stepping back a pace. - -“Par Dieu, boy!” I laughed. “I spoke plain enough! Why, thou consumèd -dog in the manger, while thy own heart is confessedly in condition of -eternal combustion, may not another knight even warm himself by a spark -of love without your glowering at him so between the bars of thine iron -muzzle? Come! Why should not I love a maid as well as you--ah! and -write to her a farewell on the eve of battle?” - -“Oh! write to whom you will, but I cannot--will not--help you”; and -the youth, who knew nothing of my affections, and to whom I had never -spoken of a woman before, walked away to the tent door and lifting the -flap, looked out over the dim French hills, seeming marvelous perturbed. - -Poor lad, I thought to myself, how soft he is! My love reminds him of -his own, and hence he fears to touch a lover pen. And yet he must. He -can write twice as ingenious, shrewd as I, and no one else could do -this letter half so well. “Come, Flamaucœur! indeed, you must help me. -If you are so sorry over your own reflections, why, the more reason for -lending me thy help. We are companions in this pretty grief, and should -render to each the help due between true brothers in misfortune. I do -assure you I have near broken a maiden heart back in England.” - -“Perhaps she was unworthy of thy love--why should you write?” - -“Unworthy! Gods! She was unhappy, she was unfortunate--but unworthy, -never! Why, Flamaucœur, here, as I have been chewing the cud of -reflection all these days, I have begun to think she was the whitest, -sweetest maid that ever breathed.” - -“Some pampered, sickly jade, surely, Sir Knight,” murmured the young -man in strange jealous-sounding tones whereof I could not fail to heed -the bitterness; “let her by, she has forgotten thee mayhap, and taken a -new love--those pink-and-white ones were ever shallow!” - -“Shallow! you wayward boy! By Hoth! had you seen our parting you would -not have said so. Why, she wept and clung to me, although no words of -love had ever been between us----” - -“A jade, a wanton!” sobbed that strange figure there by the shadowy -tent-flap, whereon, flaming up, “God’s death!” I shouted, “younker, -that goes too far! Curb thy infernal tongue, or neither thy greenness -nor unweaponed state shall save thee from my sword!” - -“And I,” quoth Flamaucœur, stepping out before me--“I deride thy -weapon--I will not turn one hair’s breadth from it--here! point it -here, to this heart, dammed and choked with a cruel affection! Oh! -I am wretched and miserable, and eager against all my instincts for -to-morrow’s horrors!” - -Whereat that soft and silly youth turned his gorget back upon me and -leaned against the tent-pole most dejectedly. And I was grieved for -him, and spun my angry brand into the farthest corner, and clapped him -on the shoulder, and cheered him as I might, and then, half mindful to -renounce my letter, yet asked him once again. - -“Come! thou art steadier now. Wilt thou finally write for me to my -leman?” - -“By every saint in Paradise,” groaned the unhappy Flamaucœur, “I will -not!” - -“What! not do me a favor and please thy old friend, Isobel of -Oswaldston, at one and the same time?” - -“Please whom?” shrieked Flamaucœur, starting like a frightened roe. - -“Why, you incomprehensible boy, Isobel of Oswaldston, thy old -playmate, Isobel. Surely I had told thee before it was of her I was -thus newly enamored?” - -What passed then within that steel casque I did not know, though now I -well can guess, but that slim gallant turned from me, and never a word -he spoke. A gentle tremor shook him from head to heel, and I saw the -steel plates of his harness quiver with the throes of his pent emotion, -while the blue plumes upon his helmet-top shook like aspen-leaves in -the first breath of a storm, and over the bars of his cruel visor there -rippled a sigh such as surely could only have come from deep down in a -human heart. - -All this perplexed me very much and made me thoughtful, but before I -could fashion my suspicions, Flamaucœur mastered his feelings, and -came slowly to the little table, and, saying in a shy, humble voice, -wondrously altered, “I will write to thy maid!” drew off his steel -gauntlet and took up the pen. That smooth, fine hand of his trembled a -little as he spread the paper on the table, and then we began. - - -OUR CAMP BY THE SOMME. - - August 24, 1376. - - To the Excellent Lady Isobel of Oswaldston this brings - greeting and salutation. - - Madam: May it please you to accept the homage of the - humblest soldier who serves with King Edward? - - * * * * * - -“That,” said Flamaucœur, stopping for a moment to sharpen his pen, “is -not a very amorous beginning.” - -“No,” I answered, “and I have a mind first only to tell her how we -fare. You see, good youth, our parting was such she weeps in solitude, -I expect, hoping nothing from me, and therefore, I would wish to break -my amendment to her gently. Faith! she may be dying of love for aught -I know, and the shock of a frank avowal of my new-awakened passion -might turn her head.” - -“Why yes, Sir Knight,” quoth my comrade, taking a fresh dip of ink, -“or, on the other hand, she may now be footing it to some gay measure -on those polished floors we wot of, or playing hide-and-seek among the -tapestries with certain merry gallants!” - -“Jove! If I thought so!” - -“Well, never mind. Get on with thy missive, and I will not interrupt -again.” - - * * * * * - -After leaving your father’s castle, Madam, I fell in about nightfall -with that excellent youth, Flamaucœur, according to your Ladyship’s -supposition. We crossed the narrow sea; and since, have scarcely had -time to dine or sleep, or wipe down our weary chargers, or once to -scour our red and rusty armor. We joined King Edward, Madam, just as -his Highness unfurled the lions and fleur de lys upon the green slopes -of the Seine, and thence, right up to the walls of Paris, we scoured -the country. We turned then, Queen of Tournaments, northward, toward -Flanders. - - * * * * * - -At this Flamaucœur lay down his pen for a moment, and, heaving a sigh, -exclaimed, “That ‘Queen of Tournaments’ does not come well from thee, -Sir Knight! Thou slighted this very girl once in the lists when the -prize was on thy spear-point.” - -“Par Dieu! and so I did. I had clean forgotten it! But how, in Heaven’s -name, came you to know of that, who were not there?” - -“Some one told me of it,” replied the boy, looking away from me, as -though he were lying. - -“Well, cross it out!” - -“Not I! The maid already knows, no doubt, the fickleness of men, and -this will surprise her no more than to see a weathercock go round when -the wind doth change. Proceed!” - - * * * * * - -Heavily laden with booty, we turned toward Flanders. We gained two days -ago the swelling banks of the Somme, and down this sluggish stream, -taking what we listed as we went with the red license of our revengeful -errand, we have struggled until here, fair lady. But each hour of -this adventurous march has seen us closer and more closely beset. The -broad stream runs to north of us, the burgher levies of Amiens are -mustering thick upon our right and behind, Gods! so close, that now -as this is penned the black canopy of the night is all ruddy where -his countless watchfires glimmer on the southern sky; behind us comes -the pale respondent in this bloody suit that we are trying--Philip, -who says that France is his by Salic law, and no rod of it, no foot -or inch on this side of the salt sea, ever can or shall be Edward’s. -And for jurors, Madam, to the assize that will be held so shortly he -has gathered from every corner of his vassal realm a hundred thousand -footmen and twenty thousand horse; a score of perjured Princes make -his false quarrel doubly false by bearing witness to it, and here, -to-morrow at the farthest, we do think, they will arraign us, and put -this matter to the sharp adjustment of the sword. Against that great -host that threatens us we are but a handful, four thousand men at -arms all native to the English shires, ten thousand archers, as many -light-armed Welshmen, and four thousand wild Irish. - - * * * * * - -“There!” I said with pride, as Flamaucœur’s busy pen came to a -stop--“There! she will know now how it goes with King Edward’s gallant -English.” - -“Why, yes, no doubt she may,” responded my friend; “but maids are more -apt to be interested in the particular than in the general. You have -addressed her so far like the presiding captain of a warlike council. -Is there nothing more to come?” - -“Gads! that’s true enough! I have left out all the love!” - -“Yet that is what her hungry eyes will look for when her fingers untie -this silk.” - -“Why, then, take up your pen again and write thus: - - * * * * * - -‘And, Madam, to-morrow’s battle, if it comes, will be no light affair. -He who sends this to thee may, ere it reaches thy hand, be numbered -among the things that are past. Therefore he would also that all -negligence of his were purged by such atonement as he can make, and -all crudeness likewise amended. And in particular he offers to thee, -whose virtues and condescension late reflection have brought lively to -his mind, his most dutiful and appreciative homage. You, who have so -good a knowledge of his poor taste, will pardon his ineloquence, but he -would say to thee, in fact, that thy gentleness and worth were never so -conscious to him as here to-night, when the red gleam of coming battle -plays along the evening sky, and, if he wears no token in his helmet in -to-morrow’s fray, ’tis because he has none of thine.’ - - * * * * * - -“There, boy! ’tis not what I meant to say--and very halting, yet she -will guess its meaning. Dost thou not think so?” - -“Guess its meaning! Oh, dear comrade, she will live again and feed -upon it--wake and sleep upon it, and wear it next her heart, just as I -should were I she and you were he.” - -“But it is so beggarly and poor expressed,” I said, with pleased -humility. - -“She will not think so,” cried Flamaucœur. “If I know aught of maids, -she will think it the most blessed vellum that ever was engrossed, she -will like its style better than the wretched culprit likes the style of -the reprieve the steaming horseman flaunts before him. She’ll con each -line and letter, and puncture them with tears and kisses--thou hast had -small ken of maids, I think, sweet soldier!” - -“Well! well! It may be so. Do up the letter, since it will read so -well, and put it in the way to be taken by the first messenger who -sails for England. Then we will ride round the posts and see how near -the Frenchman’s watchfires be. And so to sleep, good friend, and may -the many-named Powers which sit on high wake us to a happy to-morrow!” - - - - -CHAPTER XV - - -A volume might well be written on what I must compress into this -chapter. On the narrow canvas of these few pages must be outlined -the crowded incidents of that noble fight above Crecy, whereof your -historians know but half the truth, and these same lines, charged with -the note of victory, full of the joyful exultation of the mêlée and -dear delight of hard-fought combat--these lines must, too, record my -own illimitable grief. - -If while I write you should hear through my poor words aught of the -loud sound of conflict, if you catch aught of the meeting of two -great hosts led on by kingly captains, if the proud neighing of the -war-steeds meet you through these heavy lines and you discern aught of -the thunder of charging squadrons, aught of the singing wind that plays -above a sea of waving plumes as the chivalry of two great nations rush, -like meeting waves, upon each other, so shall you hear, amid all that -joyful tumult, one other sound, one piercing shriek, wherefrom not -endless scores of seasons have cleared my ears. - -Listen, then, to the humming bow-strings on the Crecy slopes--to the -stinging hiss of the black rain of English arrows that kept those -heights inviolable--to the rattle of unnumbered spears, breaking like -dry November reeds under the wild hog’s charging feet, as rank behind -rank of English gentlemen rush on the foe! Listen, I say, with me -to the thunderous roar of France’s baffled host, wrecked by its own -mightiness on the sharp edge of English valor, listen to the wild -scream of hireling fear as Doria’s crossbowmen see the English pikes -sweep down upon them; listen to the thunder of proud Alençon sweeping -round our lines with every glittering peer in France behind him, -himself in gemmy armor--a delusive star of victory, riding, revengeful, -on the foremost crest of that wide, sparkling tide! Hear, if you can, -all this, and where my powers fail, lend me the help of your bold -English fancy. - - * * * * * - -It was a hard-fought day indeed! Hotly pursued by the French King, -numbering ourselves scarce thirty thousand men, while those behind us -were four times as many, we had fallen back down the green banks of the -Somme, seeking in vain for a ford by which we might pass to the farther -shore. On this morning of which I write so near was Philip and his vast -array that our rearguard, as we retreated slowly toward the north, saw -the sheen of the spear-tops and the color on whole fields of banners, -scarce a mile behind us. And every soldier knew that, unless we would -fight at disadvantage, with the river at our backs, we must cross it -before the sun was above our heads. Swiftly our prickers scoured up and -down the banks, and many a strong yeoman waded out, only to find the -hostile water broad and deep; and thus, all that morning, with the -blare of Philip’s trumpets in our ears, we hunted about for a passage -and could not find it, the while the great glittering host came closing -up upon us like a mighty crescent stormcloud--a vast somber shadow, -limned and edged with golden gleams. - -At noon we halted in a hollow, and the King’s dark face was as stern -as stern could be. And first he turned and scowled like a lion at bay -upon the oncoming Frenchmen, and then upon the broad tidal flood that -shut us in that trap. Even the young Prince at his right side scarce -knew what to say; while the clustering nobles stroked their beards -and frowned, and looked now upon the King and now upon the water. The -archers sat in idle groups down by the willows, and the scouts stood -idle on the hills. Truth, ’twas a pause such as no soldier likes, but -when it was at the worst in came two men-at-arms dragging along a -reluctant peasant between them. They hauled him to the Sovereign, and -then it was: - -“Please your Mightiness, but this fellow knows a ford, and for a -handful of silver says he’ll tell it.” - -“A handful of silver!” laughed the joyful King. “God! let him show us a -place where we can cross, and we will smother him with silver! On, good -fellow!--the ford! the ford! and come to us to-morrow morning and you -shall find him who has been friend to England may laugh henceforth at -sulky Fortune!” - -Away we went down the sunburnt, grassy slopes, and ere the sun had gone -a hand-breadth to the west of his meridian a little hamlet came in -sight upon the farther shore, and, behind it a mile, pleasant ridges -trending up to woods and trees. Down by the hamlet the river ran loose -and wide, and the ebbing stream (for it was near the sea) had just then -laid bare the new-wet, shingly flats, and as we looked upon them, with -a shout that went from line to line, we recognized deliverance. So -swift had been our coming that when the first dancing English plumes -shone on the August hill-tops the women were still out washing clothes -upon the stones, and when the English bowmen, all in King Edward’s -livery, came brushing through the copses, the kine were standing -knee-deep about the shallows, and the little urchins, with noise and -frolic, were bathing in the stream that presently ran deep and red with -blood. And small maids were weaving chaplets among those meadows where -kings and princes soon lay dying, and tumbling in their play about the -sunny meads, little wotting of the crop their fields would bear by -evening, or the stern harvest to be reaped from them before the moon -got up. - -We crossed; but an army does not cross like one, and before our -rearward troops were over the French vanguard was on the hill-tops we -had just quitted, while the tide was flowing in strong again from the -outer sea. - -“Now, God be praised for this!” said King Edward, as he sat his charger -and saw the strong salt water come gushing in as the last man toiled -through. “The kind heavens smile upon our arms--see! they have given us -a breathing space! You, good Sir Andrew Kirkaby, who live by pleasant -Sherwood, with a thousand archers stand here among the willow bushes -and keep the ford for those few minutes till it will remain. Then, -while Philip watches the gentle sea fill up this famous channel, and -waits, as he must wait, upon his opportunity, we will inland, and on -yonder hill, by the grace of God and sweet St. George, we will lay a -supper-place for him and his!” - -So spoke the bold King, and turned his war-horse, and, with all -his troops--seeming wondrous few by comparison of the dusky swarms -gathering behind us--rode north four hundred yards from Crecy. He -pitched upon a gentle ridge sloping down to a little brook, while at -top was woody cover for the baggage train, and near by, on the right, -a corn-mill on a swell. ’Twas from that granary floor, sitting stern -and watchful, his sword upon his knees, his impatient charger armed and -ready at the door below, that the King sat and watched the long battle. - -Meanwhile, we strengthened the slopes. We dug a trench along the -front and sides, and, with the glitter of the close foeman’s steel in -our eyes, lopped the Crecy thickets. And, working in silence (while -the Frenchman’s song and laughter came to us on the breeze), set the -palisades, and bound them close as a strong fence against charging -squadrons, and piled our spears where they were handy, and put out the -archers’ arrows in goodly heaps. Jove! we worked as though each man’s -life depended on it, the Prince among us, sweating at spade and axe, -and then--it was near four o’clock on that August afternoon--a hush -fell upon both hosts, and we lay about and only spoke in whispers. And -you could hear the kine lowing in the valley a mile beyond, and the -lapwing calling from the new-shorn stubble, and the whimbrels on the -hill-tops, and the river fast emptying once again, now prattling to the -distant sea. ’Twas a strange pause, a sullen, heavy silence, no longer -than a score of minutes. And then, all in a second, a little page in -the yellow fern in front of me leaped to his feet, and, screaming in -shrill treble that scared the feeding linnets from the brambles, tossed -his velvet cap upon the wind and cried: - -“They come! they come, St. George! St. George for merry England!” - -And up we all sprang to our feet, and, while the proud shout of -defiance ran thundering from end to end of our triple lines, a wondrous -sight unfolded before us. The vast array of France, stretching far to -right and left and far behind, was loosed from its roots, and coming -on down the slope--a mighty frowning avalanche--upon us, a flowing, -angry sea, wave behind wave, of chief and mercenary--countless lines -of spear and bowmen and endless ranks of men-at-arms behind--an -overwhelming flood that hid the country as it marched shot with the -lurid gleam of light upon its billows, and crested with the fluttering -of endless flags that crowned each of those long lines of cheering -foemen. - -That tawny fringe there in front a furlong deep and driven on by the -host behind like the yellow running spume upon the lip of a flowing -tide was Genoese crossbowmen, selling their mean carcasses to manure -the good Picardy soil for hireling pay. Far on the left rode the grim -Doria, laughing to see the little band set out to meet his serried -vassals, and, on the right, Grimaldi’s olive face scowled hatred and -malice at the hill where the English lay. - -There, behind these tawny mercenaries in endless waves of steel, -D’Alençon rode, waving his princely baton, and marshaled as he came -rank upon rank of glittering chivalry--a fuming, foamy sea of spears -and helmets that flashed and glittered in the sun, and tossed and -chafed, impatient of ignoble hesitance, and flowed in stately pride -toward us, the white foam-streaks of twenty thousand plumed horsemen -showing like breakers on a shallow sea, as that great force, to the -blare of trumpets, swept down. - -And, as though all these were not enough to smother our desperate valor -even with the shadow of their numbers, behind the French chivalry -again advanced a winding forest of spearmen stooping to the lie of the -ground, and now rising and now falling like water-reeds when the west -wind plays among them. Under that innumerable host, that stretched -in dust and turmoil two long miles back to where the gray spires of -Abbeville were misty on the sky, the rasp of countless feet sounded in -the still air like the rain falling on a leafy forest. - -Never did such a horde set out before to crush a desperate band of -raiders. And, that all the warlike show might not lack its head and -consummation, between their rearguard ranks came Philip, the vassal -monarch who held the mighty fiefs that Edward coveted. Lord! how he and -his did shine and glint in the sunshine! How their flags did flutter -and their heralds blow as the resplendent group--a deep, strong ring -of peers and princes curveting in the flickering shade of a score of -mighty blazons--came over the hill crest and rode out to the foremost -line of battle and took places there to see the English lion flayed. -With a mighty shout--a portentous roar from rear to front which -thundered along their van and died away among the host behind--the -French heralded the entry of their King upon the field, and, with one -fatal accord, the whole vast baying pack broke loose from order and -restraint and came at us. - -We stood aghast to see them. Fools! Madmen! They swept down to the -river--a hundred thousand horse and footmen bent upon one narrow -passage--and rushed in, every chief and captain scrambling with his -neighbor to be first--troops, squadrons, ranks, all lost in one -seething crowd--disordered, unwarlike. And thus--quivering and chaotic, -heaving with the stress of its own vast bulk--under a hundred jealous -leaders, the great army rushed upon us. - -While they struggled thus, out galloped King Edward to our front, -bareheaded, his jeweled warden staff held in his mailed fist, and, -riding down our ranks, and checking the wanton fire of that gray -charger, which curveted and proudly bent his glossy neck in answer to -our cheering, proud, calm-eyed, and happy, King Edward spoke: - -“My dear comrades and lieges linked with me in this adventure--you, -my gallant English peers, whose shiny bucklers are the bright bulwarks -of our throne, whose bold spirits and matchless constancy have made -this just quarrel possible--oh! well I know I need not urge you to that -valor which is your native breath. Right well I know how true your -hearts do beat under their steely panoply; and there is false Philip -watching you, and here am I! Yonder, behind us, the gray sea lies, and -if we fall or fail it will be no broader for them than ’tis for us. -Stand firm to-day, then, dear friends and cousins! Remember, every blow -that’s struck is struck for England, every foot you give of this fair -hillside presages the giving of an ell of England. Remember, Philip’s -hungry hordes, like ragged lurchers in the slip, are lean with waiting -for your patrimonies. Remember all this, and stand as strong to-day -for me as I and mine shall stand for you. And you, my trusty English -yeomen,” said the soldier King--“you whose strong limbs were grown in -pleasant England--oh! show me here the mettle of those same pastures! -God! when I do turn from yonder hireling sea of shiny steel and mark -how square your sturdy valor stands unto it--how your clear English -eyes do look unfaltering into that yeasty flood of treachery--why, I -would not one single braggart yonder the less for you to lop and drive; -I would not have that broad butt that Philip sets for us to shoot at -the narrower by one single coward tunic! Yonder, I say, ride the lank, -lusty Frenchmen who thirst to reeve your acres and father to-morrow, -if so they may, your waiting wives and children. To it, then, dear -comrades--upon them, for King Edward and for fair England’s honor! -Strike home upon these braggart bullies who would heir the lion’s den -even while the lion lives; strike for St. George and England! And may -God judge now ’tween them and us!” - -As the King finished, five thousand English archers went forward in a -long gray line, and, getting into shot of the first ranks of the enemy, -drew out their long bows from their cowhide cases and set the bow-feet -to the ground and bent and strung them; and then it would have done -you good to see the glint of the sunshine on the hail of arrows that -swept the hillside and plunged into those seething ranks below. The -close-massed foemen writhed and winced under that remorseless storm. -The Genoese in front halted and slung their crossbows, and fired whole -sheaves of bolts upon us, that fell as stingless as reed javelins on a -village green, for a passing rainstorm had wet their bowstrings and the -slack sinews scarce sent a bolt inside our fences, while every shaft we -sped plunged deep and fatal. Loud laughed the English archers at this, -and plied their biting flights of arrows with fierce energy; and, all -in wild confusion, the mercenaries yelled and screamed and pulled their -ineffectual weapons, and, stern shut off from advance by the flying -rain of good gray shafts, and crushed from behind by the crowding -throng, tossed in wild confusion, and broke and fled. - -Then did I see a sight to spoil a soldier’s dreams. As the coward -bowmen fell back, the men-at-arms behind them, wroth to be so long shut -off the foe, and pressed in turn by the troops in rear, fell on them, -and there, under our eyes, we saw the first rank of Philip’s splendid -host at war with the second; we saw the billmen of fair Bascquerard and -Bruneval lop down the olive mercenaries from Roquemaure and the cities -of the midland sea; we saw the savage Genoese falcons rip open the -gay livery of Lyons and Bayonne, and all the while our shafts rained -thick and fast among them, and men fell dead by scores in that hideous -turmoil--and none could tell whether ’twas friends or foes that slew -them. - -A wonderful day, indeed; but hard was the fighting ere it was done. -My poor pen fails before all the crowded incident that comes before -me, all the splendid episodes of a stirring combat, all the glitter -and joy and misery, the proud exultation of that August morning and -the black chagrin of its evening. Truth! But you must take as said a -hundred times as much as I can tell you, and line continually my bare -suggestions with your generous understanding. - -Well, though our archers stood the first brunt, the day was not left -all to them. Soon the French footmen, thirsting for vengeance, had -overriden and trampled upon their Genoese allies, and came at us up -the slope, driving back our skirmishers as the white squall drives the -wheeling seamews before it, and surged against our palisades, and came -tossing and glinting down upon our halberdiers. The loud English cheer -echoed the wild yelling of the Southerners: bill and pike, and sword -and mace and dagger sent up a thunderous roar all down our front, while -overhead the pennons gleamed in the dusty sunlight, and the carrion -crows wheeled and laughed with hungry pleasure above that surging line. -Gods! ’twas a good shock, and the crimson blood went smoking down to -the rivulets, and the savage scream of battle went up into the sky as -that long front of ours, locked fast in the burnished arms of France, -heaved and strove, and bent now this way and now that, like some -strong, well-matched wrestlers. - -A good shock indeed! A wild tremendous scene of confusion there on -the long grass of that autumn hill, with the dark woods behind on the -ridge, and, down in front, the babbling river and the smoking houses -of the ruined village. So vast was the extent of Philip’s array that -at times we saw it extend far to right and left of us; and so deep was -it, that we who battled amid the thunder of its front could hear a mile -back to their rear the angry hum of rage and disappointment as the -chaotic troops, in the bitterness of the spreading confusion, struggled -blindly to come at us. Their very number was our salvation. That half -of the great army which had safely crossed the stream lay along outside -our palisades like some splendid, writhing, helpless monster, and the -long swell of their dead-locked masses, the long writhe of their fatal -confusion, you could see heaving that glittering tide like the golden -pulse of a summer sea pent up in a crescent shore. And we were that -shore! All along our front the stout, unblenching English yeomen stood -to it--the white English tunic was breast to breast with the leathern -kirtles of Genoa and Turin. Before the frightful blows of those -stalwart pikemen the yellow mail of the gay troopers of Châteauroux -and Besaçon crackled like dry December leaves; the rugged boar-skins -on the wide shoulders of Vosges peasants were less protection against -their fiery thrust than a thickness of lady’s lawn. Down they lopped -them, one and all, those strong, good English hedgemen, till our -bloody foss was full--full of olive mercenaries from Tarascon and -Arles--full of writhing Bisc and hideous screaming Genoese. And still -we slew them, shoulder to shoulder, foot to foot, and still they -swarmed against us, while we piled knight and vassal, serf and master, -princeling and slave, all into that ditch in front. The fair young boy -and gray-bearded sire, the freeman and the serf, the living and the -dead, all went down together, till a broad rampart stretched along our -swinging, shouting front, and the glittering might of France surged up -to that human dam and broke upon it like the futile waves, and went to -pieces, and fell back under the curling yellow stormcloud of mid-battle. - -Meanwhile, on right and left, the day was fiercely fought. Far upon -the one hand the wild Irish kerns were repelling all the efforts of -Beaupreau’s light footmen, and pulling down the gay horsemen of fair -Bourges by the distant Loire. Three times those squadrons were all -among them, and three times the wild red sons of Shannon and the dim -Atlantic hills fell on them like the wolves of their own rugged glens, -and hamstrung the sleek Southern chargers, and lopped the fallen -riders, and repelled each desperate foray, making war doubly hideous -with their clamor and the bloody scenes of butchery that befell among -their prisoners after each onset. - -And, on the other crescent of our battle, my dear, tuneful, licentious -Welshmen were out upon the slope, driving off with their native ardor -one and all that came against them, and, worked up to a fine fury by -their chanting minstrels, whose shrill piping came ever and anon upon -the wind, they pressed the Southerners hard, and again and again drove -them down the hill--a good, a gallant crew that I have ever liked, with -half a dozen vices and a score of virtues! I had charged by them one -time in the day, and, cantering back with my troop behind their ranks, -I saw a young Welsh chieftain on a rock beside himself with valor and -battle. He was leaping and shouting as none but a Welshman could or -would, and beating his sword upon his round Cymric shield, the while he -yelled to his fighting vassals below a fierce old British battle song. -Oh! it was very strange for me, pent in that shining Plantagenet mail, -to listen to those wild, hot words of scorn and hatred--I who had heard -those words so often when the ancestors of that chanting boy were not -begotten--I who had heard those fiery verses sung in the red confusion -of forgotten wars--I who could not help pulling a rein a moment as that -song of exultation, full of words and phrases none but I could fully -understand, swelled up through the eddying war-dust over the Welshmen’s -reeling line. I, so strong and young; I, who yet was more ancient -than the singer’s vaguest traditions--I stopped a moment and listened -to him, full of remembrance and sad wonder, while the pæan-dirge of -victory and death swelled to the sky over the clamor of the combat. -And then--as a mavis drops into the covert when his morning song is -done--the Welshman finished, and, mad with the wine of battle, leaped -straight into the tossing sea below, and was engulfed and swallowed up -like a white spume-flake on the bosom of a wave. - -For three long hours the battle raged from east to west, and men fought -foot to foot and hand to hand, and ’twas stab and hack and thrust, -and the pounding of ownerless horses and the wail of dying men, and -the husky cries of captains, and the interminable clash of steel on -steel, so that no man could see all the fight at once, save the good -King alone, who sat back there at his vantage-point. It was all this, I -say; and then, about seven in the afternoon, when the sun was near his -setting, it seemed, all in a second, as though the whole west were in -a glow, and there was Lord Alençon sweeping down upon our right with -the splendid array of Philip’s chivalry, their pennons a-dance above -and their endless ranks of spears in serried ranks below. There was no -time to think, it seemed. A wild shout of fear and wonder went up from -the English host. Our reserves were turned to meet the new danger; the -archers poured their gray-goose shafts upon the thundering squadrons; -princes and peers and knights were littered on the road that brilliant -host was treading--and then they were among the English yeomen with a -frightful crash of flesh and blood and horse and steel that drowned -all other sound of battle with its cruel import! Jove! What strong -stuff the English valor is! Those good Saxon countrymen, sure in the -confidence of our great brotherhood, kept their line under that hideous -shock as though each fought for a crown, and, shoulder to shoulder -and hand to hand, an impenetrable living wall derided the terrors of -the golden torrent that burst upon them. Happy King to yield such -stuff--thrice-happy country that can rear it! In vain wave upon wave -burst upon those hardy islanders, in vain the stern voice of Alençon -sent rank after rank of proud lords and courtly gallants upon those -rugged English husbandmen--they would not move, and when they would not -the Frenchmen hesitated. - -’Twas our moment! I had had my leave just then new from the King, and -did not need it twice. I saw the great front of French cavalry heaving -slow upon our hither face, galled by the arrow-rain that never ceased, -and irresolute whether to come on once again or go back, and I turned -to the cohort of my dear veterans. I do not know what I said, the -voice came thick and husky in my throat, I could but wave my iron mace -above my head and point to the Frenchmen. And then all those good gray -spears went down as though ’twere one hand that lowered them, and all -the chargers moved at once. I led them round the English front, and -there, clapping spurs to our ready coursers’ flanks, five hundred of -us, knit close together, with one heart beating one measure, shot out -into array, and, sweeping across the slope, charged boldly ten thousand -Frenchmen! - -[Illustration: Five hundred of us charged boldly ten thousand -Frenchmen!] - -We raced across the Crecy slope, drinking the fierce wine of expectant -conflict with every breath, our straining chargers thundering in -tumultuous rhythm over the short space between, and, in another minute, -we broke upon the foemen. Bravely they met us. They turned when we -were two hundred paces distant, and advancing with their silken fleur -de lys, and pricking up their chargers, weary with pursuit and battle, -they came at us as you will see a rock-thwarted wave run angry back -to meet another strong incoming surge. And as those two waves meet, -and toss and leap together, and dash their strength into each other, -the while the white spume flies away behind them, and, with thunderous -arrogance, the stronger bursts through the other and goes streaming -on triumphant through all the white boil and litter of the fight, so -fell we on those princelings. ’Twas just a blinding crash, the coming -together of two great walls of steel! I felt I was being lifted like -a dry leaf on the summit of that tremendous conjunction, and I could -but ply my mace blindly on those glittering casques that shone all -round me, and, I now remember, cracked under its meteor sweep like ripe -nuts under an urchin’s hammer. So dense were the first moments of that -shock of chivalry that even our horses fought. I saw my own charger -rip open the glossy neck of another that bore a Frenchman; and near -by--though I thought naught of it then--a great black Flemish stallion, -mad with battle, had a wounded soldier in its teeth, and was worrying -and shaking him as a lurcher worries a screaming leveret. So dense was -the throng we scarce could ply our weapons, and one dead knight fell -right athwart my saddle-bow; and a flying hand, lopped by some mighty -blow, still grasping the hilt of a broken blade, struck me on the helm; -the warm red blood spurting from a headless trunk half blinded me--and, -all the time, overhead the French lilies kept stooping at the English -lion, and now one went down and then the other, and the roar of the -host went up into the sky, and the dust and turmoil, the savage uproar, -the unheard, unpitied shriek of misery and the cruel exultation of the -victor, and then--how soon I know not--we were traveling! - -Ah! by the great God of battles, we were moving--and forward--the -mottled ground was slipping by us--and the French were giving! I rose -in my stirrups, and, hoarse as any raven that ever dipped a black wing -in the crimson pools of battle, shouted to my veterans. It did not -need! I had fought least well of any in that grim company, and now, -with one accord, we pushed the foeman hard. We saw the great roan -Flanders jennets slide back upon their haunches, and slip and plunge -in the purple quagmire we had made, and then--each like a good ship -well freighted--lurch and go down, and we stamped beribboned horse and -jeweled rider alike into the red frothy marsh under our hoofs. And the -fleur de lys sank, and the silver roe of Mayenne, proud Montereau’s -azure falcon, and the white crescent of Donzenac went down, and -Bernay’s yellow cornsheaf and Sarreburg’s golden blazon, with many -another gaudy pennon, and then, somehow, the foemen broke and dissolved -before our heavy, foam-streaked chargers, and, as we gasped hot breath -through our close helmet-bars, there came a clear space before us, with -flying horsemen scouring off on every hand. - -The day was wellnigh won, and I could see that far to left the English -yeomen were driving the scattered clouds of Philip’s footmen pell-mell -down the hill, and then we went again after his horsemen, who were -gathering sullenly upon the lower slopes. Over the grass we scoured -like a brown whirlwind, and in a minute were all among the French -lordlings. And down they went, horse and foot, riders and banners, -crowding and crushing each other in a confusion terrible to behold, now -suffering even more from their own chaos than from our lances. Jove! -brother trod brother down that day, and comrade lay heaped on living -comrade under that red confusion. The pennons--such as had outlived -the storm so far--were all entangled sheaves, and sank, whole stocks -at once, into the floundering sea below. And kings and princes, hinds -and yeomen, gasped and choked and glowered at us, so fast-locked in the -deadly wedge that went slowly roaring back before our fiery onsets, -they could not move an arm or foot! - -The tale is nearly told. Everywhere the English were victorious, and -the Frenchmen fell in wild dismay before them. Many a bold attempt -they made to turn the tide, and many a desperate sally and gallant -stand the fading daylight witnessed. The old King of Bohemia, to whom -daylight and night were all as one, with fifty knights, their reins -knotted fast together, charged us, and died, one and all, like the good -soldiers that they were. And Philip, over yonder, wrung his white hands -and pawned his revenue in vows to the unmoved saints; and the soft, -braggart peers that crowded round him gnawed their lips and frowned, -and looked first at the ruined, smoldering fight, then back--far -back--to where, in the south, friendly evening was already holding out -to them the dusky cover of the coming night. It was a good day indeed, -and may England at her need ever fight so well! - -Would that I might in this truthful chronicle have turned to other -things while the long roar of exultation goes up from famous Crecy and -the strong wine of well-deserved victory filled my heart! Alas! there -is that to tell which mars the tale and dims the shine of conquest. - -Already thirty thousand Frenchmen were slain, and the long swathes lay -all across the swelling ground like the black rims of weed when the sea -goes back. Only here and there the battle still went on, where groups -and knots of men were fighting, and I, with my good comrade Flamaucœur, -now, at sunset, was in such a mêlée on the right. All through the day -he had been like a shadow to me--and shame that I have said so little -of it! Where I went there he was, flitting in his close gray armor -close behind me; quick, watchful, faithful, all through the turmoil and -dusty war-mist; escaping, Heaven knows how, a thousand dangers; riding -his light war-horse down the bloody lanes of war as he ever rode it, as -if they two were one; gentle, retiring, more expert in parrying thrust -and blow than in giving--that dear friend of mine, with a heart made -stout by consuming love against all its native fears, had followed me. - -And now the spent battle went smoldering out, and we there thought -’twas all extinguished, when, all on a sudden--I tell it less briefly -than it happened--a desperate band of foemen bore down on us, and, as -we joined, my charger took a hurt, and went crashing over, and threw -me full into the rank tangle of the under fight. Thereon the yeomen, -seeing me fall, set up a cry, and, with a rush, bore the Frenchmen four -spear-lengths back, and lifted me, unhurt, from the littered ground. -They gave me a sword, and, as I turned, from the foemen’s ranks, waving -a beamy sword, plumed by a towering crest of nodding feathers and -covered by a mighty shield, a gigantic warrior stepped out. Hoth! I can -see him now, mad with defeat and shame, striding on foot toward us--a -giant in glittering, pearly armor, that shone and glittered as the last -rays of the level sun against the black backing of the evening sky, as -though its wearer had been the Archangel Gabriel himself! It did not -need to look upon him twice: ’twas the Lord High Constable of France -himself--the best swordsman, the sternest soldier, and the brightest -star of chivalry in the whole French firmament. And if that noble peer -was hot for fight, no less was I. Stung by my fall, and glorying in -such a foeman, I ran to meet him, and there, in a little open space, -while our soldiers leaned idly on their weapons and watched, we fought. -The first swoop of the great Constable’s humming falchion lit slanting -on my shield and shore my crest. Then I let out, and the blow fell on -his shield, and sent the giant staggering back, and chipped the pretty -quarterings of a hundred ancestors from that gilded target. At it -again we went, and round and round, raining our thunderous blows upon -each other with noise like boulders crashing down a mountain valley. -I did not think there was a man within the four seas who could have -stood against me so long as that fierce and bulky Frenchman did. For -a long time we fought so hard and stubborn that the blood-miry soil -was stamped into a circle where we went round and round, raining our -blows so strong, quick, and heavy that the air was full of tumult, -and glaring at each other over our morion bars, while our burnished -scales and links flew from us at every deadly contact, and the hot -breath steamed into the air, and the warm, smarting blood crept from -between our jointed harness. Yet neither would bate a jot, but, with -fiery hearts and heaving breasts and pain-bursting muscles, kept to it, -and stamped round and round those grimy, steaming lists, redoubtable, -indomitable, and mad with the lust of killing. - -And then--Jove! how near spent I was!--the great Constable, on a -sudden, threw away his many-quartered shield, and, whirling up his -sword with both hands high above his head, aimed a frightful blow -at me. No mortal blade or shield or helmet could have withstood -that mighty stroke! I did not try, but, as it fell, stepped nimbly -back--’twas a good Saxon trick, learned in the distant time--and then, -as the falchion-point buried itself a foot deep in the ground, and the -giant staggered forward, I flew at him like a wild cat, and through the -close helmet-bars, through teeth and skull and the three-fold solid -brass behind, thrust my sword so straight and fiercely, the smoking -point came two feet out beyond his nape, and, with a lurch and cry, the -great peer tottered and fell dead before me. - -Now comes that thing to which all other things are little, the fellest -gleam of angry steel of all the steel that had shone since noon, the -cruelest stab of ten thousand stabs, the bitterest cry of any that had -marred the full yellow circle of that August day! I had dropped on one -knee by the champion, and, taking his hand, had loosed his visor, and -shouted to two monks, who were pattering with bare feet about the field -(for, indeed, I was sorry, if perchance any spark of life remained, so -brave a knight should die unshriven to his contentment), and thus was -forgotten for the moment the fight, the confronting rows of foemen, -and how near I was to those who had seen their great captain fall by -my hands. Miserable, accursed oversight! I had not knelt by my fallen -enemy a moment, when suddenly my men set up a cry behind me, there was -a rush of hoofs, and, ere I could regain my feet or snatch my sword or -shield, a great black French rider, like a shadowy fury dropped from -the sullen evening sky, his plumes all streaming behind him, his head -low down between his horse’s ears, and his long blue spear in rest, -was thundering in mid career against me not a dozen paces distant. As -I am a soldier, and have lived many ages by my sword, that charge must -have been fatal. And would that it had been! How can I write it? Even -as I started to my feet, before I could lift a brand or offer one light -parry to that swift, keen point, the horseman was upon me. And as he -closed, as that great vengeance-driven tower of steel and flesh loomed -above me, there was a scream--a wild scream of fear and love--(and -I clap my hands to my ears now, centuries afterward, to deaden the -undying vibrations of that sound)--and Flamaucœur had thrown himself -’tween me and the spear-point, had taken it, fenceless, unwarded, full -in his side, and I saw the cruel shaft break off short by his mail as -those four, both horses and both riders, went headlong to the ground. - -[Illustration: Flamaucœur had taken it full in his side] - -Up rose the English with an angry shout, and swept past us, killing -the black champion as they went, and driving the French before them -far down into the valley. Then ran I to my dear comrade, and knelt and -lifted him against my knee. He had swooned, and I groaned in bitterness -and fear when I saw the strong red tide that was pulsing from his -wound and quilting his bright English armor. With quick, nervous -fingers--bursting such rivets as would not yield, all forgetful of his -secret, and that I had never seen him unhelmed before--I unloosed his -casque, and then gently drew it from his head. - -With a cry I dropped the great helm, and wellnigh let even my fair -burden fall, for there, against my knee, her white, sweet face against -my iron bosom, her fair yellow hair, that had been coiled in the -emptiness of her helmet, all adrift about us, those dear curled lips -that had smiled so tender and indulgent on me, her gentle life ebbing -from her at every throe, was not Flamaucœur, the unknown knight, the -foolish and lovesick boy, but that wayward, luckless girl Isobel of -Oswaldston herself! - -And if I had been sorry for my companion in arms, think how the pent -grief and surprise filled my heart, as there, dying gently in my arms, -was the fair girl whom, by a tardy, late-born love, new sprung into my -empty heart, I had come to look upon as the point of my lonely world, -my fair heritage in an empty epoch, for the asking! - -Soon she moved a little, and sighed, and looked up straight into my -eyes. As she did so the color burnt for a moment with a pale glow in -her cheeks, and I felt the tremor of her body as she knew her secret -was a secret no longer. She lay there bleeding and gasping painfully -upon my breast, and then she smiled and pulled my plumed head down to -her and whispered: - -“You are not angry?” - -Angry? Gods! My heart was heavier than it had been all that day of -dint and carnage, and my eyes were dim and my lips were dry with a -knowledge of the coming grief as I bent and kissed her. She took the -kiss unresisting, as though it were her right, and gasped again: - -“And you understand now all--everything? Why I ransomed the French -maiden? Why I would not write for thee to thy unknown mistress?” - -“I know--I know, sweet girl!” - -“And you bear no ill-thought of me?” - -“The great Heaven you believe in be my witness, sweet Isobel! I love -you, and know of nothing else!” - -She lay back upon me, seeming to sleep for a moment or two, then -started up and clapped her hands to her ears, as if to shut out the -sound of bygone battle that no doubt was still thundering through them, -then swooned again, while I bent in sorrow over her and tried in vain -to soothe and stanch the great wound that was draining out her gentle -life. - -She lay so still and white that I thought she were already dead; but -presently, with a gasp, her eyes opened, and she looked wistfully to -where the western sky was hanging pale over the narrow English sea. - -“How far to England, dear friend?” - -“A few leagues of land and water, sweet maid!” - -“Could I reach it, dost thou think?” But then, on an instant, shaking -her head, she went on: “Nay, do not answer; I was foolish to ask. Oh! -dearest, dearest sister Alianora! My father--my gentlest father! Oh! -tell them, Sir, from me--and beg them to forgive!” And she lay back -white upon my shoulder. - -She lay, breathing slow, upon me for a spell, then, on a sudden, her -fair fingers tightened in my mailed hand, and she signed that she would -speak again. - -“Remember that I loved thee!” whispered Isobel, and, with those last -words, the yellow head fell back upon my shoulder, the blue eyes -wavered and sank, and her spirit fled. - - * * * * * - -Back by the lines of gleeful shouting troops--back by where the -laughing English knights, with visors up, were talking of the day’s -achievements--back by where the proud King, hand in hand with his -brave boy, was thanking the south English yeomen for Crecy and another -kingdom--back by where the champing, foamy chargers were picketed in -rows--back by the knots of archers, all, like honest workmen, wiping -down their unstrung bows--back by groups of sullen prisoners and gaudy -heaps of captured pennons, we passed. - -In front four good yeomen bore Isobel upon their trestled spears; -then came I, bareheaded--I, kinsmanless, to her in all that camp the -only kin; and then our drooping chargers, empty-saddled, led by young -squires behind, and seeming--good beasts!--to sniff and scent the -sorrow of that fair burden on ahead. So we went through the victorious -camp to our lodgment, and there they placed Isobel on her bare soldier -couch, her feet to the door of her soldier tent, and left us. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - - -Unwashed, unfed, my dinted armor on me still--battle-stained and -rent--unhelmeted, ungloved, my sword and scabbard cast by my hollow -shield in a dark corner of the tent, I watched, tearless and stern, -all that night by the bier of the pale white girl who had given so -much for me and taken so poor a reward. I, who, so fanciful and -wayward, had thought I might safely toy with the sweet tender of her -affection--sprung how or why I knew not--and take or leave it as -seemed best to my convenience, brooded, all the long black watch, over -that gentle broken vessel that lay there white and still before me, -alike indifferent to gifts or giving. And now and then I would start up -from the stool I had drawn near to her, and pace, with bent head and -folded arms, the narrow space, remembering how warm the rising tide of -love had been flowing in my heart for that fair dead thing so short -a time before. “So short a time before!” Why, it was but yesterday -that she wrote for me that missive to herself: and I, fool and blind, -could not read the light that shone behind those gray visor-bars as -she penned the lines, or translate the tremor that shook that sweet -scribe’s fingers, or recognize the heave of the maiden bosom under -its steel and silk! I groaned in shame and grief, and bent over her, -thinking how dear things might have been had they been otherwise, and -loving her no whit the less because she was so cold, immovable, saying -I know not what into her listless ear, and nourishing in loneliness and -solitude, all those long hours, the black flower of the love that was -alight too late in my heart. - -I would not eat or rest, though my dinted armor was heavy as lead upon -my spent and weary limbs--though the leather jerkin under that was -stiff with blood and sweat, and opened my bleeding wounds each time I -moved. I would not be eased of one single smart, I thought--let the -cursed seams and gashes sting and bite, and my hot flesh burn beneath -them! mayhap ’twould ease the bitter anger of my mind--and I repulsed -all those who came with kind or curious eyes to the tent door, and -would not hear of ease or consolation. Even the King came down, and, in -respect to that which was within, dismounted and stood like a simple -knight without, asking if he might see me. But I would not share my -sorrow with any one, and sent the page who brought me word that the -King was standing in the porch to tell him so; and, accomplished in -courtesy as in war, the victorious monarch bent his head, and mounted, -and rode silently back to his own lodging. - -The gay gallants who had known me came on the whisper of the camp -one by one (though all were hungry and weary), and lifted the flap a -little, and said something such as they could think of, and peered at -me, grimly repellent, in the shadows, and peeped curiously at that fair -white soldier lain on the trestles in her knightly gear so straight and -trim, and went away without daring to approach more nearly. My veterans -clipped their jolly soldier-songs, though they had well deserved -them, and took their suppers silently by the flickering camp-fire. -Once they sent him among them that I was known to like the best with -food and wine and clean linen, but I would not have it, and the good -soldier put them down on one side of the door and went back as gladly -as he who retreats skin-whole from the cave where a bear keeps watch -and ward. Last of all there came the fall of quieter feet upon the -ground, and, in place of the clank of soldier harness, the rattle of -the beads of rosaries and cross; and, looking out, there was the King’s -own chaplain, bareheaded, and three gray friars behind him. I needed -ghostly comfort just then as little as I needed temporal, and at first -I thought to repulse them surlily; but, reflecting that the maid had -ever been devout and held such men as these in high esteem, I suffered -them to enter, and stood back while they did by her the ceremonial of -their office. They made all smooth and fair about, and lit candles -at her feet and gave her a crucifix, and sprinkled water, and knelt, -throwing their great black shadows athwart the white shrine of my dear -companion, the while they told their beads and the chaplain prayed. -When they had done, the priest rose and touched me on the arm. - -“Son,” he said, “the King has given an earl’s ransom to be expended in -masses for thy leman’s soul.” - -“Father,” I replied, “tender the King my thanks for what was well meant -and as princely generous as becomes him. But tell him all the prayers -thy convent could count from now till the great ending would not bleach -this white maid’s soul an atom whiter. Earn your ransom if you will, -but not here; leave me to my sorrow.” - -“I will give your answer, soldier; but these holy brothers--the King -wished it--must stay and share your vigil until the morning. It is -their profession; their prayerful presence can ward off the spirits of -darkness; weariness never sits on their eyes as it sits now on thine. -Let them stay with thee; it is only fit.” - -“Not for another ransom, priest! I will not brook their confederate -tears--I will not wing this fair girl’s soul with their hireling -prayers--out, good fellows, my mood is wondrous short, and I would not -willing do that which to-morrow I might repent of.” - -“But, brother----” said one monk, gently. - -“Hence--hence! I have no brothers--go! Can you look on me here in this -extremity, can you see my hacked and bleeding harness, and the shine -of bitter grief in my eyes, and stand pattering there of prayers and -sympathy? Out! Out! or by every lying relic in thy cloisters I add some -other saints to thy chapter rolls!” - -They went, and as the tent-flap dropped behind them and the sound of -their sandaled feet died softly away into the gathering night, I turned -sorrowful and sad to my watch. I drew a stool to the maiden bier, and -sat and took her hand, so white and smooth and cold, and looked at the -fair young face that death had made so passionless--that sweet mirror -upon which, the last time we had been together in happiness, the rosy -light of love was shining and sweet presumption and maiden shame were -striving. And as I looked and held her hand the dim tent-walls fell -away, and the painted lists rose up before me, and the littered flowers -my quick, curveting charger stamped into the earth, and the blare of -the heralds’ trumpets, the flutter of the ribbons and the gay tires of -brave lords and fair ladies all centered round the daïs where those -two fair sisters sat. Gods! was that long sigh the night-wind circling -about my tent-flap or in truth the sigh of slighted Isobel, as I rode -past her chair with the victor’s circlet on my spear-point and laid it -at the footstool of her sister? - -I bent over that fair white corpse, so sick in mind and body that -all the real was unreal and all the unreal true. I saw the painted -pageantry of her father’s hall again and the colored reflections of the -blazoned windows on the polished corridors shine upon our dim and sandy -floor, and down the long vistas of my aching memory the groups of men -and women moved in a motley harmony of color--a fair shifting mosaic -of pattern and hue and light that radiated and came back ever to those -two fair English girls. I heard the rippling laughter on courtly lips, -the whispered jest of gallants, and the thoughtless glee of damsels. -I heard the hum and smooth praise that circled round the black elder -sister’s chair, and at my elbow the father, saying, “My daughter; my -daughter Isobel!” and started up, to find myself alone, and that sweet -horrid thing there in the low flickering taper-light unmoved, unmovable. - -I sat again, and presently the wavering shadows spread out into the -likeness of great cedar branches casting their dusky shelter over the -soft, sweet-scented ground; and, as the hushed air swayed to and fro -those great velvet screens, Isobel stepped from them, all in white, -and ran to me, and stopped, and clapped her hands before her eyes -and on her throbbing bosom--then stretched those trembling fingers, -beseechingly to me fresh from that sweet companionship--then down upon -her knees and clipped me round with her fair white arms and turned back -her head and looked upon me with wild, wet, yearning eyes and cheeks -that burned for love and shame. I would not have it; I laughed with the -bitter mockingness of one possessed by another love, and unwound those -ivory bonds and pushed the fair maid back, and there against the dusk -of leaf and branch she stood and wrung her fingers and beat her breast -and spoke so sweet and passionate, that even my icy mood half thawed -under the white light of her reckless love, and I let her take my hand -and hold and rain hot kisses on it and warm pattering tears, till all -the strength was running from me, and I half turned and my fingers -closed on hers--but, gods! how cold they were! And with a stifled cry I -woke again in the little tent, to find my hand fast locked in the icy -fingers of the dead. - -It was a long, weary night, and, sad as was my watch and hectic as -the visions which swept through my heavy head, I would not quicken -by one willing hour of sleep the sad duties of that gray to-morrow -which I knew must come. At times I sat and stared into the yellow -tapers, living the brief spell of my last life again--all the episode -and change, all the hurry and glitter, and unrest that was forever -my portion--and then, in spite of resolution, I would doze to other -visions, outlined more brightly on the black background of oblivion; -and then I started up, my will all at war with tired Nature’s sweet -insistence, and paced in weary round our canvas cell, solitary but for -those teeming thoughts and my own black shadow, which stalked, sullen -and slow, ever beside me. - -But who can deride the great mother for long? ’Twas sleep I needed, -and she would have it; and so it came presently upon my heavy -eyelids--strong, deep sleep as black and silent as the abyss of the -nether world. My head sank upon my arm, my arm upon the foot of the -velvet bier, and there, in my mail, under the thin taper-light, worn -out with battle and grief, I slept. - -I know not how long it was, some hours most likely, but after a time -the strangest feeling took possession of me in that slumber, and a fine -ethereal terror, purged of gross material fear, possessed my spirit. I -awoke--not with the pleasant drowsiness which marks refreshment, but -wide and staring, and my black Phrygian hair, without the cause of -sight or sound, stood stiff upon my head, for something was moving in -the silent tent. - -I glared around, yet nothing could be seen: the lights were low in -their sockets, but all else was in order: my piled shield and helmet -lay there in the shadows, our warlike implements and gear were all as -I had seen them last, no noise or vision broke the blank, and yet--and -yet--a coward chill sat on me, for here and there was moving something -unseen, unheard, unfelt by outer senses. I rose, and, fearful and yet -angry to be cowed by a dreadful nothing, stared into every corner and -shadow, but naught was there. Then I lifted a dim taper, and held it -over the face of the dead girl and stared amazed! Were it given to -mortals to die twice, that girl had! But a short time before and her -sweet face had worn the reflection of that dreadful day: there was a -pallid fright and pain upon it we could not smooth away, and now some -wonderful strange thing had surely happened, and all the unrest was -gone, all the pained dissatisfaction and frightened wonder. The maid -was still and smooth and happy-looking. Hoth! as I bent over her she -looked just as one might look who reads aright some long enigma and -finds relief with a sigh from some hard problem. She slept so wondrous -still and quiet, and looked so marvelous fair now, and contented, that -it purged my fear, and, strong in that fair presence--how could I be -else?--I sat, and after a time, though you may wonder at it, I slept -again. - -I dozed and dozed and dozed, in happy forgetfulness of the present -while the black night wore on to morning, and the last faint flushes of -the priestly tapers played softly in their sockets; and then again I -started up with every nerve within me thrilling, my clenched fists on -my knees, and my wide eyes glaring into the mid gloom, for that strange -nothing was moving gently once more about us, fanning me, it seemed, -with the rhythmed swing of unseen draperies, circling in soft cadenced -circles here and there, mute, voiceless, presenceless, and yet so real -and tangible to some unknown inner sense that hailed it from within me -that I could almost say that now ’twas here and now ’twas there, and -locate it with trembling finger, although, in truth, nothing moved or -stirred. - -I looked at the maid. She was as she had been; then into every dusky -place and corner, but nothing showed; then rose and walked to the -tent-flap and lifted it and looked out. Down in the long valley below -the somber shadows were seamed by the winding of the pale river; and -all away on the low meadows, piled thick and deep with the black -mounds of dead foemen, the pale marsh lights were playing amid the -corpses--leaping in ghostly fantasy from rank to rank, and heap to -heap, coalescing, separating, shining, vanishing, all in the unbroken -twilight silence. And those somber fields below were tapestried with -the thin wisps of white mist that lay in the hollows, and were shredded -out into weird shapes and forms over the black bosom of the near-spent -night. Up above, far away in the east, where the low hills lay flat -in the distance, the lappet fringe of the purple sky was dipped in the -pale saffron of the coming sun, and overhead a few white stars were -shining, and now and then the swart, almost unseen wings of a raven -went gently beating through the star-lit void; and as I watched, I saw -him and his brothers check over the Crecy ridges and with hungry croak, -like black spirits, circle round and drop one after another through the -thin white veils of vapor that shrouded prince, chiefs, and vassals, -peer and peasant, in those deep long swathes of the black harvest we -cut, but left ungarnered, yesterday. Near around me the English camp -was all asleep, tired and heavy with the bygone battle, the listless -pickets on the misty, distant mounds hung drooping over their piled -spears, the metaled chargers’ heads were all asag, they were so weary -as they stood among the shadows by their untouched fodder, and the -damp pennons and bannerets over the knightly porches scarce lifted on -the morning air! That air came cool and sad yonder from the English -sea, and wandered melancholy down our lifeless, empty canvas streets, -lifting the loose tent-flaps, and sighing as it strayed among the -sleeping groups, stirring with its unseen feet the white ashes of -the dead camp-fires, the only moving presence in all the place--sad, -silent, and listless. I dropped the hangings over the chill morning -glimmer, the camp of sleeping warriors and dusty valley of the dead, -and turned again to my post. I was not sleepy now, nor afraid--even -though as I entered a draught of misty outer air entered with me and -the last atom of the priestly taper shone fitful and yellow for a -moment upon the dead Isobel, and then went out. - -I sat down by the maid in the chill dark, and looked sadly on the -ground, the while my spirits were as low as you may well guess, and -the wind went moaning round and round the tent. But I had not sat a -moment--scarcely twenty breathing spaces--when a faint, fine scent of -herb-cured wolf-skins came upon the air, and strange shadows began to -stand out clear upon the floor. I saw my weapons shining with a pale -refulgence, and--by all the gods!--the walls of the tent were a-shimmer -with pale luster! With a half-stifled cry I leaped to my feet, and -there--there across the bier--though you tell me I lie a thousand -times--there, calm, refulgent, looking gently in the dead girl’s face, -splendid in her ruddy savage beauty, bending over that white marbled -body, so ghostly thin and yet so real, so true in every line and limb, -was Blodwen--Blodwen, the British chieftainess--my thousand-years-dead -wife. - -[Illustration: Looking gently in the dead girl’s face, was -Blodwen--Blodwen--my thousand-years-dead wife] - -Standing there serene and lovely, with that strange lavender glow about -her, was that wonderful and dreadful shade--holding the dead girl’s -hand and looking at her closely with a face that spoke of neither -resentment nor sorrow. I stood and stared at them, every wit within me -numb and cold by the suddenness of it, and then the apparition slowly -lifted her eyes to mine, and I--the wildest sensations of the strong -old love and brand-new fear possessed me. What! do you tell me that -affection dies? Why, there in that shadowed tent, so long after, so -untimely, so strange and useless--all the old stream of the love I -had borne for that beautiful slave-girl, though it had been cold and -overlaid by other loves for a thousand years, welled up in my heart -on a sudden. I made half a pace toward her, I stretched a trembling, -entreating hand, yet drew it back, for I was mortal and I feared; and -an ecstasy of pleasure filled my throbbing veins, and my love said: -“On! she was thine once and must be now--down to thy knees and claim -her!--what matters anything, if thou hast a lien upon such splendid -loveliness!” and my coward flesh hung back cold and would not, and now -back and now forward I swayed with these contending feelings, while -that fair shadow eyed me with the most impenetrable calm. At last she -spoke, with never a tone in her voice to show she remembered it was -near three hundred years since she had spoken before. - -“My Phœnician,” she said in soft monotone, looking at the dead Isobel -who lay pale in the soft-blue shine about her, “this was a pity. You -are more dull-witted than I thought.” - -I bent my head but could not speak, and so she asked: - -“Didst really never guess who it was yonder steel armor hid?” - -“Not once,” I said, “O sweetly dreadful!” - -“Nor who it was that stirred the white maid to love over there in her -home?” - -“What!” I gasped. “Was that you?--was that your face, then, in truth I -saw, reflecting in this dead girl’s when first I met her?” - -“Why, yes, good merchant. And how you could not know it passes all -comprehension.” - -“And then it was you, dear and dreadful, who moved her? Jove! ’twas you -who filled her beating pulses there down by the cedars, it was you who -prompted her hot tongue to that passionate wooing? But why--why?” - -That shadow looked away for a moment, and then turned upon me one -fierce, fleeting glance of such strange, concentrated, unquenchable, -impatient love that it numbed my tongue and stupefied my senses, and I -staggered back, scarce knowing whether I were answered or were not. - -Presently she went on. “Then, again, you are a little forgetful at -times, my master--so full of your petty loves and wars it vexes me.” - -“Vexes you! That were wonderful indeed; yet, ’tis more wonderful -that you submit. One word to me--to come but one moment and stand -shining there as now you do--and I should be at your feet, strange, -incomparable.” - -“It might be so, but that were supposing such moments as these were -always possible. Dost not notice, Phœnician, how seldom I have been -to thee like this, and yet, remembering that I forget thee not, -that mayhap I love thee still, canst thou doubt but that wayward -circumstance fits to my constant wish but seldom?” - -“Yet you are immortal; time and space seem nothing; barriers and -distance--all those things that shackle men--have no meaning for you. -All thy being formed on the structure of a wish and every earthly law -subservient to your fancy, how is it you can do so much and yet so -little, and be at once so dominant and yet so feeble?” - -“I told you, dear friend, before, that with new capacities new laws -arise. I near forget how far I once could see--what was the edge of -that shallow world you live in--where exactly the confines of your -powers and liberty are set. But this I know for certain, that, while -with us the possible widens out into splendid vagueness, the impossible -still exists.” - -“And do you really mean, then, that fate is still the stronger among -you?--this fair girl, here, sweet shadow! Oh! with one of those -terrible and shining arms crossed there on thy bosom, couldst thou -not have guided into happy void that fatal spear that killed? Surely, -surely, it were so easy!” - -The priestess dropped her fair head, and over her dim-white shoulders, -and her pleasant-scented, hazy wolf-skins, her ruddy hair, all agleam -in that strange refulgence, shone like a cascade of sleeping fire. Then -she looked up and replied, in low tones: - -“The swimmer swims and the river runs, the wished-for point may be -reached or it may not, the river is the stronger.” - -Somehow, I felt that my shadowy guest was less pleased than before, so -I thought a moment and then said: “Where is she now?” and glanced at -Isobel. - -“The novice,” smiled Blodwen, “is asleep.” - -“Oh, wake her!” I cried, “for one moment, for half a breath, for one -moiety of a pulse, and I will never ask thee other questions.” - -“Insatiable! incredulous! how far will thy reckless love and wonder go? -Must I lay out before thy common eyes all the things of the unknown for -you to sample as you did your bags of fig and olive?” - -“I loved her before, and I love her still, even as I loved and still -love thee. Does she know this?” - -“She knows as much as you know little. Look!” and the shadow spread out -one violet hand over that silent face. - -I looked, and then leaped back with a cry of fear and surprise. The -dead girl was truly dead, not a muscle or a finger moved, yet, as at -that bidding, I turned my eyes upon her there under the tender glowing -shadow of that wondrous palm, a faint flush of colorless light rose -up within her face, and on it I read, for one fleeting moment, such -inexplicable knowledge, such extraordinary felicity, such impenetrable -contentment, that I stood spellbound, all of a tremble, while that -wondrous radiance died away even quicker than it had risen. Gods! ’twas -like the shine of the herald dawn on a summer morning, it was like the -flush on the water of a coming sunrise--I drew my hand across my face -and looked up, expecting the chieftainess would have gone, but she was -still there. - -“Are you satisfied for the moment, dear trader, or would you catechize -me as you did just now yonder by the fire under the altar in the -circle?” - -“Just now!” I exclaimed, as her words swept back to me the remembrance -of the stormy night in the old Saxon days when, with the fair Editha -asleep at my knee, that shade had appeared before--“just now! Why, -Shadow, that was three hundred years ago!” - -“Three hundred what?” - -“Three hundred years--full round circles, three hundred varying -seasons. Why, Blodwen, forests have been seeded, and grown venerable, -and decayed about those stones since we were there!” - -“Well, maybe they have. I now remember that interval you call a year, -and what strange store we set by it, and I dimly recollect,” said the -dreamy spirit, “what wide-asunder episodes those were between the green -flush of your forests and the yellow. But now--why, the grains of sand -here on thy tent-floor are not set more close together--do not seem -more one simple whole to you, than your trivial seasons do to me. Ah! -dear merchant, and as you smile to see the ripples of the sea sparkle a -moment in frolic chase of one another, and then be gone into the void -from whence they came, so do we lie and watch thy petty years shine for -a moment on the smooth bosom of the immense.” - -Deep, strange, and weird seemed her words to me that night, and much -she said more than I have told I could not understand, but sat with -bent head and crossed arms full of strange perplexity of feeling, now -glancing at the dead soldier-maid my body loved, and then looking at -that comely column of blue woman-vapor, that sat so placid on the foot -of the bier and spoke so simply of such wondrous things. - -For an hour we talked, and then on a sudden Blodwen started to her feet -and stood in listening attitude. “They are coming, Phœnician,” she -cried, and pointed to the door. - -I arose with a strange, uneasy feeling and looked out. The gray dawn -had spread from sky to sky, and an angry flush was over all the air. -The morning wind blew cold and melancholy, and the shrouded mists, -like bands of pale specters, were trooping up the bloody valley -before it, but otherwise not a soul was moving, not a sound broke the -ghostly stillness. I dropped the awning, and shook my head at the fair -priestess, whereon she smiled superior, as one might at a wayward -child, and for a minute or two we spoke again together. Then up she -got once more, tall and stately, with dilated nostrils and the old -proud, expectant look I had seen on her sweet red face so often as we -together, hand in hand, and heart to heart, had galloped out to tribal -war. “They come, Phœnician, and I must go,” she whispered, and again -she pointed to the tent-door, though never a sound or footfall broke -the stillness. - -“You shall not, must not go, wife, priestess, Queen!” I cried, throwing -myself on my knee at those shadowy feet, and extending my longing -arms. “Oh! you that can awake, put me to sleep--you, that can read to -the finish of every half-told tale, relieve me of the long record of -my life! Oh, stay and mend my loneliness, or, if you go, let me come -too--I ask not how or whither.” - -“Not yet,” she said, “not yet----” And then, while more seemed actually -upon her lips, I did hear the sound of footfalls outside, and, -wondering, I sprang to the curtain and lifted it. - -There, outside, standing in the first glint of the yellow sunshine, -were some half-dozen of my honest veterans, all with spades and picks -and in their leathern doublets. - -“You see, Sir,” said the spokesman, sorrowfully, the while he scraped -the half-dry clay from off his trenching spade, “we have come round for -our brave young captain--for your good lady, Sir--the first. Presently -we shall be very busy, and we thought mayhap you would like this over -as soon and quiet as might be.” - -They had come for Isobel! I turned back into the tent, wondering what -they would think of my strange guest, and she was gone! Not one ray -of light was left behind--not one thread of her lavender skirt shone -against my black walls--only the cold, pale girl there, stiff and -white, with the shine of the dawn upon her dead face; and all my long -pain and vigils told upon me, and, with a cry of pain and grief I could -not master, I dropped upon a seat and hid my face upon my arm. - -I had had enough of France with that night, and three hours afterward -went straight to the King and told him so, begging him to relieve -me from my duty and let me get back to England, there to seek the -dead maid’s kindred, and find in some new direction forgetfulness of -everything about the victorious camp. And to this the King replied, by -commending my poor service far too highly, saying some fair kind things -out of his smooth courtier tongue about her that was no more, and in -good part upbraiding me for bringing, as he supposed I had brought, -one so gentle-nurtured so far afield; then he said: “In faith, good -soldier, were to-day but yesterday, and Philip’s army still before us, -we would not spare you even though our sympathy were yours as fully as -’tis now. But my misguided cousin is away to Paris, and his following -are scattered to the four winds--for which God and all the saints be -thanked! There is thus less need for thy strong arm and brave presence -in our camp, and if you really would--why then, go, and may kind time -heal those wounds which, believe me, I do most thoroughly assess.” - -“But stay a minute!” he cried after me. “How soon could you make a -start?” - -“I have no gear,” I said, “and all my prisoners have been set free -unransomed. I could start here, even as I stand.” - -“Soldierly answered,” exclaimed the King; “a good knight should have -no baggage but his weapons, and no attachments but his duty. Now look! -I can both relieve you of irksome charges here and excuse with reason -both ample and honorable your going. Come to me as soon as you have put -by your armor. I will have ready for you a scrip sealed and signed--no -messenger has yet gone over to England with the news of our glorious -yesterday, and this charge shall be thine. Take the scrip straight to -the Queen in England. There, no thanks, away! away! thou wilt be the -most popular man in all my realm before the sun goes down, I fear.” - -I well knew how honorable was this business that the good King had -planned for me, and made my utmost despatch. I gave my tent to one -esquire and my spare armor to another. I ran and gripped the many -bronzed hands of my tough companions, and told them (alas! unwittingly -what a lie that were!) that I would come again; then I bestowed my -charger (Jove! how reluctant was the gift!) upon the next in rank -below me, and mounted Isobel’s light war-horse, and paid my debts, and -settled all accounts, and was back at our great captain’s tent just as -his chaplain was sanding the last lines upon that despatch which was to -startle yonder fair country waiting so expectant across the narrow sea. - -They rolled it up in silk and leather and put it in a metal cylinder, -and shut the lid and sealed it with the King’s own seal, and then he -gave it to me. - -“Take this,” he said, “straight to the Queen, and give it into her -own hands. Be close and silent, for you will know it were not meet to -be robbed of thy news upon the road: but I need not tell you of what -becomes a trusty messenger. There! so, strap it in thy girdle, and God -speed thee--surely such big news was never packed so small before.” - -I left the Royal tent and vaulted into the ready saddle without. One -hour, I thought, as the swift steed’s head was turned to the westward, -may take me to the shore, and two others may set me on foot in England. -Then, if they have relays upon the road, three more will see me -kneeling at the lady’s feet, the while her fingers burst these seals. -Lord! how they shall shout this afternoon! how the ’prentices shall -toss their caps, and the fat burghers crowd the narrow streets, and -every rustic hamlet green ring to the sky with gratitude! Ah! six hours -I thought might do the journey; but read, and you shall see how long it -took. - -Scouring over the low grassy plains as hard as the good horse could -gallop, with the gray sea broadening out ahead with every mile we went, -full of thoughts of a busy past and uncertain future, I hardly noticed -how the wind was freshening. Yet, when we rode down at last by a loose -hill road to the beach, strong gusts were piping amid the treetops, and -the King’s galleys were lurching and rolling together at their anchors -by the landing-stage as the short waves came crowding in, one close -upon another, under the first pressure of a coming storm. - -But, wind or no wind, I would cross; and I spoke to the captain of -the galleys, showing him my pass with its Royal signet, and saying I -must have a ship at once, though all the cave of Eblis were let loose -upon us. That worthy, weather-beaten fellow held the mandate most -respectfully in one hand, while he pulled his grizzled beard with the -other and stared out into the north, where, under a black canopy of -lowering sky, the sea was seamed with gray and hurrying squalls, then -turned to the cluster of sailors who were crowded round us--guessing -my imperious errand--to know who would start upon it. And those rough -salts swore no man of sanity would venture out--not even for a King’s -generous bounty--not even to please victorious Edward would they -go--no, nor to ease the expectant hearts of twenty thousand wives, or -glad the proud eyes of ten score hundred mothers. It was impossible, -they said--see how the frothy spray was flying already over the harbor -bar, and how shrill the frightened sea-mews were rising high above the -land!--no ship would hold together in such a wind as that brewing out -over there, no man this side of hell could face it--and yet, and yet, -“Why!” laughed a leathery fellow, slapping his mighty fist into his -other palm, “as I was born by Sareham, and knew the taste of salt spray -nearly as early as I knew my mother’s milk, it shall never be said I -was frightened by a hollow sky and a Frenchman’s wind. I’ll be your -pilot, Sir.” - -“And I will go wherever old Harry dares,” put in a stout young fellow. -“And I,” “And I,” “And I,” was chorused on every side, as the brave -English seamen caught the bold infection, and in a brief space there, -under the lee of the gray harbor jetty, before a motley cheering crowd, -all in the blustering wind and rain, I rode my palfrey up the sloping -way, and on to the impatient tossing little bark that was to bear the -great news to England. - -We stabled the good steed safe under the half-deck forward, set the -mizzen and cast off the hawser, and soon the little vessel’s prow was -bursting through the crisp waves at the harbor mouth, her head for -home, and behind, dim through the rainy gusts, the white house-fronts -of the beach village, and far away the uplands where the English army -lay. We reefed and set the sails as we drew from the land, but truly -those fellows were right when they hung back from sharing the peril and -the glory with me! The strong blue waters of the midland sea whereon -I first sailed my merchant bark were like the ripples of a sheltered -pond to the roaring trench and furrows of this narrow northern strait. -All day long we fought to westward, and every hour we spent the wind -came stronger and more keenly out of the black funnel of the north, -and the waves swelled broader and more monstrous. By noon we saw the -English shore gleam ghostly white through the flying reek in front; but -by then, so fierce was the northeaster howling, that, though we went to -windward and off again, doing all that good seamen could, now stealing -a spell ahead, and anon losing it amid a blinding squall, we could not -near the English port for which we aimed, there, in the cleft of the -dim white cliffs. - -After a long time of this, our captain came to me where I leaned, -watchful, against the mast, and said: - -“The King has made an order, as you will know, all vessels from France -are to sail for his town of Dover there, and nowhere else, on a pain of -a fine that would go near to swamp such as we.” - -“Good skipper,” I answered, “I know the law, but there are exceptions -to every rule, which, well taken, only cast the more honor on general -stringency. King Edward would have you make that port at all reasonable -times; but if you cannot reach it, as you surely cannot now, you are -not bound to sail me, his messenger, to Paradise in lieu thereof. I -pray you, put down your helm and run, and take the nearest harbor -the wind will let us.” At this the captain turned upon his heel well -pleased, and our ship came round, and now, before the gale, sailed -perhaps a little easier. - -But it scarcely bettered our fortune. A short time before dusk, while -we wallowed heavily in the long furrows, my poor palfrey was thrown and -broke her fore legs over her trestle bar, and between fear and pain -screamed so loud and shrill, it chilled even my stalwart sailors. Then, -later on, as we rode the frothy summit of a giant wave, our topmast -snapped, and fell among us and the wild, loose ropes writhed and lashed -about worse than a hundred biting serpents, and the bellowing sail, -like a great bull, jerked and strained for a moment so that I thought -that it would unstep the mast itself, and then went all to tatters with -a hollow boom, while we, knee-deep in the swirling sea that filled our -hollow, deckless ship, gentle and simple, ’prentice and knight, whipped -out our knives and gave over to the hungry ocean all that riven tackle. - -It was enough to make the stoutest heart beat low to ride in such -a creaking, retching cockle-shell over the hill and dale of that -stupendous water. Now, out of the tumble and hiss, down we would go, -careering down the glassy side of a mighty green slope, the creamy -white water boiling under our low-sunk bows, and there, in mid-hollow, -with the tempest howling overhead, we would have for a breathing space -a blessed spell of seeming calm. And then, ere we could taste that -scant felicity, the reeling floor would swell beneath us, and out of -the watery glen, hurtled by some unseen power, we rose again up, up -to the spume and spray, to the wild shouting wind that thrilled our -humming cordage and lay heavy upon us, while the gleaming turmoil -through which we staggered and rushed leaped at our fleeting sides like -packs of white sea-wolves, and all the heaving leaden distance of the -storm lay spread in turn before us--then down again. - -Hour after hour we reeled down the English coast with the wild -mid-channel in fury on our left and the dim-seen ramparts of breakers -at the cliff feet on our right. Then, as we went, the light began to -fail us. Our weather-beaten steersman’s face, which had looked from his -place by the tiller so calm and steadfast over the war of wind and sea, -became troubled, and long and anxiously he scanned the endless line -of surf that shut us from the many little villages and creeks we were -passing. - -“You see, Sir Knight,” shouted the captain to me, as, wet through, we -held fast to the same rope--“’tis a question with us whether we find a -shelter before the light goes down, or whether we spend a night like -this out on the big waters yonder.” - -“And does he,” I asked, “who pilots us know of a near harbor?” - -“Ah! there is one somewhere hereabout, but with a perilous bar across -the mouth, and the tide serves but poorly for getting over. If we can -cross it there is a dry jacket and supper for all this evening, and if -we do not, may the saints in Paradise have mercy on us!” - -“Try, good fellow, try!” I shouted; “many a dangerous thing comes -easier by the venturing, and I am already a laggard post!” So the word -was passed for each man to stand by his place, and through the gloom -and storm, the beating spray and the wild pelting rain, just as the wet -evening fell, we neared the land. - -We swept in from the storm, and soon there was the bar plain enough--a -shining, thunderous crescent--glimmering pallid under the shadow of -the land, a frantic hell of foam and breakers that heaved and broke -and surged with an infernal storm-deriding tumult, and tossed the -fierce white fountains of its rage mast-high into the air, and swirled -and shone and crashed in the gloom, sending the white litter of its -turmoil in broad ghostly sheets far into that black still water we -could make out beyond under the veil of spume and foam hanging above -that boiling caldron. Straight to it we went through the cold, fierce -wind, with the howl of the black night behind us, and the thunder of -that shine before. We came to the bar, and I saw the white light on -the strained brave faces of my silent friends. I looked aft, and there -was the helmsman calm and strong, unflinchingly eyeing the infernal -belt before us. I saw all this in a scanty second, and then the white -hell was under our bows and towering high above our stern a mighty -crested, foam-seamed breaker. With the speed of a javelin thrown by a -strong hand, we rushed into the wrack; one blinding moment of fury and -turmoil, and then I felt the vessel stagger as she touched the sand; -the next instant her sides went all to splinters under my very feet, -and the great wave burst over us and rushed thundering on in conscious -strength, and not two planks of that ill-fated ship, it seemed, were -still together. - -Over and over through the swirl and hum I was swept, the dying cries -of my ship-fares sounding in my ears like the wail of disembodied -spirits--now, for a moment, I was high in the spume and ruck, gasping -and striking out as even he who likes his life the least will gasp in -like case, and then, with thunderous power, the big wave hurled me down -into the depth, down, down, into the inky darkness with all the noises -of Inferno in my ears, and the great churning waters pressing on me -till the honest air seemed leagues above, and my strained, bursting -chest was dying for a gasp. Then again, the hideous, playful waters -would tear asunder and toss me high into the keen, strong air, with the -yellow stars dancing above, and the long line of the black coast before -my salt tear-filled eyes, and propped me up just so long as I might get -half a gasping sigh, and hear the storm beating wildly on the farther -side of the bar; then the mocking sea would laugh in savage frolic, and -down again. Gods! right into the abyss of the nether turmoil, fathoms -deep, like a strand of worthless sea-wrack, scouring over the yellow -sand-beds where never living man went before, all in the cruel fingers -of the icy midnight sea, was I tossed here and there. - -And when I did not die, when the savage sea, like a great beast of -prey, let me live by gasps to spread its enjoyment the more, and -tossed and teased me, and shouted so hideous in my ears and weighed -me down--why, the last spark of spirit in me burnt up on a sudden, -fierce and angry. I set my teeth and struck out hard and strong. Ah! -and the sea grew somewhat sleek when I grew resolute, and, after some -minutes of this new struggle, rolled more gently and buried me less -deep each time in its black foam-ribbed vortex, and, presently, in half -an hour perhaps, the thunder of the bar was all behind me instead of -round about, the stars were steadier in their places, the dim barrier -of the land frowned through the rain direct above, and a few minutes -more, wondrous spent and weary, the black water flowing in at my low -and swollen lips with every stroke, yet strong in heart and hopeful, I -found myself floating up a narrow estuary on a dim, foam-flecked but -peaceful tide. - -The strong but gentle current swept in with the flowing water under the -dark shadows of the land, past what seemed, in the wet night-gloom, -like rugged banks of tree and forest, and finally floated me to where, -among loose boulders and sand, the tamed water was lapping on a smooth -and level beach. I staggered ashore, and sat down as wet and sorry as -well could be. Life ran so cold and numb within, it seemed scarce worth -the cost spent in keeping. My scrip was still at my side, but my sword -was gone, my clothing torn to ribbons, and a more buffeted messenger -never eyed askance the scroll that led him into such a plight. Where -was I? The great gods who live forever alone could tell, yet surely -scores of miles from where I should be! I got to my feet, reeking with -wet and spray, the gusty wind tossing back the black Phrygian locks -from off my forehead, and glared around. Sigh, sigh, sigh went the -gale in the pines above, while mournful pipings came about the shore -like wandering voices, and the sea boomed sullenly out yonder in the -darkness! I stared and stared, and then started back a pace and stared -again. I turned round on my heel and glowered up the narrow inlet and -out to sea; then at the beetling crags above and the dim-seen mounds -inland; then all on a sudden burst into a scornful laugh--a wild, angry -laugh that the rocks bandied about on the wet night-air and sent back -to me blended with all the fitful sobs and moaning of the wind. - -The lonely harbor, that of a thousand harbors I had come to, was the -old British beach. It was my Druid priestess’s village place that I was -standing on! - -I laughed long and loud as I, the old trader in wine and olives--I, -the felucca captain, with cloth and wine below and a comely red-haired -slave on deck--I, again, in other guise, Royal Edward’s chosen -messenger--as good a knight as ever jerked a victorious brand home -into its scabbard--stood there with chattering teeth and shaking knee, -mocking fate and strange chance in reckless spirit. I laughed until -my mood changed on a sudden, and then, swearing by twenty forgotten -hierarchies I would not stand shivering in the rain for any wild pranks -that Fate might play me, I staggered off on to the hard ground. - -Every trace of my old village had long since gone; yet though it were a -thousand years ago I knew my way about with a strange certainty. I left -the shore, and pushed into the overhanging woods, dark and damp and -somber, and presently I even found a well-known track (for these things -never change); and, half glad and half afraid--a strange, tattered, -dismal prodigal come strangely home--I pushed by dripping branch and -shadowy coverts, out into the open grass hills beyond. - -Here, on some ghostly tumuli near about, the gray shine of the night -showed scattered piles of mighty stones and broken circles that once -had been our temples and the burial places for great captains. I turned -my steps to one of these on the elbow of a little ridge overlooking -the harbor, and, perhaps, two hundred paces inland from it, and found -a vast lichened slab of stupendous bulk undermined by weather, and all -on a slope with a single entrance underneath one end. Did ever man -ask lodgment in like circumstances? It was the burial mound of an old -Druid headman, and I laughed a little again to think how well I had -known him--grim old Ufner of the Reeking Altars. Hoth! what a cruel, -bloody old priest he was!--never did a man before, I chuckled, combine -such piety and savagery together. How that old fellow’s cruel small -eyes did sparkle with native pleasure as the thick, pungent smoke of -the sacrificial fire went roaring up, and the hiss and splutter half -drowned the screaming of men and women pent in their wicker cages amid -that blaze! Oh! Old Ufner liked the smell of hot new blood, and there -was no music to his British ear like the wail of a captive’s anguish. -And then for me to be pattering round his cell like this in the gusty -dark midnight, shivering and alone, patting and feeling the mighty lid -of that great crypt, and begging a friendly shelter in my stress and -weariness of that ghostly hostelry--it was surely strange indeed. - -Twice or thrice I walked round the great coffer--it was near as big -as a herdsman’s cottage--and then, finding no other crack or cranny, -stopped and stooped before the tiny portal at the lower end. I saw as -I knelt that that tremendous slab was resting wondrous lightly on a -single point of upright stone set just like the trigger of an urchin’s -mouse-trap, but, nothing daunted, pushing and squeezing, in I crept, -and felt with my hands all that I could not see. - -The foxes and the weather had long since sent all there was of Ufner -to dust. All was bare and smooth, while round the sides were solid, -deep earth-planted slabs of rock--no one knew better than I how thick -they were and heavy!--and on the floor a soft couch of withered leaves -and grasses. - -Now one more sentence, and the chapter is ended. I had not coiled -myself down on those leaves a minute, my weary head had nodded but -once upon my arm, my eyelids drooped but twice, when, with a soundless -start, undermined by the fierce storm, and moved a fatal hair’s-breadth -by my passage, the propping key-stone fell in, and all at once my giant -roof began to slide. That vast and ponderous stone, that had taken two -tribes to move, was slipping slowly down, and as it went, all along -where it ground, a line of glowing lambent fire, a smoking hissing -band of dust marked its silent, irresistible progress--a hissing belt -of dust, and glow that shone for a half-moment round the fringe of -that stupendous portal--and then, too late as I tottered to my weary -knees, and extended a feeble hand toward the entrance, that mighty door -came to a rest, that ponderous slab, that scarce a thousand men could -move, fell with a hollow click three inches into the mortises of the -earth-bound walls, and there in that mighty coffer I was locked--fast, -deep, and safe! - -I listened. Not a sound, not a breath of the storm without moved in -that strange chamber. I stared about, and not one cranny of light -broke the smooth velvet darkness. What mattered it? I was weary and -tired--to-morrow I would shout and some one might hear, to-night I -would rest; and, Jove! how deep and warm and pleasant was that leafy -bed that chance had spread there on the floor for me! - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - - -I cannot say, distinctly, what roused me next morning. My faculties -were all in a maze, my body cramped and stiff as old leather--no doubt -due to the wetting of the previous evening, or my hard couch--while -the darkness bewildered and numbed my mind. Yet, indeed, I awoke, and, -after all, that was the great thing. I awoke and yawned, and feebly -stretched my dry and aching arms--good heavens! how the pain did fly -and shoot about them!--and rolled my stiff and rusty eyeballs, and -twisted that pulsing neck that seemed in that first moment of returning -life like a burning column of metal through which the hot river of my -starting blood was surging in a hissing, molten stream. I stretched, -and looked and listened as though my faculties were helpless prisoners -behind my numb, useless senses; but, peer and crane forward as I would, -nothing stirred the black stillness of my strange bed-chamber. - -Nothing, did I say? Truly it was nothing for a time, and then I could -have sworn, by all the rich repository of gods and saints that the -wreck of twenty hierarchies had stranded in my mind, that I heard a -real material sound, a click and rattle, like metal striking stone, -this being followed immediately by a star of light somewhere in the mid -black void in front. Fie! ’twas but a freak of fancy, the stretching of -my cramped and aching sinews, but a nucleus of those swimming lights -that mocked my still sleepy eyes! I covered them with my hands and -groaned to be awake; I strove to make point or sense out of the wild -flood of remembrance that ebbed and flooded in thunderous sequence -through my head; and then again, obtrusive and clear, came the click! -click! of the unseen metal, and the shine of the great white planet -that burned in the black firmament of my prison behind it. - -I staggered to my feet, stretching out eager hands in the void space to -touch the walls, and tried to move; and, as I did so, my knees gave way -beneath me; I made a wild grasp in the darkness, and fell in a loose -heap upon the littered, dusty floor. Lord! how my joints did ache! how -the hot, swift throes that monopolized my being shot here and there -about my cramped and twitching limbs! I rolled upon the dust-dry earth -of that gloomy chamber and cursed my last night’s wetting; cursed the -salt-sea spray that could breed such fiery torments; and even sent to -Hades my errand and my scrip of victory, the which, however, I was -cheered to note, in its bronze case now and then, with a movement or -a spasm of pain, knocked against my bare ribs as though to upbraid me -as a laggard embassy for lying sleeping here while all men waked to -know my tidings. I rose again, with rare difficulty but successfully -this time, and peered and listened till the dancing colors in my eyes -filled the empty air with giddy spinning suns and constellations, and -the making tide of wakefulness, flooding the channels of my veins, -cheated my ears to fancy some hideous storm was raging up above, and -thunderbolts were tearing shrieking furrows down the trembling sides -of mountains, and all the rivers of the world (so hideous was that -shocking sound) were tumbling headlong in wild confusion into the void -middle of the world. - -I stuffed my ears and shut my eyes, and turned sick and faint at that -infernal tumult. My head spun and throbbed, and my light feet felt the -world give under them. I had nearly fallen, when once again, just as -my spinning brain was growing numb, and the close, thin air of that -place failed to answer to the needs of my new vitality, there came -that click! click! again, and the blessed white star that followed -it. This time that gleam of hope was broad and strong. On either side -as it shone, white zigzag rays flew out and stood so written upon -the black tablet of my prison. Ah! and a draught of nectar, of real, -divine nectar, of sweet white country air, came in from that celestial -puncture! - -I leaped to it and knelt, and put my thirsty lips to that refulgence -and drank the simple ambient air that came through, as though I were -some thirsty pilgrim at a gushing stream. And it revived me, cooling -the rising fever of my blood, and numbing, like the sweet sedative -it was, the pains, that soon ran less keen and throbbed less strong, -and, in a few more minutes, went gently away into the distance under -its beneficent touch. Mayhap I fainted or slept for some little time, -overwhelmed by the stress of those few waking moments. When I looked up -again all was changed. I myself was new and fresh, and felt with every -pulse the strong life beating firm and gentle within me; and my prison -cell--it was no more a prison! - -There was a gap bigger than my fist where the star had been, with great -fissures marking the outline of one of the stones that had supported -the topmost slab, and through the gap a peep of countryside, of yellow -grass, and sapphire sea, of pearly waves lisping in summer playfulness -around a golden shore, and overhead a sky of delightful blue. - -I was grateful, and understood it all. The storm had gone down during -the night and the sun had risen; these were good folk outside, who, by -some chance, knew of my sheltering-place and had come early to release -me--a happy chance indeed! And it was their strong blows and crowbars -working on my massive walls that let in the light, and--none too -soon--refreshed me with a draught of outer air. Fool that I was to let -an uneasy night and a salt-sea soaking cloud my wit! - -I was so pleased at the prospect of speedy release that I was on the -point of calling out to cheer my lusty friends at their work and show -the prisoner lived. But had I done so this book had never been written! -That shout was all but uttered--my mouth was close to the orifice -through which came the pleasant gleam of daylight, when voices of men -outside speaking one to another fell upon my ear. - -“By St. George,” I heard one fellow say, “and every fiend in hell! they -who built this place surely meant it to last to Judgment! Here we have -been heaving at it since near daylight and not moved a stone.” - -“Ah! and if you stand gaping there,” chimed in another, “we’ll not -have moved one by Tuesday week. On, you log! let’s see something of -that strength you brag of--why, even now I saw a shine and twinkle in -the opening there. This crib may prove the cradle of our fortunes, may -make us richer men than any strutting sheriffs, and recompense us for -a dozen disappointments! To it again; and you, Harry, stand ready with -the wedges to put them in when we do lift.” - -I pricked my ears at this, as you will guess, for there was no mention -of me expectant, and only talk of wealth and recompense. I listened, -and heard the sulky workman take again his crowbar. I heard him call -for a drink, and the splash of the liquid into the leathern cup sounded -wonderfully clear in my silent chamber; then, as though in no hurry to -fall on, he asked, “What of the spoil we have already, mates? A sight -of those baubles would greatly lighten our labor, I think.” - -“Now, as I had a man for my father,” burst out the first speaker, -“never did I see so small a heart in so big a body! Show him the swag, -Harry! rattle it under his greedy nose! and when he has done gloating -on it perhaps he’ll turn to and do something for a breakfast!” - -At this there was a pause and a moving of feet, as though men were -collecting round some common object. Then came the tinkle of metals, -and, by Jove! I had not yet forgotten so much of merchant cunning in -my soldiering but that I recognized the music of gold and silver over -the base clink of lesser stuff. They tried, and sampled, and rung those -wares over my head; and presently he who was best among them said: - -“A very pretty haul, mates, and, wisely disposed of, enough to furnish -us well, both inside and out, for a long time. These circlets here are -silver, I take it, and will run into a sweet ingot in the smelting-pot. -Yon boss is a brooch, by the pin, and of gold; though surely such a -vile fashion was never forged since Shem’s hammer last went silent.” - -“What, gold, sir!” - -“Ah! what else, old bullet-costard? Dost thou think I come round and -prize cursed devil-haunted mounds for lumps of clay? The brooch is -gold, I say; and the least of these trinkets” (whereon there came a -sound like one playing with bracelet and bangle)--“the worst of them -white silver. To it, then, good fellows, again! Burst me this stony -crypt, and, if it prove such a coffer as I have right to hope, before -the day is an hour older, you shall down to yonder town and there get -drunk past expectation and your happiest imaginings.” - -So, my friends, I mused, ’tis not pure neighborliness that brings you -thus early to my rescue! Never mind; many a good deed has been done -in search of a sordid object, and whether you come for me or gold, it -shall vantage me alike. I will lend a hand on my side, since it were a -pity to keep this big fellow from his breakfast longer than need be. - -While they plied spade and lever outside, I scraped below, and put -in, as well as I was able, a stone wedge now and then, whenever their -exertions canted the great stone a little to one side or the other. -The interest of all this, and because I was never apt in deceit, made -me somewhat reckless about showing too soon at the narrow opening, and -presently there came a guttural cry above, and a sound as though some -one had dropped a tool and sprung back. - -“Hullo! stoutheart,” called the captain’s voice, “what now? Is it -another swig of the flask you want to swell your shallow courage, or -has thy puissant crowbar pierced through to hell?” - -“Hell or not,” whined the fellow, “I do think the fiend himself is in -there. I did but stoop on a sudden to peer within, and may I never -empty a flagon again but there was something hideous moving in the -crypt! something round and shaggy, that toiled as we toiled, and pushed -and growled, and had two flaming yellow eyes----” - -“Beast! coward! Oh, that I had brought a man instead of thee! ’Twas -gold you saw--bright, shining metal--think, thou swine, of all it will -buy, and how thou may’st hereafter wallow in thy foul delights! And -wilt thou forego the stuff so near? Gods! I would have a wrestle for it -though it were with the devil himself! Give me the crowbar.” - -Apparently the captain’s avarice was of stouter kind than the yeoman’s, -for soon after this the stone upright began to give, and I saw the -moment of my deliverance was near. Now, I argued to myself, these -gentlemen outside are obvious rogues, and will much rather crack me on -the head than share their booty with such a strange-found claimant, -hence I must be watchful. Of the two under-rogues I had small fear, -but the captain seemed of bolder mold, and, unless his tongue lied, had -some sort of heart within him. So I waited watchful, and before long -a more than usually stalwart blow set the stone off its balance. It -slipped and leaned, then fell headlong outward with a heavy thud, and, -turning over on its side, rolled to the edge of the slope, and there, -revolving quicker and more quickly, went rumbling and crashing down -through the brambles into the valley a quarter of a mile below. As it -fell outward, a blaze of daylight burst upon my prison, and, with a -shout of joy, the foremost of the rogues dashed into my cell. At the -same moment, with such an old British battle yell as those monoliths -had not heard for a thousand years, but sorely dazed, I sprang forward. -We met in mid career, and the big thief went floundering down. He was -up again in a moment, and, yelling in his fear that the devil was -certainly there, rushed forth--I close behind him--and infected his -timorous comrade, and away they both went toward the woods, racing in -step and screaming in tune, as though they had practised it together -for half a lifetime. The fellows fled, but their leader stood, white -and irresolute, as he well might be, yet made bold by greed; and for a -moment we faced each other--he in his greasy townsman finery, a strong, -sullen thief from bonnet to shoe, and I, grim, gaunt, and ragged, -haggard, wild, unshorn, standing there for a moment against the black -porch of the old Druid grave-place--and then, wiping the sunshine from -my dazzled eyes and stooping low, I ran at him! Many were the ribbons -and trinkets I had taken long ago at that game. I ran at him, and threw -my arms round his leather-belted middle, and, with a good Saxon twist, -tossed his heels fairly into the air and threw him full length over my -shoulder. He fell behind me like a tree on the greensward, while his -head striking the buttress of a stone stunned him, and he lay there -bleeding and insensible. - -“Hoth! good fellow,” I laughed, bending over him, “I am sorry for that -headache you will have to-morrow, but before you challenge so freely to -the wrestle you should know somewhat more of a foeman’s prowess!” - -When I turned to the little heap of spoil the ravishers of the dead -had gathered and laid out on a cloth upon the stones, at once my mood -softened. There in that curious pile of trinkets were things so ancient -and yet so fresh that I heaved a sigh as I bent over them, and a whiff -of the old time came back--the jolly wild days when the world was young -rose before me as I turned them tenderly one by one. There lay the -bronze nobs from a British shield, and there, corroded and thin, the -long, flat blade that my rugged comrades once could use so well. There -was the broken haft of a wheel-scythe from a chief’s battle-car, and, -near by, the green and dinted harness of a war-horse. Hoth! how it took -me back! how it made me hear again in the lap of the soft Plantagenet -sea and all the insipid sounds of this degenerate countryside the -rattle and hum of the chariots as we raced to war, the sparkle and -clatter of the captains galloping through the leafy British woods, and -then the shout and tumult as we wheeled into line in the open, and, -our loose reins on the stallions’ necks and our trembling javelins -quivering in our ready hands, swept down upon the ranks of the reeling -foeman! - -There again, in more peaceful wise, was a shoulder-brooch some British -maid had worn, and the wristlet and rings of some red-haired Helen -of an unfamous Troy. There lay a few links of the neck-chains of a -dust-dead warrior, and there, again, the head of his boar-spear. Here -was the thin gold circlet he had on his finger, the rude pin of brass -that fastened his colored cloak and the buckle of his sandal. Jove! I -could nearly tell the names of the vanished wearers, I knew all these -things so well! - -But it was no use hanging over the pile like this. The ruffian I had -felled was beginning to move, and it served no purpose to remain: -therefore--and muttering to myself that I was a nearer heir to the -treasure than any among those thieves--I selected some dozen of the -fairest, most valuable trinkets, and put them in my wallet. Then, -feeling cold--for the fresh morning air was thin and cool here, above -the sea--the best coat from the ragged pile the rogues had thrown -aside, to be the lighter at their work, was chosen, and, with this on -my back, and a stout stave in my hand, I turned to go. But ere I went I -took a last look round--as was only natural--at a place that had given -me such timely shelter overnight. It was strange, very strange; but my -surroundings, as I saw them in the white daylight, matched wondrous -poorly with my remembrance of the evening before! The sea, to begin -with, seemed much farther off than it had done in the darkness. I have -said that when I swam ashore my well-remembered British harbor had, -to my eyes, silted up wofully, so that the knoll on which Blodwen’s -stockades once stood was some way up the valley. But small as the -estuary had shrunk last night, I had, it seemed, but poorly estimated -its shrinkage. ’Twas lesser than ever this morning, and some kine were -grazing among the yellow kingcups on the marshy flats at that very -place where I could have sworn I came ashore on the top of a sturdy -breaker! The greedy green and golden land was cozening the blue channel -sea out of beach and foreshore under my very eyes; the meadow-larks -were playing where the white surf should have been, and tall fern and -mallow flaunted victorious in the breeze where ancient British keels -had never even grated on a sandy bottom. I could not make it out, -and turned to look at the tomb from which I had crept. Here, too, the -turmoil of yestere’en and my sick and weary head had cheated me. In the -gloom the pile had appeared a bare and lichened heap washed out from -its old mound by rains: but, Jove! it seemed it was not so. I rubbed -my eyes and pulled my peaked beard and stared about me, for the crypt -was a grassy mound again, with one black gap framed by a few rugged -stones jutting from the green, as though the slope above it had slipped -down at that leveler Nature’s prompting, and piled up earth and rubbish -against the rocks, had escaladed them and marched triumphant up the -green glacis, planting her conquering pennons of bracken and bramble, -mild daisy and nodding foxglove, on that very arch where, by all the -gods! I thought last night the withering lightning would have glanced -harmless from a smooth and lichened surface. Well, it only showed how -weary I had been; so, shouldering my cudgel, and with a last sigh cast -back to that pregnant heap of rusty metal, I turned, and with fair -heart, but somewhat shaky limbs, marched off inland to give my wondrous -news. - -How pleasant and fair the country was, and after those hot scenes of -battle, the noise and sheen of which still floated confusedly in my -head, how sweetly peaceful! I trod the green, secluded country lanes -with wondrous pleasure, remembering the bare French campagnas, and -stood stock-still at every gap in the blooming hedges to drink the -sweet breath of morning, coming, golden-laden with sunshine and the -breath of flowers, over the rippling meadow-grass! In truth, I was more -English than I had thought, my step was more elastic to tread these -dear domestic leas, and my spirits rose with every mile simply to know -I was in England! And I--a tough, stern soldier, with arms still red -to the elbow in the horrid dye of war, and on a hasty errand, pulled -me a flowering spray from the coppices, and smiled and sang as I went -along, now stopping in delighted trance to hear out the nightingale -that, from a bramble athwart the thicket path, sang most enrapturedly, -and then, forgetful of my haste, standing amazed under the flushed -satin of the blooming apples. “Jove!” I laughed, “here is a sweeter -pavilion than any victor prince doth sleep in! Fie! to fight and bleed -as we do yonder, while the sweetness of such a tent as this goes all to -waste upon the wind!” and I sat and stared and laughed until the prick -of conscience stirred me and, reluctant, I passed on again. Then over -a flowery mead or two, where the banded bees swung in busy fashion at -the lilac cuckoo-flowers, and the shining dewdrops were charged with -a hundred hues, down to a sunny, babbling brook that sparkled by a -yellow ford. There I would stand and watch the silver fingers of the -stream toy and tug the great heads of nodding kingcup, watch the flash -of the new-come swallow’s wing, as he shot through the byways between -the mallows, and be so still that e’en the timid water-hen led out -her brood across the freckled play of sunshine on the water, and the -mute kingfisher came to the broken rail and did not fear me. “Surely a -happy stream,” I thought, “not to divide two princely neighbors! What -a blessed current that can keep its native color and chatter thus of -flowers and sunshine, while yon other torrent runs incarnadine to the -sea--a corpse-choked sewer of red ambition!” - -Then it was a homestead that, all unseen, I paused by, watching the -great sleek kine knee-deep in the scented yellow straw, the spangled -cock defiant on the wall, the tender doves a-wooing on the roof-ridge, -and presently the swart herdsman, with flail and goad, come out from -beneath his roses and stoop and kiss the pouting cherry lips of the -sweet babe his comely mate held up to him. “Jove!” I meditated, “and -here’s a goodly kingdom. Oh that I had a realm with no politics in it -but such as he has!” and so musing I went along from path to path and -hill to hill. - -At one time my feet were turned to a way-side rest-house, where a jug -of wine was asked for and a loaf of bread, for you will remember that -saving a handful of dry biscuit, which I broke in my gauntlet palm and -ate between two charges, I had not broken fast since the morning before -Crecy. The master of the tavern took up the coin I tendered and eyed -it critically. He held it in the sun, and rung it on a stone and spat -upon it, then, taking a little dust from the road, rubbed diligently -until he came down through the green sea-slime to the metal below. It -was true-coined, plump, and full, though certainly a trifle rusty; and -this and my grim, commanding figure in his doorway carried the day. He -brought me wine and cheese and bread, whereon I sat on a corner of the -trestle table munching them outside in the sun under shadow of my broad -felt yokel hat, with the quaint inn sign gently creaking overhead, and -my moldy, sea-stained legs dangling under me. - -I was in a good mood, yet thoughtful somehow, for had not the King -especially warned me not to part lightly with the precious news -wherewith I was freighted? And if so be that I must be reticent in this -particular, yet again my heart was surely too full of my victorious -errand to let me gossip lightly on trivial matters; thus my bread was -broken in abstracted silence, and, when my beaker went now and again -into the shade of my hat-brim, I drank mutely and proffered no sign -of friendship to those other country wayfarers who stood about the -honeysuckled doorway eyeing me askance after the manner I was so used -to, and whispering now and then to one another. - -I sat and thought how my errand was to be most speedily carried out, -for you see I might trudge days and days afoot like this before good -luck or my own limbs brought me to the footstool of Edward’s Royal -wife, and gave me leave to burst that green and rusty case that, with -its precious scroll, still dangled at my side. I had no money to buy a -horse--the bangles taken from the crypt-thieves would not stand against -the value of the boniest palfrey that ever ambled between a tinker’s -legs--and last night’s infernal wetting had made me into the sorriest, -most moldy-looking herald that ever did a kingly bidding. Surely, I -thought, as I glanced at my borrowed clay-stained rustic cloak, my -cracked and rotten leather doublet, my tarnished hose all frayed and -colorless, my shoon, that only held together, methought, by their -patching of gray sea-slime and mud, surely no one will lend or loan me -anything like this; they will laugh at my knightly gage of honorable -return, and scout the faintest whisper of my errand! - -Thus ruefully reflecting, I had finished my frugal luncheon, yet still -scarce knew what to do, and maybe I had sat dubious like that on the -trestle edge for near an hour, when, looking up on a sudden, there was -a blooming little maid of some three tender years standing in the sun -staring hard upon me, her fair blue eyes ashine with wonder, and the -strands of her golden hair lifting on the breeze like gossamers in -June. She had in one rosebud hand a flower of yellow daffodil, and in -fault of better introduction proffered it to me. My stern soldier heart -was melted by that maid. I took her flower and put it in my belt, and -lifted the little one on my knee, then asked her why she had looked so -hard at the stranger. - -[Illustration: She proffered it to me] - -“Oh!” she said, pointing to where some older children were watching all -this from a safe distance, “Johnnie and Andrew, my brothers, said you -were surely the devil, and, as they feared, I came myself to see if it -were true.” - -“And am I? Is it true?” - -“I do not know,” said the little damsel, fixing her clear blue eyes -upon mine--“I do not know for certain, but I like you! I am sorry -for you, because you are so dirty. If you were cleaner I could love -you”--and very cautiously, watching my eyes the while, the pretty babe -put out a petal-soft hand and stroked my grim and weathered face. - -I could not withstand such gentle blandishment, and forgot all my -musings and my haste, and kissed those pink fingers under the shadow -of my hat, and laid myself out to win that soft little heart, and won -it, so that, when presently the wondering mother came to claim her own, -the little maiden burst into such a headlong shower of silver April -tears that I had to perjure myself with false promises to come again, -and even the gift of my last coin and another kiss or two scarce set me -free from the sweet investigator. - -But now I was aroused, and stalked down the green country road full of -speed and good intention. I would walk to the Royal city, since there -were no other way, and these fair shires must have grown expansive -since the olden days if I could not see a march or two while the sun -was up. Eastward and north I knew the Court should lie, so bent my -steps through glades and commons with the midday sun behind my better -shoulder. But the journey was to be shorter than seemed likely at the -outset. After asking, to no purpose, my road of several rustics, a -venerable wayfarer was chanced upon, ambling down a shady gully. - -This quaint old fellow sat a rough little steed, one, indeed, of the -poorest-looking, most knock-kneed beasts I had ever seen a gentleman -of gentle quality astride of. And, in truth, the rider was not better -kept. He wore a great widespreading cloak of threadbare stuff, falling -from his shoulders to his knees in such ample folds that it half hid -the neck and quarters of his steed. Below this mantle, splashed with -twenty shades of mud and most quaintly patched, you saw the pricks of -rusty iron spurs on old and shabby leather boots, and just the point -of a frayed black leather scabbard peeping under his stirrup-straps. -The hat he wore was broad-brimmed and peaked, and looked near as old -as did its wearer. Under that shapeless cover was a most strange face. -I do not think I ever saw so much and various writ upon so little -parchment as shone upon the dry and wrinkled surface of that rider’s -features. There were cunning and closeness on it, and yet they did -not altogether hide the openness of gentle birth and liberal thought. -Now you would think to watch those shrewd, keen eyes a-glitter there -under the penthouse of his shaggy eyebrows, he was some paltry trader -with a vision bounded by his weekly till and the infruct of his lying -measures, and then anon, at some word or passing fancy, as you came -to know him better, ’twas strange to see how eagle-like those optics -shone, and with what a clear, bright, prophetic gaze the old fellow -would stare, like a steersman through the dim-lit gloom of a starry -night, over the wide horizon of the visionary and uncertain! He -could look as small and mean about the mouth as a usurer on settling -day; and then, when his mood changed, and he fell thoughtful, the -gentle melancholy of his face--the goodly soul that spoke behind that -changeful mask, the strange dissatisfaction, the incompleteness, the -unhappy longing for something unattainable there reflected, made you -sad to look upon it! - -I overtook this quaint rider as he rode alone, my active feet being -more than a match for the shaky limbs of that mean beast he sat upon, -and, coming alongside, observed him unnoticed for a minute. Truly as -quaint a fellow-traveler as you could meet! His head was sunk, and his -grizzled white beard fell over his chest: his eyes were fixed in vacant -stare on some vision of the future; and his lips moved tremulously now -and again as the thoughts of his mind escaped unheeded from between -them. Was he poet? Was he seer? Was it a black past or a red, rosy -future the old fellow babbled of? Jove! I was not in very good kind -myself, and I fancy I had read now and again, in the wonder of those -who saw me, that my face had a tale to tell. But, by the great gods! I -was neat and pretty-pied beside this most rusty gentleman; my face was -as void as a curd-fed bumpkin’s, compared to those eloquently absent -eyes, that fine, mean profile, there, in the slouch of the big hat, and -those busy lips! - -“Good-morning, Sir!” I said; and as the old man looked up with a start -and saw me, a stranger, walking by his side, all the fervor and the -fancy died from off his face, the fine features shut upon themselves; -and there he was, the meanest, shallowest, most paltry-looking of old -rogues that had ever pulled off a cap to his equal! - -He returned my first light questionings with a sullen suspicion, -which gradually thawed, however, as his keen scrutiny took, -apparently, reassuring stock of my face and figure, and we spoke, as -fellow-travelers will, for a few moments on the roads, the weather, and -the prospect of the skies. Then I asked him, with small expectation of -much advantage in his answer, “which was the best way to Court.” - -“There are many ways, my son,” he said. “You may get there because of -extreme virtue, or on the introduction of peculiar wickedness.” - -“Ah! but I meant otherwise----” - -“Shining wisdom, they say, brings a man to Court--or should. And, -God knows, there is no place like Court for folly! If thou art very -beautiful thou may come to it, and if thou art as ugly as hell they -will have thee for a laughing-stock and nine-days’ wonder. Anaximander -went to Court because he was so wise, and Anaxippus because he was so -foolish; Diphilus because he was so slow in penmanship, and Antimachus -because he wrote so much and swift. Ah, friend! many are the ways. -Polypemon lived by plunder, and, because he was the cruelest thief that -ever stripped a wanderer by green Cephisus, he came under the notice of -kings and gods; ay, and Clytius is famous because he was so faithful; -and the patriotic Codrus because he bared his bosom to the foe, and -Spendius for a hundred treacheries, and----” - -“No! no!” I cried, “no more, Sir, I entreat. I did not mean to play -footpad to thy capacious memory, and rob your mind of all these just -comparisons, but only to ask, in ordinary material manner, which was -the best way to the palace, which the nearest road, the safest footpath -for a hasty stranger to our good Queen’s footstool. I have a Royal -script to deliver to her.” - -“What, is it the Queen you want to see? Why, I am bound that road -myself, and in a few minutes I will show you the pennons glancing among -the trees where they be camped.” - -“Where they be camped?” I exclaimed in wonder. “I thought that was many -a mile from here--in fact, Sir, in the great city itself, and yet you -say a few minutes will show us the Royal tents.” - -“Oh, what a blessed thing are youthful legs! And were you off to -distant Westminster like that, good fellow, ‘to see the Queen,’ -forsooth, with nothing in thy wallet, and as little in thy head?” And -the old man eyed me under his slouching cap with a mixture of derision -and strange curiosity. - -“I tell you, Sir,” I answered, “I come on hasty business; I am a -messenger of the utmost urgency, and if I am afoot instead of mounted -it is more misfortune than inclination. What brings the Queen, if, -indeed, we are so near her, thus far afield?” - -“Praise Heaven, young man, there is no one who knows less of the -goings and comings of her and hers than I do. I hate them,” he said -sourly; “a lying swarm of locusts round that yellow jade they call a -Queen--a shallow, cruel, worthless crew who stand in the way of light -and learning, and laugh the poor scholar out of face and heart!” And, -muttering to himself, my companion relapsed into a moody silence as we -breasted the last rise. But on a sudden he looked up with something -like a smile wrinkling his withered cheek, and went on: “But you do -not laugh--you have some bowels of compunction within you--you can be -as civil to a threadbare cloak as to a silken doublet. Gads! fellow, -there is something about thee that moves me very strangely. Art thou of -gentle quality?” - -“I have been of many qualities in my time, Sir.” - -“So I guessed, and something tells me we shall see more of one another. -There is a presence about thee that makes me fear--that puts a dread -upon me, why I know not. And then, again, I feel drawn to thee by a -strong, strange sense, as the Persian says one planet is drawn toward -another.” - -I let the old fellow ramble on, paying, indeed, but cold notice to -his chatter, since all my thoughts were on ahead, and when at last we -came out of the hazel dingles, there, sure enough, down in the valley -was a white road winding among the trees, and a stately park, a goodly -house of many windows, and amid the fair meadows among the branches -shone the white gleam of tents, and overhead the flutter of silken tags -and gonfalons, and now and then there came the glint of steel and -gold from out that goodly show, and the blare of trumpets, and more -softly on the afternoon air the shout of busy marshals, the neighing of -steeds, and the low murmur of many voices. - -Oh, it was a pretty scene to see the tender countryside so fresh and -green, and the rolling meadows at our feet dusted thick with gold -and silver flowers all blended in a splendid web of tissue under the -shining sun. And there the flush of blossom on the orchards streaked -the fair valley like a sunset cloud, and here the bronze of budding -oaks lay soft in the hollows, while overhead the blue canopy of the sky -was one unbroken roof from verge to verge. - -We two looked down upon that scene of peace with different feeling for -a space, then, making my friendly salutation to the dreamy pedant, -“Here, Sir,” I said, “I fear we part forever.” - -“Not so,” he said: “we shall meet once more, and soon.” - -“Well! well! Soon or distant, we will meet again in friendship,” and, -with a wave of the hand, off I set, delighted to think chance had so -favored me, and all impatient to tell my news. I did not stop to look -to left or right, but down the glen I ran into the valley, scaring -the frightened sheep and oxen, and stopping not for fence or boundary -until the broad road was reached, and all among the groups of gaping -countrymen and busy lackeys leading out the steeds to water in the -meadows round the Royal camp, I slackened my pace. The broad park gates -were open, and inside, amid the oak-trees around the great house, gay -confusion reigned. There, on one hand, were the fair white tents bright -with silk and golden trappings, and, while a hundred sturdy yeomen were -busy setting up these cool pavilions, others spread costly rugs about -their porches, and displayed within them lordly furniture enough to -dazzle such rough soldier eyes as mine. There in long rows beneath -the branches were ranked a wondrous show of mighty gilded coaches with -empty shafts a-trail, all still dusty from the road, and hurrying -grooms were covering these over for the night, while others fed and -tended a squadron of sleek, fat horses, whose beribboned manes and -glistening hides so well filled out struck me amazed when I recalled -those poor, ragged, muddy chargers whereon we had borne down the hosts -of Philip’s chivalry two days before. All about the green were groups -of gallant gentlemen and ladies, and I overheard, as I brushed by, some -of them speaking of a splendid show to be given that night in the court -of the great house near by, and how the proud owner of it, thus honored -by the great Queen’s presence, had beggared him and his for many a -day in making preparation. It was most probable, for the white-haired -seneschal was tearing his snowy locks, entreating, imploring, amid a -surging, unruly mass of porters, cooks, and scullions, while heaps of -provender, vats of wine, and mighty piles of food for men and horses, -littered all the rearward avenues. - -But little I looked at all these things. Clad like many another -countryman come there to see the show (only a little more ragged and -uncouth), I passed the outer wickets, and, skirting the groups of -idlers, strode boldly out across the trim inner lawns and breasted the -wide sweep of steps that led to the great scutcheoned doorway. All down -these steps gilded fellows were lolling in splendid finery, who started -up and stared at me, as, nothing noticing their gentle presence, now -hot upon my errand, I bounded by. At top were two strong yeomen, gay -in crimson and black livery, of most quaint kind, with rampant lions -worked in gold upon their breasts, and tall, broad-bladed halberds in -their hands. They made a show of barring the way with those mighty -weapons; but I came so unexpected, and showed so little hesitation, -they faltered. Also, I had pulled off my cap, and better men than they -had stepped back in fear and wonder from a glance of that grim, stern -face that I thus did show them. Past these, and once inside, I found -the Queen was receiving the country-folk, and up the waiting avenue of -these good rustic lieges I pushed, brushing through the feeble fence -of stewards’ marshaling-rods held out to awe, and, nothing noticing a -score of curly pages who threw themselves before me, I burst into the -presence chamber. Hoth! ’Twas a fine room, like the mid-aisle of a -great cathedral, and all around the walls were banners and bannerets, -antlers of deer, and goodly shows of weapons, and suits of mail and -harness. And this splendid lobby was thronged with courtiers in silks -and satins, while ruffs and stocks and mighty collarets, and pearls and -gems, and cloth of gold and sarsanet glittered everywhere, and a gentle -incense of lovely scents mingled with a murmur of courtly talk went -up to the fair carved oaken ceiling. Right ahead of me was a splendid -crimson carpet of wondrous pile and softness, and at the far end of -that stately way a daïs, and on it, lightly chatting amid a pause in -the Royal business--the Queen! - -She was not the least what I had looked for. I had pictured Edward’s -noble dame, the daughter of the knightly house of Hainault, as pale and -proud and dark--the fit wife to her warlike husband, and a meet mother -to her son. But this one was lank and yellow, comely enough no doubt -and tall, with a mighty proud light in her eyes when occasion served, -and a right royal bearing, yet still somehow not quite that which I -expected. What did it matter? Was it not the Queen, and was not that -enough? Gods! What should it count what color was her hair, since my -master found it good enough? And, in truth, but I had something to say -would bring the red into those lackluster cheeks, or Philippa were -unlike all other women. Therefore, with a shout of triumph that shocked -the mild courtiers, brandishing my precious script above my head, I -leaped forward, and, dashing up that open crimson road, ran straight to -the footstool of the Royal lady, and there dropping on one knee: - -“Hail! Royal mother,” I cried. - -“Thanks!” she said sardonically, as soon as she regained her composure. -“Thanks, gentle maid!” - -“Madam,” I cried, “I come, a herald, charged with splendid news of -conquest! But one day since, over in famous France, thy loyal English -troops have won such a victory against mighty odds as lends a new -luster even to the broad page of English valor. But one day since, in -your noble General’s tent----” - -But by this time all the throng of courtiers had found their tongues, -and some certain quantity of those senses whereof my sudden entry had -bereft them. While a few, who caught the meaning of my word, and, -stopping not to argue, thought it was the news indeed of a victory -that glittering Court had long hoped for, broke out into tumultuous -cheering--waving scarf and handkerchief, and throwing wide the -lattices, that the common folk without might share their noisy joy, -those others who stood closer around, and saw my ragged habiliments, -could not believe it. - -“You a herald!” exclaimed one grizzled veteran in slashed black velvet -over pearly satin. “You a messenger chosen for such an errand! Madam,” -he cried, drawing out a long rapier from its velvet case, “it is some -madman, some brain-sick soldier. I do implore your Grace to let me call -the guards.” - -“An assassin! an assassin!” cried another. “Run him through, Lord -Fodringham! Give him no chance or parley!” - -“’Tis past belief!” exclaimed a dainty fellow, all perfumed lace and -golden chains. “Such glad tidings are not trusted to base country curs.” - -“A fool!” “A rogue!” “A graceless villain!” they shouted. “Stab him! -drag him from the presence! Fie upon the billmen to let such scullions -in upon us!” And thick these pretty peers came clustering on me, the -while their ladies screamed, and all was stormy tumult. - -Up, then, I jumped to my feet, and hot and wrathful, shaking my -clenched fist in the faces of those glittering lords, broke out: “By -the bright light of day, Sirs, he who says I have a better here in -this hall, lies--lies loud and flatly. Do you think, because I come -clad like this, you may safely spend your shallow wit upon me? I tell -you all, pretty silken spaniels that you are! you, Fodringham, with -the gilded toothpick you miscall a sword! you there, Sir, who reek -of musk and valor! and all you others, who keep so discreetly out of -arm’s reach!--I tell you every one that, in court or camp, in tilt -or tourney, I am your mate! Ah, Sirs, and this rusty country smock, -blazoned by miry ways and hasty travel; this muddy tabard here, because -’tis upon a herald’s breast, is more honorable wear than any silken -surtout that you boast of. Gods, gentlemen! if so there be that any -one here in truth misdoubts it, let me entreat his patience; let me -humbly crave the boon that he will hold his mettled valor in curb just -so long as I may render that message which I surely have at this Royal -footstool, and then, on horse or foot, with mace or sword, I will show -him my credentials!” But none of that glittering throng had aught to -say. Those bold, silken lordlings pushed back in a wide circle from -where I stood, fierce and tall in my muddy rags, and fumbled their -golden dagger-knobs, and studied with drooped heads the dainty silk -rosettes upon their cork-heeled shoes. - -After waiting a moment, to give their valor fair chance of answering, -I turned disdainfully from them, and, bending again to fair Queen -Philippa, “Madam,” I said, “these noisy boys make me forget the smooth -reverence that I owe your Grace, yet surely the noble daughter of -Hainault will forgive a hasty word spoken in defense of soldier honor?” - -“I know nothing, good fellow,” replied the Queen, eyeing her -discomfited nobles with inward glee, “of thy Hainault, but I like thy -outspokenness extremely. By Heaven! you make me think it was some time -since I last saw a man about me.” - -“And have I leave to do my mission, noble lady?” - -“Ay, Sir, to it at once! We care not how you come, or who you are, -or for the exact condition of your smock, so that you bring news of -victory.” - -“But, Madam,” put in Fodringham, “it is not safe--he has some desperate -purpose----” - -“Silence!” shouted the Queen, springing to her feet and stamping a -pretty foot, cased in a dainty pearl-encrusted slipper--“silence, -I say, Lord Fodringham, and all you other peers who make our -presence-chamber like a bear-pit: silence! or by my father’s heart I -will cure him of insolence who speaks again for once and all.” And the -sallow virago, flushing like an angry yellow sunset, with her fierce -gray eyes agleam, and her thin lips stern-set, one white hand clutching -the high carved arm of her daïs, and the other set like white ivory on -the jeweled handle of her fan, scowled round upon her courtiers. - -They knew that proud termagant too well to meet her eye, and having -stared them all into meek silence she let the yellow flush die from her -cheek, and turning to me she said: “Now, fellow, to thy errand.” - -“Then, sovereign lady,” I began, “but two days since, in France, the -English troops, fair set upon a sunny hillside, were attacked by a vast -array of foemen, and thanks to happy chance, to thy princely General’s -captainship, and to the incredible valor of thy lieges, they were -victorious!” - -“Now may the dear God who rules these things accept my grateful and -most humble thanks!” And the proud Queen, with bright moisture in her -eye, looked skyward for a moment, and was so moved with true joy and -pleasure in her country’s conquest that thereon at once she went up -most mightily in my esteem. - -“Most welcome of all heralds,” she went on, “how fared the English -leader in that desperate fight? If aught has happed to Lord Leicester, -it will spoil all else that you can say.”[4] - -[4] The Earl of Leicester, in the spring of 1586, had command of the -English forces in Flanders, and news of the great victory which he -constantly promised but never achieved was daily expected. - -I did not quite catch the name she mentioned under breath, but I -thought it was the Royal mother asking how my noble young master had -prospered, so I spoke out at once. - -“Madam, he is unhurt and well! It is not for me, a humble knight, -to praise that shining star of honor, but he for whom thou art so -naturally solicitous” (here the Queen blushed a little and looked down, -while there was a scarce-suppressed laugh among the fair damsels behind -me), “he, Madam, has done splendid deeds of valor. Three times, noble -Queen, right along the glittering front of France he charged, three -times he pierced so deep into that sea of steel that he near lay hands -upon their golden lilies in mid-host. The proud Count of Poligny fell -before him, and the Lord of Lusigny was overthrown in single combat; -Besançon and Arnay went down under his maiden spear; he pulled an -ancient crest from the Bohemian eagle in mid-battle. In brief, Madam, -a more valorous knight was never buckled into armor; he was the prop -and pillar of our host, and to him this victory is as largely due as it -is to any.” - -“Herald,” said the Queen, with real gratitude and pleasure in her voice -again, “indeed your news is welcome. There was nothing I had rather -than such a victory, and because ’tis his, because it will stifle the -envious clamor of his enemies, and embolden me to do that which I hope -to. Oh! your news fills up to overflowing the measure of my joy and -satisfaction!” And the fair lady bent her head and fell into a reverie, -like a maid who cogitates upon the prowess of an absent lover. - -So far the woman--then the Queen came back, and lifting her shapely -head, with its high-piled yellow hair, laced with strings of amethyst -and pearl, and well set off by the great stiff-starched ruff behind, -she asked: - -“And my dear English nobles, and my stout halberdiers and pikemen--God -forgive me that I should forget them!--how told the fight upon them? My -heart bleeds to think of the odds you say they did withstand.” - -“Be comforted, fair Sovereign! The tide of war set strong against our -enemies, our palisades and trenches were well laid; the keen English -arrows carried disaster far afield on their iron points ere the battle -joined; the great host of France fell by its own mightiness; and -victory, this time at least, shall wring but few tears from English -maids or matrons.” - -“Heaven be truly thanked for that!” - -“Indeed, Madam”--so I went on--“none of great account fell those few -hours since. Lord Harcourt I saw bear him like the bold soldier that he -was, and when the battle faded into evening he it was who marshaled -our scattered ranks and set the order for the night.” - -“Who did you say?” - -“Harcourt, lady, thy bold captain. And Codrington, too, was -redoubtable, and came safe from the fight. Chandos dealt out death to -all who crossed his path, like an avenging fury, yet took no scratch. -Hot Lord Walsingham swept like an avalanche in spring through the -close-packed Frenchmen, yet lives to tell of it, and old Sir John -Fitzherbert, when I left the field--his white beard all athwart his -shredded broken armor--was cheering loudly for our victory, the while -they lapped him up in linens, for a French axe had shorn his left arm -off at the shoulder. All have taken dints, but near all are safe and -well.” - -“’Tis strange,” said the Queen, thoughtfully, “’tis strange I know so -few of these. I have a Harcourt, but he is not warlike; and cunning, -cruel Walsingham lives in the north, and sits better astride of a -dinner-stool than a charger. Codrington and Fitzherbert leading my -troops to war! Here, let me see thy script: it may explain.” And she -held out her jeweled hand. - -Thereon a strange uneasiness possessed me, and seemed to cloud my -honest courage. What was it? What had I to fear? I did not know. And -yet my strong fingers, that never wearied upon a hilt though the day -were ne’er so long, trembled as I slung round my pouch, and my heart -set off a-beating with craven fear, as it had never beat before in -sack or mêlée. It was too foolish; and, a little angry at the blood -that ran so slowly in my veins, and the heavy sense of evil that sat -on me all of a sudden, I pulled the metal letter-case from my wallet, -and burst the seal and pressed the lid. The wallet split from side to -side as though the stout leather were frail paper, and the strong metal -crumbled in my fingers like red, rotten touchwood. - -I stared at it in amazement. What could it mean? Then shook the thin, -rusty fragments from my hand, and, putting on a bold face I did not -feel, drew out the parchment from the strangely frail casing, brushed -off the dust and litter, and handed it to the Sovereign. - -“Lady,” I said in a voice I fain would have made true and clear, “there -is the full account, and though seas have stained it, and rough travel -spoiled the casing, as you saw, yet have I made all diligence I could. -It was yesterday morning King Edward gave me that, and ‘Take it,’ he -said, ‘as fast as foot can go to sweet Queen Philippa, my wife. Say -’twas penned on battlefield, and comes full charged with my dear and -best affections.’ Thus, Madam, have I brought it straight to thee from -famous Crecy, and here place it, the warrant of my truth, in Queen -Philippa’s own hand.” And then I gave her the scroll. - -Jove! how yellow and tarnished it did look! The frail silk that bound -it was all afray and colorless; and the King’s great seal, that once -had been so cherry-red, was bleached to sickly pallor! The Queen took -it, and while I held my breath in nameless terror she turned it over -and slowly round about, and stared first at me, and then at that fatal -thing. She begged a dagger from a courtier at her side, and split the -binding, and unfolded that tawny scroll that crackled in her fingers, -it was so old and stiff, and read the address and superscription; and -then, all on a sudden, while a deathlike silence held the room, she -turned her stern, cold eyes, full of wrath and wonder, to me kneeling -there, and burst out: - -“Why, fellow! what mummery is all this? Philippa and Crecy? Why, thou -incredible fool! Philippa of Hainault has been dust these twenty -generations; and Crecy--thy ‘famous Crecy’--was fought near three -hundred years ago! I am Elizabeth Tudor!” - -Slowly I rose from my feet and stared at her--stared at her in -the hush of that wondering room, while a cold chill of fear and -consternation crept over my body. Incredible! “Crecy fought three -hundred years ago!”--the hall seemed full of that horrible whisper, -and a score of echoes repeated, “Queen Philippa has been dust these -twenty generations, and Crecy--thy famous Crecy--was fought near -three hundred years ago!” Oh, impossible--cruel--ridiculous!