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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36721-8.txt b/36721-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5262bd --- /dev/null +++ b/36721-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9337 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, House of Torment, by Cyril Arthur Edward +Ranger Gull + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: House of Torment + A Tale of the Remarkable Adventures of Mr. John Commendone, Gentleman to King Phillip II of Spain at the English Court + + +Author: Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull + + + +Release Date: July 13, 2011 [eBook #36721] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSE OF TORMENT*** + + +E-text prepared by Mark C. Orton, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made +available by Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) + + + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://www.archive.org/details/houseoftormentta00gulliala + + + + + +HOUSE OF TORMENT + +A Tale of the Remarkable Adventures of Mr. John Commendone +Gentleman to King Philip II of Spain at the English Court + +by + +C. RANGER-GULL + +Author of "The Serf," etc. + + + + + + + +New York +Dodd, Mead and Company +1911 + +Published September, 1911 + +The Quinn & Boden Co. Press +Rahway, N. J. + + + + +DEDICATION TO DAVID WHITELAW + +SOUVENIR OF A LONG FRIENDSHIP + + + _My dear David,_ + + _Since I first met you, considerably more than a decade ago, in + a little studio high up in a great London building, we have + both seen much water flow under the bridges of our lives._ + + _We have all sorts of memories, have we not?_ + + _Late midnights and famishing morrows, in the gay hard days + when we were endeavouring to climb the ladder of our Art; a + succession of faces, a welter of experiences. Some of us fell + in the struggle; others failed and still haunt the reprobate + purlieus of Fleet Street and the Strand! There was one who + achieved a high and delicate glory before he died--"Tant va la + cruche à l'eau qu'à la fin elle se casse."_ + + _There is another who is slowly and surely finding his way to a + certainty of fame._ + + _And the rest of us have done something, if not--as yet--all we + hoped to do. At any rate, the slopes of the first hills lie + beneath us. We are in good courage and resolute for the + mountains._ + + _The mist eddies and is spiralled below in the valleys from + which we have come, but already we are among the deep sweet + billows of the mountain winds, and I think it is because we + have both found our "Princess Galvas" that we have got this far + upon the way._ + + _We may never stand upon the summit and find that tempest of + fire we call the Sun full upon us. But the pleasure of going on + is ours still--there will always be that._ + + _Ever your friend, + C. RANGER-GULL._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I IN THE QUEEN'S CLOSET; THE FOUR FACES + + II THE HOUSE OF SHAME; THE LADDER OF GLORY + + III THE MEETING WITH JOHN HULL AT CHELMSFORD + + IV PART TAKEN IN AFFAIRS BY THE HALF TESTOON + + V THE FINDING OF ELIZABETH + + VI A KING AND A VICTIM. TWO GRIM MEN + + VII HEY HO! AND A RUMBELOW! + + VIII "WHY, WHO BUT YOU, JOHNNIE!" + + IX "MISERICORDIA ET JUSTITIA" + + X THE SILENT MEN IN BLACK + + XI IN THE BOX + + XII "TENDIMUS IN LATIUM" + + + + +CHAPTER I + +IN THE QUEEN'S CLOSET; THE FOUR FACES + + +Sir Henry Commendone sat upon an oak box clamped with bands of iron and +watched his son completing his morning toilette. + +"And how like you this life of the Court, John?" he said. + +The young man smoothed out the feather of his tall cone-shaped hat. +"Truly, father," he answered, "in respect of itself it seems a very good +life, but in respect that it is far from the fields and home it is +naught. But I like it very well. And I think I am likely to rise high. I +am now attached to the King Consort, by the Queen's pleasure. His +Highness has spoken frequently with me, and I have my commission duly +written out as _caballerizo_." + +"I never could learn Spanish," the elder man replied, wagging his head. +"Father Chilches tried to teach me often of an afternoon when you were +hawking. What does the word mean in essence?" + +"Groom of the body, father--equerry. It is doubtless because I speak +Spanish that it hath been given me." + +"Very like, Johnnie. But since the Queen, God bless her, has come to the +throne, and England is reconciled to Holy Church, thou wert bound to +get a post at Court. They could not ignore our name. I wrote to the +Bishop of London myself, he placed my request before the Queen's Grace, +and hence thou art here and in high favour." + +The young man smiled. "Which I shall endeavour to keep," he answered. +"And now I must soon go to the Queen's lodging. I am in attendance on +King Philip." + +"And I to horse with my men at noon and so home to Kent. I am glad to +have seen thee, Johnnie, in thy new life, though I do not love London +and the Court. But tell me of the Queen's husband. The neighbours will +all want news of him. It's little enough they like the Spanish match in +Kent. Give me a picture of him." + +"I have been at Court a month," John Commendone answered, "and I have +learned more than one good lesson. There is a Spanish saying that runs +this way, '_Palabras y plumas viento las Heva_' (Words and feathers are +carried far by the wind). I will tell you, father, but repeat nothing +again. Kent is not far away, and I have ambition." + +Sir Henry chuckled. "Prudent lad," he said; "thou art born to be about a +palace. I'll say nothing." + +"Well then, here is your man, a pedant and a fool, a stickler for little +trifles, a very child for detail. Her Grace the Queen and all the nobles +speak many languages. Every man is learned now. His Highness speaks but +Spanish, though he has a little French. Never did I see a man with so +small a mind, and yet he thinks he can see deep down into men's hearts +and motives, and knows all private and public affairs." + +Sir John whistled. He plucked at one of the roses of burnt silver +embroidered upon the doublet of green tissue he was wearing--the gala +dress which he had put on for his visit to Court, a garment which was a +good many years behind the fashion, but thought most elegant by his +brother squires in Kent. + +"So!" he said, "then this match will prove as bad for the country as all +the neighbours are saying. Still, he is a good Catholic, and that is +something." + +John nodded carelessly. "More so," he replied, "than is thought becoming +to his rank and age by many good Catholics about the Court. He is as +regular at mass, sermons, and vespers as a monk--hath a leash of friars +to preach for his instruction, and disputes in theology with others half +the night till Her Grace hath to send one of her gentlemen to bid him +come to bed." + +"Early days for that," said the Kentish gentleman, "though, in faith, +the Queen is thirty-eight and----" + +John started. "Whist!" he said. "I'm setting you an evil example, sir. +Long ears abound in the Tower. I'll say no more." + +"I'm mum, Johnnie," Sir Henry replied. "I'll break in upon thee no more. +Get on with thy tale." + +"'Tis a bargain then, sir, and repeat nothing I tell you. I was saying +about His Highness's religion. He consults Don Diego Deza, a Dominican +who is his confessor, most minutely as to all the actions of life, +inquiring most anxiously if this or that were likely to burden his +conscience. And yet--though Her Grace suspects nothing--he is of a very +gross and licentious temper. He hath issued forth at night into the +city, disguised, and indulged himself in the common haunts of vice. I +much fear me that he will command me to go with him on some such +expedition, for he begins to notice me more than any others of the +English gentlemen in his company, and to talk with me in the Spanish +tongue...." + +The elder man laughed tolerantly. + +"Every man to his taste," he said; "and look you, Johnnie, a prince is +wedded for state reasons, and not for love. The ox hath his bow, the +faulcon his bells, and as pigeon's bill man hath his desire and would be +nibbling!" + +John Commendone drew himself up to his full slim height and made a +motion of disgust. + +"'Tis not my way," he said. "Bachelor, I hunt no fardingales, nor would +I do so wedded." + +"God 'ild you, Johnnie. Hast ever taken a clean and commendable view of +life, and I love thee for it. But have charity, get you charity as you +grow older. His Highness is narrow, you tell me; be not so yourself. +Thou art not a little pot and soon hot, but I think thou wilt find a +fire that will thaw thee at Court. A young man must get experience. I +would not have thee get through the streets with a bragging look nor +frequent the stews of town. But young blood must have its May-day. +Whilst can, have thy May-day, Johnnie. Have thy door shadowed with green +birches, long fennel, St. John's wort, orphine, and white lilies. Wilt +not be always young. But I babble; tell me more of King Philip." + +The tall youth had stood silent while his father spoke, his grave, oval +face set in courteous attention. It was a coarse age. Henry the Eighth +was not long dead, and the scandals of his court and life influenced all +private conduct. That Queen Mary was rigid in her morals went for very +little. The Lady Elizabeth, still a young girl, was already committing +herself to a course of life which--despite the historians of the popular +textbooks--made her court in after years as licentious as ever her +father's had been. Old Sir Henry spoke after his kind, and few young men +in 1555 were so fastidious as John Commendone. + +He welcomed the change in conversation. To hear his father--whom he +dearly loved--speak thus, was most distasteful to him. + +"His Highness is a glutton for work," the young man went on. "I see him +daily, and he is ever busy with his pen. He hateth to converse upon +affairs of state, but will write a letter eighteen pages long when his +correspondent is in the next room, howbeit the subject is one which a +man of sense would settle in six words of the tongue. Indeed, sir, he is +truly of opinion that the world is to move upon protocols and +apostilles. Events must not be born without a preparatory course of his +obstetrical pedantry! Never will he learn that the world will not rest +on its axis while he writeth directions of the way it is to turn." + +Sir Henry shook himself like a dog. + +"And the Queen mad for such a husband as this!" he said. + +"Aye, worships him as it were a saint in a niche. A skilled lutanist +with a touch on the strings remarkable for its science, speaking many +languages with fluency and grace, Latin in especial, Her Grace yet +thinks His Highness a great statesman and of a polished easy wit." + +"How blind is love, Johnnie! blinder still when it cometh late. A cap +out of fashion and ill-worn. 'Tis like one of your French withered +pears. It looks ill and eats dryly." + +"I was in the Queen's closet two days gone, in waiting on His Highness. +A letter had come from Paris, narrating how a member of the Spanish +envoy's suit to that court had been assassinated. The letter ran that +the manner in which he had been killed was that a Jacobin monk had given +him a pistol-shot in the head--'_la façon que l'on dit qu'il a etté tuè, +sa etté par un Jacobin qui luy a donnè d'un cou de pístolle dans la +tayte_.' His Highness took up his pen and scrawled with it upon the +margin. He drew a line under one word '_pístolle_'; 'this is perhaps +some kind of knife,' quoth he; 'and as for "_tayte_," it can be nothing +else but head, which is not _tayte_, but _tête_ or _teyte_, as you very +well know.' And, father, the Queen was all smiles and much pleased with +this wonderful commentary!" + +Sir Henry rose. + +"I will hear no more," he said. "It is time I went. You have given me +much food for thought. Fare thee well, Johnnie. Write me letters with +thy doings when thou canst. God bless thee." + +The two men stood side by side, looking at each other in silence, one +hale and hearty still, but with his life drawing to its close, the other +in the first flush of early manhood, entering upon a career which +promised a most brilliant future, with every natural and material +advantage, either his already, or at hand. + +They were like and yet unlike. + +The father was big, burly, iron-grey of head and beard, with hooked nose +and firm though simple eyes under thick, shaggy brows. + +John was of his father's height, close on six feet. He was slim, but +with the leanness of perfect training and condition. Supple as an eel, +with a marked grace of carriage and bearing, he nevertheless suggested +enormous physical strength. The face was a pure oval with an olive tinge +in the skin, the nose hooked like his sire's, the lips curved into a +bow, but with a singular graveness and strength overlying and informing +their delicacy. The eyes, of a dark brown, were inscrutable. Steadfast +in regard, with a hint of cynicism and mockery in them, they were at the +same time instinct with alertness and a certain watchfulness. He seemed, +as he stood in his little room in the old palace of the Tower, a +singularly handsome, clever, and capable young man, but a man with +reservations, with secrets of character which no one could plumb or +divine. + +He was the only son of Sir Henry Commendone and a Spanish lady of high +birth who had come to England in 1512 to take a position in the suite of +Catherine of Arragon, three years after her marriage to Henry VIII. +During the early part of Henry's reign Sir Henry Commendone was much at +Windsor and a personal friend of the King. Those were days of great +brilliancy. The King was young, courteous, and affable. His person was +handsome, he was continually engaged in martial exercises and all forms +of field sports. Sir Henry was one of the band of gay youths who tilted +and hawked or hunted in the Great Park. He fell in love with the +beautiful young Juanita de Senabria, married her with the consent and +approbation of the King and Queen, and immediately retired to his manors +in Kent. From that time forward he took absolutely no part in politics +or court affairs. He lived the life of a country squire of his day in +serene health and happiness. His wife died when John--the only issue of +the marriage--was six years old, and the boy was educated by Father +Chilches, a placid and easy-going Spanish priest, who acted as domestic +chaplain at Commendone. This man, loving ease and quiet, was +nevertheless a scholar and a gentleman. He had been at the court of +Charles V, and was an ideal tutor for Johnnie. His religion, though +sincere, sat easily upon him. The Divorce from Rome did not draw him +from his calm retreat, the oath enforcing the King's supremacy had no +terrors for him, and he died at a good old age in 1548, during the +protectorate of Somerset. + +From this man Johnnie had learnt to speak Spanish, Italian, and French. +Naturally quick and intelligent, he had added something of his mother's +foreign grace and self-possession to the teachings and worldly-wisdom of +Don Chilches, while his father had delighted to train him in all manly +exercises, than whom none was more fitted to do. + +Sir Henry became rich as the years went on, but lived always as a simple +squire. Most of his land was pasturage, then far more profitable than +the growing of corn. Tillage, with no knowledge of the rotation of +crops, no turnip industry to fatten sheep, miserable appliances and +entire ignorance of manures, afforded no interest on capital. But the +export of wool and broadcloth was highly profitable, and Sir Henry's +wool was paid for in good double ryals by the manufacturers and +merchants of the great towns. + +John Commendone entered upon his career, therefore, with plenty of +money--far more than any one suspected--a handsome person, thoroughly +accomplished in all that was necessary for a gentleman of that day. + +In addition, his education was better than the general, he was without +vices, and, in the present reign, the consistent Catholicity of his +house recommended him most strongly to the Queen and her advisers. + + * * * * * + +"So God 'ild ye, Johnnie. Come not down the stairs with me. Let us make +farewell here and now. I go to the Constable's to leave my duty, and +then to take a stirrup-cup with the Lieutenant. My serving-men and +horses are waiting at the south of White Tower at Coal Harbour Gate. +Farewell." + +The old man put his arms in their out-moded bravery round his son and +kissed him on both cheeks. He hugged like a bear, and his beard was wiry +and strong against the smooth cheeks of his son. Then coughing a little, +he almost imperceptibly made the sign of the cross, and, turning, +clanked away, his sword ringing on the stone floor and his spurs--for he +wore riding-boots of Spanish leather--clicking in unison. + +John was left alone. + +He sat down upon the low wooden bed and gazed at the chest where the +knight had been sitting. The little room, with its single window looking +out upon the back offices of the palace, seemed strangely empty, +momentarily forlorn. Johnnie sighed. He thought of the woods of +Commendone, of the old Tudor house with its masses of chimneys and +deep-mullioned windows--of all that home-life so warm and pleasant; dawn +in the park with the deer cropping wet, silver grass, the whistle of the +wild duck as they flew over the lake, the garden of rosemary, St. John's +wort, and French lavender, which had been his mother's. + +Then, stifling a sigh, he sprang to his feet, buckled on his sword--the +fashionable "whiffle"-shaped weapon with globular pommel and the +quillons of the guard ornamented in gold--and gave a glance at a little +mirror hung upon the wall. By no means vain, he had a very careful taste +in dress, and was already considered something of a dandy by the young +men of his set. + +He wore a doublet of black satin, slashed with cloth of silver; and +black velvet trunks trussed and tagged with the same. His short cloak +was of cloth of silver lined with blue velvet pounced with his cypher, +and it fell behind him from his left shoulder. + +He smoothed his small black moustache--for he wore no beard--set his +ruff of two pleats in order, and stepped gaily out of his room into a +long panelled corridor, a very proper young man, taut, trim, and _point +device_. + +There were doors on each side of the corridor, some closed, some ajar. A +couple of serving-men were hastening along it with ewers of water and +towels. There was a hum and stir down the whole length of the place as +the younger gentlemen of the Court made their toilettes. + +From one door a high sweet tenor voice shivered out in song-- + + "Filz de Venus, voz deux yeux desbendez + Et mes ecrits lisez et entendez..." + +"That's Mr. Ambrose Cholmondely," Johnnie nodded to himself. "He has a +sweet voice. He sang in the sextette with Lady Bedingfield and Lady +Paget last night. A sweet voice, but a fool! Any girl--or dame either +for that matter--can do what she likes with him. He travels fastest who +travels alone. Master Ambrose will not go far, pardieu, nor travel +fast!" + +He came to the stair-head--it was a narrow, open stairway leading into a +small hall, also panelled. On the right of the hall was a wide, open +door, through which he turned and entered the common-room of the +gentlemen who were lodged in this wing of the palace. + +The place was very like the senior common-room of one of the more +ancient Oxford colleges, wainscoted in oak, and with large mullioned +windows on the side opposite to a high carved fire-place. + +A long table ran down the centre, capable of seating thirty or forty +people, and at one end was a beaufet or side-board with an almost +astonishing array of silver plate, which reflected the sunlight that +was pouring into the big, pleasant room in a thousand twinkling points +of light. + +It was an age of silver. The secretary to Francesco Capella, the +Venetian Ambassador to London, writes of the period: "There is no small +innkeeper, however poor and humble he may be, who does not serve his +table with silver dishes and drinking cups; and no one who has not in +his house silver plate to the amount of at least £100 sterling is +considered by the English to be a person of any consequence. The most +remarkable thing in London is the quantity of wrought silver." + +The gentlemen about the Queen and the King Consort had their own private +silver, which was kept in this their common messroom, and was also +supplemented from the Household stores. + +Johnnie sat down at the table and looked round. At the moment, save for +two serving-men and the pantler, he was alone. Before him was the silver +plate and goblet he had brought from Commendone, stamped with his crest +and motto, "_Sapere aude et tace_." He was hungry, and his eye fell upon +a dish of perch in foyle, one of the many good things upon the table. + +The pantler hastened up. + +"The carpes of venison are very good this morning, sir," he said +confidentially, while one serving-man brought a great piece of manchet +bread and another filled Johnnie's flagon with ale. + +"I'll try some," he answered, and fell to with a good appetite. + +Various young men strolled in and stood about, talking and jesting or +whispering news of the Court, calling each other by familiar nicknames, +singing and whistling, examining a new sword, cursing the amount of +their tailors' bills--as young men have done and will do from the dawn +of civilisation to the end. + +John finished his breakfast, crossed himself for grace, and, exchanging +a remark or two here and there, went out of the room and into the +morning sunshine which bathed the old palace of the Tower in splendour. + +How fresh the morning air was! how brilliant the scene before him! + +To his right was the Coal Harbour Gate and the huge White Tower. Two +Royal standards shook out in the breeze, the Leopards of England and +blazoned heraldry of Spain, with its tower of gold upon red for Castile, +the red and yellow bars of Arragon, the red and white checkers of +Burgundy, and the spread-eagle sable of Sicily. + +To the left was that vast range of halls and galleries and gardens which +was the old palace, now utterly swept away for ever. The magnificent +pile of brick and timber known as the Queen's gallery, which was the +actual Royal lodging, was alive and astir with movement. Halberdiers of +the guard were stationed at regular distances upon the low stone terrace +of the façade, groups of officers went in and out of the doors, already +some ladies were walking in the privy garden among the parterres of +flowers, brilliant as a window of stained glass. The gilding and painted +blazonry on the great hall built by Henry III glowed like huge jewels. + +On the gravel sweep before the palace grooms and men-at-arms were +holding richly caparisoned horses, and people were continually coming up +and riding away, their places to be filled by new arrivals. + +It is almost impossible, in our day, to do more than faintly imagine a +scene so splendid and so debonair. The clear summer sky, its crushed +sapphire unveiled by smoke, the mass of roofs, flat, turreted, +embattled--some with stacks of warm, red chimneys splashed with the jade +green of ivy--the cupulars and tall clock towers, the crocketed +pinnacles and fantastic timbered gables, made a whole of extraordinary +beauty. + +Dozens of great gilt vanes rose up into the still, bright air, the gold +seeming as if it were cunningly inlaid upon the curve of a blue bowl. + +The pigeons cooed softly to each other, the jackdaws wheeled and +chuckled round the dizzy heights of the White Tower, there was a sweet +scent of wood smoke and flowers borne upon the cool breezes from the +Thames. + +The clocks beat out the hour of noon, there was the boom of a gun and a +white puff of smoke from the Constable Tower, a gay fanfaronade of +trumpets shivered out, piercingly sweet and triumphant, a distant bell +began to toll somewhere over by St. John's Chapel. + +John Commendone entered the great central door of the Queen's gallery. + +He passed the guard of halberdiers that stood at the foot of the great +staircase, exchanging good mornings with Mr. Champneys, who was in +command, and went upwards to the gallery, which was crowded with people. +Officers of the Queen's archers, dressed in scarlet and black velvet, +with a rose and imperial crown woven in gold upon their doublets, +chatted with permanent officials of the household. There was a +considerable sprinkling of clergy, and at one end of the gallery, +nearest to the door of the Ante-room, was a little knot of Dominican +monks, dark and somewhat saturnine figures, who whispered to each other +in liquid Spanish. John went straight to the Ante-room entrance, which +was screened by heavy curtains of tapestry. He spoke a word to the +officer guarding it with a drawn sword, and was immediately admitted to +a long room hung with pictures and lit by large windows all along one +side of its length. + +Here were more soldiers and several gentlemen ushers with white wands in +their hands. One of them had a list of names upon a slip of parchment, +which he was checking with a pen. He looked up as John came in. + +"Give you good day, Mr. Commendone," he said. "I have you here upon this +paper. His Highness is with the Queen in her closet, and you are to be +in waiting. Lord Paget has just had audience, and the Bishop of London +is to come." + +He lowered his voice, speaking confidentially. "Things are coming to a +head," he said. "I doubt me but that there will be some savage doings +anon. Now, Mr. Commendone, I wish you very well. You are certainly +marked out for high preferment. Your cake is dough on both sides. See +you keep it. And, above all, give talking a lullaby." + +John nodded. He saw that the other knew something. He waited to hear +more. + +"You have been observed, Mr. Commendone," the other went on, his pointed +grey beard rustling on his ruff with a sound as of whispering leaves, +and hardly louder than the voice in which he spoke. "You have had those +watching you as to your demeanours and deportments whom you did not +think. And you have been very well reported of. The King likes you and +Her Grace also. They have spoken of you, and you are to be advanced. And +if, as I very well think, you will be made privy to affairs of state and +policy, pr'ythee remember that I am always at your service, and love you +very well." + +He took his watch from his doublet. "It is time you were announced," he +said, and turning, opened a door opposite the tapestry-hung portal +through which Johnnie had entered. + +"Mr. Commendone," he said, "His Highness's gentleman." + +An officer within called the name down a short passage to a captain who +stood in front of the door of the closet. There was a knock, a murmur +of voices, and John was beckoned to proceed. + +He felt unusually excited, though at the same time quite cool. Old Sir +James Clinton at the door had not spoken for nothing. Certainly his +prospects were bright.... In another moment he had entered the Queen's +room and was kneeling upon one knee as the door closed behind him. + +The room was large and cheerful. It was panelled throughout, and the +wainscoting had been painted a dull purple or liver-colour, with the +panel-beadings picked out in gold. The roof was of stone, and +waggon-headed with Welsh groins--that is to say, groins which cut into +the main arch below the apex. Two long Venice mirrors hung on one wall, +and over the fire-place was a crucifix of ivory. + +In the centre of the place was a large octagonal table covered with +papers, and a massive silver ink-holder. + +Seated at the table, very busy with a mass of documents, was King Philip +II of Spain. Don Diego Deza, his confessor and private chaplain, stood +by the side of the King's chair. + +Seated at another and smaller table in a window embrasure Queen Mary was +bending over a large flat book. It was open at an illuminated page, and +the sunlight fell upon the gold and vermilion, the _rouge-de-fer_ and +powder-blue, so that it gleamed like a little _parterre_ of jewels. + +It was the second time that John Commendone had been admitted to the +Privy Closet. He had been in waiting at supper, the Queen had spoken to +him once or twice; he was often in the King Consort's lodging, and was +already a favourite among the members of the Spanish suite. But this was +quite different. He knew it at once. He realised immediately that he was +here--present at this "domestic interior," so to speak, for some +important purpose. Had he known the expressive idiom of our day, he +would have said to himself, "I have arrived!" + +Philip looked up. His small, intensely serious eyes gave a gleam of +recognition. + +"Buenos dias, señor," he said. + +John bowed very low. + +Suddenly the room was filled with a harsh and hoarse volume of sound, a +great booming, resonant voice, like the voice of a strong, rough man. + +It came from the Queen. + +"Mr. Commendone, come you here. His Highness hath work to do. Art a +lutanist, Lady Paget tells me, then look at this new book of tablature +with the voice part very well writ and the painting of the initial most +skilfully done." + +The young man advanced to the Queen. She held out her left hand, a +little shrivelled hand, for him to kiss. He did so, and then, rising, +bent over the wonderfully illuminated music book. + +The six horizontal lines of the lute notation, each named after a +corresponding note of the instrument, were drawn in scarlet. The Arabic +numerals which indicated the frets to be used in producing the notes +were black and orange, the initial H was a wealth of flat heraldic +colour. + + "His golden locks time hath to filuer turnde" + +the Queen read out in her great masculine voice,--a little subdued now, +but still fierce and strong, like the purring of a panther. "What think +you of my new book of songs, Mr. Commendone?" + +"A beautiful book, Madam, and fit for Your Grace's skill, who hath no +rival with the lute." + +"'Tis kind of you to say so, Mr. Commendone, but you over compliment +me." + +She bent her brows together, lost in serious thought for a moment, and +drummed with lean fingers upon the table. + +Suddenly she looked up and her face cleared. + +"I can say truly," she continued, "that I am a very skilled player. For +a woman I can fairly put myself in the first rank. But I have met others +surpassing me greatly." + +She had thought it out with perfect fairness, with an almost pedantic +precision. Woman-like, she was pleased with what the young courtier had +said, but she weighed truth in grains and scruples--tithe of mint and +cummin, the very word and article of bald fact; always her way. + +"And here, Mr. Commendone," she continued, "is my new virginal. It hath +come from Firenze, and was made by Nicolo Pedrini himself. My Lord Mayor +begged Our acceptance of it." + +The virginal was a fine instrument--spinet it came to be called in +Elizabeth's reign, from the spines or crow-quills which were attached to +the "jacks" and plucked at the strings. + +The case was made of cypress wood, inlaid with whorls of thin silver and +enamels of various colours. + +"We were pleased at the Lord Mayor's courtesy," the Queen concluded, and +the change in pronoun showed John that the interview was over in its +personal sense, and that he had been very highly honoured. + +He bowed, with a murmur of assent, and drew aside to the wall of the +room, waiting easily there, a fresh and gallant figure, for any further +commands. + +Nor did it escape him that the Queen had given him a look of prim, but +quite marked approval--as an old maid may look upon a handsome and +well-mannered boy. + +The Queen pressed down the levers of the spinet once or twice, and the +thin, sweet chords like the ghost of a harp rang out into the room. + +John watched her from the wall. + +The divine right of monarchs was a doctrine very firmly implanted in his +mind by his upbringing and the time in which he lived. The absolutism of +Henry VIII had had an extraordinary influence on public thought. + +To a man such as John Commendone the monarch of England was rather more +than human. + +At the same time his cool and clever brain was busily at work, drinking +in details, criticising, appraising, wondering. + +The Queen wore a robe of claret-coloured velvet, fringed with gold +thread and furred with powdered ermine. Over her rather thin hair, +already turning very grey, she wore the simple caul of the period, a +head-dress which was half bonnet, half skull-cap, made of cloth of +tinsel set with pearls. + +Small, lean, sickly, painfully near-sighted, yet with an eye full of +fierceness and fire--your true Tudor-tiger eye--she was yet singularly +feminine. As she sat there, her face wrinkled by care and evil passions +even more than by time, touching the keys of her spinet, picking up a +piece of embroidery, and frequently glancing at her husband with quick, +hungry looks of fretful and even suspicious affection, she was far more +woman than queen. + +The great booming voice which terrified strong men, coming from this +frail and sinister figure, was silent now. There was pathos even in her +attitude. A submissive wife of Philip with her woman's gear. + +The King of Spain went on writing, coldly, carefully, and with +concentrated attention, and John's eyes fell upon him also, his new +master, the most powerful man in the world of that day. King of Spain, +Naples, Sicily, Duke of Milan, Lord of