--and -yet--and yet! There, as I stood, glaring at the Queen with strained, -set face, and clenched hands, and heaving breath, gasping, wondering, -waiting for something to break that hideous silence or give the lie to -that accursed sentence that still floated round on the ambient air, -and took new strength from the disdainful light in those clustering -courtier eyes, and their mocking, scornful smiles--while I waited I -remembered--by all the infernal powers I remembered--my awakening, and -all the things I should have noted and had not. I recalled the bitter -throes that had wracked my stiff joints in the old British grave as -never mortal rheums yet twisted common sinew and muscle. I recalled -the long labor of the crypt thieves, and the altered face of rocks and -foreshore when my eyes first lit upon them after that long sleep. The -very April season that sorted so ill with the August Crecy left behind -took new meaning to me now all on an instant; and my ragged, crumbling -raiment, in shreds and tatters, so ruinous as never salt spray yet made -a good suit in one mortal evening, the strange garb and speech of those -I met, and then this tawny, handsome, yellow lioness on the throne -where should have been a pale, black Norman girl. Oh! hell and fiends! -But she spoke the truth. I had lain three hundred years in Ufner’s -stones, and with a wild, fierce cry of shame and anger, one long yell -of pain and disappointment, I tore the cursed wallet from my neck and -hurled it down there savagely at her feet, and turned and fled! Past -the startled courtiers--past the screaming groups of laced and ruffled -women--out! out! through the long line of feeble wardens; out between -the glistening lowered halberds of the guards, down the white shining -steps, an outcast and a scoffing-point, down into the road I ran, -under a thousand wondering eyes, as fast as foot could go--not looking -where or how, but seeking only the friendly cover of solitude and the -fast-coming evening, and then, at length, worn out and spent--so sick -in mind and heart I could scarce put one limb before another, I sank -down on a grassy bank, a mile out of sight and sound of that fatal -camp, and dropped my head into my hands and let the fierce despair and -the black, swelling loneliness well up in my choked and aching heart. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - - -You--happy--across whose tablets a kind fate draws the sponge of -oblivion even while you write, who leave the cup half emptied, and the -feast half finished; you, from whose thoughts ambition passes in warm -meridian glow, who nourish expectation and hope to the very verge of -the unknown; you, who leave warm with the sweet wine of living, your -dim way lit with the shine of love, your fingers locked in the clasp of -friendship; you, to whom all these things gently minister and smooth -the path of the inevitable; you, who die but once and die so easily, -surely cannot comprehend the full measure of my sufferings! - -Oh! it was horrible and sickening to feel the old world reel and spin -like this beneath my laggard feet; to see crowns and states and people -flit by like idle shadows on a sunny wall; to espouse great quarrels -that set men into wide-asunder camps, and to wake and find the quarrel -long since over and forgotten; to swear allegiance to a king and love -and serve him, and then to find, in the beat of a pulse, that he had -gone and was forgotten; to be the bearer of proud news that should -kindle joy in a thousand thousand hearts, and then to wake when even -the meaning of that news, the very cause and purport of it, was long -since past and gone--it was surely bitter! - -And for myself--I, who, as you know, link a ready sympathy with any -cause, who love and live and hope with a fervor which no experience -quenches and no adversity can dim--to be thus cut adrift from all I -lived and hoped for, to be cast like this on to the bleak, friendless -shore of some age, remote, unknown, unvalued--surely it was a mischance -as heavy as any mischance could be! - -I had not any friend in all that universe, I said to myself as I lay -and thought sad thoughts upon the grassy mound--a friend!--not one kind -human heart in this hive of human atoms set store by me--not one had -heard I lived--not one cared if I died! There was not in all the world -one question of how I fared, one wish that ran in union with any wish -of mine--one single link to join me to my kind. And what links could -I forge again? How could I set out to hope afresh or love, or fear or -wish for? Hope! gods! had I not hopes yesterday? And what were they -now?--a tawdry, silly sheaf of tinseled fancies. And love!--how could -I love, remembering the new-dead Isobel?--and fear and desire! neither -touched the accursed monotony of my desolation; either would have been -a boon from Heaven to break the miserable calm of my despair! - -It was thus I reasoned with myself for hours as the gathering darkness -settled down; and, poor as I had often been, and comradeless, I do not -think, in all a long and varied life, I had ever felt more reft of -friends or melancholy lonesome. In vain my mind was racked to piece -the evidence of that huge lapse of time which, there was no doubt, had -passed since the great battle on the Crecy hills. I could recall as -they have been set down every incident of the voyage, my escape, and -what had followed the awakening: but the sleep itself was to me even -now just one long, soft, dreamless, well-earned slumber from point -to point. So absolutely natural had been that wondrous trance that -to think on it would make me start up with a cry, and shake my fist -to where, in the valley, the lights of Elizabeth’s camp were faintly -shining among the trees, and half persuade myself that this were the -dream--that the yellow-haired Princess had somehow mocked me, that -Edward indeed still lived, with my jolly comrades, and I might still -hope to win renown and smiles amid them, and see those that I knew, and -drink red wine from friendly flagons. Then I would remember all the -many signs that told the Princess had not fooled me--had but spoke the -cruel, naked truth--and down I would sink again on the turf under the -deepening shadows, and bewail my lot. - -Tossed fiercely about like this, time passed unnoticed; the day went -out in the west behind the pale amber and green satin curtains of -the sunset, and, while I sat and grieved, the yellow stars climbed -into the sky, all the sweet silent planets of the night set out upon -their unseen pathways and airy paraboles, and behind the thicket that -sheltered me the moon got up and threw across the lonely road a tracery -of black and silver shadows. The evening air blew strong and cool upon -my flushed, hot brow, and lulled the teeming thoughts that crowded -there. Soft velvet bats came down, and the faint lisp of their hollow -wings brushing by me was kindly and sympathetic. Overhead, the sallows -hung out a thousand golden points to the small people of the twilight, -and a faint perfume--an incense of hope--fell on me with the yellow -dust of those gentle flowers. If I say these cool influences somewhat -respirited me, you will deride my changing mood. Yet why should I -hesitate for that? I did grow calmer under the gentle caressing of the -evening; it was all so fair and still about me presently, and there was -this star that I knew and that; and the night-owl churning overhead -was surely the very same bird that had sung above my hunter-couch -in the Saxon woodlands; and the lonely trumpet of the heron, flying -homeward up the valley, brought back a score of peaceful memories. -After all, men might change and go--shallow, small puppets that they -were!--but this, at least, was the same old earth about me, and that -was something. I would find a sheltered corner and sleep. Mayhap, with -to-morrow’s dawn the world might look a little brighter! - -Just as this wise resolution was on the point of being put in force, -the faint sound of horse-hoofs, demurely walking up toward my -lurking-place, came down on the night wind, and, retiring a moment into -the deep shadows, I had not long to wait before the same shaggy palfrey -and the same dreamy old fellow met earlier in the day came pacing along -the road. The scholar--for so I guessed him--looked neither to right -nor left; his strange thin face was turned full up to the moonlight, -and the bright rays shone upon his vacant eyes and long white beard -with a strange sepulchural luster. He was letting the reins hang loose -upon his pony’s neck, and, as he came near, thinking himself alone, -he stretched out his long, sinewy hands in front; and it was plain to -see his lips worked in the moonlight with unspoken thoughts quicker -than an abbot’s at unpaid-for mass. Utterly oblivious to everything -around, in the white shine of the great night planet, old, lunatic, -and gaunt, he looked, methought, the strangest wayfarer that ever -rode down a woodland lane by nightfall. He was indeed so weird and -unapproachable in his reverie that, though I had felt a small gleam of -pleasure in first recognizing something which, if not friend, was at -least acquaintance, yet now as he drew nigh, remote and visionary, with -glassy eyes fixed on the twinkling stars, and thin white locks lifting -about his broad and wrinkled forehead, I hesitated to greet him, and -stood back. - -But that palfrey he bestrode was more watchful than his rider. He saw -me loom dark among the hazels, and came to so sudden a stop as threw -the old man forward upon his ears, and, whatever his fancies may have -been, jerked them clean from sky to earth in less time than it takes to -write. - -The scholar pulled himself together, and, with some show of valor, -threw back his wide cloak from his right shoulder, and uncovered on -his other side the hilt of a tarnished, rusty sword. Then, peeping -and peering all about, he cried: “Ho! you there in the shadows! Be ye -thieves or beggars, know that I have nothing to give and less to lose!” - -“And he who stops your way, Sir,” I answered, stepping forward into the -clear, “is exactly in like circumstance.” - -“Oh! it is you, friend, is it?” cried the old man, seeming much -relieved. “I thought I had fallen into a nest of footpads, or at the -least a camp of beggars.” - -“Your open declaration, Sir, backed by certain evidences of its obvious -truth, ought to have taken you safely through the worst infested -thicket hereabouts.” - -“No doubt, no doubt; but I am glad it is you and not another--first, -because desirable friendships are rarely made by moonlight; and -secondly, because you have been in my mind the few hours since we -parted.” - -“I am honored in that particular, and your courtesy moves me the more -because I was only now thinking there were none upon the face of the -earth who were doing so much by me.” - -“You are green, young man, and therefore apt to let a passing whim, a -shadow of disappointment, lead to hasty generalizing. You fared not as -you hoped at yonder Court?” And the old man bent his keen gray eyes -upon me with a searching shrewdness there was no gainsaying. - -“No! in faith I fared badly beyond all expectation.” - -“And what were you projecting just now when, like the ass of Balaam, -this most patient beast saw you in the way and interrupted my -reflection so roughly?” - -“Why, at that very moment, Sir,” I said, “I was looking for a likely -place to pass the night.” - -“What, on the moss? with no better hangings to your couch than these -lean, draughty, leafless boughs?” - -“’Tis an honorable bed, Sir, and I have fared worse when I have been -far richer.” - -“Oh! what a happy thing it is to be young and full of choler and folly! -Not but that I have done the same myself,” chuckled the old man: “for -thou knowest mandrake must be gathered only at the full moon, and -hemlock roots are digged in the dark--many a twilight such as this I -spent groping in the murky woods, picking those things that witches -love--and not gone home with full wallet until the owls were homing -and the pale white stars were waxing sickly in the morning light. -Nevertheless, Sir, take an old man’s word, and presume not too largely -on the immunities of youth.” - -“I have no drier bed.” - -“No, but I have. Come back with me to-night, and I will lodge you safe -and sound until the morning.” - -“Thanks for the proffer! Yet this is surely extreme courtesy between -two wayfarers so newly met as we are?” - -“And do I, Sir,” he cried, holding out his thin and shaky palms -there in the pallid light, a gaunt and ragged-looking specter--a -houseless, homeless, visionary vagrant--“do I, Sir, seem some -broiling spend-thrift--some loose hedge-companion--some shallow-pated -swashbuckler--hail-fellow-well-met with one and all? I have not said so -much civility as I did just now to any one this twenty years!” - -“The more thanks are due from him in whose favor you make so great and -generous exception. Is it distant to your lodgment?” - -“But a few miles straight ahead of us.” - -“Then I will go with you, for it were churlish to slight so good an -offer out of bare waywardness”; and I tightened my belt, and took the -ragged, ungroomed little steed by the rusty, cord-mended bit, and with -these two strange companions, set out I knew not how or where, and -cared but little. - -At first that quaint old man seemed more elated than could reasonably -be expected at having secured me for a guest. He did not openly avow -it, but I was not so young or unread in men but that I could decipher -his pleasure in voice and eye, even while he talked on other subjects. -How this interest came, what he could hope to get or have of me, -however, was well past my comprehension. My dress and rustic garb -spoke me his inferior in place and station, while, certes! my rags -and tatters made me seem poor even after my humble kind. He was a -gentleman, though the sorriest-looking one who ever put a leg across a -saddle. And I? I was afoot, a gloomy, purseless, unweaponed loiterer -in the shadows. What could he need of me that lent such luster to his -eyes, and caused him to chuckle so hoarsely far down in his lean and -withered throat? The morrow no doubt would show, and in the meantime, -being still morose and sad, smarting to have unwittingly played the -fool so much, and full of grief and sorrow, I responded but dully to -his learned talk. Feeling this, and being only slenderly attached to -mundane things at best, his mind wandered from me after a mile or -two--his eyes grew fixed and expressionless, his hands dropped, supine -upon the pommel, his chin sank down upon the limp, worn, yellow ruffles -on his chest, and senseless, disconnected murmurs ran from his lips, -like water dripping from a leaky cask. - -I let him babble as he liked, and trudged along in silence, leaving -the road to that sagacious beast, who, with drooped head and stolid -purpose, went pacing on without a look either to right or left. And -you will guess my thoughts were melancholy. Yesterday I was an honored -soldier, the confidant of a proud, victorious king, the comrade of -a shining band of princely brethren, as good a knight as any that -breathed among a host of heroes, the clear-honored leading star--the -bright example to a horde of stalwart veterans--with all the fair -wide fields of renown and reputation lying inviting before me!--all -the pleasant lethe of struggle and ambition open to my search, and I -had strong, true friends abroad, and loving ones at home--and now! -and now! Oh! I beat my hand upon my bosom, and spent impotent curses -on the starlight sky, to think how all was changed--to think how -those splendid princely shadows were gone--how all those sweet, rough -spearmen who had ridden with me, fetlock deep, through the crimson mire -of Crecy had passed out into the void, leaving me here desolate, poor, -accursed--this empty hand that trained the spear that had shot princes -and paladins to earth under the full gaze of crownèd Christendom, -turned to a low horse-boy’s duty, my golden mail changed to a -hedgeman’s muddy smock, on foot, degraded, friendless, and forlorn! - -But it was no good grieving. My melancholy served somehow to pass -the way, and when, presently, I shook it off again with one fierce, -final sigh, and peered about, we were slowly winding down a dark road -between high banks into a deeply wooded glen lying straight ahead. -I had noticed now and then, as we came along, a twinkling light or -two standing off from the white roadway, amid the deep black shadows -of the evening, and each time had slowed my gloomy stride, thinking -this were the place we aimed for. Now it was a shepherd’s lonely cot, -high-perched amid the open furze and ling, with a faint red beam of -warmth and light coming from the glowing hearth within. “Ah! here we -be!” I thought. “So Learning is lodged with fleecy Simplicity, and cons -his Ovid amid the things the sweet Latin loved, or reads bucolic Horace -beneath a herdsman’s oak!” - -But that glum palfrey did not stop, and his fantastic master made no -sign. Then it would be a way-side cottage, all criscross-faced with -beam of wood, after the new fashion, and overgrown with rose and -eglantine. “Then this is it,” I sighed--“a comely, peaceful harborage. -One could surely lie safer from the winds of blustering fortune in this -tiny shell than a small white maggot in a winter-hidden nut.” And I put -my hand upon the dim trestle-gate. But stamp--stamp! the steed went on; -and the master never took his chin from off his bosom! - -Well, we had passed in this way some few small homesteads, and seen the -glow-worm lights of a fair, sleeping Tudor village or two shine remote -in the starlight valleys, and then we came all at the same solemn -pace, the same gloomy silence, into that deep-shadowed dell I spoke of. -We dipped down, out of the honest white radiance, between high banks -on either hand, so high that bush and scrub were locked in tangles -overhead and not a blink of light came through. Down that strange black -zigzag we slipped and scrambled, the loose stones rattling beneath our -feet, in pitchy darkness, with never a sound to break the stillness but -the heavy breathing of the horse, and now and then the gurgle of an -unseen streamlet running somewhere in the void. We staggered down this -hell-dark pathway for a lonely mile, and then there loomed up from the -blackness on my right hand a moldy, broken terrace wall, all loose and -cracked, with fallen coping slabs and pedestals displaced, and hideous, -stony, graven monsters here and there glowering in the blackness at -us who passed below. Two hundred paces down this wall we went, and -then came to an opening. At the same moment the pale moon shone out -full overhead and showed me a gate, a garden, and beyond an empty -mansion, so white, so ruinous and ghastly, so marvelously like a dead, -expressionless face suddenly gleaming over the black pall of the night, -that I tightened my hand upon the snaffle strap I held, and bit my lip, -and thanked my fate it was not there I had to sleep. - -Yet could I not help staring at that place. The wall turned in on -either side to meet those gates. They had once been noble and well -wrought and gilded, for here and there the better metal shone in spots -amid the wide expanse of rusty iron that formed them, but now they were -like the broken fangs, methought, of some old hag more than aught else. -The left of these two rotten portals never opened, the nettle and wild -creepers were twined thick about its shattered lower bars, while its -fellow stood ajar, with one hinge gone, and sagging over, desperately -envious, it seemed, of the small footway that wound amid the rank wild -herbage past it. And then that garden! Jove! Was ever such a ghostly -wilderness, such a tangled labyrinth of decay and neglect born out -of the kind, fertile bosom of gentle Mother Earth? Never before had I -seen black cypresses throw such funereal shadows; never had I known -the winter-worn things of summer look so ghoul-like and horrible! But -worst of all was the mansion beyond--a straggling pile, with mighty -chimney stacks, from whence no pleasant smoke curled up, and silent, -grassy courtyards, and lonely flights of broken steps leading to lonely -terraces, and a hundred empty windows staring empty-socketed back upon -the dead white light that shone so straight and cruel on them. Oh! it -was all most forlorn and melancholy, surely an unholy place, steeped -deep with the indelible stain of some black story--and I turned me -gladly from it! - -I turned, and as I did so the horse came to a sudden stop!--stopped -calm and resolute before that ill-omened portal! This woke his master, -who stared and looked up. He saw the house and gates in the full stream -of the moonlight, and then turned to me. - -“Welcome!” he cried, “right welcome to my home! Ho! ho! you shall -sleep snug enough to-night. Look at the shine on it. They have lit up -to welcome us!” and he pointed with a long, fleshless finger to those -ghostly windows! “Ho! ho! ho!” came, like a dead voice, the echo of his -laughter out of the blank courtyard depth, and the old man, so strange -and wild, struck his rusty spurs upon the bare sounding ribs of his -beast and turned and rode through the portal. - -For one minute I held back--’twas all so grim and tragic-looking, and I -was weak, shaken with grief and fasting, unweaponed and alone--for one -minute I held back, and then the red flush of anger burned hot upon my -forehead to think I had been so near to fearing. I tossed back my black -Phrygian locks, and with an angry stride--my spirit roused by that -moment’s weakness--strode sternly across the threshold. - -Down the white gravel way we twined, the loose, neglected path gleaming -wet with night-dew; we brushed by thickets of dead garden things, such -as had once been tall and fair, but now tainted the night air with -their rottenness. We stepped over giant brambles and great fallen -hemlocks--little hedge-pigs, so forsaken was it all, trotting down -the path before us--and bats flitting about our heads. In one place -had been a fountain, and Pan himself standing by it. The fountain was -choked with giant dock and cress, wherefrom some frogs croaked with -dismal glee, while Pan had fallen and lay in pieces on his face across -the way. So we came in a moment or two to the house, and there my -guide dismounted and pulled bit and bridle, saddle and saddle-cloth -from his pony. That beast turned and stepped back into the shadows of -the desolate garden, vanishing with strange suddenness, but whither I -could not guess. Then the old man produced a green-rusty key from under -his belt, and putting it to the lock of the door at top of that flight -of broken steps, which looked as though no foot had trodden them for -fifty years, he turned the rusty wards. The grind and wail of those -stiff bolts had almost human sadness in it, and then we entered a long, -lonely chilly hall. Here my guide felt for flint and steel, and I own I -heard the click of the stone and metal, and saw the first sparks spring -and die upon the pavement, with reasonable satisfaction. - -’Twould have made a good picture, had some one been by to limn it--that -ghastly pale face that might have topped a skeleton, so bloodless -was it, with sharp, keen eyes, a glint in the red glow that came -presently upon the tinder, that strange slouch hat, that ragged, -sorrel, graveyard cloak, and all about the gleam, glancing off the -crumbling finery, the worm-eaten furniture, the broken tile-stones, -the empty, voiceless corridors, the doors set half ajar, the great -carved banisters of the stairway that mounted into the black upper -emptiness of that deserted hall. And then I myself, there by the porch, -watchful and grim, in my sorry rags, the greatest wonder of it all, -eyeing with haughty speculation that old fellow, so ancient and yet so -young, tottering and venerable under the weight of a poor eighty years, -perhaps, while it was three times as much since strong-limbed, supple I -had even sat to a meal! It was truly strange, and I waited for anything -that might come next with calm resignation--a listless faith in the -integrity of chance which put me beyond all those gusty emotions of -hope and fear which play through the fledgling hearts of lesser men. - -The red train of sparks lit upon the tinder while I glanced around, -the old man’s breath blew them into a flame, and this he set to a -rushlight, then turned that pale flame in my direction as he surveyed -his guest from top to toe. I bore the inspection with folded arms, and -when he had done he said: - -“Such thews and sinews, son, as show beneath that hempen shirt of -yours, such breadth of shoulder and stalwartness can scarcely be -nourished on evening dew and sad reflections. Have you eaten lately?” - -“In truth, Sir, it was some time ago I last sat to meat,” was my -response; “and, whether it be our walk or the night-air, I could almost -fancy your father’s father might have shared that meal with me.” - -“Well, come, then, to the banquet-hall--the feast is spread, and, for -guests, people these shadows with whom you will!” and, taking the -rushlight from its socket and hobbling off in front, that strange host -of mine led down the corridor to where a great archway led into the -main chamber of the house. - -It was as desolate and silent as every other place, vast, roomy, blank, -and gloomy. All along one side were latticed windows looking out upon -that dead garden, and the moonbeams coming through them threw faint -reflections of escutcheon and painted glass upon the dusty floor. Here -and there the panes were broken, and draughts from these swayed the -frayed and tattered hangings with ghostly undulations--ah! and at the -top of the room an open door, leading into unknown blackness, kept -softly opening and shutting in the current, as though, with melancholy -monotony, it was giving admittance to unseen, voiceless company. - -But nothing said my friend to excuse all this. He led up the long black -table, with rows of seats and benches fit to seat a hundred guests, -until at the lonely top he found and lit the four branches of a little -oil lamp of green moldy bronze, such as one takes from ancient crypts, -and when the four little flames grew up smoky and dim they shone upon -a napkin ready laid, a flask, a pitcher, and a plate, flanked by a -horn-handled knife and spoon, and an oaken salt-cellar. Then the old -carl next went to a cupboard in a niche, and brought out bread on a -trencher, a cheese upon a round leaden dish, and a curious flask of old -Italian wine. I stared at my host in wonder, for I could have sworn a -Saxon hand had trimmed his knife and spoon, his lamp was Etruscan, as -truly as I lived, though Heaven only knew how he came by it--and that -pitcher--why, Jove! I knew the very Roman pottery marks upon it, the -maker’s sign and name--the very kiln that glazed it. - -He laid a plate for me, and cut the loaf and filled our tankards, -and--“Eat!” he said. “The feast is small, but we have that sauce the -wise have told us would make a worse into a banquet.” - -“Thanks!” I said. “I have, in truth, sat to wider spreads, yet this -is more than I could, a few short hours since, have reasonably hoped -for.” And so I began and broke his bread, and turned about the cheese, -and poured the wine, and made a very good repast out of such modest -provender. But, as you may guess, between every mouthful I could not -help looking up and about me--at the wise-mad features of that quaint -old man, now far away and visionary, again lost in thought and fantasy; -and then out through the broken mullions into that pallid garden of -white spectral things and inky shadows lying so death-like in the -moonshine; and so once more my eye would wander to the long, somber -hall--the stately high-backed chairs all rickety and moth-eaten, and -the door that gently opened now and then to admit the sighing of the -night-wind, and nothing more! - -Well! I will not weary you with experiences so empty. At last the most -spectral meal that ever mortal sat to was over, and the old man roused -himself, and, like one who comes reluctantly from deep thought, drained -out his goblet to the dregs, and turned it down and swept the crumbs -into his plate, and standing up, said in somewhat friendly tone: “You -will be weary, stranger guest, and mayhap I am to-night but a poor -host. If it pleased you, I would show you to a chamber, which, though -mayhap somewhat musty, like much else of mine, shall nevertheless be -drier than yon couch of yours out there by the hazel thicket.” - -“Musty or not, good Sir, I do confess a bed will be welcome. It must be -near four hundred years at least--that is to say, it must be very long, -my sleepy eyes suggest--since I was lain on one.” - -“Come, then!” - -“Yet half a minute, Sir, before we go. This garb of mine--I do not -deign to advert to its poorness, for my own sake, but it does such -small credit to your honor and hospitality. Fortune, in other times, -gave me the right to wear the hose and surtout of a gentleman--if you -had such a livery by you.” - -The scholar thought a space, then bid me stay where I was, and took the -rushlight and went down the passage. In a few minutes he was back, with -a swathe of faded raiment upon his arm, and threw them down upon the -bench. - -“There, choose!” he cried. “It was like a young man to think of -to-morrow’s clothing, between supper-time and bed.” - -The raiment was as mysterious as everything else hereabout. It was all -odds and ends, and quaint old fashions and tags of finery, the faded -panoply of state and pride, the green vest of a forest ranger, the -gaberdine of a marshal of the lists, suits for footmen with the devices -I had seen upon the ruined gates worked on the front in golden thread, -and some few courtly things, such as idle young lords will wear a day -or two and then throw by to wear some newer. - -Out of the latter I selected a suit that looked as though it would fit -me, and, though a little crumpled, was still in reasonable condition. -This vestment, after the fashion of the time, consisted of tight hose -and much-puffed breeches, a fine silk waistcoat coming far down, and -a loose and ample coat upon it, with wide shoulders and long, tight -sleeves. When I add this suit was of amber velvet, lined and puffed -with primrose satin, you will understand that, saving the certain -moldiness about it I have mentioned, it was as good as any reasonable -man could desire. I rolled it up, and put it under my arm, then turned -to my host with something of a smile at the strangeness of it all. - -“A supper, Sir,” I said, “and shelter; a suit of velvet; and then a -bed! Why, surely, this is rare civility between two chance companions -met on a country road!” - -“Ah!” answered the old man, “and if you were as old as I am, you would -know it is rare, but that such things must, somehow, be paid for,” and -he eyed me curiously a moment from under those penthouse eyebrows. “Is -there anything more you lack?” he continued. “To-night it is yours to -ask, and mine to give.” - -“Since you put it to me, worthy host,” I responded, “there is one -other thing I need--something a soldier likes, whether it be in -court or camp, in peaceful hall like this or on the ridges of dank -battlefield--a straight, white comrade that I could keep close -to me all day, a dear companion who would lie nigh by my side at -night--believe me, I have never been without such.” - -“And believe me, young man, I cannot humor you. Fie! if that’s your -fancy, why did you leave yon wanton camp? Gads! but they would have -lined you there civilly enough, but I----What, do you think I can -conjure you a pretty, painted leman for a plaything out of these black -shadows all about us?” - -Whereat I answered seriously: “You mistake my meaning, Sir. It was -no gentle damsel that I needed, but such a companion as I have ever -had--in brief, a weapon, a sword. It was only this I thought of.” - -I heard the old man mutter as he turned away--“A curse on young men and -their wants--new suits, supper and wine, leman, weapons--oh! it’s just -the same with all of them,” and he took the taper from the table and -signed to me to follow. - -He led me down the hall with its bare, cold flagstones and somber -paneling dimly seen under the feeble gleaming light he carried, and in -a few paces my grim host stopped and held that shine aloft. It shone -redly on a tarnished trophy of arms, chain-mail, and helmets, whence -he bid me choose whatever took my fancy, making the while small effort -to hide his contempt for the obvious eagerness and pleasure with -which I sampled that dusty hoard. After a minute or two I selected a -strong Spanish blade, a little light and playful, perhaps, with golden -arabesques all down it, and a pretty fluted hollow for the foeman’s -blood, and a chased love-knot at the hilt; yet, nevertheless, a good -blade, and serviceable, with an edge as keen as a lover’s eye, and a -temper as true as ever was got into good steel, I thought, as I sprang -it on the tiles, between hammer and anvil. This Toledo blade had a -cover of black velvet, bound and hooped with silver bands, and a stout -belt of like kind, nicely suiting that livery I carried upon my arm. I -bound the sword about me, and, after being so long unweaponed, found it -wondrous comfortable and pleasant wear. - -“Now then, Sir Host,” I cried, “lead on! If this chamber of thine were -in the porch of paradise or in the nethermost pit of hell, I am equally -ready to explore it.” - -Up the gloomy stairs we went, now to right and then to left, by -corridors and passages, until the road we came was hopelessly mazed to -me; and soon my host led to a wider, gloomier avenue of silent doorways -than any we had passed. - -“Choose!”--he laughed--“choose you a bed! Better men than you have -lodged--and died--within these cheerful chambers.” And that wild old -man, with furrowed face and mad, sparkling eyes, seeming in that small, -round globe of light like some spectral remnant of the fortunes of his -lonely house, opened door after door for me to note the grim black -solitudes within. In every chamber hung the same staring portraits -on the wall, cold, proud, dead eyes fixed hard upon you wherever you -might look! on every rotten cornice were tattered hangings, half -shrouding those dim cobwebbed windows that gazed so wistfully out upon -the moonlit garden; and dusky panel doors and cupboard casements that -gently creaked and moved upon the sighing draught till you could -swear ghostly fingers played upon the latches; the same stern black -furniture, crumbling and decayed, was in each set straight against the -walls; the same cenotaph four-posted bedsteads with ruined tapestries -and moldy coverlets--“Choose,” he laughed, with a horrid goblin -laughter that rattled down the empty corridors--“my house is roomy, -though the guests be few and silent.” - -But, in truth, there was little to choose where all was so alike. -Therefore, and not to seem the least bit moved by all this -dreadfulness, I threw down my borrowed clothes and rapier upon the -settle in one of the first rooms we happed upon, and said: “Here, then, -good host--and thanks for courteous harborage! What time doth sound -reveillé--what time, I mean, doth thy household wake?” - -“My household, stranger, sleeps on forever. They will not wake for -any mortal sunrise, and I spend the long night-hours in work and -vigil”--and he looked at me with the gloomy fanaticism of an absent -mind--“yet you must wake again,” he went on after a minute. “I have -something to ask thee to-morrow, perhaps something to show----” - -“Why, then, until we meet again, good-night and pleasant vigils, since -it is to them you go.” - -“Good-night, young man, and sober sleep! Remember this is no place to -dream of tilts and tourneys, of lost causes or light leman love”; and, -muttering to himself as he shuffled down the bare, dusty floors, I -heard him pass away from corridor to corridor, and flight to flight, -until even that faint sound was swallowed by the cavernous silence of -the sepulchral mansion, and night and impenetrable stillness fell on -those empty stairways and gaunt voiceless rooms. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - - -I slept all that night a deep, unbroken slumber, waking with the first -glimpse of morning, calm and refreshed, but very sleepily perplexed at -my surroundings. It was only after long cogitations that the thread -of my coming hither took form and shape. When at last I had examined -myself in my antecedents, and reduced them to the melancholy present, I -got up and looked from the window. A fair tract of country lay outside, -deep-wooded and undulating, with pastoral meadows in between the -hangers, and beyond, in the open, that streamlet whose prattle had been -heard the night before lay spread into a broad, rushy tarn overgrown -with green weeds and water things, and then running on through the -flat soft meadows of this hollow where the house was built wound into -the far distance, where it joined something that shone in the low -white light like the gleam of a broader river. It was not a cheerful -morning, for it had rained much, and the chilly mist hung low and still -about these somber-wooded thickets, and the long grass between them; -the sleepy rooks in the nests upon the bare treetops were later to -wing than usual, cawing melancholy from the sodden boughs as though -loth to leave them; and down below nothing sang or moved but the dark -black merle fluttering along the covert side, and the mavis tuning a -plaintive and uncertain note from off the wet fir-tops. - -When I had stared my full, and learned little from the outlook, I -donned those clothes that I had borrowed, and they were a happy choice. -They fitted me like a lady’s glove, and, as I laced and hooked and -belted them before a yellow mirror let into the black panel of my -chamber door, I could not but feel they looked a goodly fashion for -one of my make and build. I had not seemed so stalwart and so sleek, -so straight in limb and broad in shoulder, since I was a Saxon thane. -Then I belted on that pretty sword round my nicely tapering middle, and -ran my fingers through my black Eastern locks, arranging them trimly -inside my high-standing frill, and took another look or two into the -glass, and then with a derisive smile--a little scornful at the secret -pleasure those fine feathers gave me--I went forth. - -Surely never did mortal mason build such a house before! The deepest, -densest forest path that ever my hunter’s foot had trodden was simple -to those mazes of curly stairs and dim passages and wooden alleys -that led by tedious ways to nothing, and creaking, rotten steps that -beguiled the wanderer by sinuous repetitions from desolate wing to -wing and flight to flight. And all the time that I wrestled with -those labyrinthine mazes in the struggle to reach latitudes I knew, -not a sign could I see of my host, not a whisper could I catch of -human voice or familiar sound in that dusty, desolate wilderness. -Such an impenetrable stagnation hung over that empty habitation that -the crow of a distant cock or the yelp of a village cur would have -been a blessed interruption, but neither broke the vault-like, solemn -stillness. From room to room I went, opening countless doors at random, -all leading into spacious, moldy chambers, bare and tenantless, -feeling my way by damp, neglected wall and dangerous broken floorings -to endless cobwebbed windows, unbarring wooden casements and letting -in the watery light that only made the inner desolation more ghostly -conspicuous, but nothing human could I find, nor any prospect but that -same one I had seen before of damp woodlands and marshy water-meadows -out beyond. - -Perhaps for half an hour had I adventured thus hopelessly, lost in the -dusty bowels of that stupendous building; and then--just as I was near -despairing of an exit and meditating a leap from a casement on to the -stony terraces below--opening one final door, that might well have been -but a household cupboard for the storing of linen and raiment, there, -at my feet, was the great main staircase leading, by many a turn and -staging, to the central hall below! I put, with the point of my sword, -a cross upon the outside of that cupboard-door, so that I might know it -again if need be, and then descended. - -Had you seen me coming down those Tudor steps in that Tudor finery--my -hand upon the hilt of my long steel rapier perked behind me, my great -ruffle and my curled mustache, my strong soldier limbs squeezed into -those sweet-fitting satin hose and sleeves, so stern and grim, so -lonely and silent in the white glimmer of the morning shine that came -from distant lattice and painted oriel--you well might have thought me -scarcely flesh and blood--some old Tudor ancestor of that old Tudor -hall stepped from a painter’s canvas just as he was in life, and come -with beatless feet to see what cheer his gross descendants made of it -where he had once lived so noisy and so jolly. - -Down the steps I came, and into the banquet-hall, empty and deserted -like all else, and so sauntered to the table head where I had supped -the evening before. Not one trace of humankind had I seen since the -night, and yet--that little thing quite startled me--the supper had -been cleared away, another napkin spread, another plate, put out with -fruit and bread, and a large beaker of good new milk stood by to -flank them. I stared hard at that simple-seeming meal, and could not -comprehend it. I was near sure the old man had not set it--yet, if he -had, why was there but one plate, one place, one chair, one beaker? -Was it meant for me or him? What fingers had pulled that fruit, or -drawn that milk still warm from its source? I would wait, I thought, -and strolled off to the windows, and down them all slowly in turn, -then back again, to idly hum a favorite tune we had sung yesterday at -Crecy. But still nothing came or stirred. Then I went into the hall and -examined that trophy of weapons and tried them all, and then unbarred -the great door and went out upon the terrace, there to dangle my satin -legs over the balustrades during a long interval of gloomy speculation; -but not a leaf was moving, not a sign or whisper could I see of that -strange old fellow who had brought me hitherto, and now did his duty by -his guest so quaintly. - -At last I went back to the dining-place, and regarded that mysterious -meal with fixed attention. “Now this,” I thought, “is surely spread for -me, and if it is not then it should be. The master of a house may get -him food how and when he likes; but the guest’s share is put ready to -his hand. I have waited a long hour and more, the sun is high, surely -that learned pedant could not mean to belay his courtesy by starving -a stranger visitor! No, it were certainly affectation to wait longer: -at the worst there must be more where these good things came from.” -And being hungry, and having thus appeased my conscience, I clapped my -sword upon the table and fell to work, and in a short space had made a -light though sufficient meal and cleared everything eatable completely -from the table. - -I was the better for it, yet this strange solitude began to weigh -upon me. But a few hours since--surely it was no more--I had been in -a busy camp, bright with all the panoply of war, active, bustling; -and here--why, the white mists seemed creeping through me, it was so -damp and melancholy, the tawny mildew of these walls seemed settling -down upon my spirit. Jove! I felt, by comparison of what I had been -and was, already touched with the clammy rottenness of this place, and -slowly turning into a piece of crumbling lumber, such as lay about on -every hand--a tarnished, faded monument to a life that was bygone. Oh! -I could not stand the house, and, taking my cap and sword, strolled -down the garden, full of pensive thoughts, morose, uncaring, and so out -into the woods beyond, and over hill and dale, a long walk that set the -stagnant blood flowing in my sleepy veins, and did me tonic good. - -Leaving the hall where so strange a night had been spent, I strode out -strongly over hill and dale for mile after mile, without a thought -of where the path might lead. I stalked on all day, and came back in -the evening; yet the only thing worthy of note upon that round was -a familiarness of scene, a certain feeling of old acquaintance with -plain and valley, which possessed me when I had gone to the farthest -limit of the walk. At one hilltop I stopped and looked over a wide, -gently swelling plain of verdure, with a grassy knoll or two in sight, -and woods and new wheat-fields shining emerald in the April sunlight, -while far away the long clouds were lying steady over the dim shine -of a distant sea. I thought to myself, “Surely I have seen all this -before. Yonder knoll, standing tall among the lesser ones--why does it -appeal so to me? And that distant flash of water there among the misty -woodlands a few miles to westward of it? Jove! I could, somehow, have -sworn there had been a river there even before I saw the shine. Some -sense within me knows each swell and hollow of this fair country here, -and yet I know it not. They were not my Saxon glades that spread out -beneath me, and the distant stream swept round no such steep as that -castled mount wherefrom I had set out for Crecy.” I could not justify -that spark of vague remembrance, and long I sat and wondered how or -when in a wide life I had seen that valley, but fruitlessly. Yet fancy -did not err, though it was not for many days I knew it. - -Then, after a time, I turned homeward. Homeward, was it? Well, it was -as much thitherward as any way I knew, though, indeed, I marveled as I -went why my feet should turn so naturally back to that gloomy mansion -peopled only by shadows and the smell of sad suggestions. Perhaps -my mind just then was too inert to seek new roads, and accepted the -easiest, after the manner of weak things, as the inevitable. Be this as -it may, I went back that wet, misty afternoon, alone with my melancholy -listlessness through the damp dripping woods and coppices, where the -dead ferns looked red as blood in the evening glow. I was so heedless -I lost my way once or twice, and, when at length the dead front of the -old house glimmered out of the mist ahead, the early night was setting -in, and that lank, dejected garden, those ruined terraces, and hundred -staring, empty windows frowning down on the grave-green courtyard -stones seemed more forsaken, more mournful-looking even than it had the -night before. - -I found the front door ajar, exactly as it was left, and, groping -about, presently discovered the tinder and steel. I made a light, and -laughed a little bitterly to think how much indeed I was at home; -then, in bravado and mockery, unsheathed my sword and went from room -to room, in the gathering dusk, stalking sullen and watchful, with -the gleam of light held above my head, down each clammy corridor and -vault-like chamber; rapped with my hilt on casement and panels, and, -listening to the gloomy echo that rumbled down that ghoulish palace, -I pricked with my rapier-point each swelling, rotting curtain; I -punctured every ghostly, swinging arras, and stabbed the black shadows -in a score of dim recesses. But nothing I found until, in one of these, -my sword-point struck something soft and yielding, and sank in. Jove! -it startled me. ’Twas wondrous like a true, good stab through flesh -and bone; and my fingers tightened upon the pommel, and I sent the -blade home through that yielding, unseen “something,” and a span deep -into the rotten wall beyond; then looked to see what I had got. Faugh! -’twas but a woman’s dress left on a rusty nail, a splendid raiment -once--such as a noble girl might wear, and a princess give--padded and -quilted wondrously, with yards of stitching down the front, wherefrom -rude hands had torn gold filigree and pearl embroideries, and where the -wearer’s heart had beat those rough fingers had left a faded rose still -tied there by a love-knot on a strand of amber silk--a lovely gown once -on a time, no doubt, but now my sword had run it through and through -from back to bosom. Lord! how it smelled of dead rose, and must, and -moth! I shook it angrily from my weapon, and left it there upon the -rotten boards, and went on with my quest. - -But neither high nor low, nor far nor near, was there to be found the -smallest trace of my host or any living mortal. At last, weary and -wet, and oppressed with those vast echoing solitudes, I went back to -the great hall--passed all the untouched litter I had made in the -morning--and so to the banquet-place. I walked up the long black tables -set solemn with double rows of empty chairs, and lit the lamp that -stood at top. It burned up brightly in a minute--and there beneath I -saw the morning meal had been removed, the supper napkin neatly laid, -and bread, wine, and cheese laid out afresh for one! - -So unexpected was that neat array, so quaint, so out of keeping with -the desolate mansion, that I laughed aloud, then paused, for down in -the great vaulty interior of that house the echo took my laughter up, -and the lone merriment sounded wicked and infernal in those soulless -corridors. Well! there was supper, while I was tired and hungry I would -not be balked of it though all hell were laughing outside. In the vast -empty grate I made a merry fire with some old broken chairs, a jolly, -roaring blaze that curled about the mighty iron dogs as though glad -to warm the chilly hearth again, and went flaming and twisting up the -spacious chimney in right gallant kind. Then I lifted the stopper of -the wine-jar, and, finding it full of a good Rhenish vintage, set to -work to mull it. I fetched a steel gorget from the trophy in the hall, -poured the liquor therein, and put it by the blaze to warm. And to make -the drink the more complete I spit an apple on my rapier point and -toasted the pippin by the embers, thus making a wassail bowl of most -superior sort. - -I ate, and drank, and supped very pleasantly that evening, while -the strong wind whistled among the chimney-stacks and rattled with -unearthly persistence upon the casements, or opened and shut, now soft, -now fiercely, a score of creaking distant doors. The spluttering rain -came down upon the fire by which I sat in my quaint finery, warming my -Tudor legs by that Tudor blaze; the tall, spectral things of the garden -beyond the curtainless windows nodded and bent before the storm; loose -strands of ivy beat gently upon the panes like the wet long fingers of -ghostly vagrants imploring admission; the water fell with measured beat -upon the empty courtyard stones from broken gargoyle and spout, like -the fall of gently pattering feet, and the strangest sobbing noises -came from the hollow wainscoting of that strange old dwelling-place. -But do you think I feared?--I, who had lived so long and known so -much--I, who four times had seen the substantial world dissolve into -nothing, and had awoke to find a new earth, born from the dusty ashes -of the past--I, who had stocked four times the void air with all I -loved--I, for whom the shadowy fields of the unknown were so thickly -habited--I, to whom the teeming material world again was so unpeopled, -so visionary, and desolate? I mocked the wild gossip of the storm, and -grimly wove the infernal whispers of that place into the thread of my -fancies. - -Hour by hour I sat and thought--thought of all the rosy pictures of the -past, of all the bright beams of love I had seen shine for me in maiden -eyes, all the wild glitter and delight of twenty fiery combats, all the -joy and success, all the sorrow and pleasure, of my wondrous life; and -thus thought and thought until I wore out even the storm, that went -sighing away over the distant woodlands, and the fire, that died down -to a handful of white ashes, and the wine-pot, that ran dry and empty -with the last flames in the grate; and then I took my sword and the -taper, and, leaving the care of to-morrow to the coming sunrise, went -up the solemn staircase and threw myself upon the first dim couch in -the first black chamber that I met with. - -I threw myself upon a bed dressed as I was, but could not sleep as -soon as I wished. Instead, a heavy drowsiness possessed me, and now -I would dream for a minute or two, and then start up and listen as -some distant door was opened, or to the quaint gusts that roamed about -those corridors and seemed now and then to hold whispered conclave -outside my door. It was like a child, I knew, to be so restless; but -yet he who lives near to the unknown grows by nature watchful. It did -not seem possible I had fathomed all the mystery there was in that -gloomy mansion, and so I dozed, and waked, and wondered, waiting in -spite of myself for something more all in the deep shadow of my rotten -bed-hangings; now speculating upon my host, and why he tenanted such a -life-forsaken cavern, and ate and drank from ancient crockery, and had -store of moldy finery and rusty weapons; and then idly guessing who had -last slept on this creaking, somber bed, and why the pillows smelled so -much of moldiness, and mildew; or again listening to the wail of the -expiring wind among the chimneys overhead, and the dismal sodden drip -of water falling somewhere. Perhaps I had amused myself like that an -hour, and it was as near as might be midnight: the low, white moon was -just a-glimpse over the sighing treetops in the wilderness outside. I -had been dozing lightly, when, on a sudden, my soldier ear distinctly -caught a footfall in the passage without, and, starting up upon my -elbow in the black shadow of the bed, I gripped the hilt of the sword -that lay along under the pillows and held my breath, as slowly the door -was opened wide, and, before my astounded eyes, a tall, dark figure -entered! - -It was all done so quietly that, beyond the first footfall and the soft -click of the lifting latch, I do not think a sound broke the heavy -stillness that, between two pauses of the wind, reigned throughout the -empty house. Very gently that dusky shadow by my portal shut the door -behind, and it might have been only the outer air that entered with -him, or something in that presence itself, but a cold, damp breath of -air pervaded all the room as the latch fell back. - -I did not fear, and yet my heart set off a-thumping against my ribs, -and my fingers tightened upon the fretted hilt of my Toledo blade as -that thing came slowly forward from the door, and, big and tall, and -so far indistinct, stalked slowly to the bed-foot, touching the posts -like one who, in an uncertain light, reassures him by the feel of -well-known landmarks, and so went round toward the latticed window. I -did not stir, but held my breath and stared hard at that black form, -that, all unconscious of my presence, slowly sauntered to the light -and took form and shape. In a minute it was by the lattice and, to -my stern, wondering awe, there, in the pale white moonshine, looking -down into the desolate garden beyond with melancholy steadfastness, was -the figure of a tall, black Spanish gallant. In that white radiance, -against the ebony setting of the room, he was limned with extraordinary -clearness. Indeed, he was a great silver column now of stenciled -brightness against the black void beyond, and I could see every point -and detail in his dress and features as though it were broad daylight. -He was--or must I say, he had been?--a tall, slim man, long-jointed and -sparse after the manner of his nation, and to-night he wore something -like the fashion of his time--black hose and shoes, a black-seeming -waistcoat, a loose outdoor hood above it, a slouch cap, a white ruffle, -and a broad black-leather belt with a dagger dangling from it. So -much was ordinary about him, but--Jove!--his face in that uncertain -twilight was frightful! It was cadaverous beyond expression, and tawny -and mean, and all the shadows on it were black and strong; and out of -that dreary parchment mask, making its lifelessness the more deadly by -their glitter, shone two restless, sunken eyes. He kept those yellow -orbs turned upon the garden, and then presently put up a hand and -began stroking his small pointed beard, still seeming lost in thought, -and next, stretching out a finger--and, Hoth! what a wicked-looking -talon it did seem!--the shape began drawing signs upon the mistiness -of the diamond panes. At the same time he began to mutter, and there -was something quaintly gruesome about those disconnected syllables in -the midnight stillness; yet, though I leaned forward and peered and -listened, nothing could I learn of what he wrote or said. He fascinated -me. I forgot to speak or act, and could only regard with dumb wonder -that outlined figure in the moonlight and the long-dead face so -dreadfully ashine with life. So bewitched was I that had that vision -turned and spoken I should have made the best shift to answer that -were possible; there was some tie, I felt, between him and me more -than showed upon the surface of this chance meeting of ours--something -which even as I write I feel is not yet quite explained, though I -and that shadow now know each other well. But, instead of speaking, -that presence, man or spirit, from the outer spaces, left off his -scratching on the window, and, with a shrug of his Spanish shoulders -and a malediction in guttural Bisque, turned from the window-cell and -walked across the room. As he did so I noticed--what had been invisible -before--in his left hand a canvas bag, and, by the shape and weight of -it, that bag seemed full of money. I watched him as he stalked across -the room, watched him disappear into the shadow, and then listened, -with every sense alert, to the click of the latch and the creak of the -door as he left my chamber by the opposite side to that whereat he -entered. - -[Illustration: He kept those yellow orbs turned upon the garden] - -As those faint, ghostly footsteps died away slowly down the corridor, -my native sense came back, and, in a trice, I was on foot, dressed as -I had lain me down, and, snatching my sword and cloak in a fever of -expectation, I ran over to the window and looked upon the writing. It -was figures--figures and sums in ancient Moorish Arabesque; and the -long, sharp nail-marks of that hideous midnight mathematician were -still penciled clearly on the moonlit dew. - -My blood was now coursing finely in my veins, and, hot and eager to -see some more of this grim stranger, I strode across the room and -stepped out into the passage. At first it seemed that he had gone -completely, for all was so still and silent; but the white light -outside was throwing squares of silver brightness from many narrow -windows on the dusty floor--and there he was, in a moment, crossing -the farthest patch, tall and silvery in that radiance, with his long, -slim, black legs, his great ruffle, and flapping cloak--looking most -wicked. I went forward, making as little noise as might be, and seeing -my ghostly friend every now and then, until when we had traversed -perhaps half that deserted mansion I lost him where three ways divided, -and went plunging and tripping forward, striving to be as silent as I -could--though why I know not--and making instead at every false step a -noise that should have startled even ghostly ears. But I was now well -off the trail, and nothing showed or answered. It was black as hell in -the shadows, and white as day where the moonbeams slanted in from the -oriels, and through this chilly checker I went, feeling on by damp old -walls and worm-eaten wainscoting; slipping down crumbling stairs that -were as rotten as the banisters which went to dust beneath my touch; -opening sullen oaken doors and peering down the dreary wastes within; -listening, prying, wondering--but nowhere could I find that shadowy -form again. - -I followed the chase for many minutes far into a lonely desert wing of -the old house, then paused irresolute. What was I to do? I had my cloak -upon one hand, and my naked rapier was in the other; but no light, or -any means of making one. The vision had gone, and I found, now that -the chase had ended, and my blood began to tread a sober measure, it -was dank, chilly, and dismal in these black, draughty corridors. Worse -still, I had lost all count and reckoning of where my bed had been, -and, though that were small matter in such a house, yet somehow I -felt it were well to reach the vantage-ground of more familiar places -wherein to wait the morning. So, as nearly as was possible, I groped -back upon my footsteps by tedious ways and empty chambers, low in heart -and angry; now stopping to listen to the fitful moaning of the wind or -the pattering rain-spots on the grass, or some distant panels creaking -in distant chambers; half thinking that, after all, I had been a fool, -and cozened by some sleepy fancy. And so I went back, dejected and -dispirited, until presently I came to a gloomy arch in a long corridor, -tapestried across with heavy hangings. Unthinkingly I lifted them, -and there--there, as the curtains parted--thirty paces off, a bright -moonlit doorway gently opened, and into the light stepped that same -black-browed foreigner again! - -I did what any other would have done, though it was not -valiant--stepped back against the niche and drew the tapestry folds -about me, and so hidden waited. Down he sauntered leisurely straight -for my hiding-place, and as he came there was full time to note every -wrinkle and furrow on that sullen, ashy face! Hoth! he might have been -a decent gentleman by daylight, but in the nightshine he looked more -like a week-dead corpse than aught else, and, with eyes glued to those -twinkling eyes of his, and bated breath and irresolute fingers hard-set -upon my pommel-hilt, I waited. He came on without a pause or sign to -show he knew that he was watched, and, as he crossed the last patch of -light, I saw the bag of gold was gone, and the hand that had carried -it was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. Another minute and we were -not a yard apart. What good was valor there, I thought? What good were -weapons or courage against the malignity of such an infernal shadow? -I held back while he passed, and in a minute it was too late to stop -him. Yet, I could follow! And, half ashamed of that moment’s weakness, -and with my courage budding up again, I started from my hiding-place, -and, brandishing my rapier, my cloak curled on my other arm as though -I went to meet some famous fencer, I ran after the Spaniard. And -now he heard me, and, with one swift look over his shoulder and a -startled guttural cry, set off down the passage. From light to light -he flashed, and shadow to shadow, I hot after him, my courage rampant -now again, and all the bitterness and disappointment of the last few -days nerving my heart, until I felt I could exchange a thrust or two -with the black arch-fiend himself. ’Twas a brief chase! At the bottom -of the corridor stood a solid oak partition--I had him safe enough. I -saw him come to that black barrier, and hesitate: whereon I shouted -fiercely, and leaped forward, and in another minute I was there where -he had been--and the corridor was empty, and the paneled partition was -doorless and unmoved, and not a sound broke the stillness of that old -house save my own angry cry, that the hollow echoes were bandying about -from ghostly room to room, and corridor to empty corridor! - - - - -CHAPTER XX - - -A bright dazzle of sunshine roused me with the following sunrise. -I rubbed my sleepy lids and sat up, vaguely gazing round upon the -tarnished hangings, the immovable white faces of the pictures on the -wall, and the dusty floor whereon, in the grayness of countless years, -was marked just the outlines of last night’s feet, and nothing more. -However, it was truly a lovely morning, and, moved by that subtle tonic -which comes with sunshine, I felt brighter and more confident. - -Having dressed, I went down the old staircase again to the breakfast -which would certainly be ready, unbarring as I passed the casements and -setting wide the great hall door, that the cool breath of that spring -morning might sweep away the mustiness of the old house, even humming a -snatch of an old camp song, learned in Picardy, to myself the while. -Thus, I gained the dining-hall in good spirits, and saw, as had been -expected, a new meal set with modest food and drink for me, and me -alone, but no other sign or trace of human presence. - -I sat and ate, vowing as I did so this riddle had gone far enough -unanswered, and before that shiny, sparkling world outside (all tears -and laughter like a young maid’s face) was a few hours older I would -know who was my host, who served me thus persistent and invisible, -and what might be the service I was looked to to pay for such quaint -entertainment. Therefore, as soon as the meal was done, I belted on my -sword and straightened down my finery, the which had lost its creases -and sat extremely well, and, smoothing the thick mass of my black -Eastern hair under my velvet Tudor cap, sallied forth. - -There was nothing new about the garden save the sunshine, and, having -intently regarded the broad-terraced and mullioned front of the house -without learning one single atom more than I knew before, I resolved -to force a way round to the rear if it were possible. But this was not -so easy. On one hand were thickets of shrub and bramble laced into -dense, impenetrable barriers, and on the other great yew hedges in -solemn ranks, with vast masses of ivy and holly forbidding a passage. -But, nothing daunted, I walked down to these yews, and peering about -soon perceived a tangled pathway leading into their fastness. It was -a narrow little way, begrudgingly left between those sullen hedges, -thick-grown with dank weeds below, and arched over by neglected growth -so that the sun could not shine into these dusky alleys, and the paths -were wet and chilly still. - -Well, I pushed on, now to right and now to left, amid the tangles of -one of those old mazes that gardeners love to grow, and until only the -tall smokeless chimney-stacks of the deserted house shone red under -the sunshine over the bough-tops in the distance, and then I paused. -It was all so strangely quiet, and so lonesome--I had been solitary so -long, it seemed doubtful whether any one was alive in the world but -me--why, surely, I was thinking, there were no human beings at least -about this shadow-haunted spot. It were idle to seek for them. I would -give it up. And just as I was meditating that--had half turned to go, -and yet was standing irresolute--Jove! right from the air in front of -me, right out from the black bosom of the shadowy yew and ivies, there -burst a wild elfin strain of laughter, a merry bubbling peal, a ringing -cascade of fairy merriment, a sparkling avalanche of disembodied -mirth, that, like some sweet essence, permeated on an instant all -that gloomy place, and thrilled down the damp alleys, and shook the -thousand colored drops of dew from bent and leaf, and vibrated in the -misty prismatic sunshine up above, and then was gone, leaving me rooted -to the ground with the suddenness of it, and half delighted and half -amazed. But only for a moment, and then I leaped forward and saw a -turning, and found at bottom of it a gap, and plunged headlong through! - -It was a pretty scene I staggered into. In front of me spread the open -center of the maze, a grassy space some twenty paces all about, and -lying clear to the sunshine falling warm and strong upon it. In the -midst of that fair opening, shut off from wind and outer barrenness, -had once been a fountain with a basin, and, though the jet played -no longer, yet the white marble pool below it, stained golden and -green with moss and weather, held from brim to brim a little lake -of sparkling water. And about that fountain, bright in decay, the -green ferns were unwinding, while great clumps of gold narcissus hung -trembling over their own reflection in the broken basin. Overhead, -there was a blossoming almond-tree, a cloud of pale-pink buds wherefrom -a constant cheerful hum of bees came forth, and a pale rain of petals -fell on to the ground beneath and tinted it like a rosy snow. No -other way existed in or out of that delightful circle save where I -had entered, but little paths ran here and there among the grass, and -industrious love had marked them out with pretty country flowers--pale -primroses all damp and cool among the shadows, broad bands of purple -violets lining seductive alleys, splendid starlike saffron outshining -even the gorgeous sun, and blushing daisies, with varnished kingcups -where the fountain ran to waste. It was as pretty a dominion--as sweet -an oasis in that dank, dark desert beyond--as you could wish to see, -and the clear, strong breath of flowers, and the warm wine of the -sunshine set my blood throbbing deep and swift to a new sense of love -and pleasure as I stood there spellbound on the dewy threshold. - -But, fair as earth and sky looked in that magic circle, they were not -all. Kneeling at the broken marble fountain, her dainty sleeves rolled -to pearly elbows, the strands of her loose brown hair dipping as she -bent over the shining water, with white muslin smock neatly bunched -behind her, a milky kerchief knotted across her bosom, and a great -country hat of straw by her side, knelt a fair young English girl. She -did not see me at once, her face was turned away, and on her other hand -she was tending a noble peacock, a splendid fowl indeed--as stately -as though he were the Suzerain of all Heaven’s chickens--ivory white -from bill to spurs, crested with a coronet of living topaz, and with -a mighty fan upreared behind him of complete whiteness from quill -to fringe, saving the last outer row of gorgeous eyes that shone in -gold and purple and amethyst refulgent in that spotless field!--a -magnificent bird indeed, and fully wotting of it--and that kneeling -maid was dipping water for him in her rosy palm, and the great bird -was perched upon the marble rim and dropping his ivory beak into that -sweet chalice and lifting his lovely throttle and flashing coronet to -the sky ever and anon, while the thrill of the girl’s light laughter -echoed about the place, and the almond-blossoms showered down on them, -and the bees hummed, and the sweet incense of the spring was drawn from -the warm, budding earth, flowers glittered, the sun shone, and the sky -was blue, as I, the intruder, stood, silent and surprised, before that -dainty picture. - -[Illustration: The great bird was dropping his ivory beak into the -sweet chalice] - -In a moment the girl looked up and saw me in my amber suit and ruffle, -my rapier and cap, standing there against the black framing of the -maze; and then she did as I had done--stared, and rubbed her eyes, and -stared again! In a moment she seemed to understand I was something more -than a fancy, whereat, with a little scream of fear, she sprang to her -feet, and, crossing the kerchief closer on her bosom, pulled down her -sleeves and backed off toward the almond-tree. But I had that comely -apparition fairly at bay, and, after so many hours without company, did -not feel a mind to let her go too easily, whether she proved fay or -fairy, nymph, naïad, or just plain country flesh and blood. - -I pulled off my cap, and, with a sweeping bow, advanced slowly toward -her, whereon she screamed again. - -“Fair girl,” I said, “I grieve to interrupt so sweet a picture with -my uninvited presence, but, wandering down these paths, your laughter -burst upon the stillness and drew me here.” - -“And now, Sir,” quoth that fair material sprite, recovering herself, -and with a pretty air, “you would ask the shortest way to the public -road. It lies there to your left, beyond the hollybank you see over by -the meadows.” - -“Why, not exactly that,” I laughed. “I have an idle hour or two on -hand, and, since you seem to have the same, I would rather rest content -with the good fortune which brought me hither than try new paths for -lesser pleasures. If you would sit, I think this grassy mound is broad -enough for two.” - -I meant it well, but the maid was timid, and far from rescue in the -wilderness of that maze. The color mounted to her cheeks until they -were pinker than the almond-buds overhead. She looked this way and -that, and gave one fleeting glance round the strong, close-set walls -of that sunny garden among the yews, then just one other glance at me, -that dangerous stranger in silk and satin, standing so gallant, cap in -hand, and finally she was away, running like a hind toward the only -outlet, the gap by which I had come in. But was I to be robbed of a -pretty comrade so? Was the lovely elf of the neglected garden to slip -between my fingers without answering one single question of the many I -would ask? I spun round upon my heels, and, quick as that maiden’s feet -were on the turf, mine were quicker. We got to the gap together, and, -in another minute, her kirtle fluttering in the breeze, her loose hair -adrift, and the flush of fear and exertion on her youthful face, that -comely lady was struggling in my grasp. - -I held her just so long as she might recognize how strong her bonds -were, then set her free. If she had been pink before, that maid was now -ruddier than the windflowers in the grass. “Oh, fie, Sir!” she began, -as soon as she could get her breath. “Oh, fie, and for shame! You wear -the raiment of a gentleman, you carry courtly arms, you do not look at -least a rough, uncivil rogue, and yet you burst into a privy garden and -fright and offend a harmless girl--oh! for shame, Sir!--if gentleness -and courtesy are so poor barriers, we shall need to look the better to -our hedges--let me by, Sir!” and, gathering her skirts in her hand and -tossing back her head with all the haughtiness she could command, that -damsel looked me boldly in the eyes. - -Fair, foolish girl! she thought to stare me down--I, who had eyed -unmoved a thousand sights of dread and wonder--I, who had mocked the -stare of cruel tyrants and faced unblanching the worst that heaven or -hell could work--what! was I to be out of countenance under the feeble -battery of such gentle orbs as those? ’Twas boldly conceived, but it -would not do, and in a moment she felt it, and her eyes fell from mine, -the color rushed again from brow to chin, she let her flowered skirt -fall from her grip, she turned away for a moment, and there and then -burst out a-crying behind her hands as though the world were quite -inside out. - -Now, to stand the fair open assault of her eyes was one thing, but such -sap as this was more than my resolution could abide. “You do mistake -me, maid, indeed,” I cried. “I swear there is no deed of courtesy or -good-will in all the world I would not do for you.” - -“Why, then, Sir, do the least and easiest of all--stand from that gap -and let me pass.” - -“If you insist upon it, even that I must submit to. There!--there is -your way free and unhampered!” and I stood back and left the passage -clear--“and yet, before you go, fair lady, let me crave of your -courtesy one question or two, such as civility might ask, and courtesy -very reasonably answer.” - -Now that maid had dried her tears, and had been stealing some sundry -glances at me under the fringe of her wet lashes while we spoke, and -as a result she did not seem quite so wishful to be gone as she had -been. She eyed the free gap in the tall wall of yew and holly, and -then, demurely, me. The pretty corners of her mouth began to unbend, -and while her fingers played among her ribbons, and the color came and -went under her clear country skin, feminine curiosity got the better of -timidity, and she hesitated. - -“Oh!” she murmured, “if it were a civil question civilly asked, I could -wait for that. What can I tell you?” - -“First then, are you of true material substance, not vagrant and -spiritual, but, as you certainly look, a healthy, plain planed mortal?” - -“Had I been else, Sir,” the damsel answered, with a smile, “I had found -a short way out of the trap you saw fit to hold me in.” - -“That is true, no doubt, and I accept this initial answer with due -thanks. I had not asked it, but lodging so long amid shadows sets my -prejudice against the truth, even of the sweetest substance.” - -“And next, Sir?” - -“Next, how came you in this lonely place, with these pretty playthings -about you? How came you in my garden here, where I thought nothing but -silence and sadness grew?” - -“Your garden! What hole in our outer fences gave you that warrant, -Sir?” queried the young lady, with a toss of her head. “How long user -of trespass makes that right presumptive? Faith! until you spoke I -thought the garden was mine and my father’s!” and the young lady, for -such I now acknowledged her to be, looked extremely haughty. - -“What! Hast thou, then, a father?” - -“Yes, Sir. Is it so unusual with our kind that you should be surprised?” - -“And who is thy father?” - -“A very learned man indeed, Sir; one who hath more wit in his little -finger than another brave gentleman will have in all his body. Of -nature so courteous that he instinctively would respect the privacy of -a neighbor’s property and manners, so finished he would never stay a -maiden at her morning walk to bandy idle questions with her all out of -vanity of black curled hair and a new, mayhap unpaid-for, yellow suit. -If you had no more to ask me, Sir, I think, I would wish you good-day.” - -“But stay a minute. It seems to me I might know thy father; and this is -the very point and center of my inquisitiveness.” - -“If you did, it were much to your advantage, but I doubt it. He is -recluse and grave, not given to chance companions, or, in fact, to -friend with any but some one or two.” - -“Ah! that may well be so,” I said thoughtlessly, speaking with small -consideration and recalling the vision of my ancient host just as it -came to me--“a sour, wizened old carl, clad in rusty green, a-straddle -of a spavined, ragged palfrey; mean-seeming, morose, and sullen--why, -maid, is that thy father?” - -“No, Sir!” - -“Gads!” I laughed, “it was discourteously spoken. I should have said, -now I come to reflect more closely on it, a reverent gentleman, indeed, -white-bearded and sage, with keen eyes shining severe, the portals of -a well-filled mind. A carriage that bespoke good breeding and gentle -blood; raiment that disdained the pomp of silly, fickle fashion, and a -general air of learning and of mildness.” - -“My father, Sir, to the very letter, Master Adam Faulkener, the wisest -man, they say, this side of the Trent, and greatly (I know he would -have me add) at your service.” - -“And you?” - -“I am Mistress Elizabeth Faulkener, daughter to that same; and if, -indeed, you know my father, then, as my father’s friend, I tender you -my humble and respectful duty,” and the young lady half mockingly, and -half out of gay spirit, picked up her flowered muslin skirt, by two -dainty fingers, on either side and made me a long, sweeping curtesy. - -A pretty flower indeed, for such a rugged stem! - -“But this is only half the matter, fair girl,” I went on, when my -responding bow had been duly made. “If that venerable gentleman indeed -be thy father, and this his house and thine, it is more strange than -ever. I came here two evenings since by his explicit invitation, but -since that time I have not set eyes upon him. High and low have I -hunted, I have pricked arras and rapped on hollow panels, trodden yon -ghostly corridors at every hour of the day and night, yet for all that -time no sight or sound of host or hostess could I get. Now, out of thy -generous nature and the civility due to a wondering guest, tell me how -was this.” - -“Why, Sir! Do you mean to say since two nights past you have been -lodged back there?” - -“Ah! three days, in yon grim, moldy mansion.” - -“What! there, in that melancholy front of the many windows--and all -alone?” - -“The very simple, native truth!--alone in yonder tenement of faint, sad -odors and mournful, sighing draughts, alone save for a mind stocked -with somewhat melancholy fancies--mislaid by him, it seemed, who -brought me thither--dull, solitary, and damp--why, damsel!” - -And, in faith, when I had got so far as that, the maiden sank back -upon a grassy heap and hid her face behind her hands, and gave way to -a wild, tumultuous fit of laughter, a golden cascade of merriment that -fell thick and sparkling from the sunny places of her youthful joyance, -as you see the heavy rain-drops glint through a bright April sky; a -wild, irresistible torrent of frolic glee that wandered round the -faroff alleys, and raised a hundred answering echoes of pleasure in -that enchanted garden. - -Presently the maid recovered, and, putting down her hands, asked--“And -your meals--how came you by them?” - -“They were laid for me twice each day in the great hall by unseen -hands, most punctual and mysterious. ’Twas simple fare, but sufficient -to a soldier, and each time I cleared the table and went afield, when I -came back it was reset; yet no one could I see--no sound there was to -break the stillness----” - -Again that lady burst into one of her merry trills, and, when it was -over, signed me to sit beside her. I was not loth. She was fair and -young and tender--as pretty an Amaryllis as ever a country Corydon did -pipe to. So down I sat. - -“Now,” said she, “imprimis, Sir, I do confess we owe you recompense -for such scant courtesy; but I gather how it happened. This is, as I -have said, my father’s house, and mine; and time was, once, it has been -told me, when he had near as many servants as I have flowers here, with -friends unending; and all those blank windows, yonder, were full of -lights by night and faces in the day. Then this garden was trim--not -only here but everywhere--and great carriages ground upon the gravel -drive, and the courtyard was full of caparisoned palfreys. That was all -just so long ago, Sir, that I remember nothing of it.” - -“I can picture it, damsel,” I said, as she sighed and hesitated; “and -how came this difference?” - -“I do not know for certain--I have often wondered why, myself--but my -father presently had spent all his money, and perhaps that somehow -explained it,” sighed my fair philosopher. “Then, too, he took -studious, and let his estate shift for itself, while he pored over -great tomes and learned things, and hid himself away from light and -pleasure. That might have scared off those gay acquaintances--might it -not, Sir?” queried the lady so unlearned in worldly ways. - -“It were a good recipe, indeed,” was my answer: “none better! To grow -poor and wise is high offense with such a gilded throng as you have -mentioned. So then the house emptied, and the gates no longer stood -wide open; the garden was forsaken, and grass grew on thy steps; owls -built in thy corridors--a dismal picture, and sad for thee, but this -does not explain the strange entertainment I have had. Where is your -father lodged? And you--how is it we have not met before?” - -“Oh,” said the damsel, brightening up again, “that is easily -explained. When his friends left him, my father dismissed all his -servants but one--a Spanish steward--and good old Mistress Margery, my -nurse (and, saving my father, my only friend), then lodged himself back -yonder in the far rear of our great house, and there I have grown up.” - -“Like a fair flower in a neglected spot,” I hazarded. - -“Ah! and secure from the shallow tongues of silly flatterers, old -Margery tells me. Now, my father, as you may have noted, is at times -somewhat visionary and absent. It thus may well have happened that, -bringing you here a guest, he would by old habit have taken you, as he -was so long accustomed, to the great barren front and lodged you so. -Once lodged there, it is perfectly within his capacity to have utterly -forgot your very existence.” - -“But the meals--for whom were they spread, if not for me?” - -“Why, simply for my father. He has, where he works, a cupboard, wherein -is kept brown bread and wine, and, sometimes, when studious studies -keep him close, he goes to it and will not look at better or more -ordered meals. Then, again, when the fancy takes him, he will have -a place put for himself in the great deserted hall, and sups there -all alone. Now, this has been his mood of late, and I can only fancy -that when you came the whim did change all on a sudden, and thus you -inherited each day that which was laid for him, who, too studious, came -not, and old slow-witted Margery, finding every time the provender was -gone, laid and relaid with patient remembrance of her orders.” - -“A very pretty coil indeed!--and I, no doubt, being sadly wandering -afield all day, just missed thy ancient servitor each time.” - -“And had you ever come in upon her heels you would have seen her hobble -up one silent corridor and down another, and press a button on a panel, -and so pass through a doorway that you would never find alone, from -your tenement to ours. Oh, it makes me laugh to think of you pent -there! I would have given a round dozen of my whitest hen’s eggs to -have been by to see how you did look.” - -“That had been a contingency, fair maid, which had greatly lightened my -captivity,” I answered; and the lady went babbling on in the prettiest, -simplest way, half rustic and half courtly in her tones, as might be -looked for in one brought up as she had been. - -For an hour, perhaps, we lay and basked in the pleasant warmth, while -the rheums of melancholy and dampness were slowly drawn from me by the -sun and that fair companionship, then she rose, and, shaking a shower -of almond petals from her apron, re-knotted her kerchief, and, taking -a look at the sky, said it was past midday and time for dinner. If I -liked, she would guide me to her father. Up I got, and, side by side -with that fair Elizabethan girl, went sauntering through her flowery -walks, down past shrubberies and along the warm red old wall of her -great empty house, until we came into a quiet way overgrown with giant -weeds and smelling sweet of green sheep’s parsley and cool, fair -vegetable odors. Here the maid lifted a latch, and led me through a -well-hidden gateway into the sunny rearward courtyard. - -It showed as different as could be from the dreary front. The ground -was cobblestones all neatly weeded round a square of close-cut grass. -On one side the great black wall of the manor-place towered windowless -above us, with red roofs, mighty piles of smokeless chimney-stacks and -corbie steps far overhead; and, on the other hand, at an angle to that -wall, were lesser buildings to left and right, enclosing the grass plot -and shining in the sun, warm, lattice-windowed, quaint-gabled. The -third side of the square was open, and sloped down to fair meadows, -beyond which came flowering orchards, bounded by a brook. Moreover, -there was life here, plain, homely, honest country life. The wild, -loose-hanging roses and eglantine were swinging in the sunshine over -the deep-seated porches of these modest places; the lavender smoke -was drifting among the budding branches overhead, proud maternal hens -were clucking to their broods about the open doorways; there were -blooming flowers growing by one deep-set window--ah! and fair Mistress -Elizabeth’s snowy linen was all out on cords across that pretty sunny -courtyard, struggling in sparkling, white confusion against the loose -caresses of the April wind. - -“And look you there,” cried Mistress Faulkener, when she saw it, -pointing far down the distant meadows, “’tis there we keep our milk -and cows--oh! as you are courteous, as you would wish to deserve your -gentle livery, count those cattle for a minute,” and thereat, while -I, obedient, turned my back and mustered the distant beasts grazing -knee-deep among the yellow buttercups--she outflew upon those linens, -and pulled them down and rolled them up in swathes, and set them on -a bench; then tucked back some disheveled strands of hair behind her -ears, and, somewhat out of breath, turned to me again. - -“Here,” she said, “on this side lives old Margery and our steward, -black Emanuel Marcena; there, on the other, is my room--that one with -the flowers below and open lattices. Next is my father’s; below, again, -is the room where we do eat; and all that yonder--those many windows -alike above, and those steps going down beneath the ground--those -half-hidden cobwebbed windows ablink with the level of the turf--that -is where my father works.” - -“By all the saints, fair girl!” I exclaimed impetuously, as she led -me toward that place, “thy father’s workshop is on fire! See the gray -smoke curling from the lintel of the doorway, and the broken panes--and -yonder I catch a glint of flame! Here, let me burst the door!” and I -sprang forward. - -But the lady put her hand upon my arm, saying with a somewhat rueful -smile, “No, not so bad as that--there is fire there, but it is servant -not master. Come in and you shall see.” She took me down six damp stone -steps, then lifted the latch of a massy, weather-beaten, oaken doorway, -and led me within. - -It was a vast, dim, vaulted cellar. The rough black roof of rugged -masonry was hung by vistas of such mighty tapestries of grimy cobwebs -as never mortal saw before. On the near side the row of little windows, -dusty and neglected, let in thin streams of light that only made the -general darkness the more visible. All the other wall was rough and -bare; beset with great spikes and nails wherefrom depended a thousand -forms of ironware, and ancient useless metal things, the broken, rusty -implements of peace and war. The floor seemed, as I took in every -detail of this subterranean chamber, to be bare earth, stamped hard -and glossy with constant treading, while here and there in hollows -black water stood in pools, and gray ashes from a furnace-fire margined -those miry places. It was a gloomy hall, without a doubt, and as my -eyes wandered round the shadows they presently discovered the presiding -genius. - -In the hollow of the great final arch was a cobwebbed, smoke-grimed -blacksmith’s forge and bellows. The little heap of fuel on it was -glowing white, and the curling smoke ascended part up the rugged -chimney and part into the chamber. On one side of this forge stood a -heavy anvil, and by it, as we entered, a man was toiling on a molten -bar of iron, plying his blows so slow and heavy it was melancholy to -watch them. That man, it did not need another glance to tell me, was my -host! If he had looked gaunt and wild by night, the yellow flicker of -the furnace and the pale mockery of daylight which stole through his -poor panes did not improve him now. The bright fire of enthusiasm still -burned in his keen old eyes, I saw, but they were red and heavy with -long sleeplessness; his ragged, open shirt displayed his lean and hairy -chest, stained and smudged with the hue of toil; his arms were bare to -the elbow, and his knotted old fingers clutched like the talons of a -bird upon the handle of the hammer that he wielded. Grim old fellow! -He was near double with weariness and labor; the breath came quick -and hectic as he toiled; the painful sweat cut white furrows down his -pallid, ash-stained face; and his wild, gray elfin locks were dank and -heavy with the foul fumes of that black hole of his. Yet he stopped -not to look to left or to right, but still kept at it, unmindful of -aught else--hammer, hammer, hammer! and sigh, sigh, sigh!--with a fine -inspired smile of misty, heroic pleasure about his mouth, and the light -of prophecy and quenchless courage in his eyes! - -It was very strange to watch him, and there was something about -the unbroken rhythm of his blows, and the inflexible determination -hanging about him, that held me spellbound, waiting I knew not for -what, but half thinking to witness that red iron whereinto his soul -was being welded spring into something wild and strange and fair--half -thinking to witness these sooty walls fall back into the wide arcades -of shadowy realm, and that old magician blossom out of his vile rags -into some splendid flower of humankind. It was foolish, but it was an -unlearned age, and I only a rough soldier. That fair maid by my side, -more familiar with these strange sights and sounds, roused me from my -expectant watching in a minute. - -She had come in after me, had paused as I did, and now with pretty -filial pity in her face, and outspread hands, she ran to that old man -and laid a tender finger upon his yellow arm, and stayed its measured -labor. At this he looked up for the first time since we entered, as -dazed and sleepy as one newly waked, and, seeing that he scarce knew -her, Elizabeth shook her head at him, and took his grizzled cheeks -between her rosy palms, and kissed him first on one side and then on -the other, kissed him sweet and tenderly upon his pallid unwashed -cheeks, and then, with kind imperiousness, loosed his cramped fingers -from the hammer-shaft and threw it away, and led him by gentle force -back from his forge and anvil. “Oh, father!” she said, bustling round -him and fastening up his shirt and pulling down his sleeves, and -looking in his face with real solicitude, “indeed I do think you are -the worst father that ever any maid did have,” and here was another -kiss. “Oh! how long have you worked down here? Two nights and days -on end. Fie, for shame! And how much have you eaten? What? Nothing, -nothing all that time? Did ever child have such a parent? Oh! would -to Heaven you had less wisdom and more wit--why, if you go on like -this, you will be thinner than any of these spiders overhead in -springtime--and weary--nay, do not tell me you are not--and, oh! so -dirty, alack that I should let a stranger see thee like this!” and, -taking her own white kerchief from her apron, that damsel wiped her -father’s face in love and gentleness, and stroked his gritty beard and -smoothed, as well as she was able, his ancient locks, then took him by -the hand and pointed to me, standing a little way off in the gloom. - -At first the old man gazed at the amber-suited gallant shining in the -blackness of his workshop, stolidly, without a trace of recognition, -but, when in a minute or two by an effort he drew his wits together, he -took me for one of those gay fellows, who, no doubt, had haunted his -courtyards and spent his money in brighter times, and taxed me with it. -But I laughed at that and shook my head, whereon he mused--“What! are -thou, then, young John Eldrid of Beaulieu, come to pay those twenty -crowns your father borrowed twelve years since?” - -No! I was not John Eldrid, and there were no crowns in my wallet. Then -I must be Lord Fossedene’s reeve come to complain again of broken -fences and cattle straying, or, perhaps, a bailiff for the Queen’s -dues, and, if that were so, it was little I would get from him. - -Thereon his daughter burst out laughing and stroking the old man’s -hand. “Oh, father,” she said gently, “you were not always thus -forgetful. This excellent gentleman I found trespassing among my -flowers, and did arrest him; he is your guest, and declares you brought -him here two nights since, lodging him in our empty front, where he has -subsisted all this time on melancholy and stolen meals. Surely, father, -you recall him now?” - -The old man was puzzled, but slowly a ray of recollection pierced -through the thick mists of forgetfulness. Indeed, he did remember, he -muttered, something of the kind, but it was a sturdy, shrewd-looking -yeoman, tall, and bronzed under his wide cap, a rustic fellow in -country cloth that he had brought along, and not this yellow gentleman. -So then I explained how he had resuited me, and jogged his memory -gently, lifting it down the trail of our brief acquaintance as a good -huntsman lifts a hound over a cold scent, until at last, when he had -given him a cup of red wine from his cupboard in the niche, his eyes -brightened up, the vacuity faded from his face, and, laughing in turn, -he knew me; then, holding out two withered hands in very courteous -wise, old Andrew Faulkener welcomed me, and in civil, courtly speech, -that seemed strange enough in that grim hole, and from that grizzly, -bent, unwashed old fellow, made apology for the neglect and seeming -slight which he feared I must have suffered. - -We spoke together for some minutes, and then I ventured to ask, “Was -there not something, Master Faulkener, you had to tell or ask of me? I -do remember you mentioned such a wish that evening when we parted, and -certain circumstances of our short friendship make me curious to know -what service it is I have to pay you in return for the hospitality your -goodness put upon me.” - -“In truth there was something,” Faulkener answered, with a show of -embarrassment, “but it was a service better sought of frieze than silk.” - -“Tell it, good Sir, tell it! It were detestable did silk repudiate the -debts that honest frieze incurred.” - -“Why, then, I will, and chance your displeasure. Sweet Bess, get thee -out and see to dinner. This gentleman will dine with me to-day!” And -as Mistress Elizabeth picked up her pretty skirts and vanished up the -grass-grown steps the old recluse turned to me. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - - -“Now, look you here, Sir,” the old philosopher began, taking me by a -tassel on my satin doublet, and working himself up until his eyes shone -with pleasure, as he unfolded his mad visions to me. “Look you here, -Sir! this bare and dingy dungeon that you rightly frown at is a cell -more pregnant with ingenuity than ever was the forge of the lame smith -of Lemnos. Vulcan! Vulcan never had such teeming fancies as I have -harbored in my head for twenty years. Vulcan never coaxed into being -such a lovely monster as I have hidden yonder. I tell you, young man,” -gasped the old fellow, perspiring with enthusiasm, “Prometheus was a -tawdry charlatan in his service to mankind, compared with what I will -be. He gave us fire, crude, rough, unruly fire!--unstable, dangerous--a -bare, naked gift, spoiled even in the giving by incompleteness; but I, -Sir--I have tamed what the bold Son of Clymene only touched. Ah, by -the blessed gods! I think I have tamed it--fire and water, I have wed -them at yon black altar--deadly foes though some do call them, I have -made them work together, the one with the other. Oh, Sir, such servants -were never yet enlisted by our kind since the great day of Cyclops! And -to think these feeble shaking hands whose poor sinews stand from the -wasted flesh like ivy strands about a winter tree, have done it--and -this poor head has thought it, persistent and at last successful, -through bitter months of toil and anguished disappointment!” - -“But, Sir,” I said gently, as the old man checked his incoherent speech -for breath--“this monster, Sir, this ‘lovely monster,’ what is it?” - -“Ah! I was forgetting you did not know. Look, then! and though you -had been unfamous all your life, this moment of precedent knowledge -above your fellows shall make you forever famous.” And the old man, -like a devotee walking to a shrine, like a lover with hushed breath -and brightly kindling eye stealing to his mistress’s hiding-place, led -me up to a cavernous recess near the forge, and there lay hands upon a -rent and tattered drapery of rough sail-cloth, stained and old, and, -making a gesture of silence, pulled it back. - -In the dim, weird enchantment of that place, I had been prepared for -anything. It was a knightly fashion of the times to be credulous, and -that black cobwebbed den, that mad philosopher, so eloquently raving, -and all the late circumstance of my arrival fitted me to look for -wonders. I had followed him across the grimy floor, pitted with gray -pools of furnace-water, through the reek and twining strands of smoke -that filled that nether hall; and lastly, when he laid a finger to -his lip, and, so reverent and awful, drew back that ancient tattered -screen, I frowned a little, stepping back a pace, and drew my ready -sword six inches from its scabbard, and watched expectant to see some -hideous, horrid, living form chained there--some foul offspring of -darkness and accursed ingenuity--some hateful spawn of wizard art and -black mother night--some squat, foul, misshapen Caliban--some loathsome -thing--I scarce knew what, but strong and sullen and monstrous, for -certain! And, instead, the screen ran rattling back, and there before -me, in a neat-swept space, and on a platform of oaken planks--glossy -in new forged metal, shiny with untarnished filings, gleaming in the -pride of burnished brass and rivets--high, bulby, complicated, a maze -of pistons and levers and wheels, was a great machine! - -Somehow, as I saw that ponderous monster, so full of cunning although -so lifeless, a tremor of wondering appreciation ran through my mind, -that soulless body fascinated me with a prophetic fear and awe which -at another time and in another place I should have laughed at. - -I put back my sword, smiling to think it had been so nearly drawn, -but yet stood expectant, half wondering, half hoping I knew not what, -and gazing raptly on that mighty iron carcass perched there like some -black incubus, almost fancying all the love and fear and hope that -had gone to fashion its steel limbs or iron sinews might indeed have -filled it with a soul that should, as I looked, become articulate and -manifest beneath my eyes; half hoping, in my ignorance, that indeed the -quintessence of human labor, here consummate, might have got on all -that plastic, dull material, some wondrous firstling spirit of a new -estate, some link between the worlds of substance and of shadow! And -if it so fascinated me, that old man, to whom it owed its being, was -even more enthralled. He stood before the shrine with locked hands and -bent head, apostrophizing the silent work. “Oh, child of infinitely -painful conception,” he muttered, “surely--surely you cannot disappoint -me now! Near twenty years have I given to you--twenty years of toil -and sweat and ungrudging hope. Long, hot summers have I worked upon -you, and dank, dull winters, making and unmaking, building and taking -down again, contriving, hoping, despairing, living with you by day and -dreaming of you through nights of fitful slumber--surely, dear heir of -all my hopes, the reward is at hand, the consummation comes! - -“See!” he cried, “how perfect it is! Here in this great round -cylinder is room for fire and water. The fire lies all along in that -gulley-trench that you can note here through this open trap, and those -curling pipes take the hot flame up through that void that will be -filled with the other element. Now, when water boils, the vapor that -comes from off the top is choleric and fiery past conception. This has -been known for long, and John Homersham tried to utilize it by letting -the vapor on the spread digits of a wheel; Farinelli of Angoulême -suffered it to escape behind his engine--both ways so wasteful that no -mortal furnace could keep up power sufficient to be of useful service. -But I have bettered these and many others; nothing is wasted here--the -hot gases are stored and stocked as they rise above the boiling liquid -until they are as strong as the blustering son of Astræus and Aurora, -and then, by turning one single tap, I suffer them to escape down -yonder iron way, there to fall upon the head of that piston that with -a mighty send gives before them and spins the great wheel above, and -comes back on the impetus, and takes another buffet from the laboring -vapor, and back it goes again, now this way and now that, twirling with -fiery zeal those notched wheels above, and working all those bars and -rods and pistons. Not one thing of all this complicated structure but -has its purpose; not one rivet in yonder thousands but means a month of -patient, toilsome thought and labor. Moreover, because it is so strong -and heavy, I have put the whole upon that iron carriage, which took me -a year to forge, and those solid back wheels are locked with the gear -above, and from the axle of that front wheel two chains run up and -turn upon a cylinder, so that my sweet one can move at such pace as -yet I cannot even think of, and guide himself--in brief, is born and -consummate!” - -Then, presently, he turned from babbling to his “child,” and speaking -louder, with frenzied gestures, the while he strode up and down before -it, went wild upon the wondrous things it should do. “It will not -fail, I know it! My head is fairly mazed when I forecast all that here -with this begins as possible. It shall run, Sir,” he cried, turning -rapturously to me--“and fly, and walk, and haul, and pull, and hew -wood and draw water, and be a giant stronger than a thousand men, and -a craftsman in a hundred crafts of such subtility and gentleness and -cunning as no other master craftsman ever was. Down, into ages not yet -formed in the void womb of the future, this knowledge I have mastered -shall extend, widening as it goes, and men shall no longer strive or -suffer; there stands the patient beast on whose broad back another -age shall put all its burdens. There is the true winged horse of some -other time that shall mock the slow patter of our laggard feet, and -knit together the most distant corners of the world within its giant -stride. Oh! I can see a happy age, when base material labor shall -be over, and men shall lie about and take their fill of restfulness -as they have not done since the gates of Eden were shut upon their -ancient father’s back! I do see, down the long perspectives of the -future, such as yon achieving all things both by sea and shore, plowing -their fields for unborn peoples and drawing nets, carrying, fetching, -far and near, swift, patient, indomitable! Ah! and winging glorious -argosies--mighty vessels such as no man dares dream of now; vast, noble -bodies inspirited each with a soul as lies impatient yonder; and those -shall plow the green sea waves in scorn of storm and weather, pouring -the wealth of far Cathay and Ind into our ready lap, making those -things happy necessaries which now none but some few may dare to hope -for; bringing the spice the Persian picked this morning to our doors -to-morrow, bringing the grape and olive unwithered on their stems, -bringing fair Eastern stuffs still wet from out their dye-vats----” - -“Jove, old man! that moves me. I was a merchant once. Your words do -stir my blood down to the most stagnant corner of my veins!” - -“--Bringing pearls from Oman still speckled with the green sea-dew -upon them, and sapphires from rugged Ural mines still smelling of their -fresh native mother earth; bringing, in swift, tireless keels, Nova -Zemblan furs and costly feathered trophies from the South; bringing -Biafra’s hoards of ivory and Benin’s stores of blood-red gold; bringing -gems warm from tepid sands of Arracan, and sandal-wood from seagirt -Nicobar. Ah! pouring the yellow-scented corn of every fertile flat from -Manfalout to ancient Abbasiyeh; pouring the Tartar’s millet and the -Hindu’s rice into our hungry Western mouths; making those rich who once -were poor, and those noble who once were only rich; benefiting both -great and little--benefiting both near and far! And I shall have done -this--I, poor Master Andrew Faulkener, a man so shabby and so seeming -mean, no one of worth or quality would walk in the same side of the -road with him!” - -So spoke that good fanatic, and as he stopped there came a gentle tap -upon the door, and a fair face in the sunlight, and there was Mistress -Elizabeth saying, with a merry laugh: “Father! the cloth is laid, and -the meal is spread, and old Margery bids me add that, if to-day’s roast -is spoiled by waiting, as the last one was, she’ll never cook capon for -thee again!” and coming down the maid laid a hand of gentle insistence -upon her father’s sleeve, and led him sighing and often looking back up -the green stone steps, I following close behind. - -We crossed the sunny courtyard, entering on the farther side the other -rambling buttress-wing of that ancient pile. Thence we went by clean -white flagstoned passages and open oaken doorways to what was once -the long servants’ dining-hall. At the near end of the middle table -of well-scrubbed boards, so thick and heavy they might have come from -the side of some great ship, a clean white slip cloth was laid, with -high-backed chairs, one at the head for Andrew Faulkener, and two on -either side for me and her, and lower down again were put, below the -great oaken salt-cellar, two other places. By one of these stood Dame -Margery, fair Elizabeth’s old nurse, an ancient dame in black-velvet -cap and spotless ruff and linen, with a comely honest old country face -above them, wrinkled and colored like a rosy pippin that has mellowed -through the winter on a kitchen cornice shelf. Such was Dame Margery, -and, while she curtsied low with folded hands, I bowed as one of my -quality might bow in respect to her ancient faithfulness. At the other -chair stood their Spanish steward, black Emanuel Marcena. Yes, and, -as you may by this time have guessed, that steward was, in flesh and -blood, none other but the midnight visitor who had disturbed my rest -the night before. I could not doubt it. He wore the same clothes, -his swarthy, sullen face was only a little more lifelike now in the -daylight, and, if more evidence were wanting, one finger of his left -hand--that hand that had held the bloody handkerchief--was done up with -cobwebs and linen threads. I knew him on the instant, and stopped and -stared to see my vagrant shadow so prosaically standing there at his -dinner place, picking his yellow teeth and sniffing the ready roast -like a hungry dog. And when he saw me he too started, for I also had -been dreadful to him. I was the exact counterpart of that amber gallant -that had strode out upon his moonlit heels and scared him with a shout, -where, no doubt, he fancied no shouters dwelt, and now here we were -face to face, guests at the same table, surely it was strange enough to -make us stare! - -But, over and above the prejudice of our evening meeting, I already -distrusted and disliked Emanuel Marcena. Why it was I do not know, -but so much is certain, if one may love, no less surely may one hate -at first sight, and as our eyes met, hatred was surely born in his, -while mine, as like as not, told through their steady stare, of -aversion and dislike. He was a sullen, yellow fellow, lean and tall, -with black, crafty eyes set near together; a thin nose, shaped like a -vulture’s beak; a small peaked beard, and black hair closely cropped, -a crafty, cunning, cruel, ungenerous-looking fellow, who had somehow, -it afterward turned out, grown rich as his master’s fortunes failed. He -had come into Faulkener’s service when a boy, had flourished while he -flourished, and learned a hundred shifts of cruelty and pride from the -gay company who once were proud to call his master comrade, and now, -like the black fungus that he was, had swelled with conceit and avarice -past all conscionable proportions. - -Well, we exchanged grim salutations, and sat, and the meal commenced. -But all the while we ate and talked I could not help turning to that -crafty steward, and each time I did so I found his keen, restless -black eyes wandering fugitive about among us. Now he would glance -at me over his porringer, and then a half-unconscious scowl dropped -down over those dark Cordovian brows. Then perhaps it was the old man -he looked at, and a scarce-hid smile of contempt played about the -corners of that Southern’s mouth to hear his master babble or answer -our talk at random. Lastly, my sleek Iberian would set his glance on -sweet country Bess as she sat at her father’s side, and then there -burned under his yellow skin such a flush of passion, such a shine -of sickly love and aspiration as needed no interpreting, and made me -frown--small as my stake was in that game I saw was playing--as black -as inky night. But what did it matter to me who picked that English -blossom? Why should she not lie on that mean Spanish bosom forever if -she would?--’twas less than nothing to me, who would so soon pass on to -other ventures--and yet no man was ever born who was not jealous, and, -remembering how we had met, how sweet she was and simple, what native -courtesy gilded her country manners, what music there was in her voice, -and how black that villain looked beside her, I, in spite of myself, -resented the first knowledge of the love he bore as keenly as though I -had myself a right to her. - -Pious, sanctimonious Emanuel Marcena! He stood up saying his grace -for meat long after all of us were seated, and crossed his doublet a -score of times ere he fell on the viands like a hungry pike. And he was -cruel too. A little thing may show how big things go. He caught a fly -while we waited between two courses, and, thinking himself unnoticed, -held it a moment nicely between his lean, long fingers, then, drawing -a straight fine pin from his sleeve, slowly thrust it through the -body of that buzzing thing. He stuck the pin up before him, by his -pewter mug, and watched with lowering pleasure his victim gyrate. That -amused him much, and when the creature’s pain was reduced to numbness -he neatly tore one prismatic wing from off its shoulder, and smiled a -sour smile to watch how that awoke it. Then, presently, the other wing -was wrenched palpitating from the damp and quivering socket, and the -victim spun round upon the iron stake that pierced its body. And all -this under cover of his dinner-mug, ingenious, light-fingered Emanuel -Marcena! - -Such was the steward of that curious household. Over against him sat -the excellent old country dame, whose mind wandered no further than to -speculate upon the price of eggs next market-day, or how her bleaching -linen fared; above was the wise-mad scholar, bent and visionary; and -by him, ruddy in her country beauty, that wild hedge-rose of his. And -as I looked from one to other, and thought of what I was and had been, -all seemed strange, unreal, fantastic, and I could only wait with dull -patience for what fortune might have next in store. - -It was a pleasant, peaceful place, that manor hall! When we had -finished our midday meal, and the servitors had gone to their duties, -Master Faulkener said a walk in the green fields might do him good--he -would go out and take the country air. It was a wise resolve, and -he made a show of carrying it through, but he had not crossed the -courtyard toward the sunny meadows when he got a sniff of his own -smoldering furnace fires. That was too much for him. The scholar’s -rustic resolution melted, and, glancing fugitively behind, we saw him -presently steal away toward his cellar, and then drop down the stairs, -and bar the door, and soon the curling smoke and dancing sparks told -that wondrous thing of his was growing once again. - -Thus I and the maid were left alone, and for a little space we stood -silent by the diamond-latticed window, scarce knowing what to say--I -looking down upon that virgin bosom, so smoothly heaving under its veil -of country lawn, she thinking I know not what, but pulling a leaf or -two to pieces from her window vine. And so we stood for a time, until -the lady broke the silence by asking if I would wish to see the house -and gardens with her? It was a good suggestion and a comely guide, so -we set out at once. - -She led me first back through her garden again, naming every flower -and bush by country names as we went along, and this brought us to the -empty house-front, which we entered. She took me from room to room, and -dusty corridor to corridor, chatting and laughing all the way, talking -of great kinsmen, and noble, fickle guests who once had called her -father friend--all with such a light, contented heart it sounded more -like fairy story than stern material fact. Then that tripping guide -showed me the one door I had not found, which led through into the -rearward house. Here, again, I told her of how I had hunted in vain for -such a passage, and she laughed until those ancient corridors resounded -to her glee. This door admitted to another region, which we entered, -and soon Elizabeth led on down a dusty flight of twilight wooden -stairs, until a portal studded with iron barred our way. At this, -putting a finger to her mouth in mysterious manner, the damsel asked if -I dared enter, to which my answer was that, with sword in hand, and her -to watch, I would not hesitate to prise the gates of hell; so we pulled -the heavy sullen bolts, and the door turned slowly on its hinges. There -before us was displayed a long, dusty corridor, lit by high narrow -cobwebbed lattice windows down one side, and dim with moss and stain -of wind and weather. From end to end of that soundless vestibule were -stacked and piled and hung such mighty stores of various lumber, rare, -curious, dreadful, as never surely were brought together before. - -It was Andrew Faulkener’s museum-room--the place where he put by all -the strange shreds of life and death he collected when the scholar’s -fervor was upon him, and now, as his sweet daughter laid one finger on -my arm and softly bid me listen, directly down below and under us we -heard him hammering at his forge. - -“Oh, Sir,” began that maid, whispering in my ear and sweeping her -expressive arm round in the direction of those mounds and shelves, “did -ever child have such a father? This is the one room that is forbidden -me, and it is the one room of our hundreds that I take the most fearful -pleasure in. I do wrong to show it, and, indeed, I had not brought you -here but that something tells me you are good comrade, true and silent -both in great and little. Therefore step lightly and speak small: there -is nothing in all the world that stirs my father’s choler but this--to -hear a vagrant foot overhead among his treasures.” - -Softly, therefore, as any midnight thieves we trod the dust-carpeted -floor, and now here, now there, the damsel led me. Now it was at one -oriel recess where stood a black oak table and open chests piled with -vellum books, all clasped and bound with gold and iron, that we paused. -And I opened some of those great tomes, and read, in Norman-Latin, -or old Frankish-French, the misty record of those things of long-ago -that once had been so new to me. I spelled out how the monkish scribe -was stumbling through a passage of that diary that I had seen Cæsar -write--saw him repeat, as visionary and incredible, in quaint and -crabbed cloister scrawl, the story of the Saxon coming, and how King -Harold died. I turned to another book, a little newer, and read, ’mid -gorgeous uncials, the story of that remote fight above Crecy, “when -good King Edward, with a scanty band of liegemen, was matched against -two hundred thousand French abou ye ville of Crecy, and by the Grace of -God withstood them upon an August day”--and I could have read on and on -without stop or pause down those musty memory-rousing pages but for the -gentle interrupter at my side, who laughed to see me so engrossed, and -shut the covers to, little knowing of the thoughts that I was thinking, -and took me on again. - -Then she would halt at a pile of splendid stuffs, half heaped upon the -floor, half nailed against the wall, the hangings of courtly rooms and -thrones; and, as her sympathetic female fingers spread out the folds of -all those ruined webs, I read again upon them, in tarnished gold and -filigree, in silken stitching and patient, cunning embroidery, more -stories of old Kings and Queens I once was comrade to. On again, to -piles and racks of weapons of every age and time: all these I knew, and -poised the javelin some Saxon hand had borne in war, and shook, like -a dry reed, the long Norman spear, and whirled a rusty pirate scimitar -above my head until it hummed again an old forgotten tune of blood -and lust and pillage, and, with a stifled shriek, the frightened girl -cowered from me. - -Oh! a very curious treasure-house indeed! And here the scholar had -laid up skins and furs of animals, and there horns and hoofs and -talons. Here, grim, melancholy, great birds were standing as though in -life, and crumbling, as they waited, with neglect and age. There, in -a twilight corner, glimmered the green glassy eyes of an old Thebeian -crocodile, and there the shining ivory jaws of monstrous fishes, with -warty hides of toads, and shriveled forms of small beasts dried in -the kiln of long-silent ages, and now black, shrunken, and ghastly. -On the walls were pendent enough simples and electrices to stock -twenty witches’ dens, enough mandrake, hellebore, blue monkshood, -purple-tinted nightshade to unpeople half a shire; and along by them -were withered twigs and leaves would banish every kind of rheum; -samples of wondrous shrubs and roots, all neatly docketed, would cure -a wife of scolding or a war-horse of a sprain, would cure an adder’s -bite, or by the same physic mend a broken limb; ah, and bring you -certain luck in peace and war, or light, all out of the same virtue, -the fires of love in icy, virgin bosoms. - -In that quaint ante-room, dimly illumined by its cobwebbed windows, -were astrolabes and hemispheres from the cabin poops of sunken -merchantmen; charts whereon great beasts shared with pictured savages -whole continents of land, and dolphins and whales did sport where seas -ran out into unknown vagueness. There were models of harmless things of -foreign art and commerce, and cruel iron jaws and wheels with bloody -spikes or beaks for breaking bones or tearing flesh, and teaching the -ways of fair civility to heretics. That old man had got together twenty -images of Baal from as many lands, and half a hundred bits of divers -saints. Here, tied with the strand of the rope that hanged him, was the -skin of a dead felon, and near was the true shirt of a martyr whom the -Church had canonized a thousand years before. In some way, too, the -scholar had possessed him of a Pharaoh still swaddled with his Memphian -robes, and there he was propped up against the wall, that kingly ash -with mouth locked tight, whose lightest whisper once had made or marred -in every court or camp from dusty Ababdah to green Euphrates, and brows -set rigid, whose frown had once cost twenty thousand lives, made twenty -thousand wives to widows, and eyes shut fast that seemed still to dream -of shadowy empery--of golden afternoons in golden ages--a most ancient, -a most curious fellow, and I stared hard at him, feeling wondrous -neighborly. - -But I cannot tell all there was in that strange place. From end to end -it was stocked with learned lumber; from end to end my sweet guide led -me, pointing, whispering, and shuddering, all on tiptoe and in silence; -and then, ere I was nearly satisfied, or had sampled one-quarter of -that dusty treasure-hall, she led me through a little wicket, down -twenty stairs, and so once more into the fresh open air. - -“There, Sir,” she said, “now I have laid bare my father’s riches to -you. Is it not a wonderful corridor? Oh! what a full place the world -must be, if one man can gather so much strange of it!” - -I told her that indeed it was and had been full, right back into the -illimitable, of those hopes and fancies to which all yonder shreds did -hint of; and thus talking, I of infinite experience watching the sweet -wonder and vague speculation dawning in those unruffled child-eyes of -hers, we sauntered about the gardens and pleasant paths, and spent a -sunny afternoon in her ambient fields. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - - -He who has not left something sad behind him, and reawoke in the -sunshine to feel the golden elixir of health and happiness moving in -his veins anew, may take it that he has at least one pleasure yet -unspent. - -I opened my eyes the next morning in as sweet a frame of contentment -as any one could wish for. They had put me to sleep in a chamber in -that same wing of the rearward buildings where slept Elizabeth and -her father; thus, when I roused, the yellow sun was pouring in at my -lattice, rich with sweet country scents, and the April air was swaying -the white curtains, hung by dainty female hands across the diamond -panes, with youth and sweetness in every breath. I lay and basked in -it, and lazily wondered what all this changing fortune might mean. -Where had I got to? Who was I? I turned about and stared upon the -smooth white walls of the little room, patterned and tinseled with the -dancing sunshine from outside, then gazed at the great carved columns -of my four-post bedstead, then to the head, where, in a wide wooden -field, were blazoned old Faulkener’s arms and cognizance. I turned to -all the chairs, dusted so clean and set back true and straight, to the -ewer and the basin, full of limpid water from the well that caught the -morning shine and threw a dancing constellation of speckled light upon -the ceiling; I wondered even at the bare floor, scrubbed until there -was no spot upon it, and the snowy furniture of my couch and those -downy pillows upon which I presently sank back in luxurious indolence. - -Was I indeed that rude, rough captain of a grizzled cohort, with sinews -of steel and frame impervious to the soft touch of pleasure, who only -yesterday had burst through all the glittering phalanxes of France, -and cut a way with that arm that lay supine upon the coverlet right -down through the thickets of their spears to where the white fleur de -lys flashed in their midmost shelter? Could I be that same wanderer -who, down the devious ways of chance, had tried a thousand ventures, -and slept in palaces and ditches, and drank from the same cup with -kings and the same trough with outlaws? I laughed and stretched, and -presently gave over speculating, and rose. - -I washed and dressed, and went to the lattice, and looked forth. It -was as sweet a morning as you could wish for. The tepid sunshine -spread over everything, fleecy clouds were floating overhead upon the -softest of winds, the sweet new-varnished leaves were glittering in the -dew upon every bush, the small birds singing far and near, the kine -lowing as they went to grass, the distant cock crowed proudly from his -vantage-point among the straw, and everything seemed fair, fresh, and -happy in that budding season. - -I had not been luxuriating in that sweet leisure many minutes when by -below came Mistress Bess, with cheeks like roses, and kerchief whiter -than snow, and brown unstranded hair that lifted on the breeze--a very -fair vision indeed. That maid tripped across the grass and down the -cobblestones, rattling the shiny milk-pan she was carrying until she -caught a sight of me, and stopped below my window. Then, saucy, she -began: “How looks the world from there, Sir? A little too young and -chilly for your tenderness? Get back abed, it will presently be June, -and then, no doubt, more nicely suited to your valor’s mind.” - -“Nay, but lady,” I explained, “I was enjoying the morning air, and just -coming to seek you----” - -“That were a thousand pities,” she laughed, “the sun has not yet been -up more than some poor hour or two and the world is not yet nicely -warmed; you might have a chill, and that were much to be deplored; -besides, a silken suit is rarely needed where work has to be done. Back -to thy nest, Sir ’Prentice! Back to thy nest, and I’ll send old Margery -to tuck thee snugly up!” And the young girl, laughing like a brook in -springtime, went on and left me there discomfited. - -Nevertheless, I went down and took the plain but wholesome breakfast -that they offered me, and afterward whiled away an hour or so upon the -bench in wondering silently what all this meant, where it was drifting -to, how it would end, whether it were, indeed, ending or beginning. And -then came round the girl again, and, railing me on my melancholy, took -me out to see the herds and fields, and was all the time so sweetly -insolent, after her nature, and yet so velvet soft, that I was fairly -glamoured by her. - -This maid, with the quick woman tongue, that was so pointed, and could -at need hurt so much, and the blue, speaking eyes that were as tender -and straightforward as her speech was full of covert thorns, led me -out into the orchards. First she took me to where the milk was stored, -a roomy open shed, smelling of cool cleanliness, with white benches -down the sides and red-flagged floor, and great open pans of crimson -ware full of frothy milk. Outside the low straw eaves the swallows were -chattering, while the emerald meadows, through the farther doorway, -glistened and gleamed in the bright spring sunshine. Here we discovered -two country girls at work making curds and cheese and butter; ruddy, -buxom damsels with strong round arms bare to the shoulder, with -rattling clogs upon their feet, white gowns tucked up, and kerchiefs -on their heads. These curtsied as we entered, and rattled the pans -about, and sent the strong streams of warm new milk gushing from pail -to pan. And then presently, when I had watched a time their busy -labor, nothing would suit Mistress Faulkener but I should try! That -saucy, laughing girl would have it so! and, glancing at the delighted -milkmaids, dragged me to a churn, there bidding me roll a sleeve to the -elbow, and take the long handle thus, and thus, and “put my strength -into it,” and show I could do something to earn a luncheon. And I, -ever strong and willing, did her bidding, and rolled back my silk and -lawn, and bared the thews that had made me dreadful and victorious in -a thousand combats, and seized that white straight rod. But, Hoth! -’twas not my trade, I had more strength than art, and the first stroke -that I made upon the curdling stuff within the white fluid leaped in -a glittering fountain to the roof above and drenched the screaming -maidens; the second stroke from my stalwart shoulders started two iron -hoops binding the strong ash ribs of that churn and made it swirl upon -the tiles, while at the third mighty fall the rammer was shivered to -the grasp, and the milk escaped and went in twenty meandering rivulets -across the floor! At this uprose those fair confederates and drove me -forth with boisterous anger, saying I had wasted more value in good -milk than most likely all my life so far had earned. - -While they put right my amiss I sat upon a mossy wall and wiped dry my -hose and doublet. Nor was there long to sit before out came my comely -hostess with forgiveness in her smiling eyes. “Did I now see,” she -queried, “how presumptuous it was to meddle with such things as were -beyond one’s capacity?” - -To which I answered that I truly saw. “And did I crave -forgiveness--would I make amends?” And to that I said she had but to -try me in some venture where my rough, unruly strength might tell, -and she should see. So peace was made between us, and on we went again -to note how the crimson buds were setting on the sunny, red garden -walls; to explore her sloping orchards, and count the frolic lambs that -clustered round the distant folds. - -It was her kingdom, and here her knowledge bettered mine. This she soon -found out; and when I showed at fault in the stratagems of husbandry, -or tripped in politics of herds or flocks, she would glance at me -through her half-shut lids, and demurely ask: - -“Are you of good learning, friend?” - -And to that I answered that “I had so much as might be picked up in a -reasonably long life--not scholarly or well polished, but sufficient -and readily accessible.” - -“I am glad of it,” she said; “then you can tell the difference between -a codling and a pippin?” - -“Nay, I fear I cannot.” - -“Oh! Nor why one hen will lay white eggs and another brown?” - -“Sweet maid, my wonder never went as far as that!” - -“I do greatly doubt you and your wonder! What would you do if butter -would not come upon the churn milk?” - -“Faith! I would leave it as not worth asking for--a poor, white, -laggard stuff no man should meddle with.” - -“Heigho! and what is rosemary good for, and what rue?” - -“By Heaven, I do not know.” - -“How soon mayst wean a February lamb, and what wouldst thou wean it on?” - -“Hoth! I cannot tell!” - -“Nor when to cut meadow grass or make ketchup? Nor how to cure -bee-stings or where to look for saffron? Nor when to plant green -barley or pull rushes for winter candles?” - -“Not one of these; but if you would show me, such a tutor such a pupil -never would have had----” - -Whereon the lady burst out laughing. “Oh,” she said, “you are shallow -and ignorant past all conception and precedent. Why, the rosiest urchin -that ever went afield upon a plow-horse has better stock of learning! -In faith, I shall have to put you to school at the very beginning!” - -I let the fair maid mock, for her gentle raillery was all upon her -lips, and in her eyes was dawning a light it moved me much to see. -We wandered away through pleasant copses, where the yellow catkins -and the red were out upon the hazels, and late ivory blackthorn buds, -like webs of pearls, were overhung upon those ebony-fingered bushes, -and fair pale primroses shone in starry carpets under the fresh green -canopy of the new-tented woods. And my fair Bess knew where the mavis -built; and when I began to speak warm, and close into her ear, she -would turn away her head and laugh, and, to change the matter, play -traitor to the little birds and point their mossy home, and make me -stoop and peer under the leaves, and in pretty excitement--but was it -all absent-mindedly?--would lay a hand upon my own and be cheek to -cheek with me for a moment, and then, with country pleasure, take the -sapphire shells of future woodland singers in her rosy palm, and count -and con them, and post me in the lore of spots and specks and hues and -colors, and all the fair, incomprehensible alchemy of nature--then put -those tender things back, and lead on again to more. - -Pleasant is the sunshine in such circumstances! Fair Elizabeth knew -all the flowers by name. She knew where the gorgeous celandine, like -bright-blazoned heralds of the spring, was flashing down by the -stream that ran sparkling through the woods; the underglow upon the -frail anemone was not fairer than her English skin, as she did bind -a bunch into her bosom-knot. She could tell the reasons of affinity -between cuckoo-pint and cuckoo, and how it was that orchid-leaves -came spotted, and the virtue of the blue-eyed pimpernels, and why the -gently rasping tongues of the great meadow kine forswore the nodding -clumps of buttercup. And she liked cowslips and made me pick them--ah! -swarthy, strong, and sad-eyed me--me, with the wild alarums of battle -still ringing in the ambient country air--me, to whose eyes the fleecy -clouds, even as she babbled, were full of pictures of purple ambition, -of red mêlée, of the sweeping yellow war-dust that canopies contending -hosts--me, who heard on every sigh of the valley wind the shouting -of princes and paladins, the fierce deep cry of captains and the -struggling cheer that breaks from swinging ranks fast locked in deadly -conflict as the foemen give. - -But nothing she knew of that, and would lead from cowslip-banks back to -coppice, and from coppice-path to orchard, and there mayhap, in the eye -of the sun, secure from interruption we would sit--she meetly throned -upon the great stem of a fallen apple-tree, whose rind was tapestried -betimes for that dear country sovereign by green moss and tissued gold -and silver lichens, and overhead the leaves, and at her feet the velvet -cushions of the turf, and me a solitary courtier there. - -A very pleasant wooing--and if you call me fickle, why should I argue -it? Think of the vast years that lapsed between my lovings; think how -solitary was the lovely, loveless world I was born into anew each time; -think how I longed to light it with the comradeship that shines in dear -eyes and hearts, how I thirsted to prejudice some sweet stranger to my -favor against all others, and claim again kinship of passion for a -moment with one, at least, of those dear, fickle, mocking shadows that -glanced through this fitful dream of mine! - -Besides, I was young--only some trivial fifteen hundred years or so had -gone by since they first swaddled me and dried my mother’s tears--my -limbs were full and round, my blood beat thick and fast, youth and -soldier spirit shone in my undimmed eyes; not a strand of silver -glanced in that beard I peaked so carefully; and if my mind was full -of ancient fancies--ah! crowded with the dust and glitter of bygone -ages fuller than yonder old fellow’s strange museum--why, my heart was -fresh. Jove! I think it was as young as it had ever been; and that -maid was fair and rosy, and kind and tender. All in the glow of her -hat-brim her face shone like the ripe side of a peach; her smooth hands -hung down convenient to my touch, and her head, crowned with its sweet -crown of sunlit hair, was ever bent indulgent to catch my courtier -whispers. What? I argued, shall the river play with no more blossoms -because last year its envious fingers shook some petals down into its -depth? Must the lonely hill forever frown in solitude and put by the -white mist’s clinging arms, because, forsooth, some other earlier cloud -once harbored on its rugged bosom? ’Twas miserly and monstrous, said my -youthfulness. So, nothing forgetting and nothing diminishing of those -memories that I had, I plunged into the new. - -And that kind country girl played Phyllis to my new-tried Corydon as -prettily as any one could wish. I will not weary you with all we did or -said--the murmur of a summer brook is only good to go to sleep by--but -picture us immersed in solitary conclave, or wandering about in the -sweet green math of April meadows and finding the long days some six -hours all too short to say the nothing that we had to. Suppose this -written, and I turn to other scenes which, perhaps, shall amuse you -better. - - * * * * * - -It by no means followed that because Mistress Elizabeth proved so -charming, her father was neglected. That old fellow had taken me for -his helper, had fed and harbored me, and something seemed owing him in -return. His huge and bulky engine was growing apace; indeed, it was -just upon the finishing. It was that my strong arms might second him -in some final parts he had brought me hither, and, being by nature -something of a smith, I helped him readily. - -Each day was spent in the sunshine and flowers, then, when evening came -and my fair playmate was gone to bed, I descended into old Faulkener’s -crypt, and, adding one more character to the many already played, -turned Vulcan. Hard and long we worked. Had you looked upon us, you -would have seen, by the sullen furnace glow, two men, bare-armed and -leather-aproned, toiling in that black gallery until the sweat ran -trickling from them; forging, riveting, and hammering bars of iron, -plying the creaking bellows until the white heart of the fire-heap -was whiter than a glowworm-lamp; hurrying here and there about that -glistening mountain of cunning-fashioned steel that they were building; -filling their grimy den with flying dust and smoke and sparks; and thus -working on and on through the long midnight hours as though their very -lives depended on it, until the black curtain of the night outside -faded to pallid blue, and the chirrup of the homing bats coming to -sleep upon the rafters sounded pleasantly; and the furnace gave out, -and tired muscles flagged, and the night’s work was over with the night! - -Evening after evening we toiled upon the iron giant that was to do such -wondrous things, old Faulkener directing, and I supplying with my thews -and sinews the help he needed. Then one day it was finished--finished -in every point and part--complete, gigantic, wonderful! I do confess -something of the old man’s spirit entered into me when our work was -thus accomplished. I stood minute by minute before it overcome with -an awe and wonder inexplicable. And if the ’prentice felt like that, -the master was mad with expectation and delight. Nothing now would -do but he must try it, and the next night we did so. We sent the -household early to their rest, and, as soon as it was dark, I, carrying -a spluttering torch, and Faulkener the great cellar key, stole like -thieves across the cobbled courtyard to our workshop. The scholar’s -fingers trembled till he scarce could fit the key into the wards, but -presently the door was opened, and we entered. - -“No strangers trespass here to-night,” the old man chuckled, while he -closed and double-locked the iron-studded door, and put the key into -his belt and the torch into a socket. - -Well, all agog with excitement, we lit the fires in the iron stomach -of that finished monster; we filled his gullet with kegs of water, -slewed his guiding-wheels round, laid heavy, sloping oaken planks for -his highness to leave his birthplace by, set back the litter, and, -lastly, turned the tap that brought the fire and water together, and -put the blood of that iron beast in motion. He came down from off the -pedestal for all the world like some black Gorgon issuing from a den! -Resplendent in weight and strength, he came sliding down from off the -platform of his cradle, and amid the crash of struts and stays, amid -flying splinters and the dust of transit, rolled out majestic into -the red furnace light; where, trembling in every fiber, and gently -swaying like a young giant feeling his strength for the first time, -with the strong breath within murmuring, and the great steel heart -pulsating audibly, our iron toy was born and launched, and came forth -magnificent, huge, overpowering--then, checked by its anchor-chains, -swerving round to face the farther end, and halted. - -Old Faulkener was possessed with joy, dancing and capering round that -huge carcass as though he were a ten-years’ urchin, his white beard all -astream, his elfin locks shaggy on his head, his black venerable robes -flapping like the wings of a great bat, his hands clasped fervidly as -he leaped and skipped with pleasure, and his lips moving rapidly as he -babbled incoherent adulation and love upon that firstling of his hopes. -Even I, grave and thoughtful, was elated, and walked round and round -the wondrous thing, patting its iron sides as one might a charger’s -just led from stall, while, half in wonder and half in pleasure, -catching a fraction of the old man’s fancies. So far everything had -happened as we wished for, and Faulkener, when he could get his breath, -burst out in wild rhapsodies of all his bantling should do, and I put -in a sentence here and there amid his pæans; and then he capped on a -hope, and I again a fancy, and so, nodding and laughing to each other, -we bandied words across that carcass for twenty minutes, and felt its -sinews, and marveled at its tractableness and grace. - -And what was our sweet Cyclops doing all that while? Oh! we were young -in mechanics; and all the time we talked and capered the glowing fires -were working in that body, and presently the wheels began to ramble and -the bars to move; strange dull thunder came fitfully from under those -steel ribs, and quaint, unaccountable knockings sounded deep within; -the furnace glowed white and hot as angry jets of steam commenced to -spit from every weak point in the monster’s harness. All this I noticed -and pointed out to the master; but he was stupid with gratification -in that moment of consummated labor, and now our vast machine began -to fret! It was impatient, I saw with a presage of coming evil, and -the great circles above began to grit their iron teeth and spin like -distaff wheels under a busy housewife’s hand, the pistons were shooting -to and fro faster and ever faster, while that fifty tons of metal, -glowing hot, now began to yank hungrily upon its chains, and start -forward a foot and then come back, and sniff and snort and tremble, -and strain in every part, and thunder and pant as the hot life surged -stronger and stronger into its veins, until it was rocking like a skiff -at anchor, and bellowing like a bull in agony. - -“By every saint, old Andrew Faulkener!” I shouted through the gathering -roar--“by every saint in Paradise, have a care for this frightful beast -of thine!” - -And I think he saw at last our danger, for the hundredth rhapsody died -unfinished upon his lips, and, dropping from the clouds at once, with -an anxious look, he scanned the now flying wonders of his offspring, -and then ran round and seized the handle which should have shut off -the red-hot vapor which was the breath and being of the puissant thing -he had conjured into being. Twice and thrice he bore upon that handle, -then turned to me with a wild and frightened look. ’Twas as hot as hot -could be, and could not move an inch! Hardly had I read that in his -face, when with an angry plunge the engine started forward, and the -philosopher missed his footing, rolling over headlong to the ground -at my feet. And now our beast was mad with waiting, and stronger than -fifty elephants, and fiercer than the nettled lion. The chains that -held him upon either side were as thick as a man’s arm, being fastened -to mighty staples in the forge. Our swaddling came back two yards upon -those chains--then started forward, and was brought up all on a sudden -with such a jerk as made the ground tremble, and filled us with a -sickly dread. Back came our splendid plaything again in no good mood, -and then forward once more, putting his mighty shoulders against his -bonds until the great steel chains stretched and groaned beneath the -strain, and Andrew Faulkener yelled in fear. The third time the monster -did this the staples gave, and all the forge fell into one dusty -smoking ruin, while the great engine twirled up those heavy chains upon -its thundering axles, and, laughing in savage joyfulness, recognized -the fatal fact that it was free! - -Then began a wild scene of chaos which brings the dampness of fear and -exertion on my forehead even to remember. What mattered chains or bars -or fetters to that splendid life that we could hear humming there under -those iron ribs?--to that unruly devil-heart which knew its strength, -and thundered in proud tumultuous rhythm to the consciousness? The -wonderful new Titan was born, and there in his own den, in the black -cradle of his nativity, would brook no master--he was born for strength -and might, and, Hoth! they were running hot within him, and we could -but cower in the shadows waiting and watching. - -And now that hideous monster, being free to do what he listed, set -off for the far end of the stony cellar, and, like a great black ship -floundering in a chopping sea, went plunging and reeling over the -uneven floor. We held our breath. What would he do when he reached -the end? And in a minute he was there, and through the gloom we heard -him crash into the rocky walls and recoil; then, with a scream like -an angry devil-baby, charge the native masonry again and again. But -Faulkener’s wretched cunning had put the guiding-wheels on pivots, and -now they slewed, and here he was coming down the walls toward us. - -We did not stop or wait to parley. We ran and dodged behind the -pillars, whence we heard him thud into the broken forge--ay, through -the reek and cloudy steam we caught the sound of that fifty tons of -metal clambering over the fallen masonry, all the time screeching in -his anger like a peevish Fury at being so thwarted; then back we dodged -again, and the huge thing went lumbering by us full of a horrid giant -life no valor availed against, no mortal hands could shackle. - -The more he beat about the bounds of that narrow infernal kingdom, the -less our Cyclops seemed to like it. His rage mounted at each turn he -made and found his prison-cell so narrow, and every rebuff swelled his -budding choler. Therefore, seeing how hopeless it was to strive to tame -him in this present mood, I waited till Cyclops was exploring at the -bottom of the hall; then, plunging through the dusty turmoil, found -old Faulkener. That gray inventor was reeling like a drunken man, and -witless with terror. - -“The key--the key!” I shouted in his ear. “To the door! We can do -no good here. Let your infernal beast burn out some of his accursed -spleen--then we’ll make a shift to tame him. But ’tis no good now! Hear -how he thunders! And--see--he is coming back again!” - -“Ah, the door, good friend, the door!” gasped Faulkener; and, clinging -to my arm, hotly pursued by the monster behind--whose red-hot madness -now seemed tinged with cruel purpose--we fled down the long black -cavern to the iron-studded postern. There was not a second to spare: -the old man plunged his trembling hands into his belt and felt all -round it, then turned to me with a horrid stare in his eyes and a -sickly smile upon his thin white lips--the key was gone! - -I dragged that old man back just as the great engine--ramping -hot--lurched down and cut a long smoking groove half a foot deep from -the rocky wall whereby we had been standing, then, disappointed of -us, went howling on into the blackness. And now there was nothing to -do but to stay and fight it out, no exit for us, and none for our -sweet bantling, and he seemed to know it! Round and round he drove us -through the flickering gloom and shadows of that dismal cockpit, till -the gushing sweat ran from us, and our choking breath came short and -panting through our parching throats. Oh! it was a sight to see that -shrieking monster, spurting steam at every joint and howling like a -pack of winter wolves, come careering through the darkness at us, with -every plate of his mighty harness quivering with the force within, and -all his thundering vitals glowing white and spawning golden trails of -molten embers as he lurched along. Down I would see him come, perhaps, -hunting something in savage mood, and as I dodged behind a pillar -and looked, out of the vortex of the shadows would leap old Andrew -Faulkener, as a leveret leaps from the ferns under a lurcher’s nose, -and, with ashy wild face, and flying wizard locks, and ragged sorrel -cloak flapping in shreds behind him, the master would flash in frenzied -fear across the glow that shimmered from the heart of his young Titan, -and then be swallowed up again by the next friendly blackness, and I -scarce dare breathe as, with a hideous parody of vindictive cunning, -that great thing would swirl and swerve, and be after him again! - -It was a wild, wonderful game, and the longer it went the hotter it -grew. Closer, denser, and blacker grew the gloom of that place, until -at length you could not see an arm’s-stretch ahead of you in the -sulphurous reek--a hot, steamy pall of dismal vapor, through which -glimmered redly, now and then, the ashes of the overturned furnace -place, and the rosin-dripping splutter of the feeble torch which we -had put into the socket by the door. Ah! that was all we had to light -us as we crawled and leaped and dodged before the vengeful fury of -that screaming harpy of ours--all but his own red copper glow that -flamed now here, now there, on the black horizon of our den. Darker and -still darker and hotter became the air, until at last--in half an hour -perhaps--the torch and the furnace ashes were sickly stars, too pallid -to light our merriment to any purpose, and even the glow of Faulkener’s -great invention was a red-hot haze, only illumining the seething dust -and smoke a yard or two about it, and everywhere else reigned black, -choking, Stygian, infernal darkness. - -A blank midnight void hung about the arena where we danced to that -great being--sprung like a black Minerva from my master’s over-fertile -brain. Yet, Jove! ’twas midnight dark, but there was no midnight -stillness in it. The very air seemed palpitating to the thunderous -beat of that beast’s mighty life--every hollow cavern-niche in our -rocky walls bellowed into our startled ears a hideous mockery of his -screeching; while the ceaseless roar of his cruel stride rattled down -the ragged juts of our stony roof like dislocated thunder. And in -that darkness and ear-splitting din we dodged and dipped and scuttled -like two cornered rats. I have been brave--by this time I hope you -know it--but what was mortal strength or valor against the strength -and recklessness of that iron god? No, he had the upper hand, and -screamed for blood like the devil that he was, pressing us with such -fury that my very soul seemed oozing through my sweating skin. As for -dignity--gods! I had none! At one moment I and Faulkener would be -struggling for a narrow passage like two hoggets in a meadow gate; then -I was anon crawling on hands and satin knees through pools half a foot -deep with filthy furnace-water, or straddling greasy heaps of brash -and ashes with the beast close behind to fire my flagging spirits, -spurting flame and scalding steam, and crunching with his ponderous -weight through the iron litter of the den as though it were an August -stubble. - -And this was not all. Being so dark, as I have said, presently that -iron monster, inspirited with the soul of a Fury, found it more and -more difficult to follow us, and went reeling and bellowing through the -steamy blackness ever more at random. Thereon he stopped a spell and -seemed to listen, and, though we could only tell his whereabouts by -the great fiery nebulæ of his glowing sides, we could plainly hear his -thousand steel teeth champing, and the gush of the boiling force flying -within him. We held our breath, and then we heard something change in -the machinery--some pin or rivet fail--and the next minute Faulkener’s -baby was off again with a scream like a lost spirit and possessed of a -cursed, brand-new idea. I have said the chains wherewith he had been -held to the forge were fastened to great revolving bars upon his side. -When he burst free he had torn these from the solid masonry and wound -them up upon the spinning axles, whereto by some misguided cunning -Faulkener had welded them. And now that devil was ramping round to find -us in the void, and had unwound those hideous flails, and with infernal -patience was beating down one wall and up the other. Oh! it was sickly -to hear the screech of those steel whips sweeping unseen through the -startled air, to hear them thud upon the trembling ground and cut deep -furrows in it at every savage lash--now here, now there, flogging the -frightened shadows and scourging the trembling rocks, and whistling -overhead like a thousand winged snakes--and all for us!--while that -great babe of my master’s hunted slowly round about our narrow prison, -and thundered and howled and rattled like a tempest in a mountain pass, -and, as though he were some great monster in a deep sea cave, shot out -and drew in those humming tentacles, and tried each nook and corner, -and squirted steam and fire into every crevice, and plied his cruel -whips madly about in that darkness till ’twas all like Pandemonium. - -Well, I will say no more, or you may think I wrap sober fact in that -mantle of fancy which the gods have lent me. We had dodged and ducked -at this game for many minutes when Faulkener’s mind gave way! I chanced -upon him in the middle space, laughing and screaming and taking off his -cloak and vest. He saw me stalk from the shadows, and, with a frightful -grin and caper, shouted that he knew what was the matter--“his pretty -firstling needed a bloody sacrifice, and who could provide it better -than himself?” Just then the engine turned and came looming through the -mist toward us, and the old enthusiast made ready to cast himself under -those mighty wheels. - -“Come back!” I shouted, “come back!” But Faulkener yelled: “Touch me at -your peril, the sweet one must not be balked!” And made toward it. - -I seized him by the arm and dragged him to one side, whereat, without -further parley, like a furious wild cat, he turned, and in a twinkling -had me by the throat, with those old talons of his deep buried in my -gullet, and his long, lean legs twirled round mine like thongs of -leather, and his mad eyes flashing, his white face lit up with maniac -passion; and so we heaved and struggled, then down upon our knees, and -over and over upon the floor, the old man striving all he knew to kill -me; while I, for my part, heaved and wrenched--all my splendid strength -cramped up in the wild grip of that sinewy old recluse--and over us, -as we fought upon the earth, was glimmering in a minute the red-copper -glow, the towering form, and the cruel, shrieking flails of that -exulting demon we had invented! - -We rolled and plunged in the dust, just where that circle of red light -fell on it, while guttural sobs and sighs came from us, as, forgetful -of all else, now one was on top, in that ruddy arena, and then the -other. The veins were big upon my forehead; I felt faint and sick; I -could not loosen Faulkener’s iron fingers, deep bedded in my neck, and -did not care; and that grim old fellow had no desire now but to watch -me die. I saw the glowing haze wherein we fought, and dimly understood -it. I heard, faintly and more faintly, the rattle of the chains, and -the thunderous, black laughter of our plaything, and then, just as -that glowing Fury seemed drawing itself together for one final effort -which should crush us both from all form and shape, that very effort -put something out of gear--the tangled wheels fell into dead-lock all -on a sudden, the heavy chains jerked wildly in their swing and twisted -together, the mighty rods and pistons went all asplay like a handful of -broken straws, the great beast trembled and reeled and shook, and then -split open from end to end, and, with a thunderous roar that shook our -cellar to its deepest foundations, amid a wild gust of flame and steam, -blew up! - -I rose unhurt from the dust and ashes, and unwinding Faulkener’s -lifeless limbs from about me, found a hammer by the forge, and, -scrambling over the now pulseless remnants of the giant, burst open the -door, and a few minutes later laid the great inventor’s body down upon -a bench in the peaceful moonlit courtyard. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - - -The episodes I now relate are so strange, so nearly impossible, that -I hesitate to set them down lest you should call me untruthful and a -_jongleur_; nevertheless, they are told as they occurred, and you must -believe them as you may. - -My quaint recluse had not been slain that night we tried his infernal -engine, but had lain in a long swoon after I carried him from amid the -wreck and débris of his den out into the moonlight. That swoon, indeed, -lasted for a whole day and night; and Elizabeth wrung her white hands -over her father’s seeming lifeless body, while Emanuel picked his -yellow teeth reflectively with his dagger-point at the couch-foot, and -Dame Margery spent all her art in unguents and salves upon the luckless -inventor ere he showed signs of returning life. - -At last, however, he revived, and made a long, slow recovery of many -days under the gentle ministering of his women. And while he throve -hour by hour in the spring sunshine on the bench of his porch, I wooed -his daughter in wayward, dissatisfied kind, and laughed scornfully at -the black Spaniard’s jealous scowls, and won the mellow heart of the -old dame by my gallantness and courtesy. But it was child’s play. I -longed again to feel the hot pulse of keen emotions throbbing in my -veins, to struggle with some strong tide of hot adventure, and so at -last I had made up my mind to leave my good host and hostess at an -early season, and, turning soldier again, espouse the first quarrel -which chance threw in my way. - -Then one day it happened--a strange day indeed to me--old Master Andrew -Faulkener had grown weary of his cranks and fan-wheels, and had gone -for solace to his dusty tomes and classics. Exploring amid them, in an -eventful moment he had taken down a missal penned by some old Saxon -monk, and turned to a passage he must have known well, since it was -marked and thumbed. And while the ancient scholar read and mumbled over -that quaint black letter with its gorgeous gold and crimson uncials, -I, who chanced to stand a little way apart, saw the wan blood mount -in a thin pink glow to the enthusiast’s cheeks, and in that flush -recognized that he was warm upon another quest. He mumbled and muttered -to himself, and while he sauntered up and down, or stopped now and then -to thumb and pore over that leathern volume, I caught, in disjointed -fragments, some pieces of his thoughts. “Ha! ha! a most likely find -indeed, a splendid treasure-house of trophies--and to think that no -one but old Ambrose and I wot of it, ho! ho! What does he say? ‘And -in this place was destroyed a noble house, and the anger of the Lord -fell on the pagan defenders, and they were slain one and all. Ah! God -leveled their idolatrous dwelling-places and scattered their ashes to -the four winds of heaven, and with them were destroyed--the common -legend sayeth--all their hoards of brass and silver, all their accursed -images of bronze and gold, all their trinkets and fine raiment, so that -the vengeance of the Lord was complete, and the heathen was utterly -wiped out.’ Good, very good, Brother Ambrose,” muttered the old man -with chuckling pleasure. “And now, where did this thing happen? ‘This -house which harbored so much lewdness stood on the hillock by the road -a few miles from the river, and had all that land which now is holy -perquisite to the neighboring abbey.’ Good! good!--for certain ’tis the -very spot I thought of--a happy, happy chance that made me light upon -this passage--I who live so near the spot it speaks of--I who alone of -thousands can use it as the golden key to unlock such a sweet mine of -relics as that buried pagan home must be. Oh! Ambrose, I am grateful,” -and patting the musty monkish tome in childish pleasure, he replaced it -reverently upon its shelf. - -Then up and down he paced, the student’s passion burning hot within -him, muttering as he went: “Why not to-night? Why not, why not? There -is no season better for such a work than soon, and I have my license,” -whereon he went to a peg on the wall and fumbled in the wallet of the -ragged cloak I had seen him wear the night we met. In a minute out came -a brand-new scroll of parchment, neatly rolled and folded, and stamped -with the Royal seal. That scroll Andrew Faulkener undid, and, setting -his horn glasses on his nose, began to read the paper at arm’s length -with inarticulate sounds of rapture. It seemed to delight him so much -that presently I sauntered over to share in the merriment, forgetting -I had thus far been unobserved; but when we came within two paces of -each other the scholar, perceiving me, with a cry of dismay stuffed -the crushed parchment hurriedly into his bosom as though he thought -himself about to be robbed of something precious by a sudden ambuscade. -However, in a minute he recognized the robber, and was reassured, yet -undecided still, and inch by inch the white roll came forth, while -the old man kept his eyes fixed on mine. What were his scripts and -scrolls to me? I smiled to note the store he set by them: there was -not one of those poor things could interest me more nearly than a last -year’s leaf from the garden yonder--and yet, strange to say, that -white roll, creeping into light from under his rusty gaberdine, did -attract me somehow. Long life and strange experience have wakened in -me senses dormant in other mortals, and I begin to be conscious of a -knowledge beyond common knowing, a sense behind other senses, which -grows with practice, and seems ambitious by and by to bridge the gulf -which separates tangible from unreal, and what is from what will be. -That growing perspicacity within me smelled something of weight about -Faulkener’s writing more than usual, and with my curiosity gently -roused, I queried: - -“That seems a script of value, sir. Is its interest particular or -public?” - -“In some ways, good youth,” Faulkener answered hesitatingly, as he -unfolded the scroll so slowly as though he were jealous even of the -prying sunshine, “in some ways the interest of what this is the key to -is very general, and in other ways it is, at least for some time to -come, most private.” - -“Enough!” I said, “and I am sorry to have questioned you; but your -pleasure in the tome over there suggested just now that this were some -general matter of curiosity--some dark passage in history whereon, -perhaps, two minds might shed more light than one. I ask indulgence for -intrusion.” - -“Nay, but stop a minute! History, did you say? Why, this is history; -this is the birthscript of a brand-new page in history; this is leave -to turn a leaf no other fingers have ever turned, to spell out in sweet -ashes and lovely fragments a whole chapter, perchance, of the bygone. -Boy!” cried the old fellow, grasping my arm with his lean fingers, and -whispering in my ear as though he dreaded the grinning mummy of Pharaoh -in the shadow might play eavesdropper, “can you keep a secret?” - -“Ay! fairly, when it does not interest me.” - -“Why, then--there, take that and read it,” and Faulkener thrust the -roll into my hands, and cast himself into an attitude, and crossed -his arms upon his chest, and stared at me from under his shaggy -eyebrows as if he fancied to see fear and wonder and delight fly over -my countenance while my eyes devoured that precious deed of his. What -was there so wonderful in it? The thing was sealed and tasseled, the -ink and paper were new, the parchment white; it was, in fact, the -very vellum Faulkener had been on his way to beg at Court when we two -met--a wonderful chance, as you shall presently see, an extraordinary -hap indeed that brought me to his side out of the great wastes of time -at the very instant when that ancient scholar was on the road to ask -that license. But I did not know while I read how nearly the parchment -touched me. It looked just an ordinary missive from high authority to -humble petitioner, profuse and verbose, signed and counter-signed, and, -amid a wilderness of words, just a grain of sense that I construed as -giving the bearer leave to seek for treasure on certain lands therein -mentioned, and adopt the same to his proper pleasure without tax or -drawback. - -“This may be a golden key, Sir,” was my response, as the thing was -handed back, “but it is difficult to learn anything of the door it -opens by looking on it.” - -“Yet, nevertheless, young man, it is a golden key, and you shall see -me use it, for if, as yonder broken engine hints, the Fates will that -I may not pry into the misty future, yet with their leave, with the -help of this and you, will I peep into the even more shadowy past. Were -you ever at the opening of an ancient crypt--a stony hiding-place, for -instance, where dead men’s bones lay all about mid dim gems and the -rusty iron playthings of love and war?” - -“I do recall one such an episode.” - -“And did it not affect you greatly?” - -“Greatly indeed.” - -“Ay, boy, and this that I will show you shall affect you more--we two -will turn a leaf which shall read as clear to you as though you had -been at the writing of it a thousand years before. It is a grassy -hillock, and you shall lift that sod with me, and, if this thing is as -I think it is, oh! you shall start at what you find, and coward ague -shall unstring your soldier legs, you shall be dumb with wonder, and -ply your mattock with damp, fearful awe beaded on your forehead, and -starting eyes fixed fast in horrid pleasure on what we will unearth. -Ay, if you have a spark of generous comprehension, if one drop of the -milk of kindness still bides within you, you shall people this place -we go to find with such teeming, sprightly fancies, such moving -mockeries of frail human kind new risen from their ashes at your feet, -that you shall wring your hands out of pure rue for them that were, -and pluck your beard in dumb chagrin, and beat upon your heart, even -to watch all that which once was ruddy valor and hot love, and white -beauty go adrifting so upon the dusty evening wind! You will come with -me?” - -“Old man!” I said, pacing up and down with folded arms and bent head, -“’twas upon my tongue to say I would not--I had a fair tryst to keep -this evening, and something that I have seen of late makes such -ventures as you have planned doubly distasteful to me; ’twas in my -mind to laugh and shake my head--but, gods! you have stirred a pulse -within me that rouses me with resistless wonder; your words tell on me -strangely--there is something in that you say which echoes through my -heart like the footfall of a storm upon the hollow earth, and I can do -nothing but listen and acquiesce. I will come!” - -“Good youth, good youth, I knew you would; and, that our hopes may not -suffer by delay, let us prepare at once. Get you mattock, spade, and -pick, with whatever other tools your strength shall need, and I will -feed and have my pretty palfrey saddled, and con yon crabbed passage -over once again. So we will be ready; and at nightfall, under the -yellow stars, will start upon a venture that you shall think on for -many a day.” - -I bent my head, and we did as Faulkener suggested. But a strange -unrest possessed me. When spade and mattock were hidden where we could -take them up in secret (for we did not wish our enterprise too widely -known), the time hung wondrously heavy on hand. All the tedious hours -before sunset I was oppressed with an anxiety quaint and inexplicable; -half wishing by turns I had not promised to join the mad old fellow in -his moonlight quest, and then laughing my scruples down and becoming -as restless for the start as before I had been reluctant. As for the -scholar himself, the very shirt of Dejanira possessed him, and his -impatience shone behind his yellow wrinkled face like a candle inside -a horn lantern. Somehow the hours wore through, however, and when the -evening was come, we set forth, Faulkener pale and eloquently raving -from astride of that mean palfrey whose sumpter pad was loaded with our -tools on one side, and on the other a monster sack wherein to bring -back all the treasure we were to rifle, and I on foot leading that -gentle beast, and thoughtful, past proportion or reason. - -At first we pushed on at a brisk pace by familiar roads, but after a -time our path lay more to the eastward, the scholar said, and once -off the broad white track leading to the nearest town the road grew -narrower and more narrow. On we went in silence, mile after mile; by -rutty lanes where twittering bats flitted up and down the black arcades -of overhanging bush and brier; by rushy flats where the water stood wan -and dim in the uncertain light; now brushing by the heavy, dew-laden -branches of a woodman’s path through deep thickets of oak and beech, -and then following a winding sheep-track over ling and gorse. So somber -was that way, and so few the signs of life, I wondered how the scholar -kept even the direction; but he was a better pilot than he seemed, and, -while he ranted silently upon the sky and waved his hands in ghostly -rhythm to his unspoken thoughts, I found from a chance word or two he -was in some kind watching the stars, and leading us forward by their -dim light toward that goal whereof he had got knowledge from his musty -tomes. On we went through the still starry night, pacing along from -black shadows to black shadows, and moonlight to silver moonlight, -until it must have been within an hour or two of day-breaking, for -under the purple pall of sky there was a long stream of pale light in -the east. It was about that time, and the night shadows were strong -and ebony, and the cold breath and deep hush of a coming morning hung -over everything when Faulkener first began to hesitate, and presently -confessed that that which he sought for should be somewhere here, but -in the glimmer of the starlight he was uncertain whether it lay to -right or left. We halted, and, mounting on a hillock, peered all about -us, but to little purpose, fur the somber night hid everything, the -massed forest trees rose tier upon tier on every hand, like mountain -ranges running on indefinite into the gloomy passes of the clouds, and -the chance gleams of moonlight, lying white and still upon the dew-damp -meadows, were so like great misty lakes and rivers, it were difficult -to say whether they were such or no. - -So back we scrambled once more, and unhitched our patient beast from -the hazel whereto we had tied him, and plunged on again by dingle and -sandy road, and rough woodland path, until we were hopelessly mazed, -and there seemed nothing for it but to wait till daylight or go empty -back. Yet, reluctant to do either, we held to it a little, hoping some -chance might favor us. ’Twas past midnight--not a crow of distant cock -or yelp of village cur broke the dead stillness, and we were plodding -down a turfy road, when on a sudden our patient steed threw forward -his ears and came to a dead stop, and, almost the same minute, the -gray clad figure of a countryman in long cape and hood, a wide slouch -hat upon his head, and a tall staff in his hand, came out from the -depth a hundred yards ahead of us, and with slow, measured gait and -bent face walked down toward us. Old Faulkener was overjoyed. Here was -one who knew the country, and would show us his precious hillock; -and he shouted to that stranger, and tugged his palfrey’s rein. But -that observant beast was strangely reluctant; he went on a pace, then -stopped and backed and pawed the silent ground, throwing his prick ears -forward, whinnying, and staring at that silent coming stranger, with -strange disquiet in every movement. And I--I sympathized with that dumb -brute; and, as the countryman came near, somehow my blood ran cold and -colder; my tongue, that was awag to ask the way, stuck helpless to my -teeth; a foolish chill beset my limbs; and, by the time we met, I had -only wit enough left to stare, speechless, at that gray form, in silent -expectation. But the old philosopher did not feel these tremors. He was -delighted at our good luck, and, fumbling in his wallet, pulled out a -small silver piece which he tendered to the man, explaining at the same -time our need and asking him to guide us. - -The stranger took the coin in silence, and, keeping his face hidden in -the shadow of his hat, said the mound was near, “he knew it well, he -had bided by it long,” and he would willingly show us where it lay. -Back we went by copse and heather, back for half a mile, then turned -to the right, and in a few minutes more came out of the brushwood into -the starlight, and there at our very feet the ground was swelling up in -gentle sweep to the flat top of a little island-hill lost in the sea of -forest-land about it. It was the place we came for, and the scholar, -without another thought for us, joyfully pricked his steed to the rise, -and was soon out of sight round the shoulder of the ground. - -But I! Oh, what was that strange, dull hesitation that made my feet -heavy as lead upon that threshold? Whence came those thronging, -formless fancies that crowded to my mind as I surveyed that -smoothly-rounded hillock, and all the fantastic shadows beyond it? -That spot was the same one I had wandered to when I walked lonely -from Faulkener’s house, and mere chance brought me to it anew at dead -midnight; and all the old thrills of indistinct remembrance I then had -felt were working in me again with redoubled force, moving my soul to -such unrest that I bent my head and hid my eyes, and strove long but -vainly to recall why or when I had last trodden that soil, as somewhere -and somehow I was certain that I had. Thinking and thinking without -purpose, presently I looked up, and there, two paces away was still -that gray hedgeman leaning on his staff and regarding me from under -his country hat with calm, soulless attention. I had forgotten his -presence, and it was so strange to see him there, so rustic and so -stately, that I started back, and an unfamiliar chill beset me for an -instant. But it was only a moment, then, angry to have been surprised, -I turned haughtily upon him, and, with folded arms, in mockingness of -his own stern attitude, stared proudly into those black shadows where -should have been his face. Jove! ’twas a stare that would not have -blanched for all the lightning in a Cæsar’s eye or wavered one moment -beneath the grim returning gaze of any tyrant that ever lived; and yet, -even as I looked into that void my soul turned to water, and my eyelids -quivered and bent and drooped, my arms fell loose and nerveless to my -side, and every power of free action forsook me. - -That being took my perturbation with the same cold lack of wonder he -had shown throughout. He eyed me for a minute with his sleepy, stately -calm, and then he said: “You have been here before.” - -“Yes,” I answered, “but how or when only the great gods know”--and -though I noticed it not at the moment, yet since it has flashed upon me -as another link in a wondrous chain, that at that moment both I and -the gray countryman were using the long-forgotten British tongue! - -“And would you know, would you recall?” he queried in his passionless -voice. - -“Ay, if it is within your power to stir my memory, stir it, in the -name of loud Taranis, of old Belenus, and all the other fiends I once -believed in!” - -“Well sworn, Phœnician!” said the tall nocturnal wanderer, and without -another word grasped his staff and, signing me to follow, led round -the shoulder of the hillock to where, alone and solitary, we two were -stayed by a trickling rivulet that sprang from a grassy basin in the -slope, and went by a little rushy course winding down into the dusky -thickets beyond. At that pool my guide stopped suddenly, then, pointing -with stern finger still shrouded under the folds of his ample cloak: - -“Drink!” he cried. “Drink and remember!” - -I could no more have thwarted him than I could have torn that solid -mound from off its base, and down I went upon one knee, and took a -broken crock some shepherd had left behind, and filled it, and put it -to my lips and drank. Then up I leaped with a wild yell of wonder and -astonishment, while right across the sullen midnight sky, it seemed, -there shot out in one broad living picture all the painted pageantry of -my Roman life. I saw old Roman Britain rise before me, and the quaint -templed towns of a splendid epoch leap into shape from the tumbled -chaos of the evening clouds. I saw the crowded episodes that had -followed after the rewakening in the cave where my princess had laid -me; the faces of my jolly long-dead comrades seemed thronging round -about me; I heard the street cries of a Roman-British city; I saw the -dust rise, and the glitter as the phalanges wheeled and turned upon the -castra before the porch where, a gay patrician gallant, I lounged in -gold and turquoise armor. I saw Electra’s ivory villa start into form -and substance out of the pale, filtering Tudor moonlight, and the great -white bull, and the haughty lady, stately and tall, beckoning me up her -marble steps; and then I was with her, her petted youth, lying indolent -and happy, toying disdainfully with the imperial love she proffered -me, while we filled our rainbow shells from that bright fountain that -spurted in her inner court! - -With a wild cry I dropped the shepherd’s crock and started back. The -water I was sipping was the water of Electra’s courtyard fountain! -Gods! there was none other like it. Often we two had drunk of that -crystal torrent as it burst, full of those sweet earth-salts the Romans -loved so well, from the bowels of the earth straight into her pearly -basins; the last time I had stooped to it was on that night of fiery -combat when Electra’s villa fell--and here I was sipping of it again, -so strangely and unexpectedly that I hid my eyes a space, scarce -knowing what might happen next. When I uncovered them the black dusty -clouds had swallowed the painted pageantry of my vision, the night-wind -blew chill round the grassy slope; the Roman villa and fountain had -gone from the gray shadows where we stood--only the tinkle of the -falling water was left in the darkness, and in front of me still the -tall figure of that gray-clad countryman. Only that countryman! Hoth! -how can I describe the rush of keen wonder and fear which swept over me -when, looking at him again, I saw that he had turned back the flap of -his wide hat, and there, in the dead gray light, was staring at me--the -same stern, passionless face that had come to my shoulder in the reek -and heat of combat on this very spot thirteen hundred years before, -and, doing the bidding of the great Unknown, had drawn me from those -fiery shambles only just in time? - -I knew him then, on the instant, as no mortal, and glared, and glared -at him with every nerve at tension, and speechless tongue, too numb to -question, and while I stared like that with the strong emotion playing -on lip and eye--it was only a minute or so, though it seemed an epoch, -the face of that being was lit by a smile, sedate and impalpable. - -Then, turning to me with gentle superiority, he said: “You have -been long, Phœnician! They told me you would come again, and I have -waited--waited for you here these few hundred years--waited until -I near tired of watching all your circling vagaries. Here is the -place you came to-night to find--my errand ends! Dig, wonder, and -reflect--this I was told to show you and to say!” And like the echo of -his own words, like the shadow of a cloud upon a rock, that strange -messenger of another life was drunk up by the darkness right in front -of my wondering eyes. - -So swift and silent was his passage back into the outer vagueness that -for a minute I could not believe he had gone in truth, and held my -breath, and stared up and down, expecting he would fashion again out -of the draughty air, or speak above or below, once more, in that voice -every syllable of which fell clear on my soul, like water falling into -a well. But it was useless to listen and peer into the gloom. The shape -was gone beyond recall; and, while my mind still pondered over the -strangeness of it, keeping me spellbound at the brink of that enchanted -fountain, with bent head and folded arms, trying to guess how much of -this was fantasy, and how much fact, there rose a shout upon the still -night air, and, raising my eyes, there was Faulkener’s quaint black -image capering wildly on the dusky skyline, the while he brandished -aloft in one hand a spade, and in the other--looking quaintly like a -new-severed head dangling by the hair--the first sod he had cut of that -“treasure-heap” so dear and dreadful to me. - -I went sullenly up to the recluse, full of such strange, conflicting -feelings as you may suppose, and found him eager and excited. He had -marked out a long furrow across the crest of the hill, “and this we -were to open and strike out right or left according as our venture -throve.” Jove! I stared for a time at that black trench as though it -were the narrow lip of hell, which presently should yawn and throw -up a grim, ghostly, warlike crew, worse than those who frightened -Jason. And then I laughed in bitterness and perplexity, and tore off -my doublet and rolled my tunic-sleeves above my shoulder, and took a -spade, and at one strong heave plunged it deep into the tender bosom of -the swelling turf just over where the outskirts of the ancient Roman -house had been, and wrenched it up. Then in again, and then again, -while the mad philosopher capered in the twilight to watch my sinewy -strength so well applied, and the whistling bats swept curious round -us. I had not turned back a stitch of that light, peaty coverlet, -when down my spade sank through an inner crust, deep into something -soft and hollow-seeming; and the next minute Faulkener, who also had -set to work, was into the same fine strata too. We laid it bare, and -there below us shone a floor of white dim ashes, mixed with earth, and -leaves, and roots. - -“A torch! a torch!” yelled Faulkener, and down he went upon his knees, -and, wild with exultation, wallowed in that powdery stuff, throwing it -out by hand and armfuls, till all his clothes were covered with it, -and his hoary beard was still more hoary, and his white face still -more white, and his mad twinkling eyes were still more lunatic, and -I helping him, full of crowding hopes and fears. And so we dug and -groveled and scraped, while the pale stars twinkled overhead, until -soon my master gave a shout, and looking quickly at him--Jove! he was -hand in hand with a dead white hand that he had uncovered, and was -hauling at it in frantic eagerness, and scraping away the rubbish -above, and slipping and plunging and staggering in the gray dust, while -the beaded sweat shone on his forehead, and his white elf-locks were -all astray upon the night air; and then--gods!--it began to give, and -I held my breath--knowing all I knew--while the white stuff cracked -and heaved about that ghostly palm, and then it opened, and--first his -head, and then his shoulders, and then his stiff contorted limbs--my -master dragged out into the starshine, with one strong effort, a bulky -ancient warrior! - -There, in the torchlight which Faulkener held above him, slept that -kiln-dried soldier. He lay flat upon his back, and, while one knotted, -shriveled fist was stretched stiff in front in deathless anger, the -broken digits of his other hand were welded by red iron rust about the -red rusty hilt of a bladeless sword. And that soldier’s soulless face -was set stiff and hard, while on his stern, shut lips and deep in his -eyeless sockets even now restless passion and quenchless hate seemed -smoldering. About that frail body still clung in melancholy tatters the -shreds and remnants of purple webs and golden tissue. On his shoulders, -sunk into his withered, lifeless flesh, were the moldy straps and -scales of harness and cuirass, and on his head what once had been, -though now it was more like winter wrack, a gay helmet and a horseman’s -nodding crimson plume. It was a ghostly plaything to unearth like that -under the wavering starlight, and it was doubly dreadful to note how -deathlike was it while yet all the hot life-passion lay stamped forever -in unchanging fierceness on the hideous mask of dissolution. I turned -away as Faulkener, gleefully shouting that he was a thousand years old -if he was a day, tore the russet trophies from him, and pushed him -down the hill; I turned away, grimly frowning, out into the black -starlight, with folded arms, for that contorted thing was jolly Caius -Martius, my merry Byzantine captain of those mercenaries who stood it -out with me that last night of Roman power in England! Jolly Caius -Martius! Often we two had set the British dogs a-yelping as we wandered -home from noisy midnight frolics down the moonlit temple streets; often -we two had driven the same boar to bay deep in his reedy stronghold; -often at banquet and at feast, when the roses lay deep below and the -strong warm breath of scented wine hung thick above, that curly black -head the Mercian damsels liked so well had sunk happy and heavy on -my shoulder. Jove! how the world had spun since then!--and there was -Faulkener pushing him down the slope, and I could not raise a comrade -finger for merry Caius, and could only stupidly remember, as the -sprawling head went trundling away into the brambles, how, in that long -ago, I had owed him half a silver talent and had never yet repaid it! - -Well, we fell to work again, and farther on, amid the passages where -these ancient men had fought and fallen in the rout, we found a limb, -and dug about it till we uncovered another strange, twisted hide of -what was once humanity--a stalwart shell this one, but Faulkener -thought little on him because he wore no links or chains, and set -him rolling after the other with scant ceremony. The next we came to -seemed by gear and weapons a Southern mercenary. He lay asprawl upon -his face, and my master levered him out and plucked him of his scanty -metal relics with no more compunction than if he were a pigeon. It was -grim, wild work, there under the leer of the yellow dawning, all in the -hush of the twilight, coming on those ghastly relics thus one by one, -and prising them out of their ashy shells, and turning them over, and -reading on each black mummy mask, that seemed to smile and grin with -dead ferocity under the flickering flambeau light, the countenance and -fashion of ancient comrade and ally. And ever and anon as I worked, -held to the labor by a strange fascination, the melancholy footfall of -the gusty wind came pacing round the hill, and with a frown and start I -would look over my shoulder, half fearing, half hoping it was my gray -countryman once more. So we toiled, and toiled, while the light waned, -and Faulkener’s treasure-heap was swelling. And the nearer we worked -to the center of that ample round of corridors and courts the thicker -came to light those old world fighters, and presently we got right -down to the tessellated paving of Electra’s lordly hall, and here we -found what it was which made all these ancient warriors so still and -lasting. It was that strange, mysterious fountain. That jet of pungent -taste and wondrous properties, when the walls fell in, had overflowed -its basins and percolated through the deep soft ashes lying thick about -these marble rooms and chambers, and, by the stony magic wherewith it -was charged, had lined and filled those ancient gentlemen it met with, -and thereafter, in long dark months of silence, had supplemented their -wasting tissues with its calcareous sediment, and kept them forever as -we found them--strange, horrible, exact, and real, with passion and -life stamped deep on every face, and strength and vigor in every limb, -although those faces wore only ashy masks, and those limbs no stouter -than the vellum on which I write. - -Under the crust of welded stone and ashes it was wonderful to see how -perfectly was everything preserved. We raised it in great flakes from -the stony flooring, and all the stain and litter of the fight lay under -it, as though they were not a dozen hours old; we chipped that scaly -covering from the walls, and there, fresh as the moment they were made, -gleamed up under our wavering torchlight all the gay mural paintings, -the smudges of battle, and the scars of axe and arrow. We lifted that -pale, stiff shroud from the inner chambers, and beneath lay shreds and -shells of furniture and gear; the half-baked loaves were in the oven; -the flesher’s knife was on the block! Round about the bounds of that -stately ruin we went, uncovering at every spadeful something mournful, -forgetting fatigue and time, as wonder after wonder rose to view; thus -we came at last to the mid court, where the great fight had been, and -peeled the thin turf from off it, far and near. - -We had scarce begun to rake aside the ashes, when down to help us -came, out of the black parting clouds, strong gusts of cold morning -wind, blowing fitfully at first and chill, and sobbing overhead and -all about us, as though the gray air was full of spirits. It gathered -strength, and, wailing over the wide floor we had uncovered, in one -strong breath swept back the veil of ashes, and there--Jove!--all amid -the juts of fallen masonry and stumps of beam and rafter, blackened in -that fire which seemed but yesterday, were high, protruding knees of -dead combatants, and stiff bent elbows, as thick as grass; and haggard, -wizened faces, all stamped with twenty fine degrees of terror; and -fierce clenched fists, and hands that still waved above them broken -hilt and blade. There they lay in heaps and rucks about that ancient -villa floor, just as they had died fighting amid the red choking ashes -of the blazing roof, all horribly lifelike and yet so grimly dead! Old -Faulkener yelled in sheer affright, and capered, and shook his fists -toward them, and tore his lean white locks ’tween dread and wonder; and -stiff my Phrygian curls seemed on my head, and cold the sweat upon my -forehead. - -And then, while we watched, a very wonderful thing happened, and, -dreadful and beautiful, those cinders began to glow. Jutting beam and -rafter grew red and redder, pile and timber and cornice caught the -ambient blush, the crimson stain crept all across the hall, it burned -in mockery upon ruined wall and portico, and lit with an unearthly -radiance those parched, contorted faces that grinned and leered and -frowned, still in frantic struggle with their kind, all round us. Was -I mad? Was this some hideous last delusion which beset my aching mind -and horror-surfeited eyes? No! there was Faulkener saw it too, and had -fallen on his knees and buried his fearful face behind his hands and -thrown his gaberdine cloak over his head to shut out that dreadful -sight. I drew my hand across my face and looked again: it was true, -too true--that charred and ancient villa was all alight once more; -wherever fire had been, at every point and crevice, there the ambient -glow was smoldering with a flameless brightness. It underlay the silver -ashes with a hot golden shine; it gilded all the fallen metal statues -of gods and goddesses until they seemed to shimmer beneath its touch; -it shone near by under the walls and far out upon the steps--it was so -real, so terribly like what it had been here a thousand years before, -that I half bent to take a weapon, in the delusion of that brilliant -fantasy, a husky cry of encouragement to those stark, ancient warriors -half framed itself upon my lips--and then, how exactly I know not, but -somehow a slight insequence fleshed upon me, and in another minute I -had spun angrily round upon my heel--and there I saw, right behind us, -calm, benignant, crimson, the great May sun was topping the eastern -oak-trees. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - - -After that eventful episode just detailed, life ran smooth and -uneventful for a time in the old manor-house. I had had enough to think -of for many a day, and was inert and listless somehow. War, that had -seemed so bright, had lost its color to me. Honor! and renown! Why, the -green grass in the fields were not more fleeting, I began to think; -and what use was it striving after conquests which another age undid, -or attempting brave adventures whereof a later time recognized neither -cause nor purpose? I was in a doleful mood, as you will see, and lay -about on Faulkener’s sunny, red-brick terraces for days together, -reflecting in this idle fashion, or pressed my suit upon his daughter -when other pastimes failed. - -Now, this latter was a dangerous sport for one like me, and one whose -fair opponent at the game had such a fine untaught instinct for it -as Mistress Bess possessed. I began to speak soft things unto that -lady’s ear, as you may remember, like many another, for lack of better -occupation, and because it seemed so discourteous to be indifferent to -the sweet enticement of my friend, and then I took the gentle malady -from her, and, growing worse than she had been, how could she do aught -but sympathize? And so between us we eked the matter on in ample -leisure, until that which was a pretty jest became at last very serious -and sober earnest. - -It was a strange wooing. I still worked in the forge, riveting, -hammering, and piecing together the fragments of the scholar’s -shattered dream, and down the damsel would come at times into the -grimy den and sit upon the forge-corner in her dainty country smock, -twirling her ribboned points and laughing at me and my toil, as fresh -and dainty among all that gloomy black litter round about as a ray -of spring sunshine. I was so solitary and glum, how could I fail to -be pleasured in that dear presence? And one time I would hammer her -a gleaming buckle or wristlet out of a nob of ancient silver, and it -was sweet to see that country damsel’s eagerness as, with flushed face -and sparkling eyes, she bent over and watched the pretty toy shine -and glitter and take form and shape under my cunning hammer. Or then -again, perhaps, another day I would tell her, as though it were only -hearsay, some wondrous old story of the ancient time, so full of light -and color and love as I could fill it, and that dear auditor would -drink in every syllable with thirsty ears, and laugh and weep and fear -and tremble just as I willed, the while I pointed my periods with my -anvil irons, and danced my visionary puppets against the black shadows -of that nether hall. Hoth! a good listener is a sweet solace to him -whose heart is full! Those narratives did so engross us that often the -forge went cold, and bar and rivet slumbered into blackness, while I -stalked up and down that dingy cavern peopling it with such glowing -forms and fancies as kept that dear untutored damsel spellbound; often -the evening fell upon us so, and we had at last to steal shamefacedly -across the courtyard to where the warm glow behind the lattices told us -supper and the others waited. - -There was small difference in these days. I hammered cheerful and I -hammered dull, I hammered hopeful and I hammered melancholy, I hammered -in tune to the merry prattle of that girl, and I hammered sad and -solitary. And ever as I forged and welded by myself you may guess how I -thought and speculated--thought of all the love that I had loved, and -all the useless strife and ambition, and now hung over my blackening -iron as the pain of ancient perplexities and disappointments beset me, -and then anon laughed and beat new life into the glowing metal as the -light of forgotten joys flashed for a moment on the fitful current -of my mind. Ah! and again I forged hot and impetuous on my master’s -rods and rivets as the old pulse of battles and onset swelled in my -veins--forged and hammered while the stream of such fancies bore me -on--until, unwitting, the very molten stuff beneath my hands took -form and fashion of my thoughts, and grew up into shining spear-heads -and white blades until the fantasy in turn was passed, and I checked -my fancies and saw, ashamed, the foolish work my busy hammer had -fashioned, and sadly broke the spear-heads and snapped the blades, and -came back with a sigh to meaner things. - -My mind being thus full of all those wild adventures and wondrous -exploits I had seen and shared, when, as I was strolling one idle -morning down Faulkener’s dusty museum corridor, and sampling as I went -his precious tomes, that thing happened to which you owe this book. I -dipped into his missals and vellums as I sauntered from shelf to shelf, -and soon I found there was scarcely a page, scarcely a passage within -their mothy leathern covers that did not touch me nearly, or set me -thinking of something old and wonderful. There was not a page in all -that fingered, scholar-marked library, it seemed to me, upon which I -could not find something better or nearer to the shining truth to say -than they had who wrote those cupboard histories and philosophies; and -first I was only sad to see so much inaccurate set down, and then I -fell to sighing, as I turned the leaves of quaint treatise and pedantic -monkish diary, that they should write who knew so little, and I, who -knew so much, should be so dumb. And thus vague fancies began to form -within my mind, and, backed by the brooding memories strong within, -began to egg me on to write myself! Jove! I had not touched a pen for -many hundred years, and yet here was the budding hunger for expression -rising strong within me, and I laughed and went over to old Faulkener’s -great oak table by the mullioned window, and took up his quill, and -turned it here and there, and looked on both ends of it, then presently -set it down with a shake of the head as a weapon past my wielding. -I felt the texture of his vellums and peered into the depth of his -inkpot, as though there were to see therein all those glowing facts and -fancies that I yearned to draw therefrom. But it would not do; not even -the challenge of those piled tomes, not even the handy means to the end -I coveted, could for a time break down my diffidence. - -So I fell melancholy again, and wandered down that quaintly stocked -museum library, gazing ruefully on each sad remnant of humanity, and -thinking how quaint it was that I should come to dust my kinsmen’s -skulls and tabulate those grim old heads that had so often wagged in -praise of me, then back again to the shelves, and pored and pondered -over the many-authored books, until, by hap, my eyes lit upon a passage -in an Eastern tale that was so pregnant with experience, so fine, it -seemed to my mood, in fancy and philosophy, that it entranced me and -fired my zeal to a point naught else had done. - -The ancient Arabian narrator is telling how one came, in mid desert, -upon a splendid, ruined city--a silent, unpeopled town of voiceless -palaces and temples--and wandered on by empty street and fallen -greatness until, in the stateliest court of a thousand stately palaces, -he found an iron tablet, and on it was written these words: - - In the name of God, the Eternal, the Everlasting throughout - all ages: in the name of God, who begetteth not, and who - is not begotten, and unto whom there is none like: in the - name of God, the Mighty and Powerful: in the name of the - Living who dieth not. O thou who arrivest at this place, - be admonished by the misfortunes and calamities that thou - beholdest, and be not deceived by the world and its beauty, - and its falsity and calumny, and its fallacy and finery; - for it is a flatterer, a cheat, a traitor. Its things are - borrowed, and it will take the loan from the borrower; - and it is like the confused visions of the sleeper, and - the dream of the dreamer. These are the characteristics - of the world: confide not therefore in it, nor incline - to it; for it will betray him who dependeth upon it, and - who in his affairs relieth upon it. Fall not into its - snares, nor cling to its skirts. For I possessed four - thousand bay horses in a stable; and I married a thousand - damsels, all daughters of Kings, high-bosomed virgins, - like moons; and I was blessed with a thousand children; - and I lived a thousand years, happy in mind and heart; - and I amassed riches such as the Kings of the earth were - unable to procure, and I imagined that my enjoyments - would continue without failure. But I was not aware when - there alighted among us the terminator of delights, the - separator of companions, the desolator of abodes, the - ravager of inhabited mansions, the destroyer of the great - and the small, and the infants, and the children, and the - mothers. We had resided in this palace in security until - the event decreed by the Lord of all creatures, the Lord - of the heavens, and the Lord of the earths, befell us, and - the thunder of the Manifest Truth assailed us, and there - died of us every day two, till a great company of us had - perished. So when I saw that destruction had entered our - dwellings, and had alighted among us, and drowned us in - the sea of deaths, I summoned a writer, and ordered him - to write these verses and admonitions and lessons, and - caused them to be engraved upon these doors and tablets - and tombs. I had an army comprising a thousand thousand - bridles, composed of hardy men, with spears, and coats of - mail and sharp swords, and strong arms; and I ordered them - to clothe themselves with the long coats of mail, and to - hang on the keen swords, and to place in rest the terrible - lances, and mount the high-blooded horses. Then, when - the event appointed by the Lord of all creatures, the - Lord of the earth and the heavens, befell us, I said, O - companies of troops and soldiers, can ye prevent that which - hath befallen me from the Mighty King? But the soldiers and - troops were unable to do so, and they said, How shall we - contend against Him from whom none hath secluded, the Lord - of the door that hath no doorkeeper? So I said, Bring to me - the wealth! (And it was contained in a thousand pits, in - each of which were a thousand hundredweights of red gold, - and in them were varieties of pearls and jewels, and there - was the like quantity of white silver, with treasures such - as the Kings of the earth were unable to procure.) And they - did so; and when they had brought the wealth before me, - I said to them, Can ye deliver me by means of all these - riches, and purchase for me therewith one day during which - I may remain alive? But they could not do so. They resigned - themselves to destiny, and I submitted to God with patient - endurance of fate and affliction until he took my soul and - made me to dwell in my grave. And if thou ask concerning my - name, I am Khoosh, the son of Sheddád, the son of ’Ad the - Greater. - -“Oh, well written!” I cried. “Well written, Khoosh, the son of Sheddád, -the son of ’Ad the Greater, well and wisely written, and also I will -write, for I have much to tell, and I too may some day be as thou art!” - -Thus was the beginning of this book. I got pen and ink and a volume of -unwritten leaves forthwith, and carried them away to a lonely chamber -in the thickness of a turret wall, a little forgotten cell some six -poor feet across, and there solitary I have written, and still write, -peopling by the flickering yellow lamp-light that stony niche with all -the brilliant memories that I harbor, letting my recollection wander -unshackled down the wondrous path that I have come, and step by -step, by episodes of pain and pleasure, by wild adventure and strange -mischance down, far down, from the ancient times I have brought you -until now, when my ink is still wet upon the events of yesterday, and I -cease for the moment. - -This, then, is all that there is to say, all but one suggestive line. -I and yonder fair damsel have plighted troth under the apple-trees out -in her orchard! We have broken a ring, and she has one half of it and -I have the other. To-morrow will we tell her father, and presently be -married. ’Tis a right sweet and winsome maid, and together, hand in -hand, we will rehabilitate this ancient pile, and dock that desert -garden, and get us friends, and troops of curly-headed children, and -lie and bask in the jolly sunshine of contentment--and so go hand in -hand forever down the pleasant ways of peaceful dalliance. - - * * * * * - -Jove!--my pen, and a few poor minutes more from the bottom dregs of -life! It is over! all the long combat and turmoil, all the success -and disappointment, all the hoping and fearing. That which I thought -was a beginning turns out to be but an ending. My hand shakes as I -write, my life throbs, and my blood is on fire within me; I am dying, -friendless and alone as I have lived, dying in a niche in the wall with -my great unfinished diary before me--and, with the grim briefness of my -necessity, this is how it has happened. - -I had wooed and won Elizabeth Faulkener, and, on the day after she had -come down into the forge, as was her wont, sweet and virginal; and I -was there at work, and took her into my arms; and, while we dallied -thus, there entered on us the ancient scholar and the swart steward. -Gods! that villain blanched and scowled to see us so till his swart -face was whiter than the furnace ashes. - -I took the maiden’s hand, and boldly turning to her father told my -love and its accomplishment, whereat she burst from me and threw -herself upon his bosom, and, radiant with confusion, such a sweet -country pearl as any Prince might well have stooped to raise, she -pleaded for us. - -Oh! a thousand thousand curses on that black fell shadow standing there -behind her! The father, relenting, kissed the fair white forehead of -that winsome girl. He bid Emanuel bring at once a loving-cup, and, -while that foul traitor reeled away to fetch it, he joined our hands -and gave us, in tones of love and gentleness, his blessing. - -Then back came the scoundrel Spaniard, his lean, hungry face all drawn -and puckered with his wicked passions, and in his hand a silver bowl -of wine. O Jove! how cruel it flames within me now! My sweet maid -took it, and, rueful for the pain she had given black Emanuel, spoke -fair and gentle, saying how we would ever stay his friends and do our -best to prosper him. And even I, generous like a soldier, echoed her -sweet words, telling that fell knave how, when the game was played -and finished, even the worst rivals might meet once more in good -comradeship. And so--while the mean Spanish hound, with cruel jaw -dropped down and, hands a-twitching at his side, turned from us--his -tender mistress lifted the goblet to her lips and drank. - -[Illustration: Then came the scoundrel Spaniard, his lean, hungry face -all drawn and puckered with his wicked passions] - -She drank, and because she was no courtly goblet-kissing dame, she -drank full and honest, then passed the troth-cup to me--and I laughed -and swept aside my Phrygian beard, and happy once more and successful, -at the pink of my ambition, pledged those friendly two, pledged even -yon black-hearted scoundrel scowling there in the shade, then poured -all that sweet, rosy-tasting, love-cup of promise down my thirsty -throat. - -Gods! what was that at bottom of it? a pale, bitter white dreg. Oh! -Jove, what was this? I dipped a finger in and tried it, while a dead -hush fell upon us four. It was bitter, bitter as rue, cold, horrible, -and biting. My fingers tightened slowly round the goblet stem. I looked -at the sweet lady, and in a minute she was swaying to and fro in the -pale light like a fair white column, and then her hands were pressed -convulsive for a space upon her heart, while her knees trembled and her -body shook, and then, all in an instant, she locked her fair fingers -at arm’s length above her head, and, with a long, low wail of fear and -anguish that shall haunt forever that stony corridor, she staggered and -dropped! - -Down went the goblet, and I caught her as she fell; and there she lay, -heaving a moment in my arms, then looked up and smiled at me--smiled -for one happy second her own dear smile of love and sunshine--then shut -her eyes, trembling a little, and presently lay still and pale upon my -bosom--dead! - -Fair, fair Elizabeth Faulkener! - -I held her thus a space, and it was so still you could hear the gentle -draught of the curling smoke filtering up the chimney, and the merry -twitter of the swallows perched far above it. I held her so a space, -then kissed her fiercely and tender once upon her smooth forehead, and -gave the white girl to her father. - -Then turned I to the steward, the bitter passion and the deadly drug -surging together like molten lead within my veins. So turned I to him, -and our eyes met--and for a moment we glared upon each other so still -and grim that you could hear our hearts pulsing like iron hammers, and -at every beat a long year of terror and shame seemed to flit across -the ashy face of that coward Iberian; he withered and grew old, grew -lean and haggard and pinched and bent in those few seconds I stared -at him. Then, without taking an eye from his eyes, slowly my hand was -outstretched and my sword was lifted from the anvil where I had thrown -it. Slowly, slowly I drew the weapon from its sheath and raised it, and -slow that villain went back, staring grimly the while, like the dead -man that he was, at the point. Then on a sudden he screamed like a rat -in a gin, and turned and fled. And I was after him like the November -wind after the dead leaves. And round and round the forge we ran, fear -and bitter, bitter vengeance winging our heels; and round the anvil -with its idle hammer and cold half-welded iron swept that savage race; -round by where the pale father was bending over the soft dead form of -his sweet country girl; round the ruined chaos of the great broken -engine; round by the cobwebbed walls of that gloomy crypt; round by the -clattering heaps of iron in a mad, wild frenzy we swept--and then the -Spaniard fled to a little oaken wicket in the stony wall leading by -many score of winding steps far out into the turrets above. - -He tore the wicket open and plunged up that stony staircase, and I -was on his heels. Up the clattering stairs we raced--gods, how the -fellow leaped and screamed--and so we came in a minute out into the air -again, out on to old Andrew Faulkener’s ancient roof, out all among his -gargoyles and corbie steps, with the pleasant summer wind wafting the -blue smoke of luncheon-time about us, and the courtyard flags far, far -down below. - -And there I set my teeth, and drew my sinews together, and wiped the -cold sweat of death from off my forehead, and stilled the wild, strong -tremors that were shaking my iron fabric, and, lost in a reckless -lust of vengeance, crouched to the spring that should have ended that -villain. - -He saw it, and back he went step by step, screaming at every pace, -hideous and shrill; back step by step, with no eyes but for me; back -until he was, unknowing, at the very verge of the roof; back again -another pace--and then, Jove! a reel and a stagger, and he was gone, -and, as I rushed forward and looked down, I saw him strike the parapets -a hundred feet below and bound into the air, and fall and strike again, -and spin like a wheel, and be now feet up and now head, and so, at -last, crash, with a dull, heavy thud, a horrid lifeless thing, on the -distant stones of that quiet courtyard! - - * * * * * - -It is over, and I in turn have time to laugh. I have come here, here to -my secret den in the thickness of these great walls, staggering slowly -here by dim, steep stairs, and rare-trodden landings--here to die; and -I have double-locked the oaken door, and shot the bolts and pitched the -key out of my one narrow window-slit, and, gently rocking and swaying -as the strong poison does its errand, I have thrown down my belt and -sword and opened my great volume once again. - -Misty the letters swim before me, and the strong pain ebbs and flows -within. All the room is hazy and dim, and I grow weak and feeble, and -my heavy head sags down upon the leaf I strive to finish. Some other -time shall find that leaf, and me a dusty, ancient remnant. Some other -hand shall turn these pages than those I meant them for: some other -eyes than theirs shall read and wonder, and perhaps regret. And now I -droop anon, and then start up, and the pale swinging haze seems taking -the shapes of friendliness and beauty. There are no longer limits to -this narrow kingdom, and before my footstool sweep in soft procession -all the shapes that I have known and loved. Electra comes, a pale, -proud shade, sweeping down that violet road, and holding out her ivory -palm in queenly friendship; and Numidea trips behind her, and nods and -smiles; and there is stalwart Caius, his martial plumes brushing the -sky; and earlier Sempronius, brave and gentle; and jolly Tulus; and, -two and two, a trooping band of ancient comrades. - -Now have I looked up once more and laughed, and here they come trooping -again, those smiling shadows, and the fair Thane is with them, her -plaited yellow hair gleaming upon her unruffled forehead; and by either -hand she leads a rosebud babe, who stretch small palms toward and -voiceless cries upon me; and white-bearded Senlac; and, two and two, my -Saxon serfs and franklins come gliding in. And there strides gallant -Codrington, leading a pale shadow all in white, and Isobel turns a -fair pale face upon me as she goes by. Oh! I am dead--dead, I know it, -all but the hand which writes and the eyes that see, and I laugh as -the last fitful flashes of the pain and life fly through the loosening -fabric of my body.... And now, and now a hush has fallen on those -silent shades, and their hazy ranks have fallen wide apart, and through -them glides ruddy Blodwen--Blodwen, who comes to claim her own--and, -approaching, looks into my eyes, and all those stately shadows are -waiting, two and two, for us two to head them hence; and she, my -princess, my wife, has come near and touched my hand, and at that touch -the mantle of life falls from me! - -Blodwen! I come, I come! - - -THE END - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - - -A number of typographical errors were corrected silently. - -Cover image is in the public domain. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF -PHRA THE PHOENICIAN *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where - you are located before using this eBook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that: - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without -widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/67345-0.zip b/old/67345-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d5c1542..0000000 --- a/old/67345-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h.zip b/old/67345-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f845c62..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h/67345-h.htm b/old/67345-h/67345-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 7e09169..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/67345-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,19026 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phoenician, by Edwin Lester Arnold—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -.h2sub { text-align: center; } - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - -td.toc-title {padding-left: 2em; - text-indent: -2em; - vertical-align: top; - font-variant: small-caps; - } - -td.toc-pageno { - text-align: right; - vertical-align: bottom; -} - -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; -} /* page numbers */ - -.blockquot { - margin-left: 5%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -.titlepag - {max-width: 30em; - border: solid thin; - text-align: center; - margin: 2em auto; - padding: 1em;} - -.bbox {max-width: 15em; - border: medium dotted; - margin: auto; -} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} - -.caption p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0; - margin: 0.25em 0; -} - -/* Images */ - -img { - max-width: 100%; - height: auto; -} - -img.w100 {width: 100%;} - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; - page-break-inside: avoid; - max-width: 100%; -} - -/* Footnotes */ -.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} - -.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} - -.fnanchor { - vertical-align: super; - font-size: .8em; - text-decoration: - none; -} - -/* Poetry */ -.poetry-container {text-align: center;} -.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} -/* uncomment the next line for centered poetry in browsers */ -/* .poetry {display: inline-block;} */ -.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} -.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} -/* large inline blocks don't split well on paged devices */ -@media print { .poetry {display: block;} } -.x-ebookmaker .poetry {display: block;} - -.cursive {font-family:cursive;} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - -/* Illustration classes */ -.illowp100 {width: 100%;} -.x-ebookmaker .illowp100 {width: 100%;} -.illowp50 {width: 50%;} -.x-ebookmaker .illowp50 {width: 100%;} - -/* Poetry indents */ -.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} -.poetry .indent16 {text-indent: 5em;} - - </style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phoenician, by Edwin Lester Arnold</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the Phoenician</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Edwin Lester Arnold</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: H. M. Paget</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: February 6, 2022 [eBook #67345]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Tim Lindell, SF2001, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF PHRA THE PHOENICIAN ***</div> - - <div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_cover" style="max-width: 20em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover" /> - </div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_frontispiece" style="max-width: 28em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_frontispiece.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>I unsheathed my Saxon sword</p> -<p><i><a href="#Saxon-sword">See Page 140</a></i></p> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="titlepag"> -<h1>The Wonderful Adventures<br /> -of<br /> -Phra the Phoenician<br /> -</h1> - -<p class="center">Retold by<br /> -Edwin Lester Arnold</p> - -<p class="center">With an Introduction by<br /> -Sir Edwin Arnold, K. C. I. E.</p> - -<p class="center"><i>With Fifteen Illustrations by<br /> -H. M. Paget</i></p> - -<p class="center">G. P. Putnam’s Sons<br /> -New York and London<br /> -The Knickerbocker Press<br /> -1917 -</p> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Publishers_Note">Publisher’s Note.</h2> - -<p class="h2sub">This is a new edition of an extraordinary and original book, first -published many years ago.</p> - -<p class="center cursive">The Knickerbocker Press, New York</p> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="ILLUSTRATIONS">ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> -</div> -<table summary="Table of Illustrations"> -<tr><td> </td><td class="toc-pageno allsmcap"> PAGE </td></tr> -<tr><td class="toc-title"><a href="#i_frontispiece">I unsheathed my Saxon sword</a> </td><td class="toc-pageno"> <i>Frontispiece</i> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="toc-title"><a href="#i_014fp">Slipped a length of twisted cloth over his wicked neck and tightened it with a jerk</a></td><td class="toc-pageno"> 12 </td></tr> -<tr><td class="toc-title"><a href="#i_062fp">I gave him the spear as he lowered his head</a></td><td class="toc-pageno"> 62 </td></tr> -<tr><td class="toc-title"><a href="#i_086fp">“Die, then!” she yelled; “and may a thousand curses weigh down your souls!”</a></td><td class="toc-pageno"> 84 </td></tr> -<tr><td class="toc-title"><a href="#i_110fp">The Princes stood hesitating as I towered before them</a></td><td class="toc-pageno"> 110 </td></tr> -<tr><td class="toc-title"><a href="#i_154fp">Stern, inflexible, I frowned upon them</a></td><td class="toc-pageno"> 154 </td></tr> -<tr><td class="toc-title"><a href="#i_182fp">“By Abraham! noble Sir, those greaves become your legs!”</a></td><td class="toc-pageno"> 182 </td></tr> -<tr><td class="toc-title"><a href="#i_234fp">“I will not trust you!” she screamed</a></td><td class="toc-pageno"> 234 </td></tr> -<tr><td class="toc-title"><a href="#i_270fp">Five hundred of us charged boldly ten thousand Frenchmen!</a></td><td class="toc-pageno"> 270 </td></tr> -<tr><td class="toc-title"><a href="#i_276fp">Flamaucœur had taken it full in his side</a></td><td class="toc-pageno"> 276 </td></tr> -<tr><td class="toc-title"><a href="#i_288fp">Looking gently in the dead girl’s face, was Blodwen—Blodwen—my thousand-years-dead wife</a></td><td class="toc-pageno">288 </td></tr> -<tr><td class="toc-title"><a href="#i_318fp">She proffered it to me</a></td><td class="toc-pageno"> 318 </td></tr> -<tr><td class="toc-title"><a href="#i_364fp">He kept those yellow orbs turned upon the garden</a></td><td class="toc-pageno"> 364 </td></tr> -<tr><td class="toc-title"><a href="#i_372fp">The great bird was dropping his ivory beak into the sweet chalice</a></td><td class="toc-pageno"> 372 </td></tr> -<tr><td class="toc-title"><a href="#i_444fp">Then came the scoundrel Spaniard, his lean, hungry face all drawn and puckered with his wicked passions</a></td><td class="toc-pageno"> 446 </td></tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2>The Wonderful Adventures<br /> -of<br /> -Phra the Phoenician -</h2> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</h2> -</div> - -<p class="h2sub">BY SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.I.E.</p> - -<p>In the garden of my Japanese home in Tokyo I have -just perused the last sheets of my son’s philosophical -and historical romance, “Phra the Phœnician.”</p> - -<p>Amid other scenes I might be led to analyze, to criticize, -perhaps a little to argue about the singular hypothesis -upon which he builds his story. Here, with -a Buddhist temple at my gate, and with Japanese -Buddhists around me, nothing seems more natural -than that an author, sufficiently gifted with imagination -and study, should follow his hero beyond the narrow -limits of one little existence, down the chain of -many lives, taken up link by link, after each long -interval of rest and reward in the Paradise of Jô-Dô. -I have read several chapters to my Asiatic friends, and -they say, “Oh, yes! It is <i>ingwa</i>! it is <i>Karma</i>! That -is all quite true. We, also, have lived many times, -and shall live many times more on this earth.” One -of them opens the <i>shoji</i> to let a purple and silver butterfly -escape into the sunshine. She thinks some day -it will thank her—perhaps a million years hence.</p> - -<p>Moreover, here is a passage which I lately noted, -suggestive enough to serve as preface, even by itself, -to the present book. Commenting on a line in my -“Song Celestial,” the writer thus remarks: “The human -soul should, therefore, be regarded as already -in the present life connected at the same time with -two worlds, of which, so far as it is confined to personal -unity to a body, the material only is clearly felt. -It is, therefore, as good as proved, or, to be diffuse, -it could easily be proved, or, better still, it will hereafter -be proved (I know not where or when), that the -human soul, even in this life, stands in indissoluble -community with all immaterial natures of the spirit-world; -that it mutually acts upon them and receives -from them impressions, of which, however, as man it -is unconscious, as long as all goes well. It is, therefore, -truly one and the same subject, which belongs at -the same time to the visible and to the invisible world, -but not just the same person, since the representations -of the one world, by reason of its different quality, -are not associated with ideas of the other, and, -therefore, what I think as spirit is not remembered by -me as man.”</p> - -<p>I, myself, have consequently taken the stupendous -postulates of Phra’s narrative with equanimity, if not -acceptance, and derived from it a pleasure and entertainment -too great to express, since the critic, in this -case, is a well-pleased father.</p> - -<p>The author of “Phra” has claimed for Romance the -ancient license accorded to Poetry and to Painting—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent16">Pictoribus atque poetis</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Quidlibet audendi semper fuit æqua potestas.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>He has supposed a young Phœnician merchant, full -of the love of adventure, and endowed with a large -and observant if very mystic philosophy—such as -would serve for no bad standpoint whence to witness -the rise and fall of religions and peoples. The Adventurer -sets out for the “tin islands,” or Cassiterides, -at a date before the Roman conquest of England. He -dies and lives anew many times, but preserves his -personal identity under the garb of half a dozen transmigrations. -And yet, while renewing in each existence<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span> -the characteristic passions and sentiments which -constitute his individuality and preserve the unity -of the narrative, the author seems to me to have -adapted him to varying times and places with a vraisemblance -and absence of effort which are extremely -effective.</p> - -<p>A Briton in British days, the slave-consort of his -Druid wife, he passes, by daring but convenient inventiveness, -into the person of a Centurion in the -household of a noble Roman lady who illustrates in -her surroundings the luxurious vices of the latter -empire with some relics still of the older Republican -virtues. Hence he glides again into oblivion, yet -wakes from the mystical slumber in time to take part -in King Harold’s gallant but fatal stand against the -Normans.</p> - -<p>He enjoys the repose, as a Saxon thane, which the -policy of the Conqueror granted to the vanquished; -but after some startling adventures in the vast oak -woods of the South kingdom is rudely ousted from his -homestead by the “foreigners,” and in a neighboring -monastery sinks into secular forgetfulness once more -of wife and children, lands and life.</p> - -<p>On the return of consciousness he finds himself enshrined -as a saint, thanks to the strange physical phenomena -of his suspended animation, and learns from -the Abbot that he has lain there in the odor of sanctity, -according to indisputable church records, during -300 years.</p> - -<p>He wanders off again, finding everything new and -strange, and becomes an English knight under King -Edward III. He is followed to Crecy by a damsel, -who, from act to act of his long life-drama, similarly -renews an existence linked with his own, and who -constantly seeks his love. She wears the armor of -a brother knight, and on the field of battle she sacrifices -her life for his.</p> - -<p>Yet once more, a long spell of sleep, which is not -death, brings this much-wandering Phra to the reign -of Queen Elizabeth, and it is there, after many and -strange vicissitudes, he writes his experiences, and the -curtain finally falls over the last passage of this remarkable -record.</p> - -<p>Such, briefly, is the framework of the creation which, -while it has certainly proved to me extremely seductive -as a story, is full, I think, of philosophical suggestiveness. -As long as men count mournfully the -years of that human life which M. Renan has declared -to be so ridiculously short, so long their fancies will -hover about the possibility of an <i>elixir vitæ</i>, of splendidly -extended spans like those ascribed to the old -patriarchs, and meditate with fascination the mystical -doctrines of Buddhism and the Vedantes. In such -a spirit the Egyptians wrapped their dead in careful -fashion, after filling the body with preservatives; and -if ancient tomes have the “Seven Sleepers” of the -Koran, the Danish King who dozes under the Castle -of Elsinore, and our own undying King Arthur, do we -not go to see “Rip Van Winkle” at the play, and is -not hibernation one among the problems of modern -science which whispers that we might, if we liked, indefinitely -adjourn the waste of corporeal tissue, and -spread our seventy or eighty years over ever so many -centuries?</p> - -<p>But to be charming, an author is not obliged to -be credible, or what would become of the “Arabian -Nights,” of “Gulliver,” and of the best books in the -library? Personally, I admire and I like “Phra” enormously, -and, being asked to pen these few lines by -way of introduction, I counsel everybody to read it, -forgetting who it is that respectfully offers this advice -until the end of the book, when I shall be no longer -afraid if they remember.</p> - -<p>Tokyo, Japan: April 14, 1890.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Wonderful_Adventures_of">The Wonderful Adventures of -Phra the Phœnician</h2> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="PROLOGUE">PROLOGUE</h2> -</div> - -<p>Well and truly an inspired mind has written, “One -man in his time plays many parts,” but surely no other -man ever played so many parts in the course of a single -existence as I have.</p> - -<p>My own narrative seems incredible to me, yet I am -myself a witness of its truth. When I say that I have -lived in this England more than one thousand years, -and have seen her bud from the callowest barbarity -to the height of a prosperity and honor with which -the world is full, I shall at once be branded as a liar. -Let it pass! The accusation is familiar to my ears. -I tired of resenting it before your fathers’ fathers were -born, and the scorn of your offended sense of veracity -is less to me than the lisping of a child.</p> - -<p>I was, in the very distance of the beginning, a citizen -of that ancient city whose dominion once stretched -from the blue waters of the Ægean round to and beyond -the broad stream of the Nile herself. Your antiquities -were then my household gods, your myths -were my beliefs; those facts and fancies on the very -fringe of records about which you marvel were the -commonplace things of my commencement. Yes! and -those dusty relics of humanity that you take with -unholy zeal from the silent chambers of sarcophagi -and pyramids were my boon companions, the jolly -revelers I knew long ago—the good fellows who drank -and sang with me through warm, long-forgotten nights—they -were the great princes to whom I bent an always -duteous knee, and the fair damsels who tripped -our sunny streets when Sidon existed, and Tyre was -not a matter of speculation, or laughed at their own -dainty reflections, in the golden leisure of that forgotten -age, where the black-legged ibis stood sentinel -among the blue lotus-flowers of the temple ponds.</p> - -<p>Since then, what have I not done! I have traveled -to the corners of the world, and forgotten my own -land in the love of another. I have sat here in Britain -at the tables of Roman Centurions, and the last of her -Saxon Kings died in my arms. I have sworn hatred -of foreign tyrants in the wassail bowls of serfs, and -bestrode Norman chargers in tiltyards and battlefields. -The kingdoms of the misty western islands which it -was my wonderful fortune to see submerged by alternate -tides of conquest, I have seen emerge triumphant, -with all their conquerors welded into one. I have -seen more battles than I can easily recall, and war in -every shape; I have enjoyed all sorts of peace, from -the rudest to the most cultivated.</p> - -<p>I have lived, in fact, more than one thousand years -in this seagirt island of yours; and so strange and -grim and varied have been my experiences that I am -tempted to set them down with a melancholy faith in -my own uniqueness. Though it is more than probable -few will believe me, yet for this I care nothing, nor -do I especially seek your approval of my labors. I, -who have tasted a thousand pleasures, and am hoary -with disappointments, can afford to hold your censure -as lightly as I should your commendation.</p> - -<p>Here, then, are my adventures, and this is how they -commenced.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</h2> -</div> - -<p>Regarding the exact particulars of my earliest wanderings -I do confess I am somewhat uncertain. This -may tempt you to reply that one whose memory is so -far-reaching and capacious as mine will presently -prove might well have stored up everything that befell -him from his very beginning. All I can say is, things -are as I set them down; and those facts which you cannot -believe you must continue to doubt. The first -thirty years of my life, it will be guessed in extenuation, -were full of the frailties and shortcomings of an -ordinary mortal; while those years which followed -have impressed themselves indelibly upon my mind by -right of being curious past experience and credibility.</p> - -<p>Looking back, then, into the very remote past is -like looking upon a country which a low sun at once -illuminates and blurs. I dimly perceive in the golden -haze of the ancient time a fair city rising, tier upon -tier, out of the blue waters of the midland sea. A -splendid harbor frames itself out of the mellow uncertainty—a -harbor whereof the long white arms are -stretched out to welcome the commerce of all the -known world; and under the white fronts, and at the -temple steps of that ancient city, Commerce poured -into the lap of Luxury every commodity that could -gratify cupidity or minister to human pleasure.</p> - -<p>I was young then, no doubt, nor need I say a fool; -and very likely the sight of a thousand strange sails -at my father’s door excited my daily wonder, while -the avarice which recognizes no good fortune in a -present having was excited by the silks and gems, the -rich stuffs and the gums, the quaint curiosities of -human ingenuity and the frolic things of nature, which -were piled up there. More than all, my imagination -must have been fired by the sea captains’ tales of -wonder or romance, and, be the cause what it may, I -made up my mind to adventure like them, and carried -out my wilful fancy.</p> - -<p>It is a fitting preface to all I have learned since that -my first real remembrance should be one of vanity. -Yet so it was. More than a thousand years ago—I will -not lower my record by a single luster to propitiate -your utmost unbelief—I set out on a first voyage. It -might be yesterday, so well it comes before me—with -my youthful pride as the spirit of a man was born -within, and I felt the strong beat of the fresh salt -waves of the open sea upon my trading vessel’s prow, -and knew, as I stood there by her steering-oar, that -she was stuffed with a hundred bales of purple cloth -from my father’s vats along the shore, and bound -whither I listed. Who could have been prouder than -I?—who could have heard finer songs of freedom in -the merry hum of the warm southern air in the brown -cordage overhead, or the frothy prattle of the busy -water alongside, as we danced that day out of the -white arms of Tyre, the queenly city of the ancient -seas, and saw the young world unfurl before us, full -of magnificent possibilities?</p> - -<p>It is not my wish or intention to write of my early -travels, were it possible. On this voyage (or it may -be on some others that followed, now merged into the -associations of the first) we traded east and west, with -adventure and success. The adventure was sure -enough, for the great midland sea was then the center -of the world, and what between white-winged argosies -of commerce, the freebooters of a dozen nations -who patroled its bays and corners, and rows of royal -galleys sailing to the conquest of empires, it was a -lively and perilous place enough. As for the profit, -it came quickly to those who opened a hundred virgin -markets in the olden days.</p> - -<p>We sailed into the great Egyptian river up to Heliopolis, -bartering stuffs for gold-dust and ivory; at -another time we took Trinacrian wine and oranges -into Ostia—a truly magnificent port, with incredible -capacities for all the fair and pleasant things of life. -Then we sailed among the beautiful Achaian islands -with corn and olives; and so, profiting everywhere, we -lived, for long, a jolly, uncertain life, full of hardship -and pleasure.</p> - -<p>For the most part, we hugged the coasts and avoided -the open sea. It was from the little bays, whose -mouths we thus crossed, that the pirates we greatly -dreaded dropped down upon merchantmen, like falcons -from their perches. When they took a vessel that resisted, -the crew, at those rough hands, got scant mercy. -I have come across a galley drifting idly before the -wind, with all her crew, a grim row of skeletons, hanging -in a row along her yard, and swinging this way -and that, and rattling drearily against the sail and -each other in melancholy unison with the listless wallow -of their vessel. At another time, a Roman trireme -fell upon a big pirate of Melita and stormed and captured -her. The three hundred men on board were too -ugly and wicked to sell, so the Romans drove them -overboard like sheep, and burned the boat. When we -sailed over the spot at sundown the next day she was -still spluttering and hissing, with the water lapping -over the edge of her charred side, and round among -the curls of yellow smoke overhead a thousand gulls -were screeching, while a thousand more sat, gorged -and stupid, upon the dead pirates. Not for many -nights did we forget the evil picture of retribution, -and how the setting sun flooded the sea with blood, -and how the dead villains, in all their horror, swirled -about in twos and threes in that crimson light, and -fell into our wake, drawn by the current, and came -jostling and grinning, and nodding after us, though -we made all sail to outpace them, in a gloomy procession -for a mile or so.</p> - -<p>It often seemed to me in those days there were more -freebooters afloat than honest men. At times we ran -from these, at times we fought them, and again we -would give a big marauder a share of cargo to save the -ship from his kindred who threatened us. It was a -dangerous game, and one never knew, on rising, where -his couch would be at night, nor whether the prosperous -merchant of the morning might not be the naked -slave of the evening, storing his own wealth in a robber -cave under the lash of some savage sea tyrant.</p> - -<p>Yet even these cruel rovers did me a good turn. We -were short of water, and had run down along a lonely -coast to a green spring we knew of to fill water-butts -and skins. When we let go in the little inlet where the -well was to be found, another vessel, and, moreover, -a pirate, lay anchored before us. However, we were -consciously virtuous, and, what was of more consideration, -a larger vessel and crew than the other, so -we went ashore and made acquaintance round the -fresh water with as villainous a gang of sea-robbers -as ever caused the blood of an honest trader to run -cold in his veins. The very air of their neighborhood -smelled so of treachery and cruelty we soon had but -one thought—to load up and be gone.</p> - -<p>But this was a somewhat longer process than we -wished, as our friends had baled the little spring dry, -and we had to wait its refilling. While we did so, I -strolled over to a group of miserable slaves turned -out for an airing, and cowering on the black and shadeless -rocks. There were in that abject group captives -from every country that fared upon those seas, and -some others besides. The dusky peasant of Bœotia, -that fronts the narrow straits, wrung her hands by -the fair-cheeked girl snapped up from the wide Gulf -of Narbo; the dark Numidian pearl-fisher cursed his -patron god; and the tall Achaian from the many -islands of Peloponnesian waters gritted his teeth as he -cowered beneath his rags and bemoaned the fate that -threw him into the talons of the sea-hawks.</p> - -<p>I looked upon them with small interest, for new-taken -slaves were no great sight to me, until I chanced, -a little way from the others, upon such a captive as -I had rarely or never seen. She struck me at once -as being the fiercest and most beautiful creature that -mortal eyes had ever lit upon. Never was Umbrian -or Iberian girl like that; never was Cyprian Aphrodite -served by a maid so pink and white. Her hair was -fiery red gold, gleaming in the sunshine like the locks -of the young goddess Medusa. Her face was of ruddy -ivory, and her native comeliness gleamed through the -unwashed dust and tears of many long days and -nights. Her eyes were as blue under her shaggy wild -hair as the sky overhead, and her body—grimy under -its sorrow-stains—was still as fair as that of some -dainty princess.</p> - -<p>Knowing the pirate captain would seek a long price -for his property, I determined to use a little persuasion -with him. I went back to my men, and sent one -of them, proficient in the art of the bowstring, to look -at the slaves. Then I drew the unsuspecting scoundrel -up there for a bargain, and, well out of sight of his -gang, we faced the red-haired girl and discussed her -price. The rascal’s first figure was three hundred of -your modern pounds, a sum which would then have -fetched the younger daughter of a sultan, full of virtue -and accomplishments. As this girl very likely had -neither one nor the other, I did not see why it was -necessary to pay so much, and, stroking my beard, in -an agreed signal, with my hand, as my man was passing -behind the old pirate, he slipped a length of twisted -cloth over his wicked neck and tightened it with a -jerk that nearly started the eyes from his head, and -brought him quickly to his knees.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_014fp" style="max-width: 28em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_014fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>Slipped a length of twisted cloth over his wicked neck and tightened -it with a jerk</p></div> -</div> - -<p>“Now, delicately-minded one,” I said, “I don’t want -to fight you and your crew for this maid here, on -whom I have set my heart, but you know we are -numerous and well armed, so let us have a peaceful -and honest bargain. Give me a fairer price,” and, obedient -to my signal, the band was loosened.</p> - -<p>“Not a sesterce will I take off,” spluttered the -wretch, “not a drachma, not an ounce!”</p> - -<p>“Come! come! think again,” I said, persuasively, -“and the cloth shall help you.” Thereon, another turn -was taken, and my henchman turned his knuckles -into the nape of the swarthy villain’s neck until the -veins on his forehead stood out like cordage and the -blood ran from his nose and eyes.</p> - -<p>In a minute the rover threw up his hands and signed -he had enough, and when he got his breath we found -he had knocked off a hundred pounds. We gave him -the cord again, and brought him down, twist by twist, -to fifty. By this time he was almost at his last gasp, -and I was contented, paying the coins out on a rock -and leaving them there, with the rogue well bound. -I was always honest, though, as became the times, a -trifle hard at bargains.</p> - -<p>Then I cut the red maid loose and took her by the -elbow and led her down to the beach, where we were -secretly picked up by my fellows, and shortly afterward -we set sail again for the open main.</p> - -<p>Thus was acquired the figure-head of my subsequent -adventures—the Siren who lured me to that -coast where I have lived a thousand years and more.</p> - -<p>It was the inscrutable will of Destiny that those -shining coins I paid down on the bare, hot African -rock should cost me all my wealth, my cash and credit -at many ports, and that that fair slave, who I deemed -would serve but to lighten a voyage or two, should -mock my forethought, and lead my fate into the strangest -paths that ever were trodden by mortal foot.</p> - -<p>In truth, that sunny virago bewitched me. She combined -such ferocity with her grace, and was so pathetic -in her reckless grief at times, that I, the immovable, -was moved, and softened the rigor of her mischance -as time went on so much as might be. At once, on -this, like some caged wild creature, which forgives -to one master alone the sorrows of captivity, she softened -to me; and before many days were over she had -bathed, and, discarding her rags for a length or two -of cloth, had tied up her hair with a strand of ribbon -she found, and, looking down at her reflection in a -vessel of water (her only mirror, for we carried women -but seldom), she smiled for the first time.</p> - -<p>After this, progress was rapid, and, though at first -we could only with difficulty make ourselves understood, -yet she soon picked up something of the Southern -tongue from me, while I very fairly acquired the -British language of this comely tutoress. Of her I -learned she was of that latter country, where her father -was a chief; how their coast village had been surprised -by a Southern rover’s foray; she knew not how many -of the people slain, or made captive, and herself carried -off. Afterward she had fallen into the hands of -other pirates by an act of sea barter, and they were -taking her to Alexandria, hoping, as I guessed, in -that luxurious city to obtain a higher price than in -the ordinary markets of Gaul or Italy.</p> - -<p>What I heard of Britain from these warm lips -greatly fired my curiosity, and, after touching at several -ports and finding trade but dull, chance clenched -my resolution.</p> - -<p>We had sailed northward with a cargo of dates, -and on the sixth day ran in under the high promontory -of Massilia, which you moderns call Marseilles. Here -I rid myself of my fruit at a very good profit, and, -after talking to a brother merchant I met by chance -upon the quay, fully determined to load up with oil, -wine, stuffs, and such other things as he recommended, -and sail at once for Britain.</p> - -<p>Little did I think how momentous this hasty decision -would be! It was brought about partly as I -have explained, and partly by the interest which just -then that country was attracting. All the weapons -and things of Britain were then in good demand: no -tin and gold, the smiths roundly swore, were like the -British; no furs in winter, the Roman ladies vowed, -were so warm as those; while no patrician from Tarentum -to the Tiber held his house well furnished unless -a red-haired slave-girl or two from that remote place -idled, sad and listlessly, in his painted porticoes.</p> - -<p>In these slaves there was a brisk and increasing -traffic. I went into the market that ran just along -the inner harbor one day, and saw there an ample -supply of such curious goods suitable for every need.</p> - -<p>All down the middle of a wide street rough booths -of sailcloth had been run up, and about and before -these crouched slaves of every age and condition. -There were old men and young men—fierce and wild-looking -barbarians, in all truth—some with the raw, -red scars on chest and limbs they had taken a few -weeks before in a last stand for liberty, and some -groaning in the sickness that attended the slaver’s -lash and their condition.</p> - -<p>There were lank-haired girls, submitting with sullen -hate to the appraising fingers of purchasers laughing -and chatting in Latin or Gaulish, as they dealt with -them no more gently than a buyer deals with sheep -when mutton is cheap. Mothers again—sick and travel-stained -themselves—were soothing the unkempt little -ones who cowered behind them and shrank from every -Roman footstep as the quails shrink from a kestrel’s -shadow. Some of these children were very flowers -of comeliness, though trodden into the mire of misfortune. -I bought a little girl to attend upon her -upon my ship, who, though she wore at the time but -one sorry cloth, and was streaked with dirt and dust, -had eyes clear as the southern sky overhead, and hair -that glistened in uncared-for brightness upon her -shoulders like a tissue of golden threads. Her mother -was loth to part with her, and fought like a tiger -when we separated them. It was only after the dealer’s -lash had cut a dozen red furrows into her back, -and a bystander had beat her on the head with the -flat of his sword, that she gave in and swooned, and I -led the weeping little one away.</p> - -<p>So we loaded up again with Easter nothings, such -as the barbarians might be supposed to like, and in -a few weeks started once more. We sailed down the -green coast of Hispania, through the narrow waters -of Herculis Fretum, and then, leaving the undulating -hills of that pleasant strait behind, turned northward -through the long waves of the black outer sea.</p> - -<p>For many days we rolled up a sullen and dangerous -coast, but one morning our pilot called me from my -breakfast of fruit and millet cakes, and, pointing over -the green expanse, told me yonder white surf on the -right was breaking on the steep rocks of Armorica, -while the misty British shore lay ahead.</p> - -<p>So I called out Blodwen the slave, and told her to -snuff the wind and find what it had to say. She knew -only too well, and was vastly delighted, wistfully -scanning the long gray horizon ahead, and being beside -herself with eagerness.</p> - -<p>We steered westwardly toward the outer islands, -called Cassiterides, where most of our people collected -and bought their tin, but we were fated not to reach -them. On the morrow so fierce a gale sprang out of -the deep we could by no means stand against it, but -turned and fled through the storm, and over such a -terrible expanse of mighty billows as I never saw the -like of.</p> - -<p>To my surprise, my girl thought naught of the wind -and sea, but came constantly to the groaning bulwarks, -where the angry green water swirled and -gleamed like a caldron, and, holding on by a shroud, -looked with longing but familiar eyes at the rugged -shore we were running down. At one time I saw her -smile to recognize, close in shore, and plunging heavily -toward some unknown haven, half a dozen of her own -native fisher-boats. Later on, Blodwen brightened up -even more as the savage cliffs of the west gave way -to rolling downs of grass, and when these, as we fled -with the sea-spume, grew lower, and were here and -there clothed with woods, and little specks among -them of cornfields, she shouted with joy, and, leaping -down from the tall prow, where she had stood, indifferent -to the angry thunder of the bursting surges -upon our counter, and the sting and rattle of the white -spray that flew up to the swinging yard every time -we dropped into the bosom of the angry sea, she said -exultingly, with her face red and gleaming in a salt -wet glaze, she could guide us to a harbor if we would.</p> - -<p>I was by this time a little sick at heart for the safety -of all my precious things in bales and boxes below, -and something like the long invoice of them I knew -so well rose in my throat every time we sank with a -horrible sinking into one of those shadowy valleys -between the hissing crests—so I nodded. Blodwen -at once made the helmsman draw nearer the coast. -By the time we had approached the shore within a -mile or so the white squalls were following each other -fast, while heavy columns of western rain were careering -along the green sea in many tall, spectral -forms. But nothing cared that purchase of mine. She -had gone to the tiller, and, like some wild goddess of -the foam, stood there, her long hair flying on the wet -sea wind, and her fierce, bright eyes aglow with pleasure -and excitement as she scanned the white ramparts -of the coast down which we were hurtling. She was -oblivious of the swarthy seamen, who eyed her with -wonder and awe; oblivious of the white bed of froth -which boiled and flashed all down the rim of our dipping -gunwale; and equally indifferent to the heavy -rain that smoked upon our decks, and made our straining -sails as hard and stiff as wood.</p> - -<p>Just as the great shore began to loom over us, and -I sorely doubted my wisdom in sailing these unknown -waters with such a pilot, she gave a scream of pleasure—an -exulting, triumphant note that roused a sympathetic -chorus in the piping wild fowl overhead—and, -following the point of her finger, we saw the solid -rampart of cliffs had divided, and a little estuary was -opening before us.</p> - -<p>Round went our felucca to the imperious gesture -of that girl, and, gripping the throbbing tiller over -the hands of the strong steersman, aglow with excitement, -yet noting everything, while the swart brown -sailors shouted at the humming cordage, she took us -down through an angry caldron of sea and over a -foaming bar (where I cursed, in my haste, every ounce -I had spent upon her) into the quieter waters beyond; -and when, a few minutes later—reeking with salt -spray, but safe and sound—we slowly rolled in with -the making tide to a secure, landlocked haven, that -brave girl left the rudder, and, going forward, gave -one look at the opening valley, which I afterward knew -was her strangely recovered home, and then her fair -head fell upon her arms, and, leaning against the mast, -under the tent of her red hair, she burst into a passionate -storm of tears.</p> - -<p>She soon recovered, and stealing a glance at me as -she wiped her lids with the back of her hands, to note -if I were angry, her feminine perception found my eyes -gave the lie to the frown upon my forehead, so she -put on some extra importance (as though the air of -the place suited her dignity), and resumed command -of the ship.</p> - -<p>Well! There is much to tell, so it must be told -briefly. We sailed into a fair green estuary, with -woods on either hand dipping into the water and nodding -their own glistening reflections, until we turned -a bend and came upon a British village down by the -edge. There were, perhaps, two hundred huts scattered -round the slope of a grassy mound, upon top -of which was a stockade of logs and mud walls encompassing -a few better-built houses. Canoes and -bigger boats were drawn up on the beach, and naked -children and dogs were at play along the margin; -while women and some few men were grinding corn -and fashioning boat-gear.</p> - -<p>As our sails came round the headland, with one -single accord the population took to flight, flung down -their meal-bags and tools, tumbling over each other -in their haste, and, yelling and scrambling, they -streamed away to the hill.</p> - -<p>This amused Blodwen greatly, and she let them -run until the fat old women of the crowd had sorted -themselves out into a panting rear guard halfway up, -and the long-legged youngsters were already scrambling -over the barrier; then, with her hand over her -mouth, she exerted her powerful voice in a long, wailing -signal cry. The effect was instantaneous. The -crowd stopped, hesitated, and finally came scrambling -down again to the beach; and, after a little parley, -being assured of their good-will, and greatly urged -by Blodwen, we landed, and were soon overwhelmed -in a throng of wondering, jostling, excited British.</p> - -<p>But it was not me to whom they thronged, but rather -her; and such wonder and surprise, broadening slowly -in joy as she, with her nimble woman’s tongue, answered -their countless questions, I never witnessed. -At last they set up yelling and shouting, and, seizing -her, dragged and carried her in a tumultuous procession -up the zigzag into the fortalice.</p> - -<p>Blodwen had come home—that was all; and from -a slave girl had blossomed into a Princess!</p> - -<p>Never before was there such a yelling and chattering -and blowing of horns and beating of shields. While -messengers rushed off down the woodland paths to -rouse the country, the villagers crowded round me -and my men, and, having by the advice of one of their -elders, relinquished their first intention of cutting all -our throats in the excess of their pleasure, treated us -very handsomely, feeding and feasting the crew to -the utmost of their capacity.</p> - -<p>I, as you will suppose, was ill at ease for my fair -barbarian who had thus turned the tables upon me, -and in whose power it was impossible not to recognize -that we now lay. How would the slave Princess treat -her captive master? I was not long in doubt. Her -messenger presently touched me on the shoulder as -I sat, a little rueful, on a stone apart from my rollicking -men, and led me through that prehistoric village -street up the gentle slope and between the oak-log -barrier into the long, low dwelling that was at -once the palace and the citadel of the place.</p> - -<p>Entering, I found myself in a very spacious hall, -effective in its gloomy dignity. All round the three -straight sides the massive walls were hidden in drapery -of the skins and furs of bear, wolf, and deer, and -over these were hung in rude profusion light round -shields embossed with shining metal knobs, javelins, -and boar spears, with a hundred other implements of -war or woodcraft. Below them stood along the walls -rough settles, and benches with rougher tables, enough -to seat, perhaps, a hundred men. At the crescent-shaped -end of the hall, facing the entrance door, was -a daïs—a raised platform of solid logs closely placed -together and covered with skins—upon which a massive -and ample chair stood, also of oak, and wonderfully -fashioned and carved by the patient labor of -many hands.</p> - -<p>Nigh it were a group of women, and one or two -white-robed Druids, as these people call their priests. -But chief among them was she who stepped forth -to meet me, clad (for her first idea had been to change -her dress) in fine linen and fair furs—how, I scarcely -know, save that they suited her marvelously. Fine -chains of hammered gold were about her neck, a -shining gorget belt set with a great boss of native -pearls upon her middle, and her two bare white arms -gleamed like ivory under their load of bracelets of -yellow metal and prismatic pearl shell that clanked -harmoniously to her every movement. But the air -she put on along with these fine things was equally -becoming, and she took me by the hand with an affectionate -condescension, while, turning to her people, -she briefly harangued them, running glibly over my -virtues, and bestowing praise upon the way in which -I had “rescued and restored her to her kindred,” until, -so gracefully did she pervert the truth, I felt a blush -of unwonted virtue under my callous skin; and when -they acclaimed me friend and ally, I stood an inch -taller among them to find myself of such unexpected -worth—one tall Druid alone scowling on me evilly.</p> - -<p>For long that pleasant village by the shallow waters -remembered the coming of Blodwen to her own. Her -kinsmen had all been slain in the raid of the sea-rovers -which brought about her captivity, and thus—the -succession to headship and rule being very strictly -observed among the Britons—she was elected, after -an absence of six months, to the oak throne and the -headship of the clan with an almost unbroken accord. -But that priest, Dhuwallon, her cousin, and next below -her in birth, scowled again to see her seated there, -and hated me, I saw, as the unconscious thwarter of -his ambition.</p> - -<p>Those were fine times, and the Princess bought my -cargo of wine and oil and Southern things, distributing -it to all that came to pay her homage, so that for days -we were drunk and jolly. Fires gleamed on twenty -hilltops round about, and the little becks ran red down -to the river with the blood of sheep and bullocks -slaughtered in sacrifice; and the foot-tracks in the -woods were stamped into highways; and the fords -ran muddy to the ocean; and the grass was worn away; -and birds and beasts fled to quieter thickets; and -fishes swam out to the blue sea; and everything was -eaten up, far and wide; that time my fair slave girl -first put her foot upon the daïs and prayed to the -manes of her ancestors among the oak trees.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</h2> -</div> - -<p>Nothing whatever have I to say against Blodwen, -the beautiful British Princess, and many months we -spent there happily in her town: and she bore a son, -for whom the black priest, at the accursed inspiration -of his own jealous heart and thwarted hopes, read -out an evil destiny, to her great sorrow.</p> - -<p>Going down one morning to the shore, somewhat -sad and sorry, for the inevitable time of parting was -near, my ship lying ready loaded by the beach, I -rubbed my eyes again and again to see that the felucca -had gone from the little inlet where she had lain so -long. Nor was comfort at hand when, rushing to a -promontory commanding a better view, to my horror -there shone the golden speck of her sail in the morning -sunlight on the blue rim of the most distant sea.</p> - -<p>I have often thought, since, the crafty Princess had -a hand in this desertion. She was so ready with her -condolence, so persuasive that I should “bide the winter -and leave her in the spring” (the which was said -with her most detaining smile), that I could not think -the catastrophe took my gentle savage much by surprise.</p> - -<p>I yielded, and the long black winter was worn -through among the British, until, when the yellow -light came back again, I had married Blodwen before -all the tribe and was rich by her constant favor, nor, -need it be said, more loth than ever to leave her. In -truth, she was a good Princess, but very variable. -Blodwen the chieftainess urging her clansmen to a -tribal fight, red hot with the strong drink of war, or -reeking with the fumes and cruelty of a bloody sacrifice -to Baal, was one thing; and, on the other hand, -Blodwen tending with the rude skill of the day her -kinsmen’s wounds, Blodwen the daughter, weeping -gracious, silent tears in the hall of her fathers as the -minstrels chanted their praises, or humming a ditty -to the listening, blue-eyed little one upon her knee—his -cheek to hers—was all another sight; and I loved -her better than I have ever loved any of those other -women who have loved me since.</p> - -<p>But sterner things were coming my erratic way. The -proud Roman Eagle, having in these years long tyrannized -over fertile Gaul, must needs swoop down on -our brothers along that rocky coast of Armorica that -faces our white shore, carrying death and destruction -among our kinsmen as the peregrines in the cliffs harry -the frightened seamews.</p> - -<p>Forthwith the narrow waters were black with our -hide-sailed boats rushing to succor. But it was useless. -Who could stand against the Roman? Our men -came back presently—few, wounded, and crestfallen, -with long tales of the foeman’s deadly might by sea -and shore.</p> - -<p>Then, a little later on, we had to fight for ourselves, -through scantily we had expected it. Early one autumn -a friendly Veneti came over from Gaul and warned the -Southern Princes the stern Roman Consul Cæsar was -collecting boats and men to invade us. At once on -this news were we all torn by diverse counsels and -jealousies, and Blodwen hung in my arms for a tearful -space, and then sent me eastward with a few men—all -she could spare from watching her own dangerous -neighbors—to oppose the Roman landing; while the -priest Dhuwallon, though exempt by his order from -military service, followed, sullen, behind my warlike -clansmen.</p> - -<p>We joined other bodies of British, until by the beginning -of the harvest month we had encamped along -the Kentish downs in very good force, though disunited. -Three days later, at dawn, came in a runner -who said that Cæsar was landing to the westward—how -I wished that traitor lie would stick in his false -throat and choke him!—and thither, bitterly against -my advice, went nearly all our men.</p> - -<p>Even now it irks me to tell this story. While the -next young morning was still but a yellow streak upon -the sea, our keen watchers saw sails coming from the -pale Gaulish coast, and by the time the primrose portals -of the day were fully open, the water was covered -with them from one hand to the other.</p> - -<p>In vain our recalling signal-fires smoked. A thousand -scythed chariots and four thousand men were -away, and by noon the great Consul’s foremost galley -took the British ground where the beach shelved up -to the marshy flats, which again rose, through coppices -and dingles, to our camp on the overhanging -hills. Another and another followed, all thronged -with tawny stalwart men in brass and leather. What -could we do against this mighty fleet that came headlong -upon us, rank behind rank, the white water flashing -in tangled ribbons from their innumerable prows, -and the dreaded symbols of Roman power gleaming -from every high-built stern?</p> - -<p>We rushed down, disorderly, to meet them, the -Druids urging us on with song and sacrifice, and -waded into the water to our waists, for we were as -courageous as we were undisciplined, and they hesitated -for some seconds to leave their lurching boats. -I remember at this moment, when the fate of a kingdom -hung in the balance, down there jumped a Centurion, -and waving a golden eagle over his head, drew -his short sword, and calling out that “he at least would -do his duty to the Republic,” made straight for me.</p> - -<p>Brave youth! As he rushed impetuous through the -water my ready javelin took him true under the gilded -plate that hung upon his chest, and the next wave -rolled in to my feet a lifeless body lapped in a shroud -of crimson foam.</p> - -<p>But now the legionaries were springing out far and -near, and fighting hand to hand with the skin-clad -British, who gave way before them slowly and stubbornly. -Many were they who died, and the floating -corpses jostled and rolled about among us as we -plunged and fought and screamed in the shallow tide, -and beat on the swarming, impervious golden shields -of the invaders.</p> - -<p>Back to the beach they drove us, hand to hand and -foot to foot, and then, with a long shout of triumph -that startled the seafowl on the distant cliffs, they -pushed us back over the shingles ever farther from -the sea, that idly sported with our dead—back, in spite -of all we could do, to the marshland.</p> - -<p>There they formed, after a breathing space, in the -long, stern line that had overwhelmed a hundred nations, -and charged us like a living rampart of steel. -And as the angry waves rush upon the immovable -rocks, so rushed we upon them. For a moment or two -the sun shone upon a wild uproar, the fierce contention -of two peoples breast to breast, a glitter of caps -and javelins, splintered spears and riven shields, all -flashing in the wild dust of war that the Roman -Eagle loved so well. And then the Britons parted into -a thousand fragments and reeled back, and were trampled -under foot, and broke and fled!</p> - -<p>Britain was lost!</p> - -<p>Soon after this all the coppices and pathways were -thronged with our flying footmen. Yet Dhuwallon -and I, being mounted, had lingered behind the rest, -galloping hither and thither over the green levels, trying -to get some few British to stand again; but presently -it was time to be gone. The Romans, in full -possession of the beach, had found a channel, and -drawn some boats up to the shelving shore. They had -dropped the hinged bulwarks, and, with the help of a -plank or two, had already got out some of their twenty -or thirty chargers. On to these half a dozen eager -young patricians had vaulted, and, I and Dhuwallon -being conspicuous figures, they came galloping down -at us. We, on our lighter steeds, knowing every path -and gully in the marshlands, should have got away -from them like starlings from a prowling sheepdog; -but treachery was in the black heart of that high -priest at my elbow, and a ravening hatred which knew -neither time nor circumstance.</p> - -<p>It was just at the scraggy foothills, and the shouting -Centurions were close behind us; the last of our -fighters had dashed into the shelter ahead, and I was -galloping down a grassy hollow, when the coward -shearer of mistletoe came up alongside. I looked not -at him, but over my other shoulder at the red plumes -of the pursuers dancing on the sky-line. All in an -instant something sped by me, and, shrieking in pain, -my horse plunged forward, missed his footing, and -rolled over into the long autumn grass, with the scoundrel -priest’s last javelin quivering in his throat. I -heard that villain laugh as he turned for a moment -to look back, and then he vanished into the screen of -leaves.</p> - -<p>Amazed and dizzy, I staggered to my feet, pushed -back the long hair and the warm running blood from -my eyes, and, grasping my sword, waited the onset -of the Romans. They rode over me as though I were -a shock of ripe barley in August, and one of them, -springing down, put his foot to my throat and made -to kill me.</p> - -<p>“No, no, Fabrius!” said another Centurion from the -back of a white steed. “Don’t kill him! He will be -more useful alive.”</p> - -<p>“You were always tender-hearted, Sempronius Faunus,” -grumbled the first one, reluctantly taking his -heel from me and giving permission to rise with a kick -in the side. “What are you going to do with him? -Make him native Prefect of these marshes, eh?”</p> - -<p>“Or, perhaps,” put in another gilded youth, whose -sword itched to think it was as yet as innocent of blood -as when it came from its Tuscany smithy—“perhaps -Sempronius is going to have a private procession of -his own when he gets back to the Tiber, and wishes -early to collect prisoners for his chariot-tail.”</p> - -<p>Disregarding their banter, the Centurion Sempronius, -who was a comely young fellow, and seemed just -then extremely admirable in person and principles to -me, mounted again, and, pointing with his short sword -to the shore, bid me march, speaking the Gallic tongue, -and in a manner there was no gainsaying.</p> - -<p>So I was a prisoner to the Romans, and they bound -me, and left me lying for ten hours under the side -of one of their stranded ships, down by the melancholy -afternoon sea, still playing with its dead men, and -rolling and jostling together in its long green fingers -the raven-haired Etrurian and the pale, white-faced -Celt. Then, when it was evening, they picked me up, -and a low plebeian, in leather and brass, struck me -in the face when, husky and spent with fighting, I -asked for a cup of water. They took me away through -their camp, and a mile down the dingles, where the -Roman legionaries were digging fosses and making -their camp in the ruddy flicker of watch-fires, under -the British oaks, to a rising knoll.</p> - -<p>Here the main body of the invaders were lying in -a great crescent toward the inland, and crowning the -hillock was a scarp, where a rough pavilion of skins, -and sails from the vessels on the beach, had been -erected.</p> - -<p>As we approached this all the noise and laughter -died out of my guard, who now moved in perfect silence. -A bowshot away we halted, and presently Sempronius -was seen backing out of the tent with an air -of the greatest diffidence. Seizing me by my manacled -arms, he led me to it. At the very threshold he whispered -in my ear:</p> - -<p>“Briton, if you value that tawny skin of yours I -saved this morning, speak true and straight to him -who sits within,” and without another word he thrust -me into the rough pavilion. At a little table, dark -with usage, and scarred with campaigning, a man was -sitting, an ample toga partly hiding the close-fitting -leather vest he wore beneath it. His long and nervous -fingers were urging over the tablets before him a -stylus with a speed few in those days commanded, -while a little earthenware lamp, with a flickering wick -burning in the turned-up spout, cast a wavering light -upon his thin, sharp-cut features—the imperious -mouth that was shut so tight, and the strong lines of -his dark, commanding face.</p> - -<p>He went on writing as I entered, without looking -up; and my gaze wandered round the poor walls of his -tent, his piled-up arms in one place, his truckle bed -in another, there a heap of choice British spoil, flags, -and symbols, and weapons, and there a foreign case, -half opened, stocked with bags of coins and vellum -rolls. All was martial confusion in the black and -yellow light of that strange little chamber, and as I -turned back to him I felt a shock run through me to -find the blackest and most piercing pair of eyes that -ever shone from a mortal head fixed upon my face.</p> - -<p>He rose, and, with the lamp in his hand, surveyed -me from top to toe.</p> - -<p>“Of the Veneti?” he said, in allusion to my dark un-British -hair, and I answered “No.”</p> - -<p>“What, then?”</p> - -<p>I told him I was a knight just now in the service -of the British King.</p> - -<p>“How many of your men opposed us to-day?” was -the next question.</p> - -<p>“A third as many as you brought with you where -you were not invited.”</p> - -<p>“And how many are there in arms behind the downs -and in this southern country?”</p> - -<p>“How many pebbles are there on yonder beach? -How many ears of corn did we pull last harvest?” I -answered, for I thought I should die in the morning, -and this made me brave and surly.</p> - -<p>He frowned very blackly at my defiance, but curbing, -I could see, his wrath, he put the lamp on the -table, and, after a minute of communing with himself, -he said, in a voice over which policy threw a thin -veil of amiability:</p> - -<p>“Perhaps, as a British knight and a good soldier, -I have no doubt you could speak better with your -hands untied?”</p> - -<p>I thanked him, replying that it was so; and he came -up, freeing, with a beautiful little golden stiletto he -wore in his girdle, my wrists. This kindly, slight act -of soldierly trust obliged me to the Roman general, -and I answered his quick, incisive questions in the -Gaulish tongue as far as honestly might be. He got -little about our forces, finding his prisoner more effusive -in this quarter than communicative. Once or -twice, when my answers verged on the scornful, I saw -the imperious temper and haughty nature at strife -with his will in that stern, masterful face and those -keen black eyes.</p> - -<p>But when we spoke of the British people I could -satisfy his curious and many questions about them -more frankly. Every now and then, as some answer -interested him, he would take a quick glance at me, -as though to read in my face whether it were the truth -or not, and, stopping by his little table, he would jot -down a passage on the wax, scan it over, and inquire -of something else. Our life and living, wars, religions, -friendships, all seemed interesting to this acute gentleman -so plainly clad, and it was only when we had -been an hour together, and after he had clearly got -from me all he wished, that he called the guard and -dismissed me, bidding Sempronius, in Latin, which -the General thought I knew not, to give me food and -drink, but keep me fast for the present.</p> - -<p>Sempronius showed the utmost deference to the little -man in the toga and leather jerkin, listening with -bent head, and backing from his presence; while I -but roughly gave him thanks for my free hands, and -stalked out after my jailer with small ceremony.</p> - -<p>Once in the starlight, and out of earshot, the Centurion -said to me, with a frown:</p> - -<p>“Briton, I feel somewhat responsible for you, and -I beg, the next time you leave that presence, not to -carry your head so high or turn that wolf-skinned back -of yours on him so readily, or I am confident I shall -have orders to teach you manners. Did you cast yourself -down when you entered?”</p> - -<p>“Not I.”</p> - -<p>“Jove! And did not kneel while you spoke to him?”</p> - -<p>“Not once,” I said.</p> - -<p>“Now, by the Sacred Flame! do you mean to say -you stood the whole time as I found you, towering in -your ragged skins, your bare, braceleted arms upon -your chest, and giving Cæsar back stare for stare in -his very tent?”</p> - -<p>“Who?”</p> - -<p>“Cæsar himself. Why, who else? Cæsar, whose -word is life and death from here to the Apennines; -who is going to lick up this country of yours as a hungry -beggar licks out a porringer. Surely you knew -that he to whom you spoke so freely was our master, -the great Prætor himself!”</p> - -<p>Here was an oversight. I might have guessed so -much; but, full of other things, I had never supposed -the little man was anything but a Roman general -sent out to harry and pursue us. Strange ideas -rose at once, and while the Tyrian in me was awe-struck -by the closeness of my approach to a famous -and dreaded person, the Briton moaned at a golden -opportunity lost to unravel, by one bold stroke—a -stroke of poniard, of burning brand from the fire, -of anything—the net that was closing over this unfortunate -island.</p> - -<p>So strong rose these latter regrets at having had -Cæsar, the unwelcome, the relentless, within arms’ -length, and having let him go forth with his indomitable -blood still flowing in his lordly veins, that I -stopped short, clapped my hand upon my swordless -scabbard, and made a hasty stride back to the tent.</p> - -<p>At once the ready Sempronius was on me like a -wild cat, and with two strong legionaries bore me to -the ground and tied me hand and foot. They carried -me down to the camp, and there pitched me under a -rock, to reflect until dawn on the things of a disastrous -day.</p> - -<p>But by earliest twilight the bird had flown! At -midnight, when the tired soldiers slept, I chafed my -hempen bonds against a rugged angle of earth-embedded -stone, and in four hours was free, rising -silently among the snoring warriors and passing into -the forest as noiselessly as one of those weird black -shadows that the last flashes of their expiring camp-fires -made at play on the background of the woods.</p> - -<p>I stole past their outmost pickets while the first -flush of day was in the east, and, then, in the open, -turned me to my own people and ran, like a hind to -her little one, over the dewy grasslands and through -the spangled thickets, scaring the conies at their earliest -meal, and frightening the merles and mavis ere -they had done a bar of their matin songs, throwing -myself down in the tents of my kinsmen just as the -round sun shone through the close-packed oak trunks.</p> - -<p>But, curse the caitiff fools who welcomed me there! -It would have been far better had I abided Cæsar’s -anger, or trusted to that martial boy, Sempronius -Faunus!</p> - -<p>The British churls, angry and sullen at their defeat -of yesterday, were looking for a victim to bear the -burden of their wrongs. Now the priest Dhuwallon, -who had turned livid with fear and anger when I had -come back unharmed from the hands of the enemy, -with a ready wit which was surely lent him from hell, -saw he might propitiate the Britons and gratify his -own ends by one more coward trick to be played at -my expense. I do not deny his readiness, or grudge -him aught, yet I hate him, even now, from the bottom -of my heart, with all that fierce old anger which -then would have filled me with delight and pride if -I could have had his anointed blood smoking in the -runnels of my sword.</p> - -<p>Well. It was his turn again. He procured false -witnesses—not a difficult thing for a high priest in -that discontented camp—and by midday I was bound -once more, and before the priests and chiefs as a -traitor and Roman spy.</p> - -<p>What good was it for me to stand up and tell the -truth to that gloomy circle while the angry crowd -outside hungered for a propitiary sacrifice? In vain -I lied with all the resources I could muster, and in -vain, when this was fruitless, denounced that pale villain, -my accuser. When I came to tell of his treachery -in killing my horse the day before, and leaving -me to be slain by the enemy, I saw I was but adding -slander, in the judges’ eyes, to my other crimes. When -I declared I was no Roman, but a Briton—an aged -fool, his long, white locks fileted with oak leaves, rose -silently and held a polished brass mirror before me, -and by every deity in the Northern skies I must own -my black hair and dusky face were far more Roman -than native.</p> - -<p>So they found me guilty, and sentenced me to be -offered up to Baal next morning, before the army, as -a detected spy.</p> - -<p>When that silvery dawn came it brought no relief -or respite, for the laws of the Druids, which enjoined -slow and deliberate judgments, forbade the altering -of a sentence once pronounced. It was as fine a day -as could be wished for their infernal ceremonial, with -the mellow autumn mist lying wide and flat along the -endless vistas of oak and hazel that then hid almost -all the valleys, and over the mist the golden rays of -the sun spread far and near, kissing with crimson -radiance the green knobs of upland that shone above -that pearly ocean, and shining on the bare summits -of the lonely grass hills around us, and gleaming in -rosy brilliancy upon the sea that flashed and sparkled -in gray and gold between the downs to the southward. -Here in this fairy realm, while the thickets were still -beaded with the million jewels of the morning, and -the earth breathed of repose and peace, they carried -out that detestable orgie of which I was the center.</p> - -<p>My memory is a little hazy. Perhaps, at the time, -I was thinking of other things—a red-haired girl, for -instance, playing with her little ones outside her porch -in a distant glen; my shekels of brass and tin and silver; -my kine, my dogs, and my horses, mayhap; such -things will be—and thus I know little of how it came. -But presently I was on the fatal spot.</p> - -<p>A wide circle of green grass, kept short and close, -in the heart of a dense thicket of oak. Round this -circle a ring of great stone columns, crowned by -mighty slabs of the same kind, and hung, to-day, with -all the skins and robes and weapons of the assembled -tribesmen; so that the mighty enclosure was a rude -amphitheater, walled by the wealth of the spectators, -and in the center an oblong rock, some eight feet long, -with a gutter down it for the blood to run into a pit -at its feet. This was the fatal slip from which the -Druids launched that poor vessel, the soul, upon the -endless ocean of eternity.</p> - -<p>All round the great circle, when its presence and -significance suddenly burst upon me, were the British, -to the number of many hundreds, squatting on the -ground in the front rows, or standing behind against -the gray pillars, an uncouth ring of motley barbarians, -shaggy with wolf and bear skins, gleaming in brass -and golden links that glistened in the morning light -against the naked limbs and shoulders, traced and -pictured in blue woad with a hundred designs of war -and woodcraft.</p> - -<p>They forced me and two other miserable wretches -to the altar, and then, while our guards stood by us, -and the mounted men clustered among the monoliths -behind, a deadly silence fell upon the assembly. It -was so still we could hear the beat of our own hearts, -and so intolerable that one of us three fell forward -in a swoon ere it had lasted many minutes. The din -of battle was like the murmur of a pleasant brook -before that expectant hush; and when the white procession -of executioners came chanting up the farther -avenue of stones, into the arena, I breathed again, as -though it was a nuptial procession, and they were -bringing me a bride less grim than the golden adze -which shone at their head.</p> - -<p>They sang round the circle their mystic song, and -then halted before the rude stone altar. Mixing up -religion and justice, as was their wont, the chief Druid -recited the crimes of the two culprits beside me, with -their punishment, and immediately the first one, tightly -bound, was pitched upon the stone altar; and while -the Druids chanted their hymns to Baal the assembled -multitude joined in, and, clanging their shields in an -infernal tumult which effectually drowned his yells -for mercy, the sacred adze fell, and first his head, and -then his body, rolled into the hollow, while twenty little -streams of crimson blood trickled down the sides -of the altar stone. The next one was treated in the -same way, and tumbled off into the hollow below, and -I was hoisted up to that reeking slab.</p> - -<p>While they arranged me, that black priest stole up -and hissed in my ear: “Is it of Blodwen you think -when you shut your eyes? Take this, then, for your -final comfort,” he said, with a malicious leer—“I, -even I, the despised and thwarted, will see to Blodwen, -and answer for her happiness. Ah!—you writhe—I -thought that would interest you. Let your last -thought, accursed stranger, be I and she: let your -last conception be my near revenge! Villain! I spit -upon and deride you!” And he was as good as his -word, glowering down upon me, helpless, with insatiate -rage and hatred in his eyes, and then, stepping -back, signed to the executioner.</p> - -<p>I heard the wild hymn to their savage gods go ringing -up again through the green leaves of the oaks; I -heard the clatter of the weapons upon the round, brass-bound -targets, the voices of the priests, and the cry -of a startled kite circling in the pleasant autumn mist -overhead. I saw the great crescent of the sacred -golden adze swing into the sky, and then, while it was -just checking to the fall which should extinguish me, -there came a hush upon the people, followed by a -wild shout of fear and anger, and I turned my head -half over as I lay, bound, upon the stone.</p> - -<p>I saw the British multitude seethe in confusion, -and then burst and fly, like the foam strands before -the wind, as, out of the green thickets, at the run, -their cold, brave faces all emotionless over their long -brass shields, came rank upon rank of Roman legionaries. -I saw Sempronius, on his white charger, at -their head, glittering in brass and scarlet, and, finding -my tongue in my extremity, “Sempronius!” I yelled, -“Sempronius to the rescue!” But too late!</p> - -<p>With a wavering, aimless fall, the adze descended -between my neck and my shoulder, the black curtain -of dissolution fell over the painted picture of the -world, there was a noise of a thousand rivers tumbling -into a bottomless cavern, and I expired.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</h2> -</div> - -<p>I do confess I can offer no justification for the continuation -of my story. Once so fairly sped as I was on -that long-distant day, thus recalled in such detail as -I can remember, the natural and regular thing would -be that there should be an end of me, with, perhaps, -a page or two added by some kindly scribe to recall -my too quickly smothered virtues. Nevertheless, I -write again, not a whit the worse for a mischance -which would have silenced many a man, and in a -mood to tell you of things wonderful enough to strain -the sides of your shallow modern skepticism, as new -wine stretches a goat-skin bottle.</p> - -<p>All the period between my death on the Druid altar -and my reawakening was a void, whereof I can say -but little. The only facts pointing to a faint clue to -the wonderful lapse of life are the brief phenomena -of my reawakening, which came to hand in sequence -as they are here set down.</p> - -<p>My first consciousness was little better than a realization -of the fact that practically I was extinct. To -this pointless knowledge there came a dawning struggle -with the powers of mortality, until very slowly, -inch by inch, the negativeness was driven back, and -the spark of life began to brighten within me. To -this moment I cannot say how long the process took. -It may have been days, or weeks, or months, or ages, -as likely as not; but when the vital flame was kindled -the life and self-possession spread more quickly, until -at last, with little fluttering breaths like a new-born -baby’s, and a tingling trickle of warm blood down my -shrunken veins, in one strange minute, four hundred -years after the close of my last spell of living (as I -afterward learned), I feebly opened my eyes, and recognized -with dull contentment that I was alive again.</p> - -<p>But, oh! the sorrows attendant on it! Every bone -and muscle in me ached to that awakening, and my -very fiber shook to the stress of the making tide of -vitality. You who have lain upon an arm for a sleepy -hour or two, and suffered as a result ingenious torments -from the new-moving blood, think of the like -sorrows of four hundred years’ stagnation! It was -scarcely to be borne, and yet, like many other things -of which the like might be said, I bore it in bitterness -of spirit, until life had trickled into all the unfamiliar -pathways of my clay, and then at length the pain decreased, -and I could think and move.</p> - -<p>In that strange and lonely hour of temporal resurrection -almost complete darkness surrounded me, and -my mind (with one certain consciousness that I had -been very long where I lay) was a chaos of speculation -and fancy and long-forgotten scenes. But as my -faculties came more completely under control, and my -eyes accepted the dim twilight as sufficient and convenient -to them, they made out overhead a dull, massy -roof of rock, rough with the strong masonry of mother -earth, and descending in rugged sides to an uneven -floor. In fact, there could be no doubt I was underground, -but how far down, and where, and why, could -not be said. All around me were cavernous hollows -and midnight shadows, round which the weird gleam -of rude pillars and irregular walls made a heavy, mysterious -coast to a black, uncertain sea. I sat up and -rubbed my eyes—and as I did so I felt every rag of -clothing drop in dust and shreds from my person—and -peered into the almost impenetrable gloom. My -outstretched hands on one side touched the rough -rocks of what was apparently the arch of a niche in -this chamber of the nether world, and under me they -discovered a sandy shelf, upon which I lay, some eight -or ten feet from the ground, as near as could be judged. -Not a sound broke the stillness but the gentle monotony -of falling water, whereof one unseen drop, twice -a minute, fell with a faint silver cadence on to the -surface of an unknown pool. I did not fear, I was -not frightened, and soon I noticed as a set-off to the -gloom of my sullen surroundings the marvelous purity -of the atmosphere. It was a preservative itself. Such -an ambient, limpid element could surely have existed -nowhere else. It was soft as velvet in its absolute -stillness, and pure beyond suspicion. It was like some -thin, sunless vintage that had mellowed, endless years, -in the great vat of the earth, and it now ran with the -effect of a delicate tonic through my inert frame. Nor -was its sister and ally—the temperature—less conducive -to my cure. In that subterranean place summer -and winter were alike unknown. The trivial -changes that vex the cuticle of the world were here -reduced to an unalterable average of gentle warmth -that assimilated with the soulless air to my huge contentment. -You cannot wonder, therefore, that I throve -apace, and explored with increasing strength the limits -of my strange imprisonment.</p> - -<p>All about me was fine, deep dust, and shreds, which -even then smelt in my palm like remnants of fur and -skins. At my elbow was a shallow British eating-dish, -with a little dust at the bottom, and by it a -broken earthenware pitcher such as they used for -wine. On my other side, as I felt with inquisitive fingers, -lay a handleless sword, one of my own, I knew, -but thin with age, the point all gone, rusty and useless. -By it, again, reposed a small jar, heavy to lift, -and rattling suggestively when shaken. My two fingers, -thrust into the neck, told me it was full of coins, -and I could not but feel a flush of gratitude in that -grim place at the abortive kindness which had put -food and drink, weapons and money, by my side, with -a sweet ignorance, yet certainty, of my future awakening.</p> - -<p>But now budding curiosity suggested wider search, -and, rising with difficulty, I cautiously dropped from -my lofty shelf on to the ground. Then a wish to gain -the outer air took possession of me, and, peering this -way and that, a tiny point of light far away on the -right attracted my attention. On approaching, it -turned out to be a small hole in the cave, out of reach -overhead; but, feeling about below this little star of -comfort, the walls appeared soft and peaty to the -touch, so at once I was at work digging hard, with a -pointed stone; and the farther I went the more leafy -and rough became the material, while hope sent my -heart thumping against my ribs in tune to my labor.</p> - -<p>At last, impulsive, after half an hour’s work, a fancy -seized me that I could heave a way out with my shoulder. -No sooner said than done. I took ten steps back, -and then plunged fiercely in the darkness of the great -cavern into the moldy screen.</p> - -<p>How can I describe the result! It gave way, and -I shot, in a whirlwind of dust, into a sparkling, golden -world! I rolled over and over down a spangled firmament, -clutching in my bewilderment, my hands full -of blue and yellow gems at every turn, and slipping -and plunging, with a sirocco of color—red, green, -sapphire, and gold—flying round before my bewildered -face. I finally came to a stop, and sat up. You -will not wonder that I glared round me, when I say I -was seated at the foot of all the new marvels of a -beautiful limestone knoll, clothed from top to bottom -with bluebells and primroses, spangled with the young -spring greenery of hazel and beech overhead, and -backed by the cloudless blue of an April sky!</p> - -<p>On top of this fairy mountain, at the roots of the -trees that crowned it, hidden by bracken and undergrowth, -was the round hole from which I had plunged; -nor need I tell you how, remembering what had happened -in there, I rubbed my eyes, and laughed, and -marveled greatly at the will of the Inscrutable, which -had given me so wonderful a rebirth.</p> - -<p>To you must be left to fill up the picture of my sensations -and slowly recurring faculties. How I lay and -basked in the warmth, and slowly remembered everything: -to me belongs but the strange and simple narrative.</p> - -<p>One of my first active desires was for breakfast—nor, -as my previous meal had been four centuries earlier, -will I apologize for this weakness. But where -and how should it be had? This question soon answered -itself. Sauntering hither and thither, the low -shoulder of the ridge was presently crossed, and a -narrow footway in the woods leading to some pleasant -pastures entered upon. Before I had gone far up this -shady track, a pail of milk in her hand, and whistling a -ditty to herself, came tripping toward me as pretty a -maid as had ever twisted a bit of white hawthorn into -her amber hair.</p> - -<p>I let her approach, and then, stepping out, made the -most respectful salutation within the knowledge of -ancient British courtesy. But, alas! my appearance -was against me, and Roman fancies had peopled the -hills with jolly satyrs, for one of which, no doubt, the -damsel took me. As I bowed low the dust of centuries -cracked all down my back. I was tawny and grim, -and unshaved, and completely naked—though I had -forgotten it—and even my excellent manners could -not warrant my disingenuousness against such a damning -appearance. She screamed with fear, and, letting -go her milk-jar, turned and fled, with a nimbleness -which would have left even the hot old wood-god himself -far in the rear.</p> - -<p>However, the milk remained, and peering into the -pitcher, here seemed the very thing to recuperate me -by easy stages. So I retired to a cozy dell, and, between -copious draughts of that fine natural liquor, -overwhelmed with blessings the sleek kine and the -comely maid who milked them. Indeed, the stuff ran -into my withered processes like a freshet stream into -a long-dry country; it consoled and satisfied me; and -afterward I slept as an infant all that night and far -into another sun.</p> - -<p>The next day brought several needs with it. The -chief of these were more food, more clothes, and a -profession (since fate seemed determined to make me -take another space of existence upon the world). All -three were satisfied eventually. As for the first two, -I was not particular as to fashion or diet, and easily -supplied them. In the course of a morning stroll a -shepherd’s hut was discovered, and on approaching it -cautiously the little shed turned out to be empty. -However, the owner had left several sheepskin mantles -and rough homespun clothes on pegs round the -walls, and to these I helped myself sufficiently to convert -an unclothed caveman into a passable yeoman. -Also, I made free with his store of oat-cakes and -coarse cheese, putting all not needed back upon his -shelf.</p> - -<p>Here I was again, fed and clothed, but what to do -next was the question. To consider the knotty matter, -after spending most of the day in purposeless wandering, -I went up to the top of my own hill—the one that, -unknown to every one, had the cavern in it—and there -pondered the subject long. The whole face of the -country perplexed me. It was certainly Britain, but -Britain so amplified and altered as to be hardly recognizable. -Wide fields were everywhere, broad roads -traversed the hills and valleys with impartial straightness, -the great woodlands of the earlier times were -gone, or much curtailed, while wonderful white buildings -shone here and there among the foliage, and -down away in the west, by a river, the sunbeams glinted -on the roofs and temple fronts of a fine, unknown -town. That was the place, it seemed to me at length, -to refit for another voyage on the strange sea of -chance; but I was too experienced in the ways of the -world to travel cityward with an empty wallet. While -meditating upon the manner in which this deficiency -might be met, the golden store of coins left in the cave -below suddenly presented themselves. The very thing! -And, as heavy purple clouds were piling up round the -presently sinking sun, earth and sky alike presaging a -storm that evening, the cavern would be a convenient -place to sleep in.</p> - -<p>Finding the entrance with some difficulty, and noticing, -but with no special attention, that it looked a -little larger than when last seen, my first need was -fire. This I had to make for myself. In the pouch of -the shepherd’s jerkin was a length of rough twine; this -would do for matches, while as a torch a resinous pine -branch, bruised and split, served well enough. Fixing -one end of the string to a bush, I took a turn round -a dry stick, and then began laboriously rubbing backward -and forward. In half an hour the string fumed -pleasantly, and, something under the hour—one was -nothing if not patient in that age—it charred and burst -into flame.</p> - -<p>Just as the evening set in, and the earth opened its -pores to the first round drops of the warm-smelling -rain that pattered on the young forest leaves, and the -thunder began to murmur distantly under the purple -mantle of the coming storm, my torch spluttering and -hissing, I entered the vast gloomy chamber of my -sleep, and, not without a sense of awe, stole up along -the walls a hundred yards or more, to my strange -couch.</p> - -<p>The coins were safe, and shining greenly in their -earthen jar; so, sticking the light into a cleft, I poured -them on to the sand, and then commenced to tuck the -stuff away, as fast as might be, into my girdle. It -was strange, wild work, the only company my own -contorted shadow on the distant rocks and such wild -forms of cruel British superstition as my excited imagination -called up; the only sound the rumble of the -storm, now overhead, and the hissing drip of the red -resin gleaming on the wealth, all stamped with images -of long-dead Kings and Consuls, that I was cramming -into my pouch!</p> - -<p>By the time the task was nearly finished, I was in -a state of nerves equal to seeing or hearing anything—no -doubt long fasting had shaken a mind usually -calm and callous enough—and therefore you will understand -how the blood fled from my limbs and the -cold perspiration burst out upon my forehead, when, -having scarified myself with traditions of ghouls and -cave devils, I turned to listen for a moment to the -dull rumble of the thunder and the melancholy wave-like -sough of the wind in the trees, even here audible, -and beheld, twenty paces from me, in the shadows, a -vast, shaggy black form, grim and broad as no mortal -ever was, and red and wavering in the uncertain light, -seven feet high, and possessed of two fiery, gleaming -eyes that were bent upon my own with a horrible -fixity!</p> - -<p>I and that monstrous shadow glared at each other -until my breath came back, when, leaning a moment -more against the side of the cavern, I suddenly -snatched the torch from its cleft with a yell of consternation -that was multiplied a thousand times by the -echoes until it was like the battle-cry of a legion of -bad spirits, and started off in the supposed direction -of the entrance. But before ten yards had been covered -in that headlong rush, I tripped over a loose stone, -and in another moment had fallen prone, plunging -thereby the spluttering torch into one of the many -little pools of water with which the floor was pitted. -With a hiss and a splutter the light went out, and -absolute darkness enveloped everything!</p> - -<p>Just where I had fallen stood a round boulder, a -couple of yards broad, it had seemed, and some five -feet high. I sprang to this, instinctively clutching it -with my hands, just as those abominable green eyes, -brighter than ever in the vortex, got to the other side, -and hesitated there in doubt. Then began the most -dreadful game I ever played, with a forfeit attaching -to it not to be thought of. You will understand the -cave was absolute sterile blackness to me, a dim world -in which the only animated points were the twin green -stars of the cruel ghoul, my unknown enemy. As -those glided round to one side of the little rock, I as -cautiously edged off to the other. Then back they -would come, and back I went, now this way and now -that—sometimes only an inch or two, and sometimes -making a complete circle—with every nerve at fullest -stretch, and every sense on tiptoe.</p> - -<p>Why, all this time, it may be asked, did I not run -for the entrance? But, in reply, the first frightened -turn or two round the boulder had made chaos of my -geography, and a start in any direction then might -have dashed me into the side of the cave prone, at the -mercy of the horrible thing whose hot, coarse breath -fanned me quicker and quicker, as the game grew -warm and more exciting. So near was it that I could -have stretched out my hands, if I had dared, and -touched the monstrous being that I knew stood under -those baleful planets that glistened in the black firmament, -now here and now there.</p> - -<p>How long, exactly, we dodged and shuffled and panted -round that stone in the darkness cannot be said—it -was certainly an hour or more; but it went on so -long that even in my panting stress and excitement -it grew dull after a time, so monotonous was it, and -I found myself speculating on the weather while I -danced <i>vis-à-vis</i> to my grim partner in that frightful -pastime.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” I said, “a very bad storm indeed [once to -the left], and nearly overhead now [right]. It is a -good thing [twice round and back again] to be so [a -sharp spin round and round—he nearly had me] conveniently -under cover [twice to the left and then back -by the opposite side]!”</p> - -<p>Well, it could not have lasted forever, and I was -nearly spent. The boulder seemed hot and throbbing -to my touch, and the floor was undulating gently, as it -does when you land from a voyage; already fifty or -sixty green eyes seemed circling in fiery orbits before -me, when an extraordinary thing befell.</p> - -<p>The thunder and lightning had been playing wildly -overhead for some minutes, and the rain was coming -down in torrents (even the noise of rushing hill streams -being quite audible in that clear, resonant space), -when, all of a sudden, there came a pause, and then the -fall of a Titanian hammer on the dome of the hill, a -rending, resounding crash that shook mother earth -right down to her innermost ribs.</p> - -<p>At the same instant, before we could catch our -breath, the whole side of the cave opposite to us, some -hundred paces of rugged wall, was deluged with a -living, oscillating drapery of blue flame! That magnificent -refulgence came down from above, a glowing -cascade of light. It overran the rocks like a beautiful -gauze, clinging lovingly to their sinuousness, and -wrapping their roughness in a tender, palpitating mantle -of its own winsome brightness. It ran its nimble, -fiery tendrils down the veins and crevices, and leaped -in fierce playfulness from point to point, spinning its -electric gossamers in that vacuum air like some enchanted -tissue spread between the crags; it ran to the -ledges and trickled off in ambient, sparkling cascades, -it overflowed the sandy bottom in tender sheets of -blue and mauve, feeling here and there with a million -fingers for the way it sought, and then it found it, and -sank, as silent, as ghostly, as wonderful as it had -come!</p> - -<p>All this was but the work of an instant, but an instant -of such concentrated brightness that I saw every -detail, as I have told you, of that beautiful thing. -More; in that second of glowing visibility, while the -blue torch of the storm still shone in the chamber of -the underground, I saw the stone by me, and beyond -it, towering amazed and stupid, with his bulky -strength outlined against the light, a great cave bear -in all his native ruggedness! Better still, a bowshot -on my right was the narrow approach of the entrance—and -as the gleam sank into the nether world, almost -as quick as that gleam itself, with a heart of wonder -and fear, and a foot like the foot of the night wind -overhead, I was gone, and down the sandy floor, and -through the gap, and into the outer world and midnight -rain I plunged once more, grateful and glad!