Franche Comté and the +Netherlands, Ruler of Tunis and the Barbary coast, the Canaries, Cape de +Verd Islands, Philippines and Spice Islands, the huge West Indian +colonies, and the vast territories of Mexico and Peru--an almost +unthinkable power was in the hands of this man. + +As it all came to him, Johnnie shuddered for a moment. His nerves were +tense, his imagination at work, it seemed difficult to breathe the same +air as these two super-normal beings in the still, warm chamber. + +From outside came the snarling of trumpets, the stir and noise of +soldiery--here, warm silence, the scratching of a pen upon parchment, +the echo of a voice which rolled like a kettle-drum.... + +Suddenly the King laid down his pen and rose to his feet, a tall, lean, +sombre-faced man in black and gold. He spoke a few words to Father Diego +Deza and then went up to the Queen in the window. + +The monk went on arranging papers in orderly bundles, and tying some of +them with cords of green silk, which he drew from a silver box. + +John saw the Queen's face. It lit up and became almost beautiful for a +second as Philip approached. Then as husband and wife conversed in low +voices, the equerry saw yet another change come over Mary's twitching +and expressive countenance. It hardened and froze, the thin lips +tightened to a line of dull pink, the eyes grew bitter bright, the head +nodded emphatically several times, as if in agreement at something the +King was saying. + +Then John felt some one touch his arm, and found that the Dominican had +come to him noiselessly, and was smiling into his face with a flash of +white teeth and steady, watchful eyes. + +He started violently and turned his head from the Royal couple in some +confusion. He felt as though he had been detected in some breach of +manners, of espionage almost. + +"Buenos dias, señor, como anda usted?" Don Diego asked in a low voice. + +"Thank you, I am very well," Johnnie answered in Spanish. + +"Como está su padre?" + +"My father is very well also. He has just left me to ride home to Kent," +John replied, wondering how in the world this foreign priest knew of the +old knight's visit. + +It was true, then, what Sir James Clinton had said! He was being +carefully watched. Even in the Royal Closet his movements were known. + +"A loyal gentleman and a good son of the Church," said the priest, "we +have excellent reports of him, and of you also, señor," he concluded, +with another smile. + +John bowed. + +"_Los negocios del politica_--affairs of state," the chaplain whispered +with a half-glance at the couple in the window. "There are great times +coming for England, señor. And if you prove yourself a loyal servant and +good Catholic, you are destined to go far. His Most Catholic Majesty has +need of an English gentleman such as you in his suite, of good birth, +of the true religion, with Spanish blood in his veins, and speaking +Spanish." + +Again the young man bowed. He knew very well that these words were +inspired. This suave ecclesiastic was the power behind the throne. He +held the King's conscience, was his confessor, more powerful than any +great lord or Minister--the secret, unofficial director of world-wide +policies. + +His heart beat high within him. The prospects opening before him were +enough to dazzle the oldest and most experienced courtier; he was upon +the threshold of such promotion and intimacies as he, the son of a plain +country gentleman, had never dared to hope for. + +It had grown very hot; he remarked upon it to the priest, noticing, as +he did so, that the room was darker than before. + +The air of the closet was heavy and oppressive, and glancing at the +windows, he saw that it was no fancy of strained and excited nerves, but +that the sky over the river was darkening, and the buildings upon London +Bridge stood out with singular sharpness. + +"A storm of thunder," said Don Diego indifferently, and then, with a +gleam in his eyes, "and such a storm shall presently break over England +that the air shall be cleared of heresy by the lightnings of Holy +Church--ah! here cometh His Grace of London!" + +The Captain of the Guard had suddenly beaten upon the door. It was flung +open, and Sir James Clinton, who had come down the passage from the +Ante-room, preceded the Bishop, and announced him in a loud, sonorous +voice. + +Johnnie instinctively drew himself up to attention, the chaplain +hastened forward, King Philip, in the window, stood upright, and the +Queen remained seated. From the wall Johnnie saw all that happened quite +distinctly. The scene was one which he never forgot. + +There was the sudden stir and movement of his lordship's entrance, the +alteration and grouping of the people in the closet, the challenge of +the captain at the door, the heralding voice of Sir James--and then, +into the room, which was momentarily growing darker as the thunder +clouds advanced on London, Bishop Bonner came. + +The man _pressed_ into the room, swift, sudden, assertive. In his +scarlet chimere and white rochet, with his bullet head and bristling +beard, it was as though a shell had fallen into the room. + +A streak of livid light fell upon his face--set, determined, and alive +with purpose--and the man's eyes, greenish brown and very bright, caught +a baleful fire from the waning gleam. + +Then, with almost indecent haste, he brushed past John Commendone and +the eager Spanish monk, and knelt before the Queen. + +He kissed her hand, and the hand of the King Consort also, with some +murmured words which Johnnie could not catch. Then he rose, and the +Queen, as she had done upon her arrival from Winchester after her +marriage, knelt for his blessing. + +Commendone and the chaplain knelt also; the King of Spain bowed his +head, as the rapid, breathless pattering Latin filled the place, and one +outstretched hand--two white fingers and one white thumb--quivered for a +moment and sank in the leaden light. + +There was a new grouping of figures, some quick talk, and then the +Queen's great voice filled the room. + +"Mr. Commendone! See that there are lights!" + +Johnnie stumbled out of the closet, now dark as at late evening, strode +down the passage, burst into the Ante-room, and called out loudly, +"Bring candles, bring candles!" + +Even as he said it there was a terrible crash of thunder high in the air +above the Palace, and a simultaneous flash of lightning, which lit up +the sombre Ante-room with a blinding and ghostly radiance for the +fraction of a second. + +White faces immobile as pictures, tense forms of all waiting there, and +then the voice of Sir James and the hurrying of feet as the servants +rushed away.... + +It was soon done. While the thunder pealed and stammered overhead, the +amethyst lightning sheets flickered and cracked, the white whips of the +fork-lightning cut into the black and purple gloom, a little procession +was made, and gentlemen ushers followed Johnnie back to the Royal +Closet, carrying candles in their massive silver sconces, dozens of +twinkling orange points to illumine what was to be done. + +The door was closed. The King, Queen, and the Bishop sat down at the +central table upon which all the lights were set. + +Don Diego Deza stood behind Philip's chair. + +The Queen turned to John. + +"Stand at the door, Mr. Commendone," she said, "and with your sword +drawn. No one is to come in. We are engaged upon affairs of state." + +Her voice was a second to the continuous mutter of the thunder, low, +fierce, and charged with menace. Save for the candles, the room was now +quite dark. + +A furious wind had risen and blew great gouts of hot rain upon the +window-panes with a rattle as of distant artillery. + +Johnnie drew his sword, held it point downwards, and stood erect, +guarding the door. He could feel the tapestry which covered it moving +behind him, bellying out and pressing gently upon his back. + +He could see the faces of the people at the table very distinctly. + +The King of Spain and his chaplain were in profile to him. The Queen and +the Bishop of London he saw full-face. He had not met the Bishop before, +though he had heard much about him, and it was on the prelate's +countenance that his glance of curiosity first fell. + +Young as he was, Johnnie had already begun to cultivate that cool +scrutiny and estimation of character which was to stand him in such +stead during the years that were to come. He watched the face of Edmund +Bonner, or Boner, as the Bishop was more generally called at that time, +with intense interest. Boner was to the Queen what the Dominican Deza +was to her husband. The two priests ruled two monarchs. + +In the yellow candle-light, an oasis of radiance in the murk and gloom +of the storm, the faces of the people round the table hid nothing. The +Bishop was bullet-headed, had protruding eyes, a bright colour, and his +moustache and beard only partially hid lips that were red and full. The +lips were red and full, there was a coarseness, and even sensuality, +about them, which was, nevertheless, oddly at war with their +determination and inflexibility. The young man, pure and fastidious +himself, immediately realised that Boner was not vicious in the ordinary +meaning of the word. One hears a good deal about "thin, cruel lips"--the +Queen had them, indeed--but there are full and blood-charged lips which +are cruel too. And these were the lips of the Bishop of London. + +There was a huge force about the man. He was plebeian, common, but +strong. + +Don Diego, Commendone himself, the Queen and her husband, were all +aristocrats in their different degree, bred from a line--pedigree +people. + +That was the bond between them. + +The Bishop was outside all this, impatient of it, indeed; but even while +the groom of the body twirled his moustache with an almost mechanical +gesture of disgust and misliking, he felt the power of the man. + +And no historian has ever ventured to deny that. The natural son of the +hedge-priest, George Savage--himself a bastard--walked life with a +shield of brutal power as his armour. The blood-stained man from whom--a +few years after--Queen Elizabeth turned away with a shudder of +irrepressible horror, was the man who had dared to browbeat and bully +Pope Clement VII himself. He took a personal and undignified delight in +the details of physical and mental torture of his victims. In 1546 he +had watched with his own eyes the convulsions of Dame Anne Askew upon +the rack. He was sincere, inflexible, and remarkable for obstinacy in +everything except principle. As Ambassador to Paris in Henry's reign he +had smuggled over printed sheets of Coverdale's and Grafton's +translation of the Bible in his baggage--the personal effects of an +ambassador being then, as now, immune from prying eyes. During the +Protectorate he had lain in prison, and now the strenuous opposer of +papal claims in olden days was a bishop in full communion with Rome. + +... He was speaking now, in a loud and vulgar voice, which even the +presence of their Majesties failed to soften or subdue. + +--"And this, so please Your Grace, is but a sign and indication of the +spirit abroad. There is no surcease from it. We shall do well to gird us +up and scourge this heresy from England. This letter was delivered by an +unknown woman to my chaplain, Father Holmes. 'Tis a sign of the times." + +He unfolded a paper and began to read. + +"I see that you are set all in a rage like a ravening wolf against the +poor lambs of Christ appointed to the slaughter for the testimony of the +truth. Indeed, you are called the common cut-throat and general +slaughter-slave to all the bishops of England; and therefore 'tis wisdom +for me and all other simple sheep of the Lord to keep us out of your +butcher's stall as long as we can. The very papists themselves begin now +to abhor your blood-thirstiness, and speak shame of your tyranny. Like +tyranny, believe me, my lord, any child that can any whit speak, can +call you by your name and say, 'Bloody Boner is Bishop of London'; and +every man hath it as perfectly upon his fingers'-ends as his +Paternoster, how many you, for your part, have burned with fire and +famished in prison; they say the whole sum surmounteth to forty persons +within this three-quarters of this year. Therefore, my lord, though your +lordship believeth that there is neither heaven nor hell nor God nor +devil, yet if your lordship love your own honesty, which was lost long +agone, you were best to surcease from this cruel burning of Christian +men, and also from murdering of some in prison, for that, indeed, +offendeth men's minds most. Therefore, say not but a woman gave you +warning, if you list to take it. And as for the obtaining of your popish +purpose in suppressing the Truth, I put you out of doubt, you shall not +obtain it as long as you go to work this way as ye do; for verily I +believe that you have lost the hearts of twenty thousand that were rank +papists within this twelve months." + +The Bishop put the letter down upon the table and beat upon it with his +clenched fist. His face was alight with inquiry and anger. + +Every one took it in a different fashion. + +Philip crossed himself and said nothing, formal, cold, and almost +uninterested. Don Diego crossed himself also. His face was stern, but +his eyes flitted hither and thither, sparkling in the light. + +Then the Queen's great voice boomed out into the place, drowning the +thunder and the beating rain upon the window-panes, pressing in gouts of +sound on the hot air of the closet. + +Her face was bagged and pouched like a quilt. All womanhood was wiped +out of it--lips white, eyes like ice.... + +"I'll stamp it out of this realm! I'll burn it out. Jesus! but we will +burn it out!" + +The Bishop's face was trembling with excitement. He thrust a paper in +front of the Queen. + +"Madam," he said, "this is the warrant for Doctor Rowland Taylor." + +Mary caught up a pen and wrote her name at the foot of the document in +the neat separated letters of one accustomed to write in Greek, below +the signature of the Chancellor Gardiner and the Lords Montague and +Wharton, judges of the Legantine Court for the trial of heretics. + +"I will make short with him," the Queen said, "and of all blasphemers +and heretics. There is the paper, my lord, with my hand to it. A black +knave this, they tell me, and withal very stubborn and lusty in +blasphemy." + +"A very black knave, Madam. I performed the ceremony of degradation upon +him yestereen, and, by my troth, never did the walls of Newgate chapel +shelter such a rogue before. He would not put on the vestments which I +was to strip from him, and was then, at my order, robed by another. And +when he was thoroughly furnished therewith, he set his hands to his +sides and cried, 'How say you, my lord, am I not a goodly fool? How say +you, my masters, if I were in Chepe, should I not have boys enough to +laugh at these apish toys?'" + +The Queen crossed herself. Her face blazed with fury. "Dog!" she cried. +"Perchance he will sing another tune to-morrow morn. But what more?" + +"I took my crosier-staff to smite him on the breast," the Bishop +continued. "And upon that Mr. Holmes, that is my chaplain, said, 'Strike +him not, my lord, for he will sure strike again.' 'Yes, and by St. Peter +will I,' quoth Doctor Taylor. 'The cause is Christ's, and I were no +good Christian if I would not fight in my Master's quarrel.' So I laid +my curse on him, and struck him not." + +The King's large, sombre face twisted into a cold sneer. + +"_Perro labrador nunca buen mordedor_--a barking dog is never a good +fighter," he said. "I shall watch this clerk-convict to-morrow. Methinks +he will not be so lusty at his burning." + +The Bishop looked up quickly with surprise in his face. + +"My lord," the Queen said to him, "His Majesty, as is both just and +right, desireth to see this blasphemer's end, and will report to me on +the matter. Mr. Commendone, come here." + +Johnnie advanced to the table. + +"You will go to Sir John Shelton," the Queen went on, "and learn from +him all that hath been arranged for the burning of this heretic. The +King will ride with the party and you in close attendance upon His +Majesty. Only you and Sir John will know who the King is, and your life +depends upon his safety. I am weary of this business. My heart grieves +for Holy Church while these wolves are not let from their wickedness. Go +now, Mr. Commendone, upon your errand, and report to Father Deza this +afternoon." + +She held out her hand. John knelt on one knee and kissed it. + +As he left the closet the rain was still lashing the window-panes, and +the candles burnt yellow in the gloom. + +By a sudden flash of lightning he saw the four faces looking down at the +death warrant. There was a slight smile on all of them, and the +expressions were very intent. + +The great white crucifix upon the panelling gleamed like a ghost. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE HOUSE OF SHAME; THE LADDER OF GLORY + + +It was ten o'clock in the evening. The thunderstorm of the morning had +long since passed away. The night was cool and still. There was no moon, +but the sky above London was powdered with stars. + +The Palace of the Tower was ablaze with lights. The King and Queen had +supped in state at eight, and now a masque was in progress, held in the +glorious hall which Henry III painted with the story of Antiochus. + +The sweet music shivered out into the night as John Commendone came into +the garden among the sleeping flowers. + +"And the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe, and wine are in their +feasts." Commendone had never read the Bible, but the words of the +Prophet would have well expressed his mood had he but known them. + +For he was melancholy and ill at ease. The exaltation of the morning had +quite gone. Though he was still pleasantly conscious that he was in a +fair way to great good fortune, some of the savour was lost. He could +not forget the lurid scene in the Closet--the four faces haunted him +still. And he knew also that a strange and probably terrible experience +waited him during the next few hours. + +"God on the Cross," he said to himself, snapping his fingers in +perplexity and misease--it was the fashion at Court to use the great +Tudor oaths--"I am come to touch with life--real life at last. And I am +not sure that I like it. But 'tis too new as yet. I must be as other men +are, I suppose!" + +As he walked alone in the night, and the cool air played upon his face, +he began to realise how placid, how much upon the surface, his life had +always been until now. He had come to Court perfectly equipped by +nature, birth, and training for the work of pageantry, a picturesque +part in the retinue of kings. He had fallen into his place quite +naturally. It all came easy to him. He had no trace of the "young +gentleman from the country" about him--he might have started life as a +Court page. + +But the real emotions of life, the under-currents, the hates, loves, and +strivings, had all been a closed book. He recognised their existence, +but never thought they would or could affect him. He had imagined that +he would always be aloof, an interested spectator, untouched, +untroubled. + +And he knew to-night that all this had been but a phantom of his brain. +He was to be as other men. Life had got hold on him at last, stern and +relentless. + +"To-night," he thought, "I really begin to live. I am quickened to +action. Some day, anon, I too must make a great decision, one way or the +other. The scene is set, they are pulling the traverse from before it, +the play begins. + +"I am a fair white page," he said to himself, "on which nothing is writ, +I have ever been that. To-night comes Master Scrivener. 'I have a mind +to write upon thee,' he saith, and needs be that I submit." + +He sighed. + +The music came to him, sweet and gracious. The long orange-litten +windows of the Palace spoke of the splendours within. + +But he thought of a man--whose name he had never heard until that +morning--lying in some dark room, waiting for those who were to come for +him, the man whom he would watch burning before the sun had set again. + +It had been an evening of incomparable splendour. + +The King and Queen had been served with all the panoply of state. The +Duke of Norfolk, the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke, Lord Paget and Lord +Rochester, had been in close attendance. + +The Duke had held the ewer of water, Paget and Rochester the bason and +napkin. After the ablutions the Bishop of London said grace. + +The Queen blazed with jewels. The life of seclusion she had led before +her accession had by no means dulled the love of splendour inherent in +her family. Even the French ambassador, well used to pomp and display, +leaves his own astonishment on record. + +She wore raised cloth of gold, and round her thin throat was a partlet +or collar of emeralds. Her stomacher was of diamonds, an almost barbaric +display of twinkling fire, and over her gold caul was a cap of black +velvet sewn with pearls. + +During the whole of supper it was remarked that Her Grace was merry. The +gay lords and ladies who surrounded her and the King--for all alike, +young maids and grey-haired dames of sixty must blaze and sparkle +too--nodded and whispered to each other, wondering at this high +good-humour. + +When the Server advanced with his white wand, heading the procession of +yeomen-servers with the gilt dishes of the second course--he was a fat +pottle-bellied man--the Queen turned to the Duke of Norfolk. + +"_Dame!_" she said in French, "here is a prancing pie! _Ma mye!_ A capon +of high grease! Methinks this gentleman hath a very single eye for the +larder!" + +"Yes, m'am," the Duke answered, "and so would make a better feast for +Polypheme than e'er the lean Odysseus." + +They went on with their play of words upon the names of the dishes in +the menu.... + +"But say rather a porpoise in armour." + +"Halibut engrailed, Madam, hath a face of peculiar whiteness like the +under belly of that fish!" + +"A jowl of sturgeon!" + +"A Florentine of puff paste, m'am." + +"_Habet!_" the Queen replied, "I can't better that. Could you, Lady +Paget? You are a great jester." + +Lady Paget, a stately white-haired dame, bowed to the Duke and then to +the Queen. + +"His Grace is quick in the riposte," she said, "and if Your Majesty +gives him the palm--_qui meruit ferat_! But capon of high grease for my +liking." + +"But you've said nothing, Lady Paget." + +"My wit is like my body, m'am, grown old and rheumy. The salad days of +it are over. I abdicate in favour of youth." + +Again this adroit lady bowed. + +The Queen flushed up, obviously pleased with the compliment. She looked +at the King to see if he had heard or understood it. + +The King had been talking to the Bishop of London, partly in such Latin +as he could muster, which was not much, but principally with the aid of +Don Diego Deza, who stood behind His Majesty's chair, and acted as +interpreter--the Dominican speaking English fluently. + +During the whole of supper Philip had appeared less morose than usual. +There was a certain fire of expectancy and complacence in his eye. He +had smiled several times; his manner to the Queen had been more genial +than it was wont to be--a fact which, in the opinion of everybody, duly +accounted for Her Grace's high spirits and merriment. + +He looked up now as Lady Paget spoke. + +"_Ensalada!_" he said, having caught one word of Lady Paget's +speech--salad. "Yes, give me some salad. It is the one thing"--he +hastened to correct himself--"it is one of the things they make better +in England than in my country." + +The Queen was in high glee. + +"His Highness grows more fond of our English food," she said; and in a +moment or two the Comptroller of the Household came up to the King's +chair, followed by a pensioner bearing a great silver bowl of one of +those wonderful salads of the period, which no modern skill of the +kitchen seems able to produce to-day--burridge, chicory, bugloss, +marigold leaves, rocket, and alexanders, all mixed with eggs, cinnamon, +oil, and ginger. + +Johnnie, who was sitting at the Esquires' table, with the Gentlemen of +the Body and Privy Closet, had watched the gay and stately scene till +supper was nearly over. + +The lights, the music, the high air, the festivity, had had no power to +lighten the oppression which he felt, and when at length the King and +Queen rose and withdrew to the great gallery where the Masque was +presently to begin, he had slipped out alone into the garden. + + "His golden locks time hath to silver turned." + +The throbbing music of the old song, the harps' thridding, the lutes +shivering out their arpeggio accompaniment, the viols singing +together--came to him with rare and plaintive sweetness, but they +brought but little balm or assuagement to his dark, excited mood. + +Ten o'clock beat out from the roof of the Palace. Johnnie left the +garden. He was to receive his instruction as to his night's doing from +Mr. Medley, the Esquire of Sir John Shelton, in the Common Room of the +Gentlemen of the Body. + +He strode across the square in front of the façade, and turned into the +long panelled room where he had breakfasted that morning. + +It was quite empty now--every one was at the Masque--but two silver +lamps illuminated it, and shone upon the dark walls of the glittering +array of plate upon the beaufet. + +He had not waited there a minute, however, leaning against the tall +carved mantelpiece, a tall and gallant figure in his rich evening dress, +when steps were heard coming through the hall, the door swung open, and +Mr. Medley entered. + +He was a thick-set, bearded man of middle height, more soldier than +courtier, with the stamp of the barrack-room and camp upon him; a brisk, +quick-spoken man, with compressed lips and an air of swift service. + +"Give you good evening, Mr. Commendone," he said; "I am come with Sir +John's orders." + +Johnnie bowed. "At your service," he answered. + +The soldier looked round the room carefully before speaking. + +"There is no one here, Mr. Medley," Johnnie said. + +The other nodded and came close up to the young courtier. + +"The Masque hath been going this half-hour," he said, in a low voice, +"but His Highness hath withdrawn. Her Grace is still with the dancers, +and in high good-humour. Now, I must tell you, Mr. Commendone, that the +Queen thinketh His Highness in his own wing of the Palace, and with Don +Diego and Don de Castro, his two confessors. She is willing that this +should be so, and said 'Good night' to His Highness after supper, +knowing that he will presently set out to the burning of Dr. Taylor. She +knoweth that the party sets out for Hadley at two o'clock, and thinketh +that His Highness is spending the time before then in prayer and a +little sleep. I tell you this, Mr. Commendone, in order that you go not +back to the Masque before that you set out from the Tower to a certain +house where His Highness will be with Sir John Shelton. You will take +your own servant mounted and armed, and a man-at-arms also will be at +the door of your lodging here at ten minutes of midnight. The word at +the Coal Harbour Gate is 'Christ.' With your two men you will at once +ride over London Bridge and so to Duck Lane, scarce a furlong from the +other side of the bridge. Doubtless you know it"--and here the man's +eyes flickered with a half smile for a moment--"but if not, the +man-at-arms, one of Sir John's men, will show you the way. You will +knock at the big house with the red door, and be at once admitted. There +will be a light over the door. His Highness will be there with Sir John, +and that is all I have to tell you. Afterwards you will know what to +do." + +Johnnie bowed. "Give you good night," he said. "I understand very well." + +As soon as the Esquire had gone, Johnnie turned out of the Common Room, +ascended the stairs, went to his own chamber and threw himself upon the +little bed. + +He had imagined that something like this was likely to occur. The King's +habits were perfectly well known to all those about him, and indeed were +whispered of in the Court at large, Queen Mary, alone, apparently +knowing nothing of the truth as yet. The King's unusual bonhomie at +supper could hardly be accounted for, at least so Johnnie thought, by +the fact that he was to see his own and the Queen's bigotry translated +into dreadful reality. To the keen young student of faces the King had +seemed generally relieved, expectant, with the air of a boy about to be +released from school. Now, the reason was plain enough. His Highness had +gone with Sir John Shelton to some infamous house in a bad quarter of +the city, and it was there the Equerry was to meet him and ride to the +death scene. + +Johnnie tossed impatiently upon his bed. He remembered how on that very +morning he had expressed his hopes to Sir Henry that his duties would +not lead him into dubious places. A lot of water had run under the +bridges since he kissed his father farewell in the bright morning light. +His whole prospects were altered, and advanced. For one thing, he had +been present at an intimate and private conference and had received +marked and special favour--he shuddered now as he remembered the four +intent faces round the table in the Privy Closet, those sharp faces, +with a cruel smirk upon them, those still faces with the orange light +playing over them in the dark, tempest-haunted room. + +"I' faith," he said to himself, "thou art fairly put to sea, Johnnie! +but I will not feed myself with questioning. I am in the service of +princes, and must needs do as I am told. Who am I to be squeamish? But +hey-ho! I would I were in the park at Commendone to-night." + +About eleven o'clock his servant came to him and helped him to change +his dress. He wore long riding-boots of Spanish leather, a light +corselet of tough steel, inlaid with arabesques of gold, and a big +quilted Spanish hat. Over all he fastened a short riding-cloak of supple +leather dyed purple. He primed his pistols and gave them to a man to be +put into his holsters, and about a quarter before midnight descended the +stairs. + +He found a man-at-arms with a short pike, already mounted, and his +servant leading the other two horses; he walked toward the Coal Harbour +Gate, gave the word to the Lieutenant of the Guard, and left the Tower. + +A light moon was just beginning to rise and throw fantastic shadows over +Tower Hill. It was bright enough to ride by, and Johnnie forbade his man +to light the horn lantern which was hanging at the fellow's saddle-bow. + +They went at a foot pace, the horses' feet echoing with an empty, +melancholy sound from the old timbered houses back to the great bastion +wall of the Tower. + +The man-at-arms led the way. When they came to London Bridge, where a +single lantern showed the broad oak bar studded with nails, which ran +across the roadway, Johnnie noticed that upon the other side of it were +two halberdiers of the Tower Guard in their uniforms of black and +crimson, talking to the keeper of the gate. + +As they came up the bar swung open. + +"Mr. Commendone?" said the keeper, an elderly man in a leather jerkin. + +Johnnie nodded. + +"Pass through, sir," the man replied, saluting, as did also the two +soldiers who were standing there. + +The little cavalcade went slowly over the bridge between the tall houses +on either side, which at certain points almost met with their +overhanging eaves. The shutters were up all over the little jewellers' +shops. Here and there a lamp burned from an upstairs window, and the +swish and swirl of the river below could be heard quite distinctly. + +At the middle of the bridge, just by the well-known armourer's shop of +Guido Ponzio, the Italian sword-smith, whose weapons were eagerly +purchased by members of the Court and the officers both of the Tower and +Whitehall, another halberdier was standing, who again saluted Commendone +as he rode by. + +It was quite obvious to Johnnie that every precaution had been taken so +that the King's excursion into _les coulisses_ might be undisturbed. + +The pike was swung open for them on the south side of the bridge +directly they drew near, and putting their horses to the trot, they +cantered over a hundred yards of trodden grass round which houses were +standing in the form of a little square, and in a few minutes more +turned into Duck Lane. + +At this hour of the night the narrow street of heavily-timbered houses +was quite dark and silent. It seemed there was not a soul abroad, and +this surprised Johnnie, who had been led to understand that at midnight +"The Lane" was frequently the scene of roistering activity. Now, +however, the houses were all blind and dark, and the three horsemen +might have been moving down a street in the city of the dead. + +Only the big honey-coloured moon threw a primrose light upon the topmost +gables of the houses on the left side of "The Lane"--all the rest being +black velvet, sombreness and shadow. + +John's mouth curved a little in disdain under his small dark moustache, +as he noted all this and realised exactly what it meant. + +When a king set out for furtive pleasures, lesser men of vice must get +them to their kennels! Lights were out, all manifestation of evil was +thickly curtained. The shameless folk of that wicked quarter of the town +must have shame imposed upon them for the night. + +The King was taking his pleasure. + +John Commendone, since his arrival in London, and at the Court, had +quietly refused to be a member of any of those hot-blooded parties of +young men