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>After such hairbreadth escapes there was little need -to bemoan a wet coat and an evening under the lee -of a heathery scar.</p> - -<p>When the morning arrived, clear and bright, as it -often does after a storm, I felt in no mood to hang -about the locality, but shook the rain from my fleece, -and breakfasting on a little water from the brook, a -staff in my hand, and my dear-bought wealth in my -belt, set out for the unknown town, whose wet roofs -shone like molten silver over the dark and dewy oak -woods.</p> - -<p>Five hours’ tramping brought me there; and truly -the city astonished me greatly. Could this, indeed, be -Britain, was the constant question on my tongue as I -trod fair white streets, with innumerable others opening -down from them on either hand, and noticed the -evidence of such art and luxury as, hitherto, I had -dreamed the exclusive prerogative of the capital of -the older empires. Here were baths before which the -Roman youth dawdled; stately theaters with endless -tiers of seats, from whose rostra degenerate sons of -the soil, aping their masters in dress and speech, recited -verse and dialogue trimmed to the latest orator -in fashion by the Tiber. Mansions and palaces there -were, outside which the sleek steeds of Consuls and -Prætors champed gilded bits while waiting to carry -their owners to gay procession and ceremonial; temples -to Apollo, and shrines to Venus, dotted the ways, -forums, market places, and the like, in bewildering -profusion.</p> - -<p>And among all these evidences of the new age -thronged a motley mixture of people. The thoughtful -senator, coming from conclave, with his toga and -parchments, elbowed the callow British rustic in the -rude raiment of his fathers. The wild, blue-eyed Welsh -Prince, upon his rough mountain pony, would scarce -give right of way to the bronzed Roman mercenary -from the Rhine: Umbrians and Franks, pale-haired -Germans, and olive Tuscans, laughed and chaffered -round the booths and fountains, while here and there -legionaries stood on guard before great houses, or -drank on the tressels of wayside wine-shops. Now -and again two or three soldiers came marching down -the street with a gang of slaves, or a shock-headed -chieftain from the wild north, fierce and sullen, on his -way to Rome; and over all the varied throng the crows -and kites circled in the blue sky, and the little sparrows -perched themselves under the lintel and in the -twisted column tops of their mistress’s fane.</p> - -<p>Half the day I stared, and then, having eaten some -dry Etrurian grapes—the first for four hundred years—I -went to the bath and threw down a golden coin in -the doorkeeper’s marble slab.</p> - -<p>“Why, my son,” said that juvenile official of some -trivial fifty summers, “where in the name of Mercury -did you pick up this antique thing?” and he handled -it curiously. But being in no mind to tell my tale just -then, I put him off lightly, and passed on into the great -bathing place itself. Stage by stage, “balneum,” “con-camerata,” -“sudatio,” “tepidarium,” “frigidarium,” and -all their other chambers, I went through, until in the -last a mighty slave, who had rubbed me with the -strength of Hercules himself for half an hour, suddenly -stopped, and, surveying me intently, exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“Master! I have scrubbed many a strange thing from -many a Roman body, but I will swallow all my own -towels if I can get this extraordinary dirt from you,” -and he pointed to my bare and glowing chest.</p> - -<p>There, to my astonishment, revealed for the first -time, was a great serpent-like mark of tattoo and woad -circling my body in two wide zones! What it meant, -how it came, was past my comprehension. Shrunk -and shriveled as I was with long abstemiousness, it -seemed but like a gigantic smudge meandering down -my person—a smudge, however, that with a little goodly -living might stretch out into an elaborate design -of some nature. Of course, I knew it was thus the -British warriors were accustomed to adorn themselves, -but who had been thus purposely decorating one that -had never knowingly submitted to the operation, and -to what end, was past my guessing.</p> - -<p>“Never mind, sir, don’t despond,” said the slave. -“We will have another essay.” And hitching me on -to the rubbing couch, he knelt upon my stomach—these -bath attendants were no more deferential than -they are now—and exerted his magnificent strength, -armed with the stiffest towel that ever came off a loom, -upon me, until I fairly thought that not only would -he have the tattoo off, but also all the skin upon which -it was engrossed. But it was to no purpose. He -rose presently and sulkily declared I had had my -money’s worth. “The more he rubbed, the bluer those -accursed marks became.” This might well be, so I -tossed him an extra coin, and, dressing hastily, covered -my uninvited tattoo and went forth, fully determined -to examine and read it—for those things -were nearly always readable—more closely on a better -and more private opportunity.</p> - -<p>My next visit was to an Etruscan barber, who was -shaving all and sundry under a green-white awning, -in a pleasant little piazza. To him I sat, and while -he reaped my antique stubble, with many an exclamation -of surprise and disgust at its toughness, my -thoughts wandered away to the train of remembrances -the bath slave’s discovery had started. Again I thought -of Blodwen and my little one; the seaport, with its -golden beaches, and the quiet pools where the trout -and salmon of an evening now and again shattered -the crystal mirror of the surface in their sport as she -and I sat upon some grassy bank and talked of village -statecraft, of conquests over petty princelings, of crops -and harvests, of love and war. Then, again, I thought -of the Roman galleys, and Cæsar the penman autocrat; -of the British camp, and, lastly, the great mischance -which had, and yet had not, ended me.</p> - -<p>“Ah, that was a bad slash, indeed, sir, wasn’t it?” -queried the barber in my ear. “May I ask in what -war you took it?”</p> - -<p>This very echo of my fancy came so startlingly true, -I sprang to my feet and glowered upon him.</p> - -<p>“O culler of herbs,” I said, “O trespasser along the -verge of mystery and medicine”—pointing to the dried -things and electuaries with which, in common then -with his kind, his booth was stocked—“where got you -the power of reading minds?”</p> - -<p>He shook his head vaguely, as though he did not -understand, pointing to my neck, and replying he knew -naught of what my thoughts might have been, but -there, on my shoulder, was obvious evidence of the -“slash” he had alluded to.</p> - -<p>I took the steel mirror he offered me, and, sure -enough, I saw a monstrous white seam upon my tawny -skin, healed and well, but very obvious after the bath -and shaving.</p> - -<p>“Why, sir, I have dressed many a wound in my time, -but that must have been about as bad a one as a man -could get and live. How did it happen?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I forget just now.”</p> - -<p>“Forget! Then you must have a marvelously bad -memory. Why, a thing like that one might remember -for four hundred years!” said the sagacious little barber, -bending his keen eyes on me in a way that was -uncomfortable. In fact, he soon made me so ill at -ease, being very reluctant that my secret should pass -into possession of the town through his garrulous -tongue, that I hastily paid him another of those antique -green coins of mine, and passed on again down -the great wide street.</p> - -<p>Even he who lives two thousand years is still the -serf of time, therefore I cannot describe all the strange -things I saw in that beautiful foreign city set down -on the native English land. But presently I tired, and, -having become a Roman by exchanging my sheepskins -for a fine scarlet toga, over a military cuirass of close-fitting -steel, inlaid, after the fashion, with turquoise -and gold enamel, sandals upon my feet, and a short -sword at my side, I sought somewhere to sleep. First, -I chanced upon a little house set back from the main -thoroughfare, and over the door a withered bush, and -underneath it, on a label, was written thus:</p> - -<div class="bbox"> -<p class="center"><i>Hic Habitat Felicitas</i></p> -</div> - -<p>“Ah!” I said, as I hammered at the portal with the -brass knob of my weapon, “if, indeed, happiness is -landlord here, then Phra the Phœnician is the man to -be his tenant!” But it would not do. Bacchus was -too bibulous in that little abode, and Cupid too blind -and indiscriminate. So it was left behind, and presently -an open villa was reached where travelers might -rest, and here I took a chamber on one side of the -square marble courtyard, facing on a garden and fountain, -and looking over a fair stretch of country.</p> - -<p>No sooner had I eaten, than, very curious to understand -the nature of the bath slave’s discoveries upon -my skin, I went to the disrobing-room of the private -baths, and, discarding my gorgeous cuirass, and piling -the gilded arms and silken wrappings with which a -new-born vanity had swathed me, in a corner, I stood -presently revealed in the common integument—the one -immutable fashion of humanity. But rarely before -had the naked human body presented so much diversity -as mine did. I was mottled and pictured, from my -waist upward, in the most bewildering manner, all -in blue and purple tints, just as the slave had said. -There were more pictures on me than there are on -an astrologer’s celestial globe; and as I turned hither -and thither, before my great burnished metal mirror, -a whole constellation, of dim, uncertain meaning, rose -and set upon my sphere! Now this was the more curious, -because, as I have said, I had never in my life -submitted me for a moment to the needle and unguents -of those who in British times made a practice of the -art of tattooing. I had seen young warriors under -that painful process, and had stood by as they yelled -in pain and reluctant patience while the most elaborate -designs grew up, under the stolid draftsman’s -hands, upon their quivering cuticle. But, to Blodwen’s -grief, who would have had me equal to any of her -tribesmen in pattern as in place, I had ever scorned -to be made a mosaic of superstition and flourishes. -How, then, had this mighty maze, this pictorial web -of blue myth and marvel, grown upon me during the -night time of my sleep? On studying it closely it -evolved itself into some order, and, though that night -I made not very much of it, yet, as time went on, and -my body grew sleek and fair with good living, the -design came up with constantly increasing vigor. Indeed, -the narrative I translated from it was so absorbingly -interesting to one in my melancholy circumstances -that again and again I would hurry away to -my closet and mirror to see what new detail, what -subtle deduction of stroke or line, had come into view -upon the scroll of the strangest diary that ever was -written.</p> - -<p>For, indeed, it was Blodwen’s diary that circled me -thus. It began in the small of my back with the year -of my demise upon the Druid altar, and ever as she -wrote it she must have rolled, with tender industry, -her journal over and over, and so worked up from my -back, in a splendid widening zone of token and hieroglyphic, -for twenty changing seasons, until my chest -was reached, and there the tale ran out in a thin and -tremulous way, which it made my heart ache to understand.</p> - -<p>There is no need to describe exactly the mode of -deduction, or how I came to comprehend, without key -or help, the sense of the things before me, but you will -understand my wits were sharp in the quest, and once -the main scheme of the idea was understood the rest -came easily enough. The Princess, then, had taken a -sheaf of corn as her symbol of the year. There were -twenty of them upon me, and I judged their very -varying sizes were intended to indicate good or bad -harvest seasons in the territories of my careful chieftainess. -Round these central signs she had grouped -such other marks or outlines as served to hint the -changing fortunes of the times. There were heads -of oxen by each sheaf, varying in size according to the -conditions of her herds; and fishes, big or small, to -indicate what luck her salmon spearsmen had met -with by the tuneful rapids of that ancient stream I -knew so well.</p> - -<p>Following these early designs was one that interested -me greatly. The gentle chieftainess had, when -I left her, expectation of another member to her tribe -of her own providing. I had thought when we should -have beaten the Romans to hurry back, and mayhap -be in time to welcome this little one; but you know -how I was prevented; and now here upon my skin, nigh -over to my heart, was the sketch and outline of what -seemed a small, new-born maid, all beswaddled in -the British fashion, and very lovingly limned. But -what was more curious, was that its wraps were turned -back from its baby shoulder, and there, to my astonished -interpretation, in that silent maternal narrative, -was just the likeness, broad, lasting, indelible, -of the frightful scar I wore myself! Long I pondered -upon this. Had that red-haired slave-princess by some -chance received me back—perhaps at Sempronius’s -compassionate hands—all hurt as I was, and had that -portentous wound set its seal during anxious vigils -upon the unborn babe? I could not guess—I could -but wonder—and, wondering still, pass on to what -came next.</p> - -<p>Here was a graphic picture, no bigger than the palm -of my hand, and not hard to unriddle. An eagle—no -doubt the Roman one—engaged in fierce conflict -with a beaver—that being Blodwen’s favorite tribal -sign, for there were many of those animals upon her -river. Jove! how well ’twas done! There were the -flying feathers, and the fur, and the turmoil and the -litter of the fight, and well I guessed the proud Roman -bird—that day he brought my gallant tribe under -the yoke—had lost many a stalwart quill, and damaged -many a lordly pinion!</p> - -<p>And besides these main records of this fair and -careful chancelloress of her State, there were others -that moved me none the less. Yes! by every gloomy -spirit that dwelt in the misty shadows of the British -oaks, it gave me a hot flush of gratified revenge to see—there -by the symbol of the first year—a severed, -bleeding head, still crowned with the Druid oak.</p> - -<p>“Oh! oh! Dhuwallon, my friend,” I laughed, as I -guessed the meaning of that bloody sign, “so they -tripped you up at last, my crafty villain. By all the -fiends of your abominable worship, I should like to -have seen the stroke that made that grisly trophy! -Well, I can guess how it came about! Some slighted -tribesman who saw me die peached upon you. Liar -and traitor! I can see you stand in that old British -hall, strong in your sanctity and cunning, making your -wicked version of the fight and my undoing, and then, -methinks, I see Blodwen leap to her feet, red and -fiery with her anger. Accursed priest! how you must -have sickened and shrunk from her fierce invective, -the headlong damnation of her bitter accusation, with -all the ready evidence with which she supported it. -Mayhap your cheeks were as pale that day, good -friend, as your infernal vestments, and first you -frowned, and pointed to the signs and symbols of your -office, and pleaded your high appointment before the -assembled people against the answering of the charge. -And then, when that would not do, you whined and -cringed, and called her kinswoman. Oh, but I can -fancy it, and how my pretty Princess—there upon her -father’s steps—scorned and cursed you before them -all, and how some ready, faithful hand struck you -down, and how they tore your holy linen from you -and dragged you, screaming, to the gateway, and there -upon the threshold log struck your wicked head from -your abominable shoulders! By the sacred mistletoe, -I can read my Blodwen’s noble anger in every puncture -of that revenge-commemorating outline!”</p> - -<p>Here again, in the years that followed, it pleasured -me to see her little State grow strong and wide. At -one time she typified the coming and destruction of -two peak-sailed southern pirates, and then the building -of a new stockade. She also made (perhaps to -the worship of my manes!) a mighty circle. It began -with a single upright on my side. The next year there -were two. In the summer that followed she crossed -them by a third great slab, and so on for ten years -the tribesmen seemed to have toiled and labored until -they had such a temple of the sun as must have given -my sweet heathen vast pleasure to look upon! She -feared comments and portents much, and punctured -me with them most exactly; she kept her memoranda -of corn-pots and stores of hides upon me, like the -clever, frugal mother of her tribe she was; and now -and then she acquired territory, or made new alliances—printing -the special tokens of their heads in a circle -with her own, until I was illustrated from waist to -shoulder—a living lexicon of history.</p> - -<p>Many were the details of that strange blue record -I have not mentioned; many are the strokes and flourishes -that still expand and contract to the pulsations -of my mighty life—undeciphered, unintelligible. But -I have said enough to show you how ingenious it was—how -sufficient in its variety, how disappointing in -its pointless end. For, indeed, it stopped suddenly -at the twentieth season, and the cause thereof I could -guess only too well!</p> - -<p>There, in that Roman hotel, I stayed, reflecting. It -was in this rest-house, from the idle gossip of the -loungers and chatter of Roman politicians, that I came -to comprehend the extent of my sleep in the cave, and -as the truth dawned upon me, with a consciousness -of the infinite vacuity of my world, I went into the -garden, and there was no light in the sunshine, and no -color in the flowers, and no music in the fountain, and -I threw my toga over my head and grieved for my loneliness, -with the hum of the crowd outside in my ears, -and mourned my fair Princess and all the ancient -times so young in memory, yet so old in fact.</p> - -<p>Many days I sorrowed purposeless, and then my -grief was purged by the good medicine of hardship -and more adventure.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</h2> -</div> - -<p>One day I was sitting, in gloomy abstraction, in the -sunny garden, when, looking up suddenly, a little maid -stood by, demurely, and somewhat compassionately, -regarding me. Grateful then for any sort of sympathy, -I led her to talk, and presently found, as we -thawed into good-fellowship, drawn together by some -mutual attraction, that she was of British birth, and -more—from my old village! This was bond enough -in my then state; but think how moved and pleased -I was when the comely little damsel laughingly said, -“Oh, yes! it is only you Roman lords who come and -go more often than these flowers. We British seldom -move; I and my people have lived yonder on the coast -for ages!” So I let my lonely fancy fill in the blanks, -and took the little maid for a kinswoman, and was -right glad to know some one in the void world into -which four hundred years’ sleep had plunged me.</p> - -<p>Strange, too, as you will take it, Numidea, who, -now and then, to my mind, was so like the ancestress -she knew naught of: Numidea, the slave-girl who had -stood before me by predestined chance in that hour of -sorrow—it was she who directed my destiny and saved -and ruined me in this chapter, just as her mother had -done distant lifetimes before!</p> - -<p>Between this fair little friend and my inexhaustible -wallet I dried up my grief and turned idle and reckless -in that fascinating town of extravagance and debauchery. -It was not a time to boast much of. The -degenerate Romans had lost all their valor and most -of their skill in the arts of government. All their -hardihood and strength had sunk under the evil example -of the debased capital by the Tiber; and, though -some few unpopular ones among them railed against -the effeminate luxury of the times, few heeded, and -none were warned. It shamed me to find that all these -latter-day Romans thought of was silks and linens, -front seats at the theater, pageantry and spectacles, -trinkets and scents. It roused my disdain to see the -senators go by with gilded trains of servitors and the -young Centurions swagger down the streets in their -mock armor—their toy, peace-time swords hanging in -golden chains from their tender sides, and the wind -warning one of their perfumed presence even before -they came in sight. Such were not the men to win -an empire, I thought, or to hold it!</p> - -<p>As for the native British, a modicum of them had -dropped the sagum for the toga, and had put on with -it all its vices, but few of its virtues. Such a witless, -vain, incapable medley of arrogant fools never before -was seen. To their countrymen they represented themselves -as possessed of all the keys of statecraft and -government, stirring them up as far as they durst -to discontent and rebellion, while to their masters they -stood acknowledged sycophants and apes of all the -meannesses of a degenerate time. All this was the -more the pity, for magnificent and wide were the evidences -of what Rome had done for Britain during the -long years she had held it. When I slept, it was a -chaotic wild, peopled by brave but scattered tribes; -when I awoke, it was a fair, united realm—a beautiful -territory of fertility, rich in corn and apple-yards, -arteried by smooth, white-paved roads, and ruled by -half a dozen wonderful capitals, with countless lesser -cities, camps, and villas, wherein modern luxury, like -a rampant, beautiful-flowered parasite, had overgrown, -and choked and killed the sturdy stuff on which it -grew.</p> - -<p>Well, it is not my province to tell you of these -things. The gilded fops who thronged the city ways, -I soon found, were good enough for drinking bouts -and revelry, and, by all Olympus! my sleep had made -me thirsty, and my sorrow full of a moroseness which -had to be constantly battened down under the hatches -of an artificial pleasure. All the old, cautious, frugal, -merchant spirit had gone, and the Roman Phra, in his -gold and turquoise cincture, his belt full of his outlandish, -never-failing coins, was soon the talk of the -town, the life and soul of every reckless bout or folly, -the terror of all lictors and honest, benighted citizens.</p> - -<p>And, like many another good young man of like inclinations, -his exit was as sudden as his entry! Well -I remember that day, when my ivory tablets were -crowded with suggestions for new idleness and vanities, -and bore a dozen or two of merry engagements -to plays and processions and carnivals, and all my -new-found world looked like a summer sea of pleasure. -Under these circumstances, I went to my hoard one -evening, as I had done very often of late, and was -somewhat chagrined to discover only five pieces of -money left. However, they were big plump ones, -larger than any I had used before, and, as all those -had been good gold, these still might mean a long spell -of frolic for me—when they were nearly spent it would -be time to turn serious.</p> - -<p>I at once sat down to rub the general green tint of -age from one, noticing it was more verdant than any -of its comrades had been, and rubbed with increasing -consternation and alarm, moment after moment, until -I had reduced it at last to an ancient British copper -token, a base, abominable thing, not good enough to -pitch to a starving beggar!</p> - -<p>Another and another was snatched up and chafed, -and, as I toiled on by my little flickering earthen lamp -in my bachelor cell, every one of those traitor coins in -an hour had shed its coating of time and turned out, -under my disgusted fingers, common plebeian metal. -There they lay before me at length, a contemptible -five pence, wherewith to carry on a week’s carousing. -Five pence! Why, it was not enough to toss to a noisy -beggar outside the circus—hardly enough for a drink -of detestable British wine, let alone a draught of the -good Italian vintages that I had lately come to look -upon as my prerogative! Horrible! and as I gazed at -them stolidly, that melancholy evening, the airy castle -of my pleasure crumbled from base to battlement.</p> - -<p>As the result of long cogitation—knowing the measure -of my friends too well to think of borrowing of -them—I finally decided to make a retreat, and leave -my acquaintance my still unblemished reputation in -pawn for the various little items owing by me. Taking -a look round, to assure myself every one in the house -was asleep, I argued that to-night, though a pauper, I -was still of good account, whereas with daylight I -should be a discredited beggar; so that it was, in fact, -a meritorious action to leave my host an old pair of -sandals in lieu of a month’s expenses, and drop -through the little window into the garden, on the -way to the open world once more. Necessity is ever -a sophist.</p> - -<p>It is needless to say the gray dawn was not particularly -cheerful as I sprang into the city fosse and struck -out for the woods beyond. The fortune which makes -a man one day a gentleman of means and the next a -mendicant is more pleasant to hear of when it has -befallen one’s friends than to feel at first hand. It -was only the fear of the detestable city jail, and the -abominable provender there, added to the ridicule of -my friends, perhaps, that sent me, scripless, thus -afield. Gray as the prospect ahead might be, behind -it was black: so I plodded on, with my spear for a -staff and Melancholy for a companion.</p> - -<p>The leafy shades reached in an hour or so invited -rest, and in their seclusion an idle spell was spent -watching, through the green frame of branches, the -fair, careless city below wake to new luxurious life; -watching the blue smoke rise from the temple courtyards, -and the pigeons circling up into the sky, and -the glitter of the sun on the legionaries’ arms as they -wheeled and formed and re-formed in the open ground -beyond the Prefect’s house. Oh, yes! I knew it all! -And how pleasantly the water spluttered in the marble -baths after those dusty exercises; and how heavy -the lightest armor was after such nights as I and -those jolly ones down there were accustomed to spend! -As I, breakfastless, leaned upon the top of my staff, -I recalled the good red wine from my host’s coolest -cellars, and the hot bread from slaves’ ovens in the -street, and how pleasant it was to lie in silk and sandals, -and drink and laugh in the shade, and stare after -the comely British maids, and lay out in those idle -sunny hours the fabrics of fun and mirth.</p> - -<p>On again, and by midday a valley opened before me, -and at the head, a mile or so from the river, was a -very stately white villa. Thither, out of curiosity, my -steps were turned, and I descended upon that lordly -abode by coppices, ferny brakes, and pastures, until -one brambly field alone separated us. An ordinary -being, whom the Fates had not set themselves to -bandy forever in their immortal hands, would have -gone round this enclosure, and so taken the uneventful -pathway, but not so I; I must needs cross the brambles, -and thus bring down fresh ventures on my head. -In the midst of the enclosure was an oak, and under -the oak five or six white cows, with a massive bull of -the fierce old British breed. This animal resented -my trespass, and, shaking his head angrily as I advanced, -he came after me at a trot when half way -across. Now, a good soldier knows when to run, no -less than when to stand, and so my best foot was put -forth in the direction of the house, and I presently -slipped through a hole in the fence directly into the -trim gay garden of the villa itself.</p> - -<p>So hasty was my entry that I nearly ran into a -stately procession approaching down one of the well-kept -terraces intersecting the grounds: a seneschal -and a butler, a gorgeously arrayed mercenary or two, -men and damsels in waiting, all this lordly array attending -a litter borne by two negro slaves, whereon, -with a languidness like that of convalescence, belied, -however, by the bloom of excellent health and the tokens -of robust grace in the every limb, reclined a handsome -Roman lady. There was hardly time to take -all this in at a glance, when the gorgeous attendants -set up a shout of consternation and alarm, and, glancing -over my shoulder to see the cause, there was that -resentful bull bursting the hedge, a scanty twenty -paces away, with vindictive purpose in his widespread -nostrils and angry eyes.</p> - -<p>Down went the seneschal’s staff of office, down went -the base mercenaries’ gilded shields; the butler threw -the dish of grapes he was carrying for his lady’s refreshment -into the bushes; the waiting-maids dropped -their fans, and, shrieking, joined the general rout. -Worse than all, those base villains, the littermen, -slipped their leather straps, and in the general panic -dropped the litter, and left to her fate that mistress -who, with her sandaled feet wrapped in silks and spangled -linens, struggled in vain to rise. There was no -time for fear. I turned, and as the bull came down -upon us two in a snorting avalanche of white hide and -sinew, I gave him the spear, driving it home with all -my strength just in front of the ample shoulder, as he -lowered his head. The strong seven-foot haft of ash, -as thick as a man’s wrist, bent between us like a green -hazel wand, and then burst into splinters right up to -my grasp. The next moment I was hurled backward, -crashing into the flowers and trim parterres as though -it were by the fist of Jove himself I had been struck. -Hardly touching the ground, I was up again, my short -sword drawn, and ready as ever—though the gay -world swam before me—to kill or to be killed.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_062fp" style="max-width: 28em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_062fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>I gave him the spear as he lowered his head</p></div> -</div> - -<p>It was not necessary. There had been few truer or -more forceful spears than mine in the old times; and -there lay the great white monster on his side in a -crimson pool of blood, essaying in vain to lift his head, -and dying in mighty tremors all among the pretty -things the servants had thrown down. The gush of -red blood from his chest was wetting even the silken -fringes of the comely dame’s skirts and wrappings, -while she, now at last on her feet, frowned down on -him, with angry triumph rather than fear in her countenance.</p> - -<p>Though there was hardly a change of color on her -face or a tremor in the voice with which she thanked -me, yet I somehow felt her ladyship was in a fine passion -behind that disdainful mask. But whether it -were so or not, she was civil enough to me, personally -evincing a condescending interest in a trifling wound -that was staining my bare right arm with crimson, -and sending her “good youth” away in a minute or -two to the house to get it bound. As I turned to go, -the stately lady gathered up tunic folds and skirt in -her white fist and moved down upon the group of -trembling servants, who were gathering their wits together -slowly under the nervous encouragement of the -seneschal. What she said to them I know not, but -if ever the countenances of men truly reflected their -sensations, her brief whispers must have been exceedingly -unpleasant to listen to.</p> - -<p>The damsel who bound the scratch upon my shoulder -told me something of this beautiful and wealthy -dame. But, in truth, when she called her Lady Electra, -I needed to hear little more. It was a name that -had circulated freely in the city yonder, and especially -when wine was sparkling best and tongues at -lightest! I knew, without asking, the lady was niece -to an emperor, and was reputed as haughty and cruel -as though she had been one of the worst herself; I -knew her lawful spouse was away, like most Romans, -from his duty just then, and she stood in his place to -tyrannize over the British peasants and sweep the -taxes into his insatiate coffers. I knew, too, why Rome -was forbidden for a time to the vivacious lady, as -well as some stories, best untold, of how she enlivened -the tedium of her exile in these “savage” places.</p> - -<p>In fact, I knew I had fallen into the gilded hold -of a magnificent outlaw, one of the worst productions -of a debased and sinking State, and, being wayward -by predestination, I determined to play with the she-wolf -in her own den.</p> - -<p>No fancy of mine is so rash but that Fate will countersign -it. When Electra sent for me presently in -the great hall, where the fountains played into basins -of rosy marble, it was to inform me that the destruction -of the bull, and my bearing thereat, had caught -her fancy, and I was to “consider myself for the present -in her private service, and attached to the body-guard.” -This decision was announced with an easy -imperialness which seemed to ignore all suggestion -of opposition—a suavity such as Juno might use in -directing the most timorous of servitors—so, as my -wishes ran in unison, I bowed my thanks, and kissed -the fringe of my ladyship’s cloak, and thought, as she -lay there before me on her silken couch in the tessellated -hall of her stately home, that I had never before -seen so beautiful or dangerous-looking a creature.</p> - -<p>Nor had I long to wait for a sight of the Vice-Prefect’s -talons. While she asked me of my history, -the which I made up as I told it (and, having once -balked the truth, never afterward told her the real -facts), a messenger came, and, standing at a respectful -distance, saluted his mistress.</p> - -<p>“Ah!” she said, with a pretty look of interest in -her face, and rising on her elbow, “are they dead?”</p> - -<p>“One is, madam,” the man responded: “one of your -bearers fled, but the other we secured. We took him -into the field and tied him, as your ladyship directed, -to the horns of the strongest white cow. She dragged -him here and there, and gored him for full ten minutes -before he died—and now all that remains of him,” -with a wave of the hand toward the vestibule, “most -respectfully awaits your ladyship’s inspection in the -porch!” And the messenger bowed low.</p> - -<p>“It is well. Fling the dog into a ditch! And, my -friend, let my brave henchmen know if they do not lay -hands on the other villain before sunset to-morrow, -I shall come to them for a substitute.”</p> - -<p>The successful termination of this episode seemed -to relieve my new mistress.</p> - -<p>“Ah! my excellent soldier,” she said, with a pretty -sigh, “you cannot conceive what a vexation my servants -are to me, or how rebellious and unruly! Would -there were but a man here, such as yourself, for instance, -to protect and soften a lonely matron’s exile.”</p> - -<p>This was very flattering to my vanity, more especially -as it was accompanied by a gracious look, with -more of condescension in it than I fancied usually -fell to the lot of those who met her handsome eyes. -In such circumstances, under a lordly roof, and careless -again of to-morrow, a new spell of experience was -commenced in the Roman villa, and I learned much of -the ways of corrupt Roman government and a luxurious -society there which might amuse you were it not -all too long to set down. For a time, when her ladyship -gave, as was her frequent pleasure, gorgeous dinners, -and all the statesmen and soldiers of the neighboring -towns came in to sup with her, I pleaded one -thing and another in excuse for absence from the -places where I must have met many too well known -before. But Electra, as the time went on, was proud -of her handsome, stalwart Centurion, and advanced me -quicker than my modest ambition could demand, -clothed me in the gorgeous livery of her household -troops, raised me to the chief command, and finally, -one evening, sat me at her side on her own silken -couch, before all the lords and senators, and, deriding -their surprise and covert sarcasm, proclaimed me -first favorite there with royal effrontery.</p> - -<p>Did I but say Electra was proud of her new find? -Much better had it been simply so; but she was not -accustomed to moderation in any matters, and perhaps -my cold indifference to her overwhelming attractions, -when all else fawned for an indulgent look, excited -her fiery thirst of dominion. Be this as it may, no -very long time after my arrival it was palpable her -manner was changing; and as the days went by, and -she would have me sit on the tiger-skin at her knee, -a second Antony to this British Cleopatra, telling wonderful -tales of war and woodcraft, I presently found -the unmistakable light of awakening love shining -through her ladyship’s half-shut lids. Many and many -a time, before and since, has that beacon been lit -for me in eyes of every complexion—it makes me -sad to think how well I know that gentle gleam—but -never in all my life did I experience anything like -the concentrated fire that burned silently but more -strongly, day by day, in those black Roman eyes.</p> - -<p>I would not be warned. More; I took a lawless delight -in covertly piling on material and leading that -reckless dame, who had used and spurned a score of -gallant soldiers or great senators, according to her -idle fancy, to pour out her over-ample affection on me, -the penniless adventurer. And, like one who fans a -spark among combustible material, the blaze that resulted -was near my undoing.</p> - -<p>The more dense I was to her increasing love, the -more she suffered. Truly, it was pitiful to see her, -who was so little accustomed to know any other will, -thwarted by so fine an agency—to see her imperialness -strain and fret at the silken meshes of love, and fume -to have me know and answer to her meaning, yet -fear to tell it, and at times be timorous to speak, and -at others start up, palely wrathful, that she could not -order in this case as elsewhere. Indeed, my lady was -in a bad way, and now she would be fierce and sullen, -and anon gracious and melancholy. In the latter mood -she said one day, as I sat by her <i>bisellium</i>:</p> - -<p>“I am ill and pale, my Centurion. I wonder you -have not noticed it.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps, madam,” I said, with the distant respect -that galled her so, “perhaps your ladyship’s supper -last night was over-large and late—and those lampreys, -I warned you against them that third time.”</p> - -<p>“Gross! Material!” exclaimed Electra, frowning -blackly. “Guess again—a finer malady—a subtler -pain.”</p> - -<p>“Then, maybe the valley air affects my lady’s liver, -or rheumatism, perhaps, exacts a penalty for some -twilight rambles.”</p> - -<p>Such banter as this, and more, was all the harder -to bear since she could not revenge it. I was sorry -for the tyrantess, for she was wonderfully attractive -thus pensivewise, and wofully in earnest as she turned -away to the painted walls and sighed to herself.</p> - -<p>“Fie! to be thus withstood by a fameless mercenary. -Why thus must I, unaccustomed, sue this one—the -least worthy of them all—and lavish on his dull -plebeian ears the sighs that many another would give -a province or two to hear?—I, who have slighted the -homage of silk and scarlet, and Imperial purple, even! -Lucullus was not half so dull—or Palladius, or Decius; -and that last of many others, my witty Publius Torquatus, -would have diagnosed my disease and prescribed -for it all in one whisper.”</p> - -<p>Poor lady! It was not within me—though she did -not know it—to hold out for long against the sunshine -and storm of her impetuous nature. Neither her abominable -cruelties nor her reckless rapacity could suffice -to dim her attractions—many a time since, when that -comely personage has been as clearly wiped from the -page of life, as utterly obliterated from the earth as -the very mound of her final resting-place, have I regretted -that she was not born to better days, and then, -perchance, her fine material might have been run into -a nobler mold.</p> - -<p>She was jealous, too; and it came about in this -way. Very soon after I had taken service with her, -whom should I espy, one morning, feeding the golden -pheasants outside the veranda, but my little friend, -Numidea. Often I had thought of that maid, and determined -to discover that “big house” where she had -told me she was bondwoman, and the “great lady” -who sent her tripping long journeys into the town -for the powders and silk stuffs none could better -choose. And now here she was on my path again, a -roofmate by strange chance, with her graceful, tender -figure, and her dainty ways, and that chronic friendly -smile upon her mouth that brought such strange fancies -to my mind every time I looked upon it. Of -course, I befriended the maid as though she were my -own little one, not so many times removed, and equally, -of course, Lady Electra noticed and misread our -friendship. Poor Numidea! She had a hard life before -I came, and a harder, perhaps, afterward. You -compassionate moderns will wonder when I tell you -that Numidea has shown me her white silk shoulders -laced with the red scars of old floggings laid on by -Electra herself, and the blood-spotted dimples here -and there, where that imperious dame had thrust, for -some trivial offense, a golden bodkin from her hair -deep into that innocent flesh. No one knew better -than my noble mistress how to give acute torture -to a slave without depreciating the market price of -her property.</p> - -<p>But when I became of more weight—when, in brief, -my comely tigress was too fast bound to be dangerous—I -spoke up, and Electra grew to be jealous and to -hate the small Christian slave-girl with all the unruly -strength that marked her other passions.</p> - -<p>Thus, one day having discovered Numidea weeping -over a new-made wound, I sought out the offender, -and as she sauntered up and down her tessellated -pavements I shook my fist at her Queenship, and said:</p> - -<p>“By the bright flame of Vesta, Lady Electra, and -by every deity, old or new, in the endless capacity of -the skies, if you get out your abominable flail for that -girl again, or draw but once upon her one of your -accursed bodkins, I will—marry her among the smoking -ruins of this white sty of yours!”</p> - -<p>When I spoke to her thus under the lash of my anger, -she would uprise to the topmost reach of her -height, and thence, frowning down upon me, her shapely -head tossed back, and her draperies falling from her -crossed arms and ample shoulders to the marble floor, -she would regard me with an imperious start that -might have withered an ordinary mortal. So beautiful -and statuesque was her ladyship on these occasions, -towering there in her own white hall like an image of -an offended Juno in the first flush of her queenly wrath, -that even I would involuntarily step back a pace. But -I did not cower or drop my eyes, and when we had -glowered at each other so for a minute or two the -royal instinct within her was no match for traitor -Love. Slowly then the woman would come welling -into her proud face, and the glow of anger gave way -upon her cheeks; her arms dropped by her sides; she -shrank to mortal proportions, and lastly sank on the -ebony and ivory couch in a wild gust of weeping, -wofully asking to know, as I turned upon my heels, -why the slave’s trivial scars were more to me than -the mistress’s tears.</p> - -<p>My Vice-Prefect was avaricious, too. There was -stored in the spacious hollows below her villa I know -not how much bronze and gold squeezed from those -reluctant British hinds whose old-world huts clustered -together in the oak clumps dotting the fertile vales as -far as the eye could see from our roof-ledges on every -hand. Had all the offices of the Imperial Government -been kept as she kept her duties of tax collecting, the -great empire would have been further by many a long -year from its ruin. And the closer Electra made her -accounts, the more deadly became her exactions, the -more angry and rebellious grew the natives around us.</p> - -<p>Already they had heard whispers of how hard barbarians -were pressing upon Rome, day by day they saw -Britain depleted of the stalwart legionaries who had -occupied the land four hundred years, and as phalanx -after phalanx went south through Gaul to protect the -mother city on the Tiber, their demagogues secretly -stirred the people up to ambition and discontent.</p> - -<p>Nor can it be denied the villains had something to -grumble for. Society was dissolute and debased, while -the country was full of those who made the good -Roman name a byword. The British peasant had to -toil and sweat that a hundred tyrants, the rank production -of social decay, might squander and parade -in the luxury and finery his labor purchased. Added -to this, the pressing needs of the Emperor himself demanded -the services of those who had taken upon -themselves for centuries the protection of the country. -As they retired, Northern rovers, at first fitfully, but -afterward with increasing rigor, came down upon the -unguarded coasts, and sailing up the estuaries, harried -the rich English vales on either side, and rioted amid -the accumulated splendor and plenty of the luckless -land to their heart’s content.</p> - -<p>Saddled thus with the weight of luxurious conquerors -who had lost nearly every art but that of extortion, -miserable at home, and devastated from abroad, -who can wonder that the British longed to throw off -the Roman yoke and breathe the fresher air of a wholesome -life again? And as the shadow of the Imperial -wings was withdrawn from them their hopes ripened; -they thought they were strong and ruleworthy. Fatal -mistake! I saw it bud, and I saw it bitterly fruitful!</p> - -<p>If you turn back the pages of history you will find -these hinds did indeed make a stand for a moment, -and when Honorius had withdrawn his last legionaries, -and given the islanders their liberty, for a few -brief years there was a shepherd government here—the -British ruled again in Britain. Then came the -next strong tide of Northern invasion, and another -conquest.</p> - -<p>I well remember how, in the throes of the first great -change that heralded a new era in Britain, the herdsmen -and serfs were crushed between waning Roman -terrors, such as Electra wielded, and the growing horrors -of the Northmen.</p> - -<p>Of these latter I saw something. On one occasion -when the storm was brewing, I was away down in -the coast provinces hunting wolves, and thus by -chance fell in with a “sea king’s” foray and a British -reprisal. On that occasion the spoilers were spoiled, -and we taught the Northern ravishers a lesson which, -had they been more united so that such a blow might -have been better felt by the whole, would have damped -their ardor for a long time. As it was, to rout and destroy -their scattered parties was but like mopping -up the advancing tide of those salt waves that brought -them on us.</p> - -<p>Those down there by the Kentish shore had been -unmolested for some years; they had lived at their -leisure, had got their harvests in, had rebuilt their -villages out in the open, and set up forges, and hammered -spearheads and bosses, rings for the women, of -silver and brass, and chains and furniture for their -horses, of gold; shearing their flocks, and living as -though such things as Norsemen were not—when one -day the infliction came upon them again.</p> - -<p>It was a gusty morning in early summer—I remember -it well—and most of the men were from the villages, -hunting, when away toward the coast went up -to the brightening sky a thin curl of smoke, followed -by another and another. The sight was understood -only too well. Line after line crept up in the silence -of the morning over the green tree tops and against -the gray of the sea, while groups of black figures (flying -villagers we knew them to be) went now and then -over the sky-line of the wolds into the security of the -valleys to right and left. As the wail went up from -the huts where I rested, a mounted chief, his toes in -the iron rings of his stirrups, and his wolf skins flying -from his bare shoulders, came pounding through the -woods with the bad news the raiders were close behind.</p> - -<p>Rapid packing was a great feminine accomplishment -in those days, and, while the women swept their children -and more portable valuables into their clothes -and disappeared into the forest, we sent the quickest-footed -youths that were with us to call back the -hunters, and made our first stand there round the huts -and mounds of the old village of Caen Edron.</p> - -<p>And we kept its thatch and chattels inviolate, for, -by this time, the countryside was all in arms, and, as -the sea was far behind them, the despoilers but showed -themselves on the fringe of the open, exchanged a -javelin or two, and turned.</p> - -<p>Hot on their track that morning of vengeance we -went after them; over the scrubby open ground and -down through the tangles of oak and hazel. We pressed -them back past the charred and smoking remnants of -the villages they had burned, back by the streams that -still ran streaky in quiet places with blood, back down -the red path of ruin and savagery they had trodden, -back by the cruel finger-posts of dead women, back -by the halting places of the ravishers—ever drawing -new recruits and courage, till we outnumbered them -by six to one—and thus we trampled that day on -the heels of those laden pirates from the valley-head -down to the shore.</p> - -<p>It was a time of vengeance, and our women and -children crowded, singing and screaming, after us, -to kill and torture the wounded. Every now and then -those surly spoilers turned, and we fled before them -as the dogs fly from a big boar who goes to bay; but -each time we came on again, and their standing places -by the coverts and under the lichened rocks were littered -with dead, and all bestrewn amid the ferns in -the pink morning light was the glittering spoil they -disgorged. Truly that was an hour of victory, and -the Britons were drunk with success. They followed -like starving wolves after a herd of deer, leaping from -rock to rock, crowding every point of vantage, and -running and yelling through the underwood until -surely the Northmen must have thought the place in -possession of a legion of devils.</p> - -<p>But all this noise was as nothing to the frightful -yell of savage joy which went up from us when we -saw the raiders draw together on the shingle ridge -of the beach, and knew instinctively by their pale, tideward -faces and hesitation, that they were trapped—the -sea was out, and their ships were high and dry!</p> - -<p>Somehow, I scarcely know how it was, when those -men turned grimly and prepared to make their last -stand under their ships, a strange silence fell upon -both bands, and for a minute or two the long, wild -rank of our warriors halted at the bottom of the slope, -every man silent and dumb by a strange accord, while -opposite, against the sky-line, were the mighty Norsemen, -clustered together, and looking down with fierce, -sullen brows, equally silent and expectant, while the -sun glinted on their rustling arms and tall, peaked -casques.</p> - -<p>We stood thus a minute or two, and I heard the -thumpings of my own heart, like an echo of the low -wash of the far-away sea—a plover piping overhead, -and a raven croaking on the distant hills, but not -another sound until—suddenly some British women -who had come red-handed to a mound behind broke -out into a wild war song. Then the spell was loosed, -and we were again at them, sweeping the sea kings -from the ridge into the tangle of long grass and sand -and stunted bushes that led to the shore, and there, -separated, but dying stubbornly, powerless against -our numbers, we pulled them down, and killed them -one by one, lopping their armor from them and stripping -their cloths, till the pleasant lichened valleys of -the seashore wood and the green footways of the moss -were stamped full of crimson puddles and littered -with the naked bodies of those tawny giants.</p> - -<p>The last man to fall was a chief. Twice I had seen -him hard pressed, and had lifted my javelin to slay -him, but a touch of silly compunction had each time -held my hand, and now he stood with his back to his -ship, like some fierce, beautiful thing of the sea. His -plated brass and steel cuirass was hacked and dented, -his white linen hung in shreds about him; his arms -were bare, and blood ran down them, while his long -fair hair lifted to the salt wind that was coming in -freshly with the tide, and the sun shone on his cold -blue eyes, and his polished harness, and his tall and -comely proportions, standing out there against the -dark side of his high-sterned vessel.</p> - -<p>But what cared the Britons for flaxen locks or the -goodliness of a young Thor? He had in his hands -a broken spear, his own sword being snapped in two; -and with this weapon he lay about fiercely every now -and then as the men edged in upon him. Luckless -Viking! there is no retreat or rescue! He was bleeding -heavily, and, even as I watched, his chin sank -upon his chest. At once the Britons ran in upon him, -but the life flared up again, and the gallant robber -crushed in a pair of heads with his stave and sent -the others flying back, still glaring upon the wide -circle of his enemies with death and defiance struggling -for mastery in his eyes in a way wonderful to -behold. Again and again the yellow head of the young -Thor nodded and sank, and again and again he started -up and scowled upon them, as each savage cry of joy, -to see him thus bleeding to death, fell upon his ears. -Presently he wavered for a moment and leaned his -shoulder against the black side of his ship, and his -lids dropped wearily; at once the Britons rushed, and, -when I turned my face there again, they were hacking -and stripping the armor from a mutilated but -still quivering corpse!</p> - -<p>A few such episodes as this repulse of the Northmen, -magnified and circulated with all the lying exaggeration -that a coward race ever wraps about his -feats of arms, made the Britons bold, and their boldness -brings me to the end of my chapter.</p> - -<p>Many a pleasant week and month did I live and -enjoy all the best things life has to give: the master -of my Roman mistress; the foremost spearman where -the boar went to bay among the rocks on the hillside; -the jolliest fellow that was ever invited to a lordly -banquet; the penniless adventurer whose fortune every -one envied—and then fate put me by again, and wiped -my tablets clean for another frolic epoch.</p> - -<p>It came about this way. The British grew more -and more unruly as time went on, and legion after -legion left us. At length, when the last of the Romans -were down to the coast, about to embark, Electra -made up her mind to go, too—and with all her hoards. -But in this latter particular the new authorities in -the neighboring town could not concur, and they sent -two brand-new civilian senators to expostulate and -detain her, the last representative of the old rule. -Electra had those gentlemen stripped in the vestibule, -and flogged within an ace of their lives, and then sent -them home, bound, in a mean country cart.</p> - -<p>All that afternoon we were busy sewing up the gold -and bronze in bags, and by dusk a long train of -mules set out for the coast, in charge of a score of -our mercenaries, who, having served a long apprenticeship -to cruelty and extortion, had more to fear -from the natives than even we. Nor was it too soon. -As the last of the convoy went into the evening darkness, -Electra and I ascended the flat, wide roof of -her home, and there we saw, westward, under the -stormy red of the setting sun, the flashing of arms -and the dust-wreaths against the glow which hung -above the bands of people moving out and bearing -down on us in a mood one well could guess.</p> - -<p>Her ladyship, having safely packed, was disdainful -and angry. Her fine lips curled as she watched the -gray column of citizens swarming out to the assault; -but when her gaze wandered over the fair valleys -she had ruled and bled so long, she was, perhaps, a -little regretful and softened.</p> - -<p>“My good and stalwart Captain,” she said, coming -near to me, “yonder sun, I fear, will never rise again -on a Roman Briton! We must obey the Fates. You -know what I would do, had I the power, to yonder -scum; but, since we must desert this house to them -(as I see too clearly we must), how can we best ensure -the safety of the treasure?”</p> - -<p>We arranged there and then, with small time for -parley, that I should stay with a handful of her mercenaries -and make a stand about the villa, while she, -with the last of her servants, should go on and hurry -up by every means in her power the slow caravan of -her wealth. In truth, my mistress was as brave as -she was overbearing, and but for those endless shining -bags of gold, I do believe she would have stayed -and fought the place with me.</p> - -<p>As it was, she reluctantly consented to the plan, -and bid me adieu (which I returned but coldly), and -came back again for another kiss, and said another -good-by, and hung about me, and enjoined caution, -and held my hands, and looked first into my eyes and -then back into the darkness where the laden mules -were, as much in love as a rustic maid, as anxious as -a usurer, and torn and distracted between these contending -feelings.</p> - -<p>At last she and all the women were gone, whereon -with a lighter mind we set ourselves down to cover -their retreat. Here must it be confessed that for myself -I was ill at ease; treachery lurked within me. -I had grown somewhat weary of her ladyship, nor had -longer a special wish to be dragged in her golden -chains, the restless spirit chance had bred within -moved, and I had determined to see my enamored -Vice-Prefect safe to her ships, and then—if I could—if -I dared—break with her! I well knew the wild -tornado of indignation and love this would call up, -and hence had not confessed my intentions earlier, -but had been cold and distant. The dame, you will -see presently, had been sharper in guessing than I -supposed.</p> - -<p>We made such preparation as we could, with the -small time at our disposal, barricading the white façade -of the villa and closing all approaches. Then -we pulled the winter stacks to pieces in the yard, -making two great mounds of fagots in front of the -porch, pouring oil upon each, and stationing a man -to fire them, by way of torches, at a given signal. My -hope was that, as the wide Roman way ran just below -the villa, the avengers of the Ambassadors would not -think of passing on until they had demolished the -house and us.</p> - -<p>Of the loyalty of the few men with me I had little -fear. They were brave and stubborn, all their pay -was on Electra’s mules, and the British hated them -without compunction. There were in our little company -that black evening, seven wild Welshmen, under -a shaggy-haired, blue-eyed princeling: Gwallon of the -Bow, he called himself—fifteen swarthy Iberians, all -teeth and scimitar—a handful of Belgic mercenaries, -with great double-headed axes—but never a Roman -among them all in this last stand of Roman power in -Britain!</p> - -<p>Was I a Roman, I wondered, as I stood on the terrace, -waiting the onset of the liberated slaves? What -was I? Who was I? How came it that he who was -first in repelling the stalwart Roman adventurers of -endless years before was the last to lift a sword in -their defense? And, more personally, was this night -to be, as it greatly seemed, the last of all my wild -adventures; or had fate infinite others in store for her -bantling?</p> - -<p>You will guess how I wondered and speculated as -my golden Roman armor clanked to my gloomy stride -in Electra’s empty corridors, and the wet, fleecy clouds -drifted fitfully across the face of a broad, full moon, -and a thousand things of love or sorrow crowded on -my busy mind.</p> - -<p>We had not long to wait, however. In an hour the -mob came scuffling round the bend, shouting disorderly, -with innumerable torches borne aloft, and they -set up a yell when they caught sight of our shining -white walls silently agleam in the moonlight.</p> - -<p>There could be no parley with such a leaderless -rush, and we attempted none. Without a thought of -discipline they stormed the pastures and swarmed -into the garden, a motley, angry crowd, armed with -scythes and hooks and axes, and apparently all the -town pressing on behind.</p> - -<p>Well, we fired our fagots, and they gleamed up -fiercely to welcome the scullion levies to their doom. -Never did you see such a ruddy, wild scene—such -a motley parody of noble war! The bright flames -leaped into the tranquil sky in volcanoes of spark and -hissing tongues, the British rushed at us between the -fires like imps of darkness, and we met them face -to face and slew them like the dogs they were. In a -few minutes we were hemmed in the veranda, under -whose columns we had some shelter, and then my -brave Welshmen showed me how they could pull their -long bows, which indeed they did in right good earnest, -until all the trim terraces were littered with -writhing, howling foemen.</p> - -<p>But again they drove us back, this time into the -house, and there we soon had a better light to fight -by, for the sparks had caught the roof, and soon -everything far and near was ablaze. Every man with -me that night fought like a patrician, and Electra’s -walls, with their endless painted garlands of oak and -myrtle, their cooing doves and tender Cupids, were -horribly besmeared and smudged; and her marble pillars -were chipped by flying javelins and gashed by -random axe-strokes.</p> - -<p>Ten times we hurled ourselves upon the invaders -and drove them staggering backward over the slippery -pavements into the passages—sixteen men had -fallen to my own arm alone, and we crammed their -bodies into the doorways for barricade. But it would -not do. The sheer weight of those without made the -men within brave against their will. Nothing availed -the stinging shafts of my Welshmen, the Iberian -scimitars played hopelessly (like summer lightning in -the glare) upon a solid wall of humanity, and the German -axes could make no pathway through that impenetrable -civilian tangle.</p> - -<p>Overhead and among us the smoke curled and -eddied, and the flames behind it made it like a hot -noonday in our fighting-place. And in the wreaths of -that pungent vapor, circling thick and yellow in the -great open-roofed hall of the noble Roman villa, her -ladyship’s statues of faun and satyr still fluted and -grinned imbecilely as though they liked the turmoil. -Niobe wept for new griefs as the marble little ones at -her feet were calcined before her eyes, and the Gorgon -head wore a hundred frightful snakes of flame; -the pale, proud Pallas Athene of the Greeks looked -disdainfully on the dying barbarians at her feet, and -Pan, himself in bronze, leered on us through the reek -until his lower limbs grew white hot—and gave way, -and down he came—whereon a mighty Briton heaved -him up by his head, and with this hissing, glowing flail -carried destruction and confusion among us.</p> - -<p>It was so hot in that flaming marble battle-place -that foreigner and Briton broke off fighting now and -then to kneel together for a moment at the red fountain -basins where the jets still played (for the fugitives -had forgotten to turn them off), and quenched -their thirst in hurried gasps, ere flying again at each -other’s throats, and so wild the confusion and uproar, -and so dense the smoke and flame, so red and slippery -were the pavements, and so thick the dead and -dying, that hardly one could tell which were friends -and which foes.</p> - -<p>For an hour we kept them at bay, and then, when -my arms ached with killing, all of a sudden the face -of a man unknown to me, whom I never had seen before, -shone in the gleam at my shoulder.</p> - -<p>“Phra the Phœnician,” he said, calling me by an -appellation no living man then knew, “I am bidden to -get you hence. Come to the inner doorway—quick!”</p> - -<p>I hardly knew what he meant, but there was that -about him which I could not but obey, so I turned -and followed his retreating figure.</p> - -<p>I ran with him across the courtyard, under the -white marble pillars all aglow, through the silent banquet-hall -that had echoed so often to the haughty -laughter of my mistress, and then when we reached -the cool, damp outer air—like a wreath of mist in -November, like an eddy among the dead leaves—my -guide vanished and left me!</p> - -<p>Angry and surprised, but with no time for wonder, -I turned back.</p> - -<p>Even as I did so there was a mighty crack, a groaning -of a thousand timbers, and there before my very -face, with a resounding roar, Electra’s lordly mansion, -and all the wings, and buttresses, and basements, the -rooms, and colonnades, and corridors of that splendid -home of luxury and power, lurched forward, and -heaved, and collapsed in one mighty red ruin that -tinctured the sky from east to west, and buried alike -in one vast, glowing hecatomb besiegers and besieged!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It had fallen, the last stronghold of Roman authority, -and there was nothing more to defend! I -turned, and took me to the quiet forest pathways, -every nook and bend of which I knew. As I ran, the -sweet, moist air of the evening was like an elixir to -my heated frame; now into the black shadows I -plunged, and anon brushing the silver moonlight dew -from bramble and bracken, while a thousand fancies -of our stubborn fight danced around me.</p> - -<p>In a little time the road went down to a river that -sparkled in flood under the moonbeams. Here the -laden mules had crossed into comparative safety, and -now I had to follow them with a single guide-rope to -feel my way alone across the dangerous ford. I struggled -through the swollen stream safely, though it rose -high above my waist, and then who should loom out -of the dark on the far side but Electra, standing alone -and expectant at the brink.</p> - -<p>Faithful, stately matron! She was so glad to see -me again I was really sorry I did not love her more. -I told her something of the fight, and she a little of -the retreat. Some time before the long train of mules -and slaves had gone on up the steep slowing bank, -and into the coppice beyond, and now I and the Roman -dame lingered a minute or so by the brink of the -turgid stream to see the last flickers of her burning -home. We were on the point of turning; indeed, Lady -Electra seemed anxious to be gone, when, stepping -out of the dark pathway into a patch of moonlight on -the farther shore, a little silver casket in her duteous -hands, and those dainty skirts in which she took so -much pride muddy and soiled, appeared the poor little -slave Numidea.</p> - -<p>She tripped fearfully forth from the shadows and -down to the brink, where the water was swirling -against the stones in an ivory and silver inlay; and -when she saw (not perceiving us in the shadow) that -all the people had gone on and she was deserted to -the tender mercies of the foemen behind, she dropped -her burden, and threw up her white, clasped hands in -the moonlight, and wailed upon us in a way that made -my steel cuirass too small for my swelling heart.</p> - -<p>Surely such a pitiful sight ought to have moved any -one, yet Electra only cursed those nimble feet under -her breath, and from this, though I may do her heavy -injustice, I have since feared she had planned the -desertion and sent the maid back to be killed or taken -on some false errand which for her jealous purpose -was too quickly executed.</p> - -<p>That noble Roman lady pulled me by the hand, and -would have had me leave the girl to her fate, scolding -and entreating; and when I angrily shook myself free, -turning her wild, untutored passions into the channels -of love, told me she had guessed my project of leaving -her “for Numidea,” and clung to me, and endeared me, -and promised me “the tallest porch on Palatina” (as I -threw off my buckler and broadsword to be lighter in -the stream) and “the whitest arms for welcome there -that ever a Roman matron spread” (as I pitched my -gilded helmet into the bushes and strode down to the -torrent), if I would but turn my back once for all upon -my little kinswoman.</p> - -<p>Three times the white arms of that magnificent -wanton closed round me, and three times I wrenched -them apart and hurled her back, three times she came -anew to the struggle, squandering her wild, queenly -love upon me, while, under the white light overhead, -the tears shone in her wonderful upturned eyes like -very diamonds; three times she invoked every deity -in the hierarchy of the southern skies to witness her -perjured love, and cursed, for my sake, all those absent -youths who had fallen before her. Three times -she knelt there on the black and white turf, and -wrung her fair hands and shook out her long, thick -hair, and came imploring and begging down to the -very lapping of the water. And there I stood—for I -too was a Southern, and could be hot and fierce—and -spoke such words as she had never heard before—abused -and scoffed and derided her: laughed at her -sorrow and mocked her grief, and then turned and -plunged into the torrent.</p> - -<p>The ford was not long: in a minute or two I struggled -out on the farther shore, and Numidea, with a -cry of pleasure and trustfulness, came to my dripping -arms.</p> - -<p>The British, hot on the track, were shouting to one -another in the dark pursuit, so the little maid was -picked up securely, and, with her in my left arm upon -my hip, her warm wrists about my neck, and my other -hand on the guide-rope, we went back into the stream -again. By the sacred fane of Vesta, it ran stronger -than a mill sluice, and tugged and worried at my limbs -like the fingers of a fury! I felt the pebbly gravel -sifting and rolling beneath my feet, and the strong -lift of the water, as it swirled, flying by in the moonlight, -hissing and bubbling at my heaving chest in a -way that frightened me—even me. At last, with -every muscle on fire with the strain and turmoil, and -my head giddy with the dancing torrent all about it, -I saw the farther bank loom over us once more, and, -heaving a heavy sigh of fatigue, collected myself for -one more crowning effort.</p> - -<p>But I had forgotten that royal harpy, my mistress; -and, even as I gathered my last strength in the swirl -of the black water below, she sprang to the verge of -the bank overhead, vengeance and hatred flashing in -the eyes that I had left full of gentleness and tears, -and gleaming there in her wrath, her white robes shining -in the moonlight against the ebony setting of the -night, and glowered down upon us.</p> - -<p>“Down with the maid!” she screamed, with all the -tyrant in her voice. “Down with her, Centurion, or -you die together!”</p> - -<p>“Never! never!” I shouted, for my blood was boiling -fiercely, and I could have laughed at a hundred such -as she. But while I shouted my heart sank, for Electra -was terrible to behold—an incarnation of beautiful -cruelty, hot, reckless hatred ruling the features that -had never turned upon me before but in sweetness -and love. For one minute the passion gathered head, -and then, while I stood in the current with dread of -the coming deed, she snatched my own naked sword -from the ground. “Die, then!” she yelled; “and may -a thousand curses weigh down your souls!” As she -said it the blade whirled into the moonlight, descending -on the guide-rope just where it ran taut and hard -over the posts, severing it clean to the last strands -with one blow of those effective white arms, and the -next minute the hempen cord was torn out of my -grasp, and over and over in a drowning, bewildered -cascade of foam we were swept away down the stream.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_086fp" style="max-width: 28em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_086fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>“Die, then!” she yelled; “and may a thousand curses weigh down -your souls!”</p></div> -</div> - -<p>It was the wildest swim that ever a mortal took. -So fiercely did we spin and fly that heaven and earth -seemed mixed together, and the white clouds overhead -were not whiter than the sheets of foam that -ran down seaward with us. I am a good swimmer, -but who could make the bank in such a caldron of -angry waters? and now Numidea was on top, and now -I. It went to my heart to hear the poor little Christian -gasp out on “Good St. Christopher!” and to feel -the flutter of her breast against my leather jerkin, -and then presently I did not feel it at all. Many an -island of wreckage passed us, but none that I could -lay hold on, until presently a mighty log came foaming -down upon us, laboring through that torrent surf like -a full-sailed ship. As it passed I threw an arm over -a strong root, and thus, for an hour, behind that black -midnight javelin we flew downward, I knew not -whither. Then it presently left the strong stream, -and towing me toward a soft alluvial beach, just as -dawn was breaking in the east, deposited me there, -and slowly disappeared again into the void.</p> - -<p>This is all I know of Roman Britain; this is the end -of the chapter.</p> - -<p>As I reeled ashore with my burden some friendly -fisherfolk came forward to help, but I saw them not. -Numidea was dead! my poor little slave-girl—the one -speck of virtue in that tyrant world—and I bent over -her, and shut her kindly eyes, and spread on the sand -her long wet braids, and smoothed the modest white -gown she was so careful of, with a heart that was -heavier than it ever felt yet in storm or battle!</p> - -<p>Then all my grief and exertions came upon me in a -flood, and the last thing I remember was stooping -down in the morning starlight to kiss the fair little -maid upon that pallid face that looked so wan and -strange amid the wild-spread tangles of her twisted -hair.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</h2> -</div> - -<p>When consciousness came to my eyes again, everything -around me was altered and strange. The very -air I drew in with my faint breaths had a taste of the -unknown about it, an impalpable something that was -not before, speaking of change and novelty. As for -surroundings, it was only dimly that any fashioned -themselves before those dull and sleepy eyes of mine -that hesitated, as they drowsily turned about, whether -to pronounce this object and that true material substance, -or still the idle fantasy of dreams.</p> - -<p>As time went on certainty developed out of doubt, -and I found myself speculating on as strangely furnished -a chamber as any one was ever in. All round -the wall hung the implements of many occupations in -bunches and knots. Here the rude tools of husbandry -were laid aside, the mattock and the flail; the woodman’s -axe and the neatherd’s goad, just as though they -had been suspended on the wall by some invisible -laborer after a good day’s work. Yonder were a sheaf -of arrows and a stout bow strangely shaped, a hunting -horn, and there again a long withy peeled for fishing, -and a broad, rusty iron sword (that truly looked as -if it had not been used for some time) over against a -leash for dogs, and a herdsman’s cowl, with other -strange things festooning the walls of this dim little -place.</p> - -<p>Among these possessions of some many-minded men -were shelves I noted with clay vessels of sorts upon -them, and bunches of dried herbs and roots and apples -put by for the winter, and, more curious still, in the -safest niche away in the quietest corner were stored -up in many tiers more than a score of vellums and -manuscripts, all neatly rolled and tagged with colored -ribbons, and wound in parchments and embroidered -gold and colored leathers, forming such a library of -learning as only the very studious could possess in -those days. Beyond them were flasks and essences, -and dried herbs, and ink-horns, and sheafs of uncut -reeds for writing, with such other various items as -astonished me by their incongruous complexity and -novelty.</p> - -<p>All these lay in the shadows most commendable to -my weakly eyes. As for the center of the room, I now -began to notice it was a brilliant golden haze, a nebulous -cloud of yellow light, to my enfeebled sense -without form or meaning, whence emerged constantly -a thin metallic hammering, as though it might be some -kindly invisible spirit were forging a golden idea into -a human hope behind that shining veil.</p> - -<p>I shut my eyes for a minute or two to rest them, -and then looked again. The haze had now concentrated -itself into a circle of light, radiating, as I perceived, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span>from a lamp hung from the low roof, and under that -pale, modest radiance, seated at a trestle table, was -a venerable white-bearded old man. Never, so far, -perhaps, in long centuries of intercourse with brave -but licentious peoples, had a face like his been before -me. It was restful to look at, a new page in history -it seemed, full of a peace which had hitherto passed -all understanding and a dignity beyond description -or definition. Before him, on the board, was a brilliant -mass of shining white metal, and, as he eagerly -bent over it, absorbed in his work, his thin and -scholarly hands, wielding a chisel and a mallet and -obeying the art that was in his soul, caused the -rhythmed hammering I had noticed, while they forced -with loving zeal the bright chips and spiral flakes -from the splendid dazzling crucifix he was shaping.</p> - -<p>And all behind that lean and kindly anchorite the -black shadows flickered on the walls of his lonely cell, -and his little fire of sticks burned dimly on the open -hearth, and the shining dust of his labor sparkled in -his grizzly beard as brightly as the reverent pleasure -in his eyes while the symbol before him took form and -shape.</p> - -<p>So pleasant was he to look upon, I could have left -him long undisturbed, but presently a sigh involuntarily -escaped me. Thereon, looking up for the first -time from his work, the recluse peered all round him -into the recesses, and, seeing nothing, fell to his task -once more. Again I sighed, and then he arose without -emotion or fear, and stared intently into the -shadows where I lay. In vain I essayed to speak—my -tongue clove to my mouth, and naught but a husky -rattle broke the stillness. At that sound he took down -the lamp and came forward, wonder and astonishment -working in his face; and when, as the light shone on -me, with a great effort my head was turned to one -side, even that placid monk started back and stood -trembling a little by the table.</p> - -<p>But he soon mastered his weakness and advanced -again, muttering, as he did so, excitedly to himself, -“He was right! He was right!” And when at last -my tongue was loosened I said:</p> - -<p>“Who was right, thou gray-bearded chiseler?”</p> - -<p>“Who? Why, Alfred. Alfred, the son of Ethelwulf, -the son of Egbert—Alfred the great Thane of -England!”</p> - -<p>“One of your British Princelings, I suppose,” I muttered -huskily. “And wherein was he so right?”</p> - -<p>“He was right, O marvelous returner from the dim -seas of the past, in that he prophesied your return! -To him you owe this shelter and preservation.”</p> - -<p>“All this may be so, my host,” I replied, beginning -to feel more myself again; “but it matters not. I -fought a stubborn fight last night, and I was carried -away by a midnight torrent. If you have sheltered -and dried me, and”—with a sudden sinking of my -voice—“if you have protected the little maid I had -with me, then I am grateful to you, Alfred or no -Alfred,” and I threw off a mountain of moldy-seeming -rags and coverlets, and staggered up.</p> - -<p>But that worthy monk was absolutely dumb with -astonishment, and as I tottered to my feet, holding -out to him a gaunt, trembling hand, brown with the -dust of ages, and drunkenly reeled across his floor, -he edged away, while the long hair of his silvery head -bristled with wonder.</p> - -<p>“My son, my son!” he gasped at length, over the shining -crucifix; “this is not so; none of us know the beginning -of that sleep you have slept; that night of -yours is of immeasurable antiquity. History has forgotten -your very battles, and your maid, I fear, has -long since passed into common, immaterial dust.”</p> - -<p>This was too much, and suddenly, overwhelmed by -the tide of hot Phœnician passion, I shook my fist in -his face, and swearing in my bitter Roman that he -lied, that he was a grizzle-bearded villain with a heart -as black as his tongue, I staggered to the doorway, -and pushing wide the hinges tottered out on to a -grassy promontory just as the primrose flush of day -was breaking over the hilltops. There, holding on to -a post, for my legs were very weak and frail, and -peering into the purple shadows, I lifted my voice in -anger and fear, and shouted in that green loneliness, -“Numidea! Numidea!” then waited with a beating, -beating heart until—thin, sullen, derisive—from the -hills across the ravine came back the soulless response:</p> - -<p>“Numidea! Numidea!”</p> - -<p>I could not believe it. I would not think they -could not hear, and stamping in my impatience, “Electra!” -I shouted, “Numidea! ’tis Phra—Phra the friendless -who calls to you!” then again bent an ear to -listen, until, from the void shadows of the purple hills, -through the pale vapors of the morning mist, there -came again in melancholy-wise the answer:</p> - -<p>“’Tis Phra, Phra the friendless who calls to you!”—and -I dropped my face into my hands and bent my -head and dimly knew then that I was jettisoned once -more on the shore of some unknown and distant time!</p> - -<p>It was of no use to grieve; and when the kindly hand -of the monk was placed upon my shoulder I submitted -to his will, and was led back to the cell, and there he -gave me to drink of a sweet, thin decoction that -greatly soothed these high-strung nerves.</p> - -<p>Then many were the questions that studious man -would have me answer, and busy his wonder and awe -at my assertions.</p> - -<p>“What Emperor rules here now?” I said, lying melancholy -on my elbow on the couch.</p> - -<p>“None, my son. There are no Emperors but the -Sovereign Pontiff now—may St. Peter be his guide!”</p> - -<p>“No Emperor! Why, old man, Honorius held sway -in Rome that night I went to sleep!”</p> - -<p>“Honorius!” said the monk, incredulously stopping -his excited pacings to stare at me; and he took down -a portly tome of history and ran his fingers over the -leaves, until, about midway through that volume, they -settled on a passage.</p> - -<p>“Look! look! you marvelous man!” he cried; “all -this was history before you slumbered; and all this, -nigh as much again, has been added while you slept! -Five hundred years of solid life!—a thousand changing -seasons has the germ of existence been dormant in -that mighty bulk of yours! Oh! ’tis past belief, and -had you not been my lodger for so long a time, though -all so short in comparison, I would not hear of it.”</p> - -<p>“And how has the world spun all this period?” I -said, with dense persistence. “Who is Consul now in -Gaul? And are all my jolly friends of the Tenth -Legion still quartered where I left them?”—and I -mentioned the name of the town by which Electra -lived.</p> - -<p>“I tell thee, youth,” the priest replied quite hotly, -“there is no Consul, there are no legions. All your -barbarous Romans are long since swept to hell, and -the noble Harold is here anointed King of Saxon England.”</p> - -<p>“I never heard of him,” I said coldly.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps not, but, by the cowl of St. Dunstan! he -flourishes nevertheless,” responded my saintly entertainer.</p> - -<p>“And is this Harold of yours successor to the other -Thane, Alfred, whom you describe as taking such a -kindly interest in me?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; but many generations separate them. It was -the great Bretwalda you have mentioned who, tradition -says, once found you inanimate, yet living, in a -fisherman’s hut where he sheltered one day from a -storm, and, struck by the marvel and the tale of the -poor folk that their ancestors had long ago dragged -you from a swollen river in their nets, and that you -slumbered on without alteration or change from year -to year, from father to son, there on your dusty shelf -in their peat smoke and broken gear, he bought and -gave you to the holy Prelate at the blessed Cathedral -of Canterbury, whence you came a few months ago -into my hands. All else there is to know, my strangely -gifted son,” the monk went on, “is locked in the darkness -of that long slumber, and such acts of your other -life as your vacant mind may recall.”</p> - -<p>This seemed a wonderful thing, very briefly told, -but it was obviously all there was to hear, and sufficient -after a style. The old man said that, having a -mind for curiosities, and observing me once in danger -of being broken up as rubbish by careless hands, he -had claimed me, and brought the strange living -mummy here to his cell “on the hill Senlac, by the -narrow English straits.”</p> - -<p>“That, inscrutable one,” he added with a twinkle in -his eye, “was only some months ago, and the mess I -made my hut in cleaning and wiping you down was -wonderful. Yonder little stream you hear prattling -in the valley ran dusty for hours with your washings, -and your form was one shapeless bulk of cobwebs and -dishonored wrappings. Many a time as I peeled from -you the alternate layers of peat smoke and rags with -which generations of neglect had shrouded that body, -did I think to roll you into the valley as you were, and -see what proportions the weather and the crows would -make of it. But better counsels prevailed, and for -seven days you have been free and daily rubbed with -scented oils!”</p> - -<p>I thanked him meetly, and hoped I had not been a -reluctant patient?</p> - -<p>“A more docile never breathed.”</p> - -<p>“Not an expensive lodger afterward?”</p> - -<p>“Never was there one more frugal, nor one who less -criticized his entertainment!”</p> - -<p>Then it was the good monk’s turn, and his wise and -kindly eyes sparkled with pleasure and astonishment -as I told him in gratitude such tales of the early times—drew -for him such brilliant, fiery pictures on the -dark background of the past—illumined and vivified -his dry histories with the colors of my awakening -memory, and set all the withered puppets of his chronicles -a-dancing in the tinsel and the glitter of their -actual lives; until, over the lintel of his doorway and -under the lappets of his roof, there came the first thin, -fine fingers of the morning sunshine, trickling into our -dim arena thronged thus with shadowy imagery, and -playing lovingly, about the great silver crucifix that -lay thus ablaze under it in the gloom! Then I slept -again for two days and two nights as lightly and happily -as a child.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>When I awoke I was both hungry and well. Indeed, -it was the scent of breakfast that roused me. -But, alas! the meal was none of mine. The little -table had been cleared, and at it, on clean white napkins, -were places for three or four people. There were -wooden platters with steel knives upon them, oaten -loaves, great wooden tankards of wine and mead, with -fish and fowl flesh in abundance. Surely my entertainer -was going to turn out a jolly fellow, now the -night’s vigils were over! But as I speculated in my -retired couch there fell the beat of marching men, a -clatter of arms outside and a shouting of many voices -in clamorous welcome, the ringing of stirrup-irons -and the champing of bits, and then, to my infinite -astonishment, in stalked as comely a man as I had ever -seen, and leading by the hand a fair, pale, black-haired -girl, who looked jaded and red in her eyes.</p> - -<p>“There, my Adeliza,” he said; “now dry those lashes -of yours and cheer up. What! A Norman girl like -you, and weeping because two hosts stand faced for -battle! What will our Saxon maids say to these shining -drops?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Harold!” the girl exclaimed, “it is not conflict -I fear, or I would not have come hither to you, braving -your anger; but think of the luckless chance that -brings my father from Normandy in arms against my -Saxon love! Think of my fears, think how I dread -that either side should win—surely grief so complicated -should claim pardon for these simple tears.”</p> - -<p>“Well, well,” said he—whom I, unobserved in the -shadows, now recognized as the English monarch himself—“if -we are bound to die, we can do so but once, -and at least we will breakfast first,” and down he sat, -signing the girl to get herself another stool in rough -Saxon manner.</p> - -<p>And a very good meal he made of it, putting away -the toasted ortolans and cheese, and waging war with -his fingers and dagger upon all the viands, washing -them down with constant mighty draughts from the -wooden flagons, and this all in a jolly, light-hearted -way that was very captivating. Ever and anon he -called to the “churls” outside, or gave a hasty order -to his captains with his mouth full of meat and bread, -or put some dainty morsel into the idle fingers of his -damsel, as though breakfasting was the chief thing -in life, and his kingdom were not tottering to the -martial tread of an invader.</p> - -<p>But even gallant Harold, the last King of the -Saxons, had finished presently, and then donning his -pointed casque and his flowing silken-filigreed cloak, -thrusting his whinger into his jeweled girdle, he threw -his round steel target on his back—then held out both -his arms. Whether or not his Norman love, the reluctant -seal of a broken promise, had always loved -him, it is not for me to say, but, woman-like, she loved -him at the losing, and flew to him and was enfolded -tight into his ample chest, and mixed her raven tresses -with his yellow English hair, and sobbed and clung -to him, and took and gave a hundred kisses, and was -so sweet and tearful that my inmost heart was moved.</p> - -<p>When Harold had gone out, and when presently the -clatter of arms and shouting proved he was moving -off to the field of eventful battle, Adeliza the proud -bowed her head upon the table, and abandoned herself -to so wild a grief that I was greatly impelled to -rise and comfort her. But she would not be consoled, -even by the ministrations of two of her waiting -maidens, who soon entered the place; and seeing this -I took an opportunity when all three were blending -their tears to slip out into the open air.</p> - -<p>There I found my friendly Saxon monk in great -tribulation, with a fragment of vellum in his hand.</p> - -<p>“Ah, my son,” he said—“the very man. Look here, -the air is heavy with event. Yonder, under the sheen -of the sun, William of Normandy is encamped with -sixty thousand of his cruel adventurers, and there, -down there among the trees, you see the gallant Harold -and his straggling array, sorry and muddy with -long marching, on the way to oppose them. But the -King has not half his force with him, nor a fourth as -many as he needs! Take this vellum, and, if you ever -put a buskin in speed to the grass, run now for the -credit of England and for the sake of history—run -for that ridge away there behind us, where you will -find the good Earl of Mercia and several thousand -men encamped—and, if not asleep, most probably -stuffing themselves with food and drink,” he added -bitterly under his breath. “Give him this, and say -Harold will not be persuaded, say that unless the -reserves march at once the fight will be fought without -them—and then I think Dane and Saxon will be -chaff before the wind of retribution. Run! my son—run -for the good cause, and for Saxon England!”</p> - -<p>Without a word I took the vellum and crammed it -into my bosom and spun round on my heels and fled -down the hillside, and breasted the dewy tangles of -fern and brambles, and glided through the thickets, -and flying from ridge to ridge, and leaping and running -as though the silver wings of Mercury were on -my heels, in an hour I dashed up the far hillside, and, -panting and exhausted, threw down the missive under -the tawny beard of the great Earl himself.</p> - -<p>That scion of Saxon royalty was, as the monk had -foreseen, absorbed in the first meal of the day, but -he was too much of a soldier, though, like all his race, -a desperate good trencherman, to let such a matter -as my errand grow cold, and no sooner had he read -the scroll and put me a shrewd question or two than -the order went forth for his detachments to arm and -march at once. But only a captain of many fights -knows how slow reluctant troops can be in such case. -Surely, I thought, as I stood by with crossed arms -watching the preparations it was none of my business -to help—surely a nation, though gallant enough, -which quits its breakfast board so tardily, and takes -such a perilous time to cross-garter its legs, and -buckle on its blades, and peak its beard, and tag out -its baldric so nicely, when the invader is on foot—surely -such a nation is ripe to the fall! And these -comely English troops were doubly weary this morning, -for they were fresh, as one of them told me, from -a hard fight in the far north of the kingdom, where -Harold had just overthrown and slain Hardrada, King -of Norway, and the unduteous Tosti, Harold’s own -brother. Less wonder, then, I found them travel-stained -and weary, no marvel for the once they were -so slow to my fatal invitation.</p> - -<p>It was noon before the English Earl led off the van -of his men, and an hour later before I had seen the last -of them out of the camp and followed reflective in the -rear—a place that never yet sorted with my mood—wondering, -with the happy impartiality of my circumstances, -whether it were best this morning to be invader -or invaded.</p> - -<p>When we had gone a mile or two through the leafy -tangles, a hush fell upon the troop with which I rode, -and then with a shout we burst into a run, for up -from the valley beyond came the unmistakable sound -of conflict and turmoil. We breasted the last ridge, I -and two hundred men, and there, suddenly emerging -into the open, was the bloody valley of Senlac beneath -us, and the sunny autumn sea beyond, and at our -feet right and left the wail and glitter and dust of -nearly finished battle—Harold had fought without us, -and we saw the quick-coming forfeit he had to pay.</p> - -<p>The unhappy Saxons down there on the pleasant -grassy undulations and among the yellow gorse and -ling stood to it like warriors of good mettle, but -already the day was lost. The Earl and his tardy -troops had been merged into the general catastrophe, -and my handful would have been of naught avail. -The English array was broken and formless, galled by -the swarming Norman bowmen, the twang of whose -strings we could mark even up here, and fiercely assailed -by foot and horsemen. In the center alone the -English stood stubbornly shoulder to shoulder around -the peaked flag, at whose foot Harold himself was -grimly repelling the ceaseless onset of the foeman.</p> - -<p>But alas for Harold, alas for the curly-headed son -of Ethelwulf, and all the Princes and Peers with him!</p> - -<p>We saw a mighty mass of foreign cavalry creeping -round the shoulder of the hill, like the shadow of a -raincloud upon a sunny landscape: we saw the thousand -gonfalons of the spoilers fluttering in the wind: -we saw the glitter on the great throng of northern -chivalry that crowded after the black charger of William -of Normandy and the sacred flag—accursed ensign—that -Toustain held aloft: we saw their sweeping -charge, and then when it was passed, the battle was -gone and done, the Saxon power was a hundred little -groups dying bravely in different corners of the field.</p> - -<p>The men with me that luckless afternoon melted -away into the woods, and I turned my steps once more -to the little hill above Senlac and my hermit’s cell.</p> - -<p>There the ill news had been brought by a wounded -soldier, and the women were filling the evening air -with cries and weeping. All that night they wept -and wailed, Harold’s wife leading them, and when -dawning came nothing would serve but she must go -and find her husband’s body. Much the good monk -tried to dissuade her, but to no purpose, and swathing -herself in a man’s long cloak, with one fair maiden -likewise disguised, and me for a guide, before there -was yet any light in the sky the brave Norman girl -set out.</p> - -<p>And sorry was our errand and grim our success. -The field of battle was deserted, save of dead and -dying men. On the dark wind of the night went up -to heaven from it a great fitful groan, as all the -wounded groaned in unison to their unseen miseries. -Alas! those tender charges of mine had never seen -till now the harvest field of war laid out with its -swaths of dead and dying! Often they hesitated on -that gloomy walk and hid their faces as the fitful -clouds drifted over the scene, and the changing light -and shadows seemed to put a struggling ghastly life -into the heaps of mangled corpses. Everywhere, as -we threaded the mazes of destruction or stepped unwitting -in the darkness into pools of blood and mire, -were dead warriors in every shape and contortion, -lying all asprawl, or piled up one on top of another, -or sleeping pleasantly in dreamless dissolution against -the red sides of stricken horses. And many were the -pale, blood-besmeared faces of Princes and chiefs my -white-faced ladies turned up to the starlight, and -many were the sodden yellow curls they lifted with -icy fingers from the dead faces of thanes and franklins, -until in an hour the Norman girl, who had gone -a little apart from us, suddenly stood still, and then -up to the clear, black vault of heaven there went such -a clear, piercing shriek as hushed even the very midnight -sorrows of the battlefield itself.</p> - -<p>The King was found!</p> - -<p>And Editha, the handmaiden, too, made her find -presently, for there, over the dead Prince’s feet, their -left hands still clasping each as when they had died, -were her father and her two stalwart brothers.</p> - -<p>Never did silenter courtiers than we six sit at a -monarch’s feet until the day should break; and then -we who lived covered the comely faces with the hems -of their Saxon tunics, and were away as fast as we -could go to the Norman camp, that the poor Princess-girl -might beg a trophy of her victorious father.</p> - -<p>We entered the camp without harm, but had to -stand by until the Conqueror should leave his tent -and enter the rough shelter that had already been -erected for him. Here, while we waited, a young -knight, guessing Editha’s sex through her long cloak, -roughly pulled down the kerchief she was holding -across her face. Whereupon I struck him so heavily -with my fist that, for a minute, he reeled back against -the horse he was leading, and then out came his -falchion, and out came mine, and we fell upon each -other most heartily.</p> - -<p>But before a dozen passes had been made the bystanders -separated us, and at the same moment the -Normans set up a shout, and the brand-new English -tyrant strode out of his tent, and, encircled by a glittering -throng, entered the open audience-hall. Adeliza -dropped her white veil as he sat himself down, and -called to him, and ran to the foot of his chair, and -wept and knelt, so that even the stern son of Robert -the Devil was moved, and took her to him, and stroked -her hair, and soothed and called her, in Norman-French, -his pretty daughter, and promised her the -first boon she could think of.</p> - -<p>And that boon was the body of Harold <i>Infelix</i>.</p> - -<p>Turn back the pages of history, and you will see -that she had her wish, and Waltham Abbey its kingly -patron.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> Exact historians say it was Harold’s mother who found his body upon -the field of battle, and offered William its weight in gold for it. But our -narrator ought to know the truth better than any of them.</p> - -</div> - -<p>Meanwhile, a knight led the weeping Princess away -to her father’s tent, but when I and Editha would -have followed two iron-coated rogues crossed their -halberds in our path.</p> - -<p>“Not so fast there, my bulky champion!” called -William the Bastard to me. “What is this I heard -about your striking a Norman for glancing at yonder -silly Saxon wench? By St. Denis! your girls will -have to learn to be more lenient! Whence come you? -What was your father’s name?”</p> - -<p>“I hardly know,” I said, without thinking.</p> - -<p>“Ah! a too common ignorance nowadays!” sneered -the Conqueror, turning to his laughing knights.</p> - -<p>Whereon wrathfully I replied: “At least, my father -never mistook, under cover of the night, a serving-wench -for a Princess!”</p> - -<p>The shaft took the soldier in a very tender spot, and -his naturally sallow countenance blanched slowly to -a hideous yellow as a smile went round the steel circle -of his martial courtiers at my too telling answer. Yet -even then I could not but do his iron will justice for -the stern resolution with which the passion was restrained -in that cold and cruel face, and when he -turned and spoke in the ear of his marshal standing -near there was no tremor of anger or compassion in -the inflexible voice with which he ordered me to be -taken outside and hanged “to the nearest tree that -will bear him” in ten minutes.</p> - -<p>“As for the Saxon wench——Here, Des Ormeux”—turning -to a grim villain in steel harness at his side—“this -girl has a good fief, they say: she and it are -yours for the asking!”</p> - -<p>“My mighty liege,” said the Norman, dropping on -one knee, “never was a gift more generously given. I -will hold the land to your eternal service, and make -the maid free of my tent to-day, and to-morrow we will -look up a priest for the easing of her conscience.”</p> - -<p>Loudly the assembled soldiers laughed as Des -Ormeux pounced upon the shrieking Editha and bore -her out of one door, while, in spite of my fierce struggles -to get at him, I was hustled into the open from -another.</p> - -<p>They dragged me into a green avenue between the -huts of the invader’s camp while they went for a rope -to hang me with. And as I stood thus loosely guarded -and waiting among them, down the Norman ravisher -came pacing toward us on his war-horse, bound -toward his tent, with my white Saxon flower fast -gripped in front of him.</p> - -<p>Oh, but he was proud to think himself possessed of -a slice of fair English soil so easily, and to have his -courtship made so simple for him, and he looked this -way and that, with an accursed grin upon his face, -no more heeding the tears and struggles of his victim -than the falcon cares for the stricken pigeon’s throes. -When they came opposite to us Editha saw me and -threw out her hands and shrieked to me, and, when I -turned away my eyes and did not move, surely it -seemed as though her heart would have broken.</p> - -<p>Three more paces the war-horse made, and then, -with the spring of a leopard thirsting for blood, I was -alongside of him, another bound and I was on the -crupper behind, and there, quicker than thought, -quicker than the lightning strikes down the pine-tree, -I had lifted the Norman’s steel shoulder-plate, and -stabbed him with my long, keen dagger so fiercely in -the back that the point came out under his mid-rib, -and the red blood spurted to his horse’s ears. Quicker, -too, than it takes to tell I had gripped the maiden -from the spoiler’s dying hands, and, pushing his -bloody body from the saddle, had thrown my own legs -over the crescent peak, and before the gaping scullion -soldiers comprehended my bold stroke for freedom I -had turned the horse’s head and was thundering -through the camp toward the free green woods beyond.</p> - -<p>And we reached them safely; a rascal or two let fly -their cross-bows at us as we fled by, and I heard the -bolts hum merrily past my ears, but they did no harm; -and there was mounting and galloping and shouting, -but the mailed Normans were wonderfully slow in -their stirrups! I laughed to see them scrambling and -struggling into their seats, two or three men to every -warrior who got safely up, and we soon left them far -behind. Down into the dip we rode, my good horse -spurning in his stride the still fresh bodies of yesterday’s -fighters, and spinning the empty helmets, and -clattering through all the broken litter of the bitter -contest, until we swept up the inland slopes into the -stunted birch and hazels, and then—turning for a -moment to shake my fist at the nearest of the distant -Normans—I headed into the leafy shelter, and was -speedily free from all chance of pursuit.</p> - -<p>Then, and not before, was there time to take a -glance at my beautiful prize, lying so gentle and light -upon my breast. Alas! every tint of color had gone -from her fair features, and she lay there in my arms, -fainting and pulseless. I loosened her neckscarf. “So!” -I said, “fair Saxon blossom, this is destiny, and you -and I are henceforth to be joined together by the -wondrous links of fate”—and, stooping down as we -paced through the pleasant green and white flicker of -the silent wood, I endorsed the immutable will of -chance with a kiss upon her forehead.</p> - -<p>Presently she recovered, and all that day we rode -forward through the endless vistas of the southern -woods by bridle tracks and swine paths, until at nightfall, -far from other shelters, we halted among the -rocks and hollows of a little eminence. No doubt my -gentle comrade would have preferred a more peopled -habitation, but there was none in all that mighty wilderness, -so she, like a wise girl, submitted without -complaint to that which she could not avoid.</p> - -<p>There was naught much to tell you of this evening, -but it lives forever in my memory for one particular -which consorted strangely with the thoughts the flight -with and rescue of Editha had aroused. I had found -her a roomy hollow in the rocks, and there had cut -with my dagger and made a bed of rushes, built a fire, -and got her some roots to eat, and when darkness fell -we talked for a time by the cheerful blaze.</p> - -<p>Without surprise I heard that though true Saxon -in name and face, there was some British blood in her -veins—a fact, indeed, of which I had been certain -without her assurance. Then she went on to tell, -with tearful pauses, of the home and broad lands of -which she was now lady paramount, as well as of the -gallant kinsman lying out yonder dead in the night -dew, and wept and sighed in gentle melancholy, yet -without the wild, inconsolable grief latter times have -taught to women, until presently those tearful blue -eyes grew heavier and heavier, and the shapely chin -dropped in grief and weariness upon her white breast, -and Editha of Voewood slept in the hands of the -stranger.</p> - -<p>Then I went out and looked at the blackness of the -night. Over the somber forest the shadowy pall of -the evening was spread, and a thousand stars gleamed -brightly on every hand. Very still and strange was -that unbroken fastness after the red turmoil of yesterday, -with nothing disturbing the silence but the cry of -an owl to its mate across the coppices, the tinkle of -a falling streamlet, and now and then the long, hungry -howling of a wolf, or, nearer by, the sharp barking -of the foxes. I fed my horse, then went in and pulled -the fire together, and fell a-ruminating, my chin on -my hands, upon a hundred episodes of happiness and -fear.</p> - -<p>“Oh, strange eternal powers who set the goings and -comings of humanity, what is the meaning of this -wild riddle you are reading me?” I said presently -aloud to myself. “Oh! Hapi and Amenti, dark goddesses -of the Egyptians—oh! Atropos, Lachesis, -Clotho, fatal sisters whom the Romans dread—Mista, -Skogula, Zernebock, of these dark Saxon shadows—why -am I thus chosen for this uncertain immortality, -when will this long drama, this changeful history of -my being, end?”</p> - -<p>As I muttered thus to myself I glanced at the white -girl sleeping in the ruddy blaze, and saw her chest -heave, and then—strange to tell, stranger to hear—with -a sound like the whisper of a distant sea her lips -parted, and there came unmistakably the word:</p> - -<p>“Never!”</p> - -<p>Perhaps she was but dreaming of that amorous -Norman’s fierce proposals, and so again I mused.</p> - -<p>“Is it possible some unfinished spell of that red high -priestess of the Druids plays this sport with me? Is -it possible Blodwen’s abiding affection—stronger than -time and changes—accompanies me from age to age -in these her sweet ambassadors forever crossing my -path? Tell me, you comely sleeper, tell me your embassy, -which is it that lasts longest, life or love?”</p> - -<p>Slowly again, to my surprise, those lips were parted, -and across the silent cavern came, beyond mistake or -question, the word—“Love!”</p> - -<p>At this very echo of my thoughts I stared hard at -her who answered so appropriately, but there could -be no doubt Editha was asleep with an unusually deep -and perfect forgetfulness, and when I had assured -myself of this it was only possible for me to suppose -those whispered words were some delusion, the echo -of my questioning.</p> - -<p>Again I brooded, and then presently looked up, and -there—by Thor and Odin! ’twas as I write it—between -me and the bare earth and tangled rootlets of the -cavern side, over against the fitful sparkle of the fire, -was a thin impalpable form that oscillated gently to -the draughts creeping along the floor, and grew taller -and taller, and took mortal air and shape, and rose -out of nebulous indistinctness into a fine ethereal substance, -and was clothed and visaged by the concentration -of its impalpable material, and there at last, smiling -and gentle, in the flicker of the camp-fire, the gray -shadow of my British Princess stood before me!</p> - -<p>That man was never brave who has not feared, and -then for a moment I feared, leaping to my feet and -staggering back against the wall under the terrible -sweetness of those eyes that burned into my being with -a relentless fire that I could not have shunned if I -would, and would not if I could. For some time I -was thus motionless and fascinated, and then the gentle -shadow, who had been regarding me intently, appeared -to perceive the cause of my enthrallment, and -lifting a shapely arm of lavender-colored essence for -a minute veiled the terrible bewitchment of her face. -Shrewd, observant shadow! As she did so I was -myself again—my blood welled into my empty veins, -my heart knocked fiercely at my ribs, and when Blodwen -lowered her hand there seemed to me endless -enchantment but nothing dreadful in the glance of -kindly wonder with which her eyes met mine.</p> - -<p>Surely it was as strange an encounter as ever there -had been—the little rocky recess all ruddy and -shadowy in the dancing flames; the silent white Saxon -girl there on the heaped-up rushes, her breast heaving -like a summer sea with a long, smooth undulation; -and I against the stones, one hand on my dagger and -the other outspread fearful on the wall, scarce knowing -whether I were brave or not, while over against -the eddying smoke—calm, passive, happy, immutable, -was that winsome presence, shining in our dusky -shelter with a tender violet light, such as was never -kindled by mortal means.</p> - -<p>When I found voice to speak I poured forth my -longings and pent-up spirit in many a reckless question, -but to all of them the Princess made no answer. -Then I spread my arms and thought to grasp her, and -ever as they nearly closed upon her she moved backward, -now here and now there, mocking my foolish -hope and passing impalpable over the floor, always -gentle and compassionate, until the uselessness of the -pursuit at last dawned upon me, and I stood irresolute.</p> - -<p>I little doubt that immaterial immortal would have -mustered courage or strength to speak to me presently, -but the sleeping girl sighed heavily at this -moment and seemed so ill at ease that, without a -thought, I turned to look at her. When my eyes -sought the opposite side of the fire again the presence -was not half herself: under my very glance she was -being absorbed once more by the dusky air. To let -her go like that was all against my will, and, leaping -to those printless feet, “Princess! Wife!” I called, -“stay another moment!” and as I said it I swept my -arms round the last vestige of her airy kirtle, and -drew into my bosom an armful of empty air!</p> - -<p>She had gone, and not a sign was left—not a palm’s -breadth of that lovely sheen shone against the wall -as I arose ashamed from my knee and noticed Editha -was awaking.</p> - -<p>“My kind protector,” said that damsel, “I have been -feeling so strange—not dreaming quite, but feeling as -though some one were borrowing existence of me, yet -leaving in my body the blood and pulse of life. Now, -how can this be? I must surely have been very tired -yesterday.”</p> - -<p>“No doubt you were, fair franklin,” I answered. -“Yesterday was such a day as well excuses your weariness. -Sleep again, and when the sun rises in an -hour you shall rise with it as fresh as any of the little -birds that already preen themselves.” So she slept—and -presently I too.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>All the next day we rode on through endless glades -and briery paths toward Editha’s home, and as we -went, I afoot and she meekly perched upon our mighty -Norman charger, I wooed her with a brevity which the -times excused, and poured my nimble lover wit into -ears accustomed only to the sluggish flattery of woodland -thanes and princely swineherds. And first she -blushed and would not listen, and then she sighed and -switched the low wet boughs of oak and hazel as we -passed along, and then she let me say my say with -downcast, averted eyes, and a sweet reluctance which -told me I might stoutly push the siege.</p> - -<p>As we went we picked up now and then a straggling -soldier or two from the fight behind us, and now and -then a petty chieftain joined us, until presently we -wound through the bracken toward Voewood, a very -goodly train.</p> - -<p>Editha had got a palfrey and I my horse again; but -as she neared her home the thought of its desolation -weighed heavier and heavier upon her tender nature. -She would not eat and would not speak, and at last -took her to crying, and so cried until we saw, aglint -through the oak-stems, a very fair homestead and -ample, with broad lands around, and kine and deer -about it, and all that could make it fair and pleasant. -This was her Voewood; and when the servants came -running to meet us (knowing nothing of the fight or -its results, and thinking we were their master and his -sons come again) with waving caps and shouts of -pleasure, it was too much for the overwrought girl. -She threw up her white hands, and, with a cry of pain -and grief, slipped fainting from her palfrey before -us all.</p> - -<p>Then might you have seen a score of saddles featly -emptied to the service of the heiress! Down jumped -Offa the Dane, whose unchanged doublet was still red -to his chin with mud and Norman gore. Down jumped -Edred and Egbert, those blue-eyed brothers who had -left their lands by the northern sea a month ago to -follow Harold’s luckless banner; Torquil, the grim, -and Wulfhere of the white beard, sprang to the -ground: and Clywin the fair Welsh princeling, and his -shadow, Idwal ap Cynan, the harper-warrior, vaulted -to their feet—spent and battle-weary as they were, -with many another. But, lighter and quicker than -any of them, Phra the Phœnician had leaped to earth, -and stood there astride of the senseless girl, his hand -upon his dagger-hilt, and scowling round that soldier -circle wrathful to think that any other but he should -touch her!</p> - -<p>Then he took her up, as if it were a mother with a -sleeping babe, and the serfs uncapped and stood back -on either hand, and the grim warriors fell in behind, -and so Editha came home, her loose arms hanging -down and her long bright hair all adrift over the -broad shoulders of the strangest, most many-adventured -soldier in that motley band.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</h2> -</div> - -<p>When I come to look back upon that Saxon period, -spent in the green shades of my sweet franklin’s homestead, -it seems, perhaps, that never was there a time -so peaceful before in the experience of this passion-tossed -existence! We hunted and we hawked, we -feasted and we lay abask in the sunshine of a jolly, -idle life all these luxurious months, drinking scorn -and confusion amid our nightly flagons to remote care -and (as it seemed) remoter Normans.</p> - -<p>But first to tell you how I won the right to lord it -over these merry Saxon churls and dissolute thanes. -Editha had hardly come to her home and dried, in a -day or two, her weeping eyes, when all the noble -vagrants from yonder battle were up in arms to woo -her. Never was maid so sued! From morning till -night there was no rest or peace. From the uppermost -bower looking over the fair English glades, down -into the thickets of nut and hazel, the air reeked of -love and petitions. The mighty Dane, like a sick bear, -slept upon her curtained threshold and growled amorousness -into her timid ear before the sun was up. -The Welsh Prince wooed her all her breakfast-time, -and his tawny harper spent many a golden morning -in outlining his noble patron’s genealogy. In faith—ap -Tudor, ap Griffith, ap Morgan, ap Huge, and I know -not how many others, it seemed all had a hand in the -making of that paragon—but Editha blushed and said -she feared one Saxon girl was all too few for so many. -They besought her up and down, night and morning, -full and empty, to wed them. The English Princelings -dogged her footsteps when she went afield, and -Torquil and Wulfhere, those bandaged lovers, were -ready for her with sighs and plaintive proposals when -she came flitting, frightened and fearful, home through -the bracken.</p> - -<p>How could this end but in one way for the defenseless -girl? She was sued so much and sued so hot that -one day she came creeping like a hunted animal to -the turret nook where I sat brooding over my fortunes, -and, timorous and shy, begged me to help her. -I stood up and touched her yellow disheveled hair, -and told her there was but one way—and Editha knew -it as well as any one—and had made her choice and -slipped into my arms and was happy.</p> - -<p>That was as noisy a wedding as ever had been in -Voewood. Editha freed a hundred serfs, and all day -long the noise of files on their iron collars echoed -through her halls. She fed at the door every miscreant -or beggar who could crawl or hobble there, -and remitted her taxes to a score of poorer villains.</p> - -<p>In the hall such noisy revelers as the rejected -suitors surely never were seen. They began that wedding -feast in the morning, and it was not finished by -night. To me, who had so lately supped amid the -costly detail, the magnificent and cultivated license -of a patrician Roman table, these Saxon rioters -seemed scrambling, hungry dogs. Where Electra -would taunt her haughty courtiers over loaded tables -which the art of three empires had furnished, firing -her cruel, witty arrows of spite and arrogance from -her rose-strewn couches, these rough, uncivil woodland -Peers but wallowed in their ceaseless flow of -muddy ale, gorged themselves to sleep with the gross -flesh of their acorn-fed swine, and sang such songs -and told such tales as made even me, indifferent, to -scowl upon them and wonder that their kinswoman -and her handmaids could sit and seem unwotting of -their gross, obscene, and noisy revels.</p> - -<p>And late that night blood was nearly spilled upon -the oaken floor of Voewood. The thanes had fairly -pocketed their disappointment, but now, deep in drink -and stuffed with food and courage, they began to eye -me and my thin-hid scorn askance, and then presently, -like the mutter of a quick-coming storm, came the -whisper, “Why should she fall to the stranger? Why? -Why?” It flew round the tables like wildfire, and -half-emptied beakers were set down, and untasted -food stopped on its way to the mouth, and then—all -on a sudden, the drunken chiefs were on foot advancing -to the upper table, where I sat by Editha’s -right hand, their daggers agleam in the torchlight -shining upon their red and angry faces as they came -tumbling and shouting toward us, “Death to the -black-haired stranger! Voewood for a Saxon! Why -should he win her?”</p> - -<p>’Tis not my fashion to let the foeman come far to -seek me, and I was up in an instant—overturning the -table with all its wines and meats—and, whipping -out my sword, I leaped into the middle of the rushy -space before them.</p> - -<p>“Why?” I shouted. “Why? you drunken, Norman-beaten -dogs! Why? Because, by Thor and Odin! -by all the bones of Hengist and his brother! I can -throw a straighter javelin, and whirl a heavier sword, -and sit a fiercer steed than any of you. Why? Because -my heart is stronger than any that ever beat -under your dirty scullion doublets. Why? Because -I scorn, and spit upon, and deride you!”</p> - -<p>It was braggart boasting, but I noticed the Saxons -liked their talk of that complexion. And in this case -it was successful. The Princes stood hesitating and -staring as I towered before them, fiery and disdainful, -in the red gleaming banquet lights; until presently -the youngest there burst into a merry laugh to see -them all thus at bay, chewing the hilts of their angry -daggers, and each one waiting for his neighbor to -prove himself the braver, by dying first upon my -weapon. That laugh had hardly reached the ruddy -oaken rafters overhead when it was joined by a score -of others, and in a moment those wilful Saxon lordlings -were all laughing and jerking back their steels, -and scrambling into their supper-places as if they had -not broken their fast since morning, and I were their -mother’s son.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_110fp" style="max-width: 28em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_110fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>The Princes stood hesitating as I towered before them</p></div> -</div> - -<p>Deep were their flagons that night, after the women -had stolen away, and Idwal ap Howell filled the hall -with wild Welsh harping that stirred my soul like a -battle-call; for it was in my dear British tongue, and -full of the color, light, and the life that had illuminated -the first page of my long pilgrimage. And the -Saxon gleemen, not to be outdone, each sang the song -that pleased him best; and the Welshman strove to -drown them with his harping; and the thanes sang, all -at once, whatever songs were noisiest and most licentious. -Mighty was the fire that roared up the open -hearthplace; deep was the breathing of vanquished -warriors from under the tables; red was the spilled -wine upon the floor—when presently they put me upon -a tressel, and, bearing me round the hall in discordant -triumph, finally bore me away to the inner corridors, -and left me at a portal where I never yet had entered!</p> - -<p>There is but little to say of that quiet Saxon rest -that befell me in pleasant Voewood. Between each -line I pen you must suppose an episode of pleasure. -In the springtime, when the woods were shot with a -carpet of blue and yellow flowers, we lay a-basking -in the sunny angles or rode out to count our swine -and fallow deer. In the summer, when all Editha’s -mighty woodlands were like fair endless colonnades, -we basked amid the flickering shadows and watched -the sunny sheen upon the treetops, to the orchestra of -little birds. And autumn, that touched the vassals’ -corn-clearings with yellow, saw my proud Norman -charger grow fat and gross with new grain. September -rains and mists rusted my silent weapon into its -sheath; even winter, that heard the woodman’s axe -upon the forest trees, and saw bird and beast and men -and kine draw in to the gentle bounty of my white-handed -lady, was but a long, inglorious holiday of -another sort.</p> - -<p>Many and many a time, in those merry months, did -this Phœnician laugh to his mirror to see how fitly -he could wear upon his Eastern-British-Roman body -the Danish-Saxon-English tunic! It was all of fine -linen the franklin’s own fair fingers had spun, and -pointed and tasseled and parti-color, and his legs were -cross-gartered to his knees, and his little luncheon-dagger -hung by his jeweled belt, and a fillet of pure -English gold bound down the long black locks that -fell upon his shoulders. Every morning Editha -combed them out with her silver comb, and double-peaked -his beard, kissing and saying it was the best -in all Voewood. He had more servants than necessities -in those times, and almost his only grievance was -a lack of wants.</p> - -<p>The Normans for long had left us wholly alone, -partly through the usurper cunning which prompted -our new tyrant to deal gently with those who had -stood in arms against him, but principally in our case -since the strong tide of invasion had swept northward -beyond us, and Voewood slept unharmed, unnoticed -among its green solitudes—a Saxon homestead as it -had been since Hengist’s white horse first flaunted -upon an English breeze and the seven kingdoms -sprang from the ashes of old Roman Britain.</p> - -<p>So we lived light-hearted from day to day, forgetting -all about the battle by Senlac, and drinking, as I -have said, in our evening wassails confusion and -scorn of the invaders who seemed so distant. It was -a good time, and I have little to note of it. Many were -the big boars which died upon my eager spear down -in the morasses to the southward, and I came to love -my casts of tiercelets and my hounds as though I had -been born to a woodman’s cape and had watched the -fens for hernshaws and followed the slot of wounded -deers from my youth upward.</p> - -<p>All these things led me into many a wild adventure -and many a desperate strait; but one of them stands -out from the rest upon the crowded pages of my -memory. I had, one day when Editha was with me, -mounted as she would be upon her palfrey, slipped -the dogs upon a stag an arrow of mine had wounded -in the foreleg, and, excited by the chase and reluctant -as ever to turn back from an unaccomplished purpose, -we followed far into the unknown distances, and all -beyond our reckonings. I had let fly that shaft at -midday, and at sundown the stag was still afoot, the -dogs close behind him, and I, indomitable, muddy, -and torn from head to foot, but with all the hunter -instinct hot within me, was pressing on by my Saxon’s -bridle rein. Endless, rough, and tangled miles had -we run and scrambled in that lengthy chase, and -neither of us had noticed the way, or how angry the -sun was setting in the west.</p> - -<p>Thus it came about that when the noble hart at -length stood at bay in the lichened coverts under a -bushy crag, there was hardly breath in me to cheer -the weary dogs upon him, and hardly light enough to -aim the swift thrust of my subduing javelin which -laid him dead and bleeding at our feet. Yes, and before -I could cut a hunter’s supper from that glossy -haunch the dome of the sky closed down from east to -west, and the first heavy drops of the evening rain -came pattering upon the leaves overhead. Thor! how -black it grew as the wind began to whistle through the -branches and the murky clouds to fly across the face -of the somber heaven, while neither east nor west -could any limit be seen to the interminable vastnesses -of the endless woodlands! In vain was it we struggled -for a time back upon our footsteps, and then even -those were lost; and, as the sky in the east burned an -angry yellow for a moment before the remorseless -night set in, it gave us just light to see we were hopelessly -mazed in the labyrinths of the huge and lonely -forest.</p> - -<p>It was thus we turned to take such shelter as might -offer, and that gleam shone for a moment pallid, yellow, -and ghastly upon a cluster of gray stones standing -on a grassy mound a quarter of a mile away. -Thither we struggled through the black mazes of the -storm, the headlong rain whistling through the misty -thickets like flights of innumerable arrows, the angry -wind lashing the treetops into bitter complaining, and -waving abroad (in the sodden dismal twilight) all the -long beards of goblin lichens hanging in ghostly tapestry -across our path that dreary October evening.</p> - -<p>Reeling and plunging to the shelter through a black -world of tangled witnesses, with that mocking gleam -behind shining like a window of the nether world, -and overhead a gaunt, hurrying array of cloudy -forms, we were presently upon the coppice outskirt, -and there I stopped as though I had grown to the -ground.</p> - -<p>I stopped before that great, gaunt amphitheater of -gray stones and stared and stared before me as though -I were bereft of sense. I rubbed my eyes and pointed -with trembling, silent finger, and looked again and -again, while the Saxon girl crouched to my side, and -my hounds whined and shivered at my feet, for there, -incredible! monstrous!—yellow and shining in the -pallid derision of the twilight, stern, hoary, ruinous, -mocking—overthrown and piled one upon another, -clasped and knotted about their feet by the knotted -fingers of the woodland growth, swathed in the rocking -mists which gave a horrid life to their cruel, infernal -deadness, were the stones, the very stones of -that Druid altar-place upon which I was sacrificed -nearly a thousand years before!</p> - -<p>Here was a pretty welcome! Here was a cheerful -harborage! What man ever born of a woman who -would not have been dazed and dumfounded at this -sudden confronting—this extraordinary reminiscence -of the long-forgotten? It overwhelmed for the moment -even me—me, Phra the Phœnician, to whom the -red harvest-fields of war are pleasant places, who have -dallied with the infinite, and have been a melancholy -coadjutor of Time itself. Even me, who never sought -to live, yet live endlessly by my very negligence—who -have received from the gods that gift of existence that -others ask for unanswered.</p> - -<p>I might have stood there as stolid and grim as any -one of those ancient monoliths all through the storm -but for the dear one by my side. Her nestling presence -roused me, and, gulping down the last of my -astonishment, and seeing no respite in the yellow eye -of the night over my shoulder, I took the hand that -lay in mine with such gentle trust and, with a strange -feeling of awe, led her into the magic circle of the old -religion.</p> - -<p>The very altar of my despatch was still there in the -center, but time and forest creatures had worn out -from under that mighty slab a little chamber, roofed -with that vast flagstone and sided by its three supports—a -space perhaps no bigger than the cabin of -my first trading felucca, yet into this we crept, with -the reluctant hounds behind us, while the tempest -thundered round, and, loth to lose us, sought here -and there, piping in strange keys among those time-worn -relics of cruelty, and singing uncouth choruses -down every crevice of our wild retreat.</p> - -<p>Pleasure and Pain are sisters, and the little needs -of life must be fulfilled in every hour. I comforted -my comrade, piling for her a rough couch of the -broken litter upon the floor, stuffing up the crannies -as well as might be with damp sods, and then making -her a fire. This latter I effected with some charcoal -and burned ends of wood that lay upon an old shepherd’s -hearth in the center of the chamber, and we -kept it going with a little store of wood which the -same absent wanderer had gathered in one corner but -had failed to use. More; not only did we mend our -circumstances by a ruddy blaze that danced fantastically -upon our rugged walls and set our reeking -clothes steaming in its flicker, but I rolled a stone -to the opposite side of the hearth for Editha, and -found another for myself, and soon those venison -steaks were hissing most invitingly upon the glowing -embers, and filling every nook and corner of the Druid -slaughter-place with the suggestive fragrance of our -supper.</p> - -<p>Manners were rude and ready in that time. We -supped as well and conveniently that night, carving -the meat with the little weapons at our girdles, and -eating with our fingers, as though we sat in state at -the high thane’s table of distant Voewood and looked -down the great rushy hall upon three hundred feeding -serfs and bondsmen. And Editha laughed and -chattered—secure in my protection—and I echoed her -merriment, while now and then my thoughts would -wander, and I heard again in the tempest’s whistling -the scream of the hungry kites who had seen me die, -and in the lashing of the branches the clamor and the -beating of the British tribesmen who many a long -lifetime before had shouted around this very place to -drown my dying yells.</p> - -<p>The good food and the warmth and a long day’s -work soon brought my fair mistress’s head upon her -hand, and presently she was lying upon the withered -leaves in the corner, a fair white flower shut up for -the night-time. So I finished the steak and divided -the remnants between the dogs, and lay back very -well contented. But here only commences the strangest -part of that evening!</p> - -<p>I had warmed my cross-gartered, buskined Saxon -legs by the blaze for the best part of an hour, thinking -over all the strange episodes of my coming to these -ancient isles, and seeing again, on the blank hither -wall, this very circle all aglow with the splendid color -of its barbarous purpose, the mighty concourse of the -Britons set in the greenery of their reverent oaks—the -onset of the Romans, the flash and glitter of their -close-packed ranks, and the gallant Sempronius—alas! -that so good a youth should be reduced to dust—and -thus, I suppose, I dozed.</p> - -<p>And then it seemed all on a sudden a mighty gust -of wind swept down upon the flat roof overhead, -shaking even that ponderous stone—those fierce and -brawny hounds of mine howled most fearfully—crouching -behind with bristling hair and shaking -limbs—and, looking up, there—strange, incredible as -you will pronounce it—seated beyond the fire on the -stone the Saxon had so lately left, drawing her wild, -rain-wet British tresses through her supple fingers—calm, -indifferent, happy—gazing upon me with the -gentle wonder I had seen before, was Blodwen, once -again herself!</p> - -<p>Need it be said how wild and wonderful that winsome -apparition seemed in that uncouth place, how -the hot flush of wonder burned upon my swart and -weathered cheeks as I sat there and glared through -the leaping flame at that pallid outline? Absently -she went on with her rhythmical combing, bewitching -me with her unearthly grace and the tender substance -of her immaterial outline, and as I glowered -with never a ready syllable upon my idle tongue, or -any emotion but wonder in the heart beating tumultuously -under my hunter tunic, the dogs lay moaning -behind me, and the wild fantastic uproar of the tempest -outside forced through the clefts of our retreat -the rain-streaks that sparkled and hissed in the fire-heap.</p> - -<p>That time I did not fear, and presently the Princess -looked up and said, in a faint, distant voice, that was -like the sound of the breeze among seashore pine-trees:</p> - -<p>“Well done, my Phœnician! Your courage gives me -strength.” And as she spoke the words seemed gradually -clearer and stronger, until presently they came -sweeter to me than the murmur of a sunny river—gentler -than the whispers of the ripe corn and the -south wind.</p> - -<p>“Shade!” I said. “Wonderful, immaterial, immortal, -whence came you?”</p> - -<p>“Whence did I come?” she answered, with the -pretty reflection of a smile upon her face. “Out of -the storm, O son of Anak!—out of the wild, wet night-wind!”</p> - -<p>“And why, and why—to stir me to my inmost soul, -and then to leave me?”</p> - -<p>“Phœnician,” she said, “I have not left you since -we parted. I have been the unseen companion of your -goings—I have been the shadowless watcher by your -sleep. Mine was the unfelt hand that bore your chin -up when you swam with the Christian slave-girl—mine -was the arm that has turned, invisibly, a hundred -javelins from you—and to-night I am come, by -leave of circumstance, thus to see you.”</p> - -<p>“I should have thought,” I said, becoming now better -at my ease, “that one like you might come or go -in scorn of circumstances.”</p> - -<p>“Wherein, my dear master, you argue with more -simplicity than knowledge. There are needs and -necessities to the very verge of the spheres.”</p> - -<p>But when I questioned what these were, asking the -secret of her wayward visits, she looked at the sleeping -Editha, and said I could not understand.</p> - -<p>“Yes, by Wodin’s self! but I think I can. Yon fair-cheeked -girl helps you. There are a hundred turns -and touches in your ways and manners that speak of -her, and show whence you got that borrowed life.”</p> - -<p>“You are astute, my Saxon thane, and I will not -utterly refute you.”</p> - -<p>“Then, if you can do this, how was it, Blodwen, you -never came when I was Roman?”</p> - -<p>“In truth, I often tried,” she said, with something -like a sigh, “but Numidea was not good to fit my -subtle needs, and the other one, Electra, was all beyond -me.” And here that versatile shadow threw -herself into an attitude, and there before me was -the Roman lady, so sweet, so enticing, that my heart -yearned for her—ah! for the queenly Electra!—all in -a moment. But before I could stretch out my arms -the airy form had whisked her ethereal draperies toga-wise -across her breast, and had risen, and there, towering -to the low roof, flashing down scorn and hatred -on me, quaking at her feet, shone the very semblance -of Electra as I saw her last in the queenly glamour -of her vengeance.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Blodwen, resuming her own form with -perfect calmness before I, astounded, could catch my -breath, and stroking out the tangles of her long red -hair, “there was no doing anything with her, and so, -Phœnician, I could not get translated to your material -eyes.”</p> - -<p>All this was very wonderful, yet presently we were -chatting as though there were naught to marvel at. -Many were the things we spoke of, many were the -wonders that she hinted at, and as she went my -curiosity blazed up apace.</p> - -<p>“And, fair Princess,” I said presently, “turner of -javelins, favorer of mortals, is it then within the -power of such as yourself to rule the destiny of us -material ones?”</p> - -<p>“Not so; else, Phœnician, you were not here!”</p> - -<p>This made me a little uncomfortable, but, nothing -daunted, I looked the strangest visitor that ever paid -a midnight visit full in the face, and persisted: “Tell -me, then, you bright reflection of her I loved, how -seems this tinsel show of life upon its over side? Is -it destiny or man that is master? How looks the -flow of circumstances to you?—to us, you will remember, -it is vague, inexplicable.”</p> - -<p>“You ask me more than I can say,” she answered, -“but so far I will go—you, material, live substantially, -and before you lies unchecked the illimitable spaces -of existence. Of all these you are certain heir.”</p> - -<p>“Speak on!” I cried, for now and then her voice -and attention flagged. “And is there any rule or -sequence in this life of ours—is it for you to guide -or mend our happenings?”</p> - -<p>“No, Phœnician! You are yourselves the true -forgers of the chains that bind you, and that initial -’prenticeship you serve there on your world is ruled -by the aggregate of your actions. I tell you, Tyrian,” -she exclaimed, with something as much like warmth as -could come from such a hazy air-stirred body—“I tell -you nothing was ever said or done but was quite immortal; -all your little goings and comings, all your -deeds and misdeeds, all the myriad leaves of spoken -things that have ever come upon the forests of speech, -all the rain-drops of action that have gone to make -the boundless ocean of human history, are on record. -You shake your head, and cannot understand? Perhaps -I should not wonder at it.”</p> - -<p>“And have all these things left a record upon the -great books of life, and is it given to the beings of -the air to refer to them, even as yonder hermit finds -secreted on his yellow vellums the things of long ago?”</p> - -<p>“It is so in some kind. The actions of that life of -yours leave spirit-prints behind them from the most -infinitesimal to the largest. Now, see! I have but -to wish, and there again is all the moving pantomime -around you of that unhappy day when you well-nigh -died upon this spot,” and the chieftainess leaped to -her feet and swept her arm around and looked into -the void and smiled and nodded as though all the wild -spectacle she spoke of were enacting under her very -eyes. “Surely, you see it! Look at the priests and the -people, and there the running foreigners and that tall -youth at their head—why, O trader in oils and dyes! -it is not the remembrance of the thing, it is, I swear -it, the thing itself——”</p> - -<p>But never a line or color could I perceive, only the -curling smoke overhead looped and hung like tapestries -upon the gray lichened walls, and the black -night-time through the crevices. And, discovering -this, Blodwen suddenly stopped and looked upon me -with vexed compassion. “I am sorry, I am no good -teacher to so outrun my pupil. Ask me henceforth -what simple questions you will, and they shall be -answered to the best I can.”</p> - -<p>And so presently I went on: “If those things which -have been are thus to you—and it does not seem impossible—how -is it with those other things of to-day, -or still unborn of the future? How far can you more -favored ones foresee or guide those things to which -we, unhappy, but submit?”</p> - -<p>“The strong tide of circumstance, Phœnician, is not -to be turned by such hands as these”—and she held -her pallid wrists toward the blaze, until I saw the -ruddy gleam flash back from the rough gold bosses -of her ancient bracelets. “There are laws outside -your comprehension which are not framed for your -narrow understanding. We obey these as much as -you, but we perceive with infinitely clearer vision the -inevitable logic of fate, the true sequence of events, -and thus it is sometimes within our power to amend -and guide the details of that brief episode which you -call your life.”</p> - -<p>“Do you say that priceless span, my comrades, yonder -sleeping girl, and all the others set so high a value -on is but ‘an episode’?”</p> - -<p>“Yes—a halting step upon a wondrous journey, half -a gradation upon the mighty spirals of existence!”</p> - -<p>“And time?” I asked, full of a wonder that scarce -found leisure to comprehend one word of hers before -it asked another question. “Is there time with you? -Even I, reflective now and then upon this long journey -of mine, have thought that time must be a myth, an -impossibility to larger experience.”</p> - -<p>“Of what do you speak, my merchant? I do not -remember the word.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes; but you must. Is there period and change -yonder? Is Time—Time, the great braggart and bully -of life, also potent with you?”</p> - -<p>“Ah! now I do recall your meaning; but, my Tyrian, -we left our hour-glasses and our calendars behind us -when we came away! There is, perhaps, time yonder -to some extent, but no mortal eyes, not mine even, -can tell the teaching of that prodigious dial that -records the hours of universes and of spaces.”</p> - -<p>I bent my head and thought, for I dimly perceived -in all this a meaning appearing through its incomprehensibleness. -Much else did we talk through the live-long -night, whereof all I may not tell, and something -might but weary you. At one time I asked her of the -little one I had never seen, and then she, reflective, -questioned whether I would wish to see him. “As -gladly,” was my reply, “as one looks for the sun in -springtime.” At this the comely chieftainess seemed -to fall a-musing, and even while she did so an eddy -in the curling smoke of the low red fire swung gently -into consistency there by her bare shoulder, and -brightened and grew into mortal likeness, and in a -moment, by the summons of his mother’s will, from -where I knew not, and how I could not guess, a fair, -young, ruddy boy was fashioned and stood there leaning -upon the gentle breast that had so often rocked -him, and gazing upon me with a quiet wonder that -seemed to say, “How came you here?” But the little -one had not the substance of the other, and after a -moment, during which I felt somehow that no slight -effort was being made to maintain him, he paled, and -then the same waft of air that had conspired to his -creation shredded him out again into the fine thin -webs of disappearing haze.</p> - -<p>Comely shadow! Dear British mistress! Great was -thy condescension, passing strange thy conversation, -wonderful thy knowledge, perplexing, mysterious thy -professed ignorance! And then, when the morning -was nigh, she bade me speak a word of comfort to the -restless-sleeping Editha, and when I had done so I -turned again—and the cave was empty! I ran out -into the open air and whispered “Blodwen!” and then -louder “Blodwen!” and all those gray, uncouth, sinful -old monoliths, standing there in the half-light up to -their waists in white mist, took up my word and muttered -out of their time-worn hollows one to another, -“Blodwen, Blodwen!” but never again for many a -long year did she answer to that call.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</h2> -</div> - -<p>In the days that followed, it seemed the cruse of -contentment would never run dry, and I, foolish I, -thought angry destiny had misled me, and that these -green Saxon glades were to witness the final ending -of my story. Vain hope! Illusive expectation! The -hand of fate was even then raised to strike!</p> - -<p>In that pleasant harborage, outside the ken of ambition, -and beyond the limits of avarice, surrounded -by almost impenetrable mazes of forest land, life was -delightful indeed. The sun shone yellow and big in -those early days upon our oak-crowned hillocks—sometimes -I doubt if it is ever so warm and ruddy now—and -December storms told mightily in praise of the -great Yule fires wherewith we defied the winter cold. -In the summer time, when the sunny Saxon orchards -sheltered the herds of kine in their flickering shadows, -and the great droves of black swine lay a-basking -among the ferns on the distant hangers, we lived more -out of doors than in. Editha then would bring out -under the oaks the little ruddy-cheeked Gurth, and -set him upon my knee, that I might cut him reed -whistles or bows and arrows, while the flaxen-haired -Agitha played about her mother, tuning her pretty -prattle to the merry clatter of the distaff and the -wheel.</p> - -<p>In the winter the blaze that went leaping and crackling -from our hearthstone shone golden upon the hair -of those little ones as they sat wide-eyed by me, and -saw among the ruddy embers the white horse of -Hengist and the banner of his brother winning these -fertile vales for a noble Saxon realm. Never was there -a better Saxon than I! And when I told of Harold, -and softened to those tender ears the story of his -dying, the bright drops of sympathy stood in my -small maiden’s eyes, while Gurth’s flashed hatred of -the false Norman and scorn of foreign tyrants. Under -such circumstances it will readily be understood that -I ought to have had little wish to draw weapons again -or bestride the good charger growing so gross and -sleek in his stall all this long peace time.</p> - -<p>And yet the silken meshes of felicity were irksome -against all reason, and I would grow weary of so -much good fortune, finding my pretty deckings and -raiment heavier—more burdensome wear—than ever -was martial harness. My fair Saxon wife noticed -these moods, and strove to mend them. She would -take me out to the hawking, were I never so gloomy, -and then I would envy the wild haggards of the rocks -who got their living from day to day in the free mid -air, and asked no favor of either gods or men. Or, -perhaps, she would make revelries upon the level -green before her homestead, and thither would come -all the fools and pedlers, all the bear-baiters, somersaulters, -and wrestlers of the shire. But I was not -to be pleasured so, and I slew the bear in single combat, -and tossed, vindictive, the somersaulters over the -hucksters’ stalls, and broke the ribs in the wrestlers’ -sides—till none would play with me, and all of the -people murmured. Then, of a night, Editha got the -best gleemen in Mercia to sing to me, and when they -sang of peace, and sheep and orchards, or each praised -his leman’s moonlike eyes and slender middies, I -would not listen. Nor was it better when they tuned -their strings to martial ditties, for that doubled my -malady, since then their rhyming stirred my soul to -new unrest, making worse that which they sought to -cure.</p> - -<p>I sometimes think it was all this to-do which -brought Voewood under Norman notice. But, perhaps, -it was the slow and steady advance of the invaders’ -power percolating like a rising tide into all -the recesses of the land which drew us into the fatal -circle of the despoilers, and not my waywardness. Be -this as it may, the result was the same.</p> - -<p>Over to the northward, a score of miles away, where -the great road ran east, we heard from wandering -strollers the Normans were passing daily. Then, -later, there came in the news-budget of a Flemish -pedler tidings that the hungry foreigners had licked -up all the fat meadows around the nearest town, had -hung its aldermen over the walls, and built a tower -and dungeon (after their wont) in the middle of it. -Yes! and these messengers of ill omen said there were -left no men of note or Saxon blood to uphold the -English cause—there was no proper speech in England -but the Norman—there was no way of wearing -a tunic but the Norman—nothing now to swear by -but by Our Lady of Tours and Holy St. Bridget—all -Saxon wives were in danger of kissing—and all Saxon -abbots were become barefooted monks!</p> - -<p>Never was a country turned inside out so soon or -quietly; and as I looked over our wide, fair meadows, -and upon my sweet girl and her flaxen little ones, -and thought how already for her I had risked my life, -I could not help wondering how soon I might have to -venture it again.</p> - -<p>On apace came the outer conquest into our inner -peace. Towns and burghs went down, and the hungry -flames of lust and avarice fed upon what they destroyed. -All the vales and hills the swords of Hengist -and Horsa had won, and baptized with foemen’s -blood, in the mighty names of old Norsemen and -Valhalla, were being christened anew to suit a mincing, -latter tongue. Thane and franklin uncapped -them at the roadside to these steel-bound swarms of -ruthless spoilers, and nothing was sacred, neither deed -nor covenant, neither having nor holding, which ran -counter to the wishes of the western scourges of our -English weakness.</p> - -<p>When I thought of all this I was extraordinarily ill -at ease, and, before I could settle upon how best to -meet the danger, it came upon us, and we were overwhelmed. -Briefly, it was thus: About twelve years -after the battle where Harold had died, the Norman -leader had, we heard, taken it into his head to poll us -like cattle, to find the sum and total of our feus and -lands, our serfs and orchards, and even of our very -selves! Now, few of us Saxons but felt this was a -certain scheme to tax and oppress us even more -severely than the people had been oppressed in the -time of St. Dunstan. Besides this, our free spirits -rose in scorn of being counted and weighed and -mulcted by plebeian emissaries of the usurper, so we -murmured loud and long.</p> - -<p>And those thanes who complained the bitterest -were hanged by the derisive Normans on their own -kitchen beams—on the very same hooks where they -cured their mighty sides of pork—while those who -complied but falsely with the assessor’s commands -were robbed of wife and heritage, children and lands, -and shackled with the brass collar of serfdom, or -turned out to beg their living on the wayside and sue -the charity of their own dependants. Whether we -would thus be hanged or outcast, or whether we would -humble us to this hateful need, writing ourselves and -our serfs down in the great “Doom’s Day” book, all -had to choose.</p> - -<p>For my own part, after much debating, and for the -sake of those who looked to me, I had determined to -do what was required—and then, if it might be, to -bring all the Saxon gentlemen together—to raise these -English shires upon the Normans, and with fire and -sword revoke our abominable indenture of thraldom. -But, alas! my hasty temper and my inability to stomach -an affront in any guise undid my good resolutions.</p> - -<p>Well, this mighty book was being compiled far and -wide, we heard, in every shire: there were some men -of good standing base enough to countenance it, and, -taking the name of the King’s justiciaries, they got -together shorn monks—shaveling rascals who did the -writing and computing—with reeves hungry for their -masters’ woodlands, and many other lean forsworn -villains. This jury of miscreants went round from -hall to hall, from manor to manor, with their scrips -and pens and parchment, until all the land was being -gathered into the avaricious Norman’s tax roll.</p> - -<p>They cast their greedy eyes at last on sunny, sleepy -Voewood, though, indeed, I had implored every deity, -old or new, I could recall that they might overlook -it; and one day their hireling train of two score pikemen -came ambling down the glades with a fat Abbot—a -Norman rascal—at their head, and pulled up at -our doorway.</p> - -<p>“Hullo!” says the monk. “Whose house is this?”</p> - -<p>“Mine,” I said gruffly, with a secret fancy that there -would be some heads broken before the census was -completed.</p> - -<p>“And who are you?”</p> - -<p>“The Master of Voewood.”</p> - -<p>“What else?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing else!”</p> - -<p>“Well, you are not over-civil, anyhow, my Saxon -churl,” said the man of scrolls and goose-quills.</p> - -<p>“Frankly,” I answered, “Sir Monk, the smaller civility -you look for from me to-day the less likely you -are to be disappointed. Out with that infernal catechism -of yours, and have done, and move your black -shadows from my porch.”</p> - -<p>At this the clerk shrugged his shoulders—no doubt -he did not look to be a very welcome guest—and -coughed and spit, and then unfurled in our free sunshine -a great roll of questions, and forthwith proceeded -to expound them in bastard Latin, smacking of -moldy cathedral cells and cloister pedantry.</p> - -<p>“Now, mark me, Sir Voewood, and afterward -answer truly in everything. Here, first, I will read -you the declaration of your neighbor, the worthy -thane Sewin, in order that you may see how the matter -should go, and then afterward I will question you -yourself,” and, taking a parchment from a junior, he -began: “Here is what Sewin told us: <i>Rex tenet in Dominio -Sohurst; de firma Regis Edwardi fuit. Tunc se defendebat -pro 17 Hidis; nihil geldaverunt. Terra est 16 Carucatæ; -in Dominio sunt 2æ Carucatæ, et 24 Villani, et 10 Bordarij -cum 20 Carucis. Ibi Ecclesia quam Willelmus tenet de -Rege cum dimidia Hida in Elemosina, Silva 40 Porcorum -et ipsa est in parco Regis——</i>”</p> - -<p>But hardly had my friend got so far as this in displaying -the domesticity of Sewin the thane, when -there broke a loud uproar from the rear of Voewood, -and the tripping Latin came to a sudden halt as there -emerged in sight a rabble of Saxon peasants and Norman -prickers freely exchanging buffets. In the midst -of them was our bailiff, a very stalwart fellow, hauling -along and beating as he came a luckless soldier in the -foreign garb just then so detestable to our eyes.</p> - -<p>“Why,” I said, “what may all this be about? What -has the fellow done, Sven, that your Saxon cudgel -makes such friends with his Norman cape?”</p> - -<p>“What? Why, the graceless yonker, not content -with bursting open the buttery door and setting all -these scullion men-at-arms drinking my lady’s ale and -rioting among her stores, must needs harry the -maidens, scaring them out of their wits, and putting -the whole place in an uproar! As I am an honest -man, there has been more good ale spilled this half-hour, -more pottery broken, more linen torn, more -roasts upset, more maids set screaming, than since -the Danes last came round this way and pillaged us -from roof to cellar!”</p> - -<p>“Why, you fat Saxon porker!” cried the leader of -the troops, pushing to the front, “what are you good -for but for pillage? Drunken serf! And were it not -for the politic heart of yonder King, I and mine would -make you and yours sigh again for your Danish ravishers, -looking back from our mastery to their red -fury with sickly longing! Out on you! Unhand the -youth, or by St. Bridget, there will be a fat carcass -for your crows to peck at!” and he put his hand upon -his dagger.</p> - -<p>Thereon I stepped between them, and, touching my -jeweled belt, said: “Fair Sir, I think the youth has -had no less than his deserts, and as for the Voewood -crows they like Norman carrion even better than -Saxon flesh.”</p> - -<p>The soldier frowned, as well as he might, at my -retort, but before we could draw, as assuredly we -would have done, the monk pushed in between us, and -the athelings of the commission, who had orders to -carry out their work with peace and despatch as long -as that were possible, quieted their unruly rabble, and -presently a muttering, surly order was restored between -the glowering crowds.</p> - -<p>“Now,” said the scribe propitiatingly, anxious to -get through with his task, “you have heard how -amiably Sewin answered. Of you I will ask a question -or two in Saxon, since, likely enough, you do not -know the blessed Latin.” (By the soul of Hengist, -though, I knew it before the stones of that confessor’s -ancient monastery were hewn from their native rock!) -“Answer truly, and all shall be well with you. First, -then, how much land hast thou?”</p> - -<p>But I could not stand it. My spleen was roused -against these braggart bullies, and, throwing discretion -to the wind, I burst out, “Just so much as serves -to keep me and mine in summer and winter!”</p> - -<p>“And how many plows?”</p> - -<p>“So many as need to till our cornlands.”</p> - -<p>“Rude boar!” said the monk, backing off into the -group of his friends, and frowning from that vantage -in his turn. “How many serfs acknowledge your surly -leadership?”</p> - -<p>“Just so many,” I said, boiling over, “as can work -the plows and reap the corn, and keep the land from -greedy foreign clutches! There, put up your scroll -and begone. I will not answer you! I will not say -how many pigeons there are in our dovecotes—how -many fowls roost upon their perches—how many -earthen pots we have, or how many maids to scrub -them! Get you back to the Conqueror: tell him I -deride and laugh at him for the second time. Say I -have lived a longish life, and never yet saw the light -of that day when I profited by humility. Say I, the -swart stranger who stabbed his ruffian courtier and -galloped away with the white maid, Editha of Voewood—I, -who plucked that flower from the very saddle-bow -of his favorite, and thundered derisive -through his first camp there on the eastern downs—say, -even I will find a way to keep and wear her, in -scorn of all that he can do! Out with you—begone!”</p> - -<p>And they went, for I was clearly in no mood to be -dallied with, while behind me the serfs and vassals -were now mustering strongly, an angry array armed -with such weapons as they could snatch up in their -haste, and wanting but a word or look to fall upon -the little band of assessors and slay them as they -stood. Thus we won that hour—and many a long -day had we to regret the victory.</p> - -<p>My luck was against me that time. I hoped, so far -as there was any hope or reason in my thoughtless -anger, to have had a space to rouse the neighboring -thanes and their vassals upon these our tyrants, and -I had dreamed, so combustible was the country just -then, somehow perhaps the flame would have spread -far and wide. I saw that abominable thing, Rebellion, -for once linked hand in hand with her sweet -rival, Patriotism, I saw the red flames of vengeance -in the quarrel I had made my own sweeping through -the land and lapping up with its hundred tongues -every evidence of the spoilers! Yes! and even I had -fancied that, as there were no true Saxon Princes for -our English throne, there was still Editha, my wife; -and if there were no swords left to fence a throne so -filled, yet there was the sword of Phra the Phœnician! -Vain fantasy! The faces of the Fates were averted.</p> - -<p>Those hateful inquisitors had not gone many hours’ -journey northward, when, as ill-luck would have it, -they fell in with a Norman Captain, Godfrey de Boville, -and two hundred men-at-arms, marching to garrison -a western city. To these they told their tale, -and, ever ready for pillage and bloodshed, the band -halted, and then turned into the woodlands where we -had our lair.</p> - -<p>The sun was low that afternoon when an affrighted -herdsman came running in to me with the news that -he knew not how many soldiers were in the glades -beyond. And before he could get his breath or quite -tell his hasty message their prickers came out of the -wood—the gallant Norman array (whose glitter has -since grown dearer to me than the shine of a mistress’ -eyes) rode from under our oak-trees, the banners -and bannerets fluttered upon the evening wind—their -trumpets brayed until our very rafters echoed to -that warlike sound—the level twilight rays flashed -back from those serried ranks and the steel panoply -of the warriors in as goodly a martial show as ever, -to that day, I had seen.</p> - -<p>What need I tell you of the negotiations which followed -while this silver cloud, charged with ruin and -cruelty, hung on the dusky velvet side of the twilight -hill above us? What need be said of how I swore -between my teeth at the chance which had brought -this swarm hither in a day rather than in the week -I had hoped for, or how my heart burned with smothered -anger and pride when we had to tamely answer -their haughty summons to unconditional surrender?</p> - -<p>Yet by one saving clause they did not attack us at -once. Only to me was it clear how utterly impossible -was it with the few rugged serfs at my command to -defend even for one single onset that great straggling -house against their overwhelming force. To them -our strength was quite unknown; this and the gathering -darkness tempted the Norman to put off the attack -until the daylight came again, and the respite was -our saving. It was not a saving upon which to dwell -long, for ’twas no more glorious than the retreat of a -wolf from his hiding-place when the shepherds fire the -brake behind him.</p> - -<p>All along the edge of the hill their watch-fires presently -twinkled out, and as Editha and Sven the Strong -came to me in gloomy conference upon the turret we -could see the soldiers pass now and again before the -blaze, we could hear their laughter and the snatches -of their drinking-song, the hoarse cry of the wardens, -and the champing and whinny of the chargers picketed -under the starlight in lines upon our free Saxon turf. -And for Sven and all his good comrade hinds we knew -to-morrow would bring the riveting of new and heavier -collars than any they had worn as yet. For me -and my contumacy, though I feared it not, there could -be naught but the swift absolution of a Norman -sword; while for her—for her, that gentle, stately lady -to whose pale sweetness my rough, unworthy pen can -do no sort of justice—there was nameless degradation -and half a wandering bully’s tent.</p> - -<p>The serf suggested, with his rugged northern valor, -we should set light to the hall and, with the women -and children in our midst, sally out and cut a way to -freedom, and I knew the path he would choose would -have been through the hostile camp. But his lady -suggested better. She proposed both hind and bondsmen -should steal away in the darkness, and, since -valor here was hopeless, disperse over the countryside, -and there, secure in their humbleness, await our future -returning. We, on the other hand, would follow -them through the friendly shadows that lay deep and -nigh to the house on the unguarded side, and then -turn us to a monastery some few miles away, where, -if we could reach it, in Sanctuary and the care of one -of the few remaining Saxon abbots, we might bide -our chance, or at least make terms with our conquerors.</p> - -<p>So it was settled, and soon I had all those kind, -shaggy villains in the dining-hall standing there uncapped -upon the rushes in the torchlight, and listening -in melancholy silence to the plan, and then presently, -with the despatch our situation needed, they -were slipping in twos and threes out of the little rearward -portal and slinking off to the thickets.</p> - -<p>Presently our turn came, and as I stood gloomy and -stern in that voiceless, empty hall that was wont to -be so bright and noisy, fingering my itching dagger -and scowling out of the lattice upon the red gleam -in the night air hanging over the Norman camp-fires, -there came the fall of my wife’s feet upon the stairway. -In either hand she had a babe, swaddled close -up against the night air, and naught but their bright -wonder-brimming eyes showing as she hugged them -tight against her sides. For them, for them alone, -the frown gave way, and I stooped to that escape. -We crept away, and Editha’s heart was torn at leaving -thus the hall where she had been born and reared, -and when, presently, in the shadows of the crowded -oaks, she found all her slaves and bondsmen in a knot -to wish her farewell, the tears that had been brooding -long overflowed unrestrainedly.</p> - -<p>Even I, who had dwelt among them but a space on -my way from the further world of history toward the -unknown future, could not but be moved by their uncouth -love and loyalty. There were men there who -had stood in arms with her father when the cruel -Danes had ravished these valleys for a score of miles -inland, and some who had grown with her in the -goodly love and faith of thane and servitor as long as -she herself had lived. These rugged fellows wept like -children, called me father, <i>klafod</i>, “bread bestower,” -and pressed upon her in silent sorrow, kissing her -hands and the hem of her robe, and taking the little -ones from her arms, and pressing their rude unshaven -faces to their rosebud cheeks until I feared that Gurth -or Agitha might cry out, or some wail from that secret -scene of sorrow would catch the ears of our watchful -foemen.</p> - -<p>So, as gently as might be, I parted the weeping mistress -and her bondsmen, and set her upon a good horse -Sven had stolen from the paddock, and springing into -the saddle of my own strong charger, gave my broad -jeweled belt to the Saxon that he might divide it -among his comrades, and, taking a long tough spear -from his faithful hand, turned northward with Editha -upon our dangerous journey.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>We stole along as quietly as might be for some distance -in safety, riding where the moss was deepest -and the shadows thick, and then, just when we were -at the nearest to the Norman camp in the curve we -were making toward the monastery beyond, those ill-conditioned -invaders set up their evening trumpet-call. -As the shrill notes came down into the dim starlight -glade, strong, clear, and martial in the evening quiet, -they thrilled that gallant old charger I had borrowed -from the camp at Hastings down to his inmost warlike -fiber. He recognized the familiar sound—mayhap -it was the very trumpet-call which had been fodder -and stable to him for years—and, with ears -pricked forward and feet that beat the dewy turf in -union to his pleasure, he whinnied loud and long!</p> - -<p>Nothing it availed me to smite my hand upon my -breast at this deadly betrayal, or lay a warning finger -upon his brave, unwitting, velvet nozzle—luckless, -accursed horse, the mischief was done! But yet, I -will not abuse him, for the grass grows green over his -strong sleek limbs, and right well that night he -amended his error! Hardly had his neigh gone into -the stillness when the chargers in the camp answered -it, and in a moment the men-at-arms and squires by -the nearest fire were all on foot, and in another they -had espied us and set up a shout that woke the ready -camp in a moment.</p> - -<p>There was small time to think. I clapped my hand -upon Editha’s bridle rein and gave my own a shake, -and away we went across the checkered moonlight -glade. But so close had we been that a bow-string or -two hummed in the Norman tents, and before we were -fairly started I heard the rustle of the shafts in the -leaves overhead. It was more than arrows we had to -dread, and, turning my head for a moment ere we -plunged again into dark vistas of the forest road, -there, sure enough, was the pursuit streaming out -after us, and gallant squires and knights tumbling -into their saddles and shouting and cheering as they -came galloping and glittering down behind us—a very -pretty show, but a dangerous one.</p> - -<p>By the souls of St. Dunstan and his forty monks! -but I could have enjoyed that midnight ride had it -not been for the pale, brave rider at my side, and the -little ones that lay fearfully a-nestling on our saddle-bows. -For hours the swift, keen gallop of our horses -swallowed the unseen ground in tireless rhythm—all -through the night field and coppice and hanger swept -by us as we passed from glade to glade and woodland -to woodland—now ’twas a lonely forester’s hut that -shone for a moment in ghostly whiteness between the -tree-stems with the nightshine on its lifeless face, and -anon we sped through droves of Saxon swine, sleeping -upon the roadway under their oak-trees, round a -muffled swineherd. And the great forest stags stayed -the fraying of their antlers against the tree-trunks in -the dark coppices as we flew by, and the startled wolf -yelped and snarled upon our path as our fleeting -shadows overtook him; and then, there, ever behind, -low, remorseless, stern, came the murmuring hoofbeats -of our pursuers, now rising and now falling upon -the light breath of the night-wind, but ever, as our -panting steeds strode shorter and shorter, coming -nearer and nearer, clearer and clearer.</p> - -<p>Had this somber race, whereof Death held the -stakes, continued so as it began, straight on end, I -do not think we could have got away. But when we -had ridden many an hour, and the heavy streaks of -white foam were marking Editha’s horse with dreadful -suggestion, and his breath was coming hot and -husky through his wide red nostrils, for a moment or -two the sound of the pursuers stopped. Blessed respite. -They had missed the woodland road—but for -all too short a space. We had hardly made good four -or five hundred yards of advantage when, terribly near -to us, sounded the call of one of their horsemen, and -soon all the others were in his footsteps again. This -one, he who now led the pursuers by, perhaps, a quarter -of a mile, gained on us stride by stride, until I -could stand the thud of his horsehoofs on the turf -behind no more. “Here!” I said fiercely to Editha, -“take Gurth,” and put him with his sister in her arms, -then, bidding them ride slowly forward, turned my -good charger and paced him slowly back toward the -oncoming knight, with stern anger smoldering in my -heart.</p> - -<p>There was a smooth, wide bit of grassy road between -us in that center, midnight Saxon forest. And -never a gleam of light fell upon that ancient thoroughfare; -never the faintest, thin white finger of a star -pierced the black canopy of boughs overhead; it was -as black as the kennel of Cerberus, and as I sat my -panting war-horse I could not see my own hand -stretched out before me—yet there, in that grim blackness, -I met the Norman lance to lance, and sent his -spirit whirling into the outer space!</p> - -<p>I let him come within two hundred yards, then suddenly -rose in my stirrups and, shouting Harold’s war-cry, -since I did not deign to fall upon him unawares, -“Out! Out! England! England!” awaited his answer. -It came in a moment, strange and inhuman in the -black stillness, “Rou! Ha Rou! Notre Dame!” and then—muttering -between my tight-set teeth that surely -that road was the road to hell for one of us—I bent -my head down almost to my horse’s ears, drove the -spurs into him, and, gripping my long, keen spear, -thundered back upon my unseen foeman. With a -shock that startled the browsing hinds a mile away, -we were together. The Norman spear broke into -splinters athwart my body—but mine, more truly held, -struck him fair and full—I felt him like a great dead -weight upon it, I felt his saddle-girths burst and fly, -and then, as my own strong haft bent like a willow -wand and snapped close by my hand, that midnight -rider and his visionary steed went crashing to the -ground. Bitterly I laughed as I turned my horse northward -once more, and from a black cavern-mouth on -the hillside an owl echoed my grim merriment with -ghastly glee.</p> - -<p>Well, the night was all but done, yet were we not -out of the toils. A little further on, Editha’s floundering -steed gave out, and, just as we saw the pale turrets -of the monastery shining in the open a mile ahead -of us, the horse rolled over dead upon the grass and -bracken.</p> - -<p>“Quick, quick!” I said, “daughter of Hardicanute,” -and the good Saxon girl had passed the little ones to -the pommel and put her own foot upon my toe and -sprang on to my saddle crupper sooner than it takes -to tell. Ah! and the nearer we came to our goal the -closer seemed to be the throb and beat of the pursuing -hoofs behind. And many an anxious time did I turn -my head to watch the rogues closing with us, now -ever and anon in sight, and many a word of encouragement -did I whisper to the gallant charger whose -tireless courage was standing us in such good case.</p> - -<p>Noble beast! right well had he atoned his mistake -that evening, and in a few minutes more we left the -greenwood, and now he swept us over the Abbot’s fat -meadows, where the white morning mist was lying -ghostly in wreaths and wisps upon the tall wet grass, -and then we staggered into the foss and spurned the -short turf, and so past the checkered cloisters, and -pulled up finally at a low postern door I had espied -as we approached the nearest wall of the noble Saxon -monastery. Surely never was a traveler in such a -hurry to be admitted as I, and I beat upon that iron-studded -door with the knob of my dagger in a way -which must have been heard in every cell of that -sacred pile.</p> - -<p>“My friend,” said a reverend head which soon appeared -at a little window above, “is this not unseemly -haste at such an hour, and my Lord Abbot not yet -risen to matins?”</p> - -<p>“For the love of Heaven, father,” I said, “come down -and let us in!” for by this time the Normans were not -a bowshot away, and it still looked as if we might fall -into their hands.</p> - -<p>“Why,” said the unwotting monk, “no doubt the -hospitality of St. Olaf’s walls was never refused to -weary strangers, but you must go round to the lodge -and rouse the porter there—truly he sleeps a little -heavy, but no doubt he will admit you eventually.”</p> - -<p>“Sir Priest,” I shouted in my rage and fear as the -good old fellow went meandering on, “our need is past -all nicety of etiquette! Here is Editha of Voewood, -the niece of your holy Abbot himself, and yonder are -they who would harry and take her. Come down, -come down, or by the Holy Rood our blood will forever -stain your ungenerous lintel!”</p> - -<p>By this time the horsemen were breasting the -smooth green glacis that led up to the monastery walls—half -a dozen of them had outlived that wild race—the -reins were upon their smoking chargers’ necks, -their reeking spurs red and ruddy with their haste, -the spattered clay and loam of many a woodland rivulet -checkering their horses to the shoulders, and each -rider as he came shouting and clapping his hands -upon the foam-speckled neck of these panting steeds -that strained with thundering feet to the last hundred -yards of green sward and the prize beyond.</p> - -<p>Nearer and nearer they came, and my fair, tall -Saxon wife put down her little ones by the opening -of the door and covered them with her skirt as she -turned her pale, white, tearless face to the primrose -flush of the morning. <span id="Saxon-sword">And I—with bitterness and -despair in my heart—unsheathed my Saxon sword</span> -and cast the scabbard fiercely to the ground, and -stood out before them—my bare and heaving breast -a fair target for those glittering oncoming Norman -lances!</p> - -<p>And then—just when that game was all but lost—there -came the sweet patter of sandaled feet within, -bolt by bolt was drawn back; willing hands were -stretched out; the mother and her babes were dragged -from the steps—even my charger was swallowed by -the friendly shelter, and I myself was pulled back -lastly—the postern slammed to, and, as the great -locks turned again, and the iron bars fell into their -stony sockets, we heard the Norman chargers’ hoofs -ringing on the flagstones, and the angry spear-heads -rattling on the outer studs of that friendly oaken -doorway.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Thus was the gentle franklin saved; but little did I -think in saving her how long I was to lose her. I had -but stabled my noble beast down by the Abbot’s own -palfrey, and fed and watered him with loving gratitude, -and then had gone to Editha and my own supper -(waited on by many a wondering, kindly one of these -corded, russet Brothers), when that strange fate of -mine overtook me once again. I know not how it was, -but all on a sudden the world melted away into a -shadowy fantasy, my head sank upon the supper-board, -and there—between the goodly Abbot and the -fair Saxon lady—I fell into a pleasant, dreamless -sleep.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</h2> -</div> - -<p>It was with indescribable sensations of mingled -pain and satisfaction that life dawned again in my -mind and body after the drowsy ending of the last -chapter. To me the process was robbed of wonder—no -idea crossed my mind but that I had slept an ordinary -sleep; but to you, knowing the strange fate to -which I am liable, will at once occur suspicion and -expectation. Both these feelings will be gratified, yet -I must tell my story, in my simple fashion, as it occurred.</p> - -<p>This time, then, wakefulness came upon me in a -prolonged gray and crimson vision; and for a long -spell—now I think of it closely—probably for days, I -was wrestling to unravel a strange web of light and -gloom, in which all sorts of dreamy colors shone alternate -in a misty blending upon the blank field of my -mind. These colors were now and again swallowed -up by an episode of deep obscurity, and the longer I -studied them in an unwitting, listless way the more -pronounced and definite they became, until at last -they were no more a tinted haze of uncertain tone, -but a checkered plan, silently passing over my shut -eyelids at slow, measured intervals. Well, upon an -afternoon—which, you will understand, I shall not -readily forget—my eyes were suddenly opened, and, -with a deep sigh, like one who wakes after a good -night’s repose, existence came back upon me, and, all -motionless and dull, but very consciously alive and -observant, I was myself again.</p> - -<p>My first clear knowledge on that strange occasion -was of the strains of a merle singing somewhere near; -and, as those seraphic notes thrilled into the dry, -unused channels of my hearing, the melody went -through me to my utmost fiber. Next I felt, as a -strong tonic elixir, a draught of cool spring air, full -of the taste of sunshine and rich with the scent of a -grateful earth, blowing down upon me and dissipating, -with its sweet breath, the last mists of my -sleepfulness. While these soft ministrations of the -good nurse Nature put my blood into circulation -again, filling me with a gentle vegetable pleasure, my -newly opened eyes were astounded at the richness and -variety of their early discoverings.</p> - -<p>To the inexperience of my long forgetfulness everything -around was quaint and grotesque! Everything, -too, was gray, and crimson, and green. As I stared -and speculated, with the vapid artlessness of a baby -novice, the new world into which I was thus born -slowly took form and shape. It opened out into unknown -depths, into aisles and corridors, into a wooden -firmament overhead, checkered with clouds of timber-work -and endless mazes (to my poor untutored mind) -of groins and buttresses. Long gray walls—the same -that had been the groundwork of my fancy—opened -on either side, a great bare sweep of pavement was -below them, and a hundred windows letting in the -comely daylight above, but best of all was that long -one by me which the crimson sun smote strongly upon -its varied surface, and, gleaming through the gorgeous -patchwork of a dozen parables in colored -glasses, fell on the ground below in pools of many-colored -brightness. As I, inertly, watched these -shifting beams, I perceived in them the cause of those -gay mosaics with which the outer light had amused -my sleeping fancies!</p> - -<p>All these things in time appeared distinct enough -to me, and tempted a trial of whether my physical -condition equaled the apparent soundness of my -senses. I had hardly had leisure as yet to wonder -how I had come into this strange position, or to remember—so -strong were the demands of surrounding -circumstances on my attention—the last remote pages -of my adventures—remote, I now began to entertain -a certain consciousness, they were—I was so fully -taken up with the matter of the moment, that it never -occurred to me to speculate beyond, but the pressing -question was in what sort of a body were those sparks -of sight and sense burning.</p> - -<p>It was pretty clear I was in a church, and a greater -one than I had ever entered before. My position, I -could tell, spoke of funeral rites, or rather the stiff -comfort of one of those marble effigies with which -sculptors have from the earliest times decorated -tombs. And yet I was not entombed, nor did I think -I was marble, or even the plaster of more frugal -monumenters. My eyes served little purpose in the -deepening light, while as yet I had not moved a -muscle. As I thought and speculated, the dreadful -fancy came across me that, if I were not stone, possibly -I was the other extreme—a thin tissue of dry dust -held together by the leniency of long silence and repose, -and perhaps—dreadful consideration!—the sensations -of life and pleasure now felt were threading -those thin wasted tissues, as I have seen the red -sparks reluctantly wander in the black folds of a -charred scroll, and finally drop out one by one for -pure lack of fuel. Was I such a scroll? The idea -was not to be borne, and, pitting my will against the -stiffness of I knew not what interval, I slowly lifted -my right arm and held it forth at length.</p> - -<p>My chief sentiment at the moment was wonderment -at the limb thus held out in the dim cathedral twilight, -my next was a glow of triumph at this achievement, -and then, as something of the stress of my will -was taken off and the arm flew back with a jerk to its -exact place by my side, a flood of pain rushed into it, -and with the pain came slowly at first, but quickly -deepening and broadening, a remembrance of my previous -sleeps and those other awakenings of mine attended -by just such thrills.</p> - -<p>I will not weary you with repetitions or recount -the throes that I endured in attaining flexibility. I -have, by Heaven’s mercy, a determination within me -of which no one is fit to speak but he who knows the -extent and number of its conquests. A dozen times, -so keen were these griefs, I was tempted to relinquish -the struggle, and as many times I triumphed, the unquenched -fire of my mind but burning the brighter -for each opposition.</p> - -<p>At last, when the painted shadows had crept up -the opposite wall inch by inch and lost themselves in -the upper colonnades, and the gloom around me had -deepened into blackness, I was victorious, and weak, -and faint, and tingling; but, respirited and supple, I -lay back and slept like a child.</p> - -<p>The rest did me good. When I opened my eyes -again it was with no special surprise (for the capacity -of wonder is very volatile) that I saw the chancel -where I lay had been lighted up, and that a portly -Abbot was standing near, clad in brown fustian, -corded round his ample middle, and picking his teeth -with a little splinter of wood as he paced up and -down muttering to himself something, of which I only -caught such occasional fragments as “fat capons,” -“spoiled roasts” (with a sniff in the direction of the -side door of the abbey), and a malison on “unseemly -hours” (with a glance at an empty confessional near -me), until he presently halted opposite—whereon I -immediately shut my eyes—and regarded me with dull -complacency.</p> - -<p>As he did so an acolyte, a pale, grave recluse on -whose face vigils and abnegation had already set the -lines of age, stepped out from the shadow, and, standing -just behind his superior, also gazed upon me with -silent attention.</p> - -<p>“That blessed saint, Ambrose,” said the fat Abbot, -pointing at me with his toothpick, apparently for want -of something better to speak about, “is nearly as good -to us as the miraculous cruse was to the woman of -Sarepta: what this holy foundation would do just -now, when all men’s minds are turned to war, without -the pence we draw from pilgrims who come to kneel -to him, I cannot think!”</p> - -<p>“Indeed, sir,” said the sad-eyed youth, “the good influence -of that holy man knows no limit: it is as strong -in death as no doubt it was in life. ’Twas only this -morning that by leave of our Prior I brought out the -great missals, and there found something, but not -much, that concerned him.”</p> - -<p>“Recite it, brother,” quoth the Abbot with a yawn, -“and if you know anything of him beyond the pilgrim -pence he draws you know more than I do.”</p> - -<p>“Nay, my Lord, ’tis but little I learned. All the -entries save the first in our journals are of slight -value, for they but record from year to year how this -sum and that were spent in due keeping and care of -the sleeping wonder, and how many pilgrims visited -this shrine, and by how much Mother Church benefited -by their dutiful generosity.”</p> - -<p>“And the first entry? What said it?”</p> - -<p>“All too briefly, sir, it recorded in a faded passage -that when the saintly Baldwin—may God assoil him!” -quoth the friar, crossing himself—“when Baldwin, the -first Norman Bishop in your Holiness’s place, came -here, he found yon martyr laid on a mean and paltry -shelf among the brothers’ cells. All were gone who -could tell his life and history, but your predecessor, -says the scroll, judging by the outward marvel of -his suspended life, was certain of that wondrous -body’s holy beatitude, and, reflecting much, had him -meetly robed and washed, and placed him here. ’Twas -a good deed,” sighed the studious boy.</p> - -<p>“Ah! and it has told to the advantage of the monastery,” -responded his senior, and he came close up -and bent low over me, so that I heard him mutter, -“Strange old relic! I wonder how it feels to go so -long as that—if, indeed, he lives—without food. It -was a clever thought of my predecessor to convert the -old mummy-bundle of swaddles into a Norman saint! -Baldwin was almost too good a man for the cloisters; -with so much shrewdness, he should have been a -courtier!”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” I thought, “that is the way I came here, is it, -my fat friend?” and I lay as still as any of my comrade -monuments while the old Abbot bent over me, -chuckling to himself a bibulous chuckle, and pressing -his short, thick thumb into my sides as though -he was sampling a plump pigeon or a gosling at a -village fair.</p> - -<p>“By the forty saints that Augustine sent to this benighted -island, he takes his fasting wonderfully well! -He is firm in gammon and brisket—and, by that -saintly band, he has even a touch of color in his -cheeks, unless these flickering lights play my eyes a -trick!” whereupon his Reverence regarded me with -lively admiration, little witting it was more than a -breathless marvel, a senseless body, he was thus addressing.</p> - -<p>In a moment he turned again: “Thou didst not tell -me the date of this old fellow’s—Heaven forgive me!—of -this blessed martyr’s sleep. How long ago said -the chronicles since this wondrous trance began?”</p> - -<p>“My Lord, I computed the matter, and here, by that -veracious, unquestionable record, he has lain three -hundred years and more!”</p> - -<p>At this extraordinary statement the portly Abbot -whistled as though he were on a country green, and I, -so startling, so incredulous was it, involuntarily -turned my head toward them, and gathered my -breath to cast back that audacious lie. But neither -movement nor sign was seen, for at that very moment -the quiet novice laid a finger upon the monk’s full -sleeve and whispered hurriedly, “Father!—the Earl—the -Earl!” and both looked down the chancel.</p> - -<p>At the bottom the door swung open, giving a brief -sight of the pale-blue evening beyond, and there entered -a tall and martial figure who advanced in warlike -harness to the altar steps, and, placing down the -helm decked with plumes that danced black and visionary -in the dim cresset light, he fell upon one knee.</p> - -<p>“Pax vobiscum, my son!” murmured the Abbot, extending -his hands in blessing.</p> - -<p>“Et vobis,” answered the gallant, “da mihi, domine -reverendissime, misericordiam vestram!” And at the -sound of their voices I raised me to my elbow, for the -young warlike Earl, as he bent him there, was -sheathed and armed in a way that I, though familiar -with many camps, had never seen before.</p> - -<p>Over his fine gold hauberk was a wondrous tabard, -a magnificent emblazoned surtout, and, as he knelt, -the light of the waxen altar tapers twinkled upon his -steel vestments, they touched his yellow curls and -sparkled upon the jeweled links of the chain he had -about his neck; they gleamed from breast-plate and -from belt; they illuminated the thick-sown pearls and -sapphires of his sword-hilt, and glanced back in subdued -radiance, as befited that holy place, from gauntlets -and gorget, from warlike furniture and lordly -gems, down to the great rowels of the golden spurs -that decked his knightly heels.</p> - -<p>The acolyte had shrunk into the shadows, and the -Earl had had his blessing, when the Abbot drew him -into the recess where I lay in the moonbeams, that -he might speak him the more privately—that Churchman -little guessing what a good listener the stern, -cold saint, so trim and prone upon his marble shrine, -could be!</p> - -<p>“Ah, noble Codrington,” quoth the monk, “truly we -will to the confessional at once, since thou art in so -much haste, and thou shalt certainly travel the lighter -for leaving thy load of transgressions to the holy forgiveness -of Mother Church; but first, tell me true, -dost thou really sail for France to-night?”</p> - -<p>“Holy father, at this very moment our vessels are -waiting to be gone, and all my good companions chafe -and vex them for this my absence!”</p> - -<p>“What! and dost thou start for hostile shores and -bloody feuds with half thy tithes and tolls unpaid to -us? Noble Earl, wert thou to meet with any mischance -yonder—which Heaven prevent!—and didst -thou stand ill with our exchequer in this particular, -there were no hope for thee! I tell thee thou wert as -surely damned if thou diedst owing this holy foundation -aught of the poor contributions it asks of those -to whom it ministers as if thy life were one long count -of wickedness! I will not listen—I will not shrive -thee until thou hast comported thyself duly in this -most important particular!”</p> - -<p>“Good father, thy warmth is unnecessary,” replied -the Earl. “My worldly matters are set straight, and -my steward has orders to pay thee in full all that may -be owing between us; ’twas spiritual settlement I -came to seek.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” quoth his Reverence, in an altered tone. -“Then thou art free at once to follow the promptings -of thy noble instinct, and serve thy King and country -as thou listest. I fear this will be a bloody war you -go to.”</p> - -<p>“’Tis like to be,” said the soldier, brightening up -and speaking out boldly on a subject he loved, his fine -eyes flashing with martial fire—“already the yellow -sun of Picardy flaunts on Edward’s royal lilies!”</p> - -<p>“Ah,” put in the monk, “and no doubt ripens many -a butt of noble malmsey.”</p> - -<p>“Already the red soil of Flanders is redder by the -red blood of our gallant chivalry!”</p> - -<p>“Yet even then not half so red, good Earl, as the ripe -brew of Burgundy—a jolly mellow brew that has -stood in the back part of the cellar, secure in the loving -forbearance of twenty masters. Talk of renown—talk -of thy leman—talk of honor and the breaking -of spears—what are all these to such a vat of beaded -pleasures? I tell thee, Codrington, not even the -fabled pool wherein the rhymers say the cursed Paynim -looks to foretaste the delights of his sinful -heaven reflects more joy than such a cobwebbed tub. -Would that I had more of them!” added the bibulous -old priest after a pause, and sighing deeply. As he -did so an idea occurred to him, for he exclaimed, -“Look thee, my gallant boy! Thou art bound whither -all this noble stuff doth come from, and ’tis quite possible -in the rough and tumble of bloody strife thou -may’st be at the turning inside out of many a fat roost -and many a well-stocked cellar. Now, if this be so, -and thou wilt remember me when thou seest the gallant -drink about to be squandered on the loose gullets -of base, scullion troopers, why then ’tis a bargain, -and, in paternal acknowledgment of this thy filial -duty, I will hear thy confession now, and thy penance, -I promise, shall not be such as will inconvenience -thine active life.”</p> - -<p>The knight bent his head, somewhat coldly I -thought, and then they turned and went over to the -oriel confessional, where the moonlight was throwing -from the window above a pallid pearly transcript of -the Mother and her sweet Nazarene Babe, all in silver -and opal tints, upon the sacred woodwork, and as the -priest’s black shadow blotted the tender picture out I -heard him say:</p> - -<p>“But mind, it must be good and ripe—’tis that vintage -with the two white crosses down by the vent that -I like best—an thou sendest me any sour Calais layman -tipple, thou art a forsworn heretic, with all thy -sin afresh upon thee—so discriminate,” and the worthy -Churchman entered to shrive and forgive, and as -the casement closed upon him the sweet, silent, indifferent -shadows from above blossomed again upon the -doorway.</p> - -<p>Dreamy and drowsy I lay back and thought and -wondered, for how long I know not, but for long—until -the dim aisles had grown midnight-silent and -the moon had set, and then an owl hooted on the -ledges outside, and at that sound, with a start and a -sigh, I awoke once more.</p> - -<p>“Fools!” I muttered, thinking over what I had heard -with dreamy insequence—“fools, liars, to set such a -date upon this rest of mine! Drunken churls! I will -go at once to my fair Saxon, to my sweet nestlings—that -is, if they be not yet to bed—and to-morrow I -will give that meager acolyte such a lesson in the -misreading of his missal-margins as shall last him -till Doomsday. By St. Dunstan! he shall play no -more pranks with me—and yet, and yet, my heart -misgives me—my soul is loaded with foreboding, my -spirit is sick within me. Where have I come to? -Who am I? Gods! Hapi, Amenti of the golden -Egyptian past, Skogula, Mista of the Saxon hills and -woods, grant that this be not some new mischance—some -other horrible lapse!” and I sat up there on -the white stone, and bowed my head and dangled my -apostolic heels against my own commemorative marbles -below, while gusts of alternate dread and indignation -swept through the leafless thickets of remembrance.</p> - -<p>Presently these meditations were disturbed by some -very different outward sensations. There came stealing -over the consecrated pavements of that holy pile -the sound of singing, and it did not savor of angelic -harmony; it was rough, and jolly, and warbled and -tripped about the columns and altar steps in most -unseemly sprightliness. “Surely never did St. Gregory -pen such a rousing chorus as that,” I thought to -myself, as, with ears pricked, I listened to the dulcet -harmonies. And along with the music came such a -merry odor as made me thirsty to smell of it. ’Twas -not incense—’twas much more like cinnamon and nutmegs—and -never did censer—never did myrrh and -galbanum smell so much of burnt sack and roasted -crab-apples as that unctuous, appetizing taint.</p> - -<p>I got down at once off my slab, and, being mighty -hungry, as I then discovered, I followed up that trail -like a sleuth-hound on a slot. It was not reverent, it -did not suit my saintship, but down the steps I went -hot and hungry, and passed the reredos and crossed -the apse, and round the pulpit, and over the curicula, -and through the aisles, and by many a shrine where -the tapers dimly burned I pressed, and so, with the -scent breast high, I flitted through an open archway -into the checkered cloisters. Then, tripping heedlessly -over the lettered slabs that kept down the dust -of many a roystering abbas, I—the latest hungry one -of the countless hungry children of time—followed -down that jolly trail, my apostolic linens tucked under -my arm, jeweled miter on a head more accustomed to -soldier wear, and golden crook carried, alas! like a -hunter lance “at trail” in my other hand, till I brought -the quest to bay. At the end of the cloisters was a -door set ajar, and along by the jamb a mellow streak -of yellow light was streaming out, rich with those -odors I had smelled and laden with laughter and the -sound of wine-soaked voices noisy over the end, it -might be, of what seemed a goodly supper. I advanced -to the light, listened a moment, and then in -my imperious way pushed wide the panel and entered.</p> - -<p>It was the refectory of the monastery, and a right -noble hall wherein ostentation and piety struggled -for dominion. Overhead the high peaked ceiling was -a maze of cunningly wrought and carved woodwork, -dark with time and harmonized with the assimilating -touches of age. Round by the ample walls right and -left ran a corridor into the dim far distance; and crucifix -and golden ewer, cunning saintly image, and noble-branching -silver candlesticks, gleamed in the dusk -against the ebony and polish of balustrade and paneling. -Under the heavy glow of all these things the -Brothers’ bare wooden table extended in long demure -lines; but wooden platter and black leathern mugs -were now all deserted and empty.</p> - -<p>It was from the upper end came the light and jollity. -Here a wider table was placed across the breadth -of the hall, and upon it all was sumptuous magnificence—holy -poverty here had capitulated to priestly -arrogance. Silver and gold, and rare glasses from -cunning Italian molds, enriched about with shining -enamels wherein were limned many an ancient -heathen fancy, shone and sparkled on that monkish -board. On either side, in mighty candelabra, bequeathed -by superstition and fear, there twinkled a -hundred waxen candles, and up to the flames of these -steamed, as I looked, many a costly dish uncovered, -and many a mellow brew beaded and shining to the -very brim of those jeweled horns and beakers that -were the chief accessories to that pleasant spread.</p> - -<p>They who sat here seemed, if a layman might judge, -right well able to do justice to these things. Half a -dozen of them, jolly, rosy priors and prelates, were -round that supper table, rubicund with wine and feeding, -and in the high carved chair, coif thrown back -from head, his round, ruddy face aflush with liquor, -his fat red hand asprawl about his flagon, and his -small eyes glazed and stupid in his drunkenness, sat -my friend the latest Abbot of St. Olaf’s fane.</p> - -<p>He had been singing, and, as I entered, the last -distich died away upon his lips, his round, close-cropped -head, overwhelmed with the wine he loved -so much, sank down upon the table, the red vintage -ran from the overturned beaker in a crimson streak, -and while his boon comrades laughed long and loud -his holiness slept unmindful. It was at this very -moment that I entered, and stood there in my ghostly -linen, stern and pale with fasting, and frowning -grimly upon those godless revelers. Jove! it was a -sight to see them blanch—to see the terror leap from -eye to eye as each in turn caught sight of me—to see -their jolly jaws drop down, and watch the sickly -pallor sweeping like icy wind across their countenances. -So grim and silent did we face each other -in that stern moment that not a finger moved—not -a pulse, I think, there beat in all their bodies, and in -that mighty hall not a sound was heard save the drip, -drip of the Abbot’s malmsey upon the floor and his -own husky snoring as he lay asleep amid the costly -litter of his swinish meal.</p> - -<p>Stern, inflexible, there by the black backing of the -portal I frowned upon them—I, whom they only -deemed of as a saint dead three hundred years before—I, -whom lifeless they knew so well, now stood vengeful -upon their threshold, scowling scorn and contempt -from eyes where no life should have been—can you -doubt but they were sick at heart, with pallid cheeks -answering to coward consciences? For long we remained -so, and then, with a wild yell of terror they -were all on foot, and, like homing bats by a cavern -mouth, were scrambling and struggling into the gloom -of the opposite doorway. I let them escape, then, -stalking over to the archway, thrust the wicket to -upon the heels of the last flyer, and glad to be so rid -of them, shot the bolt into the socket and barred that -entry.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_154fp" style="max-width: 28em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_154fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>Stern, inflexible, I frowned upon them</p></div> -</div> - -<p>Then I went back to my friend the Abbot, and stood, -reflective, behind him, wondering whether it were not -a duty to humanity to rid it of such a knave even as -he slept there. But while I stood at his elbow contemplating -him, the unwonted silence told upon his -dormant faculties, and presently the heavy head was -raised, and, after an inarticulate murmur or two, he -smiled imbecilely, and, picking up the thread of his -revelry, hiccoughed out: “The chorus, good brothers!—the -chorus—and all together!”</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Die we must, but let us die drinking at an inn.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hold the winecup to our lips sparkling from the bin!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So, when angels flutter down to take us from our sin,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah! God have mercy on these sots!” the cherubs will begin.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“Why, you rogues!” he said, as his drunken melody -found no echo in the great hall—“why, you sleepy -villains! am I a strolling troubadour that I should -sing thus alone to you?” And then, as his bleared -and dazzled eyes wandered round the empty places, -the spilled wine and overturned trestles, he smiled -again with drunken cunning. “Ah!” he muttered; -“then they must be all under the tables! I thought -that last round of sack would finish them! Hallo, -there! Ambrose! De Vœux! Jervaulx! Jolly comrades!—sleepy -dogs! Come forth! Fie on ye!—to call yourselves -good monks, and yet to leave thy simple, kindly -Prior thus to himself!” and he pulled up the table -linen and peered below. Sorely was the Churchman -perplexed to see nothing; and first he glared up among -the oaken rafters, as though by chance his fellows -had flown thither, and then he stared at the empty -places, and so his gaze wandered round, until, in a -minute or two, it had made the complete circle of the -place, and finally rested on me, standing, immovable, -a pace from his elbow.</p> - -<p>At first he stared upon me with vapid amusement, -and then with stupid wonder. But it was not more -than a second or two before the truth dawned upon -that hazy intellect, and then I saw the thick, short -hands tighten upon the carving of his priestly throne, -I saw the wine flush pale upon his cheeks, and the -drunken light in his eyes give place to the glare of -terror and consternation. Just as they had done before -him, but with infinite more intensity, he blanched -and withered before my unrelenting gaze, he turned -in a moment before my grim, imperious frown, from -a jolly, rubicund old bibber, rosy and quarrelsome -with his supper, into a cadaverous, sober-minded confessor, -lantern-jawed and yellow—and then with a -hideous cry he was on foot and flying for the doorway -by which his friends had gone! But I had need of -that good confessor, and ere he could stagger a yard -the golden apostolic crook was about the ankle of -the errant sheep, and the Prior of St. Olaf’s rolled -over headlong upon the floor.</p> - -<p>I sat down to supper, and as I helped myself to -venison pasty and malmsey I heard the beads running -through the recumbent Abbot’s fingers quicker than -water runs from a spout after a summer thunder -shower. “Misericordia, Domine, nobis!” murmured -the old sinner, and I let him grovel and pray in his -abject panic for a time, then bade him rise. Now, -the fierceness of this command was somewhat marred, -because my mouth was very full just then of pasty -crust, and the accents appeared to carry less consternation -into my friend’s heart than I had intended. -The paternoster began to run with more method and -coherence, and, soon finding he was not yet halfway -to that nether abyss he had seen opening before him, -he plucked up a little heart of grace. Besides, the -avenger was at supper, and making mighty inroads -into the provender the Abbot loved so well: this took -off the rough edge of terror, and was in itself so -curious a phenomenon that little by little, with the -utmost circumspection, the monk raised his head and -looked at me. I kept my baleful eyes turned away, -and busied me with my loaded platter—which, by the -way, was far the most interesting item of the two—and -so by degrees he gained confidence, and came into -a sitting position, and gazed at the hungry saint, so -active with the victuals, wonder and awe playing -across his countenance. “I see, Sir Priest,” I said, -“you have a good cook yonder in the buttery,” but the -Abbot was as yet too dazed to answer, so I went on to -put him more at his ease (for I designed to ask him -some questions later on), “now, where I come from, -the great fault of the cooks is, they appreciate none -of your Norman niceties—they broil and roast forever, -as though every one had a hunter appetite, and -thus I have often been weary of their eternal messes -of pork and kine.”</p> - -<p>“Holy saints!” quoth the Abbot. “I did not dream -you had any cooks at all.”</p> - -<p>“No cooks! Thou fat wine-vat, what, didst thou -think we ate our viands raw?”</p> - -<p>“Heaven forbid!” the Abbot gasped. “But, truly, -your sanctity’s experiences astound me! ’Tis all -against the canons. And if they be thus, as you say, -at their trenchers, may I ask, in all humbleness and -humility, how your blessed friends are at their -flagons?”</p> - -<p>“Ah! Sir, good fellows enough my jolly comrades, -but caring little for thy red and purple vintages, liking -better the merry ale that autumn sends, and the -honeyed mead, yet in their way as merry roysterers -for the most part as though they were all Norman -Abbots,” I said, glancing askance at him.</p> - -<p>By this time the Prior was on his feet, as sober as -could be, but apparently infinitely surprised and perplexed -at what he saw and heard. He cogitated, and -then he diffidently asked: “An it were not too presumptive, -might I ask if your saintship knows the -blessed Oswald?”</p> - -<p>“Not I.”</p> - -<p>“Nor yet the holy Sewall de Monteign?” he queried -with a sigh—“once head of these halls and cells.”</p> - -<p>“Never heard of him in my life.”</p> - -<p>“Nor yet of Grindal? or Gerard of Bayeux? or the -saintly Anselm, my predecessor in that chair you fill?” -groaned the jolly confessor.</p> - -<p>“I tell you, priest, I know none of them—never -heard their names or aught of them till now.”</p> - -<p>“Alas! alas!” quoth the monk, “then if none of these -have won to heaven, if none of these are known to -thee so newly thence, there can be but small hope for -me!” And his fat round chin sank upon his ample -chest, and he heaved a sigh that set the candles all -a-flickering halfway down the table.</p> - -<p>“Why, priest, what art thou talking of?—Paradise -and long-dead saints? ’Twas of the Saxons—Harold’s -Saxons—my jolly comrades and allies in arms -when last in life, I spoke.”</p> - -<p>“Ho! ho! Was that so? Why, I thought thou wert -talking of things celestial all this while, though, in -truth, thy speech sorted astounding ill with all I had -heard before!”</p> - -<p>“I think, Father,” I responded, “there is more -burnt sack under thy ample girdle than wit beneath -thy cowl. But never mind, we will not quarrel. Sit -down, fill yon tankard (for dryness will not, I fancy, -improve thy eloquence), and tell me soberly something -of this nap of mine.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, but, Sir, I was never very good at such studious -work,” the monk replied, seating himself with -uneasy obedience: “if I might but fetch in our Clerk—though, -in truth, I cannot imagine why and whither -he has gone—he is one who has by heart the things -thou wouldst know.”</p> - -<p>“Stir a foot, priest,” I said, with feigned anger, “and -thou art but a dead Abbot! Tell me so much as your -muddled brain can recall. Now, when I supped here -before that yellow-skinned Norman William sat upon -the English throne——”</p> - -<p>“Saints in Paradise! what, he who routed Harold, -and founded yonder abbey of Battle—impossible!”</p> - -<p>“What, dost thou bandy thy ‘impossible’ with me? -Slave, if thou cast again but one atom of doubt, one -single iota of thy heretic criticism here, thou shalt -go thyself to perdition and seek Sewall de Monteign -and Gerard of Bayeux,” and I laid my hand upon my -crook.</p> - -<p>“Misericordia! misericordia!” stammered the Abbot. -“I meant no ill whatever, but the extent of thy -Holiness’s astounding abstinence overwhelmed me.”</p> - -<p>“Why, then to your story. But I am foolish to ask. -You cannot, you dare not, tell me again that lie of -thy acolyte, that three hundred years have passed -since then. Look up, say ’twas false, and that single -word shall unburden here,” and I struck my breast, -“a soul of a load of dread and fear heavier than ever -was lifted by priestly absolution before.”</p> - -<p>But still he hung his face, and I heard him mutter -that fifty white-boned Abbots lay in the cloisters, heel -to head, and the first one was a kinsman of William’s, -and the last was his own predecessor.</p> - -<p>“Then, if thou darest not answer this question, who -reigns above us now? Has the Norman star set, as -I once hoped it might, behind the red cloud of rebellion? -or does it still shine to the shame of all Saxons?”</p> - -<p>“Sir Saint,” answered the monk, with a little touch -of the courage and pride of his race gleaming for a -moment through his drunken humility, “rebellion -never scared the Norman power—so much I know for -certain; and Saxon and Norman are one by the grace -of God, linked in brotherhood under the noble Edward. -Expurgate thy divergences; erase ‘invaders -and invaded’ from thy memory, and drink as I drink -—if, indeed, all this be news to thee—for the first time -to ‘England and to the English!’”</p> - -<p>“Waes hael, Sir Monk—‘England and the English!’”</p> - -<p>“Drink hael, good saint!” he answered, giving me -the right acceptance of my flagon challenge, “and I do -hereby receive thee most paternally into the national -fold! Nevertheless, thou art the most perplexing -martyr that ever honored this holy fane”—and he -raised the great silver cup to his lips and took a -mighty pull. Then he gazed reflectively for a moment -into the capacious measure, as though the pageantry -of history were passing across the shining bottom in -fantastic sequence, and looked up and said—“Most -wonderful—most wonderful! Why, then, you know -nothing of William the Red?”</p> - -<p>“The William I knew was red enough in the hands.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! but this other one who followed him was red -on the head as well, and an Anselm was Archbishop -while he reigned.”</p> - -<p>“Well, and who came next in thy preposterous -tale?”</p> - -<p>“Henry Plantagenet—unless all this sack confuses -my memory—I have told thee, good saint, I am better -at mass and breviar than at missals and scroll.”</p> - -<p>“And better, no doubt, than either at thy cellar -score-book, priest! But what befell your Henry?”</p> - -<p>“Frankly, I am not very certain; but he died eventually.”</p> - -<p>“’Tis the wont of kings no less than of lesser folk. -Pass me yon bread platter, and fill thy flagon. So -much history, I see, makes thee husky and sad!”</p> - -<p>“Well, then came Stephen de Blois, the son of -Adeliza, who was daughter to the Conqueror.”</p> - -<p>“Forsworn priest!” I exclaimed at that familiar -name, leaping to my feet and swinging the great gold -flail into the air, “that is a falser lie than any yet. -The noble Adeliza was troth to Harold, and had no -children; unsay it, or——” and here the crook poised -ominously over the shrieking Abbot’s head.</p> - -<p>“I lied! I lied!” yelled the monk, cowering under the -swing of my weapon like a partridge beneath a falcon’s -circlings, and then, as the crook was thrown -down on the table again, he added: “’Twas Adela, -I meant; but what it should matter to thee whether -it were Adeliza or Adela passes my comprehension,” -and the monk smoothed out his ruffled feathers.</p> - -<p>“Proceed! It is not for thee to question. Wrought -Stephen anything more notable to thy mind than -Henry?”</p> - -<p>“Well, Sir, I recall, now thou puttest me to it, that -he laid rough hands upon the sacred persons of our -Bishops once or twice, yet he was much indebted to -them. Didst ever draw sword in a good quarrel, Sir -Saint?”</p> - -<p>“Didst ever put thy fingers into a venison pasty, Sir -Priest? Because, if thou hast, as often, and oftener, -have I done according to thy supposition.”</p> - -<p>“Why, then, I wonder you lay still upon yonder -white marble slab while all the northern Bishops were -up in arms for Stephen, and on bloody Northallerton -Moor broke the power of the cruel Northmen forever. -That day, Sir, the sacred flags of St. Cuthbert of -Durham, St. Peter of York, St. John of Beverley, St. -Wilfred of Ripon, not to mention the holy Thurstan’s -ruddy pennon, led the van of battle. ’Tis all set out -in a pretty scroll that we have over the priory fireplace, -else, as you will doubtless guess, I had never -remembered so much of detail.”</p> - -<p>“Anyhow, it is well recalled. Who came next?”</p> - -<p>“Another Henry, and he made the saintly Thomas -Becket Archbishop in the year of grace 1162, and -afterward the holy prelate was gathered to bliss.”</p> - -<p>“Thy history is mostly exits and entries, but perhaps -it is none the less accurate for all that. And -now thou wilt say this Henry was no more lasting -than his kinsman—he too died.”</p> - -<p>“Completely and wholly, Sir, so that the burly Richard -Cœur de Lion reigned in his stead; and then came -John, who was at best but a wayward vassal of St. -Peter’s Chair.”</p> - -<p>“Down with him, jolly Abbot! And mount another -on the shaky throne of thy fantastic narrative. I am -weary of the succession already, and since we have -come so far away from where I thought we were I -care for no great niceties of detail. Put thy Sovereigns -to the amble, make them trot across the stage -of thy hazy recollection, or thou wilt be asleep before -thou canst stall and stable half of them.”</p> - -<p>“Well, then, a Henry came after John, and an Edward -followed him—then another of the name—and -then a third—that noble Edward in whose sway the -realm now is, and in whom (save some certain exactions -of rent and taxes) Mother Church perceives a -glorious and a warlike son. But it is a long muster -roll from the time of thy Norman monarch to this -year of grace 1346.”</p> - -<p>“A long roll!” I muttered to myself, turning away -from my empty plate—“horrible, immense, and vast! -Good Lord! what shadows are these men who come -and go like this! Wonderful and dreadful! that all -those tinseled puppets of history—those throbbing -epitomes of passion and godlike hopes—should have -budded, and decayed, and passed out into the void, -finding only their being, to my mind, in the shallow -vehicle of this base Churchman’s wine-vault breath. -Dreadful, quaint, abominable! to think that all these -flickering human things have paced across the sunny -white screen of life—like the colored fantasies yonder -stained windows threw upon my sleeping eyes—and -yet I only but wake hungry and empty, unchanged, -unmindful, careless!—Priest!” I said aloud, so sudden -and fiercely that the monk leaped to his feet with -a startled cry from the drunken sleep into which he -had fallen—“priest! dost fear the fires of thy purgatory?”</p> - -<p>“Ah, glorious miracle! but—but surely thou wouldst -not——”</p> - -<p>“Why, then, answer me truly, swear by that great -crucified form there shining in the taper light above -thy throne, swear by Him to whom thou nightly offerest -the hyssop incense of thy beastly excesses—swear, -I say!”</p> - -<p>“I do—I do!” exclaimed St. Olaf’s priest in extravagant -terror, as I towered before him with all my old -Phrygian fire emphasized by the sanctity of my extraordinary -repute. “I swear!” he said; but, seeing -me hesitate, he added, “What wouldst thou of thy -poor, unworthy servant?”</p> - -<p>’Twas not so easy to answer him, and I hung my -head for a moment; then said: “When I died—in the -Norman time, thou rememberest—there was a woman -here, and two sunny little ones, blue in the eyes and -comely to look upon—— There, shut thy stupid -mouth, and look not so astounded! I tell thee they -were here—here, in St. Olaf’s Hall—here, at this very -high table between me and St. Olaf’s Abbot—three -tender flowers, old man, set in the black framing of a -hundred of thy corded, wondering brotherhood. Now, -tell me—tell me the very simple truth—is there such -a woman here, tall and fair, and melancholy gracious? -Are there such babes in thy cloisters or cells?”</p> - -<p>“It is against the canons of our order.”</p> - -<p>“A malison on thee and thy order! Is there, then, -no effigy in yon chancel, no tablet, no record of her—I -mean of that noble lady and those comely little ones?”</p> - -<p>“I know of none, Sir Saint.”</p> - -<p>“Think again. She was a franklin, she had wide -lands; she reverenced thy Church, and in her grief, -being woman, she would turn devout. Surely she -built some shrine, or made thee a portico, or blazoned -a window to shame rough Fate with the evidence of -her gentleness?”</p> - -<p>“There is none such in St. Olaf’s. But, now thou -speakest of shrines, I do remember one some hours’ -ride from here; unroofed and rotten, but, nevertheless, -such as you suggest, and in it there is a cenotaph, -and a woman laid out straight. She is cracked across -the middle and mossy, and there be two small kneeling -figures by her head, but I never looked nicely to -determine whether they were blessed cherubin or but -common children. The shepherds who keep their -flocks there and shelter from the showers under the -crumbling walls call the place Voewood.”</p> - -<p>“Enough, priest,” I said, as I paced hither and -thither across the hall in gloomy grief, and then taking -my hasty resolution I turned to him sternly—“Make -what capital thou list of to-night’s adventure, -but remember the next time thou seest a saint may -Heaven pity thee if thou art not in better sort—turn -thy face to the wall!”</p> - -<p>The frightened Abbot obeyed; I shed in a white -heap upon the floor my saintly vestments, my miter -and crook on top, and then, stepping lightly down the -hall, mounted upon a bench, unfastened and threw -open a lattice, and, placing my foot upon the sill, -sprang out into the night and open world again!</p> - -<p>I walked and ran until the day came, southward -constantly, now and again asking my way of an astonished -hind, but for the most part guided by some -strange instinct, and before the following noon I was -at my old Saxon homestead.</p> - -<p>But could it be Voewood? Not a vestige of a house -anywhere in that wide grassy glade where Voewood -stood, not a sign of life, not a sound to break the -stillness! Near by there ran a little brook, and against -it, just as the monk had said, were the four gray walls -of a lonely roofless shrine. Over the shrine, on the -very spot where Voewood stood—alas! alas!—was a -long, grassy knoll, crowned with hawthorns and little -flowers shining in the sunlight. I went into the ruined -chapel, and there, stained and lichened and broken, -in the thorny embrace of the brambles, lay the marble -figure of my sweet Saxon wife, and by the pillow—green-velveted -with the tapestry of nature—knelt her -little ones on either side. I dropped upon my knee -and buried my face in her crumbling bosom and wept. -What mattered the eclipse while I slept of all those -kingly planets that had shone in the English firmament -compared to the setting of this one white star -of mine? I rushed outside to the mound that hid -the forgotten foundations of my home, and, as the -passion swept up and engulfed my heart, I buried -my head in my arms and hurled myself upon the -ground and cursed that tender green moss that should -have been so hard—cursed that golden English sunlight -that suited so ill with my sorrows—and cursed -again and again in my bitterness those lying blossoms -overhead that showered down their petals on me, saying -it was spring, when it was the blackest winter of -desolation, the night-time of my disappointment.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</h2> -</div> - -<p>I am not of a nature to be long overwhelmed. All -that night and far into the next day I lay upon Voewood, -alternately sleeping and bewailing the chance -which tossed me to and fro upon the restless ocean of -time, and then I arose. I threw my arms round each -in turn of those dear, callous ones in the chapel, and -pushed back the brambles from them, and wept a little, -and told myself the pleasure-store of life was now -surely spent to the very last coin—then, with a mighty -effort, tore myself away. Again and again, while the -smooth swell of the grassy mound under which the -foundations of the long-destroyed Saxon homestead -with the little chapel by the rivulet were in sight, I -turned and turned, loth and sad. But no sooner had -the leafy screen hid them than I set off and ran whither -I knew not, nor cared—indeed, I was so terribly drawn -by that spot—so close in the meshes of its association, -so thralled by the presence of the dust of all I had had -to lose or live for, that I feared, if the best haste were -not made, I should neither haste nor fly from that terribly -sweet hillock of lamentations forever.</p> - -<p>What could it matter where my wandering feet were -turned? All the world was void and vapid, east and -west alike indifferent, to one so homeless, and thus I -stalked on through glades and coppices for hours and -days, with my chin upon my chest, and feeling marvelously -cheap and lonely. But enough of this. -Never yet did I crave sympathy of any man: why -should I seem to seek it of you—skeptical and remote?</p> - -<p>There were those who appeared at that time to take -compassion on me unasked, and I remember the countrywomen -at whose cottage doors I hesitated a moment—yearning -with pent-up affection over their -curly-headed little ones—added to the draught of -water I begged such food as their slender stores provided. -One of these gave me a solid green forester’s -cape and jerkin; another put shoes of leather upon -my feet; and a third robbed her husband’s pegs to find -me headwear, and so through the gifts of their unspoken -good-will I came by degrees into the raiment -of the time.</p> - -<p>But nothing seemed to hide the inexpressible -strangeness I began to carry about with me. No sorry -apparel, no woodman’s cap drawn down over my -brows, no rustic clogs upon my wandering feet, -masked me for a moment from the awe and wonder of -these good English people. None of them dared ask -me a question, how I came or where I went, but everywhere -it was the same. They had but to look upon -me, and up they rose, and in silence, and, drawn involuntarily -by that stern history of mine they knew -naught of, they ministered to me according to their -means. The women dropped their courtesies, and—unasked, -unasking—fed the grim and ragged stranger -from their cleanest platter, the men stood by and uncapped -them to my threadbare russet, and whole -groups would watch spellbound upon the village -mounds as I paced moodily away.</p> - -<p>In course of time my grief began to mend, so that it -was presently possible to take a calmer view of the -situation, and to bend my thoughts upon what it were -best to do next. Though I love the greenwood, and -am never so happy as when solitary, yet my nature -was not made, alas! for sylvan idleness. I felt I had -the greatest admiration and brotherhood with those -who are recluse and shun the noisy struggles of the -world; yet had I always been a leader of men, I now -remembered, as all the pages of my past history came -one by one before me and I meditated upon them day -and night. No, I was not made to walk these woods -alone, and, if another argument were wanting, it were -found in the fact that I was here exposed to every -weather, hungry and shelterless! I could not be forever -begging from door to door, eternally throwing my -awe-inspiring shadow across the lintels of these gentle-mannered -woodland folk, and my tastes, though -never gluttonous, rebelled most strongly against the -perpetual dietary of herbs and roots and limpid -brooks.</p> - -<p>Reflecting on these things one day, as I lay friendless -and ragged in the knotty elbow of a great oak’s -earth-bare roots, after some weeks of homeless wandering, -I fell asleep, and dreamed all the fair shining -landscape were a tented field, and all the rustling -rushes down by the neighboring streamlet’s banks -were the serried spears of a great concourse of soldiers -defiling by, the sparkle of the sunlight on the -ripples seeming like the play of rays upon their many -warlike trappings, the yellow flags and water-flowers -making no poor likeness of dancing banners and bannerets.</p> - -<p>’Twas a simple dream, such as came of an empty -stomach and a full head, yet somehow I woke from -that sleep with more of my old pulse of pleasure and -life beating in my veins than had been there for a -long time. And with the wish for another spell of -bright existence, spent in the merry soldier mood that -suited me so well, came the means to attain it.</p> - -<p>In the first stage of these wanderings, while still -fresh from the cloister shrine, I had paid but the very -smallest heed to my attire and its details. I was -clad in clean, sufficient wraps, so much was certain, -with a linen belt about me, and sandals upon my feet; -yet even this was really more than I noticed with any -closeness. But as I ran and walked, and my flesh -grew hot and nervous with the fever of my sorrow, a -constant chafing of my feet and hands annoyed me. -I had stopped by a woodside river bank, and there discovered -with wrathful irritation that upon my bare -apostolic toes and upon my sanctified thumbs—those -soldier thumbs still flat and strong with years of -pressing sword-hilts and bridle-reins—there were -glistening in holy splendor such a set of gorgeous -gems as had rarely been taken for a scramble through -the woods before! There were beryls and sapphires -and pearls, and ruddy great rubies from the caftans -of Paynim chiefs slain by long-dead Crusaders, and -onyx and emerald from Cyprus and the remotest East -set in rude red gold by the rough artificers of rearward -ages, and all these put upon me, no doubt, after -the manner in which at that time credulous piety was -wont to bedeck the shrine and images of saints and -martyrs. I was indeed at that moment the wealthiest -beggar who ever sat forlorn and friendless on a grassy -lode. But what was all this glistening store to me, -desolate and remorseful, with but one remembrance -in my heart, with but one pitiful sight before my eyes? -I pulled the shining gems angrily from my swollen -fingers and toes and hurled them one by one, those -princely toys, into the muddy margin of the stream, -and there, in that rude setting, ablazing, red, and -green, and white, and hot and cool, with their wonderful -scintillations they mocked me. They mocked me -as I sat there with my chin in my palms, and twinkled -and shone among the sludge and scum so merrily to -the flickering sunshine, that presently I laughed a -little at those cheerful trinkets that could shine so -bravely in the contumacy of chance, and after a time -I picked up one and rinsed it and held it out in the -sunshine, and found it very fair—so fair, indeed, that -a glimmer of listless avarice was kindled within me, -and later on I broke a hawthorn spray and groped -among the sedge and mire and hooked out thus, in -better mood, the greater part of my strange inheritance.</p> - -<p>Then, here I was, upon this other bank, waking up -after my dream, and, turning over the better to watch -the fair landscape stretching below, my waistcloth -came unbound, and out upon the sand amid the oak -roots rolled those ambient, glistening rings again. At -first I was surprised to see such jewels in such a place, -staring in dull wonderment while I strove to imagine -whence they came, but soon I remembered piece by -piece their adventure as has been told to you, and now, -with the warm blood in my veins again, I did not -throw them by, but lay back against the oak and -chuckled to myself as my ambitious heart fluttered -with pleasure under my draughty rags, and crossed -my legs, and weighed upon my finger-tips, and inventoried, -and valued, all in the old merchant spirit, those -friendly treasures.</p> - -<p>How unchanging are the passions of humanity! I -tossed those radiant playthings up in the sunlight and -caught them, I counted and recounted them, I tore -shreds from my clothing and cleaned and polished -each in turn, I started up angry and suspicious as a -kite’s wheeling shadow fell athwart my hoard. Forgotten -was hunger and houselessness—I no longer -mourned so keenly the emptiness of the world or the -brevity of friendships: I, to whom these treasures -should have been so light, overlooked nearly all my -griefs in them, and was as happy for the moment in -this unexpected richness as a child.</p> - -<p>And then, after an hour or so of cheerful avarice, -I sat up sage and reflective, and, having swathed -and wrapped my store safely next my heart, I must -needs climb the first grassy knoll showing above the -woodlands and search the horizon for some place -wherein a beginning might be made of spending it. -Nothing was to be seen thence but a goodly valley -spread out at a distance, and there my steps were -turned—for men, like streams, ever converge upon -the lowlands.</p> - -<p>Now that I had the heart to fall into beaten tracks, -coming out of the sheltering thicket byways for the -first time since quitting the mounds over the ashes of -Voewood, I observed more of the new people and -times among whom fate had thus thrown me. And -truly it was a very strange meeting with these folk, -who were they whom I had known when last I walked -these woods, and yet were not. I would stare at them -in perplexity, marveling at the wondrous blend of -nations I saw in face and hair and eyes. Their very -clothes were novel to me, and unaccountable, while -their speech seemed now the oddest union of many -tongues—all foreign, yet upon these English lips most -truly native—and wondrous to listen to. I would pass -a sturdy yokel leading out his teams to plowing, -and when I spoke to him it made my ears tingle to -hear how antique Roman went hand in hand with -ancient British, and good Norman was linked upon -his lips with better Saxon! That polyglot youth, knowing -no tongue but one, was most scholarly in his ignorance. -To him ’twas English that he spoke; but -to me, who had lived through the making of that -noble speech, who knew each separate individual -quantity that made that admirable whole, his jargon -was most wonderful!</p> - -<p>Nor was I yet fully reconciled to the unity of these -new people and their mutual kinsmanship. I could -not remember all feuds were ended. When down the -path would come a more than usually dusky wayfarer—a -trooper, perhaps, with leather jerkin, shield on -back, and sword by side—I would note his swart complexion -and dark black hair, and then ’twas “Ho! ho! -a Norman villain straying from his band!” And back -I would step among the shadows, and, gripping the -staff that was my only weapon, scowl on him while he -whistled by, half mindful, in my forgetfulness, to help -the Saxon cause by rapping the fellow over his head. -On the other hand if one chanced upon me who had -the flaxen hair and pleasant eyes of those who once -were called my comrades—if he wore the rustic waistless -smock, as many did still, of hind or churl—why, -then, I was mighty glad to see that Saxon, and crossed -over, friendly, to his pathway, bespeaking him in the -pure tongue of his forefathers, asked him of garth and -homestead, and how fared his thane and heretoga—all -of which, it grieved me afterward to notice, perplexed -him greatly.</p> - -<p>Not only in these ways was there much for me to -learn, but, with speech and fashions, modes and means -of life had changed. At one time I met a strange -piebald creature, all tags and tassels, white and red, -with a hundred little bells upon him, a cap with peaks -hanging down like asses’ ears, and a staff, with more -bells, tucked away under his arm. He was plodding -along dejected, so I called to him civilly:</p> - -<p>“Why, friend! Who are you?”</p> - -<p>“I am a fool, Sir!”</p> - -<p>“Never mind,” I replied cheerfully, “there is the less -likelihood of your ever treading this earth companionless.”</p> - -<p>“Why, that is true enough,” he said, “for it was too -much wisdom that sent me thus solitary afield,” and -he went on to tell me how he had been ejected that -morning from a neighboring castle. “I had belauded -and admired my master for years—therein I had many -friends, yet was a fool. Yesterday we quarreled about -some trifle—I called him beast and tyrant, and therein, -being just and truthful, I lost my place and comrades -over the first wise thing I said for years!—it is -a most sorry, disorderly world.”<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> The Phœnician must have failed to recognize in the new finery of the -time the latest representative of a brotherhood that had long existed.</p> - -</div> - -<p>This strange individual, it seemed, lived by folly, -and, though I had often noticed that wit was not a fat -profession, I could not help regarding him with wonder. -He was, under his veneer of shallowness, a most -gentle and observant jester. Long study in the arts -of pleasing had given him a very delicate discrimination -of moods and men. He could fit a merriment to -the capacity of any man’s mind with extraordinary -acumen. He had stores of ill-assorted learning in the -empty galleries of his head, and wherewithal a kindly, -gentle heart, a whimsical companionship for sad-eyed -humanity which made him haste to laugh at everything -through fear of crying over it. We were companions -before we had gone a mile, and many were the -things I learned of him. When our way parted I -pressed one of my rings into his hand. “Good-by, -fool!” I said.</p> - -<p>“Good-by, friend!” he called. “You are the first -wise man with whom I ever felt akin”; and indeed, as -his poor buffoon’s coat went shining up the path, I -felt bereft and lonely again for a spell.</p> - -<p>Then I found another craftsman of this curious time. -A little way farther on, near by to a lordly house -standing in wide stretches of meadow and park lands, -a most plaintive sound came from a thicket lying open -to the sun. Such a dismal moaning enlisted my compassion, -for here, I thought, is some luckless wight -just dying or, at least, in bitterest extremity of sorrow: -so I approached, stepping lightly round the blossoming -thicket—peering this way and that, and now -down on my hands and knees to look under the bushes, -and now on tiptoe, craning my neck that I might see -over, and so, presently, I found the source of the sighs -and moans. It was a young man of most dainty proportions, -with soft, fine-combed hair upon his pretty -sloping shoulders, his sleeves so long they trailed -upon the moss, his shoes laced with golden threads -and toed and tasseled in monstrous fashion. A most -delicate perfume came from him: his clothes were -greener than grass in springtime, turned back, and -puffed with damask. In his hand he had a scroll -whereon now and again he looked, and groaned in -most plaintive sort.</p> - -<p>“Why, man,” I asked, “what ails you? Why that -dreadful moaning? What are you, and what is yon -scroll?” So absorbed was he, however, it was only -when I had walked all round him to spy the wound, -if it might be, that he suffered from, and finally stood -directly in his sunshine, repeating the question, that -he looked up.</p> - -<p>“Interrupter of inspiration! Hast thou asked what -I am, and what this is?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; and more than once.”</p> - -<p>“Fie! not to see! I am a minstrel—a bard; my -Lord’s favorite poet up at yonder castle, and this is -an ode to his mistress’s eyebrows. I was in travail -of a rhyme when thy black shadow fell upon the -page.”</p> - -<p>“Give me the leaf! Why, it is the sickliest stuff -that ever did dishonor to virgin paper! There, take it -back,” I said, angry to find so many fools abroad, “and -listen to me! You may be a poet, for I have no experience -of them, but as I am a man thou art not a -bard! You a bard! You the likeness and descendant -of Howell ap Griffith and a hundred other Saxon -gleemen! You one of the guild of Gryffith ap Conan—you -a scop or a skald!—why, boy, they could write -better stuff than thou canst though they had been -drunk for half a day! You a stirrer of passions—you -a minstrel—you a tightener of the strong sinews of -warrior hearts!—fie! for shame upon your silly trivial -sonnets, your particolored suits and sweet insipid -vaporings! Out, I say! Get home to thy lady’s footstool, -or, by Thor and Odin, I will give thee a beating -out of pure respect for noble rhyming!”</p> - -<p>The poet did not wait to argue. I was angry and -rough, and the rudest-clad champion that ever swung -a flail in the cause of the muses. So he took to his -heels, and as I watched that pretty butterfly aiming -across the sunny meadows for his master’s portals, -and stopping not for hedge or ditch, “By Hoth,” I said, -laughing scornfully, “we might have been friends if -he could but have writ as well as he can run!”</p> - -<p>Then I went on again, and had not gone far, when -down the road there came ambling on a mule a crafty-looking -Churchman, with big wallets hanging at his -saddle-bows, a portentous rosary round his neck, and -bare, unwashed feet hanging stirrupless by his palfrey’s -side.</p> - -<p>“Now here’s another tradesman,” I muttered to myself, -“of this most perplexing age. Heaven grant his -wares are superior to the last ones! Good-morning, -Father!”</p> - -<p>“Good-morning, Son! Art going into the town to -take up arms for Christ and His servant Edward?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” I answered, “I am bound to the town, but -I have not yet chosen a master.”</p> - -<p>“Then you are all the more sure to go to the fighting, -for every one, just now, who has no other calling, -is apprentice to arms.”</p> - -<p>“It will not be the first time I have taken that honorable -indenture.”</p> - -<p>“No, I guess not,” said the shrewd Friar, eyeing me -under his penthouse eyebrows, “for thou art a stout -and wiry-looking fellow, and may I never read anything -better than my breviary again if I cannot construe -in your face a good and varied knowledge of -camps and cities. But there was something else I had -to say to you.” [“Here comes the point of the narrative,” -I thought to myself.] “Now, so trim a soldier -as you, and one wherewithal so reflective, would surely -not willingly go where hostile swords are waving and -cruel French spears are thicker than yonder tall-bladed -glass, unshriven—with all thy sins upon thy -back?”</p> - -<p>“Why then, monk, I must stay at home. Is that -what you would say?”</p> - -<p>“Nay, not at all. There is a middle way. But soft! -Hast any money with thee?”</p> - -<p>“Enough to get a loaf of bread and a cup of ale.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” said the secret pardoner (for his calling was -then under ban and fine), a little disappointedly, “that -is somewhat small, but yet, nevertheless,” he muttered -partly to himself, “these are poor times, and when all -plump partridges are abroad Mother Church’s falcons -must necessarily fly at smaller game. Look here! -good youth. Forego thy mortal appetites, defer thy -bread and ale, and for that money saved thereby I -will sell thee one of these priceless parchments here -in my wallet—scrolls, young man, hot from the holy -footstool of our blessed father in Rome, and carrying -complete unction and absolution to the soul of their -possessor! Think, youth! is not eternal redemption -worth a cup of muddy ale? Fie to hesitate! Line thy -bosom with this blessed scroll, and go to war cleaner-hearted -than a new-born babe. There! I will not be -exacting. For one of those silver groats I fancy I see -tied in thy girdle I will give thee absolute admittance -into the blessed company of saints and martyrs. I -tell thee, man, for half a zecchin I will make thee -comrade of Christ and endow thee with eternity! Is -it a bargain?”</p> - -<p>Silent and disdainful, I, who had seen a dozen -hierarchies rise and set in the various peopled skies -of the world, took the parchment from him and turned -away and read it. It was, as he said—more shame -on human intellect!—a full pardon of the possessor’s -sins wrote out in bad Norman Latin, and bearing the -sign and benediction of St. Peter’s chair. I read it -from top to bottom, then twisted its red tapes round -it again and threw it back to that purveyor of absolutions. -Yes; and I turned upon that reverend traveler -and scorned and scouted him and his contemptible -baggage. I told him I had met two sad fools since -noon, but he was worse than either. I scoffed him, -just as my bitter mood suggested, until I had spent -both breath and invention, then turned contemptuous, -and left him at bay, mumbling inarticulate maledictions -upon my biting tongue.</p> - -<p>No more of these shallow panderers fell in my path -to vex and irritate me, and before the white evening -star was shining through the brilliant tapestry of the -sunset over the meadow-lands in the west, I had drawn -near to and entered the strong, shadowy, moated walls -of my first English city.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</h2> -</div> - -<p>I took lodgings that evening with some rough soldiers -who kept guard over the town gate, and slept -as soundly by their watch-fire as though my country -clothes were purple, and a stony bench in an angle -of the walls were a princely couch. But when the -morning came I determined to better my condition.</p> - -<p>With this object in view one of the smallest of my -rings was selected, and, with this conveniently hidden, -I went down into the town to search for a jeweler’s. -A strange town indeed it struck me as being. Narrow -and many were the streets, and paved with stones; -timber and plaster jutting out overhead so as to lessen -the fair, free sky to a narrow strip, and greatly to -compress my country spirit. At every lattice window, -so amply provided with glass as I had never known -before, they were hanging out linen at that early hour -to air; and the ’prentice lads came yawning and -stretching to their masters’ shutter booths, and every -now and then down the quaint streets of that curious -city which had sprung—peopled with a new race—from -the earth during the long night of my sleep, there -rumbled a country tumbril loaded with rustic things, -whereat the women came out to chaffer and buy of -the smocked cartsmen who spoke the glib English -so novel to my ear and laughed and gossiped with -them. The early ware I noticed in his cart was still -damp and sparkling with the morning dew, so close -upon the dawn had he come in, and there in the town -where the deep street shadows still lay undisturbed, -now and then a Jew, still ashamed, it seemed, to meet -any of those sleepy Christian eyes, would steal by to -an early bargain, wrapped to his chin in his gabardine—I -knew that garment a thousand years ago—and -fearfully slinking, in that intolerant time, from house -to house and shadow to shadow.</p> - -<p>Now and then as I sauntered along in a city of novelties, -a couple of revelers in extraordinary various -clothes, their toes longer than their sleeves, their velvet -caps quaintly peaked, and slashed doublets showing -gay vests below, came reeling and singing up the -back ways, making the half-waked dogs dozing in the -gutters snarl and snap at them, and disturbing the -morning meal of the crows rooting in the litter-heaps.</p> - -<p>As the sun came up, and the fresh, white light of -that fair Plantagenet morning crept down the faces -of the eastward walls, the city woke to its daily business. -A page came tripping over the cobbles with a -message in his belt, the good wives were astir in the -houses, and the ’prentices fell to work manfully on -booth and bars as merchant and mendicant, early gallant -and basketed maid, began the day in earnest.</p> - -<p>All these things I saw from under the broad rim of -my rustic hat—my ragged, sorrel-green cloak thrown -over my shoulder and across my face, and, so disguised, -silent, observant—now recognizing something -of that yesterday that was so long ago, and anon sad -and dubious, I went on until I found what I sought -for, and came into a smooth, broad street, where the -jewelers had their stalls. I chose one of those who -seemed in a fair way of business, and entered.</p> - -<p>“Are you the master here?” I asked of a gray-bearded -merchant who was searching for the spectacles -he had put away overnight.</p> - -<p>“My neighbors say so,” he answered gruffly.</p> - -<p>“Then I would trade with you.”</p> - -<p>Whereon—having found and adjusted his great -hornglasses—he eyed me superciliously from head to -foot; then said, in a tone of derision:</p> - -<p>“As you wish, friend countryman. But will you -trade in pearl and sapphire, or diamond pins and -brooches, perhaps—or is it only for broken victuals of -my last night’s supper?”</p> - -<p>“Keep thy victuals for thy lean and hungry lads! -I will trade with you in pearl and sapphire.” And -thereon, from under my moldy rags, I brought a lordly -ring that danced and sparkled in the clear sunlight -stealing through the mullioned windows of his booth, -and threw quivering rainbow hues upon the white -walls of the little den, dazzling the blinking, delighted -old man in front of me. “How much for that?” I -asked, throwing it down in front of him.</p> - -<p>It was a better gem than he had seen for many a -day, and, having turned it over loving and wistful, -he whispered to me (for he thought I had surely stolen -it) one-sixteenth of its value! Thereon I laughed at -him, and threw down my cap, and took the ring, and -gave him such a lecture on gems and jewels—all out -of my old Phrygian merchant knowledge—so praised -and belauded the shine and water of each single shining -point in that golden circlet, that presently I had -sold it to him for near its value!</p> - -<p>Then I bought a leather wallet and put the money -in, and traded again lower down the street with another -ring. And then again at good prices—for competition -was close among these goldsmiths, and none -liked me to sell the beautiful things I showed them -one by one to their rivals—I sold two more.</p> - -<p>“Surely! surely! good youth,” questioned one merchant -to me, “these trinkets were made for some master -Abbot’s thumb, or some blessed saint.”</p> - -<p>“And surely again, my friend,” I answered, “you -have just seen them drawn from a layman’s finger.”</p> - -<p>“Well, well,” he said, “I will give you your price,” -and then, as he turned away to pack them, he muttered -to himself, “A stout cudgel seems a good profession -nowadays! If it were not through fear yon -Flemish rascal over the road might take the gem, I -at least would never deal with such an obvious footpad.”</p> - -<p>By this time I was rich, and my wallet purse hung -low and heavy at my girdle, so away I went to where -some tailors lived, and accosted the best of them. -Here the cross-legged sewers who sat on the sill -among shreds of hundred-colored stuffs and the bent, -white-fingered embroiderers stopped their work and -gaped to hear the ragged, wayworn loafer, whose -broad shadow darkened their doorway, ask for silks -and satins, yepres and velvet. One youthful churl, -under the master’s eyes, unbonneted, and in mock -civility asked me whether I would have my surtout -of crimson or silver—whether my jupons should be -strung with seedling pearls, or just plain sewn with -golden thread and lace. He said, that harmless scoffer, -he knew a fine pattern a noble lord had lately -worn, of minever and silver, which would very neatly -suit me—but I, disdainful, not putting my hand to my -loaded pouch as another might have done, only let the -ragged homespun fall from across my face, and, taking -the cap from my raven hair and grim, weather-beaten -face, turned upon them.</p> - -<p>The laughter died away in that little den as I did -so, the embroiderer’s needle stuck halfway through -its golden fabric, the workers stared upon me open-mouthed. -The cutter’s shears shut with a snap upon -the rustling webs, and then forgot to open, while -’prentice lads stood, all with yardwands in their hand, -most strangely spellbound by my presence. The conquest -was complete without a word, and no one moved, -until presently down shuffled the master tailor from -his dusky corner, and, waving back his foolish boys, -bowed low with sudden reverence as he asked with -many epithets of respect in how he might serve me.</p> - -<p>“Thanks,” I said, “my friend. What I need is only -this—that you should express upon me some of these -tardy but courteous commendations. Translate me -from these rags to the livery of gentility. Express in -good stuffs upon me some of that ‘nobility’ your quick -perception has now discovered—in brief, suit me at -once as a not too fantastic knight of your time is -clad; and have no doubt about my paying.” Whereon -I quickened his willingness by a sight of my broad -pieces.</p> - -<p>Well, they had just such vests and tunics and hose -as I needed, and these, according to the fashion, being -laced behind and drawn in at the middle by a loose -sword-belt, fitted me without special making. My vest -was of the finest doeskin, scalloped round the edge, -bound with golden tissue, and worked all up the front -with the same in leaves and flowers. My hose were -as green as rushes, and my shoes pointed and upturned -halfway to my knees. On my shoulders hung -a loose cloak of green velvet of the same hue as my -hose, lined and puffed with the finest grass-green satin -that ever came in merchant bales from over seas. -Over my right arm it was held by a gold-and-emerald -brooch—a “morse” that worthy clothier termed it—bigger -than my palm, and this tunic hung to my -small-laced middle. My maunch-sleeves were lined by -ermine, and hung to my ankles a yard and more in -length. On my head, my cap, again, was all of ermine -and velvet, bound with strings of seed-pearls. That -same kindly hosier got me a pretty playtime dagger -of gold and sapphire for my hip, and green-satin -gloves, sewn thick upon the back with golden threads. -This, he said, was a fair and knightly vestment, such -as became a goodly soldier when he did not wear his -harness, but with naught about it of the courtly sumptuousness -which so hard and warlike-seeming a lord -as I no doubt despised.</p> - -<p>From hence I went by many a cobble pavement to -where the noisy sound of hammers and anvils filled -the narrow streets. And mighty busy I discovered -the armor-smiths. There was such a riveting and -hammering, such a fitting and filing and brazing going -on, that it seemed as though every man in the -town were about to don steel and leather. There were -long-legged pages in garb of rainbow hue hurrying -about with orders to the armorers or carrying home -their masters’ finished helms or warlike gear; there -were squires and men-at-arms idly watching at the -forge doors the pulsing hammers weld rivets and -chains; and ever and anon a man-at-arms would come -pushing through these groups with sheaves of broken -arrows to be ground, or an armful of pikes to be rehandled, -casting them down upon the cumbered floor; -or perhaps it was a squire came along the way leading -over the cobbles a stately war-horse to the shoeing.</p> - -<p>In truth, it was a sight to please a soldier’s eyes, -and right pleasant was it to me to hear the proud -neighing of the chargers, the laughing and the talk, -the busy whirr of grindstone on sword and axes, the -clangor of the hammers as the hot white spearheads -went to the noisy anvil, while forges beat in unison to -the singing of the smiths! Ah! and I walked slowly -down those streets, wondering and watching with vast -pleasure in the busy scene, though every now and -then it came over me how solitary I was—I, the one -impassive in this turmoil, to whom the very stake -they prepared to fight for was unknown!</p> - -<p>A little way off were the booths where stores of -Milan armor were for sale. To them I went, and was -shown piles and stacks of harness such as never man -saw before, all of steel and golden inlay, covering -every point of a warrior, and so rich and cumbersome -that it was only with great hesitation I submitted my -free Phrygian limbs to such a steel casementing. But -I was a gentleman now, whereof to witness came my -gorgeous apparel, backing the grim authority of my -face, and the bargaining was easy enough. Skogula -and Mista! but those swart, olive-skinned, hook-nosed -Jewish apprentices screwed me up and braced me -down into that suit of Milan steel until I could -scarcely breathe—their black-eyed master all the time -belauding the sit and comfort of it.</p> - -<p>“Gads! Sir,” quoth he, “many’s a hauberk I have -seen laced on knightly shoulders, but by the mail -from the back of the Gittite, who fell in Shochoh, I -never saw a coat of links sit closer or truer than that!” -and then again, “There’s a gorget for you, Sir! Why, -if Ahab had but possessed such a one, as I am a miserable -poor merchant and your Valor’s humble servant, -even the blessed arrows of Israel would have -glanced off harmlessly from his ungodly body!” And -the cunning, sanctimonious old Jew went fawning and -smiling round while his helpers pent me up in my -glittering hide until I was steel-and-gold inlay from -head to heel.</p> - -<p>“By Abraham! noble Sir, those greaves become your -legs!—Pull them in a little more at the ankles, Isaac!—And -here’s a tabard, Sir, of crimson velvet and emblazoned -borderings a prince might gladly wear!”</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_182fp" style="max-width: 28em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_182fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>“By Abraham! noble Sir, those greaves become your legs!”</p></div> -</div> - -<p>Then they put a helm upon me with a visor and -beaver, through which I frowned, as ill at ease as a -young goshawk with his first hood, and girded me with -a broad belt chosen from many, and a good English -broadsword, the dagger “misericordia” at my other -hip, and knightly spurs (they gave me that rank without -question) upon my heels, so that I was completely -armed at last, after the fantastic style of the time, and -fit to take my place again in the red ranks of my old -profession.</p> - -<p>I will not weary you with many details of the -process whereby I adapted myself to the times. From -that armorer’s shop I went—leaving my mail to be a -little altered—to a hostelry in the center square of -the town, and there I fed and rested. There, too, I -chose a long-legged squire from among those who -hung about every street corner, and he turned out a -most accomplished knave. I never knew a villain -who could lie so sweetly in his master’s service as -that particolored, curly-headed henchman. He fetched -my armor back the next day, cheating the armorer at -one end of the errand and me at the other. He got -me a charger—filling the gray-stoned yard with capering -palfreys that I might make my choice—and over -the price of my selection he cozened the dealers and -hoodwinked me. He was the most accomplished -youth in his station that ever thrust a vagrom leg -into green-and-canary tights, or put a cock’s feather -into a borrowed cap. He would sit among the wallflowers -on the inn-yard wall and pipe French ditties -till every lattice window round had its idle sewing-maid. -He would swear, out in the market-place, when -he lost at dice or skittles, until the bronzed troopers -looking on blushed under their tawny hides at his -supreme expurlatives. There was not such a lad -within the town walls for strut, for brag, or bully, yet -when he came in to render the service due to me he -ministered like a soft, white-fingered damsel. He -combed my long black hair, anointing and washing -it with wondrous scents, whereof he sold me phials -at usurious interest; he whispered into my sullen, -unnoticing ear a constant stream of limpid, sparkling -scandal; he cleaned my armor till it shone like a brook -in May time, and stole my golden lace and a dozen of -the sterling links from my dagger chain. He knew -the wittiest, most delicately licentious songs that ever -were writ by a minstrel, and he could cook such dishes -as might have made a dying anchorite sit up and feast.</p> - -<p>Strange, incomprehensible! that wayward youth -went forth one day on his own affairs, and met in the -yard two sturdy loafers who spoke of me, and calling -me penniless, unknown, infamous—and French, perhaps—for -they doubted I was good English—whereon -that gallant youth of mine fell on them and fought -them—there right under my window—and beat them -both, and flogged their dusty jackets all across the -market-place to the tune of their bellowings, and all -this for his master’s honor! Then, having done so -much, he proceeded with his private errand, which -was to change, for his own advantage at a mean -Fleming’s shop, those pure golden spurs of mine, -secreted in his bosom, into a pair of common brass -ones.</p> - -<p>For five days I had lain in that town in magnificent -idleness, and had spent nearly all my rings and -money, when, one day, as I sat moody and alone by -the porch of the inn drinking in the sun, my idle valor -rusting for service, and looking over the market square -with its weather-worn central fountain, its cobblestones -mortared together with green moss and quaint -surroundings, there came cantering in and over to -my rest-house three goodly knights in complete armor -with squires behind them—their pennons fluttering -in the wind, tall white feathers streaming from their -helms, and their swords and maces rattling at the -saddle bows to the merriest of tunes. They pulled up -by the open lattice, and, throwing their broad bridles -to the ready squires, came clattering up, dusty and -thirsty, past where I lay, my inglorious silken legs -outstretched upon the window bench, and the sunlight -all ashine upon the gorgeous raiment that irked -me so.</p> - -<p>They were as jolly fellows as one could wish to see, -and they tossed up their beavers and called for wine -and poured it down their throats with a pleasure -pleasant enough to watch. Then—for they could not -unlace themselves—in came their lads and fell to -upon them and unscrewed and lifted off the great -helms, and piece by piece all the glittering armor, -and piling it on the benches—the knights the while -sighing with relief as each plate and buckle was relaxed—and -so they got them at last down to their -quilted vests, and then the gallants sat to table and -fell to laughing and talking until their dinner came.</p> - -<p>From what I gathered, they were on their way to -war, and war upon that fair, fertile country yonder -over the narrow seas. Jove! how they did revile the -Frenchman and drain their beakers to a merry meeting -with him, until ever as they chattered the feeling -grew within me that here was the chance I was waiting -for—I would join them—and, since it was the will -of the Incomprehensible, draw my sword once more -in the cause of this fair, many-mastered island.</p> - -<p>Nor was there long to wait for an excuse. They -began talking of King Edward’s forces presently, and -how that every man who could spin a sword or sit a -war-horse was needed for the coming onset, and how -more especially leaders were wanting for the host -gathering, so they said, away by the coast. Whereon -at once I arose and went over, sitting down at their -table, and told them that I had some knowledge of -war, and though just then I lacked a quarrel I would -willingly espouse their cause if they would put me in -the way of it.</p> - -<p>In my interest and sympathy I had forgot they had -not known I was so close, and now the effect which -my sudden appearance always had on strangers made -them all stare at me as though I were a being of another -world—as, indeed, I was—of many other worlds. -And yet the comely, stalwart, raven-tressed, silk-swathed -fellow who sat there before them at the -white-scrubbed board, marking their fearful wonder -with regretful indifference, was solid and real, and -presently the eldest of them swallowed his surprise -and spoke out courteously for all, saying they would -be glad enough to help my wishes, and then—warming -with good fellowship as the first effect of my entry -wore off—he added they were that afternoon bound -for the rendezvous (as he termed it) at a near castle; -“and if I could wear harness as fitly as I could wear -silk, and had a squire and a horse,” they would willingly -take me along with them. So it was settled, -and in a great bumper they drank to me and I to them, -and thus informally was I admitted into the ranks of -English chivalry.</p> - -<p>We ate and drank and laughed for an hour or two, -and then settled with our host and got into our armor. -This to them was customary enough, nor was it now -so difficult a thing to me, for I had donned and doffed -my gorgeous steel casings, by way of practice, so often -in seclusion that, when it came to the actual test, -assisted with the nimble fingers of that varlet of mine, -I was in panoply from head to heel, helmeted and -spurred, before the best of them. Ah! and I was not -so old yet but that I could delight in what, after all, -was a noble vestment! And as I looked round upon -my knightly comrades draining the last drops of their -flagons while their squires braced down their shining -plates, and girt their steel hips with noble brands, -the while I knew in my heart that if they were strong -and stalwart I was stronger and more stalwart—that -if they carried proud hearts and faces shining there, -under their nodding plumes, of gentle birth and handsome -soldierliness—no less did I: knowing all this, -I say, and feeling peer to these comely peers, I had a -flush of pride and contentment again in my strangely -varied lot. Then the grooms brought round our gay-ribboned -horses to the cobbles in front, where, mounting, -we presently set out, as goodly a four as ever -went clanking down a sunny market-place, while the -maids waved white handkerchiefs from the overhanging -lattices and townsmen and ’prentices uncapped -them to our dancing pennons.</p> - -<p>We rode some half-score miles through a fertile -country toward the west, now cantering over green -undulations, and anon picking a way through woodland -coppices, where the checkered light played -daintily upon our polished furniture, and the spear-points -rustling ever and anon against the green -boughs overhead.</p> - -<p>“What of this good knight to whose keep we are -going?” asked one of my companions presently. “He -is reputed rich, and, what is convenient in these penurious -times, blessed only with daughters.”</p> - -<p>“Why!” responded the fellow at his elbow, who set -no small store by a head of curly chestnut hair and a -handsome face below it, “if that is so, in truth I am -not at all sure but that I will respectfully bespeak -one of those fair maids. I am half convinced I was -not born to die on some scoundrel Frenchman’s rusty -toasting-iron. ’Tis a cursed perilous expedition this -of ours, and I never thought so highly of the advantages -of a peaceful and Christian life as I have -this last day or two. Now, which of these admirable -maids dost thou think most accessible, good Delafosse?” -he asked, turning to the horseman who acted -as our guide by right of previous knowledge here.</p> - -<p>“Well,” quoth that youth, after a moment’s hesitation, -“I must frankly tell you, Ralph, that I doubt if -there are any two maids within a score of miles of -us who have been tried so often by such as you and -proved more intractable. The knight, their father, -is a rough old fellow, as rich as though he were an -abbot, hale and frank with every one. You may come -or go about his halls, and (for they have no mother) -lay what siege you like to his girls, nor will he say a -word. So far so well, and many a pretty gallant asks -no better opportunity. But, because you begin thus -propitious, it does not follow either fair citadel is -yours! No! these virgin walls have stood unmoved -a hundred assaults, and as much escalading as only -a country swarming with poor desperate youths can -any way explain.”</p> - -<p>“St. Denis!” exclaimed the other, “all this but fans -the spark of my desire.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, desire by all means. If wishes would bring -down well-lined maidenhoods, those were a mighty -scarce commodity. But, soberly, does thy comprehensive -valor intend to siege both these heiresses at -once, or will one of them suffice?”</p> - -<p>“One, gentle Delafosse, and, when my exulting pennon -flutters triumphant from that captured turret, I -will in gratitude help thee to mount the other. Difference -them, beguile this all too tedious way with -an account of their peculiar graces. Which maid dost -thou think I might the most aptly sue?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you may try, of course, but remember I hold -out no hope, neither of the elder nor the younger. -That one, the first, is as magnificent a shrew as ever -laughed an honest lover to scorn. She is as black -and comely as any daughter of Zion. ’Tis to her near -every Knight yields at first glance; but—gads!—it -does them little good! She has a heart like the nether -millstone; and, as for pride, she is prouder than Lucifer! -I know not what game it may be this swart -Circe sees upon the skyline—some say ’tis even for -that bold boy the young Prince himself, now gone with -his father to France, she waits; and some others say -she will look no lower than a Duke backed by the -wealth of the grand Soldan himself. But whoever it -be, he has not yet come.”</p> - -<p>“By the bones of St. Thomas à Becket,” the young -Knight laughed, “I have a mind that that Knight and -I may cross the drawbridge together! Canst tell me, -out of good comradeship, any weak place in this damsel’s -harness?”</p> - -<p>“There is none I know of. She is proof at every point. -Indeed, I am nigh reluctant to let one like you, whose -heart has ripened in the sun of experience so much -faster than his head, engage upon such a dangerous -venture. They say one gallant was so stung by the -calm scorn with which she mocked his offer that he -went home and hung himself to a cellar beam; and another, -blind in desperate love, leaped from her father’s -walls, and fell in the courtyard, a horrid, shapeless -mass! Young De Vipon, as you know, stabbed himself -at her feet, and ’tis told the maid’s wrath was all -because his spurting heart’s-blood soiled her wimple -a day before it was due to go to wash! How thrives -thy inclination?”</p> - -<p>“Oh! well enough: ’twould take more than this to -spoil my appetite! But, nevertheless, let us hear -something of the other sister. This elder is obviously -a proud minx, who has set her heart on lordly game, -and will not marry because her suitors seem too mean. -How is it with the other girl?”</p> - -<p>“Why,” said Delafosse, “it is even more hopeless -with her. She will not marry, for the cold sufficient -reason that her suitors be all men!”</p> - -<p>“A most abominable offense.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! so she thinks it. Such a tender, shy and modest -maid there is not in the boast of the county. While -the elder will hear you out, arms crossed on pulseless -bosom, cold, disdainful eyes fixed with haughty stare -to yours, the other will not stop to listen—no, not so -much as to the first inkling of your passion! Breathe -so little as half a sigh, or tint your speech with a rosy -glint of dawning love, and she is away, lighter than -thistledown on the upland breeze. I know of but two -men—loose, worldly fellows both of them—who cornered -her, and they came from her presence looking so -crestfallen, so abashed at their hopes, so melancholy -to think on their gross manliness as it had appeared -against the white celibacy of that maid, that even -some previous suitors sorrowed for them. This is, I -think, the safer venture, but even the least hopeful.”</p> - -<p>“Is the maid all fallow like that? Has she no -human faults to set against so much sterile virtue?”</p> - -<p>“Of her faults I cannot speak, but you must not hold -her altogether insipid and shallow. She is less approachable -than her sister, and contemns and fears -our kind, yet she is straight and tall in person, and, -I have heard from a foster-brother of hers, can sit a -fiery charger, new from stall, like a groom or horse -boy, she is the best shot with a crossbow of any on -the castle green, and in the women’s hall as merry a -romp, as ready for fun or mischief, as any village girl -that ever kept a twilight tryst on a Saturday evening.”</p> - -<p>“Gads! a most pleasant description. I will keep tryst -with this one for a certainty, not only Saturdays, but -six other days out of the week. The black jade may -wait for her princeling for a hundred years as far as -I am concerned. How far is it to the castle?—I am -hot impatience itself!”</p> - -<p>“Nor need your patience cool! Look!” said Delafosse, -and as he spoke we turned a bend in the woodland -road, and there, a mile before us, flashing back -the level sun from towers and walls that seemed of -burnished copper, was the noble pile we sought.</p> - -<p>Certes! when we came up to it, it was a fine place -indeed, cunningly built with fosses round about, long -barbican walls within them, turreted and towered, -and below these again were other walls so shrewd -designed for defense as to move any soldier heart with -wonder and delight. But if the walls did pleasure -me, the great keep within, towering high into the sky -with endless buttresses, and towers, and casements, -grim, massive, and stately, rearing its proud circumference, -embattled and serrated far beyond the reach -of rude assault or desperate onset, filled me with pride -and awe. I scarce could take my eyes from those red -walls shining so molten in the setting sun, yet round -about the country lay very fair to look at. All beyond -that noble pile the land dropped away—on two -sides by sheer cliffs to the shining river underneath—and -on the others in gentle, grassy undulations, dotted -with great trees, whereunder lay, encamped by tent -and watchfire, the rear of King Edward’s army, and -then on again into the pleasant distance that lay -stretched away in hill and valley toward the yellow -west.</p> - -<p>All over that wide campaign were scattered the villages -of serfs and vassals who grew corn for the lordly -owner in peace-time, and followed his banner in battle. -And in that knightly stronghold up above there -were, I found when I came to know it better, many -kinsmen and women who sheltered under my Lord’s -liberality. Dowagers dwelt in the wings, and young -squires of good name—a jolly, noisy, unruly crew—harbored -down in the great vaulted chambers by the -sally-port. There were kinsmen of the left-hand degree -in the warder’s lodge by the gates, and poor -wearers of the same noble escutcheon up among the -jackdaws and breezes of the highest battlements. -And so generous was the Knight’s bounty, so ample -the sweep of his castellated walls and labyrinthine the -mazes of the palace keep they encircled, so abundant -the income of his tithes and tenure, dues and fees, -that all these folk found living and harborage with -him; and not only did it not irk that Lord, but only -to his steward and hall porter was it known how -many guests there were, or when a man came or went, -or how many hundred horses stood in the stalls, or -how many score of vassals fed in the great kitchen.</p> - -<p>On Sundays, after mass, the smooth green in the -center of the castle would be thronged with men and -maids in all their finery; while the quintains spun -merrily under the mock onsets of the young knights, -and dame and gallant trode the stony battlements, -and down among the wide shadow of the cedar-trees -on the slope (’twas a Crusader who brought the saplings -from Palestine) vassal and yeoman idled and -made love or frolicked with their merry little ones. -Over all that gallant show my Lord’s great blazon -snapped and flaunted in the wind upon the highest -donjon; and in the halls beneath the lords and ladies -sat in the deep-seated windows, and laughed and sang -and jested in the mullion-tinted sunshine with all the -courtly extravagance of their brilliant day.</p> - -<p>Ah! by old Isis! at that time the world, it seemed -to me, was less complex, and the rules of life were -simpler. Kingcraft had found its mold and fashion -in the courageous Edward, and the first duty of a -noble was then nobility: the Knights swore by their -untarnished chivalry, and the vassals by their loyalty. -Yes! and it was priestly then to fear God and hell, -and every woman was, or would be, lovely! So ran -the simple creed of those who sang or taught, while -nearly every one believed them.</p> - -<p>But you who live in a time when there is no belief -but that of Incredulence, when the creative skill and -forethought of the great primeval Cause is open to -the criticism and cavil of every base human atom it -has brought about—you know better—you know how -vain their dream was, how foolish their fidelity, how -simple their simplicity, how contemptible their courage, -and how mean by the side of your love of mediocrity -their worship of ideals and heroes! By the bright -Theban flames to which my fathers swore! by the -grim shadow of Osiris which dogged the track of my -old Phœnician bark! I was soon more English than -any of them.</p> - -<p>But while I thus tell you the thoughts that came -of experience, I keep you waiting at the castle-gate. -They admitted us by drawbridge and portcullised -arch into the center space, and there we dismounted. -Then down the steps, to greet guests of such good degree, -came the gallant, grizzled old Lord himself in -his quilted under-armor vest. We made obeisance, -and in a few words the host very courteously welcomed -his guests, leading us in state (after we had -given our helmets to the pages at the door) into the -great hall of his castle, where we found a throng of -ladies and gallants in every variety of dress filling -those lofty walls with life and color.</p> - -<p>In truth, it was a noble hall, the walls bedecked -with antlers or spoils of woodcraft, with heads and -horns and bows and bills, and tapestry; and the ceiling -wonderfully wrought with carved beams as far down -that ample corridor as one could see. The floor of -oak was dark with wear, yet as smooth and reflective -to many-colored petticoats and rainbow-tinted shoes -as the Parian marble of some fair Roman villa. And -on the other side there were fifty windows deep-set in -the wall, with gay stainings on them of parable and -escutcheon; while on the benches, fingering ribboned -mandolins, whispering gentle murmurs under the tinseled -lawn of fair ladies’ kerchiefs, or sauntering to -and fro across the great chamber’s ample length, were -all these good and gentle folk, bedecked and tasseled -and ribboned in a way that made that changing scene -a very fairy show of color.</p> - -<p>Strange, indeed, was it for me to walk among the -glittering throng, all prattling that merry medley they -called their native English, and to remember all I -could remember, to recall Briton, Roman, Norseman, -Norman, Saxon, and to know each and all of those -varied peoples were gone—gone forever—gone beyond -a hope or chance of finding—and yet, again, to know -that each and every one of those nations, whose strong -life in turn had given color to my life, was here—here -before me, consummated in this people—oh, ’twas -strange, and almost past belief! And ever as I went -among them in fairer silks and ermines than any, -yet underneath that rustling show I laughed to know -that I was nothing but the old Phœnician merchant, -nothing but Electra’s petted paramour, the strong, -unruly Saxon Thane!</p> - -<p>And if I thought thus of them, in sooth, they -thought no less strangely of me! Ever, as my good -host led me here and there from group to group, the -laughter died away on cherry lips, and minstrel fingers -went all a-wandering down their music strings -as one and all broke off in mid pleasure to stare in -mute perplexity and wonder at me. From group to -group we went, my host at each making me known to -many a glittering lord and lady, and to each of those -courtly presences I made in return that good Saxon -bow, which subsequently I found instable fashion had -made exceeding rustic.</p> - -<p>Presently in this way we came to a gay knot of men -collected round two fair women, the one of them -seated in a great velvet chair, holding court as I could -guess by word and action over the bright constellations -that played about her, the other within the circle, -yet not of it, standing a little apart and turned -from us as we approached. Alianora, the first of these -noble damsels, was the elder daughter of the master -of the house, and the second, Isobel, was his younger -child. The first of these was a queen of beauty, and -from that first moment when I stood in front of her, -and came under the cold, proud shine of those black -eyes, I loved her! Jove! I felt the hot fire of love -leap through my veins on the instant as I bowed me -there at her footstool and forgot everything else for -the moment, merging all the world against the inaccessible -heart of that beautiful girl. Indeed, she was -one who might well play the Queen among men. Her -hair was black as night, and, after the fashion of the -time, worked up to either side of her head into a -golden filigree crown, beaded with shining pearls, -extraordinary regal. Black were her eyes as any sloe, -and her smooth, calm face was wonderful and goddess-like -in the perfect outline and color. Never a blush -of shame or fear, never a sign of inward feeling, -stirred that haughty damsel’s mood. By Venus! I -wonder why we loved her so. To whisper gentle -things into her ear was but like dropping a stone into -some deep well—the ripples on the dark, sullen water -were not more cold, silent, intangible than her responsive -smile. She was too proud even to frown, -that disdainful English peeress, but, instead, at slight -or negligence she would turn those unwavering eyes -of hers upon the luckless wight and look upon him so -that there was not a knight, though of twenty fights, -there was not a gallant, though never so experienced -in gentle tourney with ladies’ eyes, who durst meet -them. To this maid I knelt—and rose in love against -all my better instinct—wildly, recklessly enamored of -her shining Circean queenliness—ah! so enthralled -was I by the black Alianora that my host had to pluck -me by the sleeve ere he whispered to me, “Another -daughter, sir stranger! Divide your homage,” and -he led me to the younger girl.</p> - -<p>Now, if the elder sister had won me at first sight, -my feelings were still more wonderful to the other. -If the elder had the placid sovereignty of the evening -star, Isobel was like the planet of the morning. From -head to heel she was in white. Upon her forehead her -fair brown hair was strained back under a coverchief -and wimple as colorless as the hawthorn flowers. This -same fair linen, in the newest fashion of demurity, -came down her cheeks and under her chin, framing -her face in oval, in pretty mockery of the steel coif of -an armed knight. Her dress below was of the whitest, -softest stuff, with long, hanging sleeves, a wondrous -slender middle drawn in by a silk and silver cestus -belt made like a warrior’s sword-wear, and a skirt -that descended in pretty folds to her feet and lay -atwining about them in comely ampleness. She was -as supple as a willow wand, and tall and straight, and -her face—when in a moment she turned it on me—was -wondrous pleasant to look at—the very opposite -of her sister’s—all pink and white, and honestly -ashine with demure fun and merriment, the which -constantly twinkled in her downcast eyes, and kept -the pretty corners of her mouth a-twitching with -covert, ill-suppressed, unruly smiles. A fair and tender -young girl indeed, made for love and gentleness!</p> - -<p>Unhappy Isobel!—luckless victim of an accursed -fate! Wretched, perverse Phœnician! Ill-omened -Alianora! Between us three sprang up two fatal passions. -Read on, and you shall see.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</h2> -</div> - -<p>Now, when that fair young English girl, at her -father’s voice, turned to acknowledge my presence—thinking -it was some other new knight of the many -who came there every hour, she lifted her eyes to -mine—and then, all on a sudden, without rhyme or -reason, she started back and blanched whiter than -her own wimple, and then flushed again, equally unaccountably, -and fell a-trembling and staring at me -in a wondrous fashion. She came a step forward, as -though she would greet some long-looked-for friend, -and then withdrew—and half held out her hand, and -took it back, the while the color came and went upon -her cheeks in quick flushes, and, stirred by some -strange emotion, her bosom rose and fell under the -golden cestus and the lawn with the stress of her feelings. -The sudden storm, however invoked, shook that -sweet fabric most mightily. There, in that very minute, -it seemed—there, in that merry, careless place in -sight of me, but a gaudy gallant a little more thoughtful-looking, -perhaps, than those she often saw, yet, all -the same, naught but a stranger gallant, unknown and -nameless to her—moved by some affinity within us, -just as the alchemist’s magic touch converts between -two breaths one elixir in his crucibles to another, so, -before my eyes, I saw in that fair girl’s pallid face -love flush through her veins and light her heart and -eyes with a responding blush.</p> - -<p>And I—I the unhappy, I the sorrow bestower, as I -saw her first, what of all things in this wide world -should I think of—what should leap up in my mind as -I perked my gilded scabbard and bowed low to the -polished floor in my glittering Plantagenet finery—what -vision should come to me in that latter-day hall, -among those mandolin-fingering courtiers, before that -costly raimented maiden, the fair heiress of a thousand -years of care and gentle living, that girl leaning -frightened and shy upon the arm of her strong father -like a soft white mist-cloud in the shadow of a mountain—what -thought, what idea, but a swift revision, -of Blodwen, my wild, ruddy, untutored British wife!</p> - -<p>All those gaudy butterflies of the new day, that -stately home and that fair flower herself, shrank into -nothing; and as the white lightning leaps through the -dull void of midnight, and shows for one dazzling -second some long-remembered country, ashine in every -leaf and detail, to the startled pilgrim, and then is -gone with all the ghostly mirage of its passage, so -in that surprising moment, so full of import, Blodwen -rose to my mind against all reason and likelihood—Blodwen -the Briton, the ruddy-haired—Blodwen radiant -with her gentle motherhood—Blodwen who -could scream so fiercely to her clansmen in the forefront -of conflict, and drive her bloody chariot through -the red mud of battle with wounded foemen writhing -under her remorseless wheels more blithely than a -latter-day maid would trip through the spangled -meadow grass of springtime—Blodwen rose before -me!</p> - -<p>Oh! ’twas wild, ’twas foolish, past explaining, nonsense: -and, angry with myself and that white maid -who stood and hung her head before me, I stroked my -hand across my face to rid me of the fancy, and, gathering -myself together, made my bow, murmuring -something fiercely civil, and turned my back upon her -to seek another group.</p> - -<p>Yes; but if you think I conquered that fancy, you -are wrong. For days and days it haunted me, even -though I laughed it to scorn, and, what made the matter -more difficult, more perplexing, was that I had -not guessed in error—the unhappy Isobel had loved -me from first sight, and, against every precedent her -nature would have warranted, grew daily deeper in -the toils. And I, who never yet had turned from the -eyes of suppliant maid, watched her color shift and -fly as I came or went, and strode gloomy, unmindful, -through all her pretty artifices of maiden tenderness, -burning the meanwhile with love for her disdainful -sister. It was a strange medley, and in one phase -or another pursued me all the time I was in that -noble keep. When I was not wooing I was being -wooed. Alas! and all the coldness I got from that -black-browed lady with the goddess carriage and the -faultless skin I passed on to the poor, enamored girl -who dogged my idle footsteps for a word.</p> - -<p>Thus, on one day we had a tournament. All round -the great castle, under the oaks, were pitched the -tents of the troopers, while the pennons and bannerets -of knights and barons, as we saw them from the -turret top, shone in the sunlight like a field of flowers. -The soldier-yeomen had their sports and contests on -the greensward, and we went down to watch them. -Thor! but I never saw such bronzed and stalwart fellows, -or witnessed anything like the truth and -straightness of those stinging flights of shafts the -archers sent against their butts! Then the next day, -following the sports of the common people, in the tiltyard -inside the barbican, we held a tourney, a mock -battle and a breaking of spears, a very gorgeous show -indeed, and near as exciting as an honest mêlée itself.</p> - -<p>So tuneful in my ears proved the shivering of lances -and the clatter of swords on the steel panoply of the -knights, that, though at first I held aloof, stern and -gloomy with my futile passion, yet presently I itched -to take a spear, and, since those sparkling riders liked -the fun so much, to let them try whether my right -hand had lost the cunning it learned before their -fathers were conceived. And as I thought so, standing -among the chief ones in that brilliant tourney -ring, up came the white rose and tempted me to break -a lance, and sighed so softly and brushed against me -with her scented draperies, and tried with feeble self-command -to meet my eyes and could not, and was so -obviously wishful that I should ride a course or two, -and so prettily in love, that I was near relenting of -my coldness.</p> - -<p>I did unbend so much as to consent to mount. A -page fetched my armor and my mighty black charger -draped in crimson-blazoned velvet and ribboned from -head to tail, and then I went to the rear of the lists -and put on the steel.</p> - -<p>“Thanks, good squire!” I said to the youth who -thrust my pointed toes into the stirrups when I was -on my horse. “Now give me up my gauntlets and -post me in my principles.”</p> - -<p>“Fie, Sir, not to know,” quoth he, “the worship of -weapons and the honor of fair ladies!”</p> - -<p>“Thanks. That is not difficult to remember; and -as to my practice?”</p> - -<p>“Ah! there you confuse him,” put in a jester standing -by. “No good knight likes to be bound too closely -as to that.”</p> - -<p>As I rode round the lists, a white hand from under -the sister’s daïs—to whom belonging I well could -guess—threw me a flower, the which fell under my -sleek charger’s hoofs and was stamped into the trodden -mold. And then the trumpet sounded. “Avant!” -called the glittering marshal—and we met in mid -career.</p> - -<p>Seven strong knights did I jerk from their high-peaked -saddles that morning, and won a lady’s golden -head-ring, and rode round about the circus with it -on my lance-point. When I came under where Isobel -sat, I saw her fair cheeks redder than my ribbons with -maiden expectation; but, as I passed without a sign, -they grew whiter than her lawn. And then I reined -up and deposited that circlet at the footstool of her -sister. The proud, cold maid accepted the homage -as was her duty, but scarcely deigned to lower her -eyes to the level of my helmet-plumes while her father -put it on her forehead.</p> - -<p>A merry time we had in that courtly place waiting -for the signal to start; and much did I learn and note—soon -the favorite gallant in that goodly company, -the acknowledged strongest spearman in the lists, the -best teller of strange stories by an evening fire! But -never an inch of way could I make with the impenetrable -girl on whom my wayward heart was set, while -the other—the younger—made her sweet self the -pointing stock of high and low, she was so blindly, so -obviously in love.</p> - -<p>One day it came to a climax. We met by chance in -a glade of black shadows among the cedar branches, -I and that damsel in white, and, finding I would not -woo her, she set to work and wooed me—so sweet, so -strong, so passionate, that to this day I cannot think -how I withstood it. Yes, and that fair, slim maid, -renowned through all the district for her gentle -reticence, when I would not answer love with love, -and glance for glance, fired up with white-hot passion, -threw hesitance to the wind, and besought and knelt -to me, and asked no more than to be my slave, so -sweet, so reckless in her passion, that it was not the -high-born English lady who knelt there, but rather it -seemed to me my dear, fiery, untutored British Princess! -Fool I was not to see it then, witless after so -much not to guess the tameless spirit, the intruder -soul that poor girl at my feet held unwitting in her -bosom!</p> - -<p>She came to me, as I have said, all in a gust of feeling -unlike herself, and, when I would not say that -which she longed to hear, she wrung her hands, and -then down she came upon her knees and clipped me -round my jeweled belt and confessed her love for me -in such a headlong rush of tearful eloquence I durst -not write it.</p> - -<p>“Lady,” I said, lifting the supple girl to her feet. “I -grieve, but it is useless. Forget! forgive! I cannot -answer as you would.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, but,” she answered, rushing again to the onset, -sighing as now the hot, strange love that burned -within her, and now her sweet native spirit strove for -mastery—(“surely, I think, I am possessed), I will not -take ‘No’ for an answer. I am consumed (oh! fie to -say it) for thee. I am not first in thy dear affection—why, -then, I will be second. Not second! then I will -be the hundredth from thy heart! My light, my life -and fate, I cannot live without thee. Oh! as you were -born by your mother’s consummated love, as thou hast -ever felt compunction for a white-cheeked maid, have -pity on me! I tell thee I will follow thee to the ends -of the earth (Lord! how my tongue runs on!). For one -moiety of that affection perhaps a happier woman has -I will serve thee through life. Thou hast no wife, ’tis -said, to hinder; thou art a soldier, and a score of them, -ere I was touched with this strange infection, have -sued hopeless for but a chance of that which is proffered -thee so freely. Truth! they have told me I was -fair and tall, with a complexion that ridiculed the -water-lilies on the moat, and hair, one said, was like -ripe corn with a harvest sun upon it (it makes me -blush”—I heard her whisper to herself—“to apprise -myself like this), and yet you stand there averse and -sullen, with eyes turned from me, and deaf ears! Am -I a sight so dreadful to you?”</p> - -<p>“Maid!” I cried, shutting out her suppliant beauty -from my heart—overfull, as I thought it, of that other -one, her sister—“no man could look at you and not -be moved. The wayward Immortals have given you -more sweetness than near any other woman I ever saw—‘a -sight so dreadful to me?’—why, you are fairer -than an early morning in May when the new sun gets -up over the wet-flowered hawthorns! And for this -very reason, for pity on us both, stand up, and dry -your tears! Believe me, dear maid, where I go you -cannot come. You tread the rough soldier’s path! -Why, those pretty velvet buskins would wear out in -the first march. And turn those dainty hands to the -rough craft of war, to scouring harness and grooming -chargers—oh! that were miserable indeed; those -cherry lips are worse suited than you know for the -chance fare of camp and watchfire, and those round -arms would soon find a sword was heavier than a -bodkin—there, again forget, forgive—and, perhaps, -when I come back——”</p> - -<p>But why should I further follow that sad love-scene -under the broad-spreading cedars? Let it be sufficient -for you that I soothed her as well as might be and -stanched her tears and modified my coolness, taking -her pretty hands and whispering to as dainty and -greedy an ear as ever was opened to hear, perhaps, -a little more of lover friendliness than I truly meant, -and so we parted.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Now see the shield turned. That very afternoon -did the other sister unbend a point with cruel suavity, -and set me joyous by promising to meet me at nightfall, -whereat, as you will readily understand, every -other event of the day faded into nothingness. At the -appointed hour, just as the white mist floated in thin -fine wisps from the shadowed moat on the eastward -of the castle wall and the red setting sun was throwing -the strong black shadows of cedar branches upon -the copper-gleaming windows and walls of the side -that faced him, I rose, and, making some jesting excuse, -slipped away from my noisy comrades in the hall -into the shadows of the corridors. Yes! and, though -you may smile, he who thought this Phœnician had -plumbed the well of mortal love to the very depth, had -learned all there was to learn, and left nothing that -could stir him so much as a heart-beat in this fair -field of adventure, was now tripping through the -ruddy and black dust, anxious and alert, his pulses -beating a quicker measure than his feet, the native -boldness of his nature all overlaid with new-born diffidence, -fingering his silken points as he went, and -conning pretty speeches, now hoping in his lover hesitance -the tryst would not be kept, and then anon -spurning himself for being so laggard and faint-hearted, -and thus progressing in moods and minds as -many as the gentle shadows checkering his path from -many an oriel window and many a fluted casement, -he came at length within sight of the deep-set window -looking down over the pale-shining water and the -heavy woods beyond, where his own love-tale was to -be told.</p> - -<p>And there as I plucked back the last tapestry that -barred my passage and stood still for a moment on -the threshold—there before me sitting on the tressels -under the mullions in the twilight, was the figure of -my fair and haughty English girl.</p> - -<p>She had her face turned away from the evening -glow, her ample white cap, peaked and laced with -gold on either crescent point, further threw into -shadow the features I knew so well, while the fine -shapely hands lay hidden in the folds of the ample -dress which shone and glimmered in the dusk against -the oak panelings of that ancient lobby in misty uncertainty. -Gentle dame! My heart bounded with expectant -triumph to see how pensive and downcast was -her look—how still she sat and how, methought, the -white linen and the golden ceinture above her heart -rose and fell even in that silent place with the tumult -of maidenly passion within. My heart opened to her, -I say, as though I were an enamored shepherd about -to pour a brand-new virgin love into the frightened -ears of some timid country maid, and within my veins, -as the heavy arras fell from my hands behind me, -there surged up the molten stream of Eastern love! -I waited neither to see nor hear else, but strode swiftly -over the floor and cast myself down there at her feet -upon one knee—gods! how it makes me smart to think -of it!—I who had never bent a knee before in supplication -to earth or heaven, and poured out before her -the offering of my passion. Hot and swiftly I wooed -her, saying I scarce know what, loosening my heart -before that silent shrine, laying bare the keen, strong -throb of life and yearning that pulsed within me, persuading, -entreating, cajoling, until both breath and -fancy failed. And never under all that stream of love -had the damsel given one sign, one single indication of -existence.</p> - -<p>Then on I went again, deeming the maid held herself -not yet wooed enough, disporting myself before her, -and pleading the simplicity of my love, saying how -that, if it brought no great riches with it, yet was it -the treasure of a truthful heart. Did she sigh to widen -her father’s broad lands? I swore by Osiris I would -do it for her love better than any petty lordling could. -Did she desire to shine, honored above all women, -where spears were broken or feasts were spread? -Think of yon littered lists, I cried, and told her there -was not a champion in all the world I feared—none -who should not come humbled to her footstool; while, -as for honor and recognition—Jove! I would pluck -them from the King himself, even as I had plucked -them from his betters. Yet never a sign that fair -girl gave.</p> - -<p>Full of wonder and surprise, I waited for a moment -for some sign or show, if not of answering fire, at least -of reason; and then, as I checked in full course my -passionate pleadings, that wretched thing before me -burst, not into the tears I expected of maidenly capitulation, -nor into the proud anger of offended virgins, -but into a silly, plebeian simper, which began in ludicrous -smothered merriment under the folds of the -lawn she held across her face, and ended amid what -appeared contending feelings in a rustic outburst of -sobs and exclamations.</p> - -<p>I was on my feet in an instant, all my wild love-making -dammed back upon my heart by suspicion and -surprise, and as I frowned fiercely at that dim-seen -form under the distorting shadow of the windows, it -rose—to nothing like Alianora’s height—and stepped -out where the evening light better illumined us. And -there that poor traitress tore off in anger and remorse -the lace and linen of a well-born English maiden, and -stood revealed before me the humblest, the meanest-seeming, -and the most despised kitchen wench of any -that served in that baronial hall!</p> - -<p>You will guess what my feelings were as this indignity -I had been put to rushed upon me, how in -my wounded pride I crossed my arms savagely upon -my breast, and turned away from that poor, simpering, -rustic fool, and clenched my teeth, and swore -fierce oaths against that cruel girl who, in her pride -and insolence, had played me this sorry trick. Wild -and bitter were the gusts of passion that swept -through my heart, and all the more unruly since it was -by and for a woman I had fallen, and there was none -for me to take vengeance on.</p> - -<p>In a few minutes I turned to the wretched tool of -a vixen mistress. “Hast any explanation of this?” I -sternly asked, pointing to the disordered finery that -lay glimmering upon the floor.</p> - -<p>The unhappy kitchenmaid nodded behind her tears -and the thick red hands wherewith she was streaking -two wet, round cheeks with alternate hues of grief -and dinginess, and put a hand into her bosom and -handed me a folded missive. I tore it open and read, -in prettily scrawled old Norman French, that cruel -message:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p><i>This is to tell that nameless knight who has nothing to -distinguish him but presumption, that although the daughter -of an English peer must ever treat his suit with the contempt -it deserved, yet will she go so far as to select him -from among her father’s vassals one to whom she thinks he -might very fitly unburden his soul of its load of “love and -fealty.”</i></p> -</div> - -<p>Such was the missive, one surely penned by as ungentle -a hand as ever ministered to a woman’s heart. -I tore it into a hundred fragments, and then grimly -pointed my traducer to the narrow wicket in the remote -wall leading down by a hundred stony stairs to -the scullion places whence she had come. She turned -and went a little way toward it, then came sobbing -back, and burst out into grief anew, and “Alas! alas! -Sir,” she cried, “this is the very worst task that ever I -was put to! Shame upon Lady Alianora, and double -shame upon me for doing her behests. I am sorry, -Sir! indeed I am! Until you began that wonderful -tale I thought ’twas but a merry game; but, oh, Sir! -to see you there upon your knee, to see your eyes -burning in the dark with true love for my false mistress—why, -Sir, it would have drawn tears from the -hardest stone in the mill down yonder. And ever as -your talk went on just now, I kept saying to myself, -Sure! but it must be a big heart which works a tongue -like that; and when you had done, Sir, ah! before you -were halfway through, though I could not stop you, -yet I loathed my errand. I am sorry, Sir, indeed I -am! I cannot go until I be forgiven!”</p> - -<p>“There, there, silly girl,” I said, my wrath quenched -by her red eyes and humble amendment, “you are fully -absolved.”</p> - -<p>She kissed my hands and dried her eyes, and swept -together, with woman swiftness, the tattered things -in which she had masqueraded, and then, as she was -about to leave, I called her back.</p> - -<p>“Stay one moment, damsel! How much had you -for thus betraying me?”</p> - -<p>“Two zequins, Sir,” she answered with simplicity.</p> - -<p>“Why, then, here’s three others to say naught about -this evening’s doings in the servants’ hall. You understand? -There, go! and no more tears or thanks,” -and, as the curtain fell upon her, I could not help muttering -to myself, “What! two zequins to undo you, -Phra, and three to mend it? Why, Phœnician, thou -hast not been so cheap for thirteen hundred years!”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</h2> -</div> - -<p>Grim and angry, all that night I chewed the bitter -cud of my rejection, and before the new day was an -hour old determined life was no longer worth the -living in that place. I determined to leave those -walls at once, to leave all my songs unsung, my -trysts unkept, to leave all my jolly comrades, the tiltyards -and banquets. But I could not do this so secret -as I would. The very paying off of my score down -in the buttery, the dismissing of my attendants, each -with largess, the seriousness I could not but give to -my morning salutation of some of those I should never -see again, betrayed me. And thus a whisper, first -down in the vaulted guard-room, and then a rumor, -and anon a widening murmur the news was spread, -until surely the very jackdaws on the battlements -were saying to themselves, “Phra is going! Phra!—Phra -is going!”</p> - -<p>Yes! and the tidings spread to that fair floor of a -hundred corridors, where the Norman-arched windows -looked down four score feet upon the river winding -amid its shining morning meadows, bringing a sigh -to more than one silken pillow. It reached the unhappy, -red-eyed Isobel, and presently she tripped -down the twining stone staircase, the loose folds of -her skirt thrown over her arm to free her pretty feet, -and in her hand a scrap of writing, a “cartel” she -called it, seeming newly opened.</p> - -<p>She came to the sunny empty corridor where I stood -alone, and touched me on the arm as I watched from -a lattice my charger being armed and saddled in the -courtyard underneath, and when I turned held out her -hand to me in frank and simple fashion. How could -I refuse the proffer of so fair a friendship? and, pulling -my velvet cap from my head, I put her white -fingers to my lips. And was it true, she asked with -a sigh, I was really going that morning, and so suddenly? -Only too true, I answered, and, saving her -presence, not so sudden as my inclination prompted. -Much I saw she wished to question the why and -wherefore, but of this, as of nothing touching her -stern sister, would I tell her.