who sallied out from the Tower or from Whitehall when the +reputable world was sleeping. It was not to his taste. He was perfectly +capable of tolerating vice in others--looking on it, indeed, as a +natural manifestation of human nature and event. But for himself he had +preferred aloofness. + +Nevertheless, from the descriptions of his friends, he knew that Duck +Lane to-night was wearing an aspect which it very seldom wore, and as he +rode slowly down that blind and sinister thoroughfare with his +attendants, he realised with a little cold shudder what it was to be a +king. + +He himself was the servant of a king, one of those whom good fortune and +opportunity had promoted to be a minister to those almost super-human +beings who could do no wrong, and ruled and swayed all other men by +means of their Divine Right. + +This was a position he perfectly accepted, had accepted from the first. +Already he was rising high in the course of life he had started to +pursue. He had no thought of questioning the deeds of princes. He knew +that it was his duty, his _métier_, in life to be a pawn in the great +game. What affected him now, however, as they came up to a big house of +free-stone and timber, where a lanthorn of horn hung over a door painted +a dull scarlet, was a sense of the enormous and irrevocable power of +those who were set on high to rule. + +No! They were not human, they were not as other men and women are. + +He had been in the Queen's Closet that morning, and had seen the death +warrant signed. The great convulsion of nature, the furious thunders of +God, had only been, as it were, a mere accompaniment to the business of +the four people in the Queen's lodge. + +A scratch of a pen--a man to die. + +And then, during the evening, he had seen, once more, the King and +Queen, bright, glittering and radiant, surrounded by the highest and +noblest of England, serene, unapproachable, the centre of the stupendous +pageant of the hour. + +And now, again, he was come to the stews, to the vile quarter of London, +and even here the secret presence of a king closed all doors, and kept +the pandars and victims of evil silent in their dens like crouching +hares. + +As they came up to the big, dark house, a little breeze from the river +swirled down the Lane, and fell fresh upon Johnnie's cheek. As it did +so, he knew that he was hot and fevered, that the riot of thought within +him had risen the temperature of his blood. It was cool and +grateful--this little clean breeze of the water, and he longed once +more, though only for a single second, that he was home in the stately +park of Commendone, and had never heard the muffled throb of the great +machine of State, of polity, and the going hither and thither of kings +and queens. + +But it only lasted for a moment. + +He was disciplined, he was under orders. He pulled himself together, +banished all wild and speculative thought--sat up in the saddle, gripped +the sides of his cob with his knees, and set his left arm akimbo. + +"This is the house, sir," said the trooper, saluting. + +"Very well," Johnnie answered, as his servant dismounted and took his +horse by the bridle. + +Johnnie leapt to the ground, pulled his sword-belt into position, +settled his hat upon his head, and with his gloved fist beat upon the +big red door before him. + +In ten seconds he heard a step on the other side of the door. It swung +open, and a tall, thin person, wearing a scarlet robe and a mask of +black velvet over the upper part of the face, bowed low before him, and +with a gesture invited him to enter. + +Johnnie turned round. + +"You will stay here," he said to the men. "Be quite silent, and don't +stray away a yard from the door." + +Then he followed the tall, thin figure, which closed the door, and +flitted down a short passage in front of him with noiseless footsteps. + +He knew at once that he was in Queer Street. + +The nondescript figure in its fantastic robe and mask struck a chill of +disgust to his blood. + +It was a fantastic age, and all aberrations--all deviations--from the +normal were constantly accentuated by means of costumes and theatric +effect. + +The superficial observer of the manners of our day is often apt to +exclaim upon the decadence of our time. One has heard perfectly sincere +and healthy Englishmen inveigh with anger upon the literature of the +moment, the softness and luxury of life and art, the invasion of sturdy +English ideals by the corrupt influences of France. + +"Give me the days of Good Queen Bess, the hearty, healthy, strong Tudor +life," is the sort of exclamation by no means rare in our time. + +... "Bluff King Hal! Drake, Raleigh, all that rough, brave, and splendid +time! Think of Shakespeare, my boy!" + +Whether or no our own days are deficient in hardihood and endurance is +not a question to be discussed here--though the private records of +England's last war might very well provide a complete answer to the +query. It is certain, however, that in an age when personal prowess with +arms was still a title to fortune, when every gentleman of position and +birth knew and practised the use of weapons, the under-currents of life, +the hidden sides of social affairs, were at least as "curious" and +"decadent" as anything Montmartre or the Quartier Latin have to show. + +It must be remembered that in the late Tudor Age almost every one of +good family, each gentleman about the Court, was not only a trained +soldier, but also a highly cultured person as well. The Renaissance in +Italy was in full swing and activity. Its culture had crossed the Alps, +its art was borne upon the wings of its advance to our northern shores. + +Grossness was refined.... + +Johnnie twirled his moustache as he followed the nondescript sexless +figure which flitted down the dimly-lit panelled passage before him like +some creature from a masque. + +At the end of the passage there was a door. + +Arrived at it, a long, thin arm, in a sleeve of close-fitting black +silk, shot out from the red robe. A thin ivory-coloured hand, with +fingers of almost preternatural length, rose to a painted scarlet slit +which was the creature's mouth. + +The masked head dropped a little to one side, one lean finger, shining +like a fish-bone, tapped the mouth significantly, the door opened, some +heavy curtains of Flanders tapestry were pushed aside, and the Equerry +walked into a place as strange and sickly as he had ever met in some +fantastic or disordered dream. + +Johnnie heard the door close softly behind him, the "swish, swish" of +the falling curtains. And then he stood up, his eyes blinking a little +in the bright light which streamed upon them--his hand upon his +sword-hilt--and looked around to find himself. He was in a smallish +room, hung around entirely with an arras of scarlet cloth, powdered at +regular intervals with a pattern of golden bats. + +The floor was covered with a heavy carpet of Flanders pile--a very rare +and luxurious thing in those days--and the whole room was lit by its +silver lamps, which hung from the ceiling upon chains. On one side, +opposite the door, was a great pile of cushions, going half-way up the +wall towards the ceiling--cushions as of strange barbaric colours, +violent colours that smote upon the eye and seemed almost to do the +brain a violence. + +In the middle of the room, right in the centre, was a low oak stool, +upon which was a silver tray. In the middle of the tray was a miniature +chafing-dish, beneath which some volatile amethyst-coloured flame was +burning, and from the dish itself a pastille, smouldering and heated, +sent up a thin, grey whip of odorous smoke. + +The whole air of this curious tented room was heavy and languorous with +perfume. Sickly, and yet with a sensuous allurement, the place seemed to +reel round the young man, to disgust one side of him, the real side; and +yet, in some low, evil fashion, to beckon to base things in his +blood--base thoughts, physical influences which he had never known +before, and which now seemed to suddenly wake out of a long sleep, and +to whisper in his ears. + +All this, this surveyal of the place in which he found himself, took but +a moment, and he had hardly stood there for three seconds--tall, +upright, and debonair, amid the wicked luxury of the room--when he heard +a sound to his left, and, turning, saw that he was not alone. + +Behind a little table of Italian filigree work, upon which were a pair +of tiny velvet slippers, embroidered with burnt silver, a +sprunking-glass--or pocket mirror--and a tall-stemmed bottle of wine, +sat a vast, pink, fleshy, elderly woman. + +Her face, which was as big as a ham, was painted white and scarlet. Her +eyebrows were pencilled with deep black, the heavy eyes shared the +vacuity of glass, with an evil and steadfast glitter of welcome. + +There were great pouches underneath the eyes; the nose was hawk-like, +the chins pendulous, the lips once, perhaps, well curved and beautiful +enough, now full, bloated, and red with horrid invitation. + +The woman was dressed with extreme richness. + +Fat and powdered fingers were covered with rings. Her corsage was +jewelled--she was like some dreadful mummy of what youth had been, a +sullen caricature of a long-past youth, when she also might have walked +in the fields under God's sky, heard bird-music, and seen the dew upon +the bracken at dawn. + +Johnnie stirred and blinked at this apparition for a moment; then his +natural courtesy and training came to him, and he bowed. + +As he did so, the fat old woman threw out her jewelled arms, leant back +in her chair, stuttering and choking with amusement. + +"_Tiens!_" she said in French, "_Monsieur qui arrive!_ Why have you +never been to see me before, my dear?" + +Johnnie said nothing at all. His head was bent a little forward. He was +regarding this old French procuress with grave attention. + +He knew now at once who she was. He had heard her name handed about the +Court very often--Madame La Motte. + +"You are a little out of my way, Madame," Johnnie answered. "I come not +over Thames. You see, I am but newly arrived at the Court." + +He said it perfectly politely, but with a little tiny, half-hidden +sneer, which the woman was quick to notice. + +"Ah! Monsieur," she said, "you are here on duty. _Merci_, that I know +very well. Those for whom you have come will be down from above stairs +very soon, and then you can go about your business. But you will take a +glass of wine with me?" + +"I shall be very glad, Madame," Johnnie answered, as he watched the fat, +trembling hand, with all its winking jewels, pouring Vin de Burgogne +into a glass. He raised it and bowed. + +The old painted woman raised her glass also, and lifted it to her lips, +tossing the wine down with a sudden smack of satisfaction. + +Then, in that strange perfumed room, the two oddly assorted people +looked at each other straightly for a moment. + +Neither spoke. + +At length Madame La Motte, of the great big house with the red door, +heaved herself out of her arm-chair, and waddled round the table. She +was short and fat; she put one hand upon the shoulder of the tall, clean +young man in his riding suit and light armour. + +"_Mon ami_," she said thickly, "don't come here again." + +Johnnie looked down at the hideous old creature, but with a singular +feeling of pity and compassion. + +"Madame," he said, "I don't propose to come again." + +"Thou art limn and debonair, and a very pretty boy, but come not here, +because in thy face I see other things for thee. Lads of the Court come +to see me and my girls, proper lads too, but in their faces there is not +what I discern in thy face. For them it matters nothing; for thee +'twould be a stain for all thy life. Thou knowest well whom I am, +Monsieur, and canst guess well where I shall go--e'en though His Most +Catholic Majesty be above stairs, and will get absolution for all he is +pleased to do here. But you--thou wilt be a clean boy. Is it not so?" + +The fat hand trembled upon the young man's arm, the hoarse, sodden voice +was full of pleading. + +"_Ma mère_," Johnnie answered her in her own language, "have no fear for +me. I thank you--but I did not understand...." + +"Boy," she cried, "thou canst not understand. Many steps down hellwards +have I gone, and in the pit there is knowledge. I knew good as thou +knowest it. Evil now I know as, please God, thou wilt never know it. +But, look you, from my very knowledge of evil, I am given a tongue with +which to speak to thee. Keep virgin. Thou art virgin now; my hand upon +thy sword-arm tells me that. Keep virgin until the day cometh and +bringeth thy lady and thy destined love to thee." + +There were tears in the young man's eyes as he looked down into the +great pendulous painted face, from which now the evil seemed to be wiped +away as a cloth wipes away a chalk mark upon a slate. + +As the last ray of a setting sun sometimes touches to a fugitive +glory--a last fugitive glory--some ugly, sordid building of a town, so +here he saw something maternal and sweet upon the face of this old +brothel-keeper, this woman who had amassed a huge fortune in ministering +to the pride of life, the pomp, vanity, and lusts of Principalities and +Powers. + +He turned half round, and took the woman's left hand in his. + +"My mother," he said, with an infinitely winning and yet very melancholy +gaze, "my mother, I think, indeed, that love will never come to me. I am +not made so. May the Mother of God shield me from that which is not +love, but natheless seemeth to have love's visage when one is hot in +wine or stirred to excitement. But thou, thou wert not ever...." + +She broke in upon him quickly. + +Her great red lips pouted out like a ripe plum. The protruding fishy +eyes positively lit up with disdain of herself and of her life. + +"_Mon cher_," she said, "_Holà!_ I was a young girl once in Lorraine. I +had a brother--I will tell you little of that old time--but I have +blood." + +"Yes," she continued, throwing back her head, till the great rolls of +flesh beneath her chin stretched into tightness, "yes, I have blood. +There was a day when I was a child, when the poet Jean D'Aquis wrote of +us-- + + 'Quand nous habitions tous ensemble + Sur nos collines d'autrefois, + Où l'eau court, où le buisson tremble + Dans la maison qui touche aux bois.' + +... It was." Suddenly she left Johnnie standing in the middle of the +room, and with extraordinary agility for her weight and years, glided +round the little table, and sank once more into her seat. + +The door at the other end of the room opened, and a tall girl, with a +white face and thin, wicked mouth, and a glorious coronal of red hair +came into the room. + +"'Tis finished," she said, to the mistress of the house. "Sir John +Shelton is far in drink. He----" she stopped suddenly, as she saw +Johnnie, gave him a keen, questioning glance, and then looked once more +towards the fat woman in the chair. + +Madame nodded. "This is His Highness's gentleman," she said, "awaiting +him. So it's finished?" + +The girl nodded, beginning to survey Johnnie with a cruel, wicked +scrutiny, which made him flush with mingled embarrassment and anger. + +"His Highness is coming down, Mr. Esquire," she said, pushing out a +little red tip of tongue from between her lips. "His Highness...." + +The old woman in the chair suddenly leapt up. She ran at the tall, +red-haired girl, caught her by the throat, and beat her about the face +with her fat, jewelled hands, cursing her in strange French oaths, +clutching at her hair, shaking her, swinging her about with a dreadful +vulgar ferocity which turned John's blood cold. + +As he stood there he caught a glimpse, never to be forgotten, of all +that underlay this veneer of midnight luxury. He saw vile passions at +work, he realised--for the first time truly and completely--in what a +hideous place he was. + +The tall girl, sobbing and bleeding in the face, disappeared behind the +arras. The old woman turned to Johnnie. Her face was almost purple with +exertion, her eyes blazed, her hawk-like nose seemed to twitch from side +to side, she panted out an apology: + +"She dared, Monsieur, she dared, one of my girls, one of my slaves! +Hist!" + +A loud voice was heard from above, feet trampled upon stairs, through +the open door which led to the upper parts of the house of ill-fame came +Sir John Shelton, a big, gross, athletic man, obviously far gone in +wine. + +He saw Johnnie. "Ah, Mr. Commendone," he said thickly. "Here we are, and +here are you! God's teeth! I like well to see you. I myself am well gone +in wine, though I will sit my horse, as thou wilt see." + +He lurched up to Johnnie and whispered in the young man's ear, with hot, +wine-tainted breath. + +"He's coming down," he whispered. "It's your part to take charge of His +Highness. He's----" + +Sir John stood upright, swaying a little from the shoulders, as down the +stairway, framed in the lintel of the door, came King Philip of Spain. + +The King was dressed very much as Johnnie himself was dressed; his long, +melancholy face was a little flushed--though not with wine. His eyes +were bright, his thin lips moved and worked. + +Directly he saw Commendone his face lit up with recognition. It seemed +suddenly to change. + +"Ah, you are here, Mr. Commendone," he said in Spanish. "I am glad to +see you. We have had our amusements, and now we go upon serious +business." + +The alteration in the King's demeanour was instant. Temperate, as all +Spaniards were and are, he was capable at a moment's notice of +dismissing what had passed, and changing from _bon viveur_ into a grave +potentate in a flash. + +He came up to Johnnie. "Now, Mr. Commendone," he said, in a quiet, +decisive voice, "we will get to horse and go upon our business. The +_señor don_ here is gone in wine, but he will recover as we ride to +Hadley. You are in charge. Let's begone from this house." + +The King led the way out of the red room. + +The old procuress bowed to the ground as he went by, but he took no +notice of her. + +Johnnie followed the King, Sir John Shelton came staggering after, and +in a moment or two they were out in the street, where was now gathered a +small company of horse, with serving-men holding up torches to illumine +the blackness of the night. + +They mounted and rode away slowly out of Duck Lane and across London +Bridge, the noise of their passing echoing between the tall, barred +houses. + +Several soldiers rode first, and after them came Sir John Shelton. +Commendone rode at the King's left hand, and he noticed that His +Highness's broad hat was pulled low over his face and a riding cloak +muffled the lower part of it. Behind them came the other men-at-arms. As +soon as they were clear of the bridge the walk changed into a trot, and +the cavalcade pushed toward Aldgate. Not a soul was in the streets until +they came to the city gate itself, where there was the usual guard. They +passed through and came up to the "Woolsack," a large inn which was just +outside the wall. In the light of the torches Commendone could see that +the place was obviously one of considerable importance, and had probably +been a gentleman's house in the past. + +Large square windows divided into many lights by mullions and transoms +took up the whole of the front. The roofs were ornamental, richly +crocketed and finialed, while there was a blazonry of painted heraldry +and coats of arms over and around the large central porch. Large stacks +of tall, slender chimney-shafts, moulded and twisted, rose up into the +dark, and were ornamented over their whole surface with diaper patterns +and more armorial bearings. The big central door of the "Woolsack" stood +open, and a ruddy light beamed out from the hall and from the windows +upon the ground-floor. As they came up, and Sir John Shelton stumbled +from his horse, holding the King's stirrup for him to dismount, +Commendone saw that the space in front of the inn, a wide square with a +little trodden green in the centre of it, held groups of dark figures +standing here and there. + +Halberds rose up against the walls of the houses, showing distinctly in +the occasional light from a cresset held by a man-at-arms. + +Sir John Shelton strode noisily into a big panelled hall, the King and +Commendone following him, Johnnie realising that, of course, His +Highness was incognito. + +The host of the inn, Putton, hurried forward, and behind him was one of +the Sheriffs of London, who held some papers in his hand and greeted Sir +John Shelton with marked civility. + +The knight pulled himself together, and shook the Sheriff by the hand. + +"Is everything prepared," he said, "Mr. Sheriff?" + +"We are all quite ready, Sir John," the Sheriff answered, looking with +inquiring eyes at Commendone and the tall, muffled figure of the King. + +"Two gentlemen of the Court who have been deputed by Her Grace to see +justice done," Sir John said. "And now we will to the prisoner." + +Putton stepped forward. "This way, gentlemen," he said. "Dr. Taylor is +with his guards in the large room. He hath taken a little succory +pottage and a flagon of ale, and seemeth resigned and ready to set out." + +With that the host opened a door upon the right-hand side of the hall +and ushered the party into a room which was used as the ordinary of the +inn, a lofty and spacious place lit with candles. + +There was a high carved chimney-piece, over which were the arms of the +Vintners' Company, sable and chevron _cetu_, three tuns argent, with +the figure of Bacchus for a crest. A long table ran down the centre of +the place, and at one end of it, seated in a large chair of oak, sat the +late Archdeacon of Exeter. Three or four guards stood round in silence. + +Dr. Rowland Taylor was a huge man, over six feet in height, and more +than a little corpulent. His face, which was very pale, was strongly +cast, his eyes, under shaggy white brows, bright and humorous; the big, +genial mouth, half-hidden by the white moustache and beard, both kindly +and strong. He wore a dark gown and a flat velvet cap upon his head, and +he rose immediately as the company entered. + +"We are come for you, Dr. Taylor," the Sheriff said, "and you must +immediately to horse." + +The big man bowed, with quiet self-possession. + +"'Tis very well, Master Sheriff," he said; "I have been waiting this +half-hour agone." + +"Bring him out," said Sir John Shelton, in a loud, harsh voice. "Keep +silence, Master Taylor, or I will find a way to silence thee." + +John Commendone shivered with disgust as the leader of the party spoke. + +Even as he did so he felt a hand upon his arm, and the tall, muffled +figure of the King stood close behind him. + +"Tell the knight, señor," the King said rapidly in Spanish, "to use the +gentleman with more civility. He is to die, as is well fitting a heretic +should die, for God's glory and the safety of the realm. But he is of +gentle birth. Tell Sir John Shelton." + +Commendone stepped up to Sir John. "Sir," he said, in a voice which, try +as he would, he could not keep from being very disdainful and +cold--"Sir, His Highness bids me to tell you to use Dr. Taylor with +civility, as becomes a man of his birth." + +The half-drunken captain glared at the cool young courtier for a moment, +but he said nothing, and, turning on his heel, clanked out of the room +with a rattle of his sword and an aggressive, ruffling manner. + +Dr. Taylor, with guards on each side, the Sheriff immediately preceding +him, walked down the room and out into the hall. + +Commendone and the King came last. + +Johnnie was seized with a sudden revulsion of feeling towards his +master. This man, cruel and bigoted as he was, the man whom he had seen +with fanaticism and the blood lust blazing in his eye, the man whom he +had seen calmly leaving a vile house, was nevertheless a king and a +gentleman. The young man could hardly understand or realise the +extraordinary combination of qualities in the austere figure by his side +of the man who ruled half the known world. Again, he felt that sense of +awe, almost of fear, in the presence of one so far removed from ordinary +men, so swift in his alterations from coarseness to kingliness, from +relentless cruelty to cold, sombre decorum. + +Dr. Taylor was mounted upon a stout cob, closely surrounded by guards, +and with a harsh word of command from Sir John, the party set out. + +The host of the "Woolsack" stood at his lighted door, where there was a +little group of serving-men and halberdiers, sharply outlined against +the red-litten façade of the quaint old building, and then, as they +turned a corner, it all flashed away, and they went forward quietly and +steadily through a street of tall gabled houses. + +Directly the lights of the inn and the square in front of it were left +behind, they saw at once that dawn was about to begin. The houses were +grey now, each moment more grey and ghostly, and they were no longer +sable and shapeless. The air, too, had a slight stir and chill within +it, and each moment of their advance the ghostly light grew stronger, +more wan and spectral than ever the dark had been. + +Pursuant to his instructions, Commendone kept close to the King, who +rode silently with a drooping head, as one lost in thought. In front of +them were the backs of the guards in their steel corselets, and in the +centre of the group was the massive figure of the man who was riding to +his death, a huge, black outline, erect and dignified. + +John rode with the rest as a man in a dream. His mind and imagination +were in a state in which the moving figures around him, the cavalcade of +which he himself was a part, seemed but phantoms playing fantastic +parts upon the stage of some unreal theatre of dreams. + +He heard once more the great man-like voice of Queen Mary, but it seemed +very far away, a sinister thing, echoing from a time long past. + +The music of the dance in the Palace tinkled and vibrated through his +subconscious brain, and then once more he heard the voice of the evil +old woman of the red house, the voice of one in hell, telling him to +flee youthful lusts, telling him to wait stainless until love should +come to him. + +Love! He smiled unconsciously to himself. Love!--why should the thoughts +of love come to a heart-whole man riding upon this sad errand of death; +through ghostly streets, stark and grey?... + +He looked up dreamily and saw before him, cutting into a sky which was +now big and tremulous with dawn, the tower of St. Botolph's Church, a +faint, misty purple. Far away in the east the sky was faintly streaked +with pink and orange, the curtain of the dark was shaken by the +birth-pangs of the morning. The western sky over St. Paul's was already +aglow with a red, reflected light. + +The transition was extraordinarily sudden. Every instant the aspect of +things changed; the whole visible world was being re-created, second by +second, not gradually, but with a steady, pressing onrush, in which time +seemed merged and forgotten, to be of no account at all, and a thing +that was not. + +Johnnie had seen the great copper-coloured moon heave itself out of the +sea just like that--the world turning to splendour before his eyes. + +But it was dawn now, and in the miraculously clear, inspiring light, the +countless towers and pinnacles of the city rose with sharp outline into +the quiet sky. + +The breeze from the river rustled and whispered by them like the +trailing skirts of unseen presences, and as the cool air in all its +purity came over the silent town, the feverishness and sense of +unreality in the young man's mind were dissolved and blown away. + +How silent London was!--the broad street stretched out before them like +a ribbon of silver-grey, but the tower of St. Botolph's was already +solid stone, and no longer mystic purple. + +And then, for some reason or other, John Commendone's heart began to +beat furiously. He could not have said why or how. There seemed no +reason to account for it, but all his pulses were stirred. A sense of +expectancy, which was painful in its intensity, and unlike anything he +had ever known before in his life, pervaded all his consciousness. + +He gripped his horse by the knees, his left hand holding the leather +reins, hung with little tassels of vermilion silk, his right hand +resting upon the handle of his sword. + +They came up to the porch of the church, and suddenly the foremost +men-at-arms halted, the slight backward movement of their horses +sending those who followed backward also. There was a pawing of hooves, +a rattle of accoutrements, a sharp order from somewhere in front, and +then they were all sitting motionless. + +The moment had arrived. John Commendone saw what he had come to see. +From that instant his real life began. All that had gone before, as he +saw in after years, had been but a leading up and preparation for this +time. + +Standing just outside the porch of the church was a small group of +figures, clustering together, white faces, pitiful and forlorn. + +Dr. Taylor's wife, suspecting that her husband should that night be +carried away, had watched all night in St. Botolph's porch, having with +her her two children, and a man-servant of their house. + +The men-at-arms had opened out a little, remaining quite motionless on +their horses. + +Sir John Shelton, obviously mindful of Commendone's warning at the +"Woolsack," remained silent also, his blotched face grey and scowling in +the dawn, though he said no word. + +The King pulled his hat further over his eyes, and Johnnie at his right +could see perfectly all that was happening. + +He heard a voice, a girl's voice. + +"Oh, my dear father! Mother! mother! here is my father led away." + +Almost every one who has lived from any depth of being, for whom the +world is no grossly material place, but a state which is constantly +impinged upon and mingles with the Unseen, must be conscious that at one +time or other of his life sound has been, perhaps, the most predominant +influence in it. + +Now and again, at rare and memorable intervals, the grossness of this +tabernacle wherein the soul is encased is pierced by sound. More than +all else, sound penetrates deep into the spiritual consciousness, +punctuates life, as it were, at rare moments of emotion, gathering up +and crystallising a thousand fancies and feelings which seem to have no +adequate cause among outward things. + +Johnnie had heard the sound of his mother's voice, as she lay dying--a +dry, whispering, husky sound, never to be forgotten, as she said, +"Johnnie, promise mother to be good; promise me to be good." He had +heard the sweet sound of the death mort winded by the huntsman in the +park of Commendone, as he had run down his first stag--in the voice of +the girl who cried out with anguish in the pure morning light, he heard +for the third or fourth time, a sound which would always be part of his +life. + +"_O, my dear father! Mother! mother! here is my father led away._" + +She was a tall girl, in a long grey cloak. + +Her hair, growing low upon her forehead, and very thick, was the colour +of ripe corn. Great eyes of a deep blue, like cut sapphire, shone in +the dead white oval of her face. The parted lips were a scarlet +eloquence of agony. + +By her side was a tall, grey-haired dame, trembling exceedingly. + +One delicate white hand flickered before the elder woman's eyes, all +blind with tears and anguish. + +Then the Doctor's wife cried, "Rowland, Rowland, where art thou?" + +Dr. Taylor answered, "Dear wife, I am here." + +Then she came to him, and he took a younger girl, who had been clinging +to her mother's skirts, his little daughter Mary, in his arms, +dismounting from his horse as he did so, with none to stay him. He, his +wife, and the tall girl Elizabeth, knelt down and said the Lord's +Prayer. + +At the sight of it the Sheriff wept apace, and so did divers others of +the company, and the salt tears ran down Johnnie's cheeks and splashed +upon his breast-plate. + +After they had prayed Dr. Taylor rose up and kissed his wife, and shook +her by the hand, and said: "Farewell, my dear wife, be of good comfort, +for I am quiet in my conscience. God shall stir up a father for my +children." + +After that he kissed his daughter Mary and said, "God bless thee and +make thee His servant," and kissing Elizabeth also he said, "God bless +thee. I pray you all stand strong and steadfast unto Christ His Word, +and keep you from idolatry." + +The tall lady clung to him, weeping bitterly. "God be with thee, dear +Rowland," she said; "I shall, with God's grace, meet thee anon in +heaven." + +Then Johnnie saw the serving-man, a broad, thick-set fellow, with a +keen, brown face, who had been standing a little apart, come up to Dr. +Taylor. He was holding by the hand a little boy of ten years or so, with +wide, astonished eyes, Thomas, the Doctor's son. + +When Dr. Taylor saw them he called them, saying, "Come hither, my son +Thomas." + +John Hull lifted the child, and sat him upon the saddle of the horse by +which his father stood, and Dr. Taylor put off his hat, and said to the +members of the party that stood there looking at him: "Good people, this +is mine own son, begotten of my body in lawful matrimony; and God be +blessed for lawful matrimony." + +Johnnie upon his horse was shaking uncontrollably, but at these last +words he heard an impatient jingle of accoutrements by his side, and +looking, saw that the face of His Highness was fierce and angry that an +ordained priest should speak thus of wedlock. + +But this was only for a passing moment; the young man's eyes were fixed +upon the great clergyman again in an