</p> - -<p>So presently she come to her point, and, fingering -that scroll she had, very downcast and blushful, said: -“You are a good knight, Sir Stranger, and strong and -experienced in arms.”</p> - -<p>“Your Ladyship’s description wakes my ambition to -deserve your words.”</p> - -<p>“And generous, I have noticed, and as indulgent to -page and squire of tender years as you are the contrary -to stronger folk.”</p> - -<p>“And if this were so, Madam,” I asked, “what then?”</p> - -<p>“Oh! only,” she said, wondrous shy and frightened, -“that I have here a cartel from a friend of mine, a -youth of noble family, who has heard of thee, and -would go to the wars in your company—as your comrade, -I mean: that is, if you would take him.”</p> - -<p>“Why, damsel, the wars are free to every one; but I -am in no mood just now to tutor a young gallant in -slitting Frenchmen’s throats!”</p> - -<p>“But this one, Sir, very particularly wishes to travel -with you, of whose prowess he is so convinced. He -has, alas! quarreled with those at whose side he should -most naturally ride—he will be no trouble; for my -sake you must take him. And,” said the cunning girl, -standing on tiptoe to be the nearer to my ear, “he is -rich, though friendless by a rash love—he will gladly -see to both your horses and disburse your passage -over to France, even for the honor of remembering -that he did it.”</p> - -<p>Now, this touched me very nearly. One by one my -rings had gone, and that morning, after paying scores -and largess, in truth I had found my wallet completely -empty once again! If this youth had money, even -though it were but sufficient to buy corn for our -chargers on the way, and pay the ferry over to yonder -fair field of adventure, why, there was no denying -he would be a very convenient traveling companion, -and it would go hard but that I could teach him something -in return. Thinking this, I lifted my eyes, and -found those of Isobel watching the workings of my -face with pretty cunning.</p> - -<p>“In truth, maid, if thy friend has so much gold as -would safely land us with King Edward in Flanders, -why, I must confess that just at present that does -greatly commend him to me. What sort of a man -is he?”</p> - -<p>This question seemed to overwhelm the lady, who -blushed and hung her head like a poppy that has stood -a week’s drought.</p> - -<p>“In truth, Sir,” she murmured, “I do not know.”</p> - -<p>“Not know! Why, but you said he was your -friend.”</p> - -<p>“Oh! so I did. And, now I come to think of it, he is -a tall youth—about my size and make.”</p> - -<p>“Gads! but he will be a shapely, if somewhat sapling -gallant,” I laughed, letting my eye roam over the supple -maiden figure before me.</p> - -<p>“But though he be so slim,” the girl hastened to -add, as if she feared she had been indiscreet, “you will -find the youth a rare good horseman, and clever in -many things. He can cook (if thou art ever belated) -like a Frenchman, and can read missals to thee, and -write like a monk—thy comrade, Sir knight, will be -one in a thousand—he can sing like a mavis on a fir-top.”</p> - -<p>“I like not these singing knights, fair maid: their -verses are both too smooth for soldier ears, and too -licentious for maidens’.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! but my friend,” quoth Isobel, with a blush, -“never sang an ungentle song in his life; you will find -him a most civil, most simple-spoken companion.”</p> - -<p>“Well, then, I will have him—no doubt we shall -grow as close together as boon companions should.”</p> - -<p>“Would that you might grow so close together as I -could wish!” said the English girl, with a sigh I did -not understand.</p> - -<p>“And now, how am I to know this friend,” I asked, -“this slim and gentle youth? What is his name, and -what his face?”</p> - -<p>“I had near forgotten that; and it was like a woman, -for they say they ever keep the most important matter -to the last! This boy, for good reasons that I know -but may not mention, has sworn a vow, after the fashion -of the chivalry he delights in, not to show his -face, not to wear his honorable name, until some happier -times shall come for him. He is in love—like -many another—and does conceive his heart to be most -desperately consumed thereby. Wherefore he has -taken the name of Flamaucœur, and bears upon his -shield a device to that effect. This alone will point -him out to you, over and above the dropped visor, -which no earthly power will make him lift until this -war and quest of his be over. But you will know him, -I feel in my heart, without consideration. Sir knight, -you will know this youth when you meet him, something -in my innermost heart does tell me, even as I -should know one that I loved or that loved me behind -twenty thicknesses of steel. And now, good-by until -we meet again!”</p> - -<p>The fair maid gave me her hand as though to part, -and then hesitated a moment. Presently she mustered -up courage and said:</p> - -<p>“Thou bear’st me no ill-will for yonder wild meeting -of ours?”</p> - -<p>“Maiden, it is forgotten!”</p> - -<p>“Well, let it be so. I do not know what possessed -me. I was hurried down the stream of feeling like -a leaf on a tide. ’Twas I that met thee there by the -cedars, and yet it was not me. Something so wild -and fierce, such a hot intruder spirit burned within -this poor circumference, that I think I was damnate -and bewitched. Thou dost most clearly understand -that this hot fit is over now.”</p> - -<p>“I clearly understand!”</p> - -<p>“And that I love thee no longer,” quoth the lady, -with a sigh, “or, at least, not near so much?”</p> - -<p>“Madam, so I conceive it. Be at ease: it is sacred -between us two, and I will forget.”</p> - -<p>“Thanks! a thousand thanks, even for the relief that -cold forgetfulness does give me. And now again, -good-by. Be gentle to Flamaucœur, and—and,” -burst out the poor girl, as her control forsook her—“if -there is an eye in the whole of wide heaven, oh, -may it watch thee! if ever prayers of mine can pierce -to the seat of the Eternal, oh, may they profit thee! -Gods! that my wishes were iron bars for thy dear -body, and my salt tears could but rivet them! Good-by! -good-by!” and, kissing my hands in a fierce outburst -of weeping, that fair white girl turned and fled, -and disappeared through the tapestries that screened -the Norman archways.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Before nightfall I was down by the English coast -and made many a long league from the castle. -Thoughtful and alone, my partings made, I had paced -out from its gloomy archway, the gay feathers on my -helmet-top near brushing the iron teeth of the portcullis -lowering above, and my charger’s hoofs falling -as hollow on the echoing drawbridge as my heart beat -empty to the sounds of happy life behind me. Away -south went the pathway, trodden day after day by contingents -of gallant troops from that knightly stronghold. -Jove! one might have followed it at midnight: -those jolly bands had made a trail through copse and -green wood, through hamlet and through heather, like -the track of a storm-wind. They had beaten down -grass and herbage, they had robbed orchards and -spinneys, and here their wayside fires were still -a-smoldering, and there waved rags upon the bushes, -and broken shreds and baggage. Now and then, as I -paced along, I saw in the hamlets the folk still looking -southward, and standing gossiping on the week’s wonders, -the boys meanwhile careering in mock onset with -broken spear-shafts or discarded trappings. Oh! ’twas -easy enough to know which way my friends had gone!</p> - -<p>So plain was the track, and so well did my good -horse acknowledge it, that there was little for me to -do but sit and chew the bitter cud of fancy. All -through the hot afternoon, all through the bright sunshine -and shining green bracken, did we saunter, back -toward the gray sea I knew so well, back toward -that void beginning of my wanderings, and as my sad -thoughts turned to when I last had sat a charger in -such woods as these, to my fair Saxon homestead, -Editha, the abbey and its Abbot, my donning English -mail and breaking spears for a smile from yon cold -Peeress, with much more of like nature, went idly flitting -through my head. But hardly a thought among -all that motley crowd was there for Isobel or her -tears, and my promised meeting with her playmate.</p> - -<p>Thus it happened that as evening fell and found me -still some two miles from where our troops lay camped -along the shore, waiting to-morrow’s ferrying across -to France, I rode down the steep bank of a small river -to a ford, and slowly waded through. There be episodes -of action that live in our minds, and incidents -of repose that recur with no less force. So, then—that -placid evening stream has come before me again and -again—in the hot tumult of onset and mêlée, in court -and camp, in the cold of winter and in summer’s -warmth, I have ridden that ford once more. I have -gone down sad and thoughtful as I did, my loose reins -on my charger’s arching neck, watching the purple -shine of the water where it fretted and broke in the -evening light against his fetlocks; again and again I -have listened to the soft lisp of the stream as he drank -of that limpid trough, and I have seen in its cool, -fresh mirror my own tall image, my waving crimson -plumes, and the one white star of the evening above, -reflected upon it. And yet, if these things of a remote -yesterday are fresh in my mind, even more so is my -meeting with the slim gallant whose figure rose before -me as I emerged from the ford.</p> - -<p>As my good English charger bore me up from the -hollow, on the brow of the opposite rise was a -mounted figure standing out clear and motionless -against the yellow glow of the sunset. At first I -thought it would be some wandering spearman bound -on a like errand with myself, for more than one or -two such had passed that day. But something in the -steadfast interest of that silent horseman roused my -curiosity even before I was near enough to see the -color of his armor or the device upon his shield. Up -we scrambled up that sandy, heathery scar, the strong -sinews of my war-horse playing like steel cordage -under my thighs as he lifted me and my armor up the -gravelly path, and then, as we topped the rise and -came into the evening breeze, that strange warrior -advanced and held out a hand.</p> - -<p>Never in all my experience had I known a knight -extend the palm of friendship to another so demure -and downcast. “Truth!” I thought to myself, “this -friend of Isobel’s is, in fact, as she said, the most -modest-mannered soldier who ever took a place in -the rough game of war!” But I was pledged to like -him, and therefore, in the most hearty manner possible, -as we came up knee to knee, I slapped my heavy -hand into his extended fingers and welcomed him -loudly as a long-looked-for comrade. And in truth he -was a very pretty fellow, whose gentle presence grew -upon me after that first meeting each hour we lived -together. He seemed, as far as I could judge, no -more than twenty-five years of age, yet even that -was but a guess, for his armor was complete from top -to toe, his visor was down, and there was, indeed, -naught to judge by but a certain slightness of limb -and suppleness that spoke of no more mature years. -In height this gallant was very passable enough, and -his helmet, with its nodding plumes, added some grace -and inches to his stature, while his pale-gray mail was -beautifully fashioned and molded, and spoke through -every close joint and cunning finished link of a young -but well-proportioned soldier.</p> - -<p>The arms this warrior carried were better suited -to his strength than to that of the man who rode beside -him. His lance was long and of polished inlay, -while mine beside it was like the spear of Goliath to -a fisher’s hazel wand. His dagger was better for cutting -the love-knot on a budget of sonnets than for -disburdening foemen’s spirits of their mortal shackles. -His cross-hilted sword was so light it made me sigh -to look at it. On his shield was a heart wrapped in -flames, most cunningly painted, and expressive enough -in those days, when every man took a pride in being -as vulnerable to women as he was unapproachable -among men.</p> - -<p>But who am I that I should judge that gentle knight -by myself—by me, whose sinews countless fights have -but matured, who have been blessed by the gods with -bulk and strength above other mortals? Why should -I measure his brand-new lance, gleaming in the pride -of virgin polish, against the stern long spear I carried; -or that dainty brand of his, that mayhap his -tender maid had belted on him for the first time some -hours before, with such a broad blade as long use had -made lighter to my hand than a lady’s distaff?</p> - -<p>Before we had paced a mile, Flamaucœur had -proved himself the sprightliest companion who ever -enlivened a dull road with wit and laughter. At first -’twas I that spoke, for he had not one word in all the -world to say—he was so shy. But when I twitted -him for this, and laughed, and asked him of his lady-love, -and how she had stood the parting—how many -tears there had been, and whether they all were hers; -and whose heart was that upon his shield, his own or -the damsel’s; and so on, in bantering playfulness, I -got down to the metal of that silent boy. He winced -beneath my laughter for a little time, and fidgeted -upon his saddle, and then the gentle blood in his veins -answered, as I hoped it would, and he turned and -gave me better than I offered. Such a pretty fellow -in wordy fence I never saw: his tongue was like a -woman’s, it was so hard to silence. When I thought -I had him at disadvantage on a jest, he burked the -point of my telling argument, and struck me below -my guard; when I would have pinned him to some -keen inquiry regarding that which he did not wish to -tell, he turned questioner with swift adroitness, and -made—quicker than it takes to write—his inquisitor -the humble answerer to his playful malice. He was -better at that fence than I, there could be no doubt, -and very speedily his nimble tongue, which sounded -so strange and pleasant in the hollow of his helmet, -had completely mastered mine. So, with a laugh, I -did acknowledge to the conquest.</p> - -<p>Whereon that generous youth was pleased, I saw, -and laid aside his coyness, and chattered like a millstream -among the gravels on an idle Sunday. He -turned out both shrewd and witty, with a head stuffed -full of romance and legend, just such as one might have -who had spent a young life listening to troubadours -and minstrels. And I liked him none the less because -he trimmed the gross fables of that time to such a -decent shape. He told me one or two that I had heard -before, although he knew it not. And as I had heard -them from the licentious lips of courtly minstrels they -are not fit to write or tell, but my worthy wayfarer -clipped and purged them so adroitly, and turned them -out so fair and seemly, all with such a nice unconsciousness, -I scarce could recognize them. He was a -most gentle-natured youth, and there was something -in his presence, something in the half-frankness he put -forth, and something in that there was strange about -him which greatly drew me. Now you would think, -to listen to him, he was all a babbling stream as shallow -as could be, and then, anon, a turn of sad wisdom -or a sigh set you wondering, as when that same stream -runs deep into the shadows, and you hear it fret and -fume with gathering strength far away in unknown -depths of mother Earth. A most enticing, a most perplexing -comrade.</p> - -<p>Beguiling the way in this fashion, and liking my -new ally better and better as we went, we came a little -after nightfall on a wet and windy evening to the hamlet -near the sea where the rearguard of the English -troops were collected for ferrying over to France. -Here we halted and sought food and shelter, but -neither were to be had for the asking. That little -street of English dwellings was crowded with hungry -troopers. They were camping by their gleaming -watch-fires all along the grassy ways, so full was every -lodgment, while every yellow window of the dim -gabled alehouse in the midst shone into the wet, dark -night, and every room within was replete with stamping, -clanking, noisy gallants. Their chargers filled -the yard and were picketed a furlong down the muddy -road, that sloped to the murmuring, unseen sea, and -there was not space, it seemed, for one single other -horse or rider in the whole friendly village.</p> - -<p>But the insidious Flamaucœur found a way and -place. He sought out the master of the inn himself, -and, unheeding of his curt refusals, made request so -cunning and used his money-pouch so liberal that that -strong and surly yeoman, with much to do, found us -a loft to sleep in, which was a bedroom better than -the wayside, though still but a rough one. Then -Flamaucœur waylaid the buxom, hurrying housewife, -and, on an evening when many a good gentleman was -going supperless to bed, got us a loaf of white bread -and a wooden bowl of milk, the which we presently -shared most comrade-like, my friend lifting his visor -so much as might suffice to eat, but yet not enough to -show his face. He waylaid a lad, and, for a coin or -two, and a little of his sweet-voiced cajoling, got our -steeds watered and sheltered, though many another -lordly, sleek-limbed beast stood all night unwashed, -unminded. A most persuasive youth was Flamaucœur!</p> - -<p>And then, our frugal supper made and our horses -seen to, we went to bed. Diffident, ingenious young -knight! He made my couch (while I was not by) long -and narrow—no bigger than for one—of all the soft -things he could lay his hands on—as though, forsooth, -I were some tender flower—and for himself hardly -spread a horsecloth on the bare floor!</p> - -<p>Now, when I came up and found this done, without -a word I sent the boy to go and see what the night -was like, and if the moon yet showed, or if it rained, -and, when he went forthwith, pulled that couch to -bits, respreading it so it was broad enough for two -good comrades side by side. Ah! And when Flamaucœur -came back, I rated him soundly, telling him that, -though it was set in the laws of arms that a young -knight should show due deference to an older, yet all -that comrades had of hard or soft was equally dividable, -both board and bed, and good luck and misfortune. -And he was amenable, though still a little -strange, and unbuckled his armor by our dim rushlight, -and then—poor, tired youth!—with that iron -mask upon his head, in his quilted underwear, threw -himself upon the couch, and slept almost before he -could straighten out those shapely limbs of his.</p> - -<p>And I presently lay down by his side and slept, -while all through my dreams went surging the wildest -fancies of tilt and tourney and lady’s love. And -now I heard in the uproar of the restless village street -and the neighing of the chargers at their pickets the -noise of battle and of onset. And then I thought I -had, on some unknown field, five thousand spearmen -overset against a hundred times as many; and while -my heart bounded proudly in answer to that disadvantage, -and I rode up and down our glittering ranks -speaking words of strength and courage to those -scanty heroes, waving my shining sword in the sun -that shone for victory on us and curbing my fretting -charger’s restless valor, methought, somehow, the -words dried up upon my lips, and the proud murmur -of my firm-set veterans turned to a low moaning wail, -and a gray mist of tears put out the sun, and black -grief drank up the warriors; and while I wrestled -with that melancholy, Blodwen, my Princess, was sitting -by my side, cooling my hot forehead with her -calm, immortal hand, and calling me, with smiling -accent, “dull, unwitful, easily beguiled,” and all the -time that young gallant by me lay limp, supine, asleep, -and soulless.</p> - -<p>So passed the checkered fancies of the night, and -the earliest dawn found us up, in arms, and ready for -sterner things.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Again I had to owe to Flamaucœur’s ready wit and -liberal purse precedence for our needs above all the -requirements of the many good knights who would -have crossed with the haste they could, but had, perforce, -to wait. It was he who got us a vessel sufficient -for our needs when the fisher folk were swearing -there was not a ship to be hired for twenty miles up -or down the coast. In this we embarked with our -horses, and one or two other gentlemen we knew, and -in a few hours’ sailing the English shore went down -and the sunny cliffs of Normandy rose ahead of us.</p> - -<p>Will you doubt but that I stood thoughtful and -silent as the green and silver waves were shivered by -our dancing prow, and that strange, familiar land rose -up before us? I, that British I, who had seen Cæsar’s -galleys, heavy with Umbrian and Etrurian, put out -from that very shore: I, who had stood on the green -cliffs of Harold’s kingdom and shaken a Saxon javelin -toward that home of Norman tyranny: I, this -knightly, steel-bound I, stood and watched that country -grow upon us, with thoughts locked in my heart -there were none to listen to and none to share.</p> - -<p>Oh! it was passing strange, and I did not rouse me -until our iron keel went gently grinding up the Norman -gravel, and our vessel was beached upon the -hostile shore.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</h2> -</div> - -<p>Strange, eventful, and bloody, were the incidents -that followed. King Edward, burning for glory, had -landed in Normandy a little time before, had knighted -on these yellow beaches that gallant boy his son, and -with the young Prince and some fourteen thousand -English troops, ten thousand wild Welshmen, and -six thousand Irish, pillaging and destroying as he -went, he had marched straight into the heart of unready -France. With that handful of men he had -burned all the ships in Hogue, Barfleur, and Cherbourg; -he had stormed Montebourg, Carentan, St. Lo, -and Valognes, sending a thousand sails laden with -booty back to England, and now, day by day, he was -pressing southward through his fair rebellious territories, -deriding the French King in his own country, -and taking tithe and taxes in rough fashion with fire -and sword.</p> - -<p>Nor had we who came late far to seek for the Sovereign. -His whereabouts was well enough to be told by -the rolling smoke that drifted heavily to leeward of his -marching columns and the broad trail of desolation -through the smiling country that marked his stern -progress. To travel that sad road was to see naked -War stripped of all her excusing pageantry, to see -gray desolation and lean sorrow following in the gay -train of victory.</p> - -<p>Gods! it was a sad path. Here, as we rode along, -would lie the still smoldering ashes of a burned village, -black and gray in the smiling August sunshine. -In such a hamlet, perhaps, across a threshold, his -mouth agape and staring eyes fixed on the unmoved -heavens, would lie a peasant herdsman, his right hand -still grasping the humble weapon wherewith he had -sought to protect his home, and the black wound in -his breast showing whence his spirit had fled indignant -to the dim Place of Explanations.</p> - -<p>Neither women nor babes were exempt from that -fierce ruin. Once we passed a white and silent mother -lying dead in mid-path, and the babe, still clasped in -her stiff arms, was ruddy and hungry, and beat with -tiny hands to wake her and crowed angry at its failure, -and whimpered so pitiful and small, and was so -unwotting of the merry game of war and all it meant, -that the laughter and talk died away from the lips of -those with me, as, one by one, we paced slowly past -that melancholy thing.</p> - -<p>At another time, I remember, we came to where a -little maid of some three tender years was sitting -weaving flowers on the black pile of a ruined cottage, -that, though her small mind did not grasp it, hid the -charred bodies of all her people. She twined those -white-and-yellow daisies with fair smooth hands, and -was so sunny in the face and trustful-eyed I could -not leave her to marauding Irish spears, or the cruel -wolfdogs who would come for her at sunset. I turned -my impatient charger into the black ruin, and, <i>maugre</i> -that little maid’s consent, plucked her from the ashes, -and rode with her upon my saddle-bow until we met -an honest-seeming peasant woman. To her I gave the -waif, with a silver crown for patrimony.</p> - -<p>Out in the open the broad stream of war had spread -itself. The yellow harvests were trodden under foot, -and hedge and fence were broken. The plow stood -halfway through the furrow, and the reaper was dead -with the sickle in his hand. Here, as we rode, went -up to heaven the smoke of coppice and homestead; -and there, from the rocks hanging over our path, luckless -maids and widowed matrons would hail and spit -upon us in their wild grief, cursing us in going, in -coming, in peace and in war, while they loaded the -frightened echoes with their shrieks and wailings.</p> - -<p>Now and then, on grass and roadside, were dark -patches of new-dried blood, and by them, maybe, lay -country cloaks and caps and weapons. There we -knew men had fallen singly, and had long lain -wounded or dead, until their friends had taken them -to grave or shelter. Out in the open again, where -skirmishes had happened and bill and bow or spear -had met their like, the dead lay thicker. Gods! how -drear those fair French fields did lie in the autumn -moonlight, with their scattered dead in twos and -threes and knots and clusters! There were some who -sprawled upon the ground—still clutching in their -dread white fingers the grass and earth torn up in the -moment of their agony. And here was he who scowled -with dead white eyes on the pale starlight, one hand -on his broken hilt and the other fast gripped upon the -spear that pinned him to the earth. Near him was a -fair boy, dead, with the shriek still seeming upon his -livid lips, and the horrid rent in his bosom that had let -out his soul looming black in the gloom. Yonder a -tall trooper still stared out grimly after the English, -and smiled in death with a clothyard shaft buried to -the feather in his heart. Some there were of these -horrid dead who still lay in grapple as they had fallen—the -stalwart Saxon and the bronzed Gaul with iron -fingers on each other’s throats, smiling their black -hatred into each other’s bloodless white faces. Others, -again, lay about whose arms were fixed in air, seeming -still to implore with bloody fingers compassion -from the placid sky.</p> - -<p>One man I saw had died stroking the thin, pain-streaked -muzzle of his wounded charger—his friend, -mayhap, for years in camp and march. Indeed, among -many sorrowful things of that midnight field, the -dead and dying horses were not least. It moved me -to compassion to hear their pain-fraught whinnies on -every hand, and to see them lying so stiff and stark -in the bloody hollows their hoofs had scooped through -hours of untempered anguish. What could I do for -all those many? But before one I stopped, and regarded -him with stern compassion many a minute. -He was a splendid black horse, of magnificent size -and strength; and not even the coat of blood and mud -with which his sweating sides were covered could hide, -here and there, the care that had but lately groomed -and tended him. He lay dying on a great sheet of -his own red blood, and as I looked I saw his tasseled -mane had been plaited not long before by some soft, -skilful fingers, and at every point was a bow of ribbon, -such as might well have been taken from a lady’s -hair to honor the war-horse of her favorite knight. -That great beast was moaning there, in the stillness, -thinking himself forgotten, but when I came and -stood over him he made a shift to lift his shapely -head, and looked at me entreatingly, with black hanging -tongue and thirst-fiery eyes, the while his doomed -sides heaved and his hot, dry breath came hissing -forth upon the quiet air. Well I knew what he asked -for, and, turning aside, I found a trooper’s empty helmet, -and, filling it from the willowed brook that ran -at the bottom of the slope, came back and knelt by -that good horse, and took his head upon my knee and -let him drink. Jove! how glad he was! Forgot for -the moment was the battle and his wounds, forgotten -was neglect and the long hours of pain and sorrow! -The limpid water went gurgling down his thirsty -throat, and every happy gasp he gave spoke of that -transient pleasure. And then, as the last bright drops -flashed in the moonlight about his velvet nozzle, I laid -one hand across his eyes and with the other drew my -keen dagger—and, with gentle remorselessness, -plunged it to the hilt into his broad neck, and with a -single shiver the great war-horse died!</p> - -<p>In truth, ’twas a melancholy place. On the midnight -wind came the wail of women seeking for their -kindred, and the howl and fighting of hungry dogs -at ghastly meals, the smell of blood and war—of -smoldering huts and black ruins! A stern pastime, -this, and it is as well the soldier goes back upon his -tracks so seldom!</p> - -<p>We passed two days through such sights as I have -noted, meeting many a heavy convoy of spoil on its -way to the coast, and not a few of our own wounded -wending back, luckless and sad, to England; and then -on the following evening we came upon the English -rear, and were shortly afterward part and parcel of -as desperate and glorious an enterprise as any that -was ever entered in the red chronicles of war. From -the coast right up to the white walls of the fair capital -itself, King Edward’s stern orders were to pillage -and kill and spoil the country, so that there should -be left no sustenance for an enemy behind. I have -told you how the cruel Irish mercenaries and the loose -soldiers of a baser sort accomplished the command. -Our English archers and the light-armed Welsh, who -scoured the front, were mild in their methods compared -to them. They mayhap disturbed the quiet of -some rustic villages, and in thirsty frolics broached -the kegs of red vintage in captured inns, robbed hen-roosts, -and kissed matrons and set maids screaming, -but they, unlike the others, had some touch of ruth -within their rugged bosoms. But, as for keeps and -castles, we stormed and sacked them as we went, and -he alone was rogue and rascal who was last into the -breach. Our wild kerns and escaladers rioting in those -lordly halls, many a sight of cruel pillage did I see, -and many a time watched the red flame bursting from -the embrasures and windows of these fair baronial -homes, and could not stay it. The Frenchmen in these -cases, such of them as were not away with the army -we hoped to find, fought brave and stubborn, and we -piled their dead bodies up in their own courtyards. -Many a comely dame and damsel did I watch wringing -white hands above these ghastly heaps, and tearing -loose locks of raven hair in piteous appeal to unmoved -skies, the while the yellow flames of their -comely halls went roaring from floor to floor, and in -mockery of their sobs, crashing towers and staircases -mingled with the yells of the defenders and the shouting -of the pillage.</p> - -<p>I fear long ages begin to sap my fiber! There was -a time when I would have sat my war-horse in the -courtyard and could have watched the red blood -streaming down the gutters and listened to the shrieking -as cold amid the ruin as any Viking on a hostile -conquered strand. But, somehow, with this steel -panoply of mine I had put on softer moods; I am -degenerate by the pretty theories of what they called -their chivalry.</p> - -<p>Far be it from me to say the English army was all -one pack of bloodhounds. War is ever a rough game, -the country was foreign, and the adventure we were -on was bold and desperate, therefore these things -were done, and chiefly by the unruly regiments, and -the scullion Irish who followed in our rear, led by -knights of ill-repute, or none. These hung like carrion -crows about our flanks and rear, and, after each fight, -stole armor from dead warriors bolder hands had -slain, and burned, and thieved from high and low, and -butchered, like the beasts of prey they were.</p> - -<p>On one occasion, I remember, a skirmish befell -shortly after we joined the main army, and a French -noble, in their charge, was unhorsed upon our front by -an English archer. Now, I happened to be the only -mounted man just there, and as this silver shining -prize staggered to his feet, and went scampering back -toward his friends with all his rich sheathing safe -upon his back, his gold chains rattling on his iron -bosom, and his jeweled belt sparkling as he fled, a -savage old English swashbuckler, whose horse was -hamstrung—Sir John Enkington they called him—fairly -wrung his hands.</p> - -<p>“After him, Sir Knight,” screamed that unchivalrous -ruffian to me, “after him, in the name of hell! If -thou rid’st hard he cannot get away, and run thy -spear in under his gorget so as not to spoil his armor—’tis -worth, at least, a hundred shillings!”</p> - -<p>I never moved a muscle, did not even deign to look -down at that cruel churl. Whereon the grizzly old -boar-hound clapped his hand upon his dagger and -turned on me—ah! by the light of heaven, he did.</p> - -<p>“What! not going, you lazy braggart!” he shouted, -beside himself with rage—“not going, for such a -prize? Beast—scullion—coward!”</p> - -<p>“Coward!” Had I lived more than a thousand years -in a soldier-saddle to be cowarded by such a hoary -whelp of butchery—such a damnable old taint on the -honorable trade of arms? I spun my charger round, -and with my gloved left hand seized that bully by -his ragged beard, and perked him here and there; -lifted him fairly off his feet; stretched his corded, -knotted throttle till his breath came thick and hard; -jerked and pulled and twisted him—then cast the ruffian -loose, and, drawing my square iron foot from -my burnished stirrup, spurned him here and there, -and kicked and pommeled him, and so at last drove -him howling down the hill, all forgetful for the moment -of prize and pillage!</p> - -<p>These lawless soldiers were the disgrace of our -camp, they did so rant and roar if all went well and -when the battle was fairly won whereto they had not -entered, they were so coward and cruel among the -prisoners or helpless that we would gladly have been -rid of them if we could.</p> - -<p>But, after the manner of the time, the war was -open to all: behind the flower of English chivalry who -rode round the Sovereign’s standard, and the gallant -bill and bowmen who wore his livery and took his -pay, observing the decencies of war, came hustling -and crowding after us a host of rude mercenaries, a -horde of ragged adventurers, who knew nothing of -honor or chivalry, and had no canons but to plunder, -ravish, and destroy.</p> - -<p>They made a trade of every villainy just outside the -camp, where, with scoundrel hawkers who followed -behind us like lean vultures, they dealt in dead men’s -goods, bought maids and matrons, and sold armor or -plunder under our marshal’s very eyes.</p> - -<p>One day, I remember, I and my shadow Flamaucœur -were riding home after scouting some miles -along the French lines without adventure, when, entering -our camp by the pickets farthest removed from -the Royal quarter, we saw a crowd of Irish kerns behind -the wood where the King had stocked his baggage, -all laughing round some common object. Now, these -Irish were the most turbulent and dissolute fighters in -the army. Such shock-headed, fiery ruffians never before -called themselves Christian soldiers. They and -the Welsh were forever at feud; but, whereas the -Welshmen were brave and submissive to their chiefs, -keen in war, tender of honor, fond of wine-cups and -minstrels—gallant, free soldiers, indeed, just as I had -known their kin a thousand years before; these savage -kerns, on the other hand, were remorseless villains, -rude and wild in camp, and cutthroat rascals, without -compunction, when a fight was over. In ordinary circumstances -we should have ridden by these noisy -rogues, for they cared not a jot for any one less than -the Camp Marshal with a string of billmen behind -him, and feuds between knights of King Edward’s -table and these shock-haired kerns were unseemly. -But on this occasion, over the hustling ring of rough -soldiers, as we sat high-perched upon our Flemish -chargers, we saw a woman’s form, and craned our -necks and turned a little from our course to watch -what new devilry they were up to.</p> - -<p>There, in the midst of that lawless gang of ruffian -soldiers, their bronzed and grinning faces hedging a -space in with a leering, compassionless wall, was a -fair French girl, all wild and torn with misadventure, -her smooth cheeks unwashed and scarred with tears, -her black hair wild and tangled on her back, her skirt -and bodice rent and muddy, fear and shame and anger -flying alternate over the white field of her comely face, -while her wistful eyes kept wandering here and there -amid that grinning crowd for a look of compunction -or a chance of rescue. The poor maid was standing -upon an overturned box such as was used to carry -cross-bow bolts in, her hands tied hard together in -front, her captor by her side, and as we came near -unnoticed he put her up for sale.</p> - -<p>“By Congal of the Bloody Fingers,” said that cruel -kern in answer to the laughing questions of his comrades, -interlarding his speech with many fiery and -horrid oaths, the which I spare you—“I found this -accursed little witch this morning hiding among the -rubbish of yonder cottage our boys pulled to pieces -in the valley; and, as I could not light on better ware, -I dragged her here. But may I roast forever if I will -have anything more to do with her. She is a tigress, -a little she-devil. I have thrashed and beat and -kicked her, but I cannot get the spirit out. Let some -other fellow try, and may Heaven wither him if he -turns her loose near me again! Now then, what will -the best of you give? She is a little travel-stained, -perhaps—that comes of our march hither, and our -subsequent disagreements—but all right otherwise, -and, an some one could cure her of her spitfire nature -and make her amenable to reason, she would be an -ornament to any tent. Now you, Borghil, for instance—it -was you, I think, who split the mother’s skull this -morning—give me a bid for the daughter: you are not -often bashful in such a case as this.”</p> - -<p>“A penny then!” sang out Borghil of the Red Beard; -“and, with maids as cheap as they be hereabouts, -she’s dear at that,” and, while the laughter and jest -went round, those rude islanders bid point by point -for the unhappy girl who writhed and crouched before -them. What could I do? Well I knew the vows -my golden spurs put upon me, and the policy my borrowed -knighthood warranted—and yet, she was not -of gentle birth—’twas but the fortune of war. If men -risked lives in that stern game, why should not maids -risk something too? King Edward hated turmoil in -the camp, and here on desperate venture, far in a -hostile country, my soldier instinct rose against -kindling such a blaze as would have burst out among -these lawless, hot-tempered kerns, had I but drawn -my sword a foot from its scabbard. And, thinking -thus, I sat there with bent head scowling behind my -visor-bars, and turning my eyes now to my ready hilt -that shone so convenient at my thigh, and anon to -the tall Normandy maid, so fair, so pitiful, and in such -sorry straits.</p> - -<p>While I sat thus uncertain, the girl’s price had gone -up to fivepence, and, there being no one to give more, -she was about to be handed over to an evil-looking -fellow with a scar destroying one eye, and dividing -his nose with a hideous yellow seam that went across -his face from temple to chin. This gross mercenary -had almost told the five coins into the blood-smudged -hand of the other Irishman, and the bargain was near -complete, when, to my surprise, Flamaucœur, who had -been watching behind me, pushed his charger boldly -to the front, and cried out in that smooth voice of his: -“Wait a spell, my friends! I think the maid is worth -another coin or two!” and he plunged his hand into -the wallet that hung beside his dagger.</p> - -<p>This interruption surprised every one, and for a moment -there was a hush in the circle. Then he of the -one eye, with a very wicked scowl, produced and bid -another penny, the which Flamaucœur immediately -capped by yet another. Each put down two more, and -then the Celt came to the bottom of his store, and, -with a monstrous oath, swept back his money, and, -commending the maid and Flamaucœur to the bottom-most -pit of hell, backed off amid his laughing friends.</p> - -<p>Not a whit disconcerted, my peaceful gallant rode up -to the grim purveyor of that melancholy chattel, and -having paid the silver, with a calm indifference -which it shocked me much to see, unwound a few -feet of the halter-rope depending from his Fleming’s -crupper. The loose end of this the man wound round -and tied upon the twisted withies wherewith the -maid’s white wrists were fastened.</p> - -<p>Such an escape from the difficulty had never occurred -to my slower mind, and now, when my lad -turned toward the quarter where his tent lay, and, -apparently mighty content with himself, stepped his -charger out with the unhappy girl trailing along at -his side, his lightness greatly pained me. Nor was I -pleasured by the laughter and gibes of English squires -and knights who met us.</p> - -<p>“Hullo! you valorous two,” called out a mounted -captain, “whose hen-roosts have you been robbing?” -And then another said, “Faith! they’ve been recruiting,” -and again, “’Tis a new page they’ve got to buckle -them up and smooth their soldier pillows.” All this -was hard to bear, and I saw that even Flamaucœur -hung his head a little and presently rode along by byways -less frequented. At one time he turned to me -most innocent-like and said:</p> - -<p>“Such a friend as this is just what I have been needing -ever since I left the English shore.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed!” I answered, sardonically, “I do confess I -am more surprised than perhaps I should be. It is as -charming a handmaid as any knight could wish. Shall -you send one of those long raven tresses home to thy -absent lady with thy next budget of sighs and true-love -tokens?”</p> - -<p>But Flamaucœur shook his head, and said I misunderstood -him bitterly. He was going on to say he -meant to free the maid “to-morrow or the next day,” -when we turned a corner in our martial village street, -and pulled up at our own tent doors.</p> - -<p>Now, that Breton girl had submitted so far to be -dragged along, in a manner of lethargy born of her -sick heart and misery, but when we stayed our chargers -the very pause aroused her. She drew her poor -frightened wits together and glared first at us, and -then at our knightly pennons fluttering over the white -lintels of our lodgment; then, jumping to some dreadful, -sad conclusion, she fired up as fierce and sudden -as a trapped tigress when the last outlet is closed -upon her. She stamped and raged, and twisted her -fair white arms until the rough withies on her wrists -cut deep into the tender flesh and the red blood went -twining down to her torn and open bodice; she -screamed and writhed, and struggled against the -glossy side of that gentle and mighty war-horse, who -looked back wondering on her and sniffed her flagrant -sorrow with wide velvet nostrils—no more moved -than a gray crag by the beating of the summer sea—and -then she turned on us.</p> - -<p>Gads! she swore at us in such mellow Bisque as -might have made a hardened trooper envious! Cursed -us and our chivalry, called us forsworn knights, stains -upon manhood, dogs and vampires!—then dropped -upon her knee, and there suppliant, locked her swollen -and bloody hands, and, with the hot white tears -sparkling in her red and weary eyes, knelt to us, and -in the wild, tearful grief of her people, “for the honor -of our mothers, and for the sake of the bright distant -maid we loved,” begged mercy and freedom.</p> - -<p>And all through that storm of wild, sweet grief that -callous libertine, Flamaucœur, made no show of freeing -her. He sat his prick-eared, wondering charger, -stared at the maid, and fingered his dagger-chain as -though perplexed and doubtful. The hot torrent of -that poor girl’s misery seemed to daze and tie his -tongue: he made no sign of commiseration and no -movement, until at last I could stand it no longer. -Wheeling round my war-horse, so that I could shake -my mailed fist in the face of that sapling villain:</p> - -<p>“By the light of day!” I burst out, half in wrath -and half in amused bewilderment, “this goes too far. -Why, Flamaucœur, can you not see this is a maid in -a hundred, and one who well deserves to keep that -which she asks for? Jove! man, if you must have a -handmaiden, why, the country swarms with forlorn -ones who will gladly compound with fate by accepting -the protection of thy tent. But this one!—come!—let -my friendship go in pawn against her, and free -the maid. If you must have something more solid—still, -set her free, unharmed, and I will give thee a -helmetful of pennies—that is to say, on the first time -that I own so many.”</p> - -<p>But Flamaucœur laughed more scornfully than he -often did, and, muttering that we were “all fools together,” -turned from me to the wild thing at his side.</p> - -<p>“Look here,” he said, “you mad girl. Come into my -tent and I will explain everything. You shall be all -unharmed, I vow it, and free to leave me if you will -not stop—this is all mad folly, though out here I cannot -tell you why.”</p> - -<p>“I will not trust you,” she screamed, in arms again, -straining at those horrid red wrists of hers and glaring -on us—“Mother of Christ!” she shouted, turning -to a knot of squires and captains who had gathered -around us—“for the dear Light of Heaven some of -you free my wretched spirit with your maces, here—here—some -friendly spear for this friendless bosom—one -dagger-thrust to rid me from these cursed tyrants, -and I will take the memory of my slayer straight to -the seat of mercy and mix it forever with my grateful -prayers. Oh, in Christian charity unsheath a weapon!”</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_234fp" style="max-width: 28em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_234fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>“I will not trust you!” she screamed</p></div> -</div> - -<p>I saw that slim soldier Flamaucœur groan within -his helmet at this, then down he bent. “Mad, mad -girl!” I heard him say, and then followed a whisper -which was lost between his hollow helmet and his -prisoner’s ear. Whatever it was, the effect was instantaneous -and wonderful.</p> - -<p>“Impossible!” burst out the French girl, starting -away as far as the cords would let her, and eyeing -her captor with surprise and amazement.</p> - -<p>“’Tis truth, I swear it.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, impossible!—thou a——”</p> - -<p>“Hush, hush,” cried Flamaucœur, putting his hand -upon the girl’s mouth, and speaking again to her in -his soft low voice, and as he did so her eyes ran over -him, the fear and wonder slowly melted away, and -then, presently, with a delighted smile at length shining -behind her undried tears, she clasped and kissed -his hand with a vast show of delight as ungoverned -as her grief had been, and when he had freed her and -descended from his charger, to our amazement, led -rather than followed that knight most willing to his -tent, and there let fall the flap behind them.</p> - -<p>“Now that,” said the King’s jester, who had come up -while this matter was passing—“that is what I call a -truly persuasive tongue. I would give half my silver -bells to know what magic that gentleman has that will -get reason so quickly into an angry woman’s head.”</p> - -<p>“If you knew that,” quoth a stern old knight -through the steel bars of his morion, “you might live -a happy life, although you knew nothing else.”</p> - -<p>“Poor De Burgh!” whispered a soldier near me. -“He speaks with knowledge, for men say he owns a -vixen, and is more honored and feared here by the -proud Frenchman than at his own fireside.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps,” suggested another to the laughing -group, “he of the burning heart whispered that he had -a double Indulgence in his tent. Women will go anywhere -and do anything when it is the Church which -leads them by the nose.”</p> - -<p>“Or, perhaps,” put in another, looking at the last -speaker—“perhaps he hinted that if the maid escaped -from his hated clutches she would fall into thine, -St. Caen, and she chose the lesser evil. It were an -argument that would well warrant so sudden a conversion!”</p> - -<p>“Well! Well!” quoth the fool, “we will not quarrel -over the remembrance of the meat which another dog -has carried off. Good-by, fair Sirs, and may God -give you all as efficient tongues as Sir Flamaucœur’s -when next you are bowered with your distant ladies!” -and laughing and jesting among themselves the soldiers -strolled away, leaving me to seek my solitary -tent in no good frame of mind.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</h2> -</div> - -<p>Such sights and scenes as these will show the -chivalrous army with whom I served in but an indifferent -light. And ill it would beseem me, who remember -this time with pride, and the gloomy pleasure -of my latter life, to stain the fair fame of English -chivalry or to discredit with the foul life of its outer -remnant our gallant army or that Royal person who -shone in the white light of his day, the bravest knight -and the gentlest king of any then living.</p> - -<p>This Sovereign was, above everything, a soldier. He -observed all that passed in his camp with extraordinary -acumen. It was my chance, soon after we -joined the army, to catch his eye by some small deed -of prowess in a mêlée near his standard, and that -shrewd Sovereign called me to him, and asked my -name and fame—the which I answered plausibly -enough, for my tongue was never tied to the cold sterility -of truth—and then, pointing to where there lay on -his shield a famous dead English captain of mercenaries, -asked me if I would do duty for that soldier. -I knew the troops he had led. They were grizzled -veterans, rough old dogs every one of them, who had -rode their close-packed chargers, shoulder to shoulder, -through the thick tangles of a hundred fights. I had -seen them alone, those stern old fellows, put down -their lances and, altogether, like the band of close-united -brothers that they were, go thundering over -the dusty French campagnas, and, to the music that -they loved so well, of ringing bits and hollow-sounding -scabbards, of steel martingale and harness—delighting -in the dreadful odds—charge ten times their -number, and burst through the reeling enemy, and -override and trample him down, and mow great -swathes from his seething ranks, and revel in that -thunderous carnage, as if the red dust of the mêlée -were the sweetest air that had ever fanned their aged -beards!</p> - -<p>“Ah! Prince!” I said, speaking out boldly as that -remembrance came before me, “by Thor! if those good -fellows will take so young a one as I for leader, in -place of a better, I will gladly let it be a compact.”</p> - -<p>“They will have you readily enough,” replied the -King, “even if it were not mine by right to name their -captain, according to their rules.” And, mounting the -gray palfrey, he rode in camp, the better to spare his -roan war-horse, he took me to where the troops were -ranged up after the charge that had cost them their -leader, and gave them over to me.</p> - -<p>Thus was I provided with a lordly following, and -the King’s gratitude for my poor service expressed; -but still I appeared strangely to haunt the Sovereign’s -memory. He looked back at me once or twice as -though I were something most uncommon, and not -long afterward he would have me sup with him.</p> - -<p>It happened as we fell back from the farthest limit -of our raid, burning and plundering as we went along -the Somme. One evening a fair French chateau on -a hill, bending down by grassy slopes to the slow -stream below, had fallen to our assault. In truth, -that fair pile had found us rude visitors. Twice in the -storm the red flames had burst out of its broad upper -corridors, and twice had been subdued. Its doors and -gateways were beaten in, its casements burst and -empty, the moat about it was full of dead men, the -ivy hung in unsightly tatters from its turrets, and on -the smooth grass glacis copingstone and battlements—hurled -on us by the besieged as we swarmed up the -ladders—lay in crumbling ruins. Yet it was, as I say, -a stately place, even in its new-made desolation; and -I was standing at the close of a long, dusty autumn -day by my tent door, watching the yellow harvest -moon come over the low French hills, and shedding -as it rose a pale light over the English camp and that -lordly place a little set back from it, when down -through the twilight came a page who wore on sleeve -and tunic-breast the royal cognizance. Was I, he -questioned, the stranger knight new come from England? -and, that being answered, he gave his message: -“King Edward would be glad if that knight would -take his evening meal with him.”</p> - -<p>I went—how could I else?—and there in the great -torn and disordered hall of the castle we had taken -was a broad table spread and already laid with rough -magnificence. Page and squire were hurrying here -and there in that stately pillared chamber, spreading -on the tables white linens that contrasted most -strangely with the black, new-made smoke-stains on -the ceiling; piling on them gold and silver basins and -ewers and plates bent and broken, just as our men-at-arms -had saved them from pillaged crypts or rifled -treasure-cells. Others were fixing a hundred gleaming -torches to the notched, scarred columns of that -banquet-place, and while one would be wiping half-dried -blood of French peer and peasant from floor and -doorway, or sprinkling rushes or sawdust on those -gory patches, another was decanting redder burgundy—the -which babbled most pleasantly to thirsty soldier -ears as it passed in gushing streams from the cellar -skins to supper flagon! It was an episode full of -quaint contradictions!</p> - -<p>But it was not at the feast I looked—not at the gallant -table already flashing back the gleaming crimson -lights from its stored magnificence. There round that -hall in groups and two and threes, chatting while they -waited, laughing and talking over the incidents of the -day, were some hundred warlike English nobles. And -amid them, the most renowned warrior where all were -famous, the tallest and most resolute-looking in a -circle of heroes, stood the King. His quick, restless -eye saw me enter, and he came toward me, slighting -my reverence, and taking my hand like one good soldier -welcoming another. He led me round that glittering -throng, making me known to prince and captain, -and knight and noble, and ever as we went a hush -fell upon those gallant groups. Maybe ’twas all the -King’s presence, but I doubt it. It was not on him -all eyes were fixed so hard, it was not for him those -stern soldiers were silent a spell and then fell to -whisper and wondering among themselves as we -passed down the pillared corridor—ah! nor was it all -on account of that familiar, knightly host that the -page-boys in gaping wonder upset the red wine, and -the glamoured servers forgot to set down their loaded -dishes as they stood staring after us! No matter! I -was getting accustomed to this silent awe, and little -regarded it. It was but the homage, I thought, their -late-born essences paid unwitting to my older soul.</p> - -<p>Well! we talked and laughed a spell, seeming to -wait for something, the while the meat grew cold, -and then the arras over the great arch at the bottom -of the hall lifted, and with hasty strides, like those -late to a banquet, came in two knights. The first was -black from top to toe—black was his dancing plume, -black was his gleaming armor, black were his gloves -and gyves, and never one touch of color on him but -the new golden spurs upon his heels and the broad -jewel belt that held his cross-handled sword.</p> - -<p>As this dusky champion entered a smile of pleasure -shone over the King’s grave face. He ran to him and -took his hand, the while he put his other affectionately -on his shoulder.</p> - -<p>“My dear boy!” he said, forgetting monarch in -father, “I have been thinking of thee for an hour. You -are working too hard; you must be weary. Are there -no tough captains in my host that you must be in the -saddle early and late, and do a hundred of the duties -of those beneath you, trying with that young hand of -yours each new-set stake of our evening palisades, -sampling the rude soldiers’ supper-rations, seeing the -troop go down to water, and counting and conning the -lay of the Frenchman’s twinkling watch-fire? My -dear hungry lad, you are over-zealous—you will make -me grieve for that new knighthood I have put upon -you!”<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> The Black Prince, then sixteen years old, was knighted on the Normandy -beach, where the expedition landed.</p> - -</div> - -<p>“Oh, ’tis all right, father! I am but trying to infuse -a little shame of their idle ways into this silken company -of thine. But I do confess I am as hungry as -well can be—hast saved a drink of wine and a loaf -for me?”</p> - -<p>“Saved a loaf for thee, my handsome boy! Why, -thou shouldst have a loaf though it were the last in -France and though the broad stream of England’s -treasure were run dry to buy it. We have waited—we -have not e’en uncovered.”</p> - -<p>“Why, then, father, I will set the example. Here! -some of you squires discover me; I have been plated -much too long!” and the ready pages ran forward, -and with willing fingers rid the young prince of his -raven harness. They unbuckled and unriveted him, -until he stood before us in the close-fitting quilted -black silk that he wore beneath, and I thought, as I -stood back a little way and watched, that never had -I seen a body at once so strong and supple. Then he -ran his hands through his curly black hair, and took -his place midway down the table; the King sat at the -head; and when the chaplain had muttered a Latin -grace we fell to work.</p> - -<p>It was a merry meal in that ample hall, still littered -under the arches with the broken rubbish of the morning’s -fight. The courteous English King sat smiling -under the stranger canopy, and overhead—rocking in -the breeze that came from broken casements—were -the tattered flags our dead foeman’s hands had won -in many wars. Our table shone with heaped splendor -shot out from the spoil-carts at the door; the King’s -seneschal blazed behind his chair in cloth of gold; -while honest rough troopers in weather-stained -leather and rusty trappings (pressed on the moment -to do squires’ duty) waited upon us, and ministered, -after the fashion of their stalwart inexperience, to -our needs. Amid all those strange surroundings we -talked of wine, and love, and chivalry; we laughed -and drank, tossing off our beakers of red burgundy to -the health of that soldier Sovereign under the daïs, -and drank deep bumpers to the gray to-morrow that -was crimsoning the eastern windows ere we had done. -Indeed, we did that night as soldiers do who live in -pawn to chance, and snatch hasty pleasures from the -brink of the unknown while the close foeman’s watch-fires -shine upon their faces, and each forethinks, as -the full cups circle, how well he may take his next -meal in Paradise. Of all the courtly badinage and -warrior-mirth that ran round the loaded table while -plates were emptied and tankards turned, but one -thing lives in my mind. Truth, ’twas a strange -chance, a most quaint conjunction, that brought that -tale about, and put me there to hear it!</p> - -<p>I have said that when the Black Prince entered the -banquet hall there came another knight behind him, -a strong, tall young soldier in glittering mail, something -in whose presence set me wondering how or -where we two had met before. Ere I could remember -who this knight might be, the King and Prince were -speaking as I have set down, and then the trumpets -blew and we fell to meat and wine with soldier appetites, -and the unknown warrior was forgotten, until—when -the feast was well begun, looking over the rim -of a circling silver goblet of malmsey I was lifting, -at a youth who had just taken the empty place upon -my right—there—Jove! how it made me start!—unhelmeted, -unharnessed, lightly nodding to his comrades -and all unwotting of his wondrous neighborhood, -was that same Lord Codrington, that curly-headed -gallant who had leaned against me in the -white moonlight of St. Olaf’s cloisters when I was a -blessed relic, a silent, mitered, listening, long-dead -miracle!</p> - -<p>Gods! you may guess how I did glare at him over the -sculptured rim of that great beaker, the while the red -wine stood stagnant at my lips—and then how my -breath did halt and flag as presently he turned slow -and calm upon me, and there—a foot apart—the living -and the dead were face to face, and front to front! -I scarce durst breathe as he took the heavy pledge-cup -from my hand—would he know me? would he -leap from his seat with a yell of fear and wonder, and -there, from some distant vantage-point among the -shadowy pillars, with trembling finger impeach me -to that startled table? Hoth! I saw in my mind’s -eye those superstitious warriors tumbling from their -places, the while I alone sat gloomy and remorseful -at the littered tressels, and huddling and crowding to -the shadows—as they would not for a thousand -Frenchmen—while that brave boy with chattering -teeth and white fingers clutched upon the kingly arm -did, incoherent, tell my tale, and with husky whisper -say how ’twas no soldier of flesh and blood who sat -there alone at the long white table, under the taper -lights, self-damned by his solitude! I waited to see -all this, and then that soldier, nothing wotting, -glanced heedlessly over me—he wiped his lips with -his napkin, and took a long draught of the wine within -the cup. Then smiling as he handed it on, and turning -lightly round as he laughed, “A very good tankard, -indeed, Sir Stranger—such a one as is some solace -for eight hours in a Flemish saddle! But there was -just a little too much nutmeg in the brew this time—didst -thou not think so?”</p> - -<p>I murmured some faint agreement, and sat back into -my place, watching the great beaker circle round the -table, while my thoughts idly hovered upon what -might have chanced had I been known, and how I -might have vantaged or lost by recognition. Well! -the chance had passed, and I would not take it back. -And yet, surely fate was sporting with me! The cup -had scarcely made the circle and been drained to the -last few drops among the novices at the farther end, -when I was again in that very same peril!</p> - -<p>“You are new from England, Lord Worringham,” -the young Earl said across me to a knight upon my -other hand: “is there late news of interest to tell us?”</p> - -<p>“Hardly one sentence. All the news we had was -stale reports of what you here have done. Men’s -minds and eyes have been all upon you, and each -homeward courier has been rifled of his budget at -every port and village on his way by a hundred hungry -speculators, as sharply as though he were a rich wanderer -beset by footpads on a lonely heath. The common -people are wild to hear of a great victory, and -will think of nothing else. There is not one other -voice in England—saving, perhaps, that some sleek -city merchants do complain of new assessments, and -certain reverend abbots, ’tis said, of the havoc you -have played with this year’s vintage.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered the Earl with a laugh, “one can -well believe that last. Sanctity, I have had late cause -to know, is thirsty work. Why, the very Abbot of -St. Olaf’s himself, usually esteemed a right reverend -prelate, did charge me at my last confessional to send -him hence some vats of malmsey! No doubt he -shrewdly foresaw this dearth that we are making.”</p> - -<p>“What!” exclaimed the other Knight, staring across -me. “Hast thou actually confessed to that bulky -saint? Mon Dieu! but you are in luck! Why, Lord -Earl, thou hast disburdened thyself to the wonder of -the age—to the most favored son of Mother Church—the -associate of beatified beings—and the particularly -selected of the Apostles! Dost not know the wonder -that has happened to St. Olaf’s?”</p> - -<p>“Not a whit. It was ordinary and peaceful when I -was there a few weeks back.”</p> - -<p>“Then, by my spurs, there is some news for you! -You remember that wondrous thing they had, that -sleeping image that men swore was an actual living -man, and the holy brothers, who, no doubt, were right, -declared was a blessed saint that died three hundred -years ago? You too must know him, Sir,” he said, -turning to me, and looking me full in the face: “you -must know him, if you ever were at St. Olaf’s.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” I answered, calmly returning his gaze. “I -have been at St. Olaf’s at one time or another, and I -doubt if any man living knows that form you speak of -better than I do myself.”</p> - -<p>“And I,” put in the devout young Earl, “know him -too. A holy and very wondrous body! Surely God’s -beneficence still shields him in his sleep?”</p> - -<p>“Shields him! Why, Codrington, he has been -translated; removed just as he was to celestial places; -’tis on the very word of the Abbot himself we have it, -and, where good men meet and talk in England, no -other tale can compete for a moment with this one.”</p> - -<p>“Out with it, bold Worringham! Surely such a -thing has not happened since the time of Elijah.”</p> - -<p>“’Tis simple enough, and I had it from one who -had it from the Abbot’s lips. That saintly recluse had -spent a long day in fast and vigils amid the cloisters -of his ancient abbey—so he said—and when the evening -came had knelt after his wont an hour at the -shrine, lost in holy thought and pious exercise. Nothing -new or strange appeared about the Wonder. It -lay as it had ever lain, silent, in the cathedral twilight, -and the good man, full of gentle thoughts and celestial -speculations, if we may take his word for it—and God -forfend I should do otherwise!—the holy father even -bent over him in fraternal love and reverence the -while, he says, the beads ran through his fingers as -Ave and Paternoster were told to the sleeping martyr’s -credit by scores and hundreds. Not a sign of -life was on the dead man’s face. He slept and smiled -up at the vaulted roof just as he had done year in and -out beyond all memory, and therefore, as was natural, -the Abbot thought he would sleep on while two stones -of the cathedral stood one upon another.</p> - -<p>“He left him, and, pacing down the aisles, wended -to the refectory, where the brothers had near done -their evening meal, and there, still in holy meditation, -sat him down to break that crust of dry bread and -drink that cup of limpid water which (he told my -friend) was his invariable supper.”</p> - -<p>“Hast thou ever seen the reverend father, good Worringham?” -queried a young knight across the table as -the story-teller stopped for a moment to drink from -the flagon by his elbow.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I have seen him once or twice.”</p> - -<p>“Why, so have I,” laughed the young soldier—“and, -by all the Saints in Paradise, I do not believe he sups -on husks and water.”</p> - -<p>“Believe or not as you will, it is a matter between -thyself and conscience. The Abbot spoke, and I have -repeated just what he said.”</p> - -<p>“On with the story, Lord Earl,” laughed another: -“we are all open-mouthed to hear what came next, and -even if his Reverence—in holy abstraction, of course—doth -sometime dip fingers into a venison pasty by -mistake for a bread trencher, or gets hold of the wine-vessel -instead of the water-beaker—’tis nothing to us. -Suppose the reverent meal was ended—as Jerome says -it should be—in humble gladness, what came then?”</p> - -<p>“What came then?” cried Worringham. “Why, the -monks were all away—the tapers burned low—the -Abbot sat there by himself, his praying hands crossed -before him—when wide the chancery door was flung, -and there, in his grave-clothes, white and tall, was -the saint himself!”</p> - -<p>Every head was turned as the English knight thus -told his story, and, while the younger soldiers smiled -disdainfully, good Codrington at my side crossed himself -again and again, and I saw his soldier lips trembling -as prayer and verse came quick across them.</p> - -<p>“Ah! the saint was on foot without a doubt, and -it might have chilled all the breath in a common man -to see him stand there alive, and witful, who had so -long been dead and mindless, to meet the light of -those sockets where the eyes had so long been dull! -But ’tis a blessed thing to be an abbot!—to have a -heart whiter than one’s mother’s milk, and a soul of -limpid clearness. That holy friar, without one touch -of mortal fear—it is his very own asseveration—rose -and welcomed his noble guest, and sat him in the -daïs, and knelt before him, and adored, and, bold in -goodness, waited to be cursed or canonized—withered -by a glance of those eyes no man could safely look on, -or hoist straight to St. Peter’s chair, just as chance -should have it.”</p> - -<p>“Wonderful and marvelous!” gasped Codrington, -“I would have given all my lands to have knelt at the -bottom of that hall whose top was sanctified by such -a presence.”</p> - -<p>“And I,” cried another knight, “would have given -this dinted suit of Milan that I sit in, and a tattered -tent somewhere on yonder dark hillside (the which is -all I own of this world), to have been ten miles away -when that same thing happened. Surely it was most -dread and grim, and may Heaven protect all ordinary -men if the fashion spreads with saints!”</p> - -<p>“They will not trouble you, no doubt, good comrade. -This one rose in no stern spirit to rebuke, but as the -pale commissioner of Heaven to reward virtue and -bless merit. Ill would it beseem me to tell, or you, -common, gross soldiers of the world, to listen to what -passed between those two. ’Twere rank sacrilege to -mock the new-risen’s words by retailing them over a -camp table, even though the table be that of the King -himself; and who are we, rough, unruly sons of Mother -Church, that we should submit to repetition the converse -of a prelate with one we scarce dare name!” -Whereon Worringham drank silently from his goblet, -and half a dozen knights crossed themselves devoutly.</p> - -<p>“And there is another reason why I should be -silent,” he continued. “The Abbot will not tell what -passed between them. Only so much as this: he gives -out with modest hesitance that his holy living and -great attainments had gone straighter to Heaven than -the smoke of Abel’s altar-fire, and thus, on these -counts and others, he had been specially selected for -divine favors, and his ancient Church for miracle. The -priest, so the Wonder vowed, must be made a cardinal, -and have next reversion of the Papal chair. Meanwhile -pilgrims were to hold the wonder-shrine of St. -Olaf’s no less holy tenantless than tenanted, to be -devout, and above all things liberal, and pray for the -constant intercession of that Messenger who could no -longer stay. Whereon, quoth the Abbot, a wondrous -light did daze the watcher’s sight—unheard, unseen of -other men the walls and roof fell wide apart—and -then and there, amid a wondrous hum of voices and -countless shooting stars, that Presence mounted to -the sky, and the Abbot fell fainting on the floor!”</p> - -<p>“Truly a strange story, and like to make St. Olaf’s -coffers fuller than King Edward’s are.”</p> - -<p>“And to do sterling service to the reverend Prior! -What think you, Sir?” said one, turning to me, who -had kept silent all through this strange medley of fact -and cunning fiction. “Is it not a tale that greatly redounds -to the holy father’s credit, and like to do him -material service?”</p> - -<p>“No doubt,” I answered, “it will serve the purpose -for which ’twas told. But whether the adventure be -truly narrated or not only the Abbot and he who -supped with him can know.”</p> - -<p>“Ah!” they laughed, “and, by Our Lady! you may -depend upon it the priest will stick to his version -through thick and thin.”</p> - -<p>“And by all oaths rolled in one,” I fiercely cried, -striking my first upon the table till the foeman’s -silver leaped (for the lying Abbot’s story had moved -my wrath), “by Thor and Odin, by cruel Osiris, by the -bones of Hengist and his brother, that saint will never -contradict him!”</p> - -<p>Shortly after we rose, and each on his rough pallet -sought the rest a long day’s work had made so grateful.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Yes! we sought it, but to one, at least, it would -not come for long! Hour after hour I paced in meditation -about my tent with folded arms and bent head, -thinking of all that had been or might have been, and, -after that supper of suggestions, the last few weeks -rose up strongly before me. Again and again all that -I had seen and done in that crowded interval swept -by my eyes, but the one thing that stayed while all -others faded, the one ever-present shadow among so -many, was the remembrance of the fair, unhappy girl -Isobel. Full of rougher thoughts, I have not once -spoken of her, yet, since we landed on this shore, her -winning presence had grown on me every day I lived, -and now to-night, here, close on the eve, as we knew -it, of a desperate battle, wherefrom no man could see -the outcome, the very darkness all about me, after -the flickering banquet lights, were full of Isobel. I -laughed and frowned by turn to myself in my lonely -walk that evening, to find how the slighted girl was -growing upon me. Was I a silly squire at a trysting-place, -decked out with love-knots and tokens, a green -gallant in a summer wood, full of sighs and sonnets, -to be so witched by the bare memory of a foolish white -wench who had fallen enamored of my swart countenance? -It was idle nonsense; I would not yield. I -put it behind me, and thought of to-morrow—the good -King and my jolly comrades—and then there again -was the outline of Isobel’s fair face in the yellow rift -of the evening sky; there were Isobel’s clear eyes -fixed, gentle and reproachful, on me, and the glimmer -of her white draperies amid the shifting shadow of -the tent, and even the evening wind outside was whispering -as it came sighing over the wild grass lands—“Isobel!” -Ah! and there was something more behind -all that thought of Isobel. There were eyes that -looked from Isobel’s shadowy face, wherever in my -fancy I saw it, that filled me with a strange unrest, -and a whisper behind the whispers of that maiden -voice that was hers and yet was not—a fine thin music -that played upon the fibers of my heart; a presence -behind a haunting presence; a meaning behind a meaning -that stirred me with the strangest fancies. And -before another night was over I understood them!</p> - -<p>Well, in fact and in deed, I was in love like many -another good soldier, and long did I strive to find a -specific for the gentle malady, but when this might -not be—why, I laughed!—the thing itself must needs -be borne; ’twas a common complaint, and no great -harm; when the war was over, I would get back to -England, and, if the maid were still of the same way -of thinking—had I not stood a good many knocks and -buffets in the world?—a little ease would do me good. -Ah! a very fair maid—a fair maid, indeed! And her -dower some of the fattest land you could find in a -dozen shires!</p> - -<p>Thus, schooling myself to think a due entertainment -of the malady were better than a churlish cure, I presently -decided to write to the lady; for, I argued, if -to-morrow ends as we hope it may, why, the letter will -be a good word for a homeward traveling hero -crowned with new-plucked bays; and if to-morrow -sees me stiff and stark, down in yon black valley, -among to-morrow’s silent ones, still ’twill be a meet -parting, and I owe the maid a word or two of gentleness. -I determined, therefore, to write to her at once -a scroll, not of love—for I was not ripe for that—but -of compassion—of just those feelings that one has to -another when the spark of love trembles to the -kindling but is not yet ablaze. And because I did -not know my own mind to any certainty, and because -that youth Flamaucœur was both shrewd and witty—as -ready-witted and as nimble, indeed, with tongue -and pen as though he were a woman—I determined -it should be he who should indite that epistle and ease -my conscience of this duty which had grown to be so -near a pleasure.</p> - -<p>I sent forthwith for Flamaucœur, and he came at -once, as was his wont, sheathed in comely steel from -neck to heel, his close-shut helm upon his head, but -all weaponless as usual, save for a toy dagger at -his side.</p> - -<p>“Good friend,” I said, “you carry neither sword nor -mace. That is not wise in such a camp as this, and -while the Frenchman’s watchfires smoke upon the -eastern sky. But, never mind, I will arm thee myself -for the moment. Here”—passing him the things -a writer needs—“here is a little weapon wherewith -they say much mischief has been done at one time -or another in the world, and some sore wounds taken -and given; wield it now for me in kinder sort, and -write me the prettiest epistle thou canst—not too full -of harebrained love or the nonsense that minstrels -deal in—but friendly, suave and gentle, courteous to -my lady-love!”</p> - -<p>“To whom?” gasped Flamaucœur, stepping back a -pace.</p> - -<p>“Par Dieu, boy!” I laughed. “I spoke plain enough! -Why, thou consumèd dog in the manger, while thy -own heart is confessedly in condition of eternal combustion, -may not another knight even warm himself -by a spark of love without your glowering at him so -between the bars of thine iron muzzle? Come! Why -should not I love a maid as well as you—ah! and write -to her a farewell on the eve of battle?”</p> - -<p>“Oh! write to whom you will, but I cannot—will not—help -you”; and the youth, who knew nothing of my -affections, and to whom I had never spoken of a -woman before, walked away to the tent door and -lifting the flap, looked out over the dim French hills, -seeming marvelous perturbed.</p> - -<p>Poor lad, I thought to myself, how soft he is! My -love reminds him of his own, and hence he fears to -touch a lover pen. And yet he must. He can write -twice as ingenious, shrewd as I, and no one else could -do this letter half so well. “Come, Flamaucœur! indeed, -you must help me. If you are so sorry over your -own reflections, why, the more reason for lending me -thy help. We are companions in this pretty grief, -and should render to each the help due between true -brothers in misfortune. I do assure you I have near -broken a maiden heart back in England.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps she was unworthy of thy love—why -should you write?”</p> - -<p>“Unworthy! Gods! She was unhappy, she was unfortunate—but -unworthy, never! Why, Flamaucœur, -here, as I have been chewing the cud of reflection all -these days, I have begun to think she was the whitest, -sweetest maid that ever breathed.”</p> - -<p>“Some pampered, sickly jade, surely, Sir Knight,” -murmured the young man in strange jealous-sounding -tones whereof I could not fail to heed the bitterness; -“let her by, she has forgotten thee mayhap, and taken -a new love—those pink-and-white ones were ever shallow!”</p> - -<p>“Shallow! you wayward boy! By Hoth! had you -seen our parting you would not have said so. Why, -she wept and clung to me, although no words of love -had ever been between us——”</p> - -<p>“A jade, a wanton!” sobbed that strange figure -there by the shadowy tent-flap, whereon, flaming up, -“God’s death!” I shouted, “younker, that goes too far! -Curb thy infernal tongue, or neither thy greenness nor -unweaponed state shall save thee from my sword!”</p> - -<p>“And I,” quoth Flamaucœur, stepping out before -me—“I deride thy weapon—I will not turn one hair’s -breadth from it—here! point it here, to this heart, -dammed and choked with a cruel affection! Oh! I -am wretched and miserable, and eager against all my -instincts for to-morrow’s horrors!”</p> - -<p>Whereat that soft and silly youth turned his gorget -back upon me and leaned against the tent-pole most -dejectedly. And I was grieved for him, and spun -my angry brand into the farthest corner, and clapped -him on the shoulder, and cheered him as I might, and -then, half mindful to renounce my letter, yet asked -him once again.</p> - -<p>“Come! thou art steadier now. Wilt thou finally -write for me to my leman?”</p> - -<p>“By every saint in Paradise,” groaned the unhappy -Flamaucœur, “I will not!”</p> - -<p>“What! not do me a favor and please thy old friend, -Isobel of Oswaldston, at one and the same time?”</p> - -<p>“Please whom?” shrieked Flamaucœur, starting like -a frightened roe.</p> - -<p>“Why, you incomprehensible boy, Isobel of Oswaldston, -thy old playmate, Isobel. Surely I had -told thee before it was of her I was thus newly enamored?”</p> - -<p>What passed then within that steel casque I did not -know, though now I well can guess, but that slim -gallant turned from me, and never a word he spoke. -A gentle tremor shook him from head to heel, and I -saw the steel plates of his harness quiver with the -throes of his pent emotion, while the blue plumes upon -his helmet-top shook like aspen-leaves in the first -breath of a storm, and over the bars of his cruel visor -there rippled a sigh such as surely could only have -come from deep down in a human heart.</p> - -<p>All this perplexed me very much and made me -thoughtful, but before I could fashion my suspicions, -Flamaucœur mastered his feelings, and came slowly -to the little table, and, saying in a shy, humble voice, -wondrously altered, “I will write to thy maid!” drew -off his steel gauntlet and took up the pen. That -smooth, fine hand of his trembled a little as he spread -the paper on the table, and then we began.</p> - -<p>OUR CAMP BY THE SOMME.</p> - -<p class="right"> -August 24, 1376. -</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>To the Excellent Lady Isobel of Oswaldston this -brings greeting and salutation.</p> - -<p>Madam: May it please you to accept the homage of -the humblest soldier who serves with King Edward?</p> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>“That,” said Flamaucœur, stopping for a moment -to sharpen his pen, “is not a very amorous beginning.”</p> - -<p>“No,” I answered, “and I have a mind first only to -tell her how we fare. You see, good youth, our parting -was such she weeps in solitude, I expect, hoping -nothing from me, and therefore, I would wish to break -my amendment to her gently. Faith! she may be -dying of love for aught I know, and the shock of a -frank avowal of my new-awakened passion might turn -her head.”</p> - -<p>“Why yes, Sir Knight,” quoth my comrade, taking -a fresh dip of ink, “or, on the other hand, she may -now be footing it to some gay measure on those polished -floors we wot of, or playing hide-and-seek among -the tapestries with certain merry gallants!”</p> - -<p>“Jove! If I thought so!”</p> - -<p>“Well, never mind. Get on with thy missive, and -I will not interrupt again.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>After leaving your father’s castle, Madam, I fell in -about nightfall with that excellent youth, Flamaucœur, -according to your Ladyship’s supposition. We -crossed the narrow sea; and since, have scarcely had -time to dine or sleep, or wipe down our weary chargers, -or once to scour our red and rusty armor. We -joined King Edward, Madam, just as his Highness -unfurled the lions and fleur de lys upon the green -slopes of the Seine, and thence, right up to the walls -of Paris, we scoured the country. We turned then, -Queen of Tournaments, northward, toward Flanders.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>At this Flamaucœur lay down his pen for a moment, -and, heaving a sigh, exclaimed, “That ‘Queen of Tournaments’ -does not come well from thee, Sir Knight! -Thou slighted this very girl once in the lists when the -prize was on thy spear-point.”</p> - -<p>“Par Dieu! and so I did. I had clean forgotten it! -But how, in Heaven’s name, came you to know of that, -who were not there?”</p> - -<p>“Some one told me of it,” replied the boy, looking -away from me, as though he were lying.</p> - -<p>“Well, cross it out!”</p> - -<p>“Not I! The maid already knows, no doubt, the -fickleness of men, and this will surprise her no more -than to see a weathercock go round when the wind -doth change. Proceed!”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Heavily laden with booty, we turned toward Flanders. -We gained two days ago the swelling banks of -the Somme, and down this sluggish stream, taking -what we listed as we went with the red license of our -revengeful errand, we have struggled until here, fair -lady. But each hour of this adventurous march has -seen us closer and more closely beset. The broad -stream runs to north of us, the burgher levies of -Amiens are mustering thick upon our right and behind, -Gods! so close, that now as this is penned the -black canopy of the night is all ruddy where his countless -watchfires glimmer on the southern sky; behind -us comes the pale respondent in this bloody suit that -we are trying—Philip, who says that France is his by -Salic law, and no rod of it, no foot or inch on this side -of the salt sea, ever can or shall be Edward’s. And -for jurors, Madam, to the assize that will be held so -shortly he has gathered from every corner of his vassal -realm a hundred thousand footmen and twenty thousand -horse; a score of perjured Princes make his false -quarrel doubly false by bearing witness to it, and here, -to-morrow at the farthest, we do think, they will arraign -us, and put this matter to the sharp adjustment -of the sword. Against that great host that threatens -us we are but a handful, four thousand men at arms all -native to the English shires, ten thousand archers, -as many light-armed Welshmen, and four thousand -wild Irish.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>“There!” I said with pride, as Flamaucœur’s busy -pen came to a stop—“There! she will know now how -it goes with King Edward’s gallant English.”</p> - -<p>“Why, yes, no doubt she may,” responded my friend; -“but maids are more apt to be interested in the particular -than in the general. You have addressed her -so far like the presiding captain of a warlike council. -Is there nothing more to come?”</p> - -<p>“Gads! that’s true enough! I have left out all the -love!”</p> - -<p>“Yet that is what her hungry eyes will look for -when her fingers untie this silk.”</p> - -<p>“Why, then, take up your pen again and write thus:</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>‘And, Madam, to-morrow’s battle, if it comes, will -be no light affair. He who sends this to thee may, ere -it reaches thy hand, be numbered among the things -that are past. Therefore he would also that all negligence -of his were purged by such atonement as he -can make, and all crudeness likewise amended. And -in particular he offers to thee, whose virtues and condescension -late reflection have brought lively to his -mind, his most dutiful and appreciative homage. You, -who have so good a knowledge of his poor taste, will -pardon his ineloquence, but he would say to thee, in -fact, that thy gentleness and worth were never so -conscious to him as here to-night, when the red gleam -of coming battle plays along the evening sky, and, if -he wears no token in his helmet in to-morrow’s fray, -’tis because he has none of thine.’</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>“There, boy! ’tis not what I meant to say—and very -halting, yet she will guess its meaning. Dost thou -not think so?”</p> - -<p>“Guess its meaning! Oh, dear comrade, she will -live again and feed upon it—wake and sleep upon it, -and wear it next her heart, just as I should were I -she and you were he.”</p> - -<p>“But it is so beggarly and poor expressed,” I said, -with pleased humility.</p> - -<p>“She will not think so,” cried Flamaucœur. “If I -know aught of maids, she will think it the most -blessed vellum that ever was engrossed, she will like -its style better than the wretched culprit likes the -style of the reprieve the steaming horseman flaunts -before him. She’ll con each line and letter, and puncture -them with tears and kisses—thou hast had small -ken of maids, I think, sweet soldier!”</p> - -<p>“Well! well! It may be so. Do up the letter, since -it will read so well, and put it in the way to be taken -by the first messenger who sails for England. Then -we will ride round the posts and see how near the -Frenchman’s watchfires be. And so to sleep, good -friend, and may the many-named Powers which sit on -high wake us to a happy to-morrow!”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</h2> -</div> - -<p>A volume might well be written on what I must -compress into this chapter. On the narrow canvas -of these few pages must be outlined the crowded incidents -of that noble fight above Crecy, whereof your -historians know but half the truth, and these same -lines, charged with the note of victory, full of the joyful -exultation of the mêlée and dear delight of hard-fought -combat—these lines must, too, record my own -illimitable grief.</p> - -<p>If while I write you should hear through my poor -words aught of the loud sound of conflict, if you catch -aught of the meeting of two great hosts led on by -kingly captains, if the proud neighing of the war-steeds -meet you through these heavy lines and you -discern aught of the thunder of charging squadrons, -aught of the singing wind that plays above a sea of -waving plumes as the chivalry of two great nations -rush, like meeting waves, upon each other, so shall -you hear, amid all that joyful tumult, one other sound, -one piercing shriek, wherefrom not endless scores of -seasons have cleared my ears.</p> - -<p>Listen, then, to the humming bow-strings on the -Crecy slopes—to the stinging hiss of the black rain of -English arrows that kept those heights inviolable—to -the rattle of unnumbered spears, breaking like dry -November reeds under the wild hog’s charging feet, -as rank behind rank of English gentlemen rush on the -foe! Listen, I say, with me to the thunderous roar -of France’s baffled host, wrecked by its own mightiness -on the sharp edge of English valor, listen to the -wild scream of hireling fear as Doria’s crossbowmen -see the English pikes sweep down upon them; listen -to the thunder of proud Alençon sweeping round our -lines with every glittering peer in France behind him, -himself in gemmy armor—a delusive star of victory, -riding, revengeful, on the foremost crest of that wide, -sparkling tide! Hear, if you can, all this, and where -my powers fail, lend me the help of your bold English -fancy.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was a hard-fought day indeed! Hotly pursued -by the French King, numbering ourselves scarce thirty -thousand men, while those behind us were four times -as many, we had fallen back down the green banks of -the Somme, seeking in vain for a ford by which we -might pass to the farther shore. On this morning of -which I write so near was Philip and his vast array -that our rearguard, as we retreated slowly toward -the north, saw the sheen of the spear-tops and the -color on whole fields of banners, scarce a mile behind -us. And every soldier knew that, unless we would -fight at disadvantage, with the river at our backs, we -must cross it before the sun was above our heads. -Swiftly our prickers scoured up and down the banks, -and many a strong yeoman waded out, only to find -the hostile water broad and deep; and thus, all that -morning, with the blare of Philip’s trumpets in our -ears, we hunted about for a passage and could not -find it, the while the great glittering host came closing -up upon us like a mighty crescent stormcloud—a -vast somber shadow, limned and edged with golden -gleams.</p> - -<p>At noon we halted in a hollow, and the King’s dark -face was as stern as stern could be. And first he -turned and scowled like a lion at bay upon the oncoming -Frenchmen, and then upon the broad tidal -flood that shut us in that trap. Even the young Prince -at his right side scarce knew what to say; while the -clustering nobles stroked their beards and frowned, -and looked now upon the King and now upon the -water. The archers sat in idle groups down by the -willows, and the scouts stood idle on the hills. Truth, -’twas a pause such as no soldier likes, but when it was -at the worst in came two men-at-arms dragging along -a reluctant peasant between them. They hauled him -to the Sovereign, and then it was:</p> - -<p>“Please your Mightiness, but this fellow knows a -ford, and for a handful of silver says he’ll tell it.”</p> - -<p>“A handful of silver!” laughed the joyful King. -“God! let him show us a place where we can cross, and -we will smother him with silver! On, good fellow!—the -ford! the ford! and come to us to-morrow morning -and you shall find him who has been friend to England -may laugh henceforth at sulky Fortune!”</p> - -<p>Away we went down the sunburnt, grassy slopes, -and ere the sun had gone a hand-breadth to the west -of his meridian a little hamlet came in sight upon the -farther shore, and, behind it a mile, pleasant ridges -trending up to woods and trees. Down by the hamlet -the river ran loose and wide, and the ebbing stream -(for it was near the sea) had just then laid bare the -new-wet, shingly flats, and as we looked upon them, -with a shout that went from line to line, we recognized -deliverance. So swift had been our coming that when -the first dancing English plumes shone on the August -hill-tops the women were still out washing clothes -upon the stones, and when the English bowmen, all -in King Edward’s livery, came brushing through the -copses, the kine were standing knee-deep about the -shallows, and the little urchins, with noise and frolic, -were bathing in the stream that presently ran deep -and red with blood. And small maids were weaving -chaplets among those meadows where kings and -princes soon lay dying, and tumbling in their play -about the sunny meads, little wotting of the crop their -fields would bear by evening, or the stern harvest to -be reaped from them before the moon got up.</p> - -<p>We crossed; but an army does not cross like one, -and before our rearward troops were over the French -vanguard was on the hill-tops we had just quitted, -while the tide was flowing in strong again from the -outer sea.</p> - -<p>“Now, God be praised for this!” said King Edward, -as he sat his charger and saw the strong salt water -come gushing in as the last man toiled through. “The -kind heavens smile upon our arms—see! they have -given us a breathing space! You, good Sir Andrew -Kirkaby, who live by pleasant Sherwood, with a thousand -archers stand here among the willow bushes and -keep the ford for those few minutes till it will remain. -Then, while Philip watches the gentle sea fill up this -famous channel, and waits, as he must wait, upon his -opportunity, we will inland, and on yonder hill, by the -grace of God and sweet St. George, we will lay a supper-place -for him and his!”</p> - -<p>So spoke the bold King, and turned his war-horse, -and, with all his troops—seeming wondrous few by -comparison of the dusky swarms gathering behind us—rode -north four hundred yards from Crecy. He -pitched upon a gentle ridge sloping down to a little -brook, while at top was woody cover for the baggage -train, and near by, on the right, a corn-mill on a swell. -’Twas from that granary floor, sitting stern and watchful, -his sword upon his knees, his impatient charger -armed and ready at the door below, that the King sat -and watched the long battle.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, we strengthened the slopes. We dug a -trench along the front and sides, and, with the glitter -of the close foeman’s steel in our eyes, lopped the -Crecy thickets. And, working in silence (while the -Frenchman’s song and laughter came to us on the -breeze), set the palisades, and bound them close as -a strong fence against charging squadrons, and piled -our spears where they were handy, and put out the -archers’ arrows in goodly heaps. Jove! we worked as -though each man’s life depended on it, the Prince -among us, sweating at spade and axe, and then—it -was near four o’clock on that August afternoon—a -hush fell upon both hosts, and we lay about and only -spoke in whispers. And you could hear the kine lowing -in the valley a mile beyond, and the lapwing calling -from the new-shorn stubble, and the whimbrels on -the hill-tops, and the river fast emptying once again, -now prattling to the distant sea. ’Twas a strange -pause, a sullen, heavy silence, no longer than a score -of minutes. And then, all in a second, a little page in -the yellow fern in front of me leaped to his feet, and, -screaming in shrill treble that scared the feeding linnets -from the brambles, tossed his velvet cap upon -the wind and cried:</p> - -<p>“They come! they come, St. George! St. George for -merry England!”</p> - -<p>And up we all sprang to our feet, and, while the -proud shout of defiance ran thundering from end to -end of our triple lines, a wondrous sight unfolded -before us. The vast array of France, stretching far -to right and left and far behind, was loosed from its -roots, and coming on down the slope—a mighty frowning -avalanche—upon us, a flowing, angry sea, wave -behind wave, of chief and mercenary—countless lines -of spear and bowmen and endless ranks of men-at-arms -behind—an overwhelming flood that hid the -country as it marched shot with the lurid gleam of -light upon its billows, and crested with the fluttering -of endless flags that crowned each of those long lines -of cheering foemen.</p> - -<p>That tawny fringe there in front a furlong deep and -driven on by the host behind like the yellow running -spume upon the lip of a flowing tide was Genoese -crossbowmen, selling their mean carcasses to manure -the good Picardy soil for hireling pay. Far on the -left rode the grim Doria, laughing to see the little -band set out to meet his serried vassals, and, on the -right, Grimaldi’s olive face scowled hatred and malice -at the hill where the English lay.</p> - -<p>There, behind these tawny mercenaries in endless -waves of steel, D’Alençon rode, waving his princely -baton, and marshaled as he came rank upon rank of -glittering chivalry—a fuming, foamy sea of spears -and helmets that flashed and glittered in the sun, and -tossed and chafed, impatient of ignoble hesitance, and -flowed in stately pride toward us, the white foam-streaks -of twenty thousand plumed horsemen showing -like breakers on a shallow sea, as that great force, to -the blare of trumpets, swept down.</p> - -<p>And, as though all these were not enough to smother -our desperate valor even with the shadow of their -numbers, behind the French chivalry again advanced -a winding forest of spearmen stooping to the lie of -the ground, and now rising and now falling like water-reeds -when the west wind plays among them. Under -that innumerable host, that stretched in dust and turmoil -two long miles back to where the gray spires of -Abbeville were misty on the sky, the rasp of countless -feet sounded in the still air like the rain falling on a -leafy forest.</p> - -<p>Never did such a horde set out before to crush a -desperate band of raiders. And, that all the warlike -show might not lack its head and consummation, between -their rearguard ranks came Philip, the vassal -monarch who held the mighty fiefs that Edward coveted. -Lord! how he and his did shine and glint in the -sunshine! How their flags did flutter and their heralds -blow as the resplendent group—a deep, strong -ring of peers and princes curveting in the flickering -shade of a score of mighty blazons—came over the hill -crest and rode out to the foremost line of battle and -took places there to see the English lion flayed. With -a mighty shout—a portentous roar from rear to front -which thundered along their van and died away -among the host behind—the French heralded the entry -of their King upon the field, and, with one fatal accord, -the whole vast baying pack broke loose from -order and restraint and came at us.</p> - -<p>We stood aghast to see them. Fools! Madmen! -They swept down to the river—a hundred thousand -horse and footmen bent upon one narrow passage—and -rushed in, every chief and captain scrambling with -his neighbor to be first—troops, squadrons, ranks, all -lost in one seething crowd—disordered, unwarlike. -And thus—quivering and chaotic, heaving with the -stress of its own vast bulk—under a hundred jealous -leaders, the great army rushed upon us.</p> - -<p>While they struggled thus, out galloped King Edward -to our front, bareheaded, his jeweled warden -staff held in his mailed fist, and, riding down our -ranks, and checking the wanton fire of that gray -charger, which curveted and proudly bent his glossy -neck in answer to our cheering, proud, calm-eyed, and -happy, King Edward spoke:</p> - -<p>“My dear comrades and lieges linked with me in -this adventure—you, my gallant English peers, whose -shiny bucklers are the bright bulwarks of our throne, -whose bold spirits and matchless constancy have made -this just quarrel possible—oh! well I know I need not -urge you to that valor which is your native breath. -Right well I know how true your hearts do beat under -their steely panoply; and there is false Philip watching -you, and here am I! Yonder, behind us, the gray -sea lies, and if we fall or fail it will be no broader for -them than ’tis for us. Stand firm to-day, then, dear -friends and cousins! Remember, every blow that’s -struck is struck for England, every foot you give of -this fair hillside presages the giving of an ell of England. -Remember, Philip’s hungry hordes, like ragged -lurchers in the slip, are lean with waiting for your -patrimonies. Remember all this, and stand as strong -to-day for me as I and mine shall stand for you. And -you, my trusty English yeomen,” said the soldier King—“you -whose strong limbs were grown in pleasant -England—oh! show me here the mettle of those same -pastures! God! when I do turn from yonder hireling -sea of shiny steel and mark how square your sturdy -valor stands unto it—how your clear English eyes -do look unfaltering into that yeasty flood of treachery—why, -I would not one single braggart yonder the less -for you to lop and drive; I would not have that broad -butt that Philip sets for us to shoot at the narrower -by one single coward tunic! Yonder, I say, ride the -lank, lusty Frenchmen who thirst to reeve your acres -and father to-morrow, if so they may, your waiting -wives and children. To it, then, dear comrades—upon -them, for King Edward and for fair England’s -honor! Strike home upon these braggart bullies who -would heir the lion’s den even while the lion lives; -strike for St. George and England! And may God -judge now ’tween them and us!”</p> - -<p>As the King finished, five thousand English archers -went forward in a long gray line, and, getting into -shot of the first ranks of the enemy, drew out their -long bows from their cowhide cases and set the bow-feet -to the ground and bent and strung them; and -then it would have done you good to see the glint -of the sunshine on the hail of arrows that swept the -hillside and plunged into those seething ranks below. -The close-massed foemen writhed and winced under -that remorseless storm. The Genoese in front halted -and slung their crossbows, and fired whole sheaves of -bolts upon us, that fell as stingless as reed javelins on -a village green, for a passing rainstorm had wet their -bowstrings and the slack sinews scarce sent a bolt -inside our fences, while every shaft we sped plunged -deep and fatal. Loud laughed the English archers -at this, and plied their biting flights of arrows with -fierce energy; and, all in wild confusion, the mercenaries -yelled and screamed and pulled their ineffectual -weapons, and, stern shut off from advance -by the flying rain of good gray shafts, and crushed -from behind by the crowding throng, tossed in wild -confusion, and broke and fled.</p> - -<p>Then did I see a sight to spoil a soldier’s dreams. -As the coward bowmen fell back, the men-at-arms -behind them, wroth to be so long shut off the foe, and -pressed in turn by the troops in rear, fell on them, -and there, under our eyes, we saw the first rank of -Philip’s splendid host at war with the second; we saw -the billmen of fair Bascquerard and Bruneval lop -down the olive mercenaries from Roquemaure and the -cities of the midland sea; we saw the savage Genoese -falcons rip open the gay livery of Lyons and Bayonne, -and all the while our shafts rained thick and fast -among them, and men fell dead by scores in that -hideous turmoil—and none could tell whether ’twas -friends or foes that slew them.</p> - -<p>A wonderful day, indeed; but hard was the fighting -ere it was done. My poor pen fails before all the -crowded incident that comes before me, all the splendid -episodes of a stirring combat, all the glitter and -joy and misery, the proud exultation of that August -morning and the black chagrin of its evening. Truth! -But you must take as said a hundred times as much -as I can tell you, and line continually my bare suggestions -with your generous understanding.</p> - -<p>Well, though our archers stood the first brunt, the -day was not left all to them. Soon the French footmen, -thirsting for vengeance, had overriden and trampled -upon their Genoese allies, and came at us up the -slope, driving back our skirmishers as the white squall -drives the wheeling seamews before it, and surged -against our palisades, and came tossing and glinting -down upon our halberdiers. The loud English cheer -echoed the wild yelling of the Southerners: bill and -pike, and sword and mace and dagger sent up a thunderous -roar all down our front, while overhead the -pennons gleamed in the dusty sunlight, and the carrion -crows wheeled and laughed with hungry pleasure -above that surging line. Gods! ’twas a good shock, -and the crimson blood went smoking down to the -rivulets, and the savage scream of battle went up -into the sky as that long front of ours, locked fast in -the burnished arms of France, heaved and strove, and -bent now this way and now that, like some strong, -well-matched wrestlers.</p> - -<p>A good shock indeed! A wild tremendous scene of -confusion there on the long grass of that autumn hill, -with the dark woods behind on the ridge, and, down -in front, the babbling river and the smoking houses -of the ruined village. So vast was the extent of -Philip’s array that at times we saw it extend far to -right and left of us; and so deep was it, that we who -battled amid the thunder of its front could hear a -mile back to their rear the angry hum of rage and -disappointment as the chaotic troops, in the bitterness -of the spreading confusion, struggled blindly to come -at us. Their very number was our salvation. That -half of the great army which had safely crossed the -stream lay along outside our palisades like some splendid, -writhing, helpless monster, and the long swell of -their dead-locked masses, the long writhe of their fatal -confusion, you could see heaving that glittering tide -like the golden pulse of a summer sea pent up in a -crescent shore. And we were that shore! All -along our front the stout, unblenching English -yeomen stood to it—the white English tunic was -breast to breast with the leathern kirtles of -Genoa and Turin. Before the frightful blows -of those stalwart pikemen the yellow mail of the gay -troopers of Châteauroux and Besaçon crackled like -dry December leaves; the rugged boar-skins on the -wide shoulders of Vosges peasants were less protection -against their fiery thrust than a thickness of -lady’s lawn. Down they lopped them, one and all, -those strong, good English hedgemen, till our bloody -foss was full—full of olive mercenaries from Tarascon -and Arles—full of writhing Bisc and hideous screaming -Genoese. And still we slew them, shoulder to -shoulder, foot to foot, and still they swarmed against -us, while we piled knight and vassal, serf and master, -princeling and slave, all into that ditch in front. The -fair young boy and gray-bearded sire, the freeman and -the serf, the living and the dead, all went down together, -till a broad rampart stretched along our swinging, -shouting front, and the glittering might of France -surged up to that human dam and broke upon it like -the futile waves, and went to pieces, and fell back -under the curling yellow stormcloud of mid-battle.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, on right and left, the day was fiercely -fought. Far upon the one hand the wild Irish kerns -were repelling all the efforts of Beaupreau’s light footmen, -and pulling down the gay horsemen of fair -Bourges by the distant Loire. Three times those -squadrons were all among them, and three times -the wild red sons of Shannon and the dim Atlantic -hills fell on them like the wolves of their own rugged -glens, and hamstrung the sleek Southern chargers, -and lopped the fallen riders, and repelled each desperate -foray, making war doubly hideous with their -clamor and the bloody scenes of butchery that befell -among their prisoners after each onset.</p> - -<p>And, on the other crescent of our battle, my dear, -tuneful, licentious Welshmen were out upon the slope, -driving off with their native ardor one and all that -came against them, and, worked up to a fine fury by -their chanting minstrels, whose shrill piping came -ever and anon upon the wind, they pressed the Southerners -hard, and again and again drove them down -the hill—a good, a gallant crew that I have ever liked, -with half a dozen vices and a score of virtues! I -had charged by them one time in the day, and, cantering -back with my troop behind their ranks, I saw a -young Welsh chieftain on a rock beside himself with -valor and battle. He was leaping and shouting as -none but a Welshman could or would, and beating -his sword upon his round Cymric shield, the while he -yelled to his fighting vassals below a fierce old British -battle song. Oh! it was very strange for me, pent in -that shining Plantagenet mail, to listen to those wild, -hot words of scorn and hatred—I who had heard those -words so often when the ancestors of that chanting -boy were not begotten—I who had heard those fiery -verses sung in the red confusion of forgotten wars—I -who could not help pulling a rein a moment as that -song of exultation, full of words and phrases none but -I could fully understand, swelled up through the -eddying war-dust over the Welshmen’s reeling line. -I, so strong and young; I, who yet was more ancient -than the singer’s vaguest traditions—I stopped a moment -and listened to him, full of remembrance and -sad wonder, while the pæan-dirge of victory and death -swelled to the sky over the clamor of the combat. -And then—as a mavis drops into the covert when his -morning song is done—the Welshman finished, and, -mad with the wine of battle, leaped straight into the -tossing sea below, and was engulfed and swallowed -up like a white spume-flake on the bosom of a wave.</p> - -<p>For three long hours the battle raged from east to -west, and men fought foot to foot and hand to hand, -and ’twas stab and hack and thrust, and the pounding -of ownerless horses and the wail of dying men, -and the husky cries of captains, and the interminable -clash of steel on steel, so that no man could see all -the fight at once, save the good King alone, who sat -back there at his vantage-point. It was all this, I -say; and then, about seven in the afternoon, when the -sun was near his setting, it seemed, all in a second, as -though the whole west were in a glow, and there was -Lord Alençon sweeping down upon our right with the -splendid array of Philip’s chivalry, their pennons -a-dance above and their endless ranks of spears in -serried ranks below. There was no time to think, it -seemed. A wild shout of fear and wonder went up -from the English host. Our reserves were turned to -meet the new danger; the archers poured their gray-goose -shafts upon the thundering squadrons; princes -and peers and knights were littered on the road that -brilliant host was treading—and then they were -among the English yeomen with a frightful crash of -flesh and blood and horse and steel that drowned all -other sound of battle with its cruel import! Jove! -What strong stuff the English valor is! Those good -Saxon countrymen, sure in the confidence of our great -brotherhood, kept their line under that hideous shock -as though each fought for a crown, and, shoulder to -shoulder and hand to hand, an impenetrable living -wall derided the terrors of the golden torrent that -burst upon them. Happy King to yield such stuff—thrice-happy -country that can rear it! In vain wave -upon wave burst upon those hardy islanders, in vain -the stern voice of Alençon sent rank after rank of -proud lords and courtly gallants upon those rugged -English husbandmen—they would not move, and when -they would not the Frenchmen hesitated.</p> - -<p>’Twas our moment! I had had my leave just then -new from the King, and did not need it twice. I saw -the great front of French cavalry heaving slow upon -our hither face, galled by the arrow-rain that never -ceased, and irresolute whether to come on once again -or go back, and I turned to the cohort of my dear veterans. -I do not know what I said, the voice came -thick and husky in my throat, I could but wave my -iron mace above my head and point to the Frenchmen. -And then all those good gray spears went down as -though ’twere one hand that lowered them, and all -the chargers moved at once. I led them round the -English front, and there, clapping spurs to our ready -coursers’ flanks, five hundred of us, knit close together, -with one heart beating one measure, shot out -into array, and, sweeping across the slope, charged -boldly ten thousand Frenchmen!</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_270fp" style="max-width: 28em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_270fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>Five hundred of us charged boldly ten thousand Frenchmen!</p></div> -</div> - -<p>We raced across the Crecy slope, drinking the fierce -wine of expectant conflict with every breath, our -straining chargers thundering in tumultuous rhythm -over the short space between, and, in another minute, -we broke upon the foemen. Bravely they met us. -They turned when we were two hundred paces distant, -and advancing with their silken fleur de lys, and -pricking up their chargers, weary with pursuit and -battle, they came at us as you will see a rock-thwarted -wave run angry back to meet another strong incoming -surge. And as those two waves meet, and toss and -leap together, and dash their strength into each other, -the while the white spume flies away behind them, -and, with thunderous arrogance, the stronger bursts -through the other and goes streaming on triumphant -through all the white boil and litter of the fight, so -fell we on those princelings. ’Twas just a blinding -crash, the coming together of two great walls of steel! -I felt I was being lifted like a dry leaf on the summit -of that tremendous conjunction, and I could but ply -my mace blindly on those glittering casques that shone -all round me, and, I now remember, cracked under -its meteor sweep like ripe nuts under an urchin’s -hammer. So dense were the first moments of that -shock of chivalry that even our horses fought. I saw -my own charger rip open the glossy neck of another -that bore a Frenchman; and near by—though I -thought naught of it then—a great black Flemish stallion, -mad with battle, had a wounded soldier in its -teeth, and was worrying and shaking him as a lurcher -worries a screaming leveret. So dense was the throng -we scarce could ply our weapons, and one dead knight -fell right athwart my saddle-bow; and a flying hand, -lopped by some mighty blow, still grasping the hilt of -a broken blade, struck me on the helm; the warm red -blood spurting from a headless trunk half blinded me—and, -all the time, overhead the French lilies kept -stooping at the English lion, and now one went down -and then the other, and the roar of the host went up -into the sky, and the dust and turmoil, the savage uproar, -the unheard, unpitied shriek of misery and the -cruel exultation of the victor, and then—how soon I -know not—we were traveling!</p> - -<p>Ah! by the great God of battles, we were moving—and -forward—the mottled ground was slipping by us—and -the French were giving! I rose in my stirrups, -and, hoarse as any raven that ever dipped a black -wing in the crimson pools of battle, shouted to my -veterans. It did not need! I had fought least well -of any in that grim company, and now, with one accord, -we pushed the foeman hard. We saw the great -roan Flanders jennets slide back upon their haunches, -and slip and plunge in the purple quagmire we had -made, and then—each like a good ship well freighted—lurch -and go down, and we stamped beribboned -horse and jeweled rider alike into the red frothy -marsh under our hoofs. And the fleur de lys sank, -and the silver roe of Mayenne, proud Montereau’s -azure falcon, and the white crescent of Donzenac went -down, and Bernay’s yellow cornsheaf and Sarreburg’s -golden blazon, with many another gaudy pennon, and -then, somehow, the foemen broke and dissolved before -our heavy, foam-streaked chargers, and, as we gasped -hot breath through our close helmet-bars, there came -a clear space before us, with flying horsemen scouring -off on every hand.</p> - -<p>The day was wellnigh won, and I could see that far -to left the English yeomen were driving the scattered -clouds of Philip’s footmen pell-mell down the hill, and -then we went again after his horsemen, who were -gathering sullenly upon the lower slopes. Over the -grass we scoured like a brown whirlwind, and in a -minute were all among the French lordlings. And -down they went, horse and foot, riders and banners, -crowding and crushing each other in a confusion terrible -to behold, now suffering even more from their -own chaos than from our lances. Jove! brother trod -brother down that day, and comrade lay heaped on -living comrade under that red confusion. The pennons—such -as had outlived the storm so far—were -all entangled sheaves, and sank, whole stocks at once, -into the floundering sea below. And kings and princes, -hinds and yeomen, gasped and choked and glowered -at us, so fast-locked in the deadly wedge that went -slowly roaring back before our fiery onsets, they could -not move an arm or foot!</p> - -<p>The tale is nearly told. Everywhere the English -were victorious, and the Frenchmen fell in wild dismay -before them. Many a bold attempt they made to -turn the tide, and many a desperate sally and gallant -stand the fading daylight witnessed. The old King of -Bohemia, to whom daylight and night were all as one, -with fifty knights, their reins knotted fast together, -charged us, and died, one and all, like the good soldiers -that they were. And Philip, over yonder, wrung -his white hands and pawned his revenue in vows to -the unmoved saints; and the soft, braggart peers that -crowded round him gnawed their lips and frowned, -and looked first at the ruined, smoldering fight, then -back—far back—to where, in the south, friendly evening -was already holding out to them the dusky cover -of the coming night. It was a good day indeed, and -may England at her need ever fight so well!</p> - -<p>Would that I might in this truthful chronicle have -turned to other things while the long roar of exultation -goes up from famous Crecy and the strong wine -of well-deserved victory filled my heart! Alas! there -is that to tell which mars the tale and dims the shine -of conquest.</p> - -<p>Already thirty thousand Frenchmen were slain, and -the long swathes lay all across the swelling ground -like the black rims of weed when the sea goes back. -Only here and there the battle still went on, where -groups and knots of men were fighting, and I, with -my good comrade Flamaucœur, now, at sunset, was -in such a mêlée on the right. All through the day he -had been like a shadow to me—and shame that I have -said so little of it! Where I went there he was, flitting -in his close gray armor close behind me; quick, -watchful, faithful, all through the turmoil and dusty -war-mist; escaping, Heaven knows how, a thousand -dangers; riding his light war-horse down the bloody -lanes of war as he ever rode it, as if they two were -one; gentle, retiring, more expert in parrying thrust -and blow than in giving—that dear friend of mine, -with a heart made stout by consuming love against -all its native fears, had followed me.</p> - -<p>And now the spent battle went smoldering out, and -we there thought ’twas all extinguished, when, all on -a sudden—I tell it less briefly than it happened—a -desperate band of foemen bore down on us, and, as -we joined, my charger took a hurt, and went crashing -over, and threw me full into the rank tangle of the -under fight. Thereon the yeomen, seeing me fall, set -up a cry, and, with a rush, bore the Frenchmen four -spear-lengths back, and lifted me, unhurt, from the -littered ground. They gave me a sword, and, as I -turned, from the foemen’s ranks, waving a beamy -sword, plumed by a towering crest of nodding feathers -and covered by a mighty shield, a gigantic warrior -stepped out. Hoth! I can see him now, mad with -defeat and shame, striding on foot toward us—a giant -in glittering, pearly armor, that shone and glittered -as the last rays of the level sun against the black -backing of the evening sky, as though its wearer had -been the Archangel Gabriel himself! It did not need -to look upon him twice: ’twas the Lord High Constable -of France himself—the best swordsman, the -sternest soldier, and the brightest star of chivalry -in the whole French firmament. And if that noble -peer was hot for fight, no less was I. Stung by my -fall, and glorying in such a foeman, I ran to meet him, -and there, in a little open space, while our soldiers -leaned idly on their weapons and watched, we fought. -The first swoop of the great Constable’s humming -falchion lit slanting on my shield and shore my crest. -Then I let out, and the blow fell on his shield, and -sent the giant staggering back, and chipped the pretty -quarterings of a hundred ancestors from that gilded -target. At it again we went, and round and round, -raining our thunderous blows upon each other with -noise like boulders crashing down a mountain valley. -I did not think there was a man within the four seas -who could have stood against me so long as that fierce -and bulky Frenchman did. For a long time we fought -so hard and stubborn that the blood-miry soil was -stamped into a circle where we went round and round, -raining our blows so strong, quick, and heavy that the -air was full of tumult, and glaring at each other over -our morion bars, while our burnished scales and links -flew from us at every deadly contact, and the hot -breath steamed into the air, and the warm, smarting -blood crept from between our jointed harness. Yet -neither would bate a jot, but, with fiery hearts and -heaving breasts and pain-bursting muscles, kept to it, -and stamped round and round those grimy, steaming -lists, redoubtable, indomitable, and mad with the lust -of killing.</p> - -<p>And then—Jove! how near spent I was!—the great -Constable, on a sudden, threw away his many-quartered -shield, and, whirling up his sword with both -hands high above his head, aimed a frightful blow at -me. No mortal blade or shield or helmet could have -withstood that mighty stroke! I did not try, but, as -it fell, stepped nimbly back—’twas a good Saxon trick, -learned in the distant time—and then, as the falchion-point -buried itself a foot deep in the ground, and the -giant staggered forward, I flew at him like a wild cat, -and through the close helmet-bars, through teeth and -skull and the three-fold solid brass behind, thrust my -sword so straight and fiercely, the smoking point came -two feet out beyond his nape, and, with a lurch and -cry, the great peer tottered and fell dead before me.</p> - -<p>Now comes that thing to which all other things are -little, the fellest gleam of angry steel of all the steel -that had shone since noon, the cruelest stab of ten -thousand stabs, the bitterest cry of any that had -marred the full yellow circle of that August day! I -had dropped on one knee by the champion, and, taking -his hand, had loosed his visor, and shouted to two -monks, who were pattering with bare feet about the -field (for, indeed, I was sorry, if perchance any spark -of life remained, so brave a knight should die unshriven -to his contentment), and thus was forgotten -for the moment the fight, the confronting rows of -foemen, and how near I was to those who had seen -their great captain fall by my hands. Miserable, accursed -oversight! I had not knelt by my fallen enemy -a moment, when suddenly my men set up a cry behind -me, there was a rush of hoofs, and, ere I could regain -my feet or snatch my sword or shield, a great black -French rider, like a shadowy fury dropped from the -sullen evening sky, his plumes all streaming behind -him, his head low down between his horse’s ears, and -his long blue spear in rest, was thundering in mid -career against me not a dozen paces distant. As I -am a soldier, and have lived many ages by my sword, -that charge must have been fatal. And would that -it had been! How can I write it? Even as I started -to my feet, before I could lift a brand or offer one -light parry to that swift, keen point, the horseman -was upon me. And as he closed, as that great vengeance-driven -tower of steel and flesh loomed above -me, there was a scream—a wild scream of fear and -love—(and I clap my hands to my ears now, centuries -afterward, to deaden the undying vibrations of that -sound)—and Flamaucœur had thrown himself ’tween -me and the spear-point, had taken it, fenceless, unwarded, -full in his side, and I saw the cruel shaft -break off short by his mail as those four, both horses -and both riders, went headlong to the ground.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_276fp" style="max-width: 28em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_276fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>Flamaucœur had taken it full in his side</p></div> -</div> - -<p>Up rose the English with an angry shout, and swept -past us, killing the black champion as they went, and -driving the French before them far down into the -valley. Then ran I to my dear comrade, and knelt -and lifted him against my knee. He had swooned, -and I groaned in bitterness and fear when I saw the -strong red tide that was pulsing from his wound and -quilting his bright English armor. With quick, nervous -fingers—bursting such rivets as would not yield, -all forgetful of his secret, and that I had never seen -him unhelmed before—I unloosed his casque, and then -gently drew it from his head.</p> - -<p>With a cry I dropped the great helm, and wellnigh -let even my fair burden fall, for there, against my -knee, her white, sweet face against my iron bosom, -her fair yellow hair, that had been coiled in the -emptiness of her helmet, all adrift about us, those dear -curled lips that had smiled so tender and indulgent on -me, her gentle life ebbing from her at every throe, was -not Flamaucœur, the unknown knight, the foolish and -lovesick boy, but that wayward, luckless girl Isobel -of Oswaldston herself!</p> - -<p>And if I had been sorry for my companion in arms, -think how the pent grief and surprise filled my heart, -as there, dying gently in my arms, was the fair girl -whom, by a tardy, late-born love, new sprung into my -empty heart, I had come to look upon as the point of -my lonely world, my fair heritage in an empty epoch, -for the asking!</p> - -<p>Soon she moved a little, and sighed, and looked up -straight into my eyes. As she did so the color burnt -for a moment with a pale glow in her cheeks, and I -felt the tremor of her body as she knew her secret -was a secret no longer. She lay there bleeding and -gasping painfully upon my breast, and then she smiled -and pulled my plumed head down to her and whispered:</p> - -<p>“You are not angry?”</p> - -<p>Angry? Gods! My heart was heavier than it had -been all that day of dint and carnage, and my eyes -were dim and my lips were dry with a knowledge of -the coming grief as I bent and kissed her. She took -the kiss unresisting, as though it were her right, and -gasped again:</p> - -<p>“And you understand now all—everything? Why I -ransomed the French maiden? Why I would not write -for thee to thy unknown mistress?”</p> - -<p>“I know—I know, sweet girl!”</p> - -<p>“And you bear no ill-thought of me?”</p> - -<p>“The great Heaven you believe in be my witness, -sweet Isobel! I love you, and know of nothing else!”</p> - -<p>She lay back upon me, seeming to sleep for a moment -or two, then started up and clapped her hands -to her ears, as if to shut out the sound of bygone -battle that no doubt was still thundering through -them, then swooned again, while I bent in sorrow -over her and tried in vain to soothe and stanch the -great wound that was draining out her gentle life.</p> - -<p>She lay so still and white that I thought she were -already dead; but presently, with a gasp, her eyes -opened, and she looked wistfully to where the western -sky was hanging pale over the narrow English sea.</p> - -<p>“How far to England, dear friend?”</p> - -<p>“A few leagues of land and water, sweet maid!”</p> - -<p>“Could I reach it, dost thou think?” But then, on -an instant, shaking her head, she went on: “Nay, do -not answer; I was foolish to ask. Oh! dearest, dearest -sister Alianora! My father—my gentlest father! -Oh! tell them, Sir, from me—and beg them to forgive!” -And she lay back white upon my shoulder.</p> - -<p>She lay, breathing slow, upon me for a spell, then, -on a sudden, her fair fingers tightened in my mailed -hand, and she signed that she would speak again.</p> - -<p>“Remember that I loved thee!” whispered Isobel, -and, with those last words, the yellow head fell back -upon my shoulder, the blue eyes wavered and sank, -and her spirit fled.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Back by the lines of gleeful shouting troops—back -by where the laughing English knights, with visors -up, were talking of the day’s achievements—back by -where the proud King, hand in hand with his brave -boy, was thanking the south English yeomen for Crecy -and another kingdom—back by where the champing, -foamy chargers were picketed in rows—back by the -knots of archers, all, like honest workmen, wiping -down their unstrung bows—back by groups of sullen -prisoners and gaudy heaps of captured pennons, we -passed.</p> - -<p>In front four good yeomen bore Isobel upon their -trestled spears; then came I, bareheaded—I, kinsmanless, -to her in all that camp the only kin; and then -our drooping chargers, empty-saddled, led by young -squires behind, and seeming—good beasts!—to sniff -and scent the sorrow of that fair burden on ahead. -So we went through the victorious camp to our lodgment, -and there they placed Isobel on her bare soldier -couch, her feet to the door of her soldier tent, and -left us.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</h2> -</div> - -<p>Unwashed, unfed, my dinted armor on me still—battle-stained -and rent—unhelmeted, ungloved, my sword -and scabbard cast by my hollow shield in a dark -corner of the tent, I watched, tearless and stern, all -that night by the bier of the pale white girl who had -given so much for me and taken so poor a reward. I, -who, so fanciful and wayward, had thought I might -safely toy with the sweet tender of her affection—sprung -how or why I knew not—and take or leave -it as seemed best to my convenience, brooded, all the -long black watch, over that gentle broken vessel that -lay there white and still before me, alike indifferent -to gifts or giving. And now and then I would start -up from the stool I had drawn near to her, and pace, -with bent head and folded arms, the narrow space, -remembering how warm the rising tide of love had -been flowing in my heart for that fair dead thing so -short a time before. “So short a time before!” Why, -it was but yesterday that she wrote for me that missive -to herself: and I, fool and blind, could not read -the light that shone behind those gray visor-bars as -she penned the lines, or translate the tremor that -shook that sweet scribe’s fingers, or recognize the -heave of the maiden bosom under its steel and silk! -I groaned in shame and grief, and bent over her, thinking -how dear things might have been had they been -otherwise, and loving her no whit the less because -she was so cold, immovable, saying I know not what -into her listless ear, and nourishing in loneliness and -solitude, all those long hours, the black flower of the -love that was alight too late in my heart.</p> - -<p>I would not eat or rest, though my dinted armor -was heavy as lead upon my spent and weary limbs—though -the leather jerkin under that was stiff with -blood and sweat, and opened my bleeding wounds -each time I moved. I would not be eased of one single -smart, I thought—let the cursed seams and gashes -sting and bite, and my hot flesh burn beneath them! -mayhap ’twould ease the bitter anger of my mind—and -I repulsed all those who came with kind or curious -eyes to the tent door, and would not hear of ease or -consolation. Even the King came down, and, in respect -to that which was within, dismounted and stood -like a simple knight without, asking if he might see -me. But I would not share my sorrow with any one, -and sent the page who brought me word that the -King was standing in the porch to tell him so; and, -accomplished in courtesy as in war, the victorious -monarch bent his head, and mounted, and rode silently -back to his own lodging.</p> - -<p>The gay gallants who had known me came on the -whisper of the camp one by one (though all were -hungry and weary), and lifted the flap a little, and -said something such as they could think of, and peered -at me, grimly repellent, in the shadows, and peeped -curiously at that fair white soldier lain on the trestles -in her knightly gear so straight and trim, and went -away without daring to approach more nearly. My -veterans clipped their jolly soldier-songs, though they -had well deserved them, and took their suppers silently -by the flickering camp-fire. Once they sent him -among them that I was known to like the best with -food and wine and clean linen, but I would not have -it, and the good soldier put them down on one side -of the door and went back as gladly as he who retreats -skin-whole from the cave where a bear keeps -watch and ward. Last of all there came the fall of -quieter feet upon the ground, and, in place of the -clank of soldier harness, the rattle of the beads of -rosaries and cross; and, looking out, there was the -King’s own chaplain, bareheaded, and three gray -friars behind him. I needed ghostly comfort just then -as little as I needed temporal, and at first I thought -to repulse them surlily; but, reflecting that the maid -had ever been devout and held such men as these in -high esteem, I suffered them to enter, and stood back -while they did by her the ceremonial of their office. -They made all smooth and fair about, and lit candles -at her feet and gave her a crucifix, and sprinkled -water, and knelt, throwing their great black shadows -athwart the white shrine of my dear companion, the -while they told their beads and the chaplain prayed. -When they had done, the priest rose and touched me -on the arm.</p> - -<p>“Son,” he said, “the King has given an earl’s ransom -to be expended in masses for thy leman’s soul.”</p> - -<p>“Father,” I replied, “tender the King my thanks for -what was well meant and as princely generous as -becomes him. But tell him all the prayers thy convent -could count from now till the great ending would -not bleach this white maid’s soul an atom whiter. -Earn your ransom if you will, but not here; leave me -to my sorrow.”</p> - -<p>“I will give your answer, soldier; but these holy -brothers—the King wished it—must stay and share -your vigil until the morning. It is their profession; -their prayerful presence can ward off the spirits of -darkness; weariness never sits on their eyes as it sits -now on thine. Let them stay with thee; it is only -fit.”</p> - -<p>“Not for another ransom, priest! I will not brook -their confederate tears—I will not wing this fair girl’s -soul with their hireling prayers—out, good fellows, -my mood is wondrous short, and I would not willing -do that which to-morrow I might repent of.”</p> - -<p>“But, brother——” said one monk, gently.</p> - -<p>“Hence—hence! I have no brothers—go! Can you -look on me here in this extremity, can you see my -hacked and bleeding harness, and the shine of bitter -grief in my eyes, and stand pattering there of prayers -and sympathy? Out! Out! or by every lying relic -in thy cloisters I add some other saints to thy chapter -rolls!”</p> - -<p>They went, and as the tent-flap dropped behind -them and the sound of their sandaled feet died softly -away into the gathering night, I turned sorrowful and -sad to my watch. I drew a stool to the maiden bier, -and sat and took her hand, so white and smooth and -cold, and looked at the fair young face that death had -made so passionless—that sweet mirror upon which, -the last time we had been together in happiness, the -rosy light of love was shining and sweet presumption -and maiden shame were striving. And as I looked -and held her hand the dim tent-walls fell away, and -the painted lists rose up before me, and the littered -flowers my quick, curveting charger stamped into the -earth, and the blare of the heralds’ trumpets, the flutter -of the ribbons and the gay tires of brave lords and -fair ladies all centered round the daïs where those -two fair sisters sat. Gods! was that long sigh the -night-wind circling about my tent-flap or in truth the -sigh of slighted Isobel, as I rode past her chair with -the victor’s circlet on my spear-point and laid it at -the footstool of her sister?</p> - -<p>I bent over that fair white corpse, so sick in mind -and body that all the real was unreal and all the unreal -true. I saw the painted pageantry of her father’s -hall again and the colored reflections of the blazoned -windows on the polished corridors shine upon our -dim and sandy floor, and down the long vistas of my -aching memory the groups of men and women moved -in a motley harmony of color—a fair shifting mosaic -of pattern and hue and light that radiated and came -back ever to those two fair English girls. I heard the -rippling laughter on courtly lips, the whispered jest -of gallants, and the thoughtless glee of damsels. I -heard the hum and smooth praise that circled round -the black elder sister’s chair, and at my elbow the -father, saying, “My daughter; my daughter Isobel!” -and started up, to find myself alone, and that sweet -horrid thing there in the low flickering taper-light -unmoved, unmovable.</p> - -<p>I sat again, and presently the wavering shadows -spread out into the likeness of great cedar branches -casting their dusky shelter over the soft, sweet-scented -ground; and, as the hushed air swayed to and fro -those great velvet screens, Isobel stepped from them, -all in white, and ran to me, and stopped, and clapped -her hands before her eyes and on her throbbing bosom—then -stretched those trembling fingers, beseechingly -to me fresh from that sweet companionship—then -down upon her knees and clipped me round with her -fair white arms and turned back her head and looked -upon me with wild, wet, yearning eyes and cheeks that -burned for love and shame. I would not have it; I -laughed with the bitter mockingness of one possessed -by another love, and unwound those ivory bonds and -pushed the fair maid back, and there against the -dusk of leaf and branch she stood and wrung her -fingers and beat her breast and spoke so sweet and -passionate, that even my icy mood half thawed under -the white light of her reckless love, and I let her -take my hand and hold and rain hot kisses on it and -warm pattering tears, till all the strength was running -from me, and I half turned and my fingers closed on -hers—but, gods! how cold they were! And with a -stifled cry I woke again in the little tent, to find my -hand fast locked in the icy fingers of the dead.</p> - -<p>It was a long, weary night, and, sad as was my -watch and hectic as the visions which swept through -my heavy head, I would not quicken by one willing -hour of sleep the sad duties of that gray to-morrow -which I knew must come. At times I sat and stared -into the yellow tapers, living the brief spell of my -last life again—all the episode and change, all the -hurry and glitter, and unrest that was forever my -portion—and then, in spite of resolution, I would doze -to other visions, outlined more brightly on the black -background of oblivion; and then I started up, my -will all at war with tired Nature’s sweet insistence, -and paced in weary round our canvas cell, solitary but -for those teeming thoughts and my own black shadow, -which stalked, sullen and slow, ever beside me.</p> - -<p>But who can deride the great mother for long? -’Twas sleep I needed, and she would have it; and so it -came presently upon my heavy eyelids—strong, deep -sleep as black and silent as the abyss of the nether -world. My head sank upon my arm, my arm upon -the foot of the velvet bier, and there, in my mail, -under the thin taper-light, worn out with battle and -grief, I slept.</p> - -<p>I know not how long it was, some hours most likely, -but after a time the strangest feeling took possession -of me in that slumber, and a fine ethereal terror, -purged of gross material fear, possessed my spirit. I -awoke—not with the pleasant drowsiness which marks -refreshment, but wide and staring, and my black -Phrygian hair, without the cause of sight or sound, -stood stiff upon my head, for something was moving -in the silent tent.</p> - -<p>I glared around, yet nothing could be seen: the -lights were low in their sockets, but all else was in -order: my piled shield and helmet lay there in the -shadows, our warlike implements and gear were all -as I had seen them last, no noise or vision broke the -blank, and yet—and yet—a coward chill sat on me, -for here and there was moving something unseen, unheard, -unfelt by outer senses. I rose, and, fearful and -yet angry to be cowed by a dreadful nothing, stared -into every corner and shadow, but naught was there. -Then I lifted a dim taper, and held it over the face of -the dead girl and stared amazed! Were it given to -mortals to die twice, that girl had! But a short time -before and her sweet face had worn the reflection of -that dreadful day: there was a pallid fright and pain -upon it we could not smooth away, and now some -wonderful strange thing had surely happened, and -all the unrest was gone, all the pained dissatisfaction -and frightened wonder. The maid was still and -smooth and happy-looking. Hoth! as I bent over her -she looked just as one might look who reads aright -some long enigma and finds relief with a sigh from -some hard problem. She slept so wondrous still and -quiet, and looked so marvelous fair now, and contented, -that it purged my fear, and, strong in that fair -presence—how could I be else?—I sat, and after a -time, though you may wonder at it, I slept again.</p> - -<p>I dozed and dozed and dozed, in happy forgetfulness -of the present while the black night wore on to morning, -and the last faint flushes of the priestly tapers -played softly in their sockets; and then again I started -up with every nerve within me thrilling, my clenched -fists on my knees, and my wide eyes glaring into the -mid gloom, for that strange nothing was moving -gently once more about us, fanning me, it seemed, -with the rhythmed swing of unseen draperies, circling -in soft cadenced circles here and there, mute, voiceless, -presenceless, and yet so real and tangible to some -unknown inner sense that hailed it from within me -that I could almost say that now ’twas here and now -’twas there, and locate it with trembling finger, -although, in truth, nothing moved or stirred.</p> - -<p>I looked at the maid. She was as she had been; -then into every dusky place and corner, but nothing -showed; then rose and walked to the tent-flap and -lifted it and looked out. Down in the long valley below -the somber shadows were seamed by the winding -of the pale river; and all away on the low meadows, -piled thick and deep with the black mounds of dead -foemen, the pale marsh lights were playing amid the -corpses—leaping in ghostly fantasy from rank to rank, -and heap to heap, coalescing, separating, shining, vanishing, -all in the unbroken twilight silence. And -those somber fields below were tapestried with the -thin wisps of white mist that lay in the hollows, and -were shredded out into weird shapes and forms over -the black bosom of the near-spent night. Up above, -far away in the east, where the low hills lay flat in the -distance, the lappet fringe of the purple sky was -dipped in the pale saffron of the coming sun, and -overhead a few white stars were shining, and now and -then the swart, almost unseen wings of a raven went -gently beating through the star-lit void; and as I -watched, I saw him and his brothers check over the -Crecy ridges and with hungry croak, like black spirits, -circle round and drop one after another through the -thin white veils of vapor that shrouded prince, chiefs, -and vassals, peer and peasant, in those deep long -swathes of the black harvest we cut, but left ungarnered, -yesterday. Near around me the English camp -was all asleep, tired and heavy with the bygone battle, -the listless pickets on the misty, distant mounds -hung drooping over their piled spears, the metaled -chargers’ heads were all asag, they were so weary as -they stood among the shadows by their untouched -fodder, and the damp pennons and bannerets over -the knightly porches scarce lifted on the morning air! -That air came cool and sad yonder from the English -sea, and wandered melancholy down our lifeless, -empty canvas streets, lifting the loose tent-flaps, and -sighing as it strayed among the sleeping groups, stirring -with its unseen feet the white ashes of the dead -camp-fires, the only moving presence in all the place—sad, -silent, and listless. I dropped the hangings over -the chill morning glimmer, the camp of sleeping warriors -and dusty valley of the dead, and turned again -to my post. I was not sleepy now, nor afraid—even -though as I entered a draught of misty outer air entered -with me and the last atom of the priestly taper -shone fitful and yellow for a moment upon the dead -Isobel, and then went out.</p> - -<p>I sat down by the maid in the chill dark, and looked -sadly on the ground, the while my spirits were as low -as you may well guess, and the wind went moaning -round and round the tent. But I had not sat a moment—scarcely -twenty breathing spaces—when a -faint, fine scent of herb-cured wolf-skins came upon -the air, and strange shadows began to stand out clear -upon the floor. I saw my weapons shining with a -pale refulgence, and—by all the gods!—the walls of -the tent were a-shimmer with pale luster! With a -half-stifled cry I leaped to my feet, and there—there -across the bier—though you tell me I lie a thousand -times—there, calm, refulgent, looking gently in the -dead girl’s face, splendid in her ruddy savage beauty, -bending over that white marbled body, so ghostly thin -and yet so real, so true in every line and limb, was -Blodwen—Blodwen, the British chieftainess—my -thousand-years-dead wife.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_288fp" style="max-width: 28em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_288fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>Looking gently in the dead girl’s face, was Blodwen—Blodwen—my -thousand-years-dead wife</p></div> -</div> - -<p>Standing there serene and lovely, with that strange -lavender glow about her, was that wonderful and -dreadful shade—holding the dead girl’s hand and -looking at her closely with a face that spoke of neither -resentment nor sorrow. I stood and stared at them, -every wit within me numb and cold by the suddenness -of it, and then the apparition slowly lifted her eyes -to mine, and I—the wildest sensations of the strong -old love and brand-new fear possessed me. What! -do you tell me that affection dies? Why, there in that -shadowed tent, so long after, so untimely, so strange -and useless—all the old stream of the love I had borne -for that beautiful slave-girl, though it had been cold -and overlaid by other loves for a thousand years, -welled up in my heart on a sudden. I made half a -pace toward her, I stretched a trembling, entreating -hand, yet drew it back, for I was mortal and I feared; -and an ecstasy of pleasure filled my throbbing veins, -and my love said: “On! she was thine once and must -be now—down to thy knees and claim her!—what -matters anything, if thou hast a lien upon such splendid -loveliness!” and my coward flesh hung back cold -and would not, and now back and now forward I -swayed with these contending feelings, while that fair -shadow eyed me with the most impenetrable calm. -At last she spoke, with never a tone in her voice to -show she remembered it was near three hundred years -since she had spoken before.</p> - -<p>“My Phœnician,” she said in soft monotone, looking -at the dead Isobel who lay pale in the soft-blue shine -about her, “this was a pity. You are more dull-witted -than I thought.”</p> - -<p>I bent my head but could not speak, and so she -asked:</p> - -<p>“Didst really never guess who it was yonder steel -armor hid?”</p> - -<p>“Not once,” I said, “O sweetly dreadful!”</p> - -<p>“Nor who it was that stirred the white maid to love -over there in her home?”</p> - -<p>“What!” I gasped. “Was that you?—was that your -face, then, in truth I saw, reflecting in this dead girl’s -when first I met her?”</p> - -<p>“Why, yes, good merchant. And how you could -not know it passes all comprehension.”</p> - -<p>“And then it was you, dear and dreadful, who -moved her? Jove! ’twas you who filled her beating -pulses there down by the cedars, it was you who -prompted her hot tongue to that passionate wooing? -But why—why?”</p> - -<p>That shadow looked away for a moment, and then -turned upon me one fierce, fleeting glance of such -strange, concentrated, unquenchable, impatient love -that it numbed my tongue and stupefied my senses, -and I staggered back, scarce knowing whether I were -answered or were not.</p> - -<p>Presently she went on. “Then, again, you are a -little forgetful at times, my master—so full of your -petty loves and wars it vexes me.”</p> - -<p>“Vexes you! That were wonderful indeed; yet, ’tis -more wonderful that you submit. One word to me—to -come but one moment and stand shining there as -now you do—and I should be at your feet, strange, incomparable.”</p> - -<p>“It might be so, but that were supposing such moments -as these were always possible. Dost not notice, -Phœnician, how seldom I have been to thee like this, -and yet, remembering that I forget thee not, that -mayhap I love thee still, canst thou doubt but that -wayward circumstance fits to my constant wish but -seldom?”</p> - -<p>“Yet you are immortal; time and space seem nothing; -barriers and distance—all those things that -shackle men—have no meaning for you. All thy being -formed on the structure of a wish and every -earthly law subservient to your fancy, how is it you -can do so much and yet so little, and be at once so -dominant and yet so feeble?”</p> - -<p>“I told you, dear friend, before, that with new -capacities new laws arise. I near forget how far I -once could see—what was the edge of that shallow -world you live in—where exactly the confines of your -powers and liberty are set. But this I know for certain, -that, while with us the possible widens out into -splendid vagueness, the impossible still exists.”</p> - -<p>“And do you really mean, then, that fate is still the -stronger among you?—this fair girl, here, sweet -shadow! Oh! with one of those terrible and shining -arms crossed there on thy bosom, couldst thou not -have guided into happy void that fatal spear that -killed? Surely, surely, it were so easy!”