instant. + +The priest lifted up his eyes towards heaven, and prayed for his son. He +laid his hand upon the child's head and blessed him; and so delivered +the child to John Hull, whom he took by the hand and said, "Farewell, +John Hull, the faithfullest servant that ever man had." + +There was a silence, broken only by the sobbing of women and a low +murmur of sympathy from the rough men-at-arms. + +Sir John Shelton heard it and glanced quickly at the muffled figure of +the King. + +It was a shrewd, penetrating look, and well understood by His Highness. +This natural emotion of the escort, at such a sad and painful scene, +might well prove a leaven which would work in untutored minds. There +must be no more sympathy for heretics. Sir John gave a harsh order, the +guard closed in upon Dr. Taylor, there was a loud cry from the +Archdeacon's wife as she fell fainting into the arms of the sturdy +servant, and the cavalcade proceeded at a smart pace. John looked round +once, and this is what he saw--the tall figure of Elizabeth Taylor, +fixed and rigid, the lovely face set in a stare of horror and +unspeakable grief, a star of sorrow as the dawn reddened and day began. + +And now, as they left London, the progress was more rapid, the stern +business upon which they were engaged looming up and becoming more +imminent every moment, the big man in the centre of the troop being +hurried relentlessly to his end. + +And so they rode forth to Brentwood, where, during a short stay, Sir +John Shelton and his men caused to be made for Dr. Taylor a close hood, +with two holes for his eyes to look out at, and a slit for his mouth to +breathe at. This they did that no man in the pleasant country ways, the +villages or little towns, should speak to him, nor he to any man. + +It was a practice that they had used with others, and very wise and +politic. + +"For," says a chronicler of the time, "their own consciences told them +that they led innocent lambs to the slaughter. Wherefore they feared +lest if the people should have heard them speak or have seen them, they +might have been more strengthened by their godly exhortations to stand +steadfast in God's Word, to fly the superstitions and idolatries of the +Papacy." + +All the way Dr. Taylor was joyful and merry, as one that accounted +himself going to a most pleasant banquet or bridal. He said many notable +things to the Sheriff and the yeomen of the guard that conducted him, +and often moved them to weep through his much earnest calling upon them +to repent and to amend their evil and wicked living. Oftentimes, also, +he caused them to wonder and rejoice, to see him so constant and +steadfast, void of all fear, joyful in heart, and glad to die. At one +time during their progress he said: "I will tell you, I have been +deceived, and, as I think, I shall deceive a great many. I am, as you +see, a man that hath a very great carcase, which I thought would have +been buried in Hadley churchyard, if I died in my bed, as I well hoped I +should have done; but herein I see I was deceived. And there are a +great number of worms in Hadley churchyard, which should have had a +jolly feed upon this carrion, which they have looked for many a day. But +now I know we are to be deceived, both I and they; for this carcase must +be burnt to ashes; and so shall they lose their bait and feeding, that +they looked to have had of it." + +Sir John Shelton, who was riding by the side of Commendone, and who was +now sober enough, the wine of his midnight revels having died from him, +turned to Johnnie with a significant grin as he heard Dr. Taylor say +this to his guards. + +Shelton was coarse, overbearing, and a blackguard, but he had a keen +mind of a sort, and was of gentle birth. + +"Listen to this curtail dog, Mr. Commendone," he said, with a sneer. "A +great loss to the Church, i' faith. He talketh like some bully-rook or +clown of the streets. And these are the men who in their contumacy and +their daring deny the truth of Holy Church----" He spat upon the ground +with disgust. + +Commendone nodded gravely. His insight was keener far than the other's. +He saw, in what Bishop Heber afterwards called "the coarse vigour" of +the Archdeacon's pleasantry, no foolish irreverence indeed, but the racy +English courage and humour of a saintly man, resolved to meet his +earthly doom brightly, and to be an example to common men. + +Johnnie was the son of a bluff Kentish squire. He knew the English soil, +and all the stoic hardy virtues, the racy mannerisms which spring from +it. Courtier and scholar, a man of exquisite refinement, imbued with no +small share of foreign grace and courtliness, there was yet a side of +him which was thoroughly English. He saw deeper than the coarse-mouthed +captain at his side. + +The voices of those who had gathered round the porch of St. Botolph's +without Aldgate still rang in his ears. + +The Sheriff and his company, when they heard Dr. Rowland Taylor jesting +in this way, were amazed, and looked one at another, marvelling at the +man's constant mind, that thus, without any fear, made but a jest at the +cruel torment and death now at hand prepared for him. + +The sun clomb the sky, the woods were green, the birds were all at +matins. Through many a shady village they passed where the ripening corn +rustled in the breeze, the wood smoke went up in blue lines from cottage +and manor house, the clink of the forge rang out into the street as the +blacksmiths lit their fires, the milkmaids strode out to find the lowing +kine in the pastures. It was a brilliant happy morning as they rode +along through the green lanes, a very bridal morning indeed. + +When they were come within two miles of Hadley, Dr. Taylor desired for a +while to light off his horse. They let him do it, and the Sheriff at his +request ordered the hood to be removed from him. + +The whole troop halted for a minute or two, and the Doctor, says the +chronicler, "leaped and set a frisk or twain as men commonly do in +dancing. 'Why, Master Doctor,' quoth the Sheriff, 'how do you now?' He +answered, 'Well, God be praised, good Master Sheriff, never better; for +now I know I am almost at home. I have not pass two stiles to go over, +and I am even at my father's house.' + +"'But, Master Sheriff,' said he, 'shall we not go through Hadley?' + +"'Yes,' said the Sheriff, 'you shall go through Hadley.' + +"'Then,' said he, 'O good Lord! I thank Thee, I shall yet once more ere +I die see my flock, whom Thou, Lord, knowest I have most heartily loved +and truly taught. Good Lord! bless them and keep them steadfast in Thy +word and truth.'" + +The streets of Hadley were beset on both sides of the way with women and +men of the town and the country-side around, who awaited to see Dr. +Taylor. + +As the troop passed by, now at walking pace, when the people beheld +their old friend led to death in this way, their voices were raised in +lamentation and there was great weeping. + +On all sides John Commendone heard the broad homely Suffolk voices, +lifted high in sorrow. + +"Ah, good Lord," said one fat farmer's wife to her man, "there goeth our +good shepherd from us that so faithfully hath taught us, so fatherly +hath cared for us, so godly hath governed us." + +And again, the landlord of the "Three Cranes" at Hadley, where the troop +stopped for a moment to water their horses at the trough before the inn, +and the country people surged and crowded round: "O merciful God; what +shall we poor scattered lambs do? What shall come of this most wicked +world! Good Lord! strengthen him and comfort him. Alack, dear Doctor, +may the Lord help thee!" + +The great man upon his horse, towering above the yeomen of the guard who +surrounded him, lifted his hand. + +"Friends," he said, "and neighbours all, grieve not for me. I have +preached to you God's word and truth, and am come this day to seal it +with my blood." + +Johnnie would have thought that the people who bore such an obvious love +for their rector, and who now numbered several hundreds--sturdy +country-men all--would have raised an outcry against the Sheriff and his +officers. Many of them had stout cudgels in their hands, some of them +bore forks with which they were going to the fields, but there was very +little anger. The people were cowed, that was very plain to see. The +power of the law struck fear into them still; the long, unquestioned +despotism of Henry VIII still exercised its sway over simple minds. Now +and again, as the horses were being watered, a fierce snarl of anger +came from the outskirts of the crowd. Commendone himself, with his +somewhat foreign appearance, and the tall, muffled figure of the King, +excited murmurs and insults. + +"They be Spaniards," one fellow cried, "they two be--Spaniards from the +Queen's Papist husband. How like you this work, Master Don?" + +But that was all. Once Sir John Shelton looked with some apprehension at +the King, but the King understood nothing, and though the sturdy +country-folk in their numbers might well have overcome the guard, a +rescue was obviously not thought of nor was the slightest attempt at it +made. + +All this was quite homely and natural to Johnnie. He felt with the +people; he had spent his life in the country. Down at quiet, retired +Commendone his father and he were greatly loved by all the farmers and +peasants of the estate. His mother--that graceful Spanish lady--had +endeared herself for many years to the simple folk of Kent. Old Father +Chilches had said Mass in the chapel at Commendone for many years +without let or hindrance. Catholic as the house of Commendone had always +been, there was nothing bigoted or fanatical in their religion. And now +the young man's heart was stirred to its very depths as this homely +rustic folk lifted up their voices in sorrow. + +Even then, however, he questioned nothing in his mind of the justice of +what was to be done. Despite the infinite pity he felt for this good +pastor who was to die and his flock who grieved him so, he was yet +perfectly loyal in his mind to the power which ordained the execution, +part of whose machinery he was. The Queen had said so; the monarch could +do no wrong. There were reasons of State, reasons of polity, reasons of +religion which he himself was not competent to enter into or to discuss, +but which he accepted blindly then. + +And so, as they moved onwards towards Aldham Common, where the final +scene was to be enacted, he moved with the others, one of the ministers +of doom. + +And through all the bright morning air, through the cries and tears of +the country-folk, he heard one voice, the voice of a girl, he saw one +white and lovely face ever before his eyes. + +When they came to Aldham Common there was a great multitude of people +gathered there. + +"What place is this?" Dr. Taylor asked, with a smile, though he knew +very well. "And what meaneth it that so much people are gathered +together?" + +The Sheriff, who was a stranger to this part of the country, and who was +very agitated and upset, answered him with eager and deprecating +civility. "It is Aldham Common, Dr. Taylor, the place where you must +suffer; and the people are come to look upon you." The good man hardly +knew what he was saying. + +Dr. Taylor smiled once more. + +"Thanked be God," he said, "I am even at home," and alighted from his +horse. + +Sir John Shelton, who also dismounted, snatched the hat from the +Doctor's head, which was shown to be clipped close, like a horse's back +in summer time--a degradation which Bishop Bonner had caused to be +performed upon him the night before as a mean and vulgar revenge for the +Doctor's words to him at the ceremony of his degradation. + +But when the people saw Dr. Taylor's reverent and ancient face and his +long white beard, they burst into louder weeping than ever, and cried, +"God save thee, good Dr. Taylor! Jesus Christ strengthen thee, and help +thee; the Holy Ghost comfort thee," and many other suchlike godly +wishes. + +They were now come into the centre of Aldham Common, where already a +posse of men sent by the Sheriff of the county were keeping a space +clear round a tall post which had been set into the ground, and which +was the stake. + +Sir John Shelton, who now assumed complete command of the proceedings, +gave several loud orders. The people were pressed back with oaths and +curses by the yeomen of the escort, and Dr. Taylor was hurried quickly +towards the stake. + +The long ride from London had not been without a certain quiet and +dignity; but from this moment everything that was done was rude, +hurried, and violent. The natural brutality of Shelton and his men +blazed up suddenly. What before had been ineffably sad was now changed +to horror, as John Commendone sat his horse by the side of the man whose +safety he was there to guard, and watched the final scene. + +Dr. Taylor, who was standing by the stake and disrobing, wished to speak +to the people, but the yeomen of the guard were so busy about him that +as soon as he opened his mouth one or another of these fellows thrust a +fist or tipstaff into his mouth. They were round him like a pack of +dogs, snarling, buffeting him, making him feel indeed the bitterness of +death. + +This was done by Sir John Shelton's orders, no doubt committed to him +from London, for it was obvious that any popular feeling in the martyr's +favour must be suppressed as soon as possibly could be done. + +If Dr. Taylor had been allowed to speak to the surging crowd that knew +and loved him, the well-known voice, the familiar and beloved +exhortations might well have aroused a fury against the ministers of the +law which they would be powerless to withstand. + +Dr. Taylor himself seemed to recognise this, for he sat down upon a +stool which was placed near the stake and did not offer to speak again. +He looked round while three or four ill-favoured fellows in leather were +bringing up bundles of furze and freshly cut faggots to the stake, and +as he was obviously not about to address the people, the guard was a +little relaxed. + +He saw pressing on the outskirts of the crowd an old countryman, with a +brown wrinkled face. + +"Soyce," he called out cheerily, "I pray thee come and pull off my +boots, and take them for thy labour. Thou hast long looked for them, now +take them." + +The ancient fellow, who was indeed the sexton of Hadley Church, came +trembling up, and did as the rector asked. + +Then Dr. Taylor rose up, and put off his clothes unto his shirt, and +gave them away. Which done, he said with a loud voice, "Good people! I +have taught you nothing but God's Holy Word and those lessons that I +have taken out of God's blessed Book, the Holy Bible." + +He had hardly said it when a sergeant of the guard, named Homes, gave +him a great stroke upon the head with a waster, and said, "Is that the +keeping of thy promise, thou heretic?" + +The venerable head, now stained with blood, drooped, and for a moment +the vitality and vigour seemed to go from the Rector. He saw that it was +utterly useless, that there was no hope of him being allowed to address +his folk, and so he knelt down and prayed in silence. + +While he was praying a very old woman, in poor rags, that was standing +among the people, ran in and knelt by his side, and prayed with him. + +Homes caught hold of her and tried to drag her from the Doctor, but she +screamed loudly and clung to the Rector's knees. + +"Tread her down with horses; tread her down," said Sir John Shelton, his +face purple with anger. + +But even the knight's men would not do it, and there was such a deep +threatening murmur from the crowd that Shelton forbore, and the old +woman stayed there and prayed with the Doctor. + +At last he rose, blessing her, and, dressed only in his shirt, big, +burly, and very dignified, he went to the stake and kissed it, and set +himself into a pitch barrel, which they had put for him to stand in. + +He stood there so, with his back upright against the stake, with his +hands folded together, and his eyes towards heaven, praying continually. + +Four men set up the faggots and piled them round him, and one brought a +torch to make the fire. + +As the furze lit and began to crackle at the bottom of the pile, the man +Homes, either really mad with religious hatred, or, as is more probable, +a brute, only zealous to ingratiate himself with his commander, picked +up a billet of wood and cast it most cruelly at the Doctor. It lit upon +his head and broke his face, so that the blood ran down it. + +Then said Dr. Taylor, "O friend, I have harm enough; what needed that?" + +Then, with Sir John Shelton standing close by, and the people round +shuddering with horror, the Rector began to say the Psalm _Miserere_ in +English. + +Sir John shot out his great red hand and struck the martyr upon the lips +with his open palm. + +"Ye knave," he said, "speak Latin; I will make thee." + +At that, John Commendone, scarcely knowing what he did, leapt from his +horse and caught Shelton by the shoulder. With all the strength of his +young athletic frame he sent him spinning away from the stake. Sir John +staggered, recovered himself, and with his face blazing with anger, +rushed at the young man. + +At that the King suddenly wheeled his horse, and interposed between +them. + +"Keep you away, Sir John," he said in Spanish, "that is enough." + +The knight did not understand the King's words, but the tone and the +accent were significant. With a glare of fury at Johnnie, he slunk aside +to his men. + +The calm voice of the Rector went on reciting the words of the Psalm. +When it was finished he said the Gloria, and as the smoke rolled up +around him, and red tongues of flame began to be brightly visible in the +sunlight, he held up both his hands, and said, "Merciful Father of +heaven, for Jesus Christ my Saviour's sake, receive my soul into Thy +hands." + +So stood he still without either crying or moving, with his hands folded +together, until suddenly one of the men-at-arms caught up a halbert and +struck him on the head so that the brains fell out, and the corpse sank +into the fire. + +"Thus," says the chronicler, "the man of God gave his blessed soul into +the hands of his merciful Father, and his most dear and certain Saviour +Jesus Christ, Whom he most entirely loved, faithfully and earnestly +preached, obediently followed in living, and constantly glorified in +death." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE MEETING WITH JOHN HULL AT CHELMSFORD + + +John Commendone, Sir John Shelton, and the King of Spain walked up a +flight of broad stone steps, which led to the wide-open door of Mr. +Peter Lacel's house on the far side of Aldham Common. + +It was now about ten o'clock in the morning, or a little after. + +As soon as the body of the martyr had fallen into the flames, Sir John +had wheeled round upon his horse, and, attended by his men, had trotted +away, breaking through the crowd, who had rushed to the smouldering pyre +and were pressing round it. They had gone some three hundred yards on to +the Common at a quick pace. + +"I don't like this at all, Sire," Sir John had muttered to the King. +"The people are very turbulent. It will be as well, I think, that we go +to the 'Crown.' It is that large house on the other side of the Common. +There we shall find entertainment and refreshment, for I am told it is a +good inn by a letter from the Sheriff, Mr. Peter Lacel--whom I had +looked to see here as was duly arranged." + +Then Sir John had stopped suddenly. + +"He cometh," he cried. "That is Mr. Lacel with his yeomen," and as the +knight spoke Johnnie saw a little party upon horseback galloping towards +them. Foremost of them was a bluff, bearded country gentleman, his face +agitated and concerned. + +"Good Sir John," said the gentleman as he reined up his horse, "I would +not have had this happen for much money. I have mistook the hour, and +was upon some county business with two of the justices at my house. Is +it all over then? Hath Dr. Taylor suffered?" + +"The runagate is stone dead," Shelton replied. "It is all over, and hath +passed off as well as may be, though I like not very much the demeanour +of the people. But how do you, Mr. Lacel?" + +"I do very well, thank you," the Sheriff answered, "but I hope much, Sir +John, that this mischance of mine will not be accounted to me as being +any lack of zeal to Her Grace." + +Shelton waved his hand. "No," he said, "we know you very well, Mr. +Lacel. Lack of loyalty will never be put to your charge. But now, +doubtless, you will entertain us, for we have ridden since early dawn, +and are very tired." + +Mr. Lacel's face shone with relief. "Come you, Sir John," he said, "come +you with these gentlemen and your men forthwith to the Manor. You must +indeed be weary and needing refreshment. But what of yonder?" + +He pointed in front of him, and Sir John turned in his saddle. + +A few hundred yards away a dense crowd was swaying, and above their +heads even now was a column of yellow smoke. + +"There is no need for you there, Mr. Lacel," Sir John replied. "The +Sheriff of London and his men are doing all that is needful. I am here +with mine, and we shall all be glad to taste your hospitality after this +business. This,"--he made a little gesture of the hand towards +Johnnie--"is Mr. Commendone, Sir Henry Commendone's son, of Kent, +attached to the King's person, and here to-day to report of Dr. Taylor's +burning to the Queen. This"--here he bowed towards Philip--"a Spanish +nobleman of high degree, who is of His Majesty's Gentlemen, and who hath +ridden with us." + +"Bid ye welcome, gentlemen," said Mr. Lacel, "and now, an ye will follow +me, there is breakfast ready in the Manor, and you can forget this nasty +work, for I doubt none of you like it better than myself." + +With that the whole party had trotted onwards towards the Sheriff's +house. + +The men-at-arms were met by grooms and servants, and taken round to the +buttery. John, Shelton, and the King walked up the steps and into a +great hall, where a long table was laid for their reception. + +The King, whose demeanour to his host was haughty and indifferent, spoke +no word at all, and Sir John Shelton was in considerable embarrassment. +At all costs, the King's incognito must be preserved. Mr. Lacel was a +Catholic gentleman of Suffolk, a simple, faithful, unthinking country +squire, who, at the same time, had some local influence. It would never +do, however, to let the Sheriff know that the King himself was under his +roof, and yet His Highness's demeanour was so reserved and cold, his +face so melancholy, frozen, and inscrutable, that Shelton was +considerably perplexed. It was with a sense of great relief that he +remembered the King spoke but little English, and he took Mr. Lacel +aside while serving-men were placing chairs at the table, and whispered +that the Don was a cold, unlikeable fellow, but high in the Royal +favour, and must be considered. + +"Not a testoon care I," Mr. Lacel answered. "I am glad to see ye, Sir +John, and these Court gallants from Spain disturb me not at all. Now, +sit ye down, sit ye down, and fall to." + +They all sat down at the table. + +The King took a silver cup of wine, bowed to his host, and sipped. His +face was very yellow, his eyes dwindled, and a general air of cold and +lassitude pervaded him. Suddenly he turned to Commendone, who was +sitting by his side watching his master with eager and somewhat +frightened attention. + +"Señor," he said, in Spanish, "Señor Commendone, I am very far from +well. The long ride hath tired me. I would rest. Speak to Sir John +Shelton, and ask this worthy _caballero_, who is my host, if I may +retire to rest." + +Johnnie spoke at once to Mr. Lacel, explaining that the Spanish nobleman +was very fatigued and wished to lie down. + +The Sheriff jumped up at once, profuse in hospitality, and himself led +the way, followed by the King and Commendone, to an upper chamber. + +They saw the King lie down upon the bed, and curtains pulled half-way +over the mullioned windows of the room, letting only a faint beam of +sunlight enter there. + +"Thy friend will be all right now, Mr. Commendone," said the squire. +"These Spanish gentlemen are not over-strong, methinks." He laughed +roughly, and Johnnie heard again, in the voice of this country +gentleman, that dislike of Spain and of the Spanish Match, which his own +father shared. + +They went out of the room together, and Johnnie shrugged his +shoulders--it was absolutely necessary that the identity of the King +should not be suspected. + +"Well, well, Mr. Lacel," he said, linking his arm within his host's, and +assuming a friendly country manner--which, of course, came perfectly +natural to him, "it is not for you and I to question or to make comment +upon those gentlemen from over-seas who are in high favour in London +just now. Let us to breakfast." + +In a minute more they were sitting at the table, where Sir John Shelton +was already busy with wine and food. + +For a few minutes the three men ate in silence. Then Mr. Lacel must have +from them every detail of the execution. It was supplied him with great +vigour and many oaths by Sir John. + +Mr. Lacel shook himself. + +"I am indeed sorry," said he, "that I was not at the execution, because +it was my bounden duty to be there. Natheless, I am not sorry for +myself. To see a rogue or masterless man trussed up is very well, but +Dr. Rowland Taylor that was Rector here, and hath in times past been a +guest at this very table--well, I am glad I did not see the man die. Was +a pleasant fellow, could wind a horn or throw a falcon with any of the +gentry round, had a good lusty voice in a chorus, and learning much +beyond the general." + +"Mr. Lacel, Mr. Lacel," Sir John Shelton said in a loud and rather +bullying voice, "surely you have no sympathy nor liking for heretics?" + +"Not I, i' faith," said the old gentleman at the top of the table, +striking the thick oak with his fist. "I have been a good Catholic ever, +and justice must be done. 'Twas the man I liked, Master Shelton, 'twas +the man I liked. Now we have here as Rector a Mr. Lacy. He is a good +Catholic priest, and dutiful at all his services. I go to Mass three +times a week. But Father Lacy, as a man, is but a sorry scrub. He eateth +nothing, and a firkin of ale would last him six months. Still, +gentlemen, ye cannot live on both sides of a buckler. Poor Roly Taylor +was a good, honest man, a sportsman withal, and well loved over the +country-side--I am glad I saw not his burning. Certainly upon religion +he was mad and very ill-advised, and so dies he. I trust his stay in +purgation be but short." + +Sir John Shelton put down his tankard with a crash. + +"My friend," he said, "doth not know that His Grace of London did curse +this heretic? I myself was there and heard it." + +The ruffian lifted his tankard of wine to his lips, and took a long +draught. His face was growing red, his eyes twinkled with half-drunken +cunning and suspicion. + +"Aye," he cried, "I heard it--'And by the authority of God the Father +Almighty, and of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of St. Peter and Paul, and of +the Holy Saints, we excommunicate, we utterly curse and ban, commit and +deliver to the Devil of hell, ye that have in spite of God and of St. +Peter, whose Church this is, in spite of holy saints, and in spite of +our most Holy Father the Pope, God's Vicar here on earth, denied the +truths of Holy Church. Accursed may ye be, and give body and soul to the +Devil. We give ye over utterly to the power of the Fiend, and thy soul +when thou art dead shall lie this night in the pains of hell-fire, as +this candle is now quenched and put out.'" + +As he finished, Sir John knocked over a tall glass cruet of French +vinegar, and stared with increasing drunkenness at his host. + +Mr. Lacel, simple gentleman that he was, was obviously disgusted at his +guest. He said very little, however, seeing that the man was somewhat +gone in liquor, as Johnnie also realised that the stale potations of the +night before were wakened by the new drink, and rising up into Shelton's +brain. + +"Well, well, Sir John," Mr. Lacel replied, "I am no theologian, but I am +a good son of the Church, and have always been, as you and those at +Court--those in high places, Sir John," he said it with a certain +emphasis and spirit--"know very well." + +The quiet and emphatic voice had its effect. Shelton dropped his +bullying manner. He was aware, and realised that Mr. Lacel probably knew +also, that he was but a glorified man-at-arms, a led captain, and not at +all in the confidence of great people, nor acquainted with private +affairs of State. He had been puffed up by his recent association with +the King in his vile pleasures, but a clever ruffian enough, he saw now +that he had gone too far. + +He saw also that John Commendone was looking at him with a fixed and +disdainful expression. He remembered that the young courtier was high in +the good graces of the King and Queen. + +"I' faith," he cried, with an entire change of manner--"I' faith, old +friend Peter, I was but jesting; we all know thou art loyal to Church +and State, their law. Mr. Commendone, I ask you, hast seen a more----" + +Johnnie's voice cut into the man's babbling. + +"Sir John," he said, "if I were you I would go upstairs and see how the +Spanish gentleman doeth." + +He looked very keenly, and with great meaning, at the knight. + +Sir John pushed his chair from the table. "Spine of God," he cried +thickly, "and I was near forgetting His Highness. I will to him at +once." + +He stumbled away from the table, pulled himself together, and, following +Mr. Lacel's butler, who had just come into the hall, ascended the broad +stairway. + +Mr. Lacel looked very curiously at Johnnie. + +"Sir," he said in a low voice, looking round the hall to see if any +servant were within earshot, "that drunkard hath said more than he +meant. I am not quite the country fool I seem to be, but least said is +soonest mended. I have known Sir John Shelton for some years--a good man +in the chase, a soldier, but a drunken fool withal. I know your name, +and I have met your father at the Wool Exchange in London. We are both +of Catholic houses, but I think none of us like what is going on now, +and like to go on since"--here he dropped his voice almost to a whisper, +and glanced upwards to the gallery which ran round the hall--"since Her +Grace had wedded out of the kingdom. But we must say nothing. Who that +gentleman upstairs is, I do not seek to know, but I tell you this, Mr. +Commendone, that, heretic or none, I go to-morrow morning to Father Lacy +and give him a rose-angel to say masses for the soul of a good dead +friend of mine. I shall not tell him who 'tis, and he's too big a fool +to ask, but----" + +The old man's voice caught in his throat. He lifted his cup, and +instinctively Johnnie did the same. + +"Here's to him," Mr. Lacel whispered, "and to his dame, a sweet and +gracious lady, and to his little lad Thomas, and the girl Mary; they +have oft sat on my knee--for I am an old widower, Mr. Commendone--when I +have told them the tale of the babes in the wood." + +Tears were in the Sheriff's eyes, and in the eyes of the young man also, +as he raised his cup to his lips and drank the sad and furtive toast. + +"And here," Mr. Lacel continued, lifting his cup once more, and leaning +forward over the table close to his, "and here's to Lizzie, whom dear +Dr. Taylor adopted to be as his own daughter when she was but a little +maid of three. Here's to Elizabeth, the sweetest girl, the most blithe +companion, the daintiest, most brave little lady that ever trod the +lanes of Suffolk----" + +He had hardly finished speaking, and Johnnie's hand was trembling as he +lifted the goblet to his lips, when there was a noise in the gallery +above, and Sir John Shelton, pale of face, and followed by the butler, +came noisily down the oak stairs. + +The knight's manner was more than a little excited. + +"Mr. Commendone," he said in a quick but conciliatory voice, "His +Highness--that is to say, the Spanish gentleman--is very fatigued, and +cannot ride to London to-day." + +He turned to Mr. Lacel. + +"Peter," he said, and his voice was now anxious and suave, the voice of +a man of affairs, and with something definite to say, "Peter, I must +claim your hospitality for the night for myself and for my Spanish +friend. Also, I fear, for my men." + +Mr. Lacel bowed. "Sir John," he said, "my poor house is very gladly at +your disposal, and you may command me in all ways." + +"I thank you," Sir John answered, "I thank you very much. You are doing +me a service, and perhaps other people a service which----" He broke off +shortly, and turned once more to Commendone. "Mr. Commendone," he said, +"it is requisite that you will at once to horse with your own servant +and one of my men, and ride to London--Excuse me, Peter, but I have a +privy word to say to the Esquire." + +He drew Johnnie aside. "You must ride post-haste to the Queen," he said, +"and tell her that His Majesty is very weary or eke unwell. He will lie +the night here and come to London with me in the morning, and by the +Mass, Mr. Commendone, I don't envy you your commission!" + +"I will go at once," Johnnie answered, looking at his watch. + +"Very good, Mr. Commendone," Sir John answered. "I am not of the Privy +Closet, as you know. You are in communion with Her Grace, and have been. +But if all we of the guard hear is true, then I am sorry for you. +Natheless, you must do it. Tell Her Grace of the burning--oh, tell her +anything that commendeth itself to you, but