</p> - -<p>The priestess dropped her fair head, and over her -dim-white shoulders, and her pleasant-scented, hazy -wolf-skins, her ruddy hair, all agleam in that strange -refulgence, shone like a cascade of sleeping fire. Then -she looked up and replied, in low tones:</p> - -<p>“The swimmer swims and the river runs, the wished-for -point may be reached or it may not, the river is -the stronger.”</p> - -<p>Somehow, I felt that my shadowy guest was less -pleased than before, so I thought a moment and then -said: “Where is she now?” and glanced at Isobel.</p> - -<p>“The novice,” smiled Blodwen, “is asleep.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, wake her!” I cried, “for one moment, for half a -breath, for one moiety of a pulse, and I will never ask -thee other questions.”</p> - -<p>“Insatiable! incredulous! how far will thy reckless -love and wonder go? Must I lay out before thy common -eyes all the things of the unknown for you to -sample as you did your bags of fig and olive?”</p> - -<p>“I loved her before, and I love her still, even as I -loved and still love thee. Does she know this?”</p> - -<p>“She knows as much as you know little. Look!” -and the shadow spread out one violet hand over that -silent face.</p> - -<p>I looked, and then leaped back with a cry of fear -and surprise. The dead girl was truly dead, not a -muscle or a finger moved, yet, as at that bidding, I -turned my eyes upon her there under the tender -glowing shadow of that wondrous palm, a faint flush -of colorless light rose up within her face, and on it I -read, for one fleeting moment, such inexplicable -knowledge, such extraordinary felicity, such impenetrable -contentment, that I stood spellbound, all of a -tremble, while that wondrous radiance died away even -quicker than it had risen. Gods! ’twas like the shine -of the herald dawn on a summer morning, it was -like the flush on the water of a coming sunrise—I -drew my hand across my face and looked up, expecting -the chieftainess would have gone, but she was still -there.</p> - -<p>“Are you satisfied for the moment, dear trader, or -would you catechize me as you did just now yonder -by the fire under the altar in the circle?”</p> - -<p>“Just now!” I exclaimed, as her words swept back -to me the remembrance of the stormy night in the old -Saxon days when, with the fair Editha asleep at my -knee, that shade had appeared before—“just now! -Why, Shadow, that was three hundred years ago!”</p> - -<p>“Three hundred what?”</p> - -<p>“Three hundred years—full round circles, three hundred -varying seasons. Why, Blodwen, forests have -been seeded, and grown venerable, and decayed about -those stones since we were there!”</p> - -<p>“Well, maybe they have. I now remember that -interval you call a year, and what strange store we -set by it, and I dimly recollect,” said the dreamy -spirit, “what wide-asunder episodes those were between -the green flush of your forests and the yellow. -But now—why, the grains of sand here on thy tent-floor -are not set more close together—do not seem more -one simple whole to you, than your trivial seasons do -to me. Ah! dear merchant, and as you smile to see -the ripples of the sea sparkle a moment in frolic chase -of one another, and then be gone into the void from -whence they came, so do we lie and watch thy petty -years shine for a moment on the smooth bosom of the -immense.”</p> - -<p>Deep, strange, and weird seemed her words to me -that night, and much she said more than I have told -I could not understand, but sat with bent head and -crossed arms full of strange perplexity of feeling, now -glancing at the dead soldier-maid my body loved, -and then looking at that comely column of blue -woman-vapor, that sat so placid on the foot of the -bier and spoke so simply of such wondrous things.</p> - -<p>For an hour we talked, and then on a sudden Blodwen -started to her feet and stood in listening attitude. -“They are coming, Phœnician,” she cried, and -pointed to the door.</p> - -<p>I arose with a strange, uneasy feeling and looked -out. The gray dawn had spread from sky to sky, and -an angry flush was over all the air. The morning -wind blew cold and melancholy, and the shrouded -mists, like bands of pale specters, were trooping up -the bloody valley before it, but otherwise not a soul -was moving, not a sound broke the ghostly stillness. -I dropped the awning, and shook my head at the fair -priestess, whereon she smiled superior, as one might -at a wayward child, and for a minute or two we spoke -again together. Then up she got once more, tall and -stately, with dilated nostrils and the old proud, expectant -look I had seen on her sweet red face so often -as we together, hand in hand, and heart to heart, had -galloped out to tribal war. “They come, Phœnician, -and I must go,” she whispered, and again she pointed -to the tent-door, though never a sound or footfall -broke the stillness.</p> - -<p>“You shall not, must not go, wife, priestess, Queen!” -I cried, throwing myself on my knee at those shadowy -feet, and extending my longing arms. “Oh! you that -can awake, put me to sleep—you, that can read to the -finish of every half-told tale, relieve me of the long -record of my life! Oh, stay and mend my loneliness, -or, if you go, let me come too—I ask not how or -whither.”</p> - -<p>“Not yet,” she said, “not yet——” And then, while -more seemed actually upon her lips, I did hear the -sound of footfalls outside, and, wondering, I sprang -to the curtain and lifted it.</p> - -<p>There, outside, standing in the first glint of the -yellow sunshine, were some half-dozen of my honest -veterans, all with spades and picks and in their leathern -doublets.</p> - -<p>“You see, Sir,” said the spokesman, sorrowfully, the -while he scraped the half-dry clay from off his trenching -spade, “we have come round for our brave young -captain—for your good lady, Sir—the first. Presently -we shall be very busy, and we thought mayhap you -would like this over as soon and quiet as might be.”</p> - -<p>They had come for Isobel! I turned back into the -tent, wondering what they would think of my strange -guest, and she was gone! Not one ray of light was -left behind—not one thread of her lavender skirt -shone against my black walls—only the cold, pale girl -there, stiff and white, with the shine of the dawn upon -her dead face; and all my long pain and vigils told -upon me, and, with a cry of pain and grief I could not -master, I dropped upon a seat and hid my face upon -my arm.</p> - -<p>I had had enough of France with that night, and -three hours afterward went straight to the King and -told him so, begging him to relieve me from my duty -and let me get back to England, there to seek the -dead maid’s kindred, and find in some new direction -forgetfulness of everything about the victorious camp. -And to this the King replied, by commending my poor -service far too highly, saying some fair kind things -out of his smooth courtier tongue about her that was -no more, and in good part upbraiding me for bringing, -as he supposed I had brought, one so gentle-nurtured -so far afield; then he said: “In faith, good soldier, -were to-day but yesterday, and Philip’s army still before -us, we would not spare you even though our -sympathy were yours as fully as ’tis now. But my -misguided cousin is away to Paris, and his following -are scattered to the four winds—for which God and -all the saints be thanked! There is thus less need -for thy strong arm and brave presence in our camp, -and if you really would—why then, go, and may kind -time heal those wounds which, believe me, I do most -thoroughly assess.”</p> - -<p>“But stay a minute!” he cried after me. “How -soon could you make a start?”</p> - -<p>“I have no gear,” I said, “and all my prisoners have -been set free unransomed. I could start here, even -as I stand.”</p> - -<p>“Soldierly answered,” exclaimed the King; “a good -knight should have no baggage but his weapons, and -no attachments but his duty. Now look! I can both -relieve you of irksome charges here and excuse with -reason both ample and honorable your going. Come to -me as soon as you have put by your armor. I will -have ready for you a scrip sealed and signed—no messenger -has yet gone over to England with the news -of our glorious yesterday, and this charge shall be -thine. Take the scrip straight to the Queen in England. -There, no thanks, away! away! thou wilt be -the most popular man in all my realm before the sun -goes down, I fear.”</p> - -<p>I well knew how honorable was this business that -the good King had planned for me, and made my -utmost despatch. I gave my tent to one esquire and -my spare armor to another. I ran and gripped the -many bronzed hands of my tough companions, and -told them (alas! unwittingly what a lie that were!) -that I would come again; then I bestowed my charger -(Jove! how reluctant was the gift!) upon the next in -rank below me, and mounted Isobel’s light war-horse, -and paid my debts, and settled all accounts, and was -back at our great captain’s tent just as his chaplain -was sanding the last lines upon that despatch which -was to startle yonder fair country waiting so expectant -across the narrow sea.</p> - -<p>They rolled it up in silk and leather and put it in a -metal cylinder, and shut the lid and sealed it with -the King’s own seal, and then he gave it to me.</p> - -<p>“Take this,” he said, “straight to the Queen, and -give it into her own hands. Be close and silent, for -you will know it were not meet to be robbed of thy -news upon the road: but I need not tell you of what -becomes a trusty messenger. There! so, strap it in -thy girdle, and God speed thee—surely such big news -was never packed so small before.”</p> - -<p>I left the Royal tent and vaulted into the ready saddle -without. One hour, I thought, as the swift steed’s -head was turned to the westward, may take me to -the shore, and two others may set me on foot in England. -Then, if they have relays upon the road, three -more will see me kneeling at the lady’s feet, the while -her fingers burst these seals. Lord! how they shall -shout this afternoon! how the ’prentices shall toss -their caps, and the fat burghers crowd the narrow -streets, and every rustic hamlet green ring to the sky -with gratitude! Ah! six hours I thought might do the -journey; but read, and you shall see how long it took.</p> - -<p>Scouring over the low grassy plains as hard as the -good horse could gallop, with the gray sea broadening -out ahead with every mile we went, full of thoughts -of a busy past and uncertain future, I hardly noticed -how the wind was freshening. Yet, when we rode -down at last by a loose hill road to the beach, strong -gusts were piping amid the treetops, and the King’s -galleys were lurching and rolling together at their -anchors by the landing-stage as the short waves came -crowding in, one close upon another, under the first -pressure of a coming storm.</p> - -<p>But, wind or no wind, I would cross; and I spoke to -the captain of the galleys, showing him my pass with -its Royal signet, and saying I must have a ship at -once, though all the cave of Eblis were let loose upon -us. That worthy, weather-beaten fellow held the mandate -most respectfully in one hand, while he pulled -his grizzled beard with the other and stared out into -the north, where, under a black canopy of lowering -sky, the sea was seamed with gray and hurrying -squalls, then turned to the cluster of sailors who were -crowded round us—guessing my imperious errand—to -know who would start upon it. And those rough -salts swore no man of sanity would venture out—not -even for a King’s generous bounty—not even to please -victorious Edward would they go—no, nor to ease the -expectant hearts of twenty thousand wives, or glad -the proud eyes of ten score hundred mothers. It was -impossible, they said—see how the frothy spray was -flying already over the harbor bar, and how shrill the -frightened sea-mews were rising high above the land!—no -ship would hold together in such a wind as that -brewing out over there, no man this side of hell could -face it—and yet, and yet, “Why!” laughed a leathery -fellow, slapping his mighty fist into his other palm, -“as I was born by Sareham, and knew the taste of -salt spray nearly as early as I knew my mother’s milk, -it shall never be said I was frightened by a hollow -sky and a Frenchman’s wind. I’ll be your pilot, -Sir.”</p> - -<p>“And I will go wherever old Harry dares,” put in a -stout young fellow. “And I,” “And I,” “And I,” -was chorused on every side, as the brave English -seamen caught the bold infection, and in a brief space -there, under the lee of the gray harbor jetty, before -a motley cheering crowd, all in the blustering wind -and rain, I rode my palfrey up the sloping way, and -on to the impatient tossing little bark that was to -bear the great news to England.</p> - -<p>We stabled the good steed safe under the half-deck -forward, set the mizzen and cast off the hawser, and -soon the little vessel’s prow was bursting through the -crisp waves at the harbor mouth, her head for home, -and behind, dim through the rainy gusts, the white -house-fronts of the beach village, and far away the -uplands where the English army lay. We reefed and -set the sails as we drew from the land, but truly those -fellows were right when they hung back from sharing -the peril and the glory with me! The strong blue -waters of the midland sea whereon I first sailed my -merchant bark were like the ripples of a sheltered -pond to the roaring trench and furrows of this narrow -northern strait. All day long we fought to westward, -and every hour we spent the wind came stronger and -more keenly out of the black funnel of the north, and -the waves swelled broader and more monstrous. By -noon we saw the English shore gleam ghostly white -through the flying reek in front; but by then, so fierce -was the northeaster howling, that, though we went -to windward and off again, doing all that good seamen -could, now stealing a spell ahead, and anon losing -it amid a blinding squall, we could not near the English -port for which we aimed, there, in the cleft of -the dim white cliffs.</p> - -<p>After a long time of this, our captain came to me -where I leaned, watchful, against the mast, and said:</p> - -<p>“The King has made an order, as you will know, -all vessels from France are to sail for his town of -Dover there, and nowhere else, on a pain of a fine that -would go near to swamp such as we.”</p> - -<p>“Good skipper,” I answered, “I know the law, but -there are exceptions to every rule, which, well taken, -only cast the more honor on general stringency. King -Edward would have you make that port at all reasonable -times; but if you cannot reach it, as you surely -cannot now, you are not bound to sail me, his messenger, -to Paradise in lieu thereof. I pray you, put -down your helm and run, and take the nearest harbor -the wind will let us.” At this the captain turned -upon his heel well pleased, and our ship came round, -and now, before the gale, sailed perhaps a little easier.</p> - -<p>But it scarcely bettered our fortune. A short time -before dusk, while we wallowed heavily in the long -furrows, my poor palfrey was thrown and broke her -fore legs over her trestle bar, and between fear and -pain screamed so loud and shrill, it chilled even my -stalwart sailors. Then, later on, as we rode the frothy -summit of a giant wave, our topmast snapped, and -fell among us and the wild, loose ropes writhed and -lashed about worse than a hundred biting serpents, -and the bellowing sail, like a great bull, jerked and -strained for a moment so that I thought that it would -unstep the mast itself, and then went all to tatters -with a hollow boom, while we, knee-deep in the swirling -sea that filled our hollow, deckless ship, gentle -and simple, ’prentice and knight, whipped out our -knives and gave over to the hungry ocean all that -riven tackle.</p> - -<p>It was enough to make the stoutest heart beat low -to ride in such a creaking, retching cockle-shell over -the hill and dale of that stupendous water. Now, out -of the tumble and hiss, down we would go, careering -down the glassy side of a mighty green slope, the -creamy white water boiling under our low-sunk bows, -and there, in mid-hollow, with the tempest howling -overhead, we would have for a breathing space a -blessed spell of seeming calm. And then, ere we could -taste that scant felicity, the reeling floor would swell -beneath us, and out of the watery glen, hurtled by -some unseen power, we rose again up, up to the spume -and spray, to the wild shouting wind that thrilled -our humming cordage and lay heavy upon us, while -the gleaming turmoil through which we staggered and -rushed leaped at our fleeting sides like packs of white -sea-wolves, and all the heaving leaden distance of the -storm lay spread in turn before us—then down again.</p> - -<p>Hour after hour we reeled down the English coast -with the wild mid-channel in fury on our left and the -dim-seen ramparts of breakers at the cliff feet on our -right. Then, as we went, the light began to fail us. -Our weather-beaten steersman’s face, which had -looked from his place by the tiller so calm and steadfast -over the war of wind and sea, became troubled, -and long and anxiously he scanned the endless line -of surf that shut us from the many little villages and -creeks we were passing.</p> - -<p>“You see, Sir Knight,” shouted the captain to me, -as, wet through, we held fast to the same rope—“’tis -a question with us whether we find a shelter before -the light goes down, or whether we spend a night like -this out on the big waters yonder.”</p> - -<p>“And does he,” I asked, “who pilots us know of a -near harbor?”</p> - -<p>“Ah! there is one somewhere hereabout, but with a -perilous bar across the mouth, and the tide serves but -poorly for getting over. If we can cross it there is a -dry jacket and supper for all this evening, and if we -do not, may the saints in Paradise have mercy on us!”</p> - -<p>“Try, good fellow, try!” I shouted; “many a dangerous -thing comes easier by the venturing, and I am -already a laggard post!” So the word was passed for -each man to stand by his place, and through the gloom -and storm, the beating spray and the wild pelting -rain, just as the wet evening fell, we neared the land.</p> - -<p>We swept in from the storm, and soon there was -the bar plain enough—a shining, thunderous crescent—glimmering -pallid under the shadow of the land, a -frantic hell of foam and breakers that heaved and -broke and surged with an infernal storm-deriding -tumult, and tossed the fierce white fountains of its -rage mast-high into the air, and swirled and shone -and crashed in the gloom, sending the white litter of -its turmoil in broad ghostly sheets far into that black -still water we could make out beyond under the veil -of spume and foam hanging above that boiling caldron. -Straight to it we went through the cold, fierce -wind, with the howl of the black night behind us, and -the thunder of that shine before. We came to the -bar, and I saw the white light on the strained brave -faces of my silent friends. I looked aft, and there -was the helmsman calm and strong, unflinchingly eyeing -the infernal belt before us. I saw all this in a -scanty second, and then the white hell was under our -bows and towering high above our stern a mighty -crested, foam-seamed breaker. With the speed of a -javelin thrown by a strong hand, we rushed into the -wrack; one blinding moment of fury and turmoil, and -then I felt the vessel stagger as she touched the sand; -the next instant her sides went all to splinters under -my very feet, and the great wave burst over us and -rushed thundering on in conscious strength, and not -two planks of that ill-fated ship, it seemed, were still -together.</p> - -<p>Over and over through the swirl and hum I was -swept, the dying cries of my ship-fares sounding in -my ears like the wail of disembodied spirits—now, -for a moment, I was high in the spume and ruck, -gasping and striking out as even he who likes his life -the least will gasp in like case, and then, with thunderous -power, the big wave hurled me down into the -depth, down, down, into the inky darkness with all -the noises of Inferno in my ears, and the great churning -waters pressing on me till the honest air seemed -leagues above, and my strained, bursting chest was -dying for a gasp. Then again, the hideous, playful -waters would tear asunder and toss me high into the -keen, strong air, with the yellow stars dancing above, -and the long line of the black coast before my salt -tear-filled eyes, and propped me up just so long as I -might get half a gasping sigh, and hear the storm -beating wildly on the farther side of the bar; then the -mocking sea would laugh in savage frolic, and down -again. Gods! right into the abyss of the nether turmoil, -fathoms deep, like a strand of worthless sea-wrack, -scouring over the yellow sand-beds where -never living man went before, all in the cruel fingers -of the icy midnight sea, was I tossed here and there.</p> - -<p>And when I did not die, when the savage sea, like -a great beast of prey, let me live by gasps to spread -its enjoyment the more, and tossed and teased me, -and shouted so hideous in my ears and weighed me -down—why, the last spark of spirit in me burnt up -on a sudden, fierce and angry. I set my teeth and -struck out hard and strong. Ah! and the sea grew -somewhat sleek when I grew resolute, and, after some -minutes of this new struggle, rolled more gently and -buried me less deep each time in its black foam-ribbed -vortex, and, presently, in half an hour perhaps, the -thunder of the bar was all behind me instead of round -about, the stars were steadier in their places, the dim -barrier of the land frowned through the rain direct -above, and a few minutes more, wondrous spent and -weary, the black water flowing in at my low and -swollen lips with every stroke, yet strong in heart and -hopeful, I found myself floating up a narrow estuary -on a dim, foam-flecked but peaceful tide.</p> - -<p>The strong but gentle current swept in with the -flowing water under the dark shadows of the land, -past what seemed, in the wet night-gloom, like rugged -banks of tree and forest, and finally floated me to -where, among loose boulders and sand, the tamed -water was lapping on a smooth and level beach. I -staggered ashore, and sat down as wet and sorry as -well could be. Life ran so cold and numb within, it -seemed scarce worth the cost spent in keeping. My -scrip was still at my side, but my sword was gone, -my clothing torn to ribbons, and a more buffeted messenger -never eyed askance the scroll that led him into -such a plight. Where was I? The great gods who -live forever alone could tell, yet surely scores of -miles from where I should be! I got to my feet, reeking -with wet and spray, the gusty wind tossing back -the black Phrygian locks from off my forehead, and -glared around. Sigh, sigh, sigh went the gale in the -pines above, while mournful pipings came about the -shore like wandering voices, and the sea boomed sullenly -out yonder in the darkness! I stared and stared, -and then started back a pace and stared again. I -turned round on my heel and glowered up the narrow -inlet and out to sea; then at the beetling crags above -and the dim-seen mounds inland; then all on a sudden -burst into a scornful laugh—a wild, angry laugh that -the rocks bandied about on the wet night-air and sent -back to me blended with all the fitful sobs and moaning -of the wind.</p> - -<p>The lonely harbor, that of a thousand harbors I had -come to, was the old British beach. It was my Druid -priestess’s village place that I was standing on!</p> - -<p>I laughed long and loud as I, the old trader in wine -and olives—I, the felucca captain, with cloth and -wine below and a comely red-haired slave on deck—I, -again, in other guise, Royal Edward’s chosen messenger—as -good a knight as ever jerked a victorious -brand home into its scabbard—stood there with chattering -teeth and shaking knee, mocking fate and -strange chance in reckless spirit. I laughed until my -mood changed on a sudden, and then, swearing by -twenty forgotten hierarchies I would not stand shivering -in the rain for any wild pranks that Fate might -play me, I staggered off on to the hard ground.</p> - -<p>Every trace of my old village had long since gone; -yet though it were a thousand years ago I knew my -way about with a strange certainty. I left the shore, -and pushed into the overhanging woods, dark and -damp and somber, and presently I even found a well-known -track (for these things never change); and, half -glad and half afraid—a strange, tattered, dismal prodigal -come strangely home—I pushed by dripping -branch and shadowy coverts, out into the open grass -hills beyond.</p> - -<p>Here, on some ghostly tumuli near about, the gray -shine of the night showed scattered piles of mighty -stones and broken circles that once had been our -temples and the burial places for great captains. I -turned my steps to one of these on the elbow of a little -ridge overlooking the harbor, and, perhaps, two -hundred paces inland from it, and found a vast lichened -slab of stupendous bulk undermined by weather, -and all on a slope with a single entrance underneath -one end. Did ever man ask lodgment in like circumstances? -It was the burial mound of an old Druid -headman, and I laughed a little again to think how -well I had known him—grim old Ufner of the Reeking -Altars. Hoth! what a cruel, bloody old priest he -was!—never did a man before, I chuckled, combine -such piety and savagery together. How that old fellow’s -cruel small eyes did sparkle with native pleasure -as the thick, pungent smoke of the sacrificial fire went -roaring up, and the hiss and splutter half drowned -the screaming of men and women pent in their wicker -cages amid that blaze! Oh! Old Ufner liked the -smell of hot new blood, and there was no music to his -British ear like the wail of a captive’s anguish. And -then for me to be pattering round his cell like this -in the gusty dark midnight, shivering and alone, patting -and feeling the mighty lid of that great crypt, -and begging a friendly shelter in my stress and weariness -of that ghostly hostelry—it was surely strange -indeed.</p> - -<p>Twice or thrice I walked round the great coffer—it -was near as big as a herdsman’s cottage—and then, -finding no other crack or cranny, stopped and stooped -before the tiny portal at the lower end. I saw as I -knelt that that tremendous slab was resting wondrous -lightly on a single point of upright stone set just like -the trigger of an urchin’s mouse-trap, but, nothing -daunted, pushing and squeezing, in I crept, and felt -with my hands all that I could not see.</p> - -<p>The foxes and the weather had long since sent all -there was of Ufner to dust. All was bare and smooth, -while round the sides were solid, deep earth-planted -slabs of rock—no one knew better than I how thick -they were and heavy!—and on the floor a soft couch -of withered leaves and grasses.</p> - -<p>Now one more sentence, and the chapter is ended. -I had not coiled myself down on those leaves a minute, -my weary head had nodded but once upon my -arm, my eyelids drooped but twice, when, with a -soundless start, undermined by the fierce storm, and -moved a fatal hair’s-breadth by my passage, the propping -key-stone fell in, and all at once my giant roof -began to slide. That vast and ponderous stone, that -had taken two tribes to move, was slipping slowly -down, and as it went, all along where it ground, a line -of glowing lambent fire, a smoking hissing band of -dust marked its silent, irresistible progress—a hissing -belt of dust, and glow that shone for a half-moment -round the fringe of that stupendous portal—and then, -too late as I tottered to my weary knees, and extended -a feeble hand toward the entrance, that mighty door -came to a rest, that ponderous slab, that scarce a -thousand men could move, fell with a hollow click -three inches into the mortises of the earth-bound -walls, and there in that mighty coffer I was locked—fast, -deep, and safe!</p> - -<p>I listened. Not a sound, not a breath of the storm -without moved in that strange chamber. I stared -about, and not one cranny of light broke the smooth -velvet darkness. What mattered it? I was weary -and tired—to-morrow I would shout and some one -might hear, to-night I would rest; and, Jove! how -deep and warm and pleasant was that leafy bed that -chance had spread there on the floor for me!</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII</h2> -</div> - -<p>I cannot say, distinctly, what roused me next morning. -My faculties were all in a maze, my body -cramped and stiff as old leather—no doubt due to -the wetting of the previous evening, or my hard couch—while -the darkness bewildered and numbed my mind. -Yet, indeed, I awoke, and, after all, that was the great -thing. I awoke and yawned, and feebly stretched my -dry and aching arms—good heavens! how the pain did -fly and shoot about them!—and rolled my stiff and -rusty eyeballs, and twisted that pulsing neck that -seemed in that first moment of returning life like a -burning column of metal through which the hot river -of my starting blood was surging in a hissing, molten -stream. I stretched, and looked and listened as -though my faculties were helpless prisoners behind -my numb, useless senses; but, peer and crane forward -as I would, nothing stirred the black stillness of my -strange bed-chamber.</p> - -<p>Nothing, did I say? Truly it was nothing for a -time, and then I could have sworn, by all the rich -repository of gods and saints that the wreck of twenty -hierarchies had stranded in my mind, that I heard a -real material sound, a click and rattle, like metal -striking stone, this being followed immediately by a -star of light somewhere in the mid black void in front. -Fie! ’twas but a freak of fancy, the stretching of my -cramped and aching sinews, but a nucleus of those -swimming lights that mocked my still sleepy eyes! I -covered them with my hands and groaned to be awake; -I strove to make point or sense out of the wild flood -of remembrance that ebbed and flooded in thunderous -sequence through my head; and then again, obtrusive -and clear, came the click! click! of the unseen metal, -and the shine of the great white planet that burned -in the black firmament of my prison behind it.</p> - -<p>I staggered to my feet, stretching out eager hands -in the void space to touch the walls, and tried to -move; and, as I did so, my knees gave way beneath -me; I made a wild grasp in the darkness, and fell in a -loose heap upon the littered, dusty floor. Lord! how -my joints did ache! how the hot, swift throes that -monopolized my being shot here and there about my -cramped and twitching limbs! I rolled upon the dust-dry -earth of that gloomy chamber and cursed my last -night’s wetting; cursed the salt-sea spray that could -breed such fiery torments; and even sent to Hades -my errand and my scrip of victory, the which, however, -I was cheered to note, in its bronze case now -and then, with a movement or a spasm of pain, -knocked against my bare ribs as though to upbraid -me as a laggard embassy for lying sleeping here while -all men waked to know my tidings. I rose again, with -rare difficulty but successfully this time, and peered -and listened till the dancing colors in my eyes filled -the empty air with giddy spinning suns and constellations, -and the making tide of wakefulness, flooding -the channels of my veins, cheated my ears to fancy -some hideous storm was raging up above, and thunderbolts -were tearing shrieking furrows down the trembling -sides of mountains, and all the rivers of the -world (so hideous was that shocking sound) were -tumbling headlong in wild confusion into the void -middle of the world.</p> - -<p>I stuffed my ears and shut my eyes, and turned sick -and faint at that infernal tumult. My head spun and -throbbed, and my light feet felt the world give under -them. I had nearly fallen, when once again, just as -my spinning brain was growing numb, and the close, -thin air of that place failed to answer to the needs of -my new vitality, there came that click! click! -again, and the blessed white star that followed it. -This time that gleam of hope was broad and strong. -On either side as it shone, white zigzag rays flew out -and stood so written upon the black tablet of my -prison. Ah! and a draught of nectar, of real, divine -nectar, of sweet white country air, came in from that -celestial puncture!</p> - -<p>I leaped to it and knelt, and put my thirsty lips to -that refulgence and drank the simple ambient air -that came through, as though I were some thirsty pilgrim -at a gushing stream. And it revived me, cooling -the rising fever of my blood, and numbing, like the -sweet sedative it was, the pains, that soon ran less -keen and throbbed less strong, and, in a few more -minutes, went gently away into the distance under its -beneficent touch. Mayhap I fainted or slept for some -little time, overwhelmed by the stress of those few -waking moments. When I looked up again all was -changed. I myself was new and fresh, and felt with -every pulse the strong life beating firm and gentle -within me; and my prison cell—it was no more a -prison!</p> - -<p>There was a gap bigger than my fist where the star -had been, with great fissures marking the outline of -one of the stones that had supported the topmost slab, -and through the gap a peep of countryside, of yellow -grass, and sapphire sea, of pearly waves lisping in -summer playfulness around a golden shore, and overhead -a sky of delightful blue.</p> - -<p>I was grateful, and understood it all. The storm -had gone down during the night and the sun had -risen; these were good folk outside, who, by some -chance, knew of my sheltering-place and had come -early to release me—a happy chance indeed! And it -was their strong blows and crowbars working on my -massive walls that let in the light, and—none too soon—refreshed -me with a draught of outer air. Fool that -I was to let an uneasy night and a salt-sea soaking -cloud my wit!</p> - -<p>I was so pleased at the prospect of speedy release -that I was on the point of calling out to cheer my -lusty friends at their work and show the prisoner -lived. But had I done so this book had never been -written! That shout was all but uttered—my mouth -was close to the orifice through which came the pleasant -gleam of daylight, when voices of men outside -speaking one to another fell upon my ear.</p> - -<p>“By St. George,” I heard one fellow say, “and every -fiend in hell! they who built this place surely meant it -to last to Judgment! Here we have been heaving at -it since near daylight and not moved a stone.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! and if you stand gaping there,” chimed in another, -“we’ll not have moved one by Tuesday week. -On, you log! let’s see something of that strength you -brag of—why, even now I saw a shine and twinkle in -the opening there. This crib may prove the cradle -of our fortunes, may make us richer men than any -strutting sheriffs, and recompense us for a dozen disappointments! -To it again; and you, Harry, stand -ready with the wedges to put them in when we do -lift.”</p> - -<p>I pricked my ears at this, as you will guess, for there -was no mention of me expectant, and only talk of -wealth and recompense. I listened, and heard the -sulky workman take again his crowbar. I heard him -call for a drink, and the splash of the liquid into the -leathern cup sounded wonderfully clear in my silent -chamber; then, as though in no hurry to fall on, he -asked, “What of the spoil we have already, mates? -A sight of those baubles would greatly lighten our -labor, I think.”</p> - -<p>“Now, as I had a man for my father,” burst out the -first speaker, “never did I see so small a heart in so -big a body! Show him the swag, Harry! rattle it -under his greedy nose! and when he has done gloating -on it perhaps he’ll turn to and do something for a -breakfast!”</p> - -<p>At this there was a pause and a moving of feet, as -though men were collecting round some common object. -Then came the tinkle of metals, and, by Jove! -I had not yet forgotten so much of merchant cunning -in my soldiering but that I recognized the music of -gold and silver over the base clink of lesser stuff. -They tried, and sampled, and rung those wares over -my head; and presently he who was best among them -said:</p> - -<p>“A very pretty haul, mates, and, wisely disposed of, -enough to furnish us well, both inside and out, for a -long time. These circlets here are silver, I take it, -and will run into a sweet ingot in the smelting-pot. -Yon boss is a brooch, by the pin, and of gold; though -surely such a vile fashion was never forged since -Shem’s hammer last went silent.”</p> - -<p>“What, gold, sir!”</p> - -<p>“Ah! what else, old bullet-costard? Dost thou think -I come round and prize cursed devil-haunted mounds -for lumps of clay? The brooch is gold, I say; and -the least of these trinkets” (whereon there came a -sound like one playing with bracelet and bangle)—“the -worst of them white silver. To it, then, good -fellows, again! Burst me this stony crypt, and, if it -prove such a coffer as I have right to hope, before the -day is an hour older, you shall down to yonder town -and there get drunk past expectation and your happiest -imaginings.”</p> - -<p>So, my friends, I mused, ’tis not pure neighborliness -that brings you thus early to my rescue! Never mind; -many a good deed has been done in search of a sordid -object, and whether you come for me or gold, it shall -vantage me alike. I will lend a hand on my side, -since it were a pity to keep this big fellow from his -breakfast longer than need be.</p> - -<p>While they plied spade and lever outside, I scraped -below, and put in, as well as I was able, a stone wedge -now and then, whenever their exertions canted the -great stone a little to one side or the other. The interest -of all this, and because I was never apt in deceit, -made me somewhat reckless about showing too -soon at the narrow opening, and presently there came -a guttural cry above, and a sound as though some one -had dropped a tool and sprung back.</p> - -<p>“Hullo! stoutheart,” called the captain’s voice, -“what now? Is it another swig of the flask you want -to swell your shallow courage, or has thy puissant -crowbar pierced through to hell?”</p> - -<p>“Hell or not,” whined the fellow, “I do think the -fiend himself is in there. I did but stoop on a sudden -to peer within, and may I never empty a flagon again -but there was something hideous moving in the crypt! -something round and shaggy, that toiled as we toiled, -and pushed and growled, and had two flaming yellow -eyes——”</p> - -<p>“Beast! coward! Oh, that I had brought a man -instead of thee! ’Twas gold you saw—bright, shining -metal—think, thou swine, of all it will buy, and how -thou may’st hereafter wallow in thy foul delights! -And wilt thou forego the stuff so near? Gods! I -would have a wrestle for it though it were with the -devil himself! Give me the crowbar.”</p> - -<p>Apparently the captain’s avarice was of stouter -kind than the yeoman’s, for soon after this the stone -upright began to give, and I saw the moment of my -deliverance was near. Now, I argued to myself, these -gentlemen outside are obvious rogues, and will much -rather crack me on the head than share their booty -with such a strange-found claimant, hence I must be -watchful. Of the two under-rogues I had small fear, -but the captain seemed of bolder mold, and, unless his -tongue lied, had some sort of heart within him. So -I waited watchful, and before long a more than -usually stalwart blow set the stone off its balance. -It slipped and leaned, then fell headlong outward -with a heavy thud, and, turning over on its side, rolled -to the edge of the slope, and there, revolving quicker -and more quickly, went rumbling and crashing down -through the brambles into the valley a quarter of a -mile below. As it fell outward, a blaze of daylight -burst upon my prison, and, with a shout of joy, the -foremost of the rogues dashed into my cell. At the -same moment, with such an old British battle yell -as those monoliths had not heard for a thousand years, -but sorely dazed, I sprang forward. We met in mid -career, and the big thief went floundering down. He -was up again in a moment, and, yelling in his fear -that the devil was certainly there, rushed forth—I -close behind him—and infected his timorous comrade, -and away they both went toward the woods, racing -in step and screaming in tune, as though they had -practised it together for half a lifetime. The fellows -fled, but their leader stood, white and irresolute, as -he well might be, yet made bold by greed; and for a -moment we faced each other—he in his greasy townsman -finery, a strong, sullen thief from bonnet to shoe, -and I, grim, gaunt, and ragged, haggard, wild, unshorn, -standing there for a moment against the black -porch of the old Druid grave-place—and then, wiping -the sunshine from my dazzled eyes and stooping low, -I ran at him! Many were the ribbons and trinkets I -had taken long ago at that game. I ran at him, and -threw my arms round his leather-belted middle, and, -with a good Saxon twist, tossed his heels fairly into -the air and threw him full length over my shoulder. -He fell behind me like a tree on the greensward, while -his head striking the buttress of a stone stunned him, -and he lay there bleeding and insensible.</p> - -<p>“Hoth! good fellow,” I laughed, bending over him, -“I am sorry for that headache you will have to-morrow, -but before you challenge so freely to the wrestle -you should know somewhat more of a foeman’s -prowess!”</p> - -<p>When I turned to the little heap of spoil the ravishers -of the dead had gathered and laid out on a -cloth upon the stones, at once my mood softened. -There in that curious pile of trinkets were things so -ancient and yet so fresh that I heaved a sigh as I bent -over them, and a whiff of the old time came back—the -jolly wild days when the world was young rose before -me as I turned them tenderly one by one. There lay -the bronze nobs from a British shield, and there, corroded -and thin, the long, flat blade that my rugged -comrades once could use so well. There was the -broken haft of a wheel-scythe from a chief’s battle-car, -and, near by, the green and dinted harness of a -war-horse. Hoth! how it took me back! how it made -me hear again in the lap of the soft Plantagenet sea -and all the insipid sounds of this degenerate countryside -the rattle and hum of the chariots as we raced to -war, the sparkle and clatter of the captains galloping -through the leafy British woods, and then the shout -and tumult as we wheeled into line in the open, and, -our loose reins on the stallions’ necks and our trembling -javelins quivering in our ready hands, swept -down upon the ranks of the reeling foeman!</p> - -<p>There again, in more peaceful wise, was a shoulder-brooch -some British maid had worn, and the wristlet -and rings of some red-haired Helen of an unfamous -Troy. There lay a few links of the neck-chains of a -dust-dead warrior, and there, again, the head of his -boar-spear. Here was the thin gold circlet he had on -his finger, the rude pin of brass that fastened his -colored cloak and the buckle of his sandal. Jove! I -could nearly tell the names of the vanished wearers, -I knew all these things so well!</p> - -<p>But it was no use hanging over the pile like this. -The ruffian I had felled was beginning to move, and -it served no purpose to remain: therefore—and muttering -to myself that I was a nearer heir to the treasure -than any among those thieves—I selected some -dozen of the fairest, most valuable trinkets, and put -them in my wallet. Then, feeling cold—for the fresh -morning air was thin and cool here, above the sea—the -best coat from the ragged pile the rogues had -thrown aside, to be the lighter at their work, was -chosen, and, with this on my back, and a stout stave -in my hand, I turned to go. But ere I went I took -a last look round—as was only natural—at a place -that had given me such timely shelter overnight. It -was strange, very strange; but my surroundings, as -I saw them in the white daylight, matched wondrous -poorly with my remembrance of the evening before! -The sea, to begin with, seemed much farther off than -it had done in the darkness. I have said that when I -swam ashore my well-remembered British harbor had, -to my eyes, silted up wofully, so that the knoll on -which Blodwen’s stockades once stood was some way -up the valley. But small as the estuary had shrunk -last night, I had, it seemed, but poorly estimated its -shrinkage. ’Twas lesser than ever this morning, and -some kine were grazing among the yellow kingcups -on the marshy flats at that very place where I could -have sworn I came ashore on the top of a sturdy -breaker! The greedy green and golden land was -cozening the blue channel sea out of beach and foreshore -under my very eyes; the meadow-larks were -playing where the white surf should have been, and -tall fern and mallow flaunted victorious in the breeze -where ancient British keels had never even grated on -a sandy bottom. I could not make it out, and turned -to look at the tomb from which I had crept. Here, -too, the turmoil of yestere’en and my sick and weary -head had cheated me. In the gloom the pile had appeared -a bare and lichened heap washed out from its -old mound by rains: but, Jove! it seemed it was not -so. I rubbed my eyes and pulled my peaked beard -and stared about me, for the crypt was a grassy -mound again, with one black gap framed by a few -rugged stones jutting from the green, as though the -slope above it had slipped down at that leveler Nature’s -prompting, and piled up earth and rubbish -against the rocks, had escaladed them and marched -triumphant up the green glacis, planting her conquering -pennons of bracken and bramble, mild daisy and -nodding foxglove, on that very arch where, by all the -gods! I thought last night the withering lightning -would have glanced harmless from a smooth and lichened -surface. Well, it only showed how weary I had -been; so, shouldering my cudgel, and with a last sigh -cast back to that pregnant heap of rusty metal, I -turned, and with fair heart, but somewhat shaky -limbs, marched off inland to give my wondrous news.</p> - -<p>How pleasant and fair the country was, and after -those hot scenes of battle, the noise and sheen of -which still floated confusedly in my head, how sweetly -peaceful! I trod the green, secluded country lanes -with wondrous pleasure, remembering the bare French -campagnas, and stood stock-still at every gap in the -blooming hedges to drink the sweet breath of morning, -coming, golden-laden with sunshine and the -breath of flowers, over the rippling meadow-grass! In -truth, I was more English than I had thought, my -step was more elastic to tread these dear domestic -leas, and my spirits rose with every mile simply to -know I was in England! And I—a tough, stern soldier, -with arms still red to the elbow in the horrid -dye of war, and on a hasty errand, pulled me a flowering -spray from the coppices, and smiled and sang as I -went along, now stopping in delighted trance to hear -out the nightingale that, from a bramble athwart the -thicket path, sang most enrapturedly, and then, forgetful -of my haste, standing amazed under the flushed -satin of the blooming apples. “Jove!” I laughed, -“here is a sweeter pavilion than any victor prince doth -sleep in! Fie! to fight and bleed as we do yonder, -while the sweetness of such a tent as this goes all to -waste upon the wind!” and I sat and stared and -laughed until the prick of conscience stirred me and, -reluctant, I passed on again. Then over a flowery -mead or two, where the banded bees swung in busy -fashion at the lilac cuckoo-flowers, and the shining -dewdrops were charged with a hundred hues, down -to a sunny, babbling brook that sparkled by a yellow -ford. There I would stand and watch the silver fingers -of the stream toy and tug the great heads of nodding -kingcup, watch the flash of the new-come swallow’s -wing, as he shot through the byways between -the mallows, and be so still that e’en the timid water-hen -led out her brood across the freckled play of sunshine -on the water, and the mute kingfisher came to -the broken rail and did not fear me. “Surely a happy -stream,” I thought, “not to divide two princely neighbors! -What a blessed current that can keep its native -color and chatter thus of flowers and sunshine, while -yon other torrent runs incarnadine to the sea—a -corpse-choked sewer of red ambition!”</p> - -<p>Then it was a homestead that, all unseen, I paused -by, watching the great sleek kine knee-deep in the -scented yellow straw, the spangled cock defiant on the -wall, the tender doves a-wooing on the roof-ridge, and -presently the swart herdsman, with flail and goad, -come out from beneath his roses and stoop and kiss -the pouting cherry lips of the sweet babe his comely -mate held up to him. “Jove!” I meditated, “and -here’s a goodly kingdom. Oh that I had a realm with -no politics in it but such as he has!” and so musing I -went along from path to path and hill to hill.</p> - -<p>At one time my feet were turned to a way-side rest-house, -where a jug of wine was asked for and a loaf -of bread, for you will remember that saving a handful -of dry biscuit, which I broke in my gauntlet palm and -ate between two charges, I had not broken fast since -the morning before Crecy. The master of the tavern -took up the coin I tendered and eyed it critically. He -held it in the sun, and rung it on a stone and spat upon -it, then, taking a little dust from the road, rubbed -diligently until he came down through the green sea-slime -to the metal below. It was true-coined, plump, -and full, though certainly a trifle rusty; and this and -my grim, commanding figure in his doorway carried -the day. He brought me wine and cheese and bread, -whereon I sat on a corner of the trestle table munching -them outside in the sun under shadow of my broad -felt yokel hat, with the quaint inn sign gently creaking -overhead, and my moldy, sea-stained legs dangling -under me.</p> - -<p>I was in a good mood, yet thoughtful somehow, for -had not the King especially warned me not to part -lightly with the precious news wherewith I was -freighted? And if so be that I must be reticent in -this particular, yet again my heart was surely too full -of my victorious errand to let me gossip lightly on -trivial matters; thus my bread was broken in abstracted -silence, and, when my beaker went now and -again into the shade of my hat-brim, I drank mutely -and proffered no sign of friendship to those other -country wayfarers who stood about the honeysuckled -doorway eyeing me askance after the manner I was -so used to, and whispering now and then to one another.</p> - -<p>I sat and thought how my errand was to be most -speedily carried out, for you see I might trudge days -and days afoot like this before good luck or my own -limbs brought me to the footstool of Edward’s Royal -wife, and gave me leave to burst that green and rusty -case that, with its precious scroll, still dangled at my -side. I had no money to buy a horse—the bangles -taken from the crypt-thieves would not stand against -the value of the boniest palfrey that ever ambled between -a tinker’s legs—and last night’s infernal wetting -had made me into the sorriest, most moldy-looking -herald that ever did a kingly bidding. Surely, I -thought, as I glanced at my borrowed clay-stained -rustic cloak, my cracked and rotten leather doublet, -my tarnished hose all frayed and colorless, my shoon, -that only held together, methought, by their patching -of gray sea-slime and mud, surely no one will lend or -loan me anything like this; they will laugh at my -knightly gage of honorable return, and scout the faintest -whisper of my errand!</p> - -<p>Thus ruefully reflecting, I had finished my frugal -luncheon, yet still scarce knew what to do, and maybe -I had sat dubious like that on the trestle edge for -near an hour, when, looking up on a sudden, there -was a blooming little maid of some three tender years -standing in the sun staring hard upon me, her fair -blue eyes ashine with wonder, and the strands of her -golden hair lifting on the breeze like gossamers in -June. She had in one rosebud hand a flower of yellow -daffodil, and in fault of better introduction proffered -it to me. My stern soldier heart was melted by that -maid. I took her flower and put it in my belt, and -lifted the little one on my knee, then asked her why -she had looked so hard at the stranger.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_318fp" style="max-width: 28em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_318fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>She proffered it to me</p></div> -</div> - -<p>“Oh!” she said, pointing to where some older children -were watching all this from a safe distance, -“Johnnie and Andrew, my brothers, said you were -surely the devil, and, as they feared, I came myself -to see if it were true.”</p> - -<p>“And am I? Is it true?”</p> - -<p>“I do not know,” said the little damsel, fixing her -clear blue eyes upon mine—“I do not know for certain, -but I like you! I am sorry for you, because you -are so dirty. If you were cleaner I could love you”—and -very cautiously, watching my eyes the while, the -pretty babe put out a petal-soft hand and stroked my -grim and weathered face.</p> - -<p>I could not withstand such gentle blandishment, -and forgot all my musings and my haste, and kissed -those pink fingers under the shadow of my hat, and -laid myself out to win that soft little heart, and won -it, so that, when presently the wondering mother came -to claim her own, the little maiden burst into such a -headlong shower of silver April tears that I had to -perjure myself with false promises to come again, and -even the gift of my last coin and another kiss or two -scarce set me free from the sweet investigator.</p> - -<p>But now I was aroused, and stalked down the green -country road full of speed and good intention. I -would walk to the Royal city, since there were no -other way, and these fair shires must have grown expansive -since the olden days if I could not see a -march or two while the sun was up. Eastward and -north I knew the Court should lie, so bent my steps -through glades and commons with the midday sun -behind my better shoulder. But the journey was to -be shorter than seemed likely at the outset. After -asking, to no purpose, my road of several rustics, -a venerable wayfarer was chanced upon, ambling -down a shady gully.</p> - -<p>This quaint old fellow sat a rough little steed, one, -indeed, of the poorest-looking, most knock-kneed -beasts I had ever seen a gentleman of gentle quality -astride of. And, in truth, the rider was not better -kept. He wore a great widespreading cloak of threadbare -stuff, falling from his shoulders to his knees in -such ample folds that it half hid the neck and quarters -of his steed. Below this mantle, splashed with -twenty shades of mud and most quaintly patched, you -saw the pricks of rusty iron spurs on old and shabby -leather boots, and just the point of a frayed black -leather scabbard peeping under his stirrup-straps. -The hat he wore was broad-brimmed and peaked, and -looked near as old as did its wearer. Under that -shapeless cover was a most strange face. I do not -think I ever saw so much and various writ upon so -little parchment as shone upon the dry and wrinkled -surface of that rider’s features. There were cunning -and closeness on it, and yet they did not altogether -hide the openness of gentle birth and liberal thought. -Now you would think to watch those shrewd, keen -eyes a-glitter there under the penthouse of his shaggy -eyebrows, he was some paltry trader with a vision -bounded by his weekly till and the infruct of his lying -measures, and then anon, at some word or passing -fancy, as you came to know him better, ’twas strange -to see how eagle-like those optics shone, and with -what a clear, bright, prophetic gaze the old fellow -would stare, like a steersman through the dim-lit -gloom of a starry night, over the wide horizon of the -visionary and uncertain! He could look as small and -mean about the mouth as a usurer on settling day; and -then, when his mood changed, and he fell thoughtful, -the gentle melancholy of his face—the goodly soul -that spoke behind that changeful mask, the strange -dissatisfaction, the incompleteness, the unhappy longing -for something unattainable there reflected, made -you sad to look upon it!</p> - -<p>I overtook this quaint rider as he rode alone, my -active feet being more than a match for the shaky -limbs of that mean beast he sat upon, and, coming -alongside, observed him unnoticed for a minute. Truly -as quaint a fellow-traveler as you could meet! His -head was sunk, and his grizzled white beard fell over -his chest: his eyes were fixed in vacant stare on some -vision of the future; and his lips moved tremulously -now and again as the thoughts of his mind escaped -unheeded from between them. Was he poet? Was -he seer? Was it a black past or a red, rosy future -the old fellow babbled of? Jove! I was not in very -good kind myself, and I fancy I had read now and -again, in the wonder of those who saw me, that my -face had a tale to tell. But, by the great gods! I was -neat and pretty-pied beside this most rusty gentleman; -my face was as void as a curd-fed bumpkin’s, -compared to those eloquently absent eyes, that fine, -mean profile, there, in the slouch of the big hat, and -those busy lips!</p> - -<p>“Good-morning, Sir!” I said; and as the old man -looked up with a start and saw me, a stranger, walking -by his side, all the fervor and the fancy died from -off his face, the fine features shut upon themselves; -and there he was, the meanest, shallowest, most paltry-looking -of old rogues that had ever pulled off a cap -to his equal!</p> - -<p>He returned my first light questionings with a sullen -suspicion, which gradually thawed, however, as -his keen scrutiny took, apparently, reassuring stock -of my face and figure, and we spoke, as fellow-travelers -will, for a few moments on the roads, the weather, -and the prospect of the skies. Then I asked him, with -small expectation of much advantage in his answer, -“which was the best way to Court.”</p> - -<p>“There are many ways, my son,” he said. “You -may get there because of extreme virtue, or on the introduction -of peculiar wickedness.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! but I meant otherwise——”</p> - -<p>“Shining wisdom, they say, brings a man to Court—or -should. And, God knows, there is no place like -Court for folly! If thou art very beautiful thou may -come to it, and if thou art as ugly as hell they will -have thee for a laughing-stock and nine-days’ wonder. -Anaximander went to Court because he was so wise, -and Anaxippus because he was so foolish; Diphilus -because he was so slow in penmanship, and Antimachus -because he wrote so much and swift. Ah, friend! -many are the ways. Polypemon lived by plunder, -and, because he was the cruelest thief that ever -stripped a wanderer by green Cephisus, he came -under the notice of kings and gods; ay, and Clytius is -famous because he was so faithful; and the patriotic -Codrus because he bared his bosom to the foe, and -Spendius for a hundred treacheries, and——”</p> - -<p>“No! no!” I cried, “no more, Sir, I entreat. I did -not mean to play footpad to thy capacious memory, -and rob your mind of all these just comparisons, but -only to ask, in ordinary material manner, which was -the best way to the palace, which the nearest road, -the safest footpath for a hasty stranger to our good -Queen’s footstool. I have a Royal script to deliver -to her.”</p> - -<p>“What, is it the Queen you want to see? Why, I -am bound that road myself, and in a few minutes I -will show you the pennons glancing among the trees -where they be camped.”</p> - -<p>“Where they be camped?” I exclaimed in wonder. -“I thought that was many a mile from here—in fact, -Sir, in the great city itself, and yet you say a few -minutes will show us the Royal tents.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, what a blessed thing are youthful legs! And -were you off to distant Westminster like that, good -fellow, ‘to see the Queen,’ forsooth, with nothing in -thy wallet, and as little in thy head?” And the old -man eyed me under his slouching cap with a mixture -of derision and strange curiosity.</p> - -<p>“I tell you, Sir,” I answered, “I come on hasty business; -I am a messenger of the utmost urgency, and if -I am afoot instead of mounted it is more misfortune -than inclination. What brings the Queen, if, indeed, -we are so near her, thus far afield?”</p> - -<p>“Praise Heaven, young man, there is no one who -knows less of the goings and comings of her and hers -than I do. I hate them,” he said sourly; “a lying -swarm of locusts round that yellow jade they call a -Queen—a shallow, cruel, worthless crew who stand -in the way of light and learning, and laugh the poor -scholar out of face and heart!” And, muttering to -himself, my companion relapsed into a moody silence -as we breasted the last rise. But on a sudden he -looked up with something like a smile wrinkling his -withered cheek, and went on: “But you do not laugh—you -have some bowels of compunction within you—you -can be as civil to a threadbare cloak as to a -silken doublet. Gads! fellow, there is something -about thee that moves me very strangely. Art thou -of gentle quality?”</p> - -<p>“I have been of many qualities in my time, Sir.”</p> - -<p>“So I guessed, and something tells me we shall see -more of one another. There is a presence about thee -that makes me fear—that puts a dread upon me, why -I know not. And then, again, I feel drawn to thee -by a strong, strange sense, as the Persian says one -planet is drawn toward another.”</p> - -<p>I let the old fellow ramble on, paying, indeed, but -cold notice to his chatter, since all my thoughts were -on ahead, and when at last we came out of the hazel -dingles, there, sure enough, down in the valley was -a white road winding among the trees, and a stately -park, a goodly house of many windows, and amid the -fair meadows among the branches shone the white -gleam of tents, and overhead the flutter of silken tags -and gonfalons, and now and then there came the glint -of steel and gold from out that goodly show, and the -blare of trumpets, and more softly on the afternoon -air the shout of busy marshals, the neighing of steeds, -and the low murmur of many voices.</p> - -<p>Oh, it was a pretty scene to see the tender countryside -so fresh and green, and the rolling meadows at -our feet dusted thick with gold and silver flowers all -blended in a splendid web of tissue under the shining -sun. And there the flush of blossom on the orchards -streaked the fair valley like a sunset cloud, and here -the bronze of budding oaks lay soft in the hollows, -while overhead the blue canopy of the sky was one -unbroken roof from verge to verge.</p> - -<p>We two looked down upon that scene of peace with -different feeling for a space, then, making my friendly -salutation to the dreamy pedant, “Here, Sir,” I said, -“I fear we part forever.”</p> - -<p>“Not so,” he said: “we shall meet once more, and -soon.”</p> - -<p>“Well! well! Soon or distant, we will meet again -in friendship,” and, with a wave of the hand, off I set, -delighted to think chance had so favored me, and all -impatient to tell my news. I did not stop to look to -left or right, but down the glen I ran into the valley, -scaring the frightened sheep and oxen, and stopping -not for fence or boundary until the broad road was -reached, and all among the groups of gaping countrymen -and busy lackeys leading out the steeds to water -in the meadows round the Royal camp, I slackened -my pace. The broad park gates were open, and inside, -amid the oak-trees around the great house, gay -confusion reigned. There, on one hand, were the fair -white tents bright with silk and golden trappings, -and, while a hundred sturdy yeomen were busy setting -up these cool pavilions, others spread costly rugs -about their porches, and displayed within them lordly -furniture enough to dazzle such rough soldier eyes -as mine. There in long rows beneath the branches -were ranked a wondrous show of mighty gilded -coaches with empty shafts a-trail, all still dusty from -the road, and hurrying grooms were covering these -over for the night, while others fed and tended a -squadron of sleek, fat horses, whose beribboned -manes and glistening hides so well filled out struck -me amazed when I recalled those poor, ragged, muddy -chargers whereon we had borne down the hosts of -Philip’s chivalry two days before. All about the -green were groups of gallant gentlemen and ladies, -and I overheard, as I brushed by, some of them speaking -of a splendid show to be given that night in the -court of the great house near by, and how the proud -owner of it, thus honored by the great Queen’s presence, -had beggared him and his for many a day in -making preparation. It was most probable, for the -white-haired seneschal was tearing his snowy locks, -entreating, imploring, amid a surging, unruly mass of -porters, cooks, and scullions, while heaps of provender, -vats of wine, and mighty piles of food for men -and horses, littered all the rearward avenues.</p> - -<p>But little I looked at all these things. Clad like -many another countryman come there to see the show -(only a little more ragged and uncouth), I passed the -outer wickets, and, skirting the groups of idlers, -strode boldly out across the trim inner lawns and -breasted the wide sweep of steps that led to the great -scutcheoned doorway. All down these steps gilded -fellows were lolling in splendid finery, who started -up and stared at me, as, nothing noticing their gentle -presence, now hot upon my errand, I bounded by. At -top were two strong yeomen, gay in crimson and black -livery, of most quaint kind, with rampant lions worked -in gold upon their breasts, and tall, broad-bladed halberds -in their hands. They made a show of barring -the way with those mighty weapons; but I came so -unexpected, and showed so little hesitation, they faltered. -Also, I had pulled off my cap, and better men -than they had stepped back in fear and wonder from -a glance of that grim, stern face that I thus did show -them. Past these, and once inside, I found the Queen -was receiving the country-folk, and up the waiting -avenue of these good rustic lieges I pushed, brushing -through the feeble fence of stewards’ marshaling-rods -held out to awe, and, nothing noticing a score of curly -pages who threw themselves before me, I burst into -the presence chamber. Hoth! ’Twas a fine room, like -the mid-aisle of a great cathedral, and all around the -walls were banners and bannerets, antlers of deer, and -goodly shows of weapons, and suits of mail and harness. -And this splendid lobby was thronged with -courtiers in silks and satins, while ruffs and stocks -and mighty collarets, and pearls and gems, and cloth -of gold and sarsanet glittered everywhere, and a gentle -incense of lovely scents mingled with a murmur -of courtly talk went up to the fair carved oaken ceiling. -Right ahead of me was a splendid crimson carpet -of wondrous pile and softness, and at the far end -of that stately way a daïs, and on it, lightly chatting -amid a pause in the Royal business—the Queen!</p> - -<p>She was not the least what I had looked for. I had -pictured Edward’s noble dame, the daughter of the -knightly house of Hainault, as pale and proud and -dark—the fit wife to her warlike husband, and a meet -mother to her son. But this one was lank and yellow, -comely enough no doubt and tall, with a mighty proud -light in her eyes when occasion served, and a right -royal bearing, yet still somehow not quite that which -I expected. What did it matter? Was it not the -Queen, and was not that enough? Gods! What -should it count what color was her hair, since my master -found it good enough? And, in truth, but I had -something to say would bring the red into those lackluster -cheeks, or Philippa were unlike all other -women. Therefore, with a shout of triumph that -shocked the mild courtiers, brandishing my precious -script above my head, I leaped forward, and, dashing -up that open crimson road, ran straight to the footstool -of the Royal lady, and there dropping on one -knee:</p> - -<p>“Hail! Royal mother,” I cried.</p> - -<p>“Thanks!” she said sardonically, as soon as she regained -her composure. “Thanks, gentle maid!”</p> - -<p>“Madam,” I cried, “I come, a herald, charged with -splendid news of conquest! But one day since, over -in famous France, thy loyal English troops have won -such a victory against mighty odds as lends a new -luster even to the broad page of English valor. But -one day since, in your noble General’s tent——”</p> - -<p>But by this time all the throng of courtiers had -found their tongues, and some certain quantity of -those senses whereof my sudden entry had bereft -them. While a few, who caught the meaning of my -word, and, stopping not to argue, thought it was the -news indeed of a victory that glittering Court had -long hoped for, broke out into tumultuous cheering—waving -scarf and handkerchief, and throwing wide -the lattices, that the common folk without might -share their noisy joy, those others who stood closer -around, and saw my ragged habiliments, could not -believe it.</p> - -<p>“You a herald!” exclaimed one grizzled veteran in -slashed black velvet over pearly satin. “You a messenger -chosen for such an errand! Madam,” he cried, -drawing out a long rapier from its velvet case, “it is -some madman, some brain-sick soldier. I do implore -your Grace to let me call the guards.”</p> - -<p>“An assassin! an assassin!” cried another. “Run -him through, Lord Fodringham! Give him no chance -or parley!”</p> - -<p>“’Tis past belief!” exclaimed a dainty fellow, all -perfumed lace and golden chains. “Such glad tidings -are not trusted to base country curs.”</p> - -<p>“A fool!” “A rogue!” “A graceless villain!” they -shouted. “Stab him! drag him from the presence! -Fie upon the billmen to let such scullions in upon -us!” And thick these pretty peers came clustering -on me, the while their ladies screamed, and all was -stormy tumult.</p> - -<p>Up, then, I jumped to my feet, and hot and wrathful, -shaking my clenched fist in the faces of those -glittering lords, broke out: “By the bright light of -day, Sirs, he who says I have a better here in this -hall, lies—lies loud and flatly. Do you think, because -I come clad like this, you may safely spend your shallow -wit upon me? I tell you all, pretty silken spaniels -that you are! you, Fodringham, with the gilded -toothpick you miscall a sword! you there, Sir, who -reek of musk and valor! and all you others, who keep -so discreetly out of arm’s reach!—I tell you every one -that, in court or camp, in tilt or tourney, I am your -mate! Ah, Sirs, and this rusty country smock, blazoned -by miry ways and hasty travel; this muddy -tabard here, because ’tis upon a herald’s breast, is -more honorable wear than any silken surtout that you -boast of. Gods, gentlemen! if so there be that any -one here in truth misdoubts it, let me entreat his patience; -let me humbly crave the boon that he will hold -his mettled valor in curb just so long as I may render -that message which I surely have at this Royal footstool, -and then, on horse or foot, with mace or sword, -I will show him my credentials!” But none of that -glittering throng had aught to say. Those bold, silken -lordlings pushed back in a wide circle from where I -stood, fierce and tall in my muddy rags, and fumbled -their golden dagger-knobs, and studied with drooped -heads the dainty silk rosettes upon their cork-heeled -shoes.</p> - -<p>After waiting a moment, to give their valor fair -chance of answering, I turned disdainfully from them, -and, bending again to fair Queen Philippa, “Madam,” -I said, “these noisy boys make me forget the smooth -reverence that I owe your Grace, yet surely the noble -daughter of Hainault will forgive a hasty word spoken -in defense of soldier honor?”</p> - -<p>“I know nothing, good fellow,” replied the Queen, -eyeing her discomfited nobles with inward glee, “of -thy Hainault, but I like thy outspokenness extremely. -By Heaven! you make me think it was some time since -I last saw a man about me.”</p> - -<p>“And have I leave to do my mission, noble lady?”</p> - -<p>“Ay, Sir, to it at once! We care not how you come, -or who you are, or for the exact condition of your -smock, so that you bring news of victory.”</p> - -<p>“But, Madam,” put in Fodringham, “it is not safe—he -has some desperate purpose——”</p> - -<p>“Silence!” shouted the Queen, springing to her feet -and stamping a pretty foot, cased in a dainty pearl-encrusted -slipper—“silence, I say, Lord Fodringham, -and all you other peers who make our presence-chamber -like a bear-pit: silence! or by my father’s heart I -will cure him of insolence who speaks again for once -and all.” And the sallow virago, flushing like an -angry yellow sunset, with her fierce gray eyes agleam, -and her thin lips stern-set, one white hand clutching -the high carved arm of her daïs, and the other set like -white ivory on the jeweled handle of her fan, scowled -round upon her courtiers.</p> - -<p>They knew that proud termagant too well to meet -her eye, and having stared them all into meek silence -she let the yellow flush die from her cheek, and turning -to me she said: “Now, fellow, to thy errand.”</p> - -<p>“Then, sovereign lady,” I began, “but two days -since, in France, the English troops, fair set upon a -sunny hillside, were attacked by a vast array of foemen, -and thanks to happy chance, to thy princely General’s -captainship, and to the incredible valor of thy -lieges, they were victorious!”</p> - -<p>“Now may the dear God who rules these things accept -my grateful and most humble thanks!” And the -proud Queen, with bright moisture in her eye, looked -skyward for a moment, and was so moved with true -joy and pleasure in her country’s conquest that -thereon at once she went up most mightily in my -esteem.</p> - -<p>“Most welcome of all heralds,” she went on, “how -fared the English leader in that desperate fight? If -aught has happed to Lord Leicester, it will spoil all -else that you can say.”<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> The Earl of Leicester, in the spring of 1586, had command of the -English forces in Flanders, and news of the great victory which he constantly -promised but never achieved was daily expected.</p> - -</div> - -<p>I did not quite catch the name she mentioned under -breath, but I thought it was the Royal mother asking -how my noble young master had prospered, so I spoke -out at once.</p> - -<p>“Madam, he is unhurt and well! It is not for me, a -humble knight, to praise that shining star of honor, -but he for whom thou art so naturally solicitous” (here -the Queen blushed a little and looked down, while -there was a scarce-suppressed laugh among the fair -damsels behind me), “he, Madam, has done splendid -deeds of valor. Three times, noble Queen, right along -the glittering front of France he charged, three times -he pierced so deep into that sea of steel that he near -lay hands upon their golden lilies in mid-host. The -proud Count of Poligny fell before him, and the Lord -of Lusigny was overthrown in single combat; Besançon -and Arnay went down under his maiden spear; -he pulled an ancient crest from the Bohemian eagle -in mid-battle. In brief, Madam, a more valorous -knight was never buckled into armor; he was the -prop and pillar of our host, and to him this victory is -as largely due as it is to any.”</p> - -<p>“Herald,” said the Queen, with real gratitude and -pleasure in her voice again, “indeed your news is welcome. -There was nothing I had rather than such a -victory, and because ’tis his, because it will stifle the -envious clamor of his enemies, and embolden me to -do that which I hope to. Oh! your news fills up to -overflowing the measure of my joy and satisfaction!” -And the fair lady bent her head and fell into a reverie, -like a maid who cogitates upon the prowess of an absent -lover.</p> - -<p>So far the woman—then the Queen came back, and -lifting her shapely head, with its high-piled yellow -hair, laced with strings of amethyst and pearl, and -well set off by the great stiff-starched ruff behind, she -asked:</p> - -<p>“And my dear English nobles, and my stout halberdiers -and pikemen—God forgive me that I should -forget them!—how told the fight upon them? My -heart bleeds to think of the odds you say they did -withstand.”</p> - -<p>“Be comforted, fair Sovereign! The tide of war -set strong against our enemies, our palisades and -trenches were well laid; the keen English arrows carried -disaster far afield on their iron points ere the -battle joined; the great host of France fell by its own -mightiness; and victory, this time at least, shall -wring but few tears from English maids or matrons.”</p> - -<p>“Heaven be truly thanked for that!”</p> - -<p>“Indeed, Madam”—so I went on—“none of great -account fell those few hours since. Lord Harcourt -I saw bear him like the bold soldier that he was, and -when the battle faded into evening he it was who -marshaled our scattered ranks and set the order for -the night.”</p> - -<p>“Who did you say?”</p> - -<p>“Harcourt, lady, thy bold captain. And Codrington, -too, was redoubtable, and came safe from the -fight. Chandos dealt out death to all who crossed his -path, like an avenging fury, yet took no scratch. Hot -Lord Walsingham swept like an avalanche in spring -through the close-packed Frenchmen, yet lives to tell -of it, and old Sir John Fitzherbert, when I left the -field—his white beard all athwart his shredded broken -armor—was cheering loudly for our victory, the while -they lapped him up in linens, for a French axe had -shorn his left arm off at the shoulder. All have taken -dints, but near all are safe and well.”</p> - -<p>“’Tis strange,” said the Queen, thoughtfully, “’tis -strange I know so few of these. I have a Harcourt, -but he is not warlike; and cunning, cruel Walsingham -lives in the north, and sits better astride of a dinner-stool -than a charger. Codrington and Fitzherbert -leading my troops to war! Here, let me see thy script: -it may explain.” And she held out her jeweled hand.</p> - -<p>Thereon a strange uneasiness possessed me, and -seemed to cloud my honest courage. What was it? -What had I to fear? I did not know. And yet my -strong fingers, that never wearied upon a hilt though -the day were ne’er so long, trembled as I slung round -my pouch, and my heart set off a-beating with craven -fear, as it had never beat before in sack or mêlée. -It was too foolish; and, a little angry at the blood -that ran so slowly in my veins, and the heavy sense -of evil that sat on me all of a sudden, I pulled the -metal letter-case from my wallet, and burst the seal -and pressed the lid. The wallet split from side to -side as though the stout leather were frail paper, and -the strong metal crumbled in my fingers like red, rotten -touchwood.</p> - -<p>I stared at it in amazement. What could it mean? -Then shook the thin, rusty fragments from my hand, -and, putting on a bold face I did not feel, drew out the -parchment from the strangely frail casing, brushed -off the dust and litter, and handed it to the Sovereign.</p> - -<p>“Lady,” I said in a voice I fain would have made -true and clear, “there is the full account, and though -seas have stained it, and rough travel spoiled the -casing, as you saw, yet have I made all diligence I -could. It was yesterday morning King Edward gave -me that, and ‘Take it,’ he said, ‘as fast as foot can go -to sweet Queen Philippa, my wife. Say ’twas penned -on battlefield, and comes full charged with my dear -and best affections.’ Thus, Madam, have I brought it -straight to thee from famous Crecy, and here place -it, the warrant of my truth, in Queen Philippa’s own -hand.” And then I gave her the scroll.</p> - -<p>Jove! how yellow and tarnished it did look! The -frail silk that bound it was all afray and colorless; and -the King’s great seal, that once had been so cherry-red, -was bleached to sickly pallor! The Queen took -it, and while I held my breath in nameless terror she -turned it over and slowly round about, and stared first -at me, and then at that fatal thing. She begged a -dagger from a courtier at her side, and split the binding, -and unfolded that tawny scroll that crackled in -her fingers, it was so old and stiff, and read the address -and superscription; and then, all on a sudden, -while a deathlike silence held the room, she turned -her stern, cold eyes, full of wrath and wonder, to me -kneeling there, and burst out:</p> - -<p>“Why, fellow! what mummery is all this? Philippa -and Crecy? Why, thou incredible fool! Philippa of -Hainault has been dust these twenty generations; and -Crecy—thy ‘famous Crecy’—was fought near three -hundred years ago! I am Elizabeth Tudor!”</p> - -<p>Slowly I rose from my feet and stared at her—stared -at her in the hush of that wondering room, -while a cold chill of fear and consternation crept over -my body. Incredible! “Crecy fought three hundred -years ago!”—the hall seemed full of that horrible -whisper, and a score of echoes repeated, “Queen Philippa -has been dust these twenty generations, and -Crecy—thy famous Crecy—was fought near three -hundred years ago!” Oh, impossible—cruel—ridiculous!—and -yet—and yet! There, as I stood, glaring -at the Queen with strained, set face, and clenched -hands, and heaving breath, gasping, wondering, waiting -for something to break that hideous silence or -give the lie to that accursed sentence that still floated -round on the ambient air, and took new strength from -the disdainful light in those clustering courtier eyes, -and their mocking, scornful smiles—while I waited I -remembered—by all the infernal powers I remembered—my -awakening, and all the things I should have -noted and had not. I recalled the bitter throes that -had wracked my stiff joints in the old British grave -as never mortal rheums yet twisted common sinew -and muscle. I recalled the long labor of the crypt -thieves, and the altered face of rocks and foreshore -when my eyes first lit upon them after that long sleep. -The very April season that sorted so ill with the -August Crecy left behind took new meaning to me -now all on an instant; and my ragged, crumbling raiment, -in shreds and tatters, so ruinous as never salt -spray yet made a good suit in one mortal evening, the -strange garb and speech of those I met, and then this -tawny, handsome, yellow lioness on the throne where -should have been a pale, black Norman girl. Oh! hell -and fiends! But she spoke the truth. I had lain three -hundred years in Ufner’s stones, and with a wild, -fierce cry of shame and anger, one long yell of pain -and disappointment, I tore the cursed wallet from -my neck and hurled it down there savagely at her feet, -and turned and fled! Past the startled courtiers—past -the screaming groups of laced and ruffled women—out! -out! through the long line of feeble wardens; -out between the glistening lowered halberds of the -guards, down the white shining steps, an outcast and -a scoffing-point, down into the road I ran, under a -thousand wondering eyes, as fast as foot could go—not -looking where or how, but seeking only the -friendly cover of solitude and the fast-coming evening, -and then, at length, worn out and spent—so sick in -mind and heart I could scarce put one limb before another, -I sank down on a grassy bank, a mile out of -sight and sound of that fatal camp, and dropped my -head into my hands and let the fierce despair and the -black, swelling loneliness well up in my choked and -aching heart.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</h2> -</div> - -<p>You—happy—across whose tablets a kind fate -draws the sponge of oblivion even while you write, -who leave the cup half emptied, and the feast half finished; -you, from whose thoughts ambition passes in -warm meridian glow, who nourish expectation and -hope to the very verge of the unknown; you, who leave -warm with the sweet wine of living, your dim way lit -with the shine of love, your fingers locked in the clasp -of friendship; you, to whom all these things gently -minister and smooth the path of the inevitable; you, -who die but once and die so easily, surely cannot comprehend -the full measure of my sufferings!</p> - -<p>Oh! it was horrible and sickening to feel the old -world reel and spin like this beneath my laggard feet; -to see crowns and states and people flit by like idle -shadows on a sunny wall; to espouse great quarrels -that set men into wide-asunder camps, and to wake -and find the quarrel long since over and forgotten; to -swear allegiance to a king and love and serve him, -and then to find, in the beat of a pulse, that he had -gone and was forgotten; to be the bearer of proud news -that should kindle joy in a thousand thousand hearts, -and then to wake when even the meaning of that news, -the very cause and purport of it, was long since past -and gone—it was surely bitter!</p> - -<p>And for myself—I, who, as you know, link a ready -sympathy with any cause, who love and live and hope -with a fervor which no experience quenches and no -adversity can dim—to be thus cut adrift from all I -lived and hoped for, to be cast like this on to the bleak, -friendless shore of some age, remote, unknown, unvalued—surely -it was a mischance as heavy as any -mischance could be!</p> - -<p>I had not any friend in all that universe, I said to -myself as I lay and thought sad thoughts upon the -grassy mound—a friend!—not one kind human heart -in this hive of human atoms set store by me—not one -had heard I lived—not one cared if I died! There -was not in all the world one question of how I fared, -one wish that ran in union with any wish of mine—one -single link to join me to my kind. And what -links could I forge again? How could I set out to -hope afresh or love, or fear or wish for? Hope! gods! -had I not hopes yesterday? And what were they -now?—a tawdry, silly sheaf of tinseled fancies. And -love!—how could I love, remembering the new-dead -Isobel?—and fear and desire! neither touched the -accursed monotony of my desolation; either would -have been a boon from Heaven to break the miserable -calm of my despair!</p> - -<p>It was thus I reasoned with myself for hours as the -gathering darkness settled down; and, poor as I had -often been, and comradeless, I do not think, in all a -long and varied life, I had ever felt more reft of -friends or melancholy lonesome. In vain my mind -was racked to piece the evidence of that huge lapse -of time which, there was no doubt, had passed since -the great battle on the Crecy hills. I could recall as -they have been set down every incident of the voyage, -my escape, and what had followed the awakening: -but the sleep itself was to me even now just one long, -soft, dreamless, well-earned slumber from point to -point. So absolutely natural had been that wondrous -trance that to think on it would make me start up -with a cry, and shake my fist to where, in the valley, -the lights of Elizabeth’s camp were faintly shining -among the trees, and half persuade myself that this -were the dream—that the yellow-haired Princess had -somehow mocked me, that Edward indeed still lived, -with my jolly comrades, and I might still hope to win -renown and smiles amid them, and see those that I -knew, and drink red wine from friendly flagons. Then -I would remember all the many signs that told the -Princess had not fooled me—had but spoke the cruel, -naked truth—and down I would sink again on the -turf under the deepening shadows, and bewail my -lot.</p> - -<p>Tossed fiercely about like this, time passed unnoticed; -the day went out in the west behind the -pale amber and green satin curtains of the sunset, -and, while I sat and grieved, the yellow stars climbed -into the sky, all the sweet silent planets of the night -set out upon their unseen pathways and airy paraboles, -and behind the thicket that sheltered me the -moon got up and threw across the lonely road a tracery -of black and silver shadows. The evening air blew -strong and cool upon my flushed, hot brow, and lulled -the teeming thoughts that crowded there. Soft velvet -bats came down, and the faint lisp of their hollow -wings brushing by me was kindly and sympathetic. -Overhead, the sallows hung out a thousand golden -points to the small people of the twilight, and a faint -perfume—an incense of hope—fell on me with the yellow -dust of those gentle flowers. If I say these cool -influences somewhat respirited me, you will deride my -changing mood. Yet why should I hesitate for that? -I did grow calmer under the gentle caressing of the -evening; it was all so fair and still about me presently, -and there was this star that I knew and that; and the -night-owl churning overhead was surely the very same -bird that had sung above my hunter-couch in the -Saxon woodlands; and the lonely trumpet of the -heron, flying homeward up the valley, brought back a -score of peaceful memories. After all, men might -change and go—shallow, small puppets that they -were!—but this, at least, was the same old earth about -me, and that was something. I would find a sheltered -corner and sleep. Mayhap, with to-morrow’s dawn -the world might look a little brighter!</p> - -<p>Just as this wise resolution was on the point of being -put in force, the faint sound of horse-hoofs, demurely -walking up toward my lurking-place, came -down on the night wind, and, retiring a moment into -the deep shadows, I had not long to wait before the -same shaggy palfrey and the same dreamy old fellow -met earlier in the day came pacing along the road. -The scholar—for so I guessed him—looked neither to -right nor left; his strange thin face was turned full -up to the moonlight, and the bright rays shone upon -his vacant eyes and long white beard with a strange -sepulchural luster. He was letting the reins hang -loose upon his pony’s neck, and, as he came near, -thinking himself alone, he stretched out his long, -sinewy hands in front; and it was plain to see his lips -worked in the moonlight with unspoken thoughts -quicker than an abbot’s at unpaid-for mass. Utterly -oblivious to everything around, in the white shine of -the great night planet, old, lunatic, and gaunt, he -looked, methought, the strangest wayfarer that ever -rode down a woodland lane by nightfall. He was indeed -so weird and unapproachable in his reverie that, -though I had felt a small gleam of pleasure in first -recognizing something which, if not friend, was at -least acquaintance, yet now as he drew nigh, remote -and visionary, with glassy eyes fixed on the twinkling -stars, and thin white locks lifting about his broad -and wrinkled forehead, I hesitated to greet him, and -stood back.</p> - -<p>But that palfrey he bestrode was more watchful -than his rider. He saw me loom dark among the -hazels, and came to so sudden a stop as threw the old -man forward upon his ears, and, whatever his fancies -may have been, jerked them clean from sky to earth -in less time than it takes to write.</p> - -<p>The scholar pulled himself together, and, with some -show of valor, threw back his wide cloak from his -right shoulder, and uncovered on his other side the -hilt of a tarnished, rusty sword. Then, peeping and -peering all about, he cried: “Ho! you there in the -shadows! Be ye thieves or beggars, know that I have -nothing to give and less to lose!”</p> - -<p>“And he who stops your way, Sir,” I answered, -stepping forward into the clear, “is exactly in like circumstance.”</p> - -<p>“Oh! it is you, friend, is it?” cried the old man, seeming -much relieved. “I thought I had fallen into a -nest of footpads, or at the least a camp of beggars.”</p> - -<p>“Your open declaration, Sir, backed by certain evidences -of its obvious truth, ought to have taken you -safely through the worst infested thicket hereabouts.”</p> - -<p>“No doubt, no doubt; but I am glad it is you and -not another—first, because desirable friendships are -rarely made by moonlight; and secondly, because you -have been in my mind the few hours since we parted.”</p> - -<p>“I am honored in that particular, and your courtesy -moves me the more because I was only now thinking -there were none upon the face of the earth who were -doing so much by me.”</p> - -<p>“You are green, young man, and therefore apt to let -a passing whim, a shadow of disappointment, lead to -hasty generalizing. You fared not as you hoped at -yonder Court?” And the old man bent his keen gray -eyes upon me with a searching shrewdness there was -no gainsaying.</p> - -<p>“No! in faith I fared badly beyond all expectation.”</p> - -<p>“And what were you projecting just now when, like -the ass of Balaam, this most patient beast saw you in -the way and interrupted my reflection so roughly?”</p> - -<p>“Why, at that very moment, Sir,” I said, “I was -looking for a likely place to pass the night.”</p> - -<p>“What, on the moss? with no better hangings to -your couch than these lean, draughty, leafless -boughs?”</p> - -<p>“’Tis an honorable bed, Sir, and I have fared worse -when I have been far richer.”</p> - -<p>“Oh! what a happy thing it is to be young and full -of choler and folly! Not but that I have done the -same myself,” chuckled the old man: “for thou knowest -mandrake must be gathered only at the full moon, -and hemlock roots are digged in the dark—many a -twilight such as this I spent groping in the murky -woods, picking those things that witches love—and -not gone home with full wallet until the owls were -homing and the pale white stars were waxing sickly -in the morning light. Nevertheless, Sir, take an old -man’s word, and presume not too largely on the immunities -of youth.”</p> - -<p>“I have no drier bed.”</p> - -<p>“No, but I have. Come back with me to-night, and -I will lodge you safe and sound until the morning.”</p> - -<p>“Thanks for the proffer! Yet this is surely extreme -courtesy between two wayfarers so newly met -as we are?”</p> - -<p>“And do I, Sir,” he cried, holding out his thin and -shaky palms there in the pallid light, a gaunt and -ragged-looking specter—a houseless, homeless, visionary -vagrant—“do I, Sir, seem some broiling spend-thrift—some -loose hedge-companion—some shallow-pated -swashbuckler—hail-fellow-well-met with one -and all? I have not said so much civility as I did just -now to any one this twenty years!”</p> - -<p>“The more thanks are due from him in whose favor -you make so great and generous exception. Is it distant -to your lodgment?”</p> - -<p>“But a few miles straight ahead of us.”</p> - -<p>“Then I will go with you, for it were churlish to -slight so good an offer out of bare waywardness”; -and I tightened my belt, and took the ragged, ungroomed -little steed by the rusty, cord-mended bit, -and with these two strange companions, set out I -knew not how or where, and cared but little.</p> - -<p>At first that quaint old man seemed more elated -than could reasonably be expected at having secured -me for a guest. He did not openly avow it, but I -was not so young or unread in men but that I could -decipher his pleasure in voice and eye, even while he -talked on other subjects. How this interest came, -what he could hope to get or have of me, however, -was well past my comprehension. My dress and rustic -garb spoke me his inferior in place and station, -while, certes! my rags and tatters made me seem poor -even after my humble kind. He was a gentleman, -though the sorriest-looking one who ever put a leg -across a saddle. And I? I was afoot, a gloomy, -purseless, unweaponed loiterer in the shadows. What -could he need of me that lent such luster to his eyes, -and caused him to chuckle so hoarsely far down in -his lean and withered throat? The morrow no doubt -would show, and in the meantime, being still morose -and sad, smarting to have unwittingly played the fool -so much, and full of grief and sorrow, I responded but -dully to his learned talk. Feeling this, and being only -slenderly attached to mundane things at best, his -mind wandered from me after a mile or two—his eyes -grew fixed and expressionless, his hands dropped, -supine upon the pommel, his chin sank down upon the -limp, worn, yellow ruffles on his chest, and senseless, -disconnected murmurs ran from his lips, like water -dripping from a leaky cask.</p> - -<p>I let him babble as he liked, and trudged along in -silence, leaving the road to that sagacious beast, who, -with drooped head and stolid purpose, went pacing on -without a look either to right or left. And you will -guess my thoughts were melancholy. Yesterday I -was an honored soldier, the confidant of a proud, victorious -king, the comrade of a shining band of -princely brethren, as good a knight as any that -breathed among a host of heroes, the clear-honored -leading star—the bright example to a horde of stalwart -veterans—with all the fair wide fields of renown -and reputation lying inviting before me!—all the -pleasant lethe of struggle and ambition open to my -search, and I had strong, true friends abroad, and loving -ones at home—and now! and now! Oh! I beat my -hand upon my bosom, and spent impotent curses on -the starlight sky, to think how all was changed—to -think how those splendid princely shadows were gone—how -all those sweet, rough spearmen who had ridden -with me, fetlock deep, through the crimson mire -of Crecy had passed out into the void, leaving me here -desolate, poor, accursed—this empty hand that trained -the spear that had shot princes and paladins to earth -under the full gaze of crownèd Christendom, turned to -a low horse-boy’s duty, my golden mail changed to a -hedgeman’s muddy smock, on foot, degraded, friendless, -and forlorn!</p> - -<p>But it was no good grieving. My melancholy served -somehow to pass the way, and when, presently, I -shook it off again with one fierce, final sigh, and -peered about, we were slowly winding down a dark -road between high banks into a deeply wooded glen -lying straight ahead. I had noticed now and then, -as we came along, a twinkling light or two standing -off from the white roadway, amid the deep black -shadows of the evening, and each time had slowed -my gloomy stride, thinking this were the place we -aimed for. Now it was a shepherd’s lonely cot, high-perched -amid the open furze and ling, with a faint -red beam of warmth and light coming from the glowing -hearth within. “Ah! here we be!” I thought. “So -Learning is lodged with fleecy Simplicity, and cons -his Ovid amid the things the sweet Latin loved, or -reads bucolic Horace beneath a herdsman’s oak!”</p> - -<p>But that glum palfrey did not stop, and his fantastic -master made no sign. Then it would be a way-side -cottage, all criscross-faced with beam of wood, -after the new fashion, and overgrown with rose and -eglantine. “Then this is it,” I sighed—“a comely, -peaceful harborage. One could surely lie safer from -the winds of blustering fortune in this tiny shell than -a small white maggot in a winter-hidden nut.” And -I put my hand upon the dim trestle-gate. But stamp—stamp! -the steed went on; and the master never -took his chin from off his bosom!</p> - -<p>Well, we had passed in this way some few small -homesteads, and seen the glow-worm lights of a fair, -sleeping Tudor village or two shine remote in the starlight -valleys, and then we came all at the same solemn -pace, the same gloomy silence, into that deep-shadowed -dell I spoke of. We dipped down, out of -the honest white radiance, between high banks on -either hand, so high that bush and scrub were locked -in tangles overhead and not a blink of light came -through. Down that strange black zigzag we slipped -and scrambled, the loose stones rattling beneath our -feet, in pitchy darkness, with never a sound to break -the stillness but the heavy breathing of the horse, and -now and then the gurgle of an unseen streamlet running -somewhere in the void. We staggered down this -hell-dark pathway for a lonely mile, and then there -loomed up from the blackness on my right hand a -moldy, broken terrace wall, all loose and cracked, with -fallen coping slabs and pedestals displaced, and hideous, -stony, graven monsters here and there glowering -in the blackness at us who passed below. Two hundred -paces down this wall we went, and then came to -an opening. At the same moment the pale moon -shone out full overhead and showed me a gate, a garden, -and beyond an empty mansion, so white, so ruinous -and ghastly, so marvelously like a dead, expressionless -face suddenly gleaming over the black -pall of the night, that I tightened my hand upon the -snaffle strap I held, and bit my lip, and thanked my -fate it was not there I had to sleep.</p> - -<p>Yet could I not help staring at that place. The -wall turned in on either side to meet those gates. They -had once been noble and well wrought and gilded, for -here and there the better metal shone in spots amid -the wide expanse of rusty iron that formed them, but -now they were like the broken fangs, methought, of -some old hag more than aught else. The left of these -two rotten portals never opened, the nettle and wild -creepers were twined thick about its shattered lower -bars, while its fellow stood ajar, with one hinge gone, -and sagging over, desperately envious, it seemed, of -the small footway that wound amid the rank wild -herbage past it. And then that garden! Jove! Was -ever such a ghostly wilderness, such a tangled -labyrinth of decay and neglect born out of the kind, -fertile bosom of gentle Mother Earth? Never before -had I seen black cypresses throw such funereal shadows; -never had I known the winter-worn things of -summer look so ghoul-like and horrible! But worst -of all was the mansion beyond—a straggling pile, with -mighty chimney stacks, from whence no pleasant -smoke curled up, and silent, grassy courtyards, and -lonely flights of broken steps leading to lonely terraces, -and a hundred empty windows staring empty-socketed -back upon the dead white light that shone -so straight and cruel on them. Oh! it was all most -forlorn and melancholy, surely an unholy place, -steeped deep with the indelible stain of some black -story—and I turned me gladly from it!</p> - -<p>I turned, and as I did so the horse came to a sudden -stop!—stopped calm and resolute before that ill-omened -portal! This woke his master, who stared -and looked up. He saw the house and gates in the -full stream of the moonlight, and then turned to me.</p> - -<p>“Welcome!” he cried, “right welcome to my home! -Ho! ho! you shall sleep snug enough to-night. Look -at the shine on it. They have lit up to welcome us!” -and he pointed with a long, fleshless finger to those -ghostly windows! “Ho! ho! ho!” came, like a dead -voice, the echo of his laughter out of the blank courtyard -depth, and the old man, so strange and wild, -struck his rusty spurs upon the bare sounding ribs -of his beast and turned and rode through the portal.</p> - -<p>For one minute I held back—’twas all so grim and -tragic-looking, and I was weak, shaken with grief and -fasting, unweaponed and alone—for one minute I held -back, and then the red flush of anger burned hot upon -my forehead to think I had been so near to fearing. -I tossed back my black Phrygian locks, and with an -angry stride—my spirit roused by that moment’s -weakness—strode sternly across the threshold.</p> - -<p>Down the white gravel way we twined, the loose, -neglected path gleaming wet with night-dew; we -brushed by thickets of dead garden things, such as -had once been tall and fair, but now tainted the night -air with their rottenness. We stepped over giant -brambles and great fallen hemlocks—little hedge-pigs, -so forsaken was it all, trotting down the path before -us—and bats flitting about our heads. In one place -had been a fountain, and Pan himself standing by it. -The fountain was choked with giant dock and cress, -wherefrom some frogs croaked with dismal glee, while -Pan had fallen and lay in pieces on his face across the -way. So we came in a moment or two to the house, -and there my guide dismounted and pulled bit and -bridle, saddle and saddle-cloth from his pony. That -beast turned and stepped back into the shadows of -the desolate garden, vanishing with strange suddenness, -but whither I could not guess. Then the old -man produced a green-rusty key from under his belt, -and putting it to the lock of the door at top of that -flight of broken steps, which looked as though no foot -had trodden them for fifty years, he turned the rusty -wards. The grind and wail of those stiff bolts had -almost human sadness in it, and then we entered a -long, lonely chilly hall. Here my guide felt for flint -and steel, and I own I heard the click of the stone -and metal, and saw the first sparks spring and die -upon the pavement, with reasonable satisfaction.</p> - -<p>’Twould have made a good picture, had some one -been by to limn it—that ghastly pale face that might -have topped a skeleton, so bloodless was it, with -sharp, keen eyes, a glint in the red glow that came -presently upon the tinder, that strange slouch hat, -that ragged, sorrel, graveyard cloak, and all about the -gleam, glancing off the crumbling finery, the worm-eaten -furniture, the broken tile-stones, the empty, -voiceless corridors, the doors set half ajar, the great -carved banisters of the stairway that mounted into -the black upper emptiness of that deserted hall. And -then I myself, there by the porch, watchful and grim, -in my sorry rags, the greatest wonder of it all, eyeing -with haughty speculation that old fellow, so ancient -and yet so young, tottering and venerable under the -weight of a poor eighty years, perhaps, while it was -three times as much since strong-limbed, supple I had -even sat to a meal! It was truly strange, and I waited -for anything that might come next with calm resignation—a -listless faith in the integrity of chance which -put me beyond all those gusty emotions of hope and -fear which play through the fledgling hearts of lesser -men.</p> - -<p>The red train of sparks lit upon the tinder while I -glanced around, the old man’s breath blew them into -a flame, and this he set to a rushlight, then turned -that pale flame in my direction as he surveyed his -guest from top to toe. I bore the inspection with -folded arms, and when he had done he said:</p> - -<p>“Such thews and sinews, son, as show beneath that -hempen shirt of yours, such breadth of shoulder and -stalwartness can scarcely be nourished on evening -dew and sad reflections. Have you eaten lately?”</p> - -<p>“In truth, Sir, it was some time ago I last sat to -meat,” was my response; “and, whether it be our walk -or the night-air, I could almost fancy your father’s -father might have shared that meal with me.”</p> - -<p>“Well, come, then, to the banquet-hall—the feast -is spread, and, for guests, people these shadows with -whom you will!” and, taking the rushlight from its -socket and hobbling off in front, that strange host -of mine led down the corridor to where a great archway -led into the main chamber of the house.</p> - -<p>It was as desolate and silent as every other place, -vast, roomy, blank, and gloomy. All along one side -were latticed windows looking out upon that dead garden, -and the moonbeams coming through them threw -faint reflections of escutcheon and painted glass upon -the dusty floor. Here and there the panes were -broken, and draughts from these swayed the frayed -and tattered hangings with ghostly undulations—ah! -and at the top of the room an open door, leading into -unknown blackness, kept softly opening and shutting -in the current, as though, with melancholy monotony, -it was giving admittance to unseen, voiceless company.</p> - -<p>But nothing said my friend to excuse all this. He -led up the long black table, with rows of seats and -benches fit to seat a hundred guests, until at the -lonely top he found and lit the four branches of a -little oil lamp of green moldy bronze, such as one -takes from ancient crypts, and when the four little -flames grew up smoky and dim they shone upon a -napkin ready laid, a flask, a pitcher, and a plate, -flanked by a horn-handled knife and spoon, and an -oaken salt-cellar. Then the old carl next went to a -cupboard in a niche, and brought out bread on a -trencher, a cheese upon a round leaden dish, and a -curious flask of old Italian wine. I stared at my host -in wonder, for I could have sworn a Saxon hand had -trimmed his knife and spoon, his lamp was Etruscan, -as truly as I lived, though Heaven only knew how he -came by it—and that pitcher—why, Jove! I knew the -very Roman pottery marks upon it, the maker’s sign -and name—the very kiln that glazed it.</p> - -<p>He laid a plate for me, and cut the loaf and filled -our tankards, and—“Eat!” he said. “The feast is small, -but we have that sauce the wise have told us would -make a worse into a banquet.”</p> - -<p>“Thanks!” I said. “I have, in truth, sat to wider -spreads, yet this is more than I could, a few short -hours since, have reasonably hoped for.” And so I -began and broke his bread, and turned about the -cheese, and poured the wine, and made a very good -repast out of such modest provender. But, as you -may guess, between every mouthful I could not help -looking up and about me—at the wise-mad features -of that quaint old man, now far away and visionary, -again lost in thought and fantasy; and then out -through the broken mullions into that pallid garden -of white spectral things and inky shadows lying so -death-like in the moonshine; and so once more my eye -would wander to the long, somber hall—the stately -high-backed chairs all rickety and moth-eaten, and -the door that gently opened now and then to admit -the sighing of the night-wind, and nothing more!</p> - -<p>Well! I will not weary you with experiences so -empty. At last the most spectral meal that ever mortal -sat to was over, and the old man roused himself, -and, like one who comes reluctantly from deep -thought, drained out his goblet to the dregs, and -turned it down and swept the crumbs into his plate, -and standing up, said in somewhat friendly tone: -“You will be weary, stranger guest, and mayhap I -am to-night but a poor host. If it pleased you, I would -show you to a chamber, which, though mayhap somewhat -musty, like much else of mine, shall nevertheless -be drier than yon couch of yours out there by the -hazel thicket.”</p> - -<p>“Musty or not, good Sir, I do confess a bed will be -welcome. It must be near four hundred years at least—that -is to say, it must be very long, my sleepy eyes -suggest—since I was lain on one.”</p> - -<p>“Come, then!”</p> - -<p>“Yet half a minute, Sir, before we go. This garb -of mine—I do not deign to advert to its poorness, for -my own sake, but it does such small credit to your -honor and hospitality. Fortune, in other times, gave -me the right to wear the hose and surtout of a gentleman—if -you had such a livery by you.”</p> - -<p>The scholar thought a space, then bid me stay where -I was, and took the rushlight and went down the passage. -In a few minutes he was back, with a swathe -of faded raiment upon his arm, and threw them down -upon the bench.</p> - -<p>“There, choose!” he cried. “It was like a young -man to think of to-morrow’s clothing, between supper-time -and bed.”</p> - -<p>The raiment was as mysterious as everything else -hereabout. It was all odds and ends, and quaint old -fashions and tags of finery, the faded panoply of state -and pride, the green vest of a forest ranger, the gaberdine -of a marshal of the lists, suits for footmen with -the devices I had seen upon the ruined gates worked -on the front in golden thread, and some few courtly -things, such as idle young lords will wear a day or -two and then throw by to wear some newer.</p> - -<p>Out of the latter I selected a suit that looked as -though it would fit me, and, though a little crumpled, -was still in reasonable condition. This vestment, -after the fashion of the time, consisted of tight hose -and much-puffed breeches, a fine silk waistcoat coming -far down, and a loose and ample coat upon it, with -wide shoulders and long, tight sleeves. When I add -this suit was of amber velvet, lined and puffed with -primrose satin, you will understand that, saving the -certain moldiness about it I have mentioned, it was -as good as any reasonable man could desire. I rolled -it up, and put it under my arm, then turned to my -host with something of a smile at the strangeness -of it all.</p> - -<p>“A supper, Sir,” I said, “and shelter; a suit of velvet; -and then a bed! Why, surely, this is rare civility -between two chance companions met on a country -road!”</p> - -<p>“Ah!” answered the old man, “and if you were as -old as I am, you would know it is rare, but that such -things must, somehow, be paid for,” and he eyed me -curiously a moment from under those penthouse eyebrows. -“Is there anything more you lack?” he continued. -“To-night it is yours to ask, and mine to -give.”</p> - -<p>“Since you put it to me, worthy host,” I responded, -“there is one other thing I need—something a soldier -likes, whether it be in court or camp, in peaceful hall -like this or on the ridges of dank battlefield—a -straight, white comrade that I could keep close to me -all day, a dear companion who would lie nigh by my -side at night—believe me, I have never been without -such.”</p> - -<p>“And believe me, young man, I cannot humor you. -Fie! if that’s your fancy, why did you leave yon wanton -camp? Gads! but they would have lined you -there civilly enough, but I——What, do you think -I can conjure you a pretty, painted leman for a plaything -out of these black shadows all about us?”</p> - -<p>Whereat I answered seriously: “You mistake my -meaning, Sir. It was no gentle damsel that I needed, -but such a companion as I have ever had—in brief, -a weapon, a sword. It was only this I thought of.”</p> - -<p>I heard the old man mutter as he turned away—“A -curse on young men and their wants—new suits, supper -and wine, leman, weapons—oh! it’s just the same -with all of them,” and he took the taper from the table -and signed to me to follow.</p> - -<p>He led me down the hall with its bare, cold flagstones -and somber paneling dimly seen under the -feeble gleaming light he carried, and in a few paces -my grim host stopped and held that shine aloft. It -shone redly on a tarnished trophy of arms, chain-mail, -and helmets, whence he bid me choose whatever took -my fancy, making the while small effort to hide his -contempt for the obvious eagerness and pleasure with -which I sampled that dusty hoard. After a minute -or two I selected a strong Spanish blade, a little light -and playful, perhaps, with golden arabesques all down -it, and a pretty fluted hollow for the foeman’s blood, -and a chased love-knot at the hilt; yet, nevertheless, -a good blade, and serviceable, with an edge as keen -as a lover’s eye, and a temper as true as ever was got -into good steel, I thought, as I sprang it on the tiles, -between hammer and anvil. This Toledo blade had -a cover of black velvet, bound and hooped with silver -bands, and a stout belt of like kind, nicely suiting -that livery I carried upon my arm. I bound the sword -about me, and, after being so long unweaponed, found -it wondrous comfortable and pleasant wear.</p> - -<p>“Now then, Sir Host,” I cried, “lead on! If this -chamber of thine were in the porch of paradise or in -the nethermost pit of hell, I am equally ready to explore -it.”</p> - -<p>Up the gloomy stairs we went, now to right and -then to left, by corridors and passages, until the road -we came was hopelessly mazed to me; and soon my -host led to a wider, gloomier avenue of silent doorways -than any we had passed.</p> - -<p>“Choose!”—he laughed—“choose you a bed! Better -men than you have lodged—and died—within -these cheerful chambers.” And that wild old -man, with furrowed face and mad, sparkling eyes, -seeming in that small, round globe of light like some -spectral remnant of the fortunes of his lonely house, -opened door after door for me to note the grim black -solitudes within. In every chamber hung the same -staring portraits on the wall, cold, proud, dead eyes -fixed hard upon you wherever you might look! on -every rotten cornice were tattered hangings, half -shrouding those dim cobwebbed windows that gazed -so wistfully out upon the moonlit garden; and dusky -panel doors and cupboard casements that gently -creaked and moved upon the sighing draught till you -could swear ghostly fingers played upon the latches; -the same stern black furniture, crumbling and decayed, -was in each set straight against the walls; the -same cenotaph four-posted bedsteads with ruined -tapestries and moldy coverlets—“Choose,” he laughed, -with a horrid goblin laughter that rattled down the -empty corridors—“my house is roomy, though the -guests be few and silent.”</p> - -<p>But, in truth, there was little to choose where all -was so alike. Therefore, and not to seem the least -bit moved by all this dreadfulness, I threw down my -borrowed clothes and rapier upon the settle in one of -the first rooms we happed upon, and said: “Here, -then, good host—and thanks for courteous harborage! -What time doth sound reveillé—what time, I mean, -doth thy household wake?”</p> - -<p>“My household, stranger, sleeps on forever. They -will not wake for any mortal sunrise, and I spend the -long night-hours in work and vigil”—and he looked -at me with the gloomy fanaticism of an absent mind—“yet -you must wake again,” he went on after a minute. -“I have something to ask thee to-morrow, perhaps -something to show——”</p> - -<p>“Why, then, until we meet again, good-night and -pleasant vigils, since it is to them you go.”</p> - -<p>“Good-night, young man, and sober sleep! Remember -this is no place to dream of tilts and tourneys, of -lost causes or light leman love”; and, muttering to -himself as he shuffled down the bare, dusty floors, I -heard him pass away from corridor to corridor, and -flight to flight, until even that faint sound was swallowed -by the cavernous silence of the sepulchral mansion, -and night and impenetrable stillness fell on those -empty stairways and gaunt voiceless rooms.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX</h2> -</div> - -<p>I slept all that night a deep, unbroken slumber, -waking with the first glimpse of morning, calm and -refreshed, but very sleepily perplexed at my surroundings. -It was only after long cogitations that the -thread of my coming hither took form and shape. -When at last I had examined myself in my antecedents, -and reduced them to the melancholy present, -I got up and looked from the window. A fair tract -of country lay outside, deep-wooded and undulating, -with pastoral meadows in between the hangers, and -beyond, in the open, that streamlet whose prattle had -been heard the night before lay spread into a broad, -rushy tarn overgrown with green weeds and water -things, and then running on through the flat soft -meadows of this hollow where the house was built -wound into the far distance, where it joined something -that shone in the low white light like the gleam -of a broader river. It was not a cheerful morning, -for it had rained much, and the chilly mist hung low -and still about these somber-wooded thickets, and -the long grass between them; the sleepy rooks in the -nests upon the bare treetops were later to wing than -usual, cawing melancholy from the sodden boughs as -though loth to leave them; and down below nothing -sang or moved but the dark black merle fluttering -along the covert side, and the mavis tuning a plaintive -and uncertain note from off the wet fir-tops.</p> - -<p>When I had stared my full, and learned little from -the outlook, I donned those clothes that I had borrowed, -and they were a happy choice. They fitted me -like a lady’s glove, and, as I laced and hooked and -belted them before a yellow mirror let into the black -panel of my chamber door, I could not but feel they -looked a goodly fashion for one of my make and build. -I had not seemed so stalwart and so sleek, so straight -in limb and broad in shoulder, since I was a Saxon -thane. Then I belted on that pretty sword round my -nicely tapering middle, and ran my fingers through -my black Eastern locks, arranging them trimly inside -my high-standing frill, and took another look or two -into the glass, and then with a derisive smile—a little -scornful at the secret pleasure those fine feathers gave -me—I went forth.</p> - -<p>Surely never did mortal mason build such a house -before! The deepest, densest forest path that ever -my hunter’s foot had trodden was simple to those -mazes of curly stairs and dim passages and wooden -alleys that led by tedious ways to nothing, and creaking, -rotten steps that beguiled the wanderer by sinuous -repetitions from desolate wing to wing and flight -to flight. And all the time that I wrestled with those -labyrinthine mazes in the struggle to reach latitudes -I knew, not a sign could I see of my host, not a whisper -could I catch of human voice or familiar sound -in that dusty, desolate wilderness. Such an impenetrable -stagnation hung over that empty habitation -that the crow of a distant cock or the yelp of a village -cur would have been a blessed interruption, but -neither broke the vault-like, solemn stillness. From -room to room I went, opening countless doors at random, -all leading into spacious, moldy chambers, bare -and tenantless, feeling my way by damp, neglected -wall and dangerous broken floorings to endless cobwebbed -windows, unbarring wooden casements and -letting in the watery light that only made the inner -desolation more ghostly conspicuous, but nothing -human could I find, nor any prospect but that same -one I had seen before of damp woodlands and marshy -water-meadows out beyond.</p> - -<p>Perhaps for half an hour had I adventured thus -hopelessly, lost in the dusty bowels of that stupendous -building; and then—just as I was near despairing of -an exit and meditating a leap from a casement on to -the stony terraces below—opening one final door, that -might well have been but a household cupboard for -the storing of linen and raiment, there, at my feet, -was the great main staircase leading, by many a turn -and staging, to the central hall below! I put, with -the point of my sword, a cross upon the outside of that -cupboard-door, so that I might know it again if need -be, and then descended.</p> - -<p>Had you seen me coming down those Tudor steps in -that Tudor finery—my hand upon the hilt of my long -steel rapier perked behind me, my great ruffle and my -curled mustache, my strong soldier limbs squeezed into -those sweet-fitting satin hose and sleeves, so stern and -grim, so lonely and silent in the white glimmer of the -morning shine that came from distant lattice and -painted oriel—you well might have thought me -scarcely flesh and blood—some old Tudor ancestor of -that old Tudor hall stepped from a painter’s canvas -just as he was in life, and come with beatless feet to -see what cheer his gross descendants made of it where -he had once lived so noisy and so jolly.</p> - -<p>Down the steps I came, and into the banquet-hall, -empty and deserted like all else, and so sauntered to -the table head where I had supped the evening before. -Not one trace of humankind had I seen since -the night, and yet—that little thing quite startled me—the -supper had been cleared away, another napkin -spread, another plate, put out with fruit and bread, -and a large beaker of good new milk stood by to flank -them. I stared hard at that simple-seeming meal, and -could not comprehend it. I was near sure the old -man had not set it—yet, if he had, why was there but -one plate, one place, one chair, one beaker? Was it -meant for me or him? What fingers had pulled that -fruit, or drawn that milk still warm from its source? -I would wait, I thought, and strolled off to the windows, -and down them all slowly in turn, then back -again, to idly hum a favorite tune we had sung yesterday -at Crecy. But still nothing came or stirred. Then -I went into the hall and examined that trophy of -weapons and tried them all, and then unbarred the -great door and went out upon the terrace, there to -dangle my satin legs over the balustrades during a -long interval of gloomy speculation; but not a leaf -was moving, not a sign or whisper could I see of that -strange old fellow who had brought me hitherto, and -now did his duty by his guest so quaintly.</p> - -<p>At last I went back to the dining-place, and regarded -that mysterious meal with fixed attention. -“Now this,” I thought, “is surely spread for me, and if -it is not then it should be. The master of a house -may get him food how and when he likes; but the -guest’s share is put ready to his hand. I have waited -a long hour and more, the sun is high, surely that -learned pedant could not mean to belay his courtesy -by starving a stranger visitor! No, it were certainly -affectation to wait longer: at the worst there must -be more where these good things came from.” And -being hungry, and having thus appeased my conscience, -I clapped my sword upon the table and fell -to work, and in a short space had made a light though -sufficient meal and cleared everything eatable completely -from the table.</p> - -<p>I was the better for it, yet this strange solitude -began to weigh upon me. But a few hours since—surely -it was no more—I had been in a busy camp, -bright with all the panoply of war, active, bustling; -and here—why, the white mists seemed creeping -through me, it was so damp and melancholy, the -tawny mildew of these walls seemed settling down -upon my spirit. Jove! I felt, by comparison of what -I had been and was, already touched with the clammy -rottenness of this place, and slowly turning into a -piece of crumbling lumber, such as lay about on every -hand—a tarnished, faded monument to a life that was -bygone. Oh! I could not stand the house, and, taking -my cap and sword, strolled down the garden, full of -pensive thoughts, morose, uncaring, and so out into -the woods beyond, and over hill and dale, a long walk -that set the stagnant blood flowing in my sleepy veins, -and did me tonic good.</p> - -<p>Leaving the hall where so strange a night had been -spent, I strode out strongly over hill and dale for mile -after mile, without a thought of where the path might -lead. I stalked on all day, and came back in the -evening; yet the only thing worthy of note upon that -round was a familiarness of scene, a certain feeling -of old acquaintance with plain and valley, which possessed -me when I had gone to the farthest limit of the -walk. At one hilltop I stopped and looked over a -wide, gently swelling plain of verdure, with a grassy -knoll or two in sight, and woods and new wheat-fields -shining emerald in the April sunlight, while far away -the long clouds were lying steady over the dim shine -of a distant sea. I thought to myself, “Surely I have -seen all this before. Yonder knoll, standing tall -among the lesser ones—why does it appeal so to me? -And that distant flash of water there among the -misty woodlands a few miles to westward of it? Jove! -I could, somehow, have sworn there had been a river -there even before I saw the shine. Some sense within -me knows each swell and hollow of this fair country -here, and yet I know it not. They were not my Saxon -glades that spread out beneath me, and the distant -stream swept round no such steep as that castled -mount wherefrom I had set out for Crecy.” I could -not justify that spark of vague remembrance, and long -I sat and wondered how or when in a wide life I had -seen that valley, but fruitlessly. Yet fancy did not -err, though it was not for many days I knew it.</p> - -<p>Then, after a time, I turned homeward. Homeward, -was it? Well, it was as much thitherward as -any way I knew, though, indeed, I marveled as I went -why my feet should turn so naturally back to that -gloomy mansion peopled only by shadows and the -smell of sad suggestions. Perhaps my mind just then -was too inert to seek new roads, and accepted the -easiest, after the manner of weak things, as the inevitable. -Be this as it may, I went back that wet, -misty afternoon, alone with my melancholy listlessness -through the damp dripping woods and coppices, -where the dead ferns looked red as blood in the evening -glow. I was so heedless I lost my way once or -twice, and, when at length the dead front of the old -house glimmered out of the mist ahead, the early night -was setting in, and that lank, dejected garden, those -ruined terraces, and hundred staring, empty windows -frowning down on the grave-green courtyard stones -seemed more forsaken, more mournful-looking even -than it had the night before.</p> - -<p>I found the front door ajar, exactly as it was left, -and, groping about, presently discovered the tinder -and steel. I made a light, and laughed a little bitterly -to think how much indeed I was at home; then, -in bravado and mockery, unsheathed my sword and -went from room to room, in the gathering dusk, stalking -sullen and watchful, with the gleam of light held -above my head, down each clammy corridor and vault-like -chamber; rapped with my hilt on casement and -panels, and, listening to the gloomy echo that rumbled -down that ghoulish palace, I pricked with my rapier-point -each swelling, rotting curtain; I punctured every -ghostly, swinging arras, and stabbed the black shadows -in a score of dim recesses. But nothing I found -until, in one of these, my sword-point struck something -soft and yielding, and sank in. Jove! it startled me. -’Twas wondrous like a true, good stab through flesh -and bone; and my fingers tightened upon the pommel, -and I sent the blade home through that yielding, unseen -“something,” and a span deep into the rotten -wall beyond; then looked to see what I had got. -Faugh! ’twas but a woman’s dress left on a rusty nail, -a splendid raiment once—such as a noble girl might -wear, and a princess give—padded and quilted wondrously, -with yards of stitching down the front, wherefrom -rude hands had torn gold filigree and pearl embroideries, -and where the wearer’s heart had beat -those rough fingers had left a faded rose still tied -there by a love-knot on a strand of amber silk—a -lovely gown once on a time, no doubt, but now my -sword had run it through and through from back to -bosom. Lord! how it smelled of dead rose, and must, -and moth! I shook it angrily from my weapon, and -left it there upon the rotten boards, and went on with -my quest.</p> - -<p>But neither high nor low, nor far nor near, was there -to be found the smallest trace of my host or any living -mortal. At last, weary and wet, and oppressed with -those vast echoing solitudes, I went back to the great -hall—passed all the untouched litter I had made in -the morning—and so to the banquet-place. I walked -up the long black tables set solemn with double rows -of empty chairs, and lit the lamp that stood at top. -It burned up brightly in a minute—and there beneath -I saw the morning meal had been removed, the supper -napkin neatly laid, and bread, wine, and cheese laid -out afresh for one!</p> - -<p>So unexpected was that neat array, so quaint, so -out of keeping with the desolate mansion, that I -laughed aloud, then paused, for down in the great -vaulty interior of that house the echo took my laughter -up, and the lone merriment sounded wicked and -infernal in those soulless corridors. Well! there was -supper, while I was tired and hungry I would not be -balked of it though all hell were laughing outside. -In the vast empty grate I made a merry fire with -some old broken chairs, a jolly, roaring blaze that -curled about the mighty iron dogs as though glad to -warm the chilly hearth again, and went flaming and -twisting up the spacious chimney in right gallant -kind. Then I lifted the stopper of the wine-jar, and, -finding it full of a good Rhenish vintage, set to work -to mull it. I fetched a steel gorget from the trophy -in the hall, poured the liquor therein, and put it by -the blaze to warm. And to make the drink the more -complete I spit an apple on my rapier point and -toasted the pippin by the embers, thus making a wassail -bowl of most superior sort.</p> - -<p>I ate, and drank, and supped very pleasantly that -evening, while the strong wind whistled among the -chimney-stacks and rattled with unearthly persistence -upon the casements, or opened and shut, now soft, now -fiercely, a score of creaking distant doors. The spluttering -rain came down upon the fire by which I sat in -my quaint finery, warming my Tudor legs by that -Tudor blaze; the tall, spectral things of the garden -beyond the curtainless windows nodded and bent before -the storm; loose strands of ivy beat gently upon -the panes like the wet long fingers of ghostly vagrants -imploring admission; the water fell with measured -beat upon the empty courtyard stones from broken -gargoyle and spout, like the fall of gently pattering -feet, and the strangest sobbing noises came from the -hollow wainscoting of that strange old dwelling-place. -But do you think I feared?—I, who had lived so long -and known so much—I, who four times had seen the -substantial world dissolve into nothing, and had -awoke to find a new earth, born from the dusty ashes -of the past—I, who had stocked four times the void -air with all I loved—I, for whom the shadowy fields of -the unknown were so thickly habited—I, to whom the -teeming material world again was so unpeopled, so -visionary, and desolate? I mocked the wild gossip -of the storm, and grimly wove the infernal whispers -of that place into the thread of my fancies.</p> - -<p>Hour by hour I sat and thought—thought of all the -rosy pictures of the past, of all the bright beams of -love I had seen shine for me in maiden eyes, all the -wild glitter and delight of twenty fiery combats, all -the joy and success, all the sorrow and pleasure, of -my wondrous life; and thus thought and thought -until I wore out even the storm, that went sighing -away over the distant woodlands, and the fire, that -died down to a handful of white ashes, and the wine-pot, -that ran dry and empty with the last flames in -the grate; and then I took my sword and the taper, -and, leaving the care of to-morrow to the coming sunrise, -went up the solemn staircase and threw myself -upon the first dim couch in the first black chamber -that I met with.</p> - -<p>I threw myself upon a bed dressed as I was, but -could not sleep as soon as I wished. Instead, a heavy -drowsiness possessed me, and now I would dream for -a minute or two, and then start up and listen as some -distant door was opened, or to the quaint gusts that -roamed about those corridors and seemed now and -then to hold whispered conclave outside my door. -It was like a child, I knew, to be so restless; but yet -he who lives near to the unknown grows by nature -watchful. It did not seem possible I had fathomed -all the mystery there was in that gloomy mansion, and -so I dozed, and waked, and wondered, waiting in spite -of myself for something more all in the deep shadow -of my rotten bed-hangings; now speculating upon my -host, and why he tenanted such a life-forsaken cavern, -and ate and drank from ancient crockery, and had -store of moldy finery and rusty weapons; and then -idly guessing who had last slept on this creaking, -somber bed, and why the pillows smelled so much of -moldiness, and mildew; or again listening to the wail -of the expiring wind among the chimneys overhead, -and the dismal sodden drip of water falling somewhere. -Perhaps I had amused myself like that an -hour, and it was as near as might be midnight: the -low, white moon was just a-glimpse over the sighing -treetops in the wilderness outside. I had been dozing -lightly, when, on a sudden, my soldier ear distinctly -caught a footfall in the passage without, and, starting -up upon my elbow in the black shadow of the bed, -I gripped the hilt of the sword that lay along under -the pillows and held my breath, as slowly the door -was opened wide, and, before my astounded eyes, a -tall, dark figure entered!</p> - -<p>It was all done so quietly that, beyond the first footfall -and the soft click of the lifting latch, I do not -think a sound broke the heavy stillness that, between -two pauses of the wind, reigned throughout the empty -house. Very gently that dusky shadow by my portal -shut the door behind, and it might have been only the -outer air that entered with him, or something in that -presence itself, but a cold, damp breath of air pervaded -all the room as the latch fell back.</p> - -<p>I did not fear, and yet my heart set off a-thumping -against my ribs, and my fingers tightened upon the -fretted hilt of my Toledo blade as that thing came -slowly forward from the door, and, big and tall, and so -far indistinct, stalked slowly to the bed-foot, touching -the posts like one who, in an uncertain light, reassures -him by the feel of well-known landmarks, and -so went round toward the latticed window. I did -not stir, but held my breath and stared hard at that -black form, that, all unconscious of my presence, -slowly sauntered to the light and took form and shape. -In a minute it was by the lattice and, to my stern, -wondering awe, there, in the pale white moonshine, -looking down into the desolate garden beyond with -melancholy steadfastness, was the figure of a tall, -black Spanish gallant. In that white radiance, against -the ebony setting of the room, he was limned with extraordinary -clearness. Indeed, he was a great silver -column now of stenciled brightness against the black -void beyond, and I could see every point and detail -in his dress and features as though it were broad daylight. -He was—or must I say, he had been?—a tall, -slim man, long-jointed and sparse after the manner -of his nation, and to-night he wore something like the -fashion of his time—black hose and shoes, a black-seeming -waistcoat, a loose outdoor hood above it, a -slouch cap, a white ruffle, and a broad black-leather -belt with a dagger dangling from it. So much was -ordinary about him, but—Jove!—his face in that uncertain -twilight was frightful! It was cadaverous -beyond expression, and tawny and mean, and all the -shadows on it were black and strong; and out of that -dreary parchment mask, making its lifelessness the -more deadly by their glitter, shone two restless, -sunken eyes. He kept those yellow orbs turned upon -the garden, and then presently put up a hand and -began stroking his small pointed beard, still seeming -lost in thought, and next, stretching out a finger—and, -Hoth! what a wicked-looking talon it did seem!—the -shape began drawing signs upon the mistiness of -the diamond panes. At the same time he began to -mutter, and there was something quaintly gruesome -about those disconnected syllables in the midnight -stillness; yet, though I leaned forward and peered and -listened, nothing could I learn of what he wrote or -said. He fascinated me. I forgot to speak or act, -and could only regard with dumb wonder that outlined -figure in the moonlight and the long-dead face -so dreadfully ashine with life. So bewitched was I -that had that vision turned and spoken I should have -made the best shift to answer that were possible; -there was some tie, I felt, between him and me more -than showed upon the surface of this chance meeting -of ours—something which even as I write I feel is not -yet quite explained, though I and that shadow now -know each other well. But, instead of speaking, that -presence, man or spirit, from the outer spaces, left off -his scratching on the window, and, with a shrug of his -Spanish shoulders and a malediction in guttural -Bisque, turned from the window-cell and walked -across the room. As he did so I noticed—what had -been invisible before—in his left hand a canvas bag, -and, by the shape and weight of it, that bag seemed -full of money. I watched him as he stalked across -the room, watched him disappear into the shadow, -and then listened, with every sense alert, to the click -of the latch and the creak of the door as he left my -chamber by the opposite side to that whereat he entered.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_364fp" style="max-width: 28em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_364fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>He kept those yellow orbs turned upon the garden</p></div> -</div> - -<p>As those faint, ghostly footsteps died away slowly -down the corridor, my native sense came back, and, in -a trice, I was on foot, dressed as I had lain me down, -and, snatching my sword and cloak in a fever of expectation, -I ran over to the window and looked upon -the writing. It was figures—figures and sums in -ancient Moorish Arabesque; and the long, sharp nail-marks -of that hideous midnight mathematician were -still penciled clearly on the moonlit dew.</p> - -<p>My blood was now coursing finely in my veins, and, -hot and eager to see some more of this grim stranger, -I strode across the room and stepped out into the passage. -At first it seemed that he had gone completely, -for all was so still and silent; but the white light outside -was throwing squares of silver brightness from -many narrow windows on the dusty floor—and there -he was, in a moment, crossing the farthest patch, tall -and silvery in that radiance, with his long, slim, black -legs, his great ruffle, and flapping cloak—looking most -wicked. I went forward, making as little noise as -might be, and seeing my ghostly friend every now and -then, until when we had traversed perhaps half that -deserted mansion I lost him where three ways divided, -and went plunging and tripping forward, striving to -be as silent as I could—though why I know not—and -making instead at every false step a noise that should -have startled even ghostly ears. But I was now well -off the trail, and nothing showed or answered. It was -black as hell in the shadows, and white as day where -the moonbeams slanted in from the oriels, and through -this chilly checker I went, feeling on by damp old -walls and worm-eaten wainscoting; slipping down -crumbling stairs that were as rotten as the banisters -which went to dust beneath my touch; opening sullen -oaken doors and peering down the dreary wastes -within; listening, prying, wondering—but nowhere -could I find that shadowy form again.</p> - -<p>I followed the chase for many minutes far into a -lonely desert wing of the old house, then paused irresolute. -What was I to do? I had my cloak upon one -hand, and my naked rapier was in the other; but no -light, or any means of making one. The vision had -gone, and I found, now that the chase had ended, and -my blood began to tread a sober measure, it was dank, -chilly, and dismal in these black, draughty corridors. -Worse still, I had lost all count and reckoning of -where my bed had been, and, though that were small -matter in such a house, yet somehow I felt it were well -to reach the vantage-ground of more familiar places -wherein to wait the morning. So, as nearly as was -possible, I groped back upon my footsteps by tedious -ways and empty chambers, low in heart and angry; -now stopping to listen to the fitful moaning of the -wind or the pattering rain-spots on the grass, or some -distant panels creaking in distant chambers; half -thinking that, after all, I had been a fool, and cozened -by some sleepy fancy. And so I went back, dejected -and dispirited, until presently I came to a gloomy -arch in a long corridor, tapestried across with heavy -hangings. Unthinkingly I lifted them, and there—there, -as the curtains parted—thirty paces off, a bright -moonlit doorway gently opened, and into the light -stepped that same black-browed foreigner again!</p> - -<p>I did what any other would have done, though it -was not valiant—stepped back against the niche and -drew the tapestry folds about me, and so hidden -waited. Down he sauntered leisurely straight for my -hiding-place, and as he came there was full time to -note every wrinkle and furrow on that sullen, ashy -face! Hoth! he might have been a decent gentleman -by daylight, but in the nightshine he looked more like -a week-dead corpse than aught else, and, with eyes -glued to those twinkling eyes of his, and bated breath -and irresolute fingers hard-set upon my pommel-hilt, -I waited. He came on without a pause or sign to -show he knew that he was watched, and, as he crossed -the last patch of light, I saw the bag of gold was gone, -and the hand that had carried it was wrapped in a -bloody handkerchief. Another minute and we were -not a yard apart. What good was valor there, I -thought? What good were weapons or courage -against the malignity of such an infernal shadow? I -held back while he passed, and in a minute it was too -late to stop him. Yet, I could follow! And, half -ashamed of that moment’s weakness, and with my -courage budding up again, I started from my hiding-place, -and, brandishing my rapier, my cloak curled -on my other arm as though I went to meet some famous -fencer, I ran after the Spaniard. And now he -heard me, and, with one swift look over his shoulder -and a startled guttural cry, set off down the passage. -From light to light he flashed, and shadow to shadow, -I hot after him, my courage rampant now again, and -all the bitterness and disappointment of the last few -days nerving my heart, until I felt I could exchange -a thrust or two with the black arch-fiend himself. -’Twas a brief chase! At the bottom of the corridor -stood a solid oak partition—I had him safe enough. -I saw him come to that black barrier, and hesitate: -whereon I shouted fiercely, and leaped forward, and -in another minute I was there where he had been—and -the corridor was empty, and the paneled partition -was doorless and unmoved, and not a sound broke the -stillness of that old house save my own angry cry, that -the hollow echoes were bandying about from ghostly -room to room, and corridor to empty corridor!</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX</h2> -</div> - -<p>A bright dazzle of sunshine roused me with the -following sunrise. I rubbed my sleepy lids and sat -up, vaguely gazing round upon the tarnished hangings, -the immovable white faces of the pictures on the -wall, and the dusty floor whereon, in the grayness of -countless years, was marked just the outlines of last -night’s feet, and nothing more. However, it was truly -a lovely morning, and, moved by that subtle tonic -which comes with sunshine, I felt brighter and more -confident.</p> - -<p>Having dressed, I went down the old staircase again -to the breakfast which would certainly be ready, unbarring -as I passed the casements and setting wide the -great hall door, that the cool breath of that spring -morning might sweep away the mustiness of the old -house, even humming a snatch of an old camp song, -learned in Picardy, to myself the while. Thus, I -gained the dining-hall in good spirits, and saw, as had -been expected, a new meal set with modest food and -drink for me, and me alone, but no other sign or trace -of human presence.</p> - -<p>I sat and ate, vowing as I did so this riddle had -gone far enough unanswered, and before that shiny, -sparkling world outside (all tears and laughter like a -young maid’s face) was a few hours older I would -know who was my host, who served me thus persistent -and invisible, and what might be the service I was -looked to to pay for such quaint entertainment. -Therefore, as soon as the meal was done, I belted on -my sword and straightened down my finery, the which -had lost its creases and sat extremely well, and, -smoothing the thick mass of my black Eastern hair -under my velvet Tudor cap, sallied forth.</p> - -<p>There was nothing new about the garden save the -sunshine, and, having intently regarded the broad-terraced -and mullioned front of the house without -learning one single atom more than I knew before, -I resolved to force a way round to the rear if it were -possible. But this was not so easy. On one hand -were thickets of shrub and bramble laced into dense, -impenetrable barriers, and on the other great yew -hedges in solemn ranks, with vast masses of ivy and -holly forbidding a passage. But, nothing daunted, -I walked down to these yews, and peering about soon -perceived a tangled pathway leading into their fastness. -It was a narrow little way, begrudgingly left between -those sullen hedges, thick-grown with dank -weeds below, and arched over by neglected growth -so that the sun could not shine into these dusky alleys, -and the paths were wet and chilly still.</p> - -<p>Well, I pushed on, now to right and now to left, -amid the tangles of one of those old mazes that -gardeners love to grow, and until only the tall smokeless -chimney-stacks of the deserted house shone red -under the sunshine over the bough-tops in the distance, -and then I paused. It was all so strangely -quiet, and so lonesome—I had been solitary so long, it -seemed doubtful whether any one was alive in the -world but me—why, surely, I was thinking, there were -no human beings at least about this shadow-haunted -spot. It were idle to seek for them. I would give it -up. And just as I was meditating that—had half -turned to go, and yet was standing irresolute—Jove! -right from the air in front of me, right out from the -black bosom of the shadowy yew and ivies, there burst -a wild elfin strain of laughter, a merry bubbling peal, -a ringing cascade of fairy merriment, a sparkling -avalanche of disembodied mirth, that, like some sweet -essence, permeated on an instant all that gloomy -place, and thrilled down the damp alleys, and shook -the thousand colored drops of dew from bent and -leaf, and vibrated in the misty prismatic sunshine up -above, and then was gone, leaving me rooted to the -ground with the suddenness of it, and half delighted -and half amazed. But only for a moment, and then I -leaped forward and saw a turning, and found at bottom -of it a gap, and plunged headlong through!</p> - -<p>It was a pretty scene I staggered into. In front of -me spread the open center of the maze, a grassy space -some twenty paces all about, and lying clear to the -sunshine falling warm and strong upon it. In the -midst of that fair opening, shut off from wind and -outer barrenness, had once been a fountain with a -basin, and, though the jet played no longer, yet the -white marble pool below it, stained golden and green -with moss and weather, held from brim to brim a little -lake of sparkling water. And about that fountain, -bright in decay, the green ferns were unwinding, while -great clumps of gold narcissus hung trembling over -their own reflection in the broken basin. Overhead, -there was a blossoming almond-tree, a cloud of pale-pink -buds wherefrom a constant cheerful hum of bees -came forth, and a pale rain of petals fell on to the -ground beneath and tinted it like a rosy snow. No -other way existed in or out of that delightful circle -save where I had entered, but little paths ran here -and there among the grass, and industrious love had -marked them out with pretty country flowers—pale -primroses all damp and cool among the shadows, -broad bands of purple violets lining seductive alleys, -splendid starlike saffron outshining even the gorgeous -sun, and blushing daisies, with varnished kingcups -where the fountain ran to waste. It was as pretty a -dominion—as sweet an oasis in that dank, dark desert -beyond—as you could wish to see, and the clear, -strong breath of flowers, and the warm wine of the -sunshine set my blood throbbing deep and swift to a -new sense of love and pleasure as I stood there spellbound -on the dewy threshold.</p> - -<p>But, fair as earth and sky looked in that magic -circle, they were not all. Kneeling at the broken marble -fountain, her dainty sleeves rolled to pearly -elbows, the strands of her loose brown hair dipping -as she bent over the shining water, with white muslin -smock neatly bunched behind her, a milky kerchief -knotted across her bosom, and a great country hat of -straw by her side, knelt a fair young English girl. -She did not see me at once, her face was turned away, -and on her other hand she was tending a noble peacock, -a splendid fowl indeed—as stately as though -he were the Suzerain of all Heaven’s chickens—ivory -white from bill to spurs, crested with a coronet of -living topaz, and with a mighty fan upreared behind -him of complete whiteness from quill to fringe, saving -the last outer row of gorgeous eyes that shone in -gold and purple and amethyst refulgent in that spotless -field!—a magnificent bird indeed, and fully wotting -of it—and that kneeling maid was dipping water -for him in her rosy palm, and the great bird was -perched upon the marble rim and dropping his ivory -beak into that sweet chalice and lifting his lovely -throttle and flashing coronet to the sky ever and anon, -while the thrill of the girl’s light laughter echoed -about the place, and the almond-blossoms showered -down on them, and the bees hummed, and the sweet -incense of the spring was drawn from the warm, budding -earth, flowers glittered, the sun shone, and the -sky was blue, as I, the intruder, stood, silent and surprised, -before that dainty picture.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_372fp" style="max-width: 28em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_372fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>The great bird was dropping his ivory beak into the sweet chalice</p></div> -</div> - -<p>In a moment the girl looked up and saw me in my -amber suit and ruffle, my rapier and cap, standing there -against the black framing of the maze; and then she -did as I had done—stared, and rubbed her eyes, and -stared again! In a moment she seemed to understand -I was something more than a fancy, whereat, -with a little scream of fear, she sprang to her feet, -and, crossing the kerchief closer on her bosom, pulled -down her sleeves and backed off toward the almond-tree. -But I had that comely apparition fairly at bay, -and, after so many hours without company, did not -feel a mind to let her go too easily, whether she -proved fay or fairy, nymph, naïad, or just plain country -flesh and blood.</p> - -<p>I pulled off my cap, and, with a sweeping bow, advanced -slowly toward her, whereon she screamed -again.</p> - -<p>“Fair girl,” I said, “I grieve to interrupt so sweet a -picture with my uninvited presence, but, wandering -down these paths, your laughter burst upon the stillness -and drew me here.”</p> - -<p>“And now, Sir,” quoth that fair material sprite, recovering -herself, and with a pretty air, “you would ask -the shortest way to the public road. It lies there to -your left, beyond the hollybank you see over by the -meadows.”</p> - -<p>“Why, not exactly that,” I laughed. “I have an -idle hour or two on hand, and, since you seem to have -the same, I would rather rest content with the good -fortune which brought me hither than try new paths -for lesser pleasures. If you would sit, I think this -grassy mound is broad enough for two.”</p> - -<p>I meant it well, but the maid was timid, and far -from rescue in the wilderness of that maze. The color -mounted to her cheeks until they were pinker than -the almond-buds overhead. She looked this way and -that, and gave one fleeting glance round the strong, -close-set walls of that sunny garden among the yews, -then just one other glance at me, that dangerous -stranger in silk and satin, standing so gallant, cap in -hand, and finally she was away, running like a hind -toward the only outlet, the gap by which I had come -in. But was I to be robbed of a pretty comrade so? -Was the lovely elf of the neglected garden to slip between -my fingers without answering one single question -of the many I would ask? I spun round upon -my heels, and, quick as that maiden’s feet were on the -turf, mine were quicker. We got to the gap together, -and, in another minute, her kirtle fluttering in the -breeze, her loose hair adrift, and the flush of fear and -exertion on her youthful face, that comely lady was -struggling in my grasp.</p> - -<p>I held her just so long as she might recognize how -strong her bonds were, then set her free. If she had -been pink before, that maid was now ruddier than -the windflowers in the grass. “Oh, fie, Sir!” she began, -as soon as she could get her breath. “Oh, fie, -and for shame! You wear the raiment of a gentleman, -you carry courtly arms, you do not look at least -a rough, uncivil rogue, and yet you burst into a privy -garden and fright and offend a harmless girl—oh! for -shame, Sir!—if gentleness and courtesy are so poor barriers, -we shall need to look the better to our hedges—let -me by, Sir!” and, gathering her skirts in her hand -and tossing back her head with all the haughtiness -she could command, that damsel looked me boldly in -the eyes.</p> - -<p>Fair, foolish girl! she thought to stare me down—I, -who had eyed unmoved a thousand sights of dread and -wonder—I, who had mocked the stare of cruel tyrants -and faced unblanching the worst that heaven or hell -could work—what! was I to be out of countenance -under the feeble battery of such gentle orbs as those? -’Twas boldly conceived, but it would not do, and in a -moment she felt it, and her eyes fell from mine, the -color rushed again from brow to chin, she let her -flowered skirt fall from her grip, she turned away -for a moment, and there and then burst out a-crying -behind her hands as though the world were quite inside -out.</p> - -<p>Now, to stand the fair open assault of her eyes was -one thing, but such sap as this was more than my resolution -could abide. “You do mistake me, maid, indeed,” -I cried. “I swear there is no deed of courtesy -or good-will in all the world I would not do for you.”</p> - -<p>“Why, then, Sir, do the least and easiest of all—stand -from that gap and let me pass.”</p> - -<p>“If you insist upon it, even that I must submit to. -There!—there is your way free and unhampered!” and -I stood back and left the passage clear—“and yet, before -you go, fair lady, let me crave of your courtesy -one question or two, such as civility might ask, and -courtesy very reasonably answer.”</p> - -<p>Now that maid had dried her tears, and had been -stealing some sundry glances at me under the fringe -of her wet lashes while we spoke, and as a result she -did not seem quite so wishful to be gone as she had -been. She eyed the free gap in the tall wall of yew -and holly, and then, demurely, me. The pretty corners -of her mouth began to unbend, and while her fingers -played among her ribbons, and the color came -and went under her clear country skin, feminine -curiosity got the better of timidity, and she hesitated.</p> - -<p>“Oh!” she murmured, “if it were a civil question -civilly asked, I could wait for that. What can I tell -you?”</p> - -<p>“First then, are you of true material substance, not -vagrant and spiritual, but, as you certainly look, a -healthy, plain planed mortal?”</p> - -<p>“Had I been else, Sir,” the damsel answered, with -a smile, “I had found a short way out of the trap you -saw fit to hold me in.”</p> - -<p>“That is true, no doubt, and I accept this initial -answer with due thanks. I had not asked it, but lodging -so long amid shadows sets my prejudice against -the truth, even of the sweetest substance.”</p> - -<p>“And next, Sir?”</p> - -<p>“Next, how came you in this lonely place, with -these pretty playthings about you? How came you -in my garden here, where I thought nothing but -silence and sadness grew?”</p> - -<p>“Your garden! What hole in our outer fences gave -you that warrant, Sir?” queried the young lady, with -a toss of her head. “How long user of trespass makes -that right presumptive? Faith! until you spoke I -thought the garden was mine and my father’s!” and -the young lady, for such I now acknowledged her to -be, looked extremely haughty.</p> - -<p>“What! Hast thou, then, a father?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Sir. Is it so unusual with our kind that you -should be surprised?”</p> - -<p>“And who is thy father?”</p> - -<p>“A very learned man indeed, Sir; one who hath -more wit in his little finger than another brave gentleman -will have in all his body. Of nature so courteous -that he instinctively would respect the privacy -of a neighbor’s property and manners, so finished he -would never stay a maiden at her morning walk to -bandy idle questions with her all out of vanity of -black curled hair and a new, mayhap unpaid-for, yellow -suit. If you had no more to ask me, Sir, I think, -I would wish you good-day.”</p> - -<p>“But stay a minute. It seems to me I might know -thy father; and this is the very point and center of -my inquisitiveness.”</p> - -<p>“If you did, it were much to your advantage, but I -doubt it. He is recluse and grave, not given to chance -companions, or, in fact, to friend with any but some -one or two.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! that may well be so,” I said thoughtlessly, -speaking with small consideration and recalling the -vision of my ancient host just as it came to me—“a -sour, wizened old carl, clad in rusty green, a-straddle -of a spavined, ragged palfrey; mean-seeming, morose, -and sullen—why, maid, is that thy father?”</p> - -<p>“No, Sir!”</p> - -<p>“Gads!” I laughed, “it was discourteously spoken. -I should have said, now I come to reflect more closely -on it, a reverent gentleman, indeed, white-bearded and -sage, with keen eyes shining severe, the portals of a -well-filled mind. A carriage that bespoke good breeding -and gentle blood; raiment that disdained the pomp -of silly, fickle fashion, and a general air of learning -and of mildness.”</p> - -<p>“My father, Sir, to the very letter, Master Adam -Faulkener, the wisest man, they say, this side of the -Trent, and greatly (I know he would have me add) at -your service.”</p> - -<p>“And you?”</p> - -<p>“I am Mistress Elizabeth Faulkener, daughter to -that same; and if, indeed, you know my father, then, -as my father’s friend, I tender you my humble and respectful -duty,” and the young lady half mockingly, -and half out of gay spirit, picked up her flowered muslin -skirt, by two dainty fingers, on either side and -made me a long, sweeping curtesy.</p> - -<p>A pretty flower indeed, for such a rugged stem!</p> - -<p>“But this is only half the matter, fair girl,” I went -on, when my responding bow had been duly made. -“If that venerable gentleman indeed be thy father, -and this his house and thine, it is more strange than -ever. I came here two evenings since by his explicit -invitation, but since that time I have not set eyes -upon him. High and low have I hunted, I have pricked -arras and rapped on hollow panels, trodden yon -ghostly corridors at every hour of the day and night, -yet for all that time no sight or sound of host or -hostess could I get. Now, out of thy generous nature -and the civility due to a wondering guest, tell me how -was this.”</p> - -<p>“Why, Sir! Do you mean to say since two nights -past you have been lodged back there?”</p> - -<p>“Ah! three days, in yon grim, moldy mansion.”</p> - -<p>“What! there, in that melancholy front of the many -windows—and all alone?”</p> - -<p>“The very simple, native truth!—alone in yonder -tenement of faint, sad odors and mournful, sighing -draughts, alone save for a mind stocked with somewhat -melancholy fancies—mislaid by him, it seemed, -who brought me thither—dull, solitary, and damp—why, -damsel!”</p> - -<p>And, in faith, when I had got so far as that, the -maiden sank back upon a grassy heap and hid her -face behind her hands, and gave way to a wild, tumultuous -fit of laughter, a golden cascade of merriment -that fell thick and sparkling from the sunny places -of her youthful joyance, as you see the heavy rain-drops -glint through a bright April sky; a wild, irresistible -torrent of frolic glee that wandered round the faroff -alleys, and raised a hundred answering echoes of -pleasure in that enchanted garden.</p> - -<p>Presently the maid recovered, and, putting down her -hands, asked—“And your meals—how came you by -them?”</p> - -<p>“They were laid for me twice each day in the great -hall by unseen hands, most punctual and mysterious. -’Twas simple fare, but sufficient to a soldier, and each -time I cleared the table and went afield, when I came -back it was reset; yet no one could I see—no sound -there was to break the stillness——”</p> - -<p>Again that lady burst into one of her merry trills, -and, when it was over, signed me to sit beside her. I -was not loth. She was fair and young and tender—as -pretty an Amaryllis as ever a country Corydon did -pipe to. So down I sat.</p> - -<p>“Now,” said she, “imprimis, Sir, I do confess we -owe you recompense for such scant courtesy; but I -gather how it happened. This is, as I have said, my -father’s house, and mine; and time was, once, it has -been told me, when he had near as many servants as -I have flowers here, with friends unending; and all -those blank windows, yonder, were full of lights by -night and faces in the day. Then this garden was -trim—not only here but everywhere—and great carriages -ground upon the gravel drive, and the courtyard -was full of caparisoned palfreys. That was all -just so long ago, Sir, that I remember nothing of it.”</p> - -<p>“I can picture it, damsel,” I said, as she sighed and -hesitated; “and how came this difference?”</p> - -<p>“I do not know for certain—I have often wondered -why, myself—but my father presently had spent all -his money, and perhaps that somehow explained it,” -sighed my fair philosopher. “Then, too, he took -studious, and let his estate shift for itself, while he -pored over great tomes and learned things, and hid -himself away from light and pleasure. That might -have scared off those gay acquaintances—might it not, -Sir?” queried the lady so unlearned in worldly ways.</p> - -<p>“It were a good recipe, indeed,” was my answer: -“none better! To grow poor and wise is high offense -with such a gilded throng as you have mentioned. -So then the house emptied, and the gates no longer -stood wide open; the garden was forsaken, and grass -grew on thy steps; owls built in thy corridors—a dismal -picture, and sad for thee, but this does not explain -the strange entertainment I have had. Where is your -father lodged? And you—how is it we have not met -before?”</p> - -<p>“Oh,” said the damsel, brightening up again, “that -is easily explained. When his friends left him, my -father dismissed all his servants but one—a Spanish -steward—and good old Mistress Margery, my nurse -(and, saving my father, my only friend), then lodged -himself back yonder in the far rear of our great house, -and there I have grown up.”</p> - -<p>“Like a fair flower in a neglected spot,” I hazarded.</p> - -<p>“Ah! and secure from the shallow tongues of silly -flatterers, old Margery tells me. Now, my father, as -you may have noted, is at times somewhat visionary -and absent. It thus may well have happened that, -bringing you here a guest, he would by old habit have -taken you, as he was so long accustomed, to the great -barren front and lodged you so. Once lodged there, -it is perfectly within his capacity to have utterly forgot -your very existence.”</p> - -<p>“But the meals—for whom were they spread, if not -for me?”</p> - -<p>“Why, simply for my father. He has, where he -works, a cupboard, wherein is kept brown bread and -wine, and, sometimes, when studious studies keep him -close, he goes to it and will not look at better or more -ordered meals. Then, again, when the fancy takes -him, he will have a place put for himself in the great -deserted hall, and sups there all alone. Now, this has -been his mood of late, and I can only fancy that when -you came the whim did change all on a sudden, and -thus you inherited each day that which was laid for -him, who, too studious, came not, and old slow-witted -Margery, finding every time the provender was gone, -laid and relaid with patient remembrance of her -orders.”</p> - -<p>“A very pretty coil indeed!—and I, no doubt, being -sadly wandering afield all day, just missed thy ancient -servitor each time.”</p> - -<p>“And had you ever come in upon her heels you -would have seen her hobble up one silent corridor and -down another, and press a button on a panel, and so -pass through a doorway that you would never find -alone, from your tenement to ours. Oh, it makes me -laugh to think of you pent there! I would have given -a round dozen of my whitest hen’s eggs to have been -by to see how you did look.”</p> - -<p>“That had been a contingency, fair maid, which had -greatly lightened my captivity,” I answered; and the -lady went babbling on in the prettiest, simplest way, -half rustic and half courtly in her tones, as might be -looked for in one brought up as she had been.</p> - -<p>For an hour, perhaps, we lay and basked in the -pleasant warmth, while the rheums of melancholy -and dampness were slowly drawn from me by the sun -and that fair companionship, then she rose, and, shaking -a shower of almond petals from her apron, re-knotted -her kerchief, and, taking a look at the sky, -said it was past midday and time for dinner. If I -liked, she would guide me to her father. Up I got, -and, side by side with that fair Elizabethan girl, went -sauntering through her flowery walks, down past -shrubberies and along the warm red old wall of her -great empty house, until we came into a quiet way -overgrown with giant weeds and smelling sweet of -green sheep’s parsley and cool, fair vegetable odors. -Here the maid lifted a latch, and led me through a -well-hidden gateway into the sunny rearward courtyard.</p> - -<p>It showed as different as could be from the dreary -front. The ground was cobblestones all neatly weeded -round a square of close-cut grass. On one side the -great black wall of the manor-place towered windowless -above us, with red roofs, mighty piles of smokeless -chimney-stacks and corbie steps far overhead; -and, on the other hand, at an angle to that wall, were -lesser buildings to left and right, enclosing the grass -plot and shining in the sun, warm, lattice-windowed, -quaint-gabled. The third side of the square was open, -and sloped down to fair meadows, beyond which came -flowering orchards, bounded by a brook. Moreover, -there was life here, plain, homely, honest country life. -The wild, loose-hanging roses and eglantine were -swinging in the sunshine over the deep-seated porches -of these modest places; the lavender smoke was drifting -among the budding branches overhead, proud maternal -hens were clucking to their broods about the -open doorways; there were blooming flowers growing -by one deep-set window—ah! and fair Mistress Elizabeth’s -snowy linen was all out on cords across that -pretty sunny courtyard, struggling in sparkling, white -confusion against the loose caresses of the April -wind.</p> - -<p>“And look you there,” cried Mistress Faulkener, -when she saw it, pointing far down the distant -meadows, “’tis there we keep our milk and cows—oh! -as you are courteous, as you would wish to deserve -your gentle livery, count those cattle for a minute,” -and thereat, while I, obedient, turned my back and -mustered the distant beasts grazing knee-deep among -the yellow buttercups—she outflew upon those linens, -and pulled them down and rolled them up in swathes, -and set them on a bench; then tucked back some disheveled -strands of hair behind her ears, and, somewhat -out of breath, turned to me again.</p> - -<p>“Here,” she said, “on this side lives old Margery and -our steward, black Emanuel Marcena; there, on the -other, is my room—that one with the flowers below -and open lattices. Next is my father’s; below, again, -is the room where we do eat; and all that yonder—those -many windows alike above, and those steps going -down beneath the ground—those half-hidden cobwebbed -windows ablink with the level of the turf—that -is where my father works.”</p> - -<p>“By all the saints, fair girl!” I exclaimed impetuously, -as she led me toward that place, “thy father’s -workshop is on fire! See the gray smoke curling from -the lintel of the doorway, and the broken panes—and -yonder I catch a glint of flame! Here, let me burst -the door!” and I sprang forward.</p> - -<p>But the lady put her hand upon my arm, saying -with a somewhat rueful smile, “No, not so bad as that—there -is fire there, but it is servant not master. -Come in and you shall see.” She took me down six -damp stone steps, then lifted the latch of a massy, -weather-beaten, oaken doorway, and led me within.</p> - -<p>It was a vast, dim, vaulted cellar. The rough black -roof of rugged masonry was hung by vistas of such -mighty tapestries of grimy cobwebs as never mortal -saw before. On the near side the row of little windows, -dusty and neglected, let in thin streams of light -that only made the general darkness the more visible. -All the other wall was rough and bare; beset with -great spikes and nails wherefrom depended a thousand -forms of ironware, and ancient useless metal -things, the broken, rusty implements of peace and -war. The floor seemed, as I took in every detail of -this subterranean chamber, to be bare earth, stamped -hard and glossy with constant treading, while here -and there in hollows black water stood in pools, and -gray ashes from a furnace-fire margined those miry -places. It was a gloomy hall, without a doubt, and -as my eyes wandered round the shadows they presently -discovered the presiding genius.</p> - -<p>In the hollow of the great final arch was a cobwebbed, -smoke-grimed blacksmith’s forge and bellows. -The little heap of fuel on it was glowing white, and -the curling smoke ascended part up the rugged chimney -and part into the chamber. On one side of this -forge stood a heavy anvil, and by it, as we entered, -a man was toiling on a molten bar of iron, plying his -blows so slow and heavy it was melancholy to watch -them. That man, it did not need another glance to -tell me, was my host! If he had looked gaunt and -wild by night, the yellow flicker of the furnace and -the pale mockery of daylight which stole through his -poor panes did not improve him now. The bright fire -of enthusiasm still burned in his keen old eyes, I saw, -but they were red and heavy with long sleeplessness; -his ragged, open shirt displayed his lean and hairy -chest, stained and smudged with the hue of toil; his -arms were bare to the elbow, and his knotted old -fingers clutched like the talons of a bird upon the -handle of the hammer that he wielded. Grim old fellow! -He was near double with weariness and labor; -the breath came quick and hectic as he toiled; the -painful sweat cut white furrows down his pallid, ash-stained -face; and his wild, gray elfin locks were dank -and heavy with the foul fumes of that black hole of -his. Yet he stopped not to look to left or to right, but -still kept at it, unmindful of aught else—hammer, -hammer, hammer! and sigh, sigh, sigh!—with a fine -inspired smile of misty, heroic pleasure about his -mouth, and the light of prophecy and quenchless courage -in his eyes!</p> - -<p>It was very strange to watch him, and there was -something about the unbroken rhythm of his blows, -and the inflexible determination hanging about him, -that held me spellbound, waiting I knew not for what, -but half thinking to witness that red iron whereinto -his soul was being welded spring into something wild -and strange and fair—half thinking to witness these -sooty walls fall back into the wide arcades of shadowy -realm, and that old magician blossom out of his vile -rags into some splendid flower of humankind. It was -foolish, but it was an unlearned age, and I only a -rough soldier. That fair maid by my side, more familiar -with these strange sights and sounds, roused -me from my expectant watching in a minute.</p> - -<p>She had come in after me, had paused as I did, and -now with pretty filial pity in her face, and outspread -hands, she ran to that old man and laid a tender finger -upon his yellow arm, and stayed its measured labor. -At this he looked up for the first time since we entered, -as dazed and sleepy as one newly waked, and, -seeing that he scarce knew her, Elizabeth shook her -head at him, and took his grizzled cheeks between her -rosy palms, and kissed him first on one side and then -on the other, kissed him sweet and tenderly upon his -pallid unwashed cheeks, and then, with kind imperiousness, -loosed his cramped fingers from the hammer-shaft -and threw it away, and led him by gentle -force back from his forge and anvil. “Oh, father!” -she said, bustling round him and fastening up his -shirt and pulling down his sleeves, and looking in his -face with real solicitude, “indeed I do think you are -the worst father that ever any maid did have,” and -here was another kiss. “Oh! how long have you -worked down here? Two nights and days on end. -Fie, for shame! And how much have you eaten? -What? Nothing, nothing all that time? Did ever -child have such a parent? Oh! would to Heaven you -had less wisdom and more wit—why, if you go on like -this, you will be thinner than any of these spiders -overhead in springtime—and weary—nay, do not tell -me you are not—and, oh! so dirty, alack that I should -let a stranger see thee like this!” and, taking her own -white kerchief from her apron, that damsel wiped her -father’s face in love and gentleness, and stroked his -gritty beard and smoothed, as well as she was able, -his ancient locks, then took him by the hand and -pointed to me, standing a little way off in the gloom.</p> - -<p>At first the old man gazed at the amber-suited gallant -shining in the blackness of his workshop, stolidly, -without a trace of recognition, but, when in a minute -or two by an effort he drew his wits together, he took -me for one of those gay fellows, who, no doubt, had -haunted his courtyards and spent his money in -brighter times, and taxed me with it. But I laughed -at that and shook my head, whereon he mused—“What! -are thou, then, young John Eldrid of Beaulieu, -come to pay those twenty crowns your father -borrowed twelve years since?”</p> - -<p>No! I was not John Eldrid, and there were no -crowns in my wallet. Then I must be Lord Fossedene’s -reeve come to complain again of broken fences -and cattle straying, or, perhaps, a bailiff for the -Queen’s dues, and, if that were so, it was little I would -get from him.</p> - -<p>Thereon his daughter burst out laughing and stroking -the old man’s hand. “Oh, father,” she said gently, -“you were not always thus forgetful. This excellent -gentleman I found trespassing among my flowers, and -did arrest him; he is your guest, and declares you -brought him here two nights since, lodging him in our -empty front, where he has subsisted all this time on -melancholy and stolen meals. Surely, father, you recall -him now?”</p> - -<p>The old man was puzzled, but slowly a ray of recollection -pierced through the thick mists of forgetfulness. -Indeed, he did remember, he muttered, something -of the kind, but it was a sturdy, shrewd-looking -yeoman, tall, and bronzed under his wide cap, a rustic -fellow in country cloth that he had brought along, and -not this yellow gentleman. So then I explained how -he had resuited me, and jogged his memory gently, -lifting it down the trail of our brief acquaintance as a -good huntsman lifts a hound over a cold scent, until -at last, when he had given him a cup of red wine from -his cupboard in the niche, his eyes brightened up, the -vacuity faded from his face, and, laughing in turn, -he knew me; then, holding out two withered hands -in very courteous wise, old Andrew Faulkener welcomed -me, and in civil, courtly speech, that seemed -strange enough in that grim hole, and from that grizzly, -bent, unwashed old fellow, made apology for the -neglect and seeming slight which he feared I must -have suffered.</p> - -<p>We spoke together for some minutes, and then I -ventured to ask, “Was there not something, Master -Faulkener, you had to tell or ask of me? I do remember -you mentioned such a wish that evening when we -parted, and certain circumstances of our short friendship -make me curious to know what service it is I -have to pay you in return for the hospitality your -goodness put upon me.”</p> - -<p>“In truth there was something,” Faulkener answered, -with a show of embarrassment, “but it was a -service better sought of frieze than silk.”</p> - -<p>“Tell it, good Sir, tell it! It were detestable did -silk repudiate the debts that honest frieze incurred.”</p> - -<p>“Why, then, I will, and chance your displeasure. -Sweet Bess, get thee out and see to dinner. This -gentleman will dine with me to-day!” And as Mistress -Elizabeth picked up her pretty skirts and vanished -up the grass-grown steps the old recluse turned -to me.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI</h2> -</div> - -<p>“Now, look you here, Sir,” the old philosopher began, -taking me by a tassel on my satin doublet, and -working himself up until his eyes shone with pleasure, -as he unfolded his mad visions to me. “Look you -here, Sir! this bare and dingy dungeon that you rightly -frown at is a cell more pregnant with ingenuity than -ever was the forge of the lame smith of Lemnos. Vulcan! -Vulcan never had such teeming fancies as I -have harbored in my head for twenty years. Vulcan -never coaxed into being such a lovely monster as I -have hidden yonder. I tell you, young man,” gasped -the old fellow, perspiring with enthusiasm, “Prometheus -was a tawdry charlatan in his service to mankind, -compared with what I will be. He gave us -fire, crude, rough, unruly fire!—unstable, dangerous—a -bare, naked gift, spoiled even in the giving by -incompleteness; but I, Sir—I have tamed what the -bold Son of Clymene only touched. Ah, by the blessed -gods! I think I have tamed it—fire and water, I have -wed them at yon black altar—deadly foes though some -do call them, I have made them work together, the -one with the other. Oh, Sir, such servants were never -yet enlisted by our kind since the great day of -Cyclops! And to think these feeble shaking hands -whose poor sinews stand from the wasted flesh like -ivy strands about a winter tree, have done it—and -this poor head has thought it, persistent and at last -successful, through bitter months of toil and anguished -disappointment!”</p> - -<p>“But, Sir,” I said gently, as the old man checked his -incoherent speech for breath—“this monster, Sir, this -‘lovely monster,’ what is it?”</p> - -<p>“Ah! I was forgetting you did not know. Look, -then! and though you had been unfamous all your life, -this moment of precedent knowledge above your fellows -shall make you forever famous.” And the old -man, like a devotee walking to a shrine, like a lover -with hushed breath and brightly kindling eye stealing -to his mistress’s hiding-place, led me up to a cavernous -recess near the forge, and there lay hands upon a rent -and tattered drapery of rough sail-cloth, stained and -old, and, making a gesture of silence, pulled it back.</p> - -<p>In the dim, weird enchantment of that place, I had -been prepared for anything. It was a knightly fashion -of the times to be credulous, and that black cobwebbed -den, that mad philosopher, so eloquently raving, -and all the late circumstance of my arrival fitted -me to look for wonders. I had followed him across -the grimy floor, pitted with gray pools of furnace-water, -through the reek and twining strands of smoke -that filled that nether hall; and lastly, when he laid -a finger to his lip, and, so reverent and awful, drew -back that ancient tattered screen, I frowned a little, -stepping back a pace, and drew my ready sword six -inches from its scabbard, and watched expectant to -see some hideous, horrid, living form chained there—some -foul offspring of darkness and accursed ingenuity—some -hateful spawn of wizard art and black -mother night—some squat, foul, misshapen Caliban—some -loathsome thing—I scarce knew what, but strong -and sullen and monstrous, for certain! And, instead, -the screen ran rattling back, and there before me, in -a neat-swept space, and on a platform of oaken planks—glossy -in new forged metal, shiny with untarnished -filings, gleaming in the pride of burnished brass and -rivets—high, bulby, complicated, a maze of pistons -and levers and wheels, was a great machine!</p> - -<p>Somehow, as I saw that ponderous monster, so full -of cunning although so lifeless, a tremor of wondering -appreciation ran through my mind, that soulless body -fascinated me with a prophetic fear and awe which at -another time and in another place I should have -laughed at.</p> - -<p>I put back my sword, smiling to think it had been -so nearly drawn, but yet stood expectant, half wondering, -half hoping I knew not what, and gazing raptly -on that mighty iron carcass perched there like some -black incubus, almost fancying all the love and fear -and hope that had gone to fashion its steel limbs or -iron sinews might indeed have filled it with a soul -that should, as I looked, become articulate and manifest -beneath my eyes; half hoping, in my ignorance, -that indeed the quintessence of human labor, here consummate, -might have got on all that plastic, dull material, -some wondrous firstling spirit of a new estate, -some link between the worlds of substance and of -shadow! And if it so fascinated me, that old man, -to whom it owed its being, was even more enthralled. -He stood before the shrine with locked hands and bent -head, apostrophizing the silent work. “Oh, child of -infinitely painful conception,” he muttered, “surely—surely -you cannot disappoint me now! Near twenty -years have I given to you—twenty years of toil and -sweat and ungrudging hope. Long, hot summers have -I worked upon you, and dank, dull winters, making -and unmaking, building and taking down again, contriving, -hoping, despairing, living with you by day and -dreaming of you through nights of fitful slumber—surely, -dear heir of all my hopes, the reward is at -hand, the consummation comes!</p> - -<p>“See!” he cried, “how perfect it is! Here in this -great round cylinder is room for fire and water. The -fire lies all along in that gulley-trench that you can -note here through this open trap, and those curling -pipes take the hot flame up through that void that -will be filled with the other element. Now, when -water boils, the vapor that comes from off the top is -choleric and fiery past conception. This has been -known for long, and John Homersham tried to utilize -it by letting the vapor on the spread digits of a wheel; -Farinelli of Angoulême suffered it to escape behind -his engine—both ways so wasteful that no mortal furnace -could keep up power sufficient to be of useful -service. But I have bettered these and many others; -nothing is wasted here—the hot gases are stored and -stocked as they rise above the boiling liquid until -they are as strong as the blustering son of Astræus -and Aurora, and then, by turning one single tap, I -suffer them to escape down yonder iron way, there to -fall upon the head of that piston that with a mighty -send gives before them and spins the great wheel -above, and comes back on the impetus, and takes another -buffet from the laboring vapor, and back it goes -again, now this way and now that, twirling with fiery -zeal those notched wheels above, and working all -those bars and rods and pistons. Not one thing of -all this complicated structure but has its purpose; not -one rivet in yonder thousands but means a month of -patient, toilsome thought and labor. Moreover, because -it is so strong and heavy, I have put the whole -upon that iron carriage, which took me a year to -forge, and those solid back wheels are locked with the -gear above, and from the axle of that front wheel two -chains run up and turn upon a cylinder, so that my -sweet one can move at such pace as yet I cannot even -think of, and guide himself—in brief, is born and consummate!”</p> - -<p>Then, presently, he turned from babbling to his -“child,” and speaking louder, with frenzied gestures, -the while he strode up and down before it, went wild -upon the wondrous things it should do. “It will not -fail, I know it! My head is fairly mazed when I forecast -all that here with this begins as possible. It -shall run, Sir,” he cried, turning rapturously to me—“and -fly, and walk, and haul, and pull, and hew wood -and draw water, and be a giant stronger than a thousand -men, and a craftsman in a hundred crafts of such -subtility and gentleness and cunning as no other master -craftsman ever was. Down, into ages not yet -formed in the void womb of the future, this knowledge -I have mastered shall extend, widening as it goes, and -men shall no longer strive or suffer; there stands the -patient beast on whose broad back another age shall -put all its burdens. There is the true winged horse -of some other time that shall mock the slow patter -of our laggard feet, and knit together the most distant -corners of the world within its giant stride. Oh! -I can see a happy age, when base material labor shall -be over, and men shall lie about and take their fill of -restfulness as they have not done since the gates of -Eden were shut upon their ancient father’s back! I -do see, down the long perspectives of the future, such -as yon achieving all things both by sea and shore, -plowing their fields for unborn peoples and drawing -nets, carrying, fetching, far and near, swift, patient, -indomitable! Ah! and winging glorious argosies—mighty -vessels such as no man dares dream of now; -vast, noble bodies inspirited each with a soul as lies -impatient yonder; and those shall plow the green -sea waves in scorn of storm and weather, pouring the -wealth of far Cathay and Ind into our ready lap, making -those things happy necessaries which now none -but some few may dare to hope for; bringing the spice -the Persian picked this morning to our doors to-morrow, -bringing the grape and olive unwithered on their -stems, bringing fair Eastern stuffs still wet from out -their dye-vats——”</p> - -<p>“Jove, old man! that moves me. I was a merchant -once. Your words do stir my blood down to the most -stagnant corner of my veins!”</p> - -<p>“—Bringing pearls from Oman still speckled with -the green sea-dew upon them, and sapphires from -rugged Ural mines still smelling of their fresh native -mother earth; bringing, in swift, tireless keels, Nova -Zemblan furs and costly feathered trophies from the -South; bringing Biafra’s hoards of ivory and Benin’s -stores of blood-red gold; bringing gems warm from -tepid sands of Arracan, and sandal-wood from seagirt -Nicobar. Ah! pouring the yellow-scented corn of -every fertile flat from Manfalout to ancient Abbasiyeh; -pouring the Tartar’s millet and the Hindu’s -rice into our hungry Western mouths; making those -rich who once were poor, and those noble who once -were only rich; benefiting both great and little—benefiting -both near and far! And I shall have done this—I, -poor Master Andrew Faulkener, a man so shabby -and so seeming mean, no one of worth or quality would -walk in the same side of the road with him!”</p> - -<p>So spoke that good fanatic, and as he stopped there -came a gentle tap upon the door, and a fair face in -the sunlight, and there was Mistress Elizabeth saying, -with a merry laugh: “Father! the cloth is laid, and -the meal is spread, and old Margery bids me add that, -if to-day’s roast is spoiled by waiting, as the last one -was, she’ll never cook capon for thee again!” and coming -down the maid laid a hand of gentle insistence -upon her father’s sleeve, and led him sighing and often -looking back up the green stone steps, I following -close behind.</p> - -<p>We crossed the sunny courtyard, entering on the -farther side the other rambling buttress-wing of that -ancient pile. Thence we went by clean white flagstoned -passages and open oaken doorways to what -was once the long servants’ dining-hall. At the near -end of the middle table of well-scrubbed boards, so -thick and heavy they might have come from the side -of some great ship, a clean white slip cloth was laid, -with high-backed chairs, one at the head for Andrew -Faulkener, and two on either side for me and her, and -lower down again were put, below the great oaken -salt-cellar, two other places. By one of these stood -Dame Margery, fair Elizabeth’s old nurse, an ancient -dame in black-velvet cap and spotless ruff and linen, -with a comely honest old country face above them, -wrinkled and colored like a rosy pippin that has mellowed -through the winter on a kitchen cornice shelf. -Such was Dame Margery, and, while she curtsied low -with folded hands, I bowed as one of my quality might -bow in respect to her ancient faithfulness. At the -other chair stood their Spanish steward, black Emanuel -Marcena. Yes, and, as you may by this time have -guessed, that steward was, in flesh and blood, none -other but the midnight visitor who had disturbed my -rest the night before. I could not doubt it. He wore -the same clothes, his swarthy, sullen face was only a -little more lifelike now in the daylight, and, if more -evidence were wanting, one finger of his left hand—that -hand that had held the bloody handkerchief—was -done up with cobwebs and linen threads. I knew -him on the instant, and stopped and stared to see my -vagrant shadow so prosaically standing there at his -dinner place, picking his yellow teeth and sniffing the -ready roast like a hungry dog. And when he saw me -he too started, for I also had been dreadful to him. -I was the exact counterpart of that amber gallant -that had strode out upon his moonlit heels and scared -him with a shout, where, no doubt, he fancied no -shouters dwelt, and now here we were face to face, -guests at the same table, surely it was strange enough -to make us stare!</p> - -<p>But, over and above the prejudice of our evening -meeting, I already distrusted and disliked Emanuel -Marcena. Why it was I do not know, but so much -is certain, if one may love, no less surely may one hate -at first sight, and as our eyes met, hatred was surely -born in his, while mine, as like as not, told through -their steady stare, of aversion and dislike. He was a -sullen, yellow fellow, lean and tall, with black, crafty -eyes set near together; a thin nose, shaped like a -vulture’s beak; a small peaked beard, and black hair -closely cropped, a crafty, cunning, cruel, ungenerous-looking -fellow, who had somehow, it afterward turned -out, grown rich as his master’s fortunes failed. He -had come into Faulkener’s service when a boy, had -flourished while he flourished, and learned a hundred -shifts of cruelty and pride from the gay company who -once were proud to call his master comrade, and now, -like the black fungus that he was, had swelled with -conceit and avarice past all conscionable proportions.</p> - -<p>Well, we exchanged grim salutations, and sat, and -the meal commenced. But all the while we ate and -talked I could not help turning to that crafty steward, -and each time I did so I found his keen, restless black -eyes wandering fugitive about among us. Now he -would glance at me over his porringer, and then a half-unconscious -scowl dropped down over those dark Cordovian -brows. Then perhaps it was the old man he -looked at, and a scarce-hid smile of contempt played -about the corners of that Southern’s mouth to hear -his master babble or answer our talk at random. -Lastly, my sleek Iberian would set his glance on sweet -country Bess as she sat at her father’s side, and then -there burned under his yellow skin such a flush of -passion, such a shine of sickly love and aspiration as -needed no interpreting, and made me frown—small -as my stake was in that game I saw was playing—as -black as inky night. But what did it matter to me -who picked that English blossom? Why should she -not lie on that mean Spanish bosom forever if she -would?—’twas less than nothing to me, who would so -soon pass on to other ventures—and yet no man was -ever born who was not jealous, and, remembering how -we had met, how sweet she was and simple, what native -courtesy gilded her country manners, what music -there was in her voice, and how black that villain -looked beside her, I, in spite of myself, resented the -first knowledge of the love he bore as keenly as though -I had myself a right to her.</p> - -<p>Pious, sanctimonious Emanuel Marcena! He stood -up saying his grace for meat long after all of us were -seated, and crossed his doublet a score of times ere -he fell on the viands like a hungry pike. And he was -cruel too. A little thing may show how big things -go. He caught a fly while we waited between two -courses, and, thinking himself unnoticed, held it a -moment nicely between his lean, long fingers, then, -drawing a straight fine pin from his sleeve, slowly -thrust it through the body of that buzzing thing. He -stuck the pin up before him, by his pewter mug, and -watched with lowering pleasure his victim gyrate. -That amused him much, and when the creature’s pain -was reduced to numbness he neatly tore one prismatic -wing from off its shoulder, and smiled a sour smile -to watch how that awoke it. Then, presently, the -other wing was wrenched palpitating from the damp -and quivering socket, and the victim spun round upon -the iron stake that pierced its body. And all this -under cover of his dinner-mug, ingenious, light-fingered -Emanuel Marcena!</p> - -<p>Such was the steward of that curious household. -Over against him sat the excellent old country dame, -whose mind wandered no further than to speculate -upon the price of eggs next market-day, or how her -bleaching linen fared; above was the wise-mad scholar, -bent and visionary; and by him, ruddy in her country -beauty, that wild hedge-rose of his. And as I looked -from one to other, and thought of what I was and had -been, all seemed strange, unreal, fantastic, and I could -only wait with dull patience for what fortune might -have next in store.</p> - -<p>It was a pleasant, peaceful place, that manor hall! -When we had finished our midday meal, and the servitors -had gone to their duties, Master Faulkener said a -walk in the green fields might do him good—he would -go out and take the country air. It was a wise resolve, -and he made a show of carrying it through, but he had -not crossed the courtyard toward the sunny meadows -when he got a sniff of his own smoldering furnace -fires. That was too much for him. The scholar’s -rustic resolution melted, and, glancing fugitively behind, -we saw him presently steal away toward his -cellar, and then drop down the stairs, and bar the -door, and soon the curling smoke and dancing sparks -told that wondrous thing of his was growing once -again.</p> - -<p>Thus I and the maid were left alone, and for a little -space we stood silent by the diamond-latticed window, -scarce knowing what to say—I looking down upon -that virgin bosom, so smoothly heaving under its veil -of country lawn, she thinking I know not what, but -pulling a leaf or two to pieces from her window vine. -And so we stood for a time, until the lady broke the -silence by asking if I would wish to see the house and -gardens with her? It was a good suggestion and a -comely guide, so we set out at once.</p> - -<p>She led me first back through her garden again, -naming every flower and bush by country names as -we went along, and this brought us to the empty -house-front, which we entered. She took me from -room to room, and dusty corridor to corridor, chatting -and laughing all the way, talking of great kinsmen, -and noble, fickle guests who once had called her father -friend—all with such a light, contented heart it -sounded more like fairy story than stern material fact. -Then that tripping guide showed me the one door I -had not found, which led through into the rearward -house. Here, again, I told her of how I had hunted -in vain for such a passage, and she laughed until those -ancient corridors resounded to her glee. This door -admitted to another region, which we entered, and -soon Elizabeth led on down a dusty flight of twilight -wooden stairs, until a portal studded with iron barred -our way. At this, putting a finger to her mouth in -mysterious manner, the damsel asked if I dared enter, -to which my answer was that, with sword in hand, and -her to watch, I would not hesitate to prise the gates of -hell; so we pulled the heavy sullen bolts, and the door -turned slowly on its hinges. There before us was displayed -a long, dusty corridor, lit by high narrow cobwebbed -lattice windows down one side, and dim with -moss and stain of wind and weather. From end to -end of that soundless vestibule were stacked and piled -and hung such mighty stores of various lumber, rare, -curious, dreadful, as never surely were brought together -before.</p> - -<p>It was Andrew Faulkener’s museum-room—the -place where he put by all the strange shreds of life -and death he collected when the scholar’s fervor was -upon him, and now, as his sweet daughter laid one -finger on my arm and softly bid me listen, directly -down below and under us we heard him hammering -at his forge.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Sir,” began that maid, whispering in my ear -and sweeping her expressive arm round in the direction -of those mounds and shelves, “did ever child have -such a father? This is the one room that is forbidden -me, and it is the one room of our hundreds that I take -the most fearful pleasure in. I do wrong to show it, -and, indeed, I had not brought you here but that -something tells me you are good comrade, true and -silent both in great and little. Therefore step lightly -and speak small: there is nothing in all the world that -stirs my father’s choler but this—to hear a vagrant -foot overhead among his treasures.”</p> - -<p>Softly, therefore, as any midnight thieves we trod -the dust-carpeted floor, and now here, now there, the -damsel led me. Now it was at one oriel recess where -stood a black oak table and open chests piled with -vellum books, all clasped and bound with gold and -iron, that we paused. And I opened some of those -great tomes, and read, in Norman-Latin, or old Frankish-French, -the misty record of those things of long-ago -that once had been so new to me. I spelled out -how the monkish scribe was stumbling through a passage -of that diary that I had seen Cæsar write—saw -him repeat, as visionary and incredible, in quaint and -crabbed cloister scrawl, the story of the Saxon coming, -and how King Harold died. I turned to another -book, a little newer, and read, ’mid gorgeous uncials, -the story of that remote fight above Crecy, “when -good King Edward, with a scanty band of liegemen, -was matched against two hundred thousand French -abou ye ville of Crecy, and by the Grace of God withstood -them upon an August day”—and I could have -read on and on without stop or pause down those -musty memory-rousing pages but for the gentle interrupter -at my side, who laughed to see me so engrossed, -and shut the covers to, little knowing of the -thoughts that I was thinking, and took me on again.</p> - -<p>Then she would halt at a pile of splendid stuffs, -half heaped upon the floor, half nailed against the -wall, the hangings of courtly rooms and thrones; and, -as her sympathetic female fingers spread out the folds -of all those ruined webs, I read again upon them, in -tarnished gold and filigree, in silken stitching and patient, -cunning embroidery, more stories of old Kings -and Queens I once was comrade to. On again, to -piles and racks of weapons of every age and time: -all these I knew, and poised the javelin some Saxon -hand had borne in war, and shook, like a dry reed, -the long Norman spear, and whirled a rusty pirate -scimitar above my head until it hummed again an old -forgotten tune of blood and lust and pillage, and, with -a stifled shriek, the frightened girl cowered from me.</p> - -<p>Oh! a very curious treasure-house indeed! And here -the scholar had laid up skins and furs of animals, and -there horns and hoofs and talons. Here, grim, melancholy, -great birds were standing as though in life, -and crumbling, as they waited, with neglect and age. -There, in a twilight corner, glimmered the green -glassy eyes of an old Thebeian crocodile, and there -the shining ivory jaws of monstrous fishes, with warty -hides of toads, and shriveled forms of small beasts -dried in the kiln of long-silent ages, and now black, -shrunken, and ghastly. On the walls were pendent -enough simples and electrices to stock twenty witches’ -dens, enough mandrake, hellebore, blue monkshood, -purple-tinted nightshade to unpeople half a shire; and -along by them were withered twigs and leaves would -banish every kind of rheum; samples of wondrous -shrubs and roots, all neatly docketed, would cure a -wife of scolding or a war-horse of a sprain, would cure -an adder’s bite, or by the same physic mend a broken -limb; ah, and bring you certain luck in peace and war, -or light, all out of the same virtue, the fires of love in -icy, virgin bosoms.</p> - -<p>In that quaint ante-room, dimly illumined by its cobwebbed -windows, were astrolabes and hemispheres -from the cabin poops of sunken merchantmen; charts -whereon great beasts shared with pictured savages -whole continents of land, and dolphins and whales -did sport where seas ran out into unknown vagueness. -There were models of harmless things of foreign art -and commerce, and cruel iron jaws and wheels with -bloody spikes or beaks for breaking bones or tearing -flesh, and teaching the ways of fair civility to heretics. -That old man had got together twenty images of Baal -from as many lands, and half a hundred bits of divers -saints. Here, tied with the strand of the rope that -hanged him, was the skin of a dead felon, and near -was the true shirt of a martyr whom the Church had -canonized a thousand years before. In some way, too, -the scholar had possessed him of a Pharaoh still swaddled -with his Memphian robes, and there he was -propped up against the wall, that kingly ash with -mouth locked tight, whose lightest whisper once had -made or marred in every court or camp from dusty -Ababdah to green Euphrates, and brows set rigid, -whose frown had once cost twenty thousand lives, -made twenty thousand wives to widows, and eyes shut -fast that seemed still to dream of shadowy empery—of -golden afternoons in golden ages—a most ancient, -a most curious fellow, and I stared hard at him, feeling -wondrous neighborly.</p> - -<p>But I cannot tell all there was in that strange place. -From end to end it was stocked with learned lumber; -from end to end my sweet guide led me, pointing, -whispering, and shuddering, all on tiptoe and in -silence; and then, ere I was nearly satisfied, or had -sampled one-quarter of that dusty treasure-hall, she -led me through a little wicket, down twenty stairs, and -so once more into the fresh open air.</p> - -<p>“There, Sir,” she said, “now I have laid bare my -father’s riches to you. Is it not a wonderful corridor? -Oh! what a full place the world must be, if one man -can gather so much strange of it!”</p> - -<p>I told her that indeed it was and had been full, right -back into the illimitable, of those hopes and fancies -to which all yonder shreds did hint of; and thus talking, -I of infinite experience watching the sweet wonder -and vague speculation dawning in those unruffled -child-eyes of hers, we sauntered about the gardens -and pleasant paths, and spent a sunny afternoon in her -ambient fields.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII</h2> -</div> - -<p>He who has not left something sad behind him, and -reawoke in the sunshine to feel the golden elixir of -health and happiness moving in his veins anew, may -take it that he has at least one pleasure yet unspent.</p> - -<p>I opened my eyes the next morning in as sweet a -frame of contentment as any one could wish for. They -had put me to sleep in a chamber in that same wing -of the rearward buildings where slept Elizabeth and -her father; thus, when I roused, the yellow sun was -pouring in at my lattice, rich with sweet country -scents, and the April air was swaying the white curtains, -hung by dainty female hands across the diamond -panes, with youth and sweetness in every -breath. I lay and basked in it, and lazily wondered -what all this changing fortune might mean. Where -had I got to? Who was I? I turned about and stared -upon the smooth white walls of the little room, patterned -and tinseled with the dancing sunshine from -outside, then gazed at the great carved columns of my -four-post bedstead, then to the head, where, in a wide -wooden field, were blazoned old Faulkener’s arms and -cognizance. I turned to all the chairs, dusted so clean -and set back true and straight, to the ewer and the -basin, full of limpid water from the well that caught -the morning shine and threw a dancing constellation -of speckled light upon the ceiling; I wondered even at -the bare floor, scrubbed until there was no spot upon -it, and the snowy furniture of my couch and those -downy pillows upon which I presently sank back in -luxurious indolence.</p> - -<p>Was I indeed that rude, rough captain of a grizzled -cohort, with sinews of steel and frame impervious to -the soft touch of pleasure, who only yesterday had -burst through all the glittering phalanxes of France, -and cut a way with that arm that lay supine upon the -coverlet right down through the thickets of their -spears to where the white fleur de lys flashed in their -midmost shelter? Could I be that same wanderer -who, down the devious ways of chance, had tried -a thousand ventures, and slept in palaces and -ditches, and drank from the same cup with kings and -the same trough with outlaws? I laughed and -stretched, and presently gave over speculating, and -rose.</p> - -<p>I washed and dressed, and went to the lattice, and -looked forth. It was as sweet a morning as you could -wish for. The tepid sunshine spread over everything, -fleecy clouds were floating overhead upon the softest -of winds, the sweet new-varnished leaves were glittering -in the dew upon every bush, the small birds singing -far and near, the kine lowing as they went to -grass, the distant cock crowed proudly from his vantage-point -among the straw, and everything seemed -fair, fresh, and happy in that budding season.</p> - -<p>I had not been luxuriating in that sweet leisure -many minutes when by below came Mistress Bess, -with cheeks like roses, and kerchief whiter than snow, -and brown unstranded hair that lifted on the breeze—a -very fair vision indeed. That maid tripped across -the grass and down the cobblestones, rattling the -shiny milk-pan she was carrying until she caught a -sight of me, and stopped below my window. Then, -saucy, she began: “How looks the world from there, -Sir? A little too young and chilly for your tenderness? -Get back abed, it will presently be June, and -then, no doubt, more nicely suited to your valor’s -mind.”</p> - -<p>“Nay, but lady,” I explained, “I was enjoying the -morning air, and just coming to seek you——”</p> - -<p>“That were a thousand pities,” she laughed, “the -sun has not yet been up more than some poor hour or -two and the world is not yet nicely warmed; you might -have a chill, and that were much to be deplored; besides, -a silken suit is rarely needed where work has -to be done. Back to thy nest, Sir ’Prentice! Back to -thy nest, and I’ll send old Margery to tuck thee snugly -up!” And the young girl, laughing like a brook in -springtime, went on and left me there discomfited.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, I went down and took the plain but -wholesome breakfast that they offered me, and afterward -whiled away an hour or so upon the bench in -wondering silently what all this meant, where it was -drifting to, how it would end, whether it were, indeed, -ending or beginning. And then came round the girl -again, and, railing me on my melancholy, took me out -to see the herds and fields, and was all the time so -sweetly insolent, after her nature, and yet so velvet -soft, that I was fairly glamoured by her.</p> - -<p>This maid, with the quick woman tongue, that was -so pointed, and could at need hurt so much, and the -blue, speaking eyes that were as tender and straightforward -as her speech was full of covert thorns, led -me out into the orchards. First she took me to where -the milk was stored, a roomy open shed, smelling of -cool cleanliness, with white benches down the sides -and red-flagged floor, and great open pans of crimson -ware full of frothy milk. Outside the low straw eaves -the swallows were chattering, while the emerald -meadows, through the farther doorway, glistened and -gleamed in the bright spring sunshine. Here we discovered -two country girls at work making curds and -cheese and butter; ruddy, buxom damsels with strong -round arms bare to the shoulder, with rattling clogs -upon their feet, white gowns tucked up, and kerchiefs -on their heads. These curtsied as we entered, and -rattled the pans about, and sent the strong streams -of warm new milk gushing from pail to pan. And -then presently, when I had watched a time their busy -labor, nothing would suit Mistress Faulkener but I -should try! That saucy, laughing girl would have it -so! and, glancing at the delighted milkmaids, dragged -me to a churn, there bidding me roll a sleeve to the -elbow, and take the long handle thus, and thus, and -“put my strength into it,” and show I could do something -to earn a luncheon. And I, ever strong and -willing, did her bidding, and rolled back my silk and -lawn, and bared the thews that had made me dreadful -and victorious in a thousand combats, and seized that -white straight rod. But, Hoth! ’twas not my trade, -I had more strength than art, and the first stroke that -I made upon the curdling stuff within the white fluid -leaped in a glittering fountain to the roof above and -drenched the screaming maidens; the second stroke -from my stalwart shoulders started two iron hoops -binding the strong ash ribs of that churn and made -it swirl upon the tiles, while at the third mighty fall -the rammer was shivered to the grasp, and the milk -escaped and went in twenty meandering rivulets -across the floor! At this uprose those fair confederates -and drove me forth with boisterous anger, saying -I had wasted more value in good milk than most likely -all my life so far had earned.</p> - -<p>While they put right my amiss I sat upon a mossy -wall and wiped dry my hose and doublet. Nor was -there long to sit before out came my comely hostess -with forgiveness in her smiling eyes. “Did I now see,” -she queried, “how presumptuous it was to meddle with -such things as were beyond one’s capacity?”</p> - -<p>To which I answered that I truly saw. “And did I -crave forgiveness—would I make amends?” And to -that I said she had but to try me in some venture -where my rough, unruly strength might tell, and she -should see. So peace was made between us, and on -we went again to note how the crimson buds were setting -on the sunny, red garden walls; to explore her -sloping orchards, and count the frolic lambs that clustered -round the distant folds.</p> - -<p>It was her kingdom, and here her knowledge bettered -mine. This she soon found out; and when I -showed at fault in the stratagems of husbandry, or -tripped in politics of herds or flocks, she would glance -at me through her half-shut lids, and demurely ask:</p> - -<p>“Are you of good learning, friend?”</p> - -<p>And to that I answered that “I had so much as -might be picked up in a reasonably long life—not -scholarly or well polished, but sufficient and readily -accessible.”</p> - -<p>“I am glad of it,” she said; “then you can tell the -difference between a codling and a pippin?”</p> - -<p>“Nay, I fear I cannot.”</p> - -<p>“Oh! Nor why one hen will lay white eggs and -another brown?”</p> - -<p>“Sweet maid, my wonder never went as far as -that!”</p> - -<p>“I do greatly doubt you and your wonder! What -would you do if butter would not come upon the churn -milk?”</p> - -<p>“Faith! I would leave it as not worth asking for—a -poor, white, laggard stuff no man should meddle -with.”</p> - -<p>“Heigho! and what is rosemary good for, and what -rue?”</p> - -<p>“By Heaven, I do not know.”</p> - -<p>“How soon mayst wean a February lamb, and what -wouldst thou wean it on?”</p> - -<p>“Hoth! I cannot tell!”</p> - -<p>“Nor when to cut meadow grass or make ketchup? -Nor how to cure bee-stings or where to look for saffron? -Nor when to plant green barley or pull rushes -for winter candles?”</p> - -<p>“Not one of these; but if you would show me, such -a tutor such a pupil never would have had——”</p> - -<p>Whereon the lady burst out laughing. “Oh,” she -said, “you are shallow and ignorant past all conception -and precedent. Why, the rosiest urchin that ever -went afield upon a plow-horse has better stock of -learning! In faith, I shall have to put you to school -at the very beginning!”</p> - -<p>I let the fair maid mock, for her gentle raillery was -all upon her lips, and in her eyes was dawning a light -it moved me much to see. We wandered away through -pleasant copses, where the yellow catkins and the red -were out upon the hazels, and late ivory blackthorn -buds, like webs of pearls, were overhung upon those -ebony-fingered bushes, and fair pale primroses shone -in starry carpets under the fresh green canopy of the -new-tented woods. And my fair Bess knew where the -mavis built; and when I began to speak warm, and -close into her ear, she would turn away her head and -laugh, and, to change the matter, play traitor to the -little birds and point their mossy home, and make -me stoop and peer under the leaves, and in pretty excitement—but -was it all absent-mindedly?—would lay -a hand upon my own and be cheek to cheek with me -for a moment, and then, with country pleasure, take -the sapphire shells of future woodland singers in her -rosy palm, and count and con them, and post me in -the lore of spots and specks and hues and colors, and -all the fair, incomprehensible alchemy of nature—then -put those tender things back, and lead on again -to more.</p> - -<p>Pleasant is the sunshine in such circumstances! -Fair Elizabeth knew all the flowers by name. She -knew where the gorgeous celandine, like bright-blazoned -heralds of the spring, was flashing down by -the stream that ran sparkling through the woods; the -underglow upon the frail anemone was not fairer than -her English skin, as she did bind a bunch into her -bosom-knot. She could tell the reasons of affinity between -cuckoo-pint and cuckoo, and how it was that -orchid-leaves came spotted, and the virtue of the blue-eyed -pimpernels, and why the gently rasping tongues -of the great meadow kine forswore the nodding -clumps of buttercup. And she liked cowslips and -made me pick them—ah! swarthy, strong, and sad-eyed -me—me, with the wild alarums of battle still -ringing in the ambient country air—me, to whose eyes -the fleecy clouds, even as she babbled, were full of -pictures of purple ambition, of red mêlée, of the sweeping -yellow war-dust that canopies contending hosts—me, -who heard on every sigh of the valley wind the -shouting of princes and paladins, the fierce deep cry of -captains and the struggling cheer that breaks from -swinging ranks fast locked in deadly conflict as the -foemen give.</p> - -<p>But nothing she knew of that, and would lead from -cowslip-banks back to coppice, and from coppice-path -to orchard, and there mayhap, in the eye of the sun, -secure from interruption we would sit—she meetly -throned upon the great stem of a fallen apple-tree, -whose rind was tapestried betimes for that dear country -sovereign by green moss and tissued gold and silver -lichens, and overhead the leaves, and at her feet -the velvet cushions of the turf, and me a solitary courtier -there.</p> - -<p>A very pleasant wooing—and if you call me fickle, -why should I argue it? Think of the vast years that -lapsed between my lovings; think how solitary was -the lovely, loveless world I was born into anew each -time; think how I longed to light it with the comradeship -that shines in dear eyes and hearts, how I -thirsted to prejudice some sweet stranger to my favor -against all others, and claim again kinship of passion -for a moment with one, at least, of those dear, fickle, -mocking shadows that glanced through this fitful -dream of mine!</p> - -<p>Besides, I was young—only some trivial fifteen hundred -years or so had gone by since they first swaddled -me and dried my mother’s tears—my limbs were full -and round, my blood beat thick and fast, youth and -soldier spirit shone in my undimmed eyes; not a strand -of silver glanced in that beard I peaked so carefully; -and if my mind was full of ancient fancies—ah! -crowded with the dust and glitter of bygone ages -fuller than yonder old fellow’s strange museum—why, -my heart was fresh. Jove! I think it was as young -as it had ever been; and that maid was fair and rosy, -and kind and tender. All in the glow of her hat-brim -her face shone like the ripe side of a peach; her smooth -hands hung down convenient to my touch, and her -head, crowned with its sweet crown of sunlit hair, was -ever bent indulgent to catch my courtier whispers. -What? I argued, shall the river play with no more -blossoms because last year its envious fingers shook -some petals down into its depth? Must the lonely -hill forever frown in solitude and put by the white -mist’s clinging arms, because, forsooth, some other -earlier cloud once harbored on its rugged bosom? -’Twas miserly and monstrous, said my youthfulness. -So, nothing forgetting and nothing diminishing of -those memories that I had, I plunged into the new.</p> - -<p>And that kind country girl played Phyllis to my -new-tried Corydon as prettily as any one could wish. -I will not weary you with all we did or said—the -murmur of a summer brook is only good to go to -sleep by—but picture us immersed in solitary conclave, -or wandering about in the sweet green math of -April meadows and finding the long days some six -hours all too short to say the nothing that we had to. -Suppose this written, and I turn to other scenes which, -perhaps, shall amuse you better.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It by no means followed that because Mistress Elizabeth -proved so charming, her father was neglected. -That old fellow had taken me for his helper, had fed -and harbored me, and something seemed owing him in -return. His huge and bulky engine was growing -apace; indeed, it was just upon the finishing. It was -that my strong arms might second him in some final -parts he had brought me hither, and, being by nature -something of a smith, I helped him readily.</p> - -<p>Each day was spent in the sunshine and flowers, -then, when evening came and my fair playmate was -gone to bed, I descended into old Faulkener’s crypt, -and, adding one more character to the many already -played, turned Vulcan. Hard and long we worked. -Had you looked upon us, you would have seen, by the -sullen furnace glow, two men, bare-armed and leather-aproned, -toiling in that black gallery until the sweat -ran trickling from them; forging, riveting, and hammering -bars of iron, plying the creaking bellows until -the white heart of the fire-heap was whiter than a -glowworm-lamp; hurrying here and there about that -glistening mountain of cunning-fashioned steel that -they were building; filling their grimy den with flying -dust and smoke and sparks; and thus working on and -on through the long midnight hours as though their -very lives depended on it, until the black curtain of -the night outside faded to pallid blue, and the chirrup -of the homing bats coming to sleep upon the rafters -sounded pleasantly; and the furnace gave out, and -tired muscles flagged, and the night’s work was over -with the night!</p> - -<p>Evening after evening we toiled upon the iron giant -that was to do such wondrous things, old Faulkener -directing, and I supplying with my thews and sinews -the help he needed. Then one day it was finished—finished -in every point and part—complete, gigantic, -wonderful! I do confess something of the old man’s -spirit entered into me when our work was thus accomplished. -I stood minute by minute before it overcome -with an awe and wonder inexplicable. And if the -’prentice felt like that, the master was mad with -expectation and delight. Nothing now would do but -he must try it, and the next night we did so. We sent -the household early to their rest, and, as soon as it -was dark, I, carrying a spluttering torch, and Faulkener -the great cellar key, stole like thieves across the -cobbled courtyard to our workshop. The scholar’s -fingers trembled till he scarce could fit the key into the -wards, but presently the door was opened, and we -entered.</p> - -<p>“No strangers trespass here to-night,” the old man -chuckled, while he closed and double-locked the iron-studded -door, and put the key into his belt and the -torch into a socket.</p> - -<p>Well, all agog with excitement, we lit the fires in -the iron stomach of that finished monster; we filled -his gullet with kegs of water, slewed his guiding-wheels -round, laid heavy, sloping oaken planks for his -highness to leave his birthplace by, set back the litter, -and, lastly, turned the tap that brought the fire and -water together, and put the blood of that iron beast -in motion. He came down from off the pedestal for -all the world like some black Gorgon issuing from a -den! Resplendent in weight and strength, he came -sliding down from off the platform of his cradle, and -amid the crash of struts and stays, amid flying splinters -and the dust of transit, rolled out majestic into the -red furnace light; where, trembling in every fiber, and -gently swaying like a young giant feeling his strength -for the first time, with the strong breath within murmuring, -and the great steel heart pulsating audibly, -our iron toy was born and launched, and came forth -magnificent, huge, overpowering—then, checked by its -anchor-chains, swerving round to face the farther end, -and halted.</p> - -<p>Old Faulkener was possessed with joy, dancing and -capering round that huge carcass as though he were -a ten-years’ urchin, his white beard all astream, his -elfin locks shaggy on his head, his black venerable -robes flapping like the wings of a great bat, his hands -clasped fervidly as he leaped and skipped with pleasure, -and his lips moving rapidly as he babbled incoherent -adulation and love upon that firstling of his -hopes. Even I, grave and thoughtful, was elated, -and walked round and round the wondrous thing, patting -its iron sides as one might a charger’s just led -from stall, while, half in wonder and half in pleasure, -catching a fraction of the old man’s fancies. So far -everything had happened as we wished for, and -Faulkener, when he could get his breath, burst out in -wild rhapsodies of all his bantling should do, and I put -in a sentence here and there amid his pæans; and then -he capped on a hope, and I again a fancy, and so, nodding -and laughing to each other, we bandied words -across that carcass for twenty minutes, and felt its -sinews, and marveled at its tractableness and grace.</p> - -<p>And what was our sweet Cyclops doing all that -while? Oh! we were young in mechanics; and all the -time we talked and capered the glowing fires were -working in that body, and presently the wheels began -to ramble and the bars to move; strange dull thunder -came fitfully from under those steel ribs, and quaint, -unaccountable knockings sounded deep within; the -furnace glowed white and hot as angry jets of steam -commenced to spit from every weak point in the monster’s -harness. All this I noticed and pointed out to -the master; but he was stupid with gratification in -that moment of consummated labor, and now our vast -machine began to fret! It was impatient, I saw with a -presage of coming evil, and the great circles above -began to grit their iron teeth and spin like distaff -wheels under a busy housewife’s hand, the pistons -were shooting to and fro faster and ever faster, while -that fifty tons of metal, glowing hot, now began to -yank hungrily upon its chains, and start forward a -foot and then come back, and sniff and snort and tremble, -and strain in every part, and thunder and pant as -the hot life surged stronger and stronger into its veins, -until it was rocking like a skiff at anchor, and bellowing -like a bull in agony.</p> - -<p>“By every saint, old Andrew Faulkener!” I shouted -through the gathering roar—“by every saint in Paradise, -have a care for this frightful beast of thine!”</p> - -<p>And I think he saw at last our danger, for the hundredth -rhapsody died unfinished upon his lips, and, -dropping from the clouds at once, with an anxious -look, he scanned the now flying wonders of his offspring, -and then ran round and seized the handle -which should have shut off the red-hot vapor which -was the breath and being of the puissant thing he had -conjured into being. Twice and thrice he bore upon -that handle, then turned to me with a wild and frightened -look. ’Twas as hot as hot could be, and could -not move an inch! Hardly had I read that in his face, -when with an angry plunge the engine started forward, -and the philosopher missed his footing, rolling -over headlong to the ground at my feet. And now -our beast was mad with waiting, and stronger than -fifty elephants, and fiercer than the nettled lion. The -chains that held him upon either side were as thick -as a man’s arm, being fastened to mighty staples in -the forge. Our swaddling came back two yards upon -those chains—then started forward, and was brought -up all on a sudden with such a jerk as made the -ground tremble, and filled us with a sickly dread. -Back came our splendid plaything again in no good -mood, and then forward once more, putting his mighty -shoulders against his bonds until the great steel -chains stretched and groaned beneath the strain, and -Andrew Faulkener yelled in fear. The third time the -monster did this the staples gave, and all the forge -fell into one dusty smoking ruin, while the great engine -twirled up those heavy chains upon its thundering -axles, and, laughing in savage joyfulness, recognized -the fatal fact that it was free!</p> - -<p>Then began a wild scene of chaos which brings the -dampness of fear and exertion on my forehead even -to remember. What mattered chains or bars or fetters -to that splendid life that we could hear humming -there under those iron ribs?—to that unruly devil-heart -which knew its strength, and thundered in proud -tumultuous rhythm to the consciousness? The wonderful -new Titan was born, and there in his own den, -in the black cradle of his nativity, would brook no -master—he was born for strength and might, and, -Hoth! they were running hot within him, and we -could but cower in the shadows waiting and watching.</p> - -<p>And now that hideous monster, being free to do -what he listed, set off for the far end of the stony -cellar, and, like a great black ship floundering in a -chopping sea, went plunging and reeling over the uneven -floor. We held our breath. What would he -do when he reached the end? And in a minute he was -there, and through the gloom we heard him crash -into the rocky walls and recoil; then, with a scream -like an angry devil-baby, charge the native masonry -again and again. But Faulkener’s wretched cunning -had put the guiding-wheels on pivots, and now they -slewed, and here he was coming down the walls -toward us.</p> - -<p>We did not stop or wait to parley. We ran and -dodged behind the pillars, whence we heard him thud -into the broken forge—ay, through the reek and -cloudy steam we caught the sound of that fifty tons -of metal clambering over the fallen masonry, all the -time screeching in his anger like a peevish Fury at -being so thwarted; then back we dodged again, and -the huge thing went lumbering by us full of a horrid -giant life no valor availed against, no mortal hands -could shackle.</p> - -<p>The more he beat about the bounds of that narrow -infernal kingdom, the less our Cyclops seemed to like -it. His rage mounted at each turn he made and -found his prison-cell so narrow, and every rebuff -swelled his budding choler. Therefore, seeing how -hopeless it was to strive to tame him in this present -mood, I waited till Cyclops was exploring at the bottom -of the hall; then, plunging through the dusty turmoil, -found old Faulkener. That gray inventor was -reeling like a drunken man, and witless with terror.</p> - -<p>“The key—the key!” I shouted in his ear. “To the -door! We can do no good here. Let your infernal -beast burn out some of his accursed spleen—then we’ll -make a shift to tame him. But ’tis no good now! -Hear how he thunders! And—see—he is coming back -again!”</p> - -<p>“Ah, the door, good friend, the door!” gasped Faulkener; -and, clinging to my arm, hotly pursued by the -monster behind—whose red-hot madness now seemed -tinged with cruel purpose—we fled down the long -black cavern to the iron-studded postern. There was -not a second to spare: the old man plunged his trembling -hands into his belt and felt all round it, then -turned to me with a horrid stare in his eyes and a -sickly smile upon his thin white lips—the key was -gone!</p> - -<p>I dragged that old man back just as the great engine—ramping -hot—lurched down and cut a long smoking -groove half a foot deep from the rocky wall whereby -we had been standing, then, disappointed of us, went -howling on into the blackness. And now there was -nothing to do but to stay and fight it out, no exit for -us, and none for our sweet bantling, and he seemed -to know it! Round and round he drove us through -the flickering gloom and shadows of that dismal cockpit, -till the gushing sweat ran from us, and our choking -breath came short and panting through our parching -throats. Oh! it was a sight to see that shrieking -monster, spurting steam at every joint and howling -like a pack of winter wolves, come careering through -the darkness at us, with every plate of his mighty harness -quivering with the force within, and all his thundering -vitals glowing white and spawning golden -trails of molten embers as he lurched along. Down -I would see him come, perhaps, hunting something in -savage mood, and as I dodged behind a pillar and -looked, out of the vortex of the shadows would leap old -Andrew Faulkener, as a leveret leaps from the ferns -under a lurcher’s nose, and, with ashy wild face, and -flying wizard locks, and ragged sorrel cloak flapping -in shreds behind him, the master would flash in frenzied -fear across the glow that shimmered from the -heart of his young Titan, and then be swallowed up -again by the next friendly blackness, and I scarce dare -breathe as, with a hideous parody of vindictive cunning, -that great thing would swirl and swerve, and be -after him again!</p> - -<p>It was a wild, wonderful game, and the longer it -went the hotter it grew. Closer, denser, and blacker -grew the gloom of that place, until at length you could -not see an arm’s-stretch ahead of you in the sulphurous -reek—a hot, steamy pall of dismal vapor, through -which glimmered redly, now and then, the ashes of -the overturned furnace place, and the rosin-dripping -splutter of the feeble torch which we had put into the -socket by the door. Ah! that was all we had to light -us as we crawled and leaped and dodged before the -vengeful fury of that screaming harpy of ours—all -but his own red copper glow that flamed now here, -now there, on the black horizon of our den. Darker -and still darker and hotter became the air, until at -last—in half an hour perhaps—the torch and the furnace -ashes were sickly stars, too pallid to light our -merriment to any purpose, and even the glow of Faulkener’s -great invention was a red-hot haze, only illumining -the seething dust and smoke a yard or two -about it, and everywhere else reigned black, choking, -Stygian, infernal darkness.</p> - -<p>A blank midnight void hung about the arena where -we danced to that great being—sprung like a black -Minerva from my master’s over-fertile brain. Yet, -Jove! ’twas midnight dark, but there was no midnight -stillness in it. The very air seemed palpitating to -the thunderous beat of that beast’s mighty life—every -hollow cavern-niche in our rocky walls bellowed into -our startled ears a hideous mockery of his screeching; -while the ceaseless roar of his cruel stride rattled -down the ragged juts of our stony roof like dislocated -thunder. And in that darkness and ear-splitting din -we dodged and dipped and scuttled like two cornered -rats. I have been brave—by this time I hope you -know it—but what was mortal strength or valor -against the strength and recklessness of that iron -god? No, he had the upper hand, and screamed for -blood like the devil that he was, pressing us with such -fury that my very soul seemed oozing through my -sweating skin. As for dignity—gods! I had none! -At one moment I and Faulkener would be struggling -for a narrow passage like two hoggets in a meadow -gate; then I was anon crawling on hands and satin -knees through pools half a foot deep with filthy furnace-water, -or straddling greasy heaps of brash and -ashes with the beast close behind to fire my flagging -spirits, spurting flame and scalding steam, and crunching -with his ponderous weight through the iron litter -of the den as though it were an August stubble.</p> - -<p>And this was not all. Being so dark, as I have -said, presently that iron monster, inspirited with the -soul of a Fury, found it more and more difficult to follow -us, and went reeling and bellowing through the -steamy blackness ever more at random. Thereon he -stopped a spell and seemed to listen, and, though we -could only tell his whereabouts by the great fiery -nebulæ of his glowing sides, we could plainly hear his -thousand steel teeth champing, and the gush of the -boiling force flying within him. We held our breath, -and then we heard something change in the machinery—some -pin or rivet fail—and the next minute Faulkener’s -baby was off again with a scream like a lost -spirit and possessed of a cursed, brand-new idea. I -have said the chains wherewith he had been held to -the forge were fastened to great revolving bars upon -his side. When he burst free he had torn these from -the solid masonry and wound them up upon the spinning -axles, whereto by some misguided cunning -Faulkener had welded them. And now that devil was -ramping round to find us in the void, and had unwound -those hideous flails, and with infernal patience -was beating down one wall and up the other. Oh! it -was sickly to hear the screech of those steel whips -sweeping unseen through the startled air, to hear -them thud upon the trembling ground and cut deep -furrows in it at every savage lash—now here, now -there, flogging the frightened shadows and scourging -the trembling rocks, and whistling overhead like a -thousand winged snakes—and all for us!—while that -great babe of my master’s hunted slowly round about -our narrow prison, and thundered and howled and -rattled like a tempest in a mountain pass, and, as -though he were some great monster in a deep sea -cave, shot out and drew in those humming tentacles, -and tried each nook and corner, and squirted steam -and fire into every crevice, and plied his cruel whips -madly about in that darkness till ’twas all like Pandemonium.</p> - -<p>Well, I will say no more, or you may think I wrap -sober fact in that mantle of fancy which the gods -have lent me. We had dodged and ducked at this -game for many minutes when Faulkener’s mind gave -way! I chanced upon him in the middle space, laughing -and screaming and taking off his cloak and vest. -He saw me stalk from the shadows, and, with a frightful -grin and caper, shouted that he knew what was the -matter—“his pretty firstling needed a bloody sacrifice, -and who could provide it better than himself?” Just -then the engine turned and came looming through the -mist toward us, and the old enthusiast made ready -to cast himself under those mighty wheels.</p> - -<p>“Come back!” I shouted, “come back!” But Faulkener -yelled: “Touch me at your peril, the sweet one -must not be balked!” And made toward it.</p> - -<p>I seized him by the arm and dragged him to one -side, whereat, without further parley, like a furious -wild cat, he turned, and in a twinkling had me by the -throat, with those old talons of his deep buried in -my gullet, and his long, lean legs twirled round mine -like thongs of leather, and his mad eyes flashing, his -white face lit up with maniac passion; and so we -heaved and struggled, then down upon our knees, and -over and over upon the floor, the old man striving all -he knew to kill me; while I, for my part, heaved and -wrenched—all my splendid strength cramped up in -the wild grip of that sinewy old recluse—and over us, -as we fought upon the earth, was glimmering in a -minute the red-copper glow, the towering form, and -the cruel, shrieking flails of that exulting demon we -had invented!</p> - -<p>We rolled and plunged in the dust, just where that -circle of red light fell on it, while guttural sobs and -sighs came from us, as, forgetful of all else, now one -was on top, in that ruddy arena, and then the other. -The veins were big upon my forehead; I felt faint and -sick; I could not loosen Faulkener’s iron fingers, deep -bedded in my neck, and did not care; and that grim -old fellow had no desire now but to watch me die. -I saw the glowing haze wherein we fought, and dimly -understood it. I heard, faintly and more faintly, the -rattle of the chains, and the thunderous, black laughter -of our plaything, and then, just as that glowing -Fury seemed drawing itself together for one final -effort which should crush us both from all form and -shape, that very effort put something out of gear—the -tangled wheels fell into dead-lock all on a sudden, -the heavy chains jerked wildly in their swing and -twisted together, the mighty rods and pistons went -all asplay like a handful of broken straws, the great -beast trembled and reeled and shook, and then split -open from end to end, and, with a thunderous roar -that shook our cellar to its deepest foundations, amid -a wild gust of flame and steam, blew up!</p> - -<p>I rose unhurt from the dust and ashes, and unwinding -Faulkener’s lifeless limbs from about me, found -a hammer by the forge, and, scrambling over the now -pulseless remnants of the giant, burst open the door, -and a few minutes later laid the great inventor’s -body down upon a bench in the peaceful moonlit -courtyard.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII</h2> -</div> - -<p>The episodes I now relate are so strange, so nearly -impossible, that I hesitate to set them down lest you -should call me untruthful and a <i>jongleur</i>; nevertheless, -they are told as they occurred, and you must believe -them as you may.</p> - -<p>My quaint recluse had not been slain that night we -tried his infernal engine, but had lain in a long swoon -after I carried him from amid the wreck and débris -of his den out into the moonlight. That swoon, indeed, -lasted for a whole day and night; and Elizabeth -wrung her white hands over her father’s seeming lifeless -body, while Emanuel picked his yellow teeth reflectively -with his dagger-point at the couch-foot, and -Dame Margery spent all her art in unguents and salves -upon the luckless inventor ere he showed signs of returning -life.</p> - -<p>At last, however, he revived, and made a long, slow -recovery of many days under the gentle ministering of -his women. And while he throve hour by hour in the -spring sunshine on the bench of his porch, I wooed his -daughter in wayward, dissatisfied kind, and laughed -scornfully at the black Spaniard’s jealous scowls, and -won the mellow heart of the old dame by my gallantness -and courtesy. But it was child’s play. I longed -again to feel the hot pulse of keen emotions throbbing -in my veins, to struggle with some strong tide of hot -adventure, and so at last I had made up my mind to -leave my good host and hostess at an early season, -and, turning soldier again, espouse the first quarrel -which chance threw in my way.</p> - -<p>Then one day it happened—a strange day indeed to -me—old Master Andrew Faulkener had grown weary -of his cranks and fan-wheels, and had gone for solace -to his dusty tomes and classics. Exploring amid them, -in an eventful moment he had taken down a missal -penned by some old Saxon monk, and turned to a passage -he must have known well, since it was marked -and thumbed. And while the ancient scholar read -and mumbled over that quaint black letter with its -gorgeous gold and crimson uncials, I, who chanced to -stand a little way apart, saw the wan blood mount -in a thin pink glow to the enthusiast’s cheeks, and in -that flush recognized that he was warm upon another -quest. He mumbled and muttered to himself, and -while he sauntered up and down, or stopped now and -then to thumb and pore over that leathern volume, -I caught, in disjointed fragments, some pieces of his -thoughts. “Ha! ha! a most likely find indeed, a splendid -treasure-house of trophies—and to think that no -one but old Ambrose and I wot of it, ho! ho! What -does he say? ‘And in this place was destroyed a noble -house, and the anger of the Lord fell on the pagan -defenders, and they were slain one and all. Ah! God -leveled their idolatrous dwelling-places and scattered -their ashes to the four winds of heaven, and with -them were destroyed—the common legend sayeth—all -their hoards of brass and silver, all their accursed -images of bronze and gold, all their trinkets and fine -raiment, so that the vengeance of the Lord was complete, -and the heathen was utterly wiped out.’ -Good, very good, Brother Ambrose,” muttered the -old man with chuckling pleasure. “And now, where -did this thing happen? ‘This house which harbored -so much lewdness stood on the hillock by the road a -few miles from the river, and had all that land which -now is holy perquisite to the neighboring abbey.’ -Good! good!—for certain ’tis the very spot I thought -of—a happy, happy chance that made me light upon -this passage—I who live so near the spot it speaks of—I -who alone of thousands can use it as the golden -key to unlock such a sweet mine of relics as that -buried pagan home must be. Oh! Ambrose, I am grateful,” -and patting the musty monkish tome in childish -pleasure, he replaced it reverently upon its shelf.</p> - -<p>Then up and down he paced, the student’s passion -burning hot within him, muttering as he went: “Why -not to-night? Why not, why not? There is no season -better for such a work than soon, and I have my -license,” whereon he went to a peg on the wall and -fumbled in the wallet of the ragged cloak I had seen -him wear the night we met. In a minute out came -a brand-new scroll of parchment, neatly rolled and -folded, and stamped with the Royal seal. That scroll -Andrew Faulkener undid, and, setting his horn glasses -on his nose, began to read the paper at arm’s length -with inarticulate sounds of rapture. It seemed to delight -him so much that presently I sauntered over to -share in the merriment, forgetting I had thus far been -unobserved; but when we came within two paces of -each other the scholar, perceiving me, with a cry of -dismay stuffed the crushed parchment hurriedly into -his bosom as though he thought himself about to be -robbed of something precious by a sudden ambuscade. -However, in a minute he recognized the robber, and -was reassured, yet undecided still, and inch by inch -the white roll came forth, while the old man kept his -eyes fixed on mine. What were his scripts and scrolls -to me? I smiled to note the store he set by them: -there was not one of those poor things could interest -me more nearly than a last year’s leaf from the garden -yonder—and yet, strange to say, that white roll, creeping -into light from under his rusty gaberdine, did -attract me somehow. Long life and strange experience -have wakened in me senses dormant in other mortals, -and I begin to be conscious of a knowledge beyond -common knowing, a sense behind other senses, which -grows with practice, and seems ambitious by and by -to bridge the gulf which separates tangible from unreal, -and what is from what will be. That growing -perspicacity within me smelled something of weight -about Faulkener’s writing more than usual, and with -my curiosity gently roused, I queried:</p> - -<p>“That seems a script of value, sir. Is its interest -particular or public?”</p> - -<p>“In some ways, good youth,” Faulkener answered -hesitatingly, as he unfolded the scroll so slowly as -though he were jealous even of the prying sunshine, -“in some ways the interest of what this is the key to -is very general, and in other ways it is, at least for -some time to come, most private.”</p> - -<p>“Enough!” I said, “and I am sorry to have questioned -you; but your pleasure in the tome over there -suggested just now that this were some general matter -of curiosity—some dark passage in history -whereon, perhaps, two minds might shed more light -than one. I ask indulgence for intrusion.”</p> - -<p>“Nay, but stop a minute! History, did you say? -Why, this is history; this is the birthscript of a brand-new -page in history; this is leave to turn a leaf no -other fingers have ever turned, to spell out in sweet -ashes and lovely fragments a whole chapter, perchance, -of the bygone. Boy!” cried the old fellow, -grasping my arm with his lean fingers, and whispering -in my ear as though he dreaded the grinning -mummy of Pharaoh in the shadow might play eavesdropper, -“can you keep a secret?”</p> - -<p>“Ay! fairly, when it does not interest me.”</p> - -<p>“Why, then—there, take that and read it,” and -Faulkener thrust the roll into my hands, and cast himself -into an attitude, and crossed his arms upon his -chest, and stared at me from under his shaggy eyebrows -as if he fancied to see fear and wonder and delight -fly over my countenance while my eyes devoured -that precious deed of his. What was there so wonderful -in it? The thing was sealed and tasseled, the -ink and paper were new, the parchment white; it was, -in fact, the very vellum Faulkener had been on his -way to beg at Court when we two met—a wonderful -chance, as you shall presently see, an extraordinary -hap indeed that brought me to his side out of the great -wastes of time at the very instant when that ancient -scholar was on the road to ask that license. But I did -not know while I read how nearly the parchment -touched me. It looked just an ordinary missive from -high authority to humble petitioner, profuse and verbose, -signed and counter-signed, and, amid a wilderness -of words, just a grain of sense that I construed -as giving the bearer leave to seek for treasure on certain -lands therein mentioned, and adopt the same to -his proper pleasure without tax or drawback.</p> - -<p>“This may be a golden key, Sir,” was my response, -as the thing was handed back, “but it is difficult to -learn anything of the door it opens by looking on it.”</p> - -<p>“Yet, nevertheless, young man, it is a golden key, -and you shall see me use it, for if, as yonder broken -engine hints, the Fates will that I may not pry into -the misty future, yet with their leave, with the help -of this and you, will I peep into the even more -shadowy past. Were you ever at the opening of an -ancient crypt—a stony hiding-place, for instance, -where dead men’s bones lay all about mid dim gems -and the rusty iron playthings of love and war?”</p> - -<p>“I do recall one such an episode.”</p> - -<p>“And did it not affect you greatly?”</p> - -<p>“Greatly indeed.”</p> - -<p>“Ay, boy, and this that I will show you shall affect -you more—we two will turn a leaf which shall read as -clear to you as though you had been at the writing of -it a thousand years before. It is a grassy hillock, -and you shall lift that sod with me, and, if this thing -is as I think it is, oh! you shall start at what you find, -and coward ague shall unstring your soldier legs, you -shall be dumb with wonder, and ply your mattock -with damp, fearful awe beaded on your forehead, and -starting eyes fixed fast in horrid pleasure on what we -will unearth. Ay, if you have a spark of generous -comprehension, if one drop of the milk of kindness -still bides within you, you shall people this place we -go to find with such teeming, sprightly fancies, such -moving mockeries of frail human kind new risen from -their ashes at your feet, that you shall wring your -hands out of pure rue for them that were, and pluck -your beard in dumb chagrin, and beat upon your -heart, even to watch all that which once was ruddy -valor and hot love, and white beauty go adrifting so -upon the dusty evening wind! You will come with -me?”</p> - -<p>“Old man!” I said, pacing up and down with folded -arms and bent head, “’twas upon my tongue to say I -would not—I had a fair tryst to keep this evening, and -something that I have seen of late makes such ventures -as you have planned doubly distasteful to me; -’twas in my mind to laugh and shake my head—but, -gods! you have stirred a pulse within me that rouses -me with resistless wonder; your words tell on me -strangely—there is something in that you say which -echoes through my heart like the footfall of a storm -upon the hollow earth, and I can do nothing but listen -and acquiesce. I will come!”</p> - -<p>“Good youth, good youth, I knew you would; and, -that our hopes may not suffer by delay, let us prepare -at once. Get you mattock, spade, and pick, with -whatever other tools your strength shall need, and I -will feed and have my pretty palfrey saddled, and con -yon crabbed passage over once again. So we will be -ready; and at nightfall, under the yellow stars, will -start upon a venture that you shall think on for many -a day.”</p> - -<p>I bent my head, and we did as Faulkener suggested. -But a strange unrest possessed me. When spade and -mattock were hidden where we could take them up -in secret (for we did not wish our enterprise too widely -known), the time hung wondrously heavy on hand. -All the tedious hours before sunset I was oppressed -with an anxiety quaint and inexplicable; half wishing -by turns I had not promised to join the mad old fellow -in his moonlight quest, and then laughing my scruples -down and becoming as restless for the start as before -I had been reluctant. As for the scholar himself, the -very shirt of Dejanira possessed him, and his impatience -shone behind his yellow wrinkled face like a -candle inside a horn lantern. Somehow the hours -wore through, however, and when the evening was -come, we set forth, Faulkener pale and eloquently -raving from astride of that mean palfrey whose -sumpter pad was loaded with our tools on one side, -and on the other a monster sack wherein to bring back -all the treasure we were to rifle, and I on foot leading -that gentle beast, and thoughtful, past proportion or -reason.</p> - -<p>At first we pushed on at a brisk pace by familiar -roads, but after a time our path lay more to the eastward, -the scholar said, and once off the broad white -track leading to the nearest town the road grew narrower -and more narrow. On we went in silence, mile -after mile; by rutty lanes where twittering bats flitted -up and down the black arcades of overhanging bush -and brier; by rushy flats where the water stood wan -and dim in the uncertain light; now brushing by the -heavy, dew-laden branches of a woodman’s path -through deep thickets of oak and beech, and then following -a winding sheep-track over ling and gorse. So -somber was that way, and so few the signs of life, I -wondered how the scholar kept even the direction; but -he was a better pilot than he seemed, and, while he -ranted silently upon the sky and waved his hands in -ghostly rhythm to his unspoken thoughts, I found -from a chance word or two he was in some kind watching -the stars, and leading us forward by their dim -light toward that goal whereof he had got knowledge -from his musty tomes. On we went through the still -starry night, pacing along from black shadows to -black shadows, and moonlight to silver moonlight, -until it must have been within an hour or two of day-breaking, -for under the purple pall of sky there was -a long stream of pale light in the east. It was about -that time, and the night shadows were strong and -ebony, and the cold breath and deep hush of a coming -morning hung over everything when Faulkener first -began to hesitate, and presently confessed that that -which he sought for should be somewhere here, but -in the glimmer of the starlight he was uncertain -whether it lay to right or left. We halted, and, -mounting on a hillock, peered all about us, but to little -purpose, fur the somber night hid everything, the -massed forest trees rose tier upon tier on every hand, -like mountain ranges running on indefinite into the -gloomy passes of the clouds, and the chance gleams of -moonlight, lying white and still upon the dew-damp -meadows, were so like great misty lakes and rivers, -it were difficult to say whether they were such or no.</p> - -<p>So back we scrambled once more, and unhitched -our patient beast from the hazel whereto we had tied -him, and plunged on again by dingle and sandy road, -and rough woodland path, until we were hopelessly -mazed, and there seemed nothing for it but to wait till -daylight or go empty back. Yet, reluctant to do -either, we held to it a little, hoping some chance might -favor us. ’Twas past midnight—not a crow of distant -cock or yelp of village cur broke the dead stillness, -and we were plodding down a turfy road, when -on a sudden our patient steed threw forward his ears -and came to a dead stop, and, almost the same minute, -the gray clad figure of a countryman in long cape -and hood, a wide slouch hat upon his head, and a tall -staff in his hand, came out from the depth a hundred -yards ahead of us, and with slow, measured gait and -bent face walked down toward us. Old Faulkener -was overjoyed. Here was one who knew the country, -and would show us his precious hillock; and he -shouted to that stranger, and tugged his palfrey’s rein. -But that observant beast was strangely reluctant; he -went on a pace, then stopped and backed and pawed -the silent ground, throwing his prick ears forward, -whinnying, and staring at that silent coming stranger, -with strange disquiet in every movement. And I—I -sympathized with that dumb brute; and, as the countryman -came near, somehow my blood ran cold and -colder; my tongue, that was awag to ask the way, -stuck helpless to my teeth; a foolish chill beset my -limbs; and, by the time we met, I had only wit enough -left to stare, speechless, at that gray form, in silent -expectation. But the old philosopher did not feel -these tremors. He was delighted at our good luck, -and, fumbling in his wallet, pulled out a small silver -piece which he tendered to the man, explaining at the -same time our need and asking him to guide us.</p> - -<p>The stranger took the coin in silence, and, keeping -his face hidden in the shadow of his hat, said the -mound was near, “he knew it well, he had bided by it -long,” and he would willingly show us where it lay. -Back we went by copse and heather, back for half a -mile, then turned to the right, and in a few minutes -more came out of the brushwood into the starlight, -and there at our very feet the ground was swelling up -in gentle sweep to the flat top of a little island-hill -lost in the sea of forest-land about it. It was the -place we came for, and the scholar, without another -thought for us, joyfully pricked his steed to the rise, -and was soon out of sight round the shoulder of the -ground.</p> - -<p>But I! Oh, what was that strange, dull hesitation -that made my feet heavy as lead upon that threshold? -Whence came those thronging, formless fancies that -crowded to my mind as I surveyed that smoothly-rounded -hillock, and all the fantastic shadows beyond -it? That spot was the same one I had wandered to -when I walked lonely from Faulkener’s house, and -mere chance brought me to it anew at dead midnight; -and all the old thrills of indistinct remembrance I then -had felt were working in me again with redoubled -force, moving my soul to such unrest that I bent my -head and hid my eyes, and strove long but vainly to -recall why or when I had last trodden that soil, as -somewhere and somehow I was certain that I had. -Thinking and thinking without purpose, presently I -looked up, and there, two paces away was still that -gray hedgeman leaning on his staff and regarding me -from under his country hat with calm, soulless attention. -I had forgotten his presence, and it was so -strange to see him there, so rustic and so stately, that -I started back, and an unfamiliar chill beset me for -an instant. But it was only a moment, then, angry -to have been surprised, I turned haughtily upon him, -and, with folded arms, in mockingness of his own stern -attitude, stared proudly into those black shadows -where should have been his face. Jove! ’twas a stare -that would not have blanched for all the lightning in -a Cæsar’s eye or wavered one moment beneath the -grim returning gaze of any tyrant that ever lived; -and yet, even as I looked into that void my soul turned -to water, and my eyelids quivered and bent and -drooped, my arms fell loose and nerveless to my side, -and every power of free action forsook me.</p> - -<p>That being took my perturbation with the same cold -lack of wonder he had shown throughout. He eyed -me for a minute with his sleepy, stately calm, and -then he said: “You have been here before.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” I answered, “but how or when only the great -gods know”—and though I noticed it not at the moment, -yet since it has flashed upon me as another link -in a wondrous chain, that at that moment both I and -the gray countryman were using the long-forgotten -British tongue!</p> - -<p>“And would you know, would you recall?” he -queried in his passionless voice.</p> - -<p>“Ay, if it is within your power to stir my memory, -stir it, in the name of loud Taranis, of old Belenus, -and all the other fiends I once believed in!”</p> - -<p>“Well sworn, Phœnician!” said the tall nocturnal -wanderer, and without another word grasped his staff -and, signing me to follow, led round the shoulder of -the hillock to where, alone and solitary, we two were -stayed by a trickling rivulet that sprang from a grassy -basin in the slope, and went by a little rushy course -winding down into the dusky thickets beyond. At -that pool my guide stopped suddenly, then, pointing -with stern finger still shrouded under the folds of his -ample cloak:</p> - -<p>“Drink!” he cried. “Drink and remember!”</p> - -<p>I could no more have thwarted him than I could -have torn that solid mound from off its base, and down -I went upon one knee, and took a broken crock some -shepherd had left behind, and filled it, and put it to my -lips and drank. Then up I leaped with a wild yell -of wonder and astonishment, while right across the -sullen midnight sky, it seemed, there shot out in one -broad living picture all the painted pageantry of my -Roman life. I saw old Roman Britain rise before me, -and the quaint templed towns of a splendid epoch -leap into shape from the tumbled chaos of the evening -clouds. I saw the crowded episodes that had followed -after the rewakening in the cave where my princess -had laid me; the faces of my jolly long-dead comrades -seemed thronging round about me; I heard the street -cries of a Roman-British city; I saw the dust rise, -and the glitter as the phalanges wheeled and turned -upon the castra before the porch where, a gay patrician -gallant, I lounged in gold and turquoise armor. -I saw Electra’s ivory villa start into form and substance -out of the pale, filtering Tudor moonlight, and -the great white bull, and the haughty lady, stately -and tall, beckoning me up her marble steps; and then -I was with her, her petted youth, lying indolent and -happy, toying disdainfully with the imperial love she -proffered me, while we filled our rainbow shells from -that bright fountain that spurted in her inner court!</p> - -<p>With a wild cry I dropped the shepherd’s crock and -started back. The water I was sipping was the water -of Electra’s courtyard fountain! Gods! there was -none other like it. Often we two had drunk of that -crystal torrent as it burst, full of those sweet earth-salts -the Romans loved so well, from the bowels of -the earth straight into her pearly basins; the last time -I had stooped to it was on that night of fiery combat -when Electra’s villa fell—and here I was sipping of -it again, so strangely and unexpectedly that I hid my -eyes a space, scarce knowing what might happen next. -When I uncovered them the black dusty clouds had -swallowed the painted pageantry of my vision, the -night-wind blew chill round the grassy slope; the -Roman villa and fountain had gone from the gray -shadows where we stood—only the tinkle of the falling -water was left in the darkness, and in front of -me still the tall figure of that gray-clad countryman. -Only that countryman! Hoth! how can I describe the -rush of keen wonder and fear which swept over me -when, looking at him again, I saw that he had turned -back the flap of his wide hat, and there, in the dead -gray light, was staring at me—the same stern, passionless -face that had come to my shoulder in the -reek and heat of combat on this very spot thirteen -hundred years before, and, doing the bidding of the -great Unknown, had drawn me from those fiery shambles -only just in time?</p> - -<p>I knew him then, on the instant, as no mortal, and -glared, and glared at him with every nerve at tension, -and speechless tongue, too numb to question, and -while I stared like that with the strong emotion playing -on lip and eye—it was only a minute or so, though -it seemed an epoch, the face of that being was lit by -a smile, sedate and impalpable.</p> - -<p>Then, turning to me with gentle superiority, he said: -“You have been long, Phœnician! They told me you -would come again, and I have waited—waited for you -here these few hundred years—waited until I near -tired of watching all your circling vagaries. Here is -the place you came to-night to find—my errand ends! -Dig, wonder, and reflect—this I was told to show you -and to say!” And like the echo of his own words, -like the shadow of a cloud upon a rock, that strange -messenger of another life was drunk up by the darkness -right in front of my wondering eyes.</p> - -<p>So swift and silent was his passage back into the -outer vagueness that for a minute I could not believe -he had gone in truth, and held my breath, and stared -up and down, expecting he would fashion again out -of the draughty air, or speak above or below, once -more, in that voice every syllable of which fell clear -on my soul, like water falling into a well. But it was -useless to listen and peer into the gloom. The shape -was gone beyond recall; and, while my mind still pondered -over the strangeness of it, keeping me spellbound -at the brink of that enchanted fountain, with -bent head and folded arms, trying to guess how much -of this was fantasy, and how much fact, there rose a -shout upon the still night air, and, raising my eyes, -there was Faulkener’s quaint black image capering -wildly on the dusky skyline, the while he brandished -aloft in one hand a spade, and in the other—looking -quaintly like a new-severed head dangling by the hair—the -first sod he had cut of that “treasure-heap” so -dear and dreadful to me.</p> - -<p>I went sullenly up to the recluse, full of such -strange, conflicting feelings as you may suppose, and -found him eager and excited. He had marked out a -long furrow across the crest of the hill, “and this we -were to open and strike out right or left according as -our venture throve.” Jove! I stared for a time at -that black trench as though it were the narrow lip of -hell, which presently should yawn and throw up a -grim, ghostly, warlike crew, worse than those who -frightened Jason. And then I laughed in bitterness -and perplexity, and tore off my doublet and rolled my -tunic-sleeves above my shoulder, and took a spade, -and at one strong heave plunged it deep into the tender -bosom of the swelling turf just over where the -outskirts of the ancient Roman house had been, and -wrenched it up. Then in again, and then again, while -the mad philosopher capered in the twilight to watch -my sinewy strength so well applied, and the whistling -bats swept curious round us. I had not turned back -a stitch of that light, peaty coverlet, when down my -spade sank through an inner crust, deep into something -soft and hollow-seeming; and the next minute -Faulkener, who also had set to work, was into the -same fine strata too. We laid it bare, and there below -us shone a floor of white dim ashes, mixed with -earth, and leaves, and roots.</p> - -<p>“A torch! a torch!” yelled Faulkener, and down he -went upon his knees, and, wild with exultation, wallowed -in that powdery stuff, throwing it out by hand -and armfuls, till all his clothes were covered with it, -and his hoary beard was still more hoary, and his -white face still more white, and his mad twinkling -eyes were still more lunatic, and I helping him, full -of crowding hopes and fears. And so we dug and -groveled and scraped, while the pale stars twinkled -overhead, until soon my master gave a shout, and -looking quickly at him—Jove! he was hand in hand -with a dead white hand that he had uncovered, and -was hauling at it in frantic eagerness, and scraping -away the rubbish above, and slipping and plunging -and staggering in the gray dust, while the beaded -sweat shone on his forehead, and his white elf-locks -were all astray upon the night air; and then—gods!—it -began to give, and I held my breath—knowing all I -knew—while the white stuff cracked and heaved about -that ghostly palm, and then it opened, and—first his -head, and then his shoulders, and then his stiff contorted -limbs—my master dragged out into the starshine, -with one strong effort, a bulky ancient warrior!</p> - -<p>There, in the torchlight which Faulkener held above -him, slept that kiln-dried soldier. He lay flat upon -his back, and, while one knotted, shriveled fist was -stretched stiff in front in deathless anger, the broken -digits of his other hand were welded by red iron rust -about the red rusty hilt of a bladeless sword. And -that soldier’s soulless face was set stiff and hard, while -on his stern, shut lips and deep in his eyeless sockets -even now restless passion and quenchless hate seemed -smoldering. About that frail body still clung in melancholy -tatters the shreds and remnants of purple -webs and golden tissue. On his shoulders, sunk into -his withered, lifeless flesh, were the moldy straps and -scales of harness and cuirass, and on his head what -once had been, though now it was more like winter -wrack, a gay helmet and a horseman’s nodding crimson -plume. It was a ghostly plaything to unearth -like that under the wavering starlight, and it was -doubly dreadful to note how deathlike was it while yet -all the hot life-passion lay stamped forever in unchanging -fierceness on the hideous mask of dissolution. -I turned away as Faulkener, gleefully shouting -that he was a thousand years old if he was a day, tore -the russet trophies from him, and pushed him down -the hill; I turned away, grimly frowning, out into the -black starlight, with folded arms, for that contorted -thing was jolly Caius Martius, my merry Byzantine -captain of those mercenaries who stood it out with -me that last night of Roman power in England! Jolly -Caius Martius! Often we two had set the British -dogs a-yelping as we wandered home from noisy midnight -frolics down the moonlit temple streets; often -we two had driven the same boar to bay deep in his -reedy stronghold; often at banquet and at feast, when -the roses lay deep below and the strong warm breath -of scented wine hung thick above, that curly black -head the Mercian damsels liked so well had sunk -happy and heavy on my shoulder. Jove! how the world -had spun since then!—and there was Faulkener pushing -him down the slope, and I could not raise a comrade -finger for merry Caius, and could only stupidly -remember, as the sprawling head went trundling away -into the brambles, how, in that long ago, I had owed -him half a silver talent and had never yet repaid it!</p> - -<p>Well, we fell to work again, and farther on, amid -the passages where these ancient men had fought and -fallen in the rout, we found a limb, and dug about it -till we uncovered another strange, twisted hide of -what was once humanity—a stalwart shell this one, -but Faulkener thought little on him because he wore -no links or chains, and set him rolling after the other -with scant ceremony. The next we came to seemed -by gear and weapons a Southern mercenary. He lay -asprawl upon his face, and my master levered him out -and plucked him of his scanty metal relics with no -more compunction than if he were a pigeon. It was -grim, wild work, there under the leer of the yellow -dawning, all in the hush of the twilight, coming on -those ghastly relics thus one by one, and prising them -out of their ashy shells, and turning them over, and -reading on each black mummy mask, that seemed to -smile and grin with dead ferocity under the flickering -flambeau light, the countenance and fashion of ancient -comrade and ally. And ever and anon as I worked, -held to the labor by a strange fascination, the melancholy -footfall of the gusty wind came pacing round -the hill, and with a frown and start I would look over -my shoulder, half fearing, half hoping it was my gray -countryman once more. So we toiled, and toiled, while -the light waned, and Faulkener’s treasure-heap was -swelling. And the nearer we worked to the center of -that ample round of corridors and courts the thicker -came to light those old world fighters, and presently -we got right down to the tessellated paving of Electra’s -lordly hall, and here we found what it was which -made all these ancient warriors so still and lasting. -It was that strange, mysterious fountain. That jet -of pungent taste and wondrous properties, when the -walls fell in, had overflowed its basins and percolated -through the deep soft ashes lying thick about these -marble rooms and chambers, and, by the stony magic -wherewith it was charged, had lined and filled those -ancient gentlemen it met with, and thereafter, in long -dark months of silence, had supplemented their wasting -tissues with its calcareous sediment, and kept -them forever as we found them—strange, horrible, -exact, and real, with passion and life stamped deep -on every face, and strength and vigor in every limb, -although those faces wore only ashy masks, and those -limbs no stouter than the vellum on which I write.</p> - -<p>Under the crust of welded stone and ashes it was -wonderful to see how perfectly was everything preserved. -We raised it in great flakes from the stony -flooring, and all the stain and litter of the fight lay -under it, as though they were not a dozen hours old; -we chipped that scaly covering from the walls, and -there, fresh as the moment they were made, gleamed -up under our wavering torchlight all the gay mural -paintings, the smudges of battle, and the scars of axe -and arrow. We lifted that pale, stiff shroud from -the inner chambers, and beneath lay shreds and shells -of furniture and gear; the half-baked loaves were in -the oven; the flesher’s knife was on the block! Round -about the bounds of that stately ruin we went, uncovering -at every spadeful something mournful, forgetting -fatigue and time, as wonder after wonder rose -to view; thus we came at last to the mid court, where -the great fight had been, and peeled the thin turf from -off it, far and near.</p> - -<p>We had scarce begun to rake aside the ashes, when -down to help us came, out of the black parting clouds, -strong gusts of cold morning wind, blowing fitfully at -first and chill, and sobbing overhead and all about us, -as though the gray air was full of spirits. It gathered -strength, and, wailing over the wide floor we had uncovered, -in one strong breath swept back the veil of -ashes, and there—Jove!—all amid the juts of fallen -masonry and stumps of beam and rafter, blackened in -that fire which seemed but yesterday, were high, protruding -knees of dead combatants, and stiff bent -elbows, as thick as grass; and haggard, wizened faces, -all stamped with twenty fine degrees of terror; and -fierce clenched fists, and hands that still waved above -them broken hilt and blade. There they lay in heaps -and rucks about that ancient villa floor, just as they -had died fighting amid the red choking ashes of the -blazing roof, all horribly lifelike and yet so grimly -dead! Old Faulkener yelled in sheer affright, and -capered, and shook his fists toward them, and tore -his lean white locks ’tween dread and wonder; and -stiff my Phrygian curls seemed on my head, and cold -the sweat upon my forehead.</p> - -<p>And then, while we watched, a very wonderful thing -happened, and, dreadful and beautiful, those cinders -began to glow. Jutting beam and rafter grew red -and redder, pile and timber and cornice caught the -ambient blush, the crimson stain crept all across the -hall, it burned in mockery upon ruined wall and portico, -and lit with an unearthly radiance those parched, -contorted faces that grinned and leered and frowned, -still in frantic struggle with their kind, all round us. -Was I mad? Was this some hideous last delusion -which beset my aching mind and horror-surfeited -eyes? No! there was Faulkener saw it too, and had -fallen on his knees and buried his fearful face behind -his hands and thrown his gaberdine cloak over his -head to shut out that dreadful sight. I drew my hand -across my face and looked again: it was true, too true—that -charred and ancient villa was all alight once -more; wherever fire had been, at every point and -crevice, there the ambient glow was smoldering with -a flameless brightness. It underlay the silver ashes -with a hot golden shine; it gilded all the fallen metal -statues of gods and goddesses until they seemed to -shimmer beneath its touch; it shone near by under -the walls and far out upon the steps—it was so real, -so terribly like what it had been here a thousand years -before, that I half bent to take a weapon, in the delusion -of that brilliant fantasy, a husky cry of encouragement -to those stark, ancient warriors half framed -itself upon my lips—and then, how exactly I know not, -but somehow a slight insequence fleshed upon me, -and in another minute I had spun angrily round upon -my heel—and there I saw, right behind us, calm, benignant, -crimson, the great May sun was topping the -eastern oak-trees.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV</h2> -</div> - -<p>After that eventful episode just detailed, life ran -smooth and uneventful for a time in the old manor-house. -I had had enough to think of for many a day, -and was inert and listless somehow. War, that had -seemed so bright, had lost its color to me. Honor! -and renown! Why, the green grass in the fields were -not more fleeting, I began to think; and what use was -it striving after conquests which another age undid, -or attempting brave adventures whereof a later time -recognized neither cause nor purpose? I was in a -doleful mood, as you will see, and lay about on Faulkener’s -sunny, red-brick terraces for days together, reflecting -in this idle fashion, or pressed my suit upon -his daughter when other pastimes failed.</p> - -<p>Now, this latter was a dangerous sport for one like -me, and one whose fair opponent at the game had such -a fine untaught instinct for it as Mistress Bess possessed. -I began to speak soft things unto that lady’s -ear, as you may remember, like many another, for lack -of better occupation, and because it seemed so discourteous -to be indifferent to the sweet enticement of my -friend, and then I took the gentle malady from her, -and, growing worse than she had been, how could she -do aught but sympathize? And so between us we -eked the matter on in ample leisure, until that which -was a pretty jest became at last very serious and -sober earnest.</p> - -<p>It was a strange wooing. I still worked in the -forge, riveting, hammering, and piecing together the -fragments of the scholar’s shattered dream, and down -the damsel would come at times into the grimy den -and sit upon the forge-corner in her dainty country -smock, twirling her ribboned points and laughing at -me and my toil, as fresh and dainty among all that -gloomy black litter round about as a ray of spring sunshine. -I was so solitary and glum, how could I fail -to be pleasured in that dear presence? And one time -I would hammer her a gleaming buckle or wristlet out -of a nob of ancient silver, and it was sweet to see that -country damsel’s eagerness as, with flushed face and -sparkling eyes, she bent over and watched the pretty -toy shine and glitter and take form and shape under -my cunning hammer. Or then again, perhaps, another -day I would tell her, as though it were only hearsay, -some wondrous old story of the ancient time, so full -of light and color and love as I could fill it, and that -dear auditor would drink in every syllable with thirsty -ears, and laugh and weep and fear and tremble just as -I willed, the while I pointed my periods with my anvil -irons, and danced my visionary puppets against the -black shadows of that nether hall. Hoth! a good listener -is a sweet solace to him whose heart is full! -Those narratives did so engross us that often the forge -went cold, and bar and rivet slumbered into blackness, -while I stalked up and down that dingy cavern peopling -it with such glowing forms and fancies as kept -that dear untutored damsel spellbound; often the -evening fell upon us so, and we had at last to steal -shamefacedly across the courtyard to where the warm -glow behind the lattices told us supper and the others -waited.</p> - -<p>There was small difference in these days. I hammered -cheerful and I hammered dull, I hammered -hopeful and I hammered melancholy, I hammered in -tune to the merry prattle of that girl, and I hammered -sad and solitary. And ever as I forged and welded by -myself you may guess how I thought and speculated—thought -of all the love that I had loved, and all the -useless strife and ambition, and now hung over my -blackening iron as the pain of ancient perplexities and -disappointments beset me, and then anon laughed and -beat new life into the glowing metal as the light of -forgotten joys flashed for a moment on the fitful current -of my mind. Ah! and again I forged hot and impetuous -on my master’s rods and rivets as the old -pulse of battles and onset swelled in my veins—forged -and hammered while the stream of such fancies bore -me on—until, unwitting, the very molten stuff beneath -my hands took form and fashion of my thoughts, and -grew up into shining spear-heads and white blades -until the fantasy in turn was passed, and I checked -my fancies and saw, ashamed, the foolish work my -busy hammer had fashioned, and sadly broke the -spear-heads and snapped the blades, and came back -with a sigh to meaner things.</p> - -<p>My mind being thus full of all those wild adventures -and wondrous exploits I had seen and shared, when, -as I was strolling one idle morning down Faulkener’s -dusty museum corridor, and sampling as I went his -precious tomes, that thing happened to which you owe -this book. I dipped into his missals and vellums as -I sauntered from shelf to shelf, and soon I found there -was scarcely a page, scarcely a passage within their -mothy leathern covers that did not touch me nearly, -or set me thinking of something old and wonderful. -There was not a page in all that fingered, scholar-marked -library, it seemed to me, upon which I could -not find something better or nearer to the shining -truth to say than they had who wrote those cupboard -histories and philosophies; and first I was only sad -to see so much inaccurate set down, and then I fell to -sighing, as I turned the leaves of quaint treatise and -pedantic monkish diary, that they should write who -knew so little, and I, who knew so much, should be so -dumb. And thus vague fancies began to form within -my mind, and, backed by the brooding memories -strong within, began to egg me on to write myself! -Jove! I had not touched a pen for many hundred years, -and yet here was the budding hunger for expression -rising strong within me, and I laughed and went over -to old Faulkener’s great oak table by the mullioned -window, and took up his quill, and turned it here and -there, and looked on both ends of it, then presently -set it down with a shake of the head as a weapon -past my wielding. I felt the texture of his vellums -and peered into the depth of his inkpot, as though -there were to see therein all those glowing facts and -fancies that I yearned to draw therefrom. But it -would not do; not even the challenge of those piled -tomes, not even the handy means to the end I coveted, -could for a time break down my diffidence.</p> - -<p>So I fell melancholy again, and wandered down that -quaintly stocked museum library, gazing ruefully on -each sad remnant of humanity, and thinking how -quaint it was that I should come to dust my kinsmen’s -skulls and tabulate those grim old heads that -had so often wagged in praise of me, then back again -to the shelves, and pored and pondered over the many-authored -books, until, by hap, my eyes lit upon a passage -in an Eastern tale that was so pregnant with experience, -so fine, it seemed to my mood, in fancy and -philosophy, that it entranced me and fired my zeal -to a point naught else had done.</p> - -<p>The ancient Arabian narrator is telling how one -came, in mid desert, upon a splendid, ruined city—a -silent, unpeopled town of voiceless palaces and temples—and -wandered on by empty street and fallen -greatness until, in the stateliest court of a thousand -stately palaces, he found an iron tablet, and on it was -written these words:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>In the name of God, the Eternal, the Everlasting -throughout all ages: in the name of God, who begetteth -not, and who is not begotten, and unto whom -there is none like: in the name of God, the Mighty -and Powerful: in the name of the Living who dieth -not. O thou who arrivest at this place, be admonished -by the misfortunes and calamities that thou beholdest, -and be not deceived by the world and its -beauty, and its falsity and calumny, and its fallacy -and finery; for it is a flatterer, a cheat, a traitor. Its -things are borrowed, and it will take the loan from -the borrower; and it is like the confused visions of the -sleeper, and the dream of the dreamer. These are the -characteristics of the world: confide not therefore in -it, nor incline to it; for it will betray him who dependeth -upon it, and who in his affairs relieth upon it. -Fall not into its snares, nor cling to its skirts. For I -possessed four thousand bay horses in a stable; and I -married a thousand damsels, all daughters of Kings, -high-bosomed virgins, like moons; and I was blessed -with a thousand children; and I lived a thousand -years, happy in mind and heart; and I amassed riches -such as the Kings of the earth were unable to procure, -and I imagined that my enjoyments would continue -without failure. But I was not aware when there -alighted among us the terminator of delights, the separator -of companions, the desolator of abodes, the -ravager of inhabited mansions, the destroyer of the -great and the small, and the infants, and the children, -and the mothers. We had resided in this palace in -security until the event decreed by the Lord of all -creatures, the Lord of the heavens, and the Lord of -the earths, befell us, and the thunder of the Manifest -Truth assailed us, and there died of us every day two, -till a great company of us had perished. So when I -saw that destruction had entered our dwellings, and -had alighted among us, and drowned us in the sea of -deaths, I summoned a writer, and ordered him to -write these verses and admonitions and lessons, and -caused them to be engraved upon these doors and tablets -and tombs. I had an army comprising a thousand -thousand bridles, composed of hardy men, with spears, -and coats of mail and sharp swords, and strong arms; -and I ordered them to clothe themselves with the long -coats of mail, and to hang on the keen swords, and to -place in rest the terrible lances, and mount the high-blooded -horses. Then, when the event appointed by -the Lord of all creatures, the Lord of the earth and -the heavens, befell us, I said, O companies of troops -and soldiers, can ye prevent that which hath befallen -me from the Mighty King? But the soldiers and -troops were unable to do so, and they said, How shall -we contend against Him from whom none hath secluded, -the Lord of the door that hath no doorkeeper? -So I said, Bring to me the wealth! (And it was contained -in a thousand pits, in each of which were a -thousand hundredweights of red gold, and in them -were varieties of pearls and jewels, and there was the -like quantity of white silver, with treasures such as -the Kings of the earth were unable to procure.) And -they did so; and when they had brought the wealth -before me, I said to them, Can ye deliver me by means -of all these riches, and purchase for me therewith one -day during which I may remain alive? But they could -not do so. They resigned themselves to destiny, and -I submitted to God with patient endurance of fate and -affliction until he took my soul and made me to dwell -in my grave. And if thou ask concerning my name, I -am Khoosh, the son of Sheddád, the son of ’Ad the -Greater.</p> -</div> - -<p>“Oh, well written!” I cried. “Well written, Khoosh, -the son of Sheddád, the son of ’Ad the Greater, well -and wisely written, and also I will write, for I have -much to tell, and I too may some day be as thou art!”</p> - -<p>Thus was the beginning of this book. I got pen -and ink and a volume of unwritten leaves forthwith, -and carried them away to a lonely chamber in the -thickness of a turret wall, a little forgotten cell some -six poor feet across, and there solitary I have written, -and still write, peopling by the flickering yellow -lamp-light that stony niche with all the brilliant memories -that I harbor, letting my recollection wander -unshackled down the wondrous path that I have come, -and step by step, by episodes of pain and pleasure, by -wild adventure and strange mischance down, far -down, from the ancient times I have brought you until -now, when my ink is still wet upon the events of yesterday, -and I cease for the moment.</p> - -<p>This, then, is all that there is to say, all but one -suggestive line. I and yonder fair damsel have -plighted troth under the apple-trees out in her -orchard! We have broken a ring, and she has one -half of it and I have the other. To-morrow will we -tell her father, and presently be married. ’Tis a right -sweet and winsome maid, and together, hand in hand, -we will rehabilitate this ancient pile, and dock that -desert garden, and get us friends, and troops of curly-headed -children, and lie and bask in the jolly sunshine -of contentment—and so go hand in hand forever -down the pleasant ways of peaceful dalliance.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Jove!—my pen, and a few poor minutes more from -the bottom dregs of life! It is over! all the long combat -and turmoil, all the success and disappointment, -all the hoping and fearing. That which I thought was -a beginning turns out to be but an ending. My hand -shakes as I write, my life throbs, and my blood is on -fire within me; I am dying, friendless and alone as -I have lived, dying in a niche in the wall with my -great unfinished diary before me—and, with the grim -briefness of my necessity, this is how it has happened.</p> - -<p>I had wooed and won Elizabeth Faulkener, and, on -the day after she had come down into the forge, as was -her wont, sweet and virginal; and I was there at -work, and took her into my arms; and, while we dallied -thus, there entered on us the ancient scholar and -the swart steward. Gods! that villain blanched and -scowled to see us so till his swart face was whiter than -the furnace ashes.</p> - -<p>I took the maiden’s hand, and boldly turning to her -father told my love and its accomplishment, whereat -she burst from me and threw herself upon his bosom, -and, radiant with confusion, such a sweet country -pearl as any Prince might well have stooped to raise, -she pleaded for us.</p> - -<p>Oh! a thousand thousand curses on that black fell -shadow standing there behind her! The father, relenting, -kissed the fair white forehead of that winsome -girl. He bid Emanuel bring at once a loving-cup, and, -while that foul traitor reeled away to fetch it, he joined -our hands and gave us, in tones of love and gentleness, -his blessing.</p> - -<p>Then back came the scoundrel Spaniard, his lean, -hungry face all drawn and puckered with his wicked -passions, and in his hand a silver bowl of wine. O -Jove! how cruel it flames within me now! My sweet -maid took it, and, rueful for the pain she had given -black Emanuel, spoke fair and gentle, saying how -we would ever stay his friends and do our best to -prosper him. And even I, generous like a soldier, -echoed her sweet words, telling that fell knave how, -when the game was played and finished, even the -worst rivals might meet once more in good comradeship. -And so—while the mean Spanish hound, with -cruel jaw dropped down and, hands a-twitching at his -side, turned from us—his tender mistress lifted the -goblet to her lips and drank.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_444fp" style="max-width: 28em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_444fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>Then came the scoundrel Spaniard, his lean, hungry face all drawn -and puckered with his wicked passions</p></div> -</div> - -<p>She drank, and because she was no courtly goblet-kissing -dame, she drank full and honest, then passed -the troth-cup to me—and I laughed and swept aside -my Phrygian beard, and happy once more and successful, -at the pink of my ambition, pledged those friendly -two, pledged even yon black-hearted scoundrel scowling -there in the shade, then poured all that sweet, -rosy-tasting, love-cup of promise down my thirsty -throat.</p> - -<p>Gods! what was that at bottom of it? a pale, bitter -white dreg. Oh! Jove, what was this? I dipped a -finger in and tried it, while a dead hush fell upon us -four. It was bitter, bitter as rue, cold, horrible, and -biting. My fingers tightened slowly round the goblet -stem. I looked at the sweet lady, and in a minute -she was swaying to and fro in the pale light like a -fair white column, and then her hands were pressed -convulsive for a space upon her heart, while her knees -trembled and her body shook, and then, all in an instant, -she locked her fair fingers at arm’s length above -her head, and, with a long, low wail of fear and -anguish that shall haunt forever that stony corridor, -she staggered and dropped!</p> - -<p>Down went the goblet, and I caught her as she fell; -and there she lay, heaving a moment in my arms, then -looked up and smiled at me—smiled for one happy -second her own dear smile of love and sunshine—then -shut her eyes, trembling a little, and presently lay still -and pale upon my bosom—dead!</p> - -<p>Fair, fair Elizabeth Faulkener!</p> - -<p>I held her thus a space, and it was so still you could -hear the gentle draught of the curling smoke filtering -up the chimney, and the merry twitter of the swallows -perched far above it. I held her so a space, then -kissed her fiercely and tender once upon her smooth -forehead, and gave the white girl to her father.</p> - -<p>Then turned I to the steward, the bitter passion -and the deadly drug surging together like molten lead -within my veins. So turned I to him, and our eyes -met—and for a moment we glared upon each other so -still and grim that you could hear our hearts pulsing -like iron hammers, and at every beat a long year of -terror and shame seemed to flit across the ashy face of -that coward Iberian; he withered and grew old, grew -lean and haggard and pinched and bent in those few -seconds I stared at him. Then, without taking an eye -from his eyes, slowly my hand was outstretched and -my sword was lifted from the anvil where I had -thrown it. Slowly, slowly I drew the weapon from -its sheath and raised it, and slow that villain went -back, staring grimly the while, like the dead man that -he was, at the point. Then on a sudden he screamed -like a rat in a gin, and turned and fled. And I was -after him like the November wind after the dead -leaves. And round and round the forge we ran, fear -and bitter, bitter vengeance winging our heels; and -round the anvil with its idle hammer and cold half-welded -iron swept that savage race; round by where -the pale father was bending over the soft dead form of -his sweet country girl; round the ruined chaos of the -great broken engine; round by the cobwebbed walls -of that gloomy crypt; round by the clattering heaps -of iron in a mad, wild frenzy we swept—and then the -Spaniard fled to a little oaken wicket in the stony wall -leading by many score of winding steps far out into -the turrets above.</p> - -<p>He tore the wicket open and plunged up that stony -staircase, and I was on his heels. Up the clattering -stairs we raced—gods, how the fellow leaped and -screamed—and so we came in a minute out into the -air again, out on to old Andrew Faulkener’s ancient -roof, out all among his gargoyles and corbie steps, -with the pleasant summer wind wafting the blue -smoke of luncheon-time about us, and the courtyard -flags far, far down below.</p> - -<p>And there I set my teeth, and drew my sinews together, -and wiped the cold sweat of death from off -my forehead, and stilled the wild, strong tremors that -were shaking my iron fabric, and, lost in a reckless -lust of vengeance, crouched to the spring that should -have ended that villain.</p> - -<p>He saw it, and back he went step by step, screaming -at every pace, hideous and shrill; back step by step, -with no eyes but for me; back until he was, unknowing, -at the very verge of the roof; back again another -pace—and then, Jove! a reel and a stagger, and he was -gone, and, as I rushed forward and looked down, I -saw him strike the parapets a hundred feet below and -bound into the air, and fall and strike again, and spin -like a wheel, and be now feet up and now head, and -so, at last, crash, with a dull, heavy thud, a horrid -lifeless thing, on the distant stones of that quiet courtyard!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It is over, and I in turn have time to laugh. I have -come here, here to my secret den in the thickness of -these great walls, staggering slowly here by dim, -steep stairs, and rare-trodden landings—here to die; -and I have double-locked the oaken door, and shot the -bolts and pitched the key out of my one narrow window-slit, -and, gently rocking and swaying as the -strong poison does its errand, I have thrown down my -belt and sword and opened my great volume once -again.</p> - -<p>Misty the letters swim before me, and the strong -pain ebbs and flows within. All the room is hazy -and dim, and I grow weak and feeble, and my heavy -head sags down upon the leaf I strive to finish. Some -other time shall find that leaf, and me a dusty, ancient -remnant. Some other hand shall turn these pages -than those I meant them for: some other eyes than -theirs shall read and wonder, and perhaps regret. -And now I droop anon, and then start up, and the pale -swinging haze seems taking the shapes of friendliness -and beauty. There are no longer limits to this narrow -kingdom, and before my footstool sweep in soft -procession all the shapes that I have known and -loved. Electra comes, a pale, proud shade, sweeping -down that violet road, and holding out her ivory palm -in queenly friendship; and Numidea trips behind her, -and nods and smiles; and there is stalwart Caius, his -martial plumes brushing the sky; and earlier Sempronius, -brave and gentle; and jolly Tulus; and, two -and two, a trooping band of ancient comrades.</p> - -<p>Now have I looked up once more and laughed, and -here they come trooping again, those smiling shadows, -and the fair Thane is with them, her plaited yellow -hair gleaming upon her unruffled forehead; and by -either hand she leads a rosebud babe, who stretch -small palms toward and voiceless cries upon me; and -white-bearded Senlac; and, two and two, my Saxon -serfs and franklins come gliding in. And there strides -gallant Codrington, leading a pale shadow all in white, -and Isobel turns a fair pale face upon me as she goes -by. Oh! I am dead—dead, I know it, all but the -hand which writes and the eyes that see, and I laugh -as the last fitful flashes of the pain and life fly through -the loosening fabric of my body.... And now, -and now a hush has fallen on those silent shades, and -their hazy ranks have fallen wide apart, and through -them glides ruddy Blodwen—Blodwen, who comes to -claim her own—and, approaching, looks into my eyes, -and all those stately shadows are waiting, two and -two, for us two to head them hence; and she, my princess, -my wife, has come near and touched my hand, -and at that touch the mantle of life falls from me!</p> - -<p>Blodwen! I come, I come!</p> - -<p class="allsmcap center">THE END</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<div class="chapter transnote"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes"> -Transcriber’s Notes -</h2> - -<p>A number of typographical errors were corrected silently.</p> - -<p>Cover image is in the public domain.</p> - -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF PHRA THE PHOENICIAN ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. -</div> - -<div style='margin:0.83em 0; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE<br /> -<span style='font-size:smaller'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE<br /> -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</span> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person -or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the -Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when -you share it without charge with others. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work -on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the -phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: -</div> - -<blockquote> - <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most - other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions - whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms - of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online - at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you - are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws - of the country where you are located before using this eBook. - </div> -</blockquote> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg™ License. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format -other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain -Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -provided that: -</div> - -<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'> - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation.” - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ - works. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. - </div> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right -of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread -public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state -visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. -</div> - -</div> -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/67345-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/67345-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 263ac4d..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h/images/i_014fp.jpg b/old/67345-h/images/i_014fp.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 53d82ff..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/images/i_014fp.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h/images/i_062fp.jpg b/old/67345-h/images/i_062fp.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 04c1c6b..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/images/i_062fp.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h/images/i_086fp.jpg b/old/67345-h/images/i_086fp.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 35740fa..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/images/i_086fp.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h/images/i_110fp.jpg b/old/67345-h/images/i_110fp.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6dde807..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/images/i_110fp.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h/images/i_154fp.jpg b/old/67345-h/images/i_154fp.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9f5eb2a..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/images/i_154fp.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h/images/i_182fp.jpg b/old/67345-h/images/i_182fp.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index bdf4ee3..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/images/i_182fp.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h/images/i_234fp.jpg b/old/67345-h/images/i_234fp.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index deef66b..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/images/i_234fp.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h/images/i_270fp.jpg b/old/67345-h/images/i_270fp.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 051b83e..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/images/i_270fp.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h/images/i_276fp.jpg b/old/67345-h/images/i_276fp.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2ce1e5a..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/images/i_276fp.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h/images/i_288fp.jpg b/old/67345-h/images/i_288fp.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 21f9145..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/images/i_288fp.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h/images/i_318fp.jpg b/old/67345-h/images/i_318fp.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 5fe2f29..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/images/i_318fp.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h/images/i_364fp.jpg b/old/67345-h/images/i_364fp.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0cf7b46..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/images/i_364fp.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h/images/i_372fp.jpg b/old/67345-h/images/i_372fp.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2f08a4a..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/images/i_372fp.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h/images/i_444fp.jpg b/old/67345-h/images/i_444fp.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index ac3f5f9..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/images/i_444fp.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67345-h/images/i_frontispiece.jpg b/old/67345-h/images/i_frontispiece.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 90e215f..0000000 --- a/old/67345-h/images/i_frontispiece.jpg +++ /dev/null |