let her not think that His +Highness is upon some lover's business. And of Duck Lane not a word, not +a single word, as you value your favour!" + +"It is very likely, is it not, Sir John," Commendone answered, "that I +should say anything of Duck Lane?" + +The sneer in his voice was so pronounced that the big bully writhed +uneasily. + +"Surely," he replied, "you are a very pattern and model of discretion. I +know it well enough, Mr. Commendone." + +Johnnie made his adieux to his host. + +"But what about your horses, sir?" the old gentleman asked. "As I +understand it, you ride post-haste to London. Your nag will not take you +there very fast after your long ride." + +"I must post, that is all," Johnnie answered. "I can get a relay at +Chelmsford." + +"Nay, Mr. Commendone, it is not to be thought of," said the squire. +"Now, look you. I have a plenty horses in my stables. There is a roan +mare spoiling for work that will suit you very well. And what servants +are you taking?" + +Sir John Shelton broke in. + +"Hadst better take thy own servant and two of my men," he said. "You +will be riding back upon the way we came, and I doubt me the country +folk are too friendly." + +"That is easy done," said Mr. Lacel. "I can horse your yeomen also. In +four days I ride myself to Westminster, where I spend a sennight with my +brother, and hope to pay my duties at the Court when it moveth to +Whitehall, as I hear it is about to do. The horses I shall lend you, Mr. +Commendone, can be sent to my brother's, Sir Frank Lacel, of Lacel +House." + +"I thank you very much, sir," Johnnie answered, "you are very kind." And +with that he said farewell, and in a very few minutes was riding over +Aldham Common, on his way back to London. + +Right in the centre of the Common there was still a large crowd of +people, and he saw a farm cart with two horses standing there. + +He made a wide detour, however, to get into the main road for Hadley, +shrinking with a sudden horror, more poignant and more physically +sickening than anything he had known before, from the last sordid and +grisly details of the martyr's obsequies. + +... No! Anything would be better than to see this dreadful cleaning +up.... + +The big rawbone mare which he was riding was fresh and playful. Johnnie +was a consummate horseman, and he was glad of the distraction of keeping +the beast under control. She had a hard mouth, and needed all his skill. + +For four or five miles, followed by his attendants at a distance of two +or three hundred yards, he rode at a fast canter, now and then letting +the mare stretch her legs upon the turf which bordered the rough country +road. After this, when the horse began to settle down to steady work, he +went on at a fast trot, but more mechanically, and thought began to be +born within him again. + +Until now he had seemed to be walking and moving in a dream. Even the +horrors he had seen had been hardly real. Inexperienced as he was in +many aspects of life, he yet knew well that the man with an imagination +and sensitive nerves suffers far more in the memory of a dreadful thing +than he does at the actual witnessing of it. The very violence of what +he had seen done that day had deadened all the nerves, forbidding full +sensation--as a man wounded in battle, or with a limb lopped off by +sword or shot, is often seen looking with an amazed incredulity at +himself, feeling no pain whatever for the moment. + +It was now that John Commendone began to suffer. Every detail of Dr. +Taylor's death etched themselves in upon his brain in a succession of +pictures which burnt like fire. + +As this or that detail--in colour, movement, and sound--came back to him +so vividly, his heart began to drum, his eyes to fill with tears, or +grow dry with horror, the palms of his hands to become wet. He lived the +whole thing over again. And once more his present surroundings became +dream-like, as he cantered through the lanes, and what was past became +hideously, dreadfully real. + +Yet, as the gallant mare bore him swiftly onwards, he realised that the +horror and disgust he felt were in reality subservient to something else +within him. His whole being seemed quickened, infinitely more alert, +ready for action, than it had ever been before. He was like a man who +had all his life been looking out upon the world through smoked or +tinted glasses--very pleased and delighted with all he saw, unable to +realise that there could be anything more true, more vivid. + +Then, suddenly, the glass is removed. The neutral greyness which he has +taken for the natural, commendable view of things, changes and falls +away. The whole world is seen in an infinity of light and colour +undreamed of, unexpected, wonderfully, passionately new. + +It was thus with Johnnie, and the fact for some time was stunning and +paralysing. + +Then, as the brain adjusted itself slowly to fresh and marvellous +conditions, he began to question himself. + +What did it mean? What did it mean to him? What lay before? + +Quite suddenly the explanation came, and he knew. + +It was the face of a tall girl, who stood by St. Botolph's tower in the +ghostly dawn that had done this thing. It was her voice that had rent +aside the veil; it was her eyes of agony which lit up the world so +differently. + +With that knowledge, with the quick hammering of love at a virgin heart, +there came also an enormous expectation. Till now life had been pleasant +and happy. All the excitements of the past seemed but incidents in a +long tranquillity. + +The orchestra had finished the prelude to the play. Now the traverse was +drawn aside, and action began. + +As the young man realised this, and the white splendour of the full +summer sun was answered by the inexpressible glow within, he realised, +physically, that he was galloping madly along the road, pressing his +spurs to his horse's flanks, riding with loose rein, the stirrups behind +him, crouching forward upon the peaked saddle. He pulled his horse up +within two or three hundred yards, though with considerable difficulty, +the animal seeming, in some subtle way, to share and be part of that +which was rioting within his brain. + +He pulled her up, however, and she stood trembling and breathing hard, +with great clots of white foam covering the rings of the bit. He +soothed her, patting the strong veined neck with his hand, bringing it +away from the darkening hide covered with sweat. Then, when she was a +little more at ease, he slipped from the saddle and led her a few paces +along the road to where in the hedge a stile was set, upon which he sat +himself. + +He held hold of the rein for a minute until he saw the mare begin to +crop the roadside grass quietly enough, when he released her. + +For a mile or more the road by which he had come stretched white and +empty in the sun. There was no trace of his men. He waited there till +they could come up to him. + +He began to talk to himself in slow, measured terms, his own voice +sounding strange in his ears, coming to them with a certain comfort. It +was as though once more he had regained full command and captaincy of +his own soul. There were great things to be done, he was commander of +his own legions, and, like a general before a battle, he was issuing +measured orders to his staff. + +"So that it must be; it must be just that; I must find Elizabeth"--his +subconscious brain heard with a certain surprise and wonder how the slow +voice trembled at the word--"I must find Elizabeth. And then, when I +have found her, I must tell her that she, and she alone, is to be my +wife, and my lady ever more. I must sue and woo her, and then she must +be my wife. It is that which I have to do. The Court is nothing; my +service is nothing; it is Elizabeth!" + +The mare raised her head, her mouth full of long sweet grass, and she +looked at him with mild, brown eyes. + +He rose from the stile, put his hand within his doublet, and pulled out +a little crucifix of ebony, with a Christ of gold nailed to it. + +He kissed it, and then, singularly heartened and resolute in mind, he +mounted again, seeing, as he did so, that his men were coming up behind. +He waited till they were near and then trotted off, and in an hour came +to the outskirts of Chelmsford town. + +It was now more than two hours after noon, and he halted with his men at +the "Tun," the principal inn of the place, and adjacent to a brewery of +red brick, where the famous Chelmsford ale--no less celebrated then than +now--was brewed. + +He rode into the courtyard of the inn, and the ostlers came hurrying up +and took his horse away, while he went into the ordinary and sat down +before a great round of beef. + +The landlord, seeing a gentleman of quality, bustled in and carved for +him--a pottle-bellied, voluble man, with something eminently kindly and +human in his eye. + +"From the Court, sir, I do not doubt?" he said. + +Johnnie nodded. + +"If I mistake not, you are one of the gentlemen who rode with the +Sheriff and Dr. Rowland Taylor this morning?" + +"That was I," Johnnie answered, looking keenly at the man. + +"I would have wagered it was, sir. We saw the party go by early. Is the +Doctor dead, sir?" + +Johnnie nodded once more. + +"And a very right and proper thing it is," the landlord continued, "that +such should die the death." + +"And why think you that, landlord?" Johnnie asked. + +The landlord scratched his head, looking doubtfully at his guest. + +"It is not for me to say, sir," he replied, after a moment's hesitation. +"I am but a tradesman, and have no concern with affairs of State. I am a +child in these things, but doubtless what was done was done very well." + +Johnnie pushed away the pewter plate in front of him. "My man," he said, +"you can speak freely to me. What think you in truth?" + +The landlord stared at him for a moment, and then suddenly sat down at +the table. + +"I don't know, sir," he said, "who or what you may be. As thou art from +the Court, thou art a good Catholic doubtless, or wouldst not be there, +but you have an honest face, and I will tell you what I think. Under +King Hal I gat me to church, and profited well thereby in that reign, +for the abbey being broke up, and the friars dispersed, there was no +more free beer for any rogue or masterless man to get from the buttery, +aye, and others of this town with property, and well-liked men, who +would drink the monks' brew free rather than pay for mine own. So, God +bless King Henry, I say, who brought much custom to mine inn, being a +wise prince. And now, look you, I go to Mass, and custom diminisheth not +at all. I have had this inn for thirty years, my father before me for +fifty; and in this inn, sir, I mean to die. It is nothing to me whether +bread and wine are but bread and wine, or whether they be That which all +must now believe. I am but a simple man, and let wiser than I decide, +keeping always with those who must certainly know better than I. +Meanwhile I shall sell my beer and bring up my family as an honest man +should do--God's death! What is that?" + +He started from his chair as Johnnie did likewise, for even as the man +spoke a most horrid and untoward noise filled all the air. + +Both men rushed to the bulging window of leaded glass, which looked out +into the High Street. + +There was a huge shouting, a frightful stamp and clatter as of feet and +horses' hooves upon the stones, but above all there came a shrill, +snarling, neighing noise, ululating with a ferocity that was not human, +a vibration of rage, which was like nothing Commendone had ever heard +before. + +"Jesus! But what is this?" Johnnie cried, flinging open the casement, +his face suddenly white with fear--so utterly outside all experience was +the dreadful screeching, which now seemed a thousand times louder. + +He peered out into the street and saw people rushing to the doors and +windows of all the houses opposite, with faces as white and startled as +his own. He looked to the right, for it was from there the pealing +horror of sound was coming, but he could see nothing, because less than +twenty yards away the High Street made a sudden turn at right angles +towards the Market Place. + +"It is some devil, certes," the landlord panted. "Apollyon must have +just such a voice. What----" + +The words died away upon his lips, and in a moment the two men and all +the other watchers in the street knew what had happened. + +With a furious stamping of hooves, round the corner of an old timbered +house, leaping from the ground in ungovernable fury, and in that leaping +advancing but very slowly, came a huge stallion, black as a coal, its +eyes red with malice, its ears laid back over its head, the huge +bull-like neck erect, and smeared with foam and blood. + +Commendone had never seen such a monster; indeed, there were but few of +them in England at that time--the product of Lanarkshire mares crossed +with the fierce Flanders stallions, only just then introduced into +England by that Earl of Arran who had been a suitor for the hand of the +Princess Elizabeth. + +The thing seemed hardly horse, but malignant demon rather, and with a +cold chill at their hearts the landlord and his guest saw that the +stallion gripped a man by one arm and shoulder, a man that was no more a +man, but a limp bundle of clothes, and shook him as a terrier shakes a +rat. + +The bloody and evil eyes glared round on every side as the great +creature heaved itself into the air, the long "feather" of silky hair +about its fetlocks waving like the pennons of lances. There was a +dreadful sense of _display_. The stallion was consciously and wickedly +performing, showing what it could do in its strength of hatred--evil, +sentient, malign. + +It tossed the wretched man up into the air, and flung him lifeless and +broken at its fore feet. And then, horror upon horror, it began to pound +him, smashing, breaking, and treading out what little life remained, +with an action the more dreadful and alarming in that it was one +absolutely alien to the usual habits of the horse. + +It stopped at last, stiffened all over, its long, wicked head stretched +out like that of a pointing dog, while its eyes roved round as if in +search of a new victim. + +There was a dead silence in the street. + +Then Johnnie saw a short, thick-set man, with a big head and a brown +face, come out from the archway opposite, where he had been standing in +amazement, into the full street, facing the silent, waiting beast. + +Something stabbed the young man's heart strangely. It was not fear for +the man; it was quite distinct from the breathless excitement and +sickening wonder of the moment. + +Johnnie had seen this man before. + +With slow, very slow, but resolute and determined steps, the man drew +nearer to the stallion. + +He was within four yards of it, when it threw up its head and opened its +mouth wide, showing the great glistening yellow teeth, the purple lips +curling away from them, in a rictus of malignity. From the open mouth, +covered with blood and foam, once more came the frightful cry, the mad +challenge. + +Even as that happened, the man, who carried a stout stick of ash such as +drovers used, leapt at the beast and struck it full and fair upon the +muzzle, a blow so swift, and so hefty withal, that the ash-plant snapped +in twain and flew up into the air. + +The next thing happened very swiftly. The man, who had a short cloak +upon his arm, threw it over the stallion's head with a sudden movement. +There was a white flash in the sunshine, as his short knife left his +belt, and with one fierce blow plunged deep into the lower portion of +the stallion's neck just above the great roll of fat and muscle which +arched down towards the chest. + +Then, with both hands at the handle of the knife, the man pulled it +upwards, leaning back as he did so, and putting all his strength into +what he did, cutting through the living veins and trachea as a butcher +cuts meat. + +There was a dreadful scream, which changed upon an instant to a cough, a +fountain of dark blood, and the monster staggered and fell over upon its +side with a crash. + +A minute afterwards Commendone was out in the High Street mingling with +the excited crowd of townspeople. + +He touched the sturdy brown-faced man upon the shoulder. + +"Come into the inn," he said. "I have somewhat to say to you, John +Hull." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +PART TAKEN IN AFFAIRS BY THE HALF TESTOON + + +It was seven o'clock in the evening when John Commendone arrived at the +Tower. He went to the Queen's Gallery, and found that Her Majesty had +just come back from Vespers in St. John's Chapel, and was in the Privy +Garden with some of her ladies. + +Mr. Ambrose Cholmondely was lieutenant of the guard at this hour, and +Johnnie went to him, explaining that he must see the Queen at once. + +"She won't see any one, Commendone," young Mr. Cholmondely answered. "I +really cannot send your name to Her Grace." + +"But I must see Her Grace. It is highly important." + +Cholmondely looked at Commendone. + +"You have ridden far and fast," he said. "You might even be the bearer +of despatches, my friend John. But I cannot send in your name to the +Queen. Even if I could, I certainly would not do so when you are like +this, in such disorder of dress. You've come from no battle-field with +news of victory. If the matter urgeth, as you say, then you have your +own remedy. The King Consort lies ill in his own lodging; he hath not +been seen of any one since supper last night. I don't know where you +have been or what you have been doing, and it is no concern of mine, i' +faith, but you can very well go to the King's quarters, where, if your +business is as you say, one of the dons or Spanish priests will speedily +arrange an audience for you with Her Grace." + +Johnnie knew the rigid etiquette of the Court very well. + +Technically young Mr. Cholmondely was within his rights. He had received +orders and must obey them. Upon the other hand, no one knew better than +Commendone that this young gallant was a fool, puffed up with the favour +of ladies, and who from the first had regarded him as in some sense a +rival--was jealous of him. + +John realised in a moment that no one of the Court except the Queen and +King Philip's private gentlemen knew of His Highness's absence. It had +been put about that he was ill. It would have been an easy thing for +Johnnie to turn away from the gate of the Privy Garden, where, in the +soft sunset light, Mr. Cholmondely ruffled it so bravely, and find +Father Diego. But he was in no mood at that moment for compromise. He +was perfectly certain of his own right to admission. He knew that the +tidings he bore were far more important than any point of etiquette. He +was cool and suave enough as a general rule--not at all inclined, or a +likely person, to infringe the stately machinery which controlled the +lives of monarchs. But now he was in a mood when these things seemed +shrunken, smaller than they had ever been before. He himself was +animated by a great private purpose, he bore a message from the King +himself to the Queen; he was in a state of exaltation, and looking at +the richly dressed young courtier before him, remembering what a +popinjay and lap-dog of ladies he was, he felt a sudden contempt for the +man who barred his way. + +He wouldn't have felt it before, but he was older now. He had bitten in +upon life, an extraordinary strength and determination influenced him +and ran in his blood. + +"Mr. Cholmondely," he said, "nevertheless, I will go to the Queen, as I +am, and go at once." + +Cholmondely was just inside the gates which led to the Privy Garden, +strolling up and down, while outside the gates were two archers of the +Queen's Guard, and a halberdier of the garrison, who was sitting upon a +low stone bench. + +Johnnie had passed the men and was standing within the garden. + +"You will, Mr. Commendone?" + +Johnnie took a step forward and brushed the other away with his left +arm, contemptuously, as if he had been a serving-man. Then he strode +onwards. + +The other's sword was out of his scabbard in a second, and he threw +himself on guard, his face livid with passion. Johnnie made no motion +towards his own sword hilt, but he grasped the other's light rapier with +his right hand, twisted it away with a swift muscular motion, broke it +upon his knee and flung the pieces into Cholmondely's face. + +"I go to Her Majesty," he said. "When I have done my business with her, +I will see you again, Mr. Cholmondely, and you can send your friend to +my lodging." + +Without a further glance at the lieutenant of the guard he hurried down +a broad gravelled path, edged with stocks, asters and dark green borders +of box, towards where he knew he would find the Queen. + +Cholmondely stood, swaying and reeling for a second. No word escaped +him, but from his cheek, cut by the broken sword, came a thin trickle of +scarlet. + +Johnnie had turned out of the broad walk and into the terraced +rose-garden, which went down to the river--where he saw a group of +brightly-dressed ladies, rightly conjecturing that the Queen was among +them--when he heard running steps behind him. + +Cholmondely had almost caught him up, and a dagger gleamed in his right +hand. A loud oath burst from him, and he flung himself upon Commendone. + +At the exact moment that he did so, the ladies had turned, and saw what +was going on; and while the two young men wrestled together, +Cholmondely vainly trying to free his dagger-arm from Commendone's +vice-like grip, there came a loud, angry voice which both knew well, +booming through the pergolas of roses. The instant the great voice +struck upon their ears they fell away from each other, arms dropped to +their sides, breaths panting, eyes of hate and anger suddenly changed +and full of apprehension. + +There were one or two shrieks and feminine twitters, a rustle of silk +skirts, a jangle of long silver chatelaines, and like a bouquet of +flowers coming towards them, the queen's ladies hurried over the lawn; +Her Grace's small form was a little in advance of the rest. + +Queen Mary came up to them, her thin face suffused with passion. + +"Sirs," she shouted, "what mean you by this? Are gentlemen of Our Court +to brawl in Our gardens? By the Mass, it shall go very hard with you +gentlemen. It----" + +She saw Commendone. + +Her voice changed in a second. + +"Mr. Commendone! Mr. Commendone! You here? I had looked to see you hours +agone. Where is----" + +She had nearly said it, but a warning flash from the young man's eyes +stayed the wild inquiry upon her lips. Clever as she was, the Queen +caught herself up immediately. + +"What is this, sir?" she said, more softly, and in Spanish. + +Johnnie sank on one knee. + +"I have just come to the Tower, M'am," he said, "with news for Your +Majesty. As you see, I am but just from my horse. I sought you +post-haste, and were told that you were here. Unfortunately, I could not +persuade Mr. Cholmondely of the urgency of my business. He had orders to +admit no one, and daring greatly, I pushed past him, and in the +execution of his duty he followed me." + +The Queen said nothing for a moment. Then she turned upon Cholmondely. + +"And who are you, Mr. Cholmondely," she said in a cold, hard voice, "to +deny the Esquire Our presence when he comes with special tidings to Us?" + +Cholmondely bowed low. + +"I did but hold to my orders, Madam," he said, in a low voice. + +The Queen ground her high-heeled shoe into the gravel. + +"Your sword, Mr. Cholmondely," she said, "you will hand it to the +Esquire, and you will go to your lodging to await our pleasure." + +At that, the lieutenant of the guard gave a loud sob, and his face +became purple. + +The Queen looked at him in amazement and then saw that his scabbard was +empty. + +In a moment Johnnie had whipped out his own riding-sword and pressed it +into Mr. Cholmondely's hand. + +"Stupid!" he said, "here thou art. Now give it me in order." + +The Queen had taken it all in immediately. The daughter of a King to +whom the forms and etiquette of chivalry were one of the guiding +principles of life, she realised in a moment what had occurred. + +"Boys! Boys!" she said, impatiently. "A truce to your quarrels. If Mr. +Commendone robbed you of your sword, Mr. Cholmondely, he hath very well +made amends in giving you his. You were right, Mr. Cholmondely, in not +admitting Mr. Commendone to Our presence, because you knew not the +business upon which he came. And you were right, Mr. Commendone, in +coming to Us as you did at all hazards. Art two brave, hot-headed boys. +Now take each other's hand; let there be no more of this, for"--and her +voice became lowing and full of menace again--"if I hear so much as the +rattle of thy swords against each other, in future, neither of thee will +e'er put hand to pummel again." + +The two young men touched each other's hand--both of them, to tell the +truth, excessively glad that affairs had turned out in this way. + +"Get you back to your post," the Queen said to the lieutenant. "Mr. +Commendone, come here." + +She turned swiftly, passing through her ladies, who all remained a few +yards behind. + +"Well, well," she said impatiently, "hath His Highness returned? Hath +he borne the fatigue of the journey well?" + +Most carefully, with studied phrases, furtively watching her face, with +the skill and adroitness of an old courtier, Johnnie told his story. At +any moment he expected an outburst of temper, but it did not come. To +his surprise, the Queen was now in a quiet and reflective mood. She +walked up and down the bowling green with him, her ladies standing apart +at one edge of it, nodding and whispering to see this young gallant so +favoured, and wondering what his mission might be. + +The Queen asked Johnnie minute questions about Mr. Peter Lacel's house. +Was it well found? Would His Highness find proper accommodation to lie +there? Was Mr. Lacel married, and had he daughters? + +Johnnie assured Her Grace that Mr. Lacel was a widower and without +children. He could plainly see that the Queen had that fierce jealousy +of a woman wedded late. Not only the torturing of other women, but also +the stronger and more pervading dislike of a husband living any life, +going through any experiences that she herself did not share. At the +same time, he saw also that the Queen was doing her very best to +overcome such thoughts as these, was endeavouring to assume the matron +of common sense and to put the evil thing away from her. + +Then, just as the young man was beginning to feel a little embarrassed +at the quick patter of questions, wondering if he would be able to be +as adequate as hitherto, remembering guiltily where he had met the King +the night before, the Queen ceased to speak of her husband. + +She began to ask him of Dr. Rowland Taylor and his end. + +He told her some of the details as quietly as he could, trying to soften +the horror which even now overwhelmed him in memory. At one question he +hesitated for a moment, mistaking its intent, and the Queen touched him +smartly on the arm. + +"No, no," she said, "I don't want to hear of the runagate's torment. He +suffered rightly, and doubtless his sufferings were great. But tell me +not of them. They are not meet for our ears. Tell me of what he said, +and if grace came to him at last." + +He was forced to tell her, as he knew others would tell her afterwards, +of the sturdy denial of the martyr till the very end. + +And as he did so, he saw the face, which had been alight with tenderness +and anxiety when the King's name was mentioned, gravely judicial and a +little disgusted when the actual sufferings of the Archdeacon were +touched upon, now become hard and cruel, aflame with bigotry. + +"They shall go," the Queen said, rather to herself than to him. "They +shall be rooted out; they shall die the death, and so may God's most +Holy Church be maintained." + +At that, with another and astonishing change of mood, she looked at the +young man, looked him up and down, saw his long boots powdered with +dust, his dress in disorder, him travel-stained and weary. + +"You have done well," she said, with a very kindly and eminently human +smile. "I would that all the younger gentlemen of our old houses were +like you, Mr. Commendone. His Highness trusts you and likes you. I +myself have reason to think well of you. You are tired by your long +ride. Get you to your lodging, and if so you wish it, you shall do as +you please to-night, for when His Highness returns I will see that he +hath no need of you. And take this from your Queen." + +In her hand the Queen carried a little volume, bound in Nile-green skin, +powdered with gold heraldic roses. It was the _Tristia et Epistolae ex +Ponto_ of Ovid, which she had been reading. Johnnie sank upon one knee +and took the book from the ivory-white and wrinkled hand. + +"Madam," he said, "I will lose my life rather than this gracious gift." + +"Hey ho!" the Queen answered. "Tell that to your mistress, Mr. +Commendone, if you have one. Still, the book is rare, and when you read +of the poet's sorrows at Tomi, think sometimes of the giver who--and do +not doubt it--hath many sorrows of her own. It is an ill thing to rule +We sometimes think, Mr. Commendone, but God hath put Us in Our place, +and We must not falter." + +She turned. "Lady Paget," she called, "I have done with this young spark +for the nonce; come you, and help me pick red roses, red roses, for my +chamber. The King loveth deep red roses, and I am told that they are the +favoured flower of all noble gentlemen and ladies in the dominions of +Spain." + +Bowing deeply once more, and walking backwards to the edge of the +bowling green, Johnnie withdrew. + +He passed through the flower-bordered ways till he came to the gate of +the garden. + +Outside the gate this time, on the big gravelled sweep which went in +front of the Palace, Cholmondely was walking up and down, the blood +dried upon his cheek, but not washed away. He turned in his sentinel's +parade as Johnnie came out, and the two young men looked at each other +for a moment in silence. + +"What's it to be?" Johnnie said, with a smile--"Lincoln's Inn Fields +to-morrow morning? Her Grace will never know of it." + +"I was waiting for you, Johnnie," the other answered. "No, we'll not +fight, unless you wish it. Come you to the Common Room, and the pantler +shall boil his kettle and brew us some sack." + +Johnnie thrust his arm into the other's and together they passed away +from the garden, better friends at that moment than they had ever been +before--friends destined to be friends for two hours before they were to +part forever, though during these hours one of them was to do the other +a service which would help to alter the whole course of his life. + +They went into the Common Room, and the pantler was summoned and ordered +to brew them a bowl of sack--simply the hot wine and water, with added +spices, which our grandmothers of the present time sipped over their +cards, and called Negus. + +Commendone sunk down into a big oak chair, his hands stretched out along +the arms, his whole body relaxed in utter weariness, his dark face now +grown quite white. There were lines about his eyes which had not been +there a few hours before. The eyes themselves were dull and glassy, the +lips were flaccid. + +Cholmondely looked at him in amazement. "Go by, Jeronymo!" he said, +using a popular tag, or catch-word, of the time, the "What ho, she +bumps!" of the period, though there were no music-halls in those days to +popularise such gems of phrase. "What ails you, Esquire? I was +frightened also by Her Grace, and, i' faith, 'tis a fearful thing to +hear the voice of Majesty in reproof. But thou camest better out of it +than I, though all was well at the end of it for both of us. Is it with +you still?" + +Johnnie shook his head feebly. "No," he said, lifting a three-handled +silver cup of sack to his lips. "'Twas not that, though I was sorely +angered with you, Ambrose; but I have had a long journey into the +country, and have returned but half an hour agone. I have seen +much--much." He put one hand to his throat, swallowing as he spoke, and +then recollecting himself, adding hurriedly, "Upon affairs of State." + +The other gallant sipped his wine. "Thou need'st not have troubled to +tell me that," he said dryly. "When a gentleman bursts into the Privy +Garden against all order he is doubtless upon business of State. What +brought you to this doing I do not know, and I don't ask you, Johnnie. +All's well that ends well, and I hope we are to be friends." + +"With all my goodwill," Commendone answered. "We should have been +friends before." + +The other nodded. He was a tall, handsome young man, a little florid in +face, but of a high and easy bearing. There was, nevertheless, something +infinitely more boyish and ingenuous in his appearance than in that of +Commendone. The latter, perhaps of the same age as his companion, was +infinitely more unreadable than the other. He seemed older, not in +feature indeed, but in manner and capability. Cholmondely was explicit. +There was a swagger about him. He was thoroughly typical. Johnnie was +cool, collected, and aware. + +"To tell you the truth, Commendone," Cholmondely said, with a light +laugh which rang with perfect sincerity, "to tell you the truth, I have +been a little jealous of you since you came to Court. Thou art a +newcomer here, and thou hast risen to very high favour; and then, by the +Mass! thou dost not seem to care about it all. Here am I, a squire of +dames, who pursue the pleasures of Venus with great ardour and not ever +with success. But as for thee, John Commendone of Kent, i' faith, the +women are quarrelling for thee! Eyes grow bright when thou comest into +the dance. A week agone, at the barrier fight in the great hall, Cicily +Thwaites, that I had marked out for myself to be her knight, was looking +at thee with the eyes of a duck in a tempest of thunder. So that is +that, Johnnie. 'Tis why I have not liked thee much. But we're friends +now, and see here----" + +He stepped up to the young man in the chair and clapped his hand upon +his shoulder. "See here," he went on in a deeper voice, "thou hast well +purged the dregs and leaven of my dislike. Thou gav'st me thy sword when +hadst disarmed me, and I stood before Her Grace shamed. I don't forget +that. I will never forget it. There will never be any savour or smell of +malice between thou and me." + +The wine had roused the blood in Commendone's tired veins. He was more +himself now. The terrible fatigue and nerve tension of the past few +hours was giving place to a sense of physical well-being. He looked at +the handsome young fellow before him standing up so taut and trim, with +the sunlight pouring in upon his face from one of the long open windows, +his head thrown slightly back, his lips a little parted, bright with the +health of youth, and felt glad that Ambrose Cholmondely was to be his +friend. And he would want friends now, for some reason or other--why he +could not divine--he had a curious sense that friends would be valuable +to him now. He felt immeasurably older than the other, immeasurably +older than he had ever felt before. There was something big and stern +coming into his life. The diplomatic, the cautious, trained side of him +knew that it must hold out hands to meet all those that were proffered +in the name of friend. + +Cholmondely sat down upon the table, swinging his legs backwards and +forwards, and stroking the smooth pointed yellow beard which lay upon +his ruff, with one long hand covered with rings. + +"And how like you, Johnnie," he said, "your attendance upon His Majesty? +From what we of the Queen's Household hear, the garden of that service +is not all lavender. Nay, nor ale and skittles neither." + +Johnnie shrugged his shoulders, his face quite expressionless. In a +similar circumstance, Ambrose Cholmondely would have gleefully entered +into a gossip and discussion, but Commendone was wiser than that, older +than his years. He knew the value of silence, the virtue of a still +tongue. + +"Sith you ask me, Ambrose," he answered, sipping his wine quietly, "I +find the service good enough." + +The other grinned with boyish malice. There was a certain rivalry +between those English gentlemen who had been attached to King Philip +and those who were of the Queen's suite. Her Majesty was far more +inclined to show favour to those whom she had put about her husband than +to the members of her own _entourage_. They were picked men, and the gay +young English sparks resented undue and too rapid promotion and favour +shown to men of their own standing, while, Catholics as most of them +were, there was yet an innate political distrust instilled into them by +their fathers and relations of this Spanish Match. And many courtiers +thought that, despite all the safe-guards embodied in the marriage +contract, the marriage might yet mean a foreign dominion over the +realm--so fond and anxious was the Queen. + +"Each man to his taste," Cholmondely said. "I don't know precisely what +your duties are, Johnnie, but for your own sake I well hope they don't +bring you much into the companionship of such gentry as Sir John +Shelton, let us say." + +Johnnie could hardly repress a start, though it passed unnoticed by his +friend. "Sir John Shelton?" he said, wondering if the other knew or +suspected anything of the events of the last twenty-four hours. "Sir +John Shelton? It's little enough I have to do with him." + +"And all the better." + +Johnnie's ears were pricked. He was most anxious to get to know what was +behind Cholmondely's words. It would be worth a good deal to him to have +a thorough understanding of the general Court view about the King +Consort. He affected an elaborate carelessness, even as he did so +smiling within himself at the ease by which this boy could be drawn. + +"Why all the better?" he said. "I care not for a bully-rook such as +Shelton any more than you, but I have nothing to do with him." + +"Then you make no excursions and sallies late o' nights?" + +Commendone's face was an elaborate mask of wonder. + +"Sallies o' nights?" he said. + +The other young man swung his legs to and fro, and began to chuckle. He +caught hold of the edge of the table with both hands, and looked down on +Johnnie in the chair with an amused smile. + +"And I had thought you were right in the thick of it," he said. "Thy +very innocence, Johnnie, hath prevented thee from seeing what goes on +under thy nose. Why, His Highness, Sir John Shelton, and Mr. Clarence +Attwood leave the Tower night after night and hie them to old Mother +Motte's in Duck Lane whenever the Queen hath the vapours and thinketh +her lord is in bed, or at his prayers. Phew!"--he made a gesture of +disgust. "It stinketh all over the Court. I see, Commendone, now why +thou knowest nothing of this. The King chooseth for his night-bird +friends ruffians like Shelton and Attwood. He would not dare ask one +that is a gentleman to wallow in brothels with him. But be assured, I +speak entirely the truth." + +Johnnie shrugged his shoulders once more. "I know nothing of it," he +said, with a quick, side-long glance at Ambrose Cholmondely. "I am not +asked to be Esquire on such occasions, at any rate." + +"And wouldst not go if thou wert," Cholmondely said, loudly. "Nor would +any other gentleman that I know of--only the very scum and vermin of the +Court. The game of love, look you, is very well. I am no purist, but I +hunt after my own kind, and so should we all do. I don't bemire myself +in the stews. Well, there it is. And now, much refreshed by this good +wine, and much heartened by our compact, I'll leave thee. I must get +back to guard at the garden gate. Her Grace will be leaving anon to +dress for supper. Perchance to-night the King will be well enough to +make appearance. While thou hast been away, he hath been close in his +quarters and very sick. The Spanish priests have been buzzing round him +like autumn wasps. And Thorne, the chirurgeon from Wood Street, a very +skilful man, hath, they say, been summoned this morning to the Palace. +Addio!" + +With a bright smile and a wave of his hand, he flung out of the room. + +Johnnie finished the lukewarm sack in his goblet. He had learnt +something that he wished to know, and as he saw his friend pass beyond +the windows outside, his feet crunching the gravel and humming a little +song, Johnnie smiled bitterly to himself. He knew rather more about +King Philip's illness than most people in England at that moment. And as +for Duck Lane--well! he knew something of that also. As the thought came +to him, indeed, he shuddered. He remembered the great ham-like face of +the procuress who kept this fashionable hell. He heard her voice +speaking to him as, very surely, she spoke to but few people who visited +her there. He thought of Ambrose Cholmondely's fastidiousness, and he +smiled again as he wondered what the Esquire would say if he only knew. + +It was not a merry smile. There was no humour in it. It was bitter, +cynical, and fraught with something of fear and expectation. + +He had drunk the wine, and it had reanimated him physically; but he rose +now and realised how weary he was in mind, and also--for he was always +most scrupulous and careful about his dress--how stained and travel-worn +in appearance. + +He walked out of the Common Room, his riding sword and spurs clanking as +he did so, mounted the stairway of the hall and entered the long +corridor which led to his own room. + +He had nearly got to his doorway when he heard, coming from a little way +beyond it, a low, musical, humming voice. He remembered with a start +that there was an interview before him which would mean much one way or +the other to his private desires. + +During the interview with the Queen and the squabble with Ambrose +Cholmondely--as also afterwards, when he was drinking in the Common +Room--he had lost mental sight and grip of his own private wishes and +affairs. Now they all came back to him in a flash as he heard the +humming voice coming from the end of the corridor-- + + "Bartl'my Fair! Bartl'my Fair! + Swanked I and drank I when I was there; + Boiled and roast goose and baiting of bear, + Who plays with cudgels at Bartl'my Fair?" + +He turned into his own room and looked round. He saw that some of his +accoutrements had been taken away. There were vacant pegs upon the +walls. He sat down upon the small low bed, bent forward, clasped his +hands upon his knees, and wondered whether he should speak or not. He +wondered very greatly whether he dare make a query, start an +investigation, nearer to his heart than anything else in the world. + +At Chelmsford he had run out of the Tun Inn and touched the burly man +who had killed the maddened stallion on the shoulder. He had brought him +into the ordinary, sat him down in a chair, put a great stoup of ale +before him, and then begun to talk to him. + +"I know who you are," he said, "very well, because I was one of the +gentlemen riding from town to Hadley with your late master, Dr. Taylor. +I saw you when his Reverence was wishing good-bye outside St. Botolph, +his church, and I heard the words your master said--eke that you were +the 'faithfullest servant that ever a man had.' What do you here now, +John Hull?" + +The man had drunk his great stoup of ale very calmly. The daring deed in +which he had been engaged had seemed to affect his nerves in no way at +all. He was shortish, thick-set, with a broad chest measurement, and a +huge thickness between chest and back. His face was tanned to the colour +of an old saddle, very keen and alert, and he was clean-shaved, a rather +odd and distinguishing feature in a serving-man of that time. + +He told Johnnie that, now he knew, he recognised him as one of the +company who rode with Dr. Taylor to his death. He had followed the +cavalcade almost immediately, and on foot. The way was long, and he had +arrived at Chelmsford faint and weary with very little money in his +pouch, and been compelled to wait there a time for rest and food. His +design was to proceed to Hadley, where he knew he could get work and +would be welcome. + +Mr. Peter Lacel, he told Johnnie in the inn, would doubtless employ him, +for though a Catholic gentleman, he had been a friend of the Rector's in +the past. + +"You want work, then?" Johnnie had said. "You do not wish to be a +masterless man, a hedge-dodger, poacher, or a rogue?" + +"Work I must have, sir," John Hull replied, "but it must be with a good +master. Mr. Peter Lacel will take me on. Masterless, I should be a very +great rogue." + +All this happened in the dining-room of the Chelmsford inn, Johnnie +sitting in his chair and looking at the thick, brown-faced man with a +cool scrutiny which well disguised the throbbing excitement he felt at +seeing him--at meeting him in this strange, and surely pre-ordained +fashion. + +"I'll tell thee who I am," Johnnie had said to the man, naming himself +and his state. "That the Doctor spoke of you as he did when going to his +death is enough recommendation to me of your fidelity. I need a servant +myself, but I would ask you this, John Hull: You are, doubtless, of a +certain party. If I took you to my service, how would you square with +who and what I am? A led man of mine must be loyal." + +Hull had answered but very little. "Ye can but try me, sir," he said, +"but I will come with you to London very joyfully. And I well think----" + +He stopped, mumbled something, and stood there, his hands stained with +the blood of the horse he had killed, rather clumsy, very much +tongue-tied, but with something faithful and even hungry in his eyes. + +Johnnie's own servant was a man called Thumb, a dissolute London fellow, +who had been with him for a month, and who had performed his duties in a +very perfunctory way. Life had been so quick and vivid, so full of +movement and the newness of Court life, that the Groom of the Body had +hardly had time to remember the personal discomfort he endured from the +fellow who had been recommended to him by one of the lieutenants of the +Queen's Archers. He had always meant to get rid of him at the first +opportunity. Now the opportunity presented itself, though it was not for +mere convenience that Commendone had engaged his new servitor. + +He had not the slightest doubt in his own mind that the man was sent to +him--put in his way--by the Power which ruled and controlled the +fortunes of men. Living as he did, and had done for many years, in a +quiet, fastidious, but very real dream and communion with things that +the hand or body do not touch and see, he had always known within +himself that the goings-in and goings-out of those who believe depend +not at all upon chance. Like all men of that day, Commendone was deeply +religious. His religion had not made him bigoted, though he clung to the +Church in which he had been brought up. But, nevertheless, it was very +real to him. There were good and bad angels in those days, who fought +for the souls of men. The powers of good and evil were invoked.... + +The Esquire was certain that this sturdy John Hull had come into his +life with a set purpose. + +He was riding back to London with one fixed idea in his mind. One word +rang and chimed in his brain--the word was "Elizabeth!" + +He had left Chelmsford with John Hull definitely enrolled as his +servant, had hired a horse for him from the landlord of the "Tun," and +had taken him straight to the Tower. When he had entered within the +walls, he had told his man Thumb that he would dismiss him on the +morrow, and pay him his wages due. He had told him, moreover, that--just +as he was hurrying to the Privy Garden with news for the Queen--he must +take John Hull to his quarters and put him into the way of service. For +a moment, Thumb had been inclined to be insolent, but one single look +from the dark, cool eyes, one hinted flash of anger upon the oval +olive-coloured face, had sent the Londoner humbly to what he had to do; +while the fellow looked, not without a certain apprehension, at the +thick-set quiet man who followed him to be shown his new duties.... + + "The Spanish don came over seas, + Hey ho nonino; + A Gracious Lady tried to please, + Hey ho nonny. + + The country fellows strung their bows, + Hey ho nonino; + What 'twill be, no jack man knows! + Hey ho nonny." + +Johnnie jumped up from his bed, strode out of the room, walked a yard or +two down the corridor, and entered another and larger room, which he +shared with three other members of the suite. + +It was the place where they kept their armour, their riding-boots, and +some of their swords. + +As he came in he saw that Hull was sitting upon an overturned barrel, +which had held quarels for cross-bows. + +The man had tied a piece of sacking round his waist and over his +breeches, and was hard at work. + +Johnnie's three or four damascened daggers were rubbed bright with hog's +lard and sand. His extra set of holster pistols gleamed fresh and +new--the rust had been all removed from flint-locks and hammers; while +the stocks shone with porpoise oil. + +And now the new servant was polishing a high-peaked Spanish saddle, and +all the leather trappings of a charger, with an inside crust of barley +bread and a piece of apple rind. + +Directly the man saw his new master he stood up and made a saluting +motion with his hand. + +Johnnie looked at him coldly, though inwardly he felt an extreme +pleasure at the sight of his new recruit so lately added to him, so +swift to get to work, and withal so blithe about it. + +"You must not sing the songs I have heard you singing," he said, +shortly. "Don't you know where you are?" + +"I had forgotten, sir," the man replied. "I have a plaguey knowledge of +rhymes. They do run in my head, and must out." + +"They must not, I assure you," Johnnie answered, "but I like this well +enough. Hast got thee to work at once, then." + +"I love it, sir. To handle such stuff as yours is rare for a man like +me. Look you here, sir"--he lifted up a small dagger which he withdrew +from its sheath of stag's leather, dyed vermilion--"Hear how it +ringeth!" + +He twanged the supple blade with his forefinger, and the little +shivering noise rang out into the room. + +The man's keen, brown face was lit up with simple enjoyment. "I love +weapons, master," he said, as if in apology. + +Johnnie knew at once that here was the man he had been looking for for +weeks. The man who cared, the faithful man; but he knew also, or thought +he knew, that it was but poor policy to praise a servant unduly. + +"Well, well," he said, "you can get on with your work. To-morrow +morning, I will see you fitted out as becometh my body servant. To-night +you will go below with the other men. I have spoken to the intendant +that I have a new servant, and you will have your evening-meat and a +place to lie in." + +He turned to go. + +With all his soul he was longing to ask this man certain questions. He +believed that he had been sent to him to tell him of the whereabouts of +the girl to whom, so strangely, at such a dreadful hour, he had vowed +his life. But the long control over temperament and emotion which old +Father Chilches had imposed upon him--the very qualities which made him, +already, a successful courtier--stood him in good stead now. The +dominant desire of his heart was to be repressed. He knew very well, he +realised perfectly clearly, how intimate a member of Dr. Taylor's +household this faithful servant--"the faithfullest servant that ever man +had"--must have been. And knowing it, he felt sure that the time was not +yet come to ask John Hull any questions. He must arouse no suspicions +within the man's mind. Hull had entered his service gladly, and promised +to be more than adequate and worthy of any trust that could be reposed +in him. But he had seen Johnnie riding away with his beloved master, one +of those who had taken him to torture and death. The very shrewdness and +cleverness imprinted upon the fellow's face were enough to say that he +would at once take alarm at any questioning about Dr. Taylor's family, +at this moment. + +John Hull scraped with his foot and made a clumsy bow as his new master +turned away. Then, suddenly, he seemed to remember something. His face +changed in expression. + +"God forgive me, sir," he said, "indeed, I had near forgot it. When I +went into your chamber and took this harness for cleaning, there was a +letter lying there for you. I can read, sir; Dr. Taylor taught me to +read somewhat. I took the letter, fearing that it might be overlooked or +e'en taken away, for there are a plaguey lot of serving-men in this +passage. 'Tis here, sir, and I crave you pardon me for forgetting of it +till now." + +He handed Johnnie a missive of thick yellow-brown paper--such as was +woven from linen rags at Arches Smithfield Factory of that day. The +letter was folded four-square and tied round with a cord of green silk, +and where the threads intersected at the back was a broad seal of dull +red wax, bearing the sign of a lamb in its centre. + +Johnnie pulled off the cord, the wax cracked, and the thick yellow paper +rustled as he pulled it open. + +This was the letter: + + "HONOURED SIR,--This from my house in Chepe. Thy honoured + father who hath lately left the City hath left with me a sum of + money which remaineth here at your charges, and for your + disposal thereof as you may think fit. This shall be sent to + you upon your letter and signature, to-morrow an you so wish. + + "Natheless, should you come to my house to-night I will hand it + into your keeping in gold coin. I will say that Sir Henry + expressed hope that you might care to come to my poor house + which has long been the agency for Commendone. For your + father's son, sir, there will be very open welcome. + + "Your obt. svt., + and good friend, + ROBERT CRESSEMER, + Alderman of ye City of London." + +Commendone read the letter through with care. + +His father had been most generous since Johnnie had arrived at Court, +and the young man was in no need of money. Sir Henry had, indeed, hinted +that further supplies would be sent shortly, and he must have arranged +it with the Alderman ere he left the City. + +Johnnie sighed. His father had always been good to him. No desire of his +had ever been left ungratified. Many sons of noblemen at Court had +neither such a generous allowance nor perfect equipment as he had. He +never thought of his father and the old house in Kent without a little +pang of regret. Was it worth it all? Were not the silent woods of +Commendone, with their shy forest creatures, better far than this +stately citadel and home of kings? + +His life had been so tranquil in the past. The happy days had gone by +with the regularity of some slow-turning wheel. Now all was stress and +turmoil. Dark and dreadful doings encompassed him. He was afloat upon +strange waters, and there was no pilot aboard, nor did he know what port +he should make, what unknown coast-line should greet his troubled eyes +when dawn should come. + +These thoughts were but fleeting, as he sat in his bedroom, where he had +taken the letter from Mr. Cressemer. He sent them away with an effort of +will. The past life was definitely over; now he must gather himself +together and consider the immediate future without vain regrets. + +As he mounted the stairs from the Common Room he had it in mind to +change from his riding costume and sleep. He needed sleep. He wanted to +enter that mysterious country so close to the frontiers of death, to be +alone that he might think of Elizabeth. He knew now how men dreamed and +meditated of their loves, why lovers loved to be alone. + +He held the letter in his hand, looking down at the firm, clear writing +with lack-lustre eyes. What should he do? sleep, lose himself in happy +fancies, or go to the house of the Alderman? He had no Court duties that +night. + +He knew Robert Cressemer's name well. Every one knew it in London, but +Commendone had heard it mentioned at home for many years. Mr. Cressemer, +who would be the next Lord Mayor, was one of those merchant princes who, +ever since the time of that great commercial genius, Henry VII, had +become such an important factor in the national life. + +For many years the Alderman, the foundation of whose fortune had been +the export of English wool, had been in intimate relations, both of +business and friendship, with Sir Henry Commendone. The knight's wool +all went to the warehouses in Chepe. He had shares in the fleet of +trading vessels belonging to Cressemer, which supplied the wool-fairs of +Holland and the Netherlands. The childlike and absolutely uneconomic act +of Edward VI which endeavoured to make all interest illegal, and +enacted that "_whoever shall henceforth lend any sum of money for any +manner of usury, increase, lucre, gain or interest to be had, received, +or hoped for, over and above the sum so lent_," should suffer serious +penalties, had been repealed. + +Banking had received a tremendous impetus, Robert Cressemer had +adventured largely in it, and Sir Henry Commendone was a partner with +him in more than one enterprise. + +Of all this Johnnie knew nothing. He had not the slightest idea how rich +his father was, and knew nothing of the fortune that would one day be +his. + +He did know, however, that Mr. Cressemer was a very important person +indeed, the admired and trusted confidant of Sir Henry, and a man of +enormous influence. Such a letter, coming from such a man, was hardly to +be neglected by a young courtier. Johnnie knew how, if one of his +colleagues had received it, it would have been shown about in the Common +Room, what rosy visions of fortune and paid bills it would invoke! + +He read the letter again. There was no need to go to Mr. Cressemer's +house that night if he did not wish to do so. He was weary, he wanted to +be alone to taste and savour this new thing within him that was called +love. Yet something kept urging him to go, nevertheless. He could not +quite have said what it was, though again the sense that he stood very +much alone and friends were good--especially such a powerful one as +this--crossed his mind. And, as an instance of the quite unconscious but +very real revolution that had taken place in his thoughts during the +last forty hours, it is to be noted that he _did_ feel the need of +friends and supporters. + +Yet he was high in favour with the King and Queen, envied by every one, +certain of rapid advancement. + +But he no longer thought anything of this. Those great ones were on one +side of a great _something_ which he would not or could not define. He +was on the other, he and the girl with eyes of crushed sapphire and a +red mouth of sorrow. + +It would be politic to go.... "I'll put it to chance," he said to +himself at length. "How doth Ovid have it?... + + "'_Casus ubique valet; semper tibi pendeat hamus: + Quo minime credas gurgite, piscis erit_.' + +I remember Father Chilches' translation: + + "'There's always room for chance, so drop thy hook, + A fish there'll be when least for it you look.' + +Here goes!" + +He opened his purse to find a coin with which to settle the matter, and +poured out the contents into his palm. There were eight or nine gold +sovereigns of Henry VIII, beautiful coins with "_Hiberniæ Rex_" among +the other titles, which were still known as "double ryals," three gold +ducats, coined in that year, with the Queen and King Consort +_vis-à-vis_ and one crown above the heads of both, and one little silver +half testoon. + +He put the gold back in his purse and held out the small coin upon his +hand. "What is't to be, little testoon?" he said whimsically, looking at +the big M and crown, "bed and thoughts of her, or the worshipful Master +Cressemer and, I don't doubt, a better supper than I'm likely to get in +the Tower? 'M,' I go." + +He spun the coin, and it came down with the initial uppermost. He +laughed and flung it on to a shelf, calling John Hull to help him change +his dress. + +Nothing told him that in that spin he had decided--or let it better be +said there was decided for him--the whole course of his life. At that +actual moment! + +Thus the intrusion of the little testoon. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE FINDING OF ELIZABETH + + +At a little before nine in the late twilight, Commendone left the Tower. +He was attended by John Hull, whom he had armed with the short +cutlass-shaped sword which serving-men were allowed to wear. + +He might be late, and the City was no very safe place in those days for +people returning home through the dark. Johnnie knew, moreover, that he +would be carrying a considerable sum in gold with him, and it was as +well to have an attendant. + +They walked towards Chepe, Johnnie in front, his man a yard or so +behind. It was summer-time, but even in summer London went to bed early, +and the prentices were returning home from their cudgel-play and +shooting at the butts in Finsbury fields. + +The sky was a faint primrose above the spires of the town. The sun, that +tempest of fire, had sunk, but still left long lines in the sky, lines +which looked as if they had been drawn by a vermilion pencil; while, +here and there, were locks, friths, and islands of gold and purple +floating in the sky, billowed and upheaved into an infinity of distant +glory. + +They went through the narrow streets beneath the hundreds of coloured +signs which hung from shop and warehouse. + +At a time when the ordinary porter, prentice, and messenger could hardly +read, each place of business must signify and locate itself by a sign. A +merchant of those days did not send a letter by hand to a business +house, naming it to the messenger. He told the man to go to the sign of +the Three Cranes, the Gold Pig on a black ground, the Tower and Dragon +in such and such a street. + +London was not lit on a summer night at this hour. In the winter, up to +half-past eight or so the costers' barrows with their torches provided +the only illumination. After that all was dark, and in summer there was +no artificial light at all when the day had gone. + +They came up to the cross standing to the east of Wood Street, which was +silhouetted against the last gleams of day in the sky. Its hexagonal +form of three sculptured tiers, which rose from one another like the +divisions of a telescope, cut out a black pattern against the coloured +background. The niches with their statues, representing many of the +Sovereigns of England, were all in grey shadow, but the large gilt cross +which surmounted it still caught something of the evening fires. + +To the east there was the smaller tower of octagonal form, which was the +Conduit, and here also the top was bathed in light--a figure standing +upon a gilded cone and blowing a horn. + +The gutters in the streets were dry now, for the rain storm of two days +ago had not lasted long, and they were sticky and odorous with vegetable +and animal filth. + +The two men walked in the centre of the street, as was wiser in those +days, for--as still happens in the narrow quarters of old French towns +to-day--garret windows were open, and pails were emptied with but little +regard for those who were passing by. + +When they came into Chepe itself, things were a little less congested, +for great houses were built there, and Johnnie walked more quickly. Many +of the houses of the merchant princes were but little if at all inferior +to the mansions of the nobility at that time. They stood often enough in +gloomy and unfrequented courts, and were accessible only by inconvenient +passages, but once arrived at, their interiors were of extraordinary +comfort and magnificence. + +Johnnie knew that Mr. Cressemer's house was hereabouts, but was not +certain of the precise location. He looked up through the endless +succession of Saracens' heads, Tudor roses, blue bears, and golden +lambs, but could see nothing in the growing dark. He turned round and +beckoned to John Hull. + +"You know the City?" he said. + +"Very well, master," the man answered, looking at him, so Johnnie +thought, with a very strange expression. + +"Then, certes, you can tell me the house of Master Robert Cressemer, the +Alderman," said Johnnie. + +Hull gave a sudden, violent start. His eyes, always keen and alert, now +grew wide. + +"Sir," he said, "I know that house very well, but what do you there?" + +Johnnie stared at him in amazement for a moment. Then the blood mantled +in his cheeks. + +"Sirrah," he said, "what mean you by this? What is it to you where I go +or what I do?" + +There was nobody in their immediate vicinity at the moment, and the +thick-set serving-man, by a quick movement, placed himself in front of +his master, his right hand upon the newly-provided sword, his left +playing with the hilt of the long knife which had served him so well at +Chelmsford. + +"I said I would be loyal to ye, master," the fellow growled, "but I see +now that it cannot be. I will be no servant of those who do burn and +slay innocent folk, and shalt not to the Alderman's if thou goest with +evil intent." + +An enormous surprise almost robbed the young man of his anger. + +Was this man, this "faithfullest servant," some brigand or robber, or +assassin, in disguise? What could it mean? His hand was upon his sword +in a moment, it was ready to flash out, and the accomplished fencer who +had been trained in every art and trick of sword-play, knew well that +the strength of the thick-set man before him would avail nothing. But +he waited a moment, really more interested and surprised than angered or +alarmed. + +"I don't want to kill you, my good man," he said, "and so I will give +you leave to speak. But by the Mass! this is too much; an you don't +explain yourself, in the kennel and carrion you lie." + +"I beg your pardon, sir," Hull answered, his face taking into it a note +of apology, "but you come from the Court; you rode with those bloody +villains that did take my dear master that was to his death. Are you not +now going with a like intent to the house of Mr. Cressemer?" + +"I don't know," Johnnie answered, "why I should explain to you the +reason for my visit to His Worship, but despite this gross impudence, I +will give you a chance, for I have learnt to know that there is often an +explanation behind what seemeth most foul. The Alderman is one of the +oldest and best friends my father, the Knight of Kent, hath ever had. +The letter thou gavest me two hours agone was from His Worship bidding +me to supper. And now, John Hull, what hast to say before I slit you?" + +For answer, John Hull suddenly fell upon his knees, and held out his +hands in supplication. + +"Sir," he said, in a humble voice, "I crave that of your mercy and +gentleness you will forgive me, and let this pass. Sure, I knew you for +a gallant gentleman, and no enemy to my people when first I saw you. I +marked you outside St. Botolph's Church, and knew you again at +Chelmsford. But I thought you meant harm...." + +His voice died away in an inarticulate mumble. He seemed enormously +sincere and penitent, and dreadfully embarrassed also by some knowledge +or thought at the back of his mind, something which he feared, or was +unable to disclose. + +Johnnie's heart was beating strangely, though he did not know why. He +seemed to tread into something strange and unexpected. Life was full of +surprises now. + +All he said was: "Make a fool of thyself no longer, John Hull; get up +and lead me to His Worship's. I forgive thee. But mark you, I shall +require the truth from you anon." + +The man scrambled up, made a clumsy bow, and hurried on for a few yards, +until a narrow opening between two great stacks of houses disclosed +itself. He walked down it, his shoes echoing upon a pavement stone. +Johnnie followed him, and they came out into a dark courtyard in which a +single lantern of glass and iron hung over a massive door studded with +nails. + +"This is His Worship's house," said John Hull. + +Johnnie went up to the door and beat upon it with the handle of his +dagger, standing on the single step before it. In less than half a +minute, the door was opened and a serving-man in livery of yellow stood +before him. + +"Mr. John Commendone," Johnnie said, "to see His Worship the Alderman +upon an invitation." + +The man bowed, opened the door still wider, and invited Johnnie into a +large flagged hall, lit by three silver lamps. + +"Worshipful sir," he said, "my master told me that perchance you would +be a-coming this night, and he awaits you in the parlour." + +"This is my servant," Johnnie said to the man, and even as he did so, he +saw a look of immense surprise, mingled with welcome, upon the fellow's +face. + +"I will take him to the kitchen, Your Worship," the man said, and as he +spoke, a footman came out of a door on the opposite side of the hall, +bowed low to Johnnie, and led him up a broad flight of stairs. + +Commendone shrugged his shoulders. There were mysteries here, it seemed, +but so far they were none of his, and at any rate he was within the +house of a friend. + +At first there was no evidence of any particular luxury, and Johnnie was +surprised. Though he had little idea how wealthy his own father had +become, the great house of Commendone was a very stately, well-found +place. He knew, moreover, that Mr. Robert Cressemer was one of the +richest citizens of London, and he had heard his friends talking at +Court of the state and splendour of some of those hidden mansions which +clustered in the environs of Chepeside, Wood Street, and Basinghall +Street. + +He had not gone much farther in his progress when he knew. He passed +through a pair of folding doors, inlaid with rare woods--a novelty to +him at that time, for he had never travelled in Italy or France. He +walked down a broad corridor, the walls hung with pictures and the floor +tesselated with wood, and was shown by another footman who was standing +at a door at the end of the corridor into a superb room, wainscoted with +cedar up to half of its height, and above it adorned with battles of +gods and giants in fresco. The room was brilliantly lit by candles, at +frequent intervals all round the panelled walls, and close to the gilded +beading which divided them from the frescoes above, were arms of some +black wood or stone, which they were he could not have said, stretched +out, and holding silver sconces in which the candles were set. + +It was as though gigantic Moors or Nubians had thrown their arms through +the wall to hold up the light which illuminated this large and splendid +place. At one end of the room was a high carved fire-place, and though +it was summer, some logs of green elm smouldered and crackled upon the +hearth, though the place was cool enough. + +Seated by the fireside was a stout, short, elderly man, with a pointed +grey beard, and heavy black eyebrows from beneath which large, slightly +prominent, and very alert eyes looked out. His hair was white, and +apparently he was bald, because a skull cap of black velvet covered his +head. He wore a ruff and a long surtout of wool dyed crimson, and +pointed here and there with braid of dark green and thin lace of gold. A +belt of white leather was round his middle, and from it hung a +chatelaine of silver by his right side, from which depended a pen case +and some ivory tablets. On his left side, Johnnie noticed that a short +serviceable dagger was worn. His trunk hose were of black, his shoes +easy ones of Spanish leather with crimson rosettes upon the instep. + +"Mr. John Commendone," said the footman. + +Mr. Cressemer rose from his seat, his shrewd, capable face lighting up +with welcome. + +"Ah," he said, "so thou hast come to see me, Mr. Commendone. 'Tis very +good of thee, and a welcome sight to eyes which have looked upon your +father so often." + +He went up to the slim young man as the footman closed the door, and +shook him warmly by the hand, looking him in the face meanwhile with a +keen wise scrutiny, which made Johnnie feel young, inexperienced, a +little embarrassed. + +He felt he was being summed up, judged and weighed, appraised in the +most kindly fashion, but by one who did not easily make a mistake in his +estimate of men. + +At Court, King Philip had regarded him with cold interest, the Queen +herself with piercing and more lively regard. Since his arrival in +London, Johnnie had been used to scrutinies. But this was different from +any other he had known. It was eminently human and kindly first of all, +but in the second place it was more searching, more real, than any +other he had hitherto undergone. In short, a king or queen looked at a +courtier from a certain point of view. Would he serve their ends? Was he +the right man in the right place? Had they chosen well? + +There was nothing of this now. It was all kindliness mingled with a +grave curiosity, almost with hope. + +Johnnie, who was much taller than Mr. Cressemer, could not help smiling +a little, as the bearded man looked at him so earnestly, and it was his +smile that broke the silence, and made them friends from that very +moment. + +The Alderman put his left hand upon Johnnie's shoulder. + +"Lad," he said, and his voice was the voice of a leader of men, "lad, I +am right glad to see thee in my poor house. Art thy father's son, and +that is enough for me. Come, sit you down t'other side of the fire. +Come, come." + +With kindly geniality the merchant bustled his guest to a chair opposite +his own, and made him sit. Then he stood upon a big hearthrug of +bear-skin, rubbed his hands, and chuckled. + +"When I heard ye announced," he said, "I thought to myself, 'Here's +another young gallant of the Court keen on his money; he hath lost no +time in calling for it.' But now I see thee, and know thee for what thou +art--for it is my boast, and a true one, that I was never deceived in +man yet--I see my apprehensions were quite unfounded." + +Johnnie bowed. For a moment or two he could hardly speak. There was +something so homelike, so truly kind, in this welcome that his nerves, +terribly unstrung by all he had gone through of late, were almost upon +the point of breakdown. + +This was like home. This was the real thing. This was not the Court--and +here before him he knew very well was a man not only good and kindly, +but resolute and great. + +"Now, I'll tell thee what we'll do, Master Johnnie, sith thou hast come +to me so kindly. We will sip a little water of Holland--I'll wager +you've tasted nothing like it, for it cometh straight from the English +Exchange house at Antwerp--and then we will to supper, where you will +meet my dear sister, Mistress Catherine Cressemer, who hath been the +long companion of my widowerhood, and ordereth this my house for me." + +He turned to where a square sheet of copper hung from a peg upon a cord +of twisted purple silk. Taking up the massive silver pen case at the end +of his chatelaine, he beat upon the gong, and the copper thunder echoed +through the big room. + +A man entered immediately, to whom Mr. Cressemer gave orders, and then +sat himself down upon the other side of the fire. + +"Your father," he said confidentially, "came to me after he left you in +the Tower the morning before this. He was very pleased with what he saw +of you, Master Johnnie, and what he heard of you also. Art going to be a +big man in affairs without doubt. I wish I had met ye before. I have +been twice to Commendone Park. Once when thou wert a little rosy thing +of two year old or less, and the Señora--Holy Mary give her grace!--had +thee upon her knee. I was staying with the Knight. And then again when +Father Chilches was thy tutor, and thou must have been fourteen year or +more. I was at the Park for three days. But thou wert away with thy +aunt, Miss Commendone, of Wanstone Court, and I saw nothing of thee." + +"So you knew my mother," Johnnie said eagerly. + +"Aye, that I did, and a very gracious lady she was, Master Commendone. I +will tell thee of her, and thy house in those days, at supper. My sister +will be well pleased to hear it also. Meanwhile"--he sipped at the white +liqueur which the servant had brought, and motioned Johnnie towards his +own thin green glass with little golden spirals running through +it--"meanwhile, tell me how like you the Court life?" + +Johnnie started. They were the exact words of his father. "I am getting +on very well," he said in reply. + +"So I hear, and am well pleased," the Alderman answered. "You have +everything in your favour--a knowledge of Spanish, a pleasant presence, +and trained to the usage of good society. But, though you may not think +it, I have influence, even at Court, though it is in no ways apparent. +Tell me something of your aims, and your views, and I shall doubtless be +able to help your advancement. There are ticklish times coming, be +certain of that, and my experience may be of great service to you. Her +Grace, God bless her! is, I fear--I speak to you as man to man, Mr. +Commendone--too keen set and determined upon the Papal Supremacy for the +true welfare of this realm. I am Catholic. I have always been Catholic. +But doctrine, and a purely political dominion from Rome, aye, or from +Spain either, is not what we of the City, and who control the finances +of the kingdom much more than less, desire or wish to see. After all, +Mr. Commendone, I trust I make myself clearly understood to you, and +that you are of the same temper and mind as your father and myself; +after all is loudly set and perchance badly done, we have to look to the +upholding of the realm, inside and out, rather than to be fine upon +points of doctrine." + +He leant forward in his seat with great earnestness, clasped his right +hand, upon the little finger of which was a great ring, with a cut seal +of emerald, and brought it down heavily upon the table by his side. + +"I believe," he said, "in the Mass, and if I were asked to die for my +belief, that would I do. I would do it very reluctantly, Master John. I +would evade the necessity for doing it in every way I knew. But if I +were set down in front of judges or eke inquisitors, and asked to say +that when the priest hath said the words of consecration, the elements +are not the very true body of Our Lord Jesus, then I would die for that +belief. And of the Invocation of Saints, and of the greatest saint of +all--Our Lady--I see no harm in it, but a very right and pleasant +practice. For, look you, if these are indeed, as we believe and know +clustering around the throne of God, which is the Holy Trinity, then +indeed they must hear our prayers, if we believe truly in the Communion +of Saints; and hearing them, being in high favour in heaven, their +troubles past and they glorified, certes, we down here may well think +their voices will be heard around the Throne. That is true Catholic +doctrine as I see it. But of the power of the Bishop of Rome to direct +and interfere in the honest internal affairs of a country--well, I snap +my fingers at it. And of the power of the priesthood, which is but part +of the machinery by which His Holiness endeavoureth to accrue to himself +all earthly power, at that also I spit. From my standpoint, a priest is +an ordained man of God; his function is to say Mass, to consecrate the +elements, and so to bring God near to us upon the altar. But of your +confessions, your pryings into family life, your temporal dominion, I +have the deepest mistrust. And also, I think, that the cause of Holy +Church would be much better served if its priests were allowed--for +such of them as wished it--to be married men. A man is a man, and God +hath given him his natural attributes. I am not really learned, nor am I +well read in the history of the world, but I have looked into it enough, +Master Commendone, to know that God hath ordained that men should take +women in marriage and rear up children for the glory of the Lord and the +welfare of the State. Mark you"--his face became striated with lines of +contempt and dislike--"mark you, this celibacy is to be the thing which +will destroy the power of the sacrificing priest in the eyes of all +before many hundred years have passed. I shall not see it, thou wilt not +see it. We are good Church of England men now, but what I say will come +to pass, and then God himself only knoweth what anarchs and deniers, +what blasphemers and runagates will hold the world. + +"Her Grace," he went on, "believeth that as Moses ordered blasphemers to +be put to death, so she thinketh it the duty of a Christian prince to +eradicate the cockle from the fold of God's Church, to cut out the +gangrene that it may not spread to the sounder parts. But Her Grace is a +woman that hath been much sequestered all her life till now. She cometh +to the throne, and is but--I trust I speak no treason, Mr. Commendone--a +tool and instrument of the priests from Spain, and the man from Spain +also who is her lord. Why! if only the Church in this realm could go on +as King Henry started it--not a new Church, mind you, but a Church which +hath thrown off an unnecessary dominion from Italy--if it could go on as +under the reign of the little King Edward was set out and promised very +well, 'twould be truly Catholic still, and the priests of the Church +would be all married men and citizens within the State, with a stake in +civil affairs, and so by reason of their spiritual power and civil +obligations, the very bulwark of society." + +Johnnie listened intently, nodding now and then as the Alderman made a +point, and as he himself realised the value of it. + +"Look you, Master Commendone," His Worship continued, "look you, only +yesterday a worthy clergyman, whom I knew and loved, a man of his +inches, a shrewd and clever gentleman of good birth, was haled from the +City down to his own parish and burnt as a heretic. Heretic doubtless +the good man was. He would be living now if he had not denied the +blessed and comforting truth of Transubstantiation before that +blood-stained wolf, the Bishop of London. The man I speak of was a good +man, and though he was mistaken on that issue, he would, under kindlier +auspices, doubtless have returned to the central truth of our religion. +He was married, and had lived in honourable wedlock with his wife for +many years. She was a lady from Wales, and a sweet woman. But it was his +marriage as much as any other thing about him that brought him to his +death." + +The Alderman's voice sank into something very like a whisper. "One of my +men," he said, "was riding down with the Sheriff of London to Hadley, +where Dr. Taylor, he of whom I speak, suffered this very morning. At +five this afternoon my man was back, and told me how the good doctor +died. He died with great constancy, very much, Mr. Commendone, as one of +the old saints that the Romans did use so cruelly in the early years of +Our Lord's Church. Yet, as something of a student of affairs--and Dr. +Taylor is not the first good heretic who hath died rather than recant--I +see that the married clergy suffer with the most alacrity. And why? +Because, as I see it, they are bearing testimony to the validity and +sanctity of their marriage. The honour of their wives and children is at +stake; the desire of leaving them an unsullied name and a virtuous +example, combined with a sense of religious duty. And thus the heart +derives strength from the very ties which in other circumstances might +well tend to weaken it. + +"I am in mourning to-night, mourning in my heart, Mr. Commendone, for a +good, mistaken friend who hath suffered death." + +As his voice fell, the Alderman was looking sadly into the red embers of +the fire with the music of a deep sadness and regret in his voice. He +wasn't an emotional man at all--by nature that is--Johnnie saw it at +once. But he saw also that his host was very deeply moved. Johnnie rose +from his chair. + +"You are telling me no news at all, Mr. Alderman," he said. "I had +orders, and I was one of those who rode with Sir John Shelton and the +Sheriff to take Dr. Taylor to the stake at Aldham Common." + +Mr. Cressemer started violently. + +"Mother of God!" he said, "did you see that done?" + +Johnnie nodded. He could not trust himself to speak. + +The Alderman's cry of horror brought home to him almost for the first +time not the terror of what he had seen--that he had realised long +ago--but a sense of personal guilt, a disgust with himself that he +should have been a participator in such a deed, a spectator, however +pitying. + +He felt unclean. + +Then he said in a low voice: "What I tell you, Mr. Cressemer, will, I +know, remain as a secret between us. I feel I am not betraying any trust +in telling _you_. I am, as you know, attached to the person of His +Majesty, and I have been admitted into great confidence both by him and +Her Grace the Queen. The King rode to Hadley disguised as a simple +cavalier, and I was with him as his attendant." + +He stopped short, feeling that the explanation was bald and unsufficing. + +The Alderman stepped up to Johnnie and put his hand upon his arm. "Poor +lad, poor lad," he said in tones of deepest pity. "I grieve in that +thou hadst to witness such a thing in the following of thy duty." + +"I had thought," the young man faltered, his assurance deserting him for +a moment at the words of this reverend and broad-souled man, "I thought +you would think me stained in some wise, Mr. Cressemer. I...." + +"Whist!" the elder man answered impatiently. "Have no such foolish +thoughts. Am I not a man of affairs? Do I not know what discipline +means? But this gives me great cause for thought. You have confided in +me, Mr. Commendone, and so likewise will I in you. This morning the +Doctor's wife, his little son, and little daughter Mary, set off for the +Marches of Wales with a party of my men and their baggage. Mistress +Taylor was born a Rhyader, of a good family in Conway town. Her brother +liveth there, and all her friends are of Wales. It was as well that the +dame should leave the City at once, for none knoweth what will be done +to the relations of heretics at this time----Why, man! Thou art white as +linen, thy hand shakes. What meaneth it?" + +Johnnie, in truth, was a strange sight as he stood in front of his host. +All his composure was gone. His eyes burnt in a white face, his lips +were dry and parted, there was an almost terrible inquiry in his whole +aspect and manner. + +"'Tis nothing," he managed to say in a hoarse voice, which he hardly +knew for his own. "Pr'ythee continue, sir." + +Mr. Cressemer gave the young man a keen, questioning glance before he +went on speaking. Then he said: + +"As I tell you, these members of the good Doctor's family are now safely +on their way, and God grant them rest and peace in their new life. They +will want for nothing. But the Doctor's other daughter, Mistress +Elizabeth, was not his own daughter, but was adopted by him when she was +but a little child. The girl is a very sweet and good girl, and my +sister, Mistress Catherine, has long loved her. And as this is a +childless house, alas! the maid hath come to live with us and she will +be as my own daughter, if God wills it." + +"She is well?" Johnnie asked, in a hoarse whisper. + +The Alderman shook his head sadly. "She is the bravest maiden I have +ever met," he said. "She hath stuff in her which recalls the ladies of +old Rome, so calm and steadfast is she. There is in her at this time +some divine illumination, Mr. Commendone, that keepeth her strong and +unafraid. Ah, but she is sore stricken! She knew some hours agone of the +doings at Hadley, for as I told you, one of my men brought the news. She +hath been in prayer a long time, poor lamb, and now my sister is with +her to hearten her and give her such comfort as may be. God's ways are +very strange, Mr. John. Who would have thought now that you should come +to this house to-night from that butchery?" He sighed deeply. + +Johnnie made the sign of the cross. "God moveth in a mysterious way," he +said, "to perform His wonders. He rides upon the tempest, and eke +directs the storm, and leadeth pigmy men and women with a sure hand and +a certain purpose." + +"Say not 'pigmy,' Mr. John," the Alderman answered, "we are not small in +His eyes, though it is well that we should be in our own. But you speak +with a certain meaning. You grew pale just now. I think you may justly +confide in me. I am of thy father's age, and a friend of thy father's. +What is it, lad?" + +Speaking with great difficulty, looking downwards at the floor, Johnnie +told him. He told him how he had met John Hull and taken him into his +service, how that even now the man was in the kitchen among the servants +of the Alderman. He told of the fellow's menace in Chepe, and how +inexplicable it had seemed to him. Then he hesitated, and his voice sunk +into silence. + +"Ye saw the poor lamb?" Mr. Cressemer said in a low voice, which +nevertheless trembled with excitement. "Ye saw her weeping as good Dr. +Taylor was borne away? Ye took this good varlet Hull into thy service? +And now thou art in my house. It seemeth indeed that God's finger is +writing in the book of thy life; but I must hear more from thee, Mr. +Commendone. Tell me, if thou wilt, what it may mean." + +Johnnie straightened himself. He put his hand upon the pummel of his +sword. He looked his host full in the eyes. + +"It means this, sir," he said, in a quiet and resolute voice. "All my +life I have kept myself from those pleasures and peccadilloes that young +gentlemen of my station are wont to use. I have never looked upon a +maiden with eyes of love--or worse. Before God His Throne, Our Lady the +Blessed Virgin, and all the crowned saints I say it. But yester morn, +when I saw her weeping in the grey, my heart went out from me, and is no +more mine. I vowed then that by God's grace I would be her knight and +lover for ever and a day. My employment hath not to-day given me the +opportunity to go to Mass, but I have promised myself to-morrow morn +that in the chapel of St. John I will vow myself to her with all fealty, +and indeed nor man, nor power, nor obstacle of any sort shall keep me +from her, if God allows. Wife she shall be to me, and so I can make her +love me. All this I swear to you, by my honour"--here he pulled his +sword from the scabbard and reverently kissed the hilt--"and to the +Blessed Trinity." And now he pulled his crucifix from his doublet, and +kissed it. + +Then he turned away from the Alderman, took a few steps to the +fire-place, and leant against the carving, his head bowed upon his arms. + +There was a dead silence in the big room. Tears were gathering in the +eyes of the grave elderly man, while his mind worked furiously. He saw +in all this the direct hand of Providence working towards a definite and +certain end. + +He had loved the slim and gracious lad directly he saw him. His heart +had gone out to one so gallant and one so debonair, the son of his old +and trusted friend. He had long loved the Rector of Hadley's sweet +daughter, who was so idolised also by Mistress Catherine Cressemer, his +sister. During the reign of Edward VI the girl had often come up to +London to spend some months with her wealthy and influential friends. +She had a great part in the heart of the childless widower. + +Now this strange and wonderful thing had happened. + +These thoughts passed through the old man's mind in a few seconds, while +the silence was not broken. Then, as he was about to turn and speak to +Johnnie, the door of the room opened quickly, and a short, elderly woman +hurried in. + +She was very simply dressed in grey woollen stuff, though the bodice and +skirt were edged with costly fur. The white lace of Bruges upon her head +framed a face of great sweetness, and now it was alive with excitement. + +She was a little woman, fifty years of age, with a flat wrinkled face; +but her eyes were full of kindness, and, indeed, so was her whole face, +although her lips were drawn in by the loss of her front teeth, and this +gave her a rather witch-like mouth. + +"Robert! Robert!" she said in a high, excited voice. "John Hull, that +was servant to our dear Doctor, is in this house. The men have him in +the kitchen--word has just been sent up to me. What shall we do? Dear +Lizzie--she is more tranquil now, and bearing her cross very +bravely--dear Lizzie had thought not to see him again. Will it be well +that we should have him up? Think you the child can bear seeing him?" + +The lady had piped this out in a rush of excited words. Then suddenly +she saw Johnnie, who had turned round and stood by the fire, bowing. His +face was drawn and white, and he was trembling. + +"Catherine," Mr. Cressemer said, "strange things are happening to-night, +of which I must speak with you anon. But this is Mr. John Commendone, +son of our dear Knight of Kent, who hath come to see me, and who haply +or by design of God was forced to witness the death of Dr. Rowland this +morning." + +Johnnie made a low bow, the little lady a lower curtsey. + +Then, heedless of all etiquette, with the tears streaming down her +cheeks, she trotted up to the young man and caught hold of both his +hands, looking up at him with the saddest, kindest face he had ever +seen. + +"Oh, boy, boy," she said, "thou hast come at the right time. We know +with what constancy the Doctor died, but our lamb will be well content +to hear of it from kindly lips, for she is very strong and stedfast, the +pretty dear! And thou hast a good face, and surely art a true son of thy +father, Sir Henry of Commendone." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A KING AND A VICTIM. TWO GRIM MEN + + +There was a "Red Mass," a votive Mass of the Holy Ghost, sung on the +next morning in the Tower. + +The King and Queen, with all the Court, were present. + +Johnnie knelt with the gentlemen attached to the persons of the King and +Queen, the gentlemen ushers behind them, and then the military officers +of the guard. + +The _Veni Creator Spiritus_ was intoned by the Chancellor, and the music +of the Mass was that of Dom Giovanni Palestrina, director of sacred +music at the Vatican at that time. + +The music, which by its dignity and beauty had alone prevented the +Council of Trent from prohibiting polyphonic music at the Mass, had a +marvellous appeal to the Esquire. It was founded upon a _canto fermo_, a +melody of an ancient plain song of the Middle Ages, and used in High +Mass from a very remote period. + +The six movements of the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and +Agnus Dei were of a superlative technical excellence. The trained ear, +the musical mind, were alike enthralled by them. Tinel, Waddington, and +Christopher Tye had written no music then, and the mellow angelic +harmonies of Messer Palestrina were all new and fresh in their +inspiration of dignity, grandeur, and devotion, most precious incense, +as it were, about the feet of the Lord. + +The Bishop of London was celebrant, and Father Deza deacon. The Queen +and King received in the one Kind, while two of the re-established +Carthusians from Sheen, and two Brigittine monks from Sion, held a white +cloth before Their Graces. + +This was not liked by many there--it had always been the privilege of +peers. + +But of this Commendone knew nothing. The hour was for him one of the +deepest devotion and solemnity. He had not slept all the night long. For +a few moments he had seen Elizabeth, had spoken with her, had held her +by the hand. His life was utterly and absolutely changed. His mind, +excited with want of sleep, irrevocably stamped and impressed by the +occupation of the last two days, was caught up by the exquisite music +into a passionate surrender of self as he vowed his life to God and his +lady. + +Earth and all it held--save only her--was utterly dissolved and swept +away. An unspeakable peace and stillness was in his heart. + +Much, we read, is required from those to whom much is given, and Johnnie +was to go through places far more terrible than the Valley of the +Shadow of Death ever is to most men before he saw the Dawn. + +When the Mass was said--the final "_Missa est_" was to ring in the young +man's ears for many a long day--he went to breakfast. He took nothing in +the Common Room, however, but John Hull brought him food in his own +chamber. + +The man's brown, keen face beamed with happiness. He was like some +faithful dog that had lost one master and found another. He could not do +enough for Johnnie now--after the visit to Mr. Cressemer's house. He +took charge of him as if he had been his man for years. There was a +quiet assumption which secretly delighted Commendone. There they were, +master and man, a relationship fixed and settled. + +On that afternoon there was to be a tournament in the tilting yard, and +Johnnie meant to ride--he had nearly carried away the ring at the last +joust. Hull knew of it--in a few hours the fellow seemed to have fallen +into his place in an extraordinary fashion--and he had been busy with +his master's armour since early dawn. + +While Johnnie was making his breakfast, though he would very willingly +have been alone, and indeed had retired for that very purpose, Hull came +bustling in and out of the armour-room his face a brown wedge of +pleasure and excitement. The _volante pièce_, the _mentonnière_, the +_grande-garde_ of his master's exquisite suite of light Milan armour +shone like a newly-minted coin. The black and lacquered _cuirasse_, +with a line of light blue enamel where it would meet the gorget, was +oiled and polished--he had somehow found the little box of bandrols with +the Commendone colour and cypher which were to be tied above the +coronels of Johnnie's lances. + +And all the time John Hull chattered and worked, perfectly happy, +perfectly at home. Already, to Commendone's intense amusement, the man +had become dictatorial--as old and trusted servants are. He had got some +powder of resin, and was about to pour it into the jointed steel +gauntlet of the lance hand. + +"It gives the grip, master," he said. "By this means the hand fitteth +better to the joints of the steel." + +"But 'tis never used that I know of. 'Tis not like the grip of a bare +hand on the ash stave of a pike...." + +There was a technical discussion, which ended in Johnnie's defeat--at +least, John Hull calmly powdered the inside of the glaive. + +He was got rid of at last, sent to his meal with the other serving-men, +and Commendone was left alone. He had an hour to himself, an hour in +which to recall the brief but perfect joy of the night before. + +They had taken him to Elizabeth after supper, his good host and hostess. +There was something piteously sweet in the tall slim girl in her black +dress--the dear young mouth trembling, the blue eyes full of a mist of +unshed tears, the hair ripest wheat or brownest barley. + +She had taken his hand--hers was like cool white ivory--and listened to +him as a sister might. + +He had sat beside her, and told her of her father's glorious death. His +dark and always rather melancholy face had been lit with sympathy and +tenderness. Quite unconscious of his own grace and grave young dignity, +he had dwelt upon the Martyr's joy at setting out upon his last journey, +with an incomparable delicacy and perfection of phrase. + +His voice, though he knew it not, was full of music. His extreme good +looks, the refinement and purity of his face, came to the poor child +with a wonderful message of consolation. + +When he told her how a brutal yeoman had thrown a faggot at the +Archdeacon, she shuddered and moaned a little. + +Mr. Cressemer and his sister looked at Johnnie with reproach. + +But he had done it of set purpose. "And then, Mistress Elizabeth," he +continued, "the Doctor said, 'Friend, I have harm enough. What needeth +that?'" + +His hand had been upon his knee. She caught it up between her +own--innocent, as to a brother, unutterably sweet. + +"Oh, dear Father!" she cried. "It is just what he would have said. It is +so like him!" + +"It is liker Christ our Lord," Robert Cressemer broke in, his deep voice +shaking with sorrow. "For what, indeed, said He at His cruel nailing? +'[Greek: Pater, aphes autois ou gar oidasi ti poiusi.]'" + +... And then they had sent Johnnie away, marvelling at the goodness, +shrewdness, and knowledge of the Alderman, with his whole being one sob +of love, pity, and protection for his dear simple mourner--so crystal +clear, so sisterlike and sweet! + + * * * * * + +It was time to go upon duty. + +Johnnie looked at his thick oval watch--a "Nuremberg Egg," as it was +called in those days--cut short his reverie of sweet remembrance, and +went straight to the King Consort's wing of the Palace. + +When he was come into the King's room he found him alone with Torromé, +his valet, sitting in a big leather-covered arm-chair, his ruff and +doublet taken off, and wearing a long dressing-gown of brown stuff, a +friar's gown it almost seemed. + +The melancholy yellow face brightened somewhat as the Esquire came in. + +"I am home again, Señor," he said in Spanish, though "_en casa_" was the +word he used for home, and that had a certain pathos in it. "There is a +_torneo_, a _justa_, after dinner, so they tell me. I had wished to ride +myself, but I am weary from our _viajero_ into the country. I shall sit +with the Queen, and you, Señor, will attend me." + +He must have seen a slight, fleeting look of disappointment upon +Commendone's face. + +Himself, as the envoy Suriano said of him in 1548, "deficient in that +energy which becometh a man, sluggish in body and timid in martial +enterprise," he nevertheless affected an exaggerated interest in manly +sports. He had, it is true, mingled in some tournaments at Brussels in +the past, and Calvera says that he broke his lances, "very much to the +satisfaction of his father and aunts." But in England, at any rate, he +had done nothing of the sort, and his voice to Commendone was almost +apologetic. + +"We will break a lance together some day," he said, "but you must forego +the lists this afternoon." + +Johnnie bowed very low. This was extraordinary favour. He knew, of +course, that the King would never tilt with him, but he recognised the +compliment. + +He knew, again, that his star was high in the ascendant. The son of the +great Charles V was reserved, cautious, suspicious of all men--except +when, in private, he would unbend to buffoons and vulgar rascals like +Sir John Shelton--and the icy gravity of his deportment to courtiers +seldom varied. + +Commendone was quite aware that the King did not class him with men of +Shelton's stamp. He was the more signally honoured therefore. + +"This night," His Grace continued, "after the jousts, your attendance +will be excused, Señor. I retire early to rest." + +The Esquire bowed, but he had caught a certain gleam in the King's small +eyes. "Duck Lane or Bankside!" he thought to himself. "Thank God he hath +not commanded me to be with him." + +Johnnie was beginning to understand, more than he had hitherto done, +something of his sudden rise to favour and almost intimacy. The King +Consort was trying him, testing him in every way, hoping to find at +length a companion less dangerous and drunken, a reputation less blown +upon, a servant more discreet.... + +He could have spat in his disgust. What he had tolerated in others +before, though loftily repudiated for himself, now became utterly +loathsome--in King or commoner, black and most foul. + +The King wore a mask; Johnnie wore one also--there was _finesse_ in the +game between master and servant. And to-night the King would wear a +literal mask, the "_maschera_," which Badovardo speaks of when he set +down the frailties of this monarch for after generations to read of: +"_Nelle piaceri delle donnè è incontinente, predendo dilletatione +d'andare in maschera la notte et nei tempi de negotii gravi_." + +Then and there Johnnie made a resolution, one which had been nascent in +his mind for many hours. He would have done with the Court as soon as +may be. Ambition, so new a child of his brain, was already dead. He +would marry, retire from pageant and splendour even as his father had +done years and years ago. With Elizabeth by his side he would once more +live happily among the woods and wolds of Commendone. + +Torromé, the _criado_ or valet, came into the room again from the +bed-chamber. His Highness was to change his clothes once more--at high +noon he must be with the Queen upon State affairs. The Chancellor and +Lord Wharton were coming, and with them Brookes, the Bishop of +Gloucester, the papal sub-delegate, and the Royal Proctors, Mr. Martin +and Mr. Storey. + +The prelates, Ridley and Latimer, were lying in prison--their ultimate +fate was to be discussed on that morning. + +The King had but hardly gone into his bed-chamber when the door of the +Closet opened and Don Diego Deza entered, unannounced, and with the +manner of habitude and use. + +He greeted Commendone heartily, shaking him by the hand with +considerable warmth, his clear-cut, inscrutable face wearing an +expression of fixed kindliness--put on for the occasion, meant to appear +sincere, there for a purpose. + +"I will await His Grace here," the priest said, glancing at the door +leading to the bedroom, which was closed. "I am to attend him to the +Council Chamber, where there is much business to be done. So next week, +Mr. Commendone, you'll be at Whitehall! The Court will be gayer +there--more suited to you young gallants." + +"For my part," Johnnie answered, "I like the Tower well enough." + +"Hast a contented mind, Señor," the priest answered brightly. "But I hap +to know that the Queen will be glad to be gone from the City. This hath +been a necessary visit, one of ceremony, but Her Grace liketh the Palace +of Westminster better, and her Castle of Windsor best of all. I shall +meet you at Windsor in the new year, and hope to see you more advanced. +Wilt be wearing the gold spurs then, I believe, and there will be two +knights of the honoured name of Commendone!" + +Johnnie answered: "I think not, Father," he said, turning over his own +secret resolve in his mind with an inward smile. "But why at Windsor? +Doubtless we shall meet near every day." + +"Say nothing, Mr. Commendone," the priest answered in a low voice. +"There can be no harm in telling you--who are privy to so much--but I +sail for Spain to-morrow morn, and shall be some months absent upon His +Most Catholic Majesty's affairs." + +Shortly after this, the King came out of his room, three of his Spanish +gentlemen were shown in, and with Johnnie, the Dominican, and his +escort, His Highness walked to the Council Chamber, round the tower of +which stood a company of the Queen's Archers, showing that Her Grace +had already arrived. + +Then for two hours Johnnie kicked his heels in the Ante-room, watching +this or that great man pass in and out of the Council Chamber, chatting +with the members of the Spanish suite--bored to death. + +At half-past one the Council was over, and Their Majesties went to +dinner, as did also Johnnie in the Common Room. + +At half-past three of the clock the Esquire was standing in the Royal +box behind the King and Queen, among a group of other courtiers, and +looking down on the great tilting yard, where he longed himself to be. + +The Royal Gallery was at one end of the yard, a great stage-box, as it +were, into which two carved chairs were set, and which was designated, +as a somewhat fervent chronicler records, "the gallery, or place at the +end of the tilting yard adjoining to Her Grace's Palace of the Tower, +whereat her person should be placed. It was called, and with good cause, +the Castle, or Fortress of Perfect Beauty, forasmuch as Her Highness +should be there included." + +Johnnie stood and watched it all with eyes in which there was but little +animation. A few days before nothing would have gladdened him more than +such a spectacle as this. To-day it was as nothing to him. + +Down below was a device of painted canvas, imitating a rolling-trench, +which was supposed to be the besieging works of those who attempted the +"Fortress of Perfect Beauty." + +"Upon the top of it were set two cannons wrought of wood, and coloured +so passing well, as, indeed, they seemed to be two fair field-pieces of +ordnance. And by them were placed two men for gunners in cloth and +crimson sarcanet, with baskets of earth for defence of their bodies +withal." + +At the far end of the lists there came a clanking and hammering of the +farriers' and armourers' forges. + +Grooms in mandilions--the loose, sleeveless jacket of their +calling--were running about everywhere, leading the chargers trapped +with velvet and gold in their harness. Gentlemen in short cloaks and +Venetian hose bustled about among the knights, and here and there from +the stables, and withdrawing sheds outside the lists, great armoured +figures came, the sun shining upon their plates--russet-coloured, +fluted, damascened with gold in a hundred points of fire. + +Nothing could be more splendid, as the trumpeters advanced into the +lists, and the fierce fanfaronade snarled up to the sky. The Garter +King-at-arms in his tabard, mounted on a white horse with gold housings, +rode out into the centre of the yard, and behind him, though on foot, +were Blue-mantle and Rouge-dragon. + +The afternoon air was full of martial noise, the clank of metal, the +brazen notes of horns, the stir and murmur of a great company. + +To Johnnie it seemed that he did not know the shadow from the substance. +It all passed before him in a series of coloured pictures, unreal and +far away. Had he been down there among the knights and lords, he felt +that he would but have fought with shadows. It was as though a weird +seizure had taken hold on him, a waking dream enmeshed him in its drowsy +impalpable net, so that on a sudden, in the midst of men and day, while +he walked and talked and stood as ever before, he yet seemed to move +among a world of ghosts, to feel himself the shadow of a dream. Once +when Sir Charles Paston Cooper, a very clever rider at the swinging +ring, and also doughty in full shock of combat, had borne down his +adversary, the Queen clapped her hands. + +"Habet!" she cried, like any Roman empress, excited and glad, because +young Sir Charles was a very strong adherent of the Crown, and known to +be bitterly opposed to the pretensions of the Lady Elizabeth. "Habet!" +the Queen cried again, with a shriek of delight. + +She looked at her husband, whose head was a little bent, whose sallow +face was lost in thought. She did not venture to disturb his reverie, +but glanced behind him and above his chair to where John Commendone was +standing. + +"C'est bien fait, n'est-ce pas, Monsieur?" she said in French. + +The young man's face, also, was frozen into immobility. It did not waken +to the Queen's joyous exclamation. The eyes were turned inwards, he was +hearing nothing of it all. + +Her Grace's face flushed a little. She said no more, but wondered +exceedingly. + +The stately display-at-arms went on. The sun declined towards his +western bower, and blue shadows crept slowly over the sand. + +A little chill wind arose suddenly, and as it did so, Commendone awoke. + +Everything flashed back to him. In the instant that it did so, and the +dreaming of his mind was blown away, the curtain before his subconscious +intelligence rolled up and showed him the real world. The first thing he +saw was the head of King Philip just below him. The tall conical felt +hat moved suddenly, leaning downwards towards a corner of the arena just +below the Royal box. + +Johnnie saw the King's profile, the lean, sallow jowl, the corner of the +curved, tired, and haughty lip--the small eye suddenly lit up. + +Following the King's glance, he saw below the figure of Sir John +Shelton, dressed very quietly in ordinary riding costume, and by the +side of the knight, Torromé, the valet of His Highness. + +Both men nodded, and the King slightly inclined his head in reply. + +Then His Highness leant back in his chair, and a little hissing noise, a +sigh of relief or pleasure, came from his lips. + +Immediately he turned to the Queen, placed one hand upon her jewelled +glove, and began to speak with singular animation and brightness. + +The Queen changed in a moment. The lassitude and disappointment went +from her face in a flash. She turned to her husband, radiant and happy, +and once more her face became beautiful. + +It was the last time that John Commendone ever saw the face of Queen +Mary. In after years he preferred always to think of her as he saw her +then. + +The tourney was over. Everybody had left the tilting yard and its +vicinity, save only the farriers, the armour smiths, and grooms. + +In front of the old palace hardly a soul was to be seen, except the +sentinels and men of the guard, who paced up and down the terraces. + +It was eight o'clock, and twilight was falling. All the windows were +lit, every one was dressing for supper, and now and then little +roulades of flutes, the twanging of viols being tuned, the mellow +clarionette-like voice of the _piccolo-milanese_ showed that the Royal +band was preparing for the feast. + +Johnnie was off duty; his time was his own now, and he could do as he +would. + +He longed more than anything to go to Chepe to be with the Cressemers +again, to see Elizabeth; but, always punctilious upon points of +etiquette, and especially remembering the sad case and dolour of his +love, he felt it would be better not to go. Nevertheless, he took a +sheet of paper from his case into the Common Room, and wrote a short +letter of greeting to the Alderman. With this he also sent a posy of +white roses, which he bribed a serving-man to get from the Privy Garden, +desiring that the flowers should be given to Mistress Elizabeth Taylor. + +This done, he sought and found his servant. + +"To-night, John Hull," he said, "I shall not need thee, and thou mayest +go into the City and do as thou wilt. I am going to rest early, for I am +very tired. Come you back before midnight--you can get the servant's +pass from the lieutenant of the guard if you mention my name--and wake +me and bring me some milk. But while thou art away, take this letter and +these flowers to the house of Master Robert Cressemer. Do not deliver +them at once when thou goest, but at ten or a little later, and desire +them to be taken at once to His Worship." + +This he said, knowing something of the habits of the great house in +Chepeside, and thinking that his posy would be taken to Elizabeth when +she was retiring to her sleep. + +"Perchance she may think of me all night," said cunning Johnnie to +himself. + +Hull took the letter and the flowers, and departed. Johnnie went to his +chamber, disembarrassing himself of his stiff starched ruff, took off +his sword, and put on the cassock-coat, which was the undress for the +young gentlemen of the Court when they met in the Common Room for a +meal. + +He designed to take some food, and then to go straight to bed and sleep +until his servant should wake him with the milk he had ordered, and +especially with the message of how he had done in Chepe. + +He had just arrayed himself and was wearily stretching out his arms, +wondering whether after all he should go downstairs to sup or no, when +the door of his bedroom was pushed open and Ambrose Cholmondely entered. + +Johnnie was glad to see his friend. + +"_Holà!_" he said, "I was in need of some one with whom to talk. You +come in a good moment, _mon ami_." + +Cholmondely sat down upon the bed. + +"Well," he said, "didst come off well at the tourney?" + +Johnnie shook his head. "I didn't ride," he said, "I was in attendance +upon His Grace, rather to my disgust, for I had hoped for some exercise. +But you? Where were you, Ambrose?" + +"I? Well, Johnnie, I was excused attendance this afternoon. I made +interest with Mr. Champneys, and so I got off." + +"Venus, her service, I doubt me," Johnnie answered. + +Ambrose Cholmondely nodded. + +"Yes," he said, "i' faith, a very bootless quest it was. A girl at an +inn that I lit upon some time agone--you would not know it--'tis a big +hostel of King Henry's time without Aldgate, the 'Woolsack.'" + +Johnnie started. "I went there once," he said. + +"I should well have thought," Cholmondely replied, "it would have been +out of your purview. Never mind. My business came not to a satisfactory +end. The girl was very coy. But I tell you what I did see, and that hath +given me much reason for thought. Along the road towards Essex, where I +was walking, hoping to meet my inamorata, came a damsel walking, by her +dress and bearing of gentle birth, and with a serving-maid by her side. +I was not upon the high road, but sat under a sycamore tree in a field +hard by, but I saw all that passed very well. A carriage came slowly +down the road towards this lady. Out of it jumped that bully-rook John +Shelton, and close behind him the Spanish valet Torromé, that is the +King's private servant. They caught hold of the girl, Shelton clapped a +hand upon her mouth, and they had her in the carriage in a moment and +her maid with her--which immediately turned round and went back at a +quick pace through Aldgate. I would have interfered, but I could not get +to the high road in time; 'twas so quickly done. Johnnie, there will be +great trouble in London, if Shelton and these Spaniards he is so +friendly with are to do such things in England. It may go on well enough +for a time, but suddenly the bees will be roused from their hive, and +there will be such a to-do and turmoil, such a candle will be lit as +will not easily be put out." + +Johnnie shrugged his shoulders. In his mood of absolute disgust with his +surroundings, the recital interested him very little. He connected it at +once with the appearance of Shelton and the valet at the end of the +tourney, but it was not his business. + +"The hog to his stye," he said bitterly. "I am going to take some +supper, and then to bed, for I am very weary." + +Arm in arm with Ambrose Cholmondely, he descended the stairs, went into +the Common Room, and made a simple meal. + +The place was riotous with high spirits, the talk was fast and free, but +he joined in none of it, and in a very few minutes had returned to his +room, closed the door, and thrown himself upon the bed. + +Almost immediately he sank into a deep sleep. + +He was dreaming of Elizabeth, and in his dream was interwoven the sound +of great bells, when the fantastic painted pictures of sleep were +suddenly shaken violently and dissolved. They flashed away, and his +voice rose in calling after them to stay, when he suddenly awoke. + +The bells were still going on, deep golden notes from the central cupola +over the Queen's Gallery, beating out the hour of eleven. But as they +changed from dream into reality--much louder and imminent--he felt +himself shaken violently. A strong hand gripped his shoulder, a hoarse +voice mingled with the bell-music in his ears. He awoke. + +His little room was lit by a lanthorn standing upon the mantel with the +door open. + +John Hull, a huge broad shadow, was bending over him. He sat up in bed. + +"_Dame!_" he cried, "and what is this?" + +"Master! Master! She has been taken away! My little mistress! Most +foully taken away, and none know where she may be!" + +Johnnie sprang from his bed, upright and trembling. + +"I took the letter and the flowers as you bade me. But all was sorrow +and turmoil at the house. Mistress Elizabeth went out in the afternoon +with Alice her maid. She was to take the air. They have not returned. +Nothing is known. His Worship hath fifty men searching for her, and hath +had for hours. But it avails nothing." + +Johnnie suddenly became quite quiet. Hull saw his face change. The +smooth, gracious contours were gone. An inner face, sharp, resolute, +haggard and terribly alive, sprang out and pushed the other away. + +"His Worship writ thee a letter, sir. Here 'tis." + +Johnnie held out his hand. The letter was brief, the writing hurried and +indistinct with alarm. + + "DEAR LAD,--They have taken our Lizzie, whom I know not. But I + fear the worst things. I cannot find her with all my resource. + An' if _I_ cannot, one must dread exceeding. I dare say no + more. But come to me on the instant, if canst. Thou--being at + Court--I take it, may be able to do more than I, at the moment + and in the article of our misfortune. The weight I bring to + bear is heavy, but taketh time. Command me in every way as + seemeth good to you. Order, and if needs be threaten in my + name. All you do or say is as if I said it, and they that deny + it will feel my hand heavy on them. + + "But come, dear lad. Our Lady help and shield the little lamb. + + "Your friend, + "ROBERT CRESSEMER, + "Alderman." + +Johnnie thrust the letter into his bosom. +"John Hull, art ready to follow me to the death, as it may be and very +like will?" + +"Certes, master." + +"Anything for her? Are you my man to do all and everything I tell thee +till the end?" + +John Hull answered nothing. He ran out of the room and returned in an +instant with his master's boots and sword. He saw that the holster +pistols were primed. He took one of Johnnie's daggers and thrust it into +the sheath of his knife without asking. + +The two men armed themselves to the teeth without another word. + +"I'll be round to the stables," Hull said at length. "Two horses, +master? I will rouse one groom only and say 'tis State business." + +"You know then where we must go?" + +"I know not the place. But I guess it. We hear much--we Court servants!" +He spat upon the floor. "And I saw _him_ looking at her as the Doctor +rode to Hadley." + +"Wilt risk it?--death, torture, which is worse, John Hull?" + +"Duck Lane, master?" + +"Duck Lane." + +"I thought so. I'm for the horses." + +A clatter of descending footsteps, a man standing in a little darkling +room, his hand upon his sword hilt. His teeth set, his brain working in +ice. + +Receding footsteps.... "Faithfullest servant that ever man had!" + +And so to the bitter work! + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +HEY HO! AND A RUMBELOW! + + +They had ridden over London Bridge. + +The night was dark, and a wind was beginning to rise. Again, here and +there about the bridge, soldiers were lounging, but Commendone and his +servant passed over successfully. He was recognised from the last time, +three nights ago. As they walked their horses through the scattered +houses immediately at the southern end of the bridge, Johnnie spoke to +Hull. + +"I have plans," he said quietly; "my mind is full of them. But I can +give you no hint until we are there and doing. Be quick at the uptake, +follow me in all I do, but if necessary act thyself, and remember that +we are desperate men upon an adventure as desperate. Let nothing stand +in the way, as I shall not." + +For answer he heard a low mutter, almost a growl, and they rode on in +silence. + +Both were cool and calm, strung up to the very highest point, every +single faculty of mind and body on the alert and poised to strike. + +One, the Spanish blood within him turning to that cold icy fury which +would stick at nothing in this world to achieve his ends, the while his +trained intelligence and high mental powers sat, as it were, upon his +frozen anger and rode it as a horse; the other, a volcano of hidden +snarling fury, seeing red at each step of his way through the dark, but +subordinate and disciplined by the master mind. + +They came to the entrance to Duck Lane, walked their horses quietly down +it--once more it was in silence--until under the lamp above the big red +door of the House of Shame, they saw two horses tethered to a ring in +the wall, and a man in a cloak walking up and down in front of the +house. + +He looked up sharply as they came into the circle of lamp-light, and +Johnnie saw, with a fierce throb of exultation, that it was Torromé, the +King's valet. + +"It is you, Señor," the man said in a low voice of relief. + +Johnnie nodded curtly as he dismounted. + +"Yes," he said, in a voice equally low, putting something furtive and +sly into the tones, for he was a consummate actor. "Yes, it is I, +Torromé. I must see His Grace at once on matters of high importance." + +"His Grace said nothing," the man began. + +"I know, I know," Johnnie answered. "It was not thought that I should +have to come, but as events turn out"--he struck with his hand upon the +door as he spoke--"I am to see His Highness at once." + +"I trust Her Grace----" the man whispered in a frightened voice. + +"Not a word," Commendone replied. "Take our horses and keep watch over +them also. My man cometh in with me. Word will be sent out to you anon +what to do." + +The man bowed, and gathered up the bridle of the two new horses on his +arm; while as he did so, the big red door swung open a little, and a +thin face, covered with a mask of black velvet, peered out at the +newcomers. + +"It is all right," the valet said, in French. "This gentleman is of the +suite of His Highness." + +The peering, masked face scrutinised Johnnie for a second, then nodded, +and the red lips below twisted into a sinister smile. + +"Enter, sir," came in a soft, cooing voice. "I remember you three nights +back...." + +Johnnie entered, closely followed by Hull, and the door was closed +behind him. They stood once more in the quiet carpeted passage, with its +sense of mystery, its heavily perfumed air, and once again the tall +nondescript figure flitted noiselessly in front of them, and scratched +upon a panel of the big door at the end of the passage. There was the +tinkle of a bell within. The door was opened. Johnnie pushed aside the +curtains and entered the room, hung with crimson arras, powdered with +the design of gold bats, lit with its hanging silver lamps, and reeking +with the odour of the scented gums which were burning there. + +Madame La Motte rose from her chair behind the little table as they +entered. The big, painted face was quite still and motionless, like a +mask, but the eyes glanced with quick, cunning brightness at Commendone +and his companion--the only things alive in that huge countenance. She +recognised Johnnie in a moment, and then her eyebrows went up into her +forehead and the lower part of her face moved down a little, as if the +whole were actuated by the sudden pull of a lever. + +"_Mon gars_," she said, in French, "and what brings you here to-night? +And who is this?..." + +Her eyes had fallen upon the broad figure of the serving-man in his +leather coat, his short sword hanging from his belt, his hand upon his +dagger. + +She might well look in alarm, this ancient, evil woman, for the keen +brown face of the servant was gashed and lined with a terrible and quiet +fury, the lips curled away from the teeth, the fore part of the body was +bent forward a little as if to spring. + +Johnnie took two steps up to the woman. + +"Madam," he said, in a voice so low that it was hardly more than a +whisper, but every syllable of which was perfectly distinct and clear, +"a lady has been stolen from her friends, and brought to this hell. +Where is she?" + +The woman knew in a moment why they had come. She gave a sudden swift +glance towards the door in the arras at the other side of the room, +which told Commendone all he wanted to know. + +"It is true, then?" he said. "Thou cat of hell, bound mistress of the +fiend, she is here?" + +The huge body of the woman began to tremble like a jelly, slowly at +first in little shivers, and then more rapidly until face and shapeless +form shook and swayed from side to side in a convulsion of fear, while +all the jewels upon her winked and flashed. + +As the young man bent forward and looked into her face, she found a +voice, a horrid, strangled voice. "I know nothing," she coughed. + +There was a low snarl, like a wakened panther, as Commendone, shuddering +as he did so, gripped one bare, powdered shoulder. + +"Silence!" he said. + +With one convulsive effort, the woman shot out a fat hand, and rang the +little silver bell upon the table. + +Almost immediately the door swung open; there was a swish of curtains, +and the tall, fantastic figure of the creature who had let them into the +house stood there. + +"_Allez--la maison en face--viens toi vite,--Jules, Louis._" + +Commendone clapped his hand over the woman's mouth, just as the eel-like +creature at the door, realising the situation in a moment, was gliding +through the curtains to summon the bullies of the house. + +But John Hull was too quick for him. He caught him by the arm, wrenched +him back into the room, sent him spinning into the centre of it, and +took two steps towards him, his right fist half raised to deal him a +great blow. + +The creature mewed like a cat, ducked suddenly and ran at the yeoman, +gripping him round the waist with long, thin arms. + +There was no sound as they struggled--this long, eel-like thing, in its +mask and crimson robe twining round his sturdy opponent like some +parasite writhing with evil life. + +John Hull rocked, striving to bend forward and get a grip of his +antagonist. But it was useless. He could do nothing, and he was being +slowly forced backwards towards the door. + +There was horror upon the man's brown face, horror of this silent, +clinging thing which fought with fury, and in a fashion that none other +had fought with him in all his life. + +Then, as he realised what was happening, he stood up for a moment, +staggering backwards as he did so, pulled out the dagger from his belt +and struck three great blows downwards into the thin scarlet back, +burying the steel up to the hilt at each fierce stroke. + +There was a sudden "Oh," quite quiet and a little surprised, the sort of +sound a man might make when he sees a friend come unexpectedly into his +room.... + +That was all. It was over in some thirty seconds, there was a +convulsive wriggle on the floor, and the man, if indeed it was a man, +lay on its back stiff in death. The mask of black velvet had been torn +off in the struggle, and they saw a tiny white face, painted and +hairless, set on the end of a muscular and stringy neck--a monster lying +there in soulless death. + +"Have you killed it?" Commendone asked, suddenly. + +"Yes, master." Hull's head was averted from what lay upon the carpet, +even while he was pushing it towards the heap of cushions at the side of +the room. Leaning over the body, he took a cushion from the heap--a +gaudy thing of green and orange--and wiped his boot. + +"Listen!" Johnnie said, still with his hand covering the woman's face. + +They listened intently. Not a sound was to be heard. + +"As I take it," Commendone answered, "there are no men in the house +except only those two we have come to seek. The alarm hath not been +given, and that _eunuque_ is dead. We must settle Madame here." He +laughed a grim, menacing laugh as he spoke. + +Immediately the figure in his hands began to writhe and tremble, the +feet beat a dull tattoo upon the carpet, the eyes protruded from their +layers of paint, a snorting, snuffling noise came from beneath +Commendone's hand. He caught it away instantly, shuddering with +disgust. + +"Kill me not! kill me not!" the old woman gasped. "They are upstairs, +the King and his friend. The girl is there. I know nothing of her, she +was brought to me in the dark by the King's servants. Kill me not; I +will stay silent." Her voice failed. She fell suddenly back in her +chair, and looked at them with indescribable horror in her eyes. + +"I'll see to her, master," Hull said in a quiet voice, his face still +distorted with mastiff-like fury. + +He caught up his blood-stained dagger from the floor, stepped to the +stiffened corpse, curved by tetanus into a bow, and ripped up a long +piece of the gown which covered it. Quickly and silently he tied the old +woman's ankles together, her hands behind her back--the podgy wrists +would not meet, nor near it--and again he went to the corpse for further +bonds. + +"And now to stop her mouth," he said, "or she will be calling." + +Commendone took out his handkerchief. "Here," he said. In an instant +Hull had rolled it into a ball, pressed it between the painted lips, and +tied it in its place with the last strip of velvet. + +All this had taken but hardly a minute. Then he stood up and looked at +his master. "The time comes," he said. + +Johnnie nodded, and walked slowly, with quiet footsteps, towards the +door in the arras at the other side of the room. + +He felt warily for the handle, found it, turned it gently, and saw a +narrow stairway stretching upwards, and lit by a lamp somewhere above. +The stair was uncarpeted, but it was of old and massive oak, and, +drawing his sword, he crept cautiously up, Hull following him like a +cat. + +They found themselves in a corridor with doors on each side, each door +painted with a big white number. It was lit, warm, and very still. + +Johnnie put his fingers to his lips, and both men listened intently. + +The silence was absolute. They might have been in an empty house. No +single indication of human movement came to them as they stood there. + +For nearly a minute they remained motionless. Their eyes were fixed and +horror-struck, their ears strained to an intensity of listening. + +Then, at last, they heard a sound, quite unexpectedly and very near. + +It came from the door immediately upon their right, which was painted +with the number "3," and was simply the click of a sword in its +scabbard. Johnnie took two noiseless steps to the door, settled his +sword in his hand, flung it open, and leapt in. + +He was in a large low room panelled round its sides, the panels painted +white, the beadings picked out in crimson. A carpet covered the floor, a +low fire burnt upon a wide open hearth. There were two or three padded +sofa lounges here and there, and in front of the fire-place in riding +clothes, though without his hat or gloves, stood Sir John Shelton. + +There was a dead silence for several seconds, only broken by the click +of the outer door, as Hull pushed it into its place, and shot the bolt. + +Shelton grew very white, but said nothing. + +With his sword ready to assume the guard, Johnnie walked to the centre +of the room. + +The bully's face grew whiter still. Little drops of moisture glistened +on his forehead, and on his blonde moustache. + +Then he spoke. + +"Ah! Mr. Commendone!" he said, with a horrid little laugh. "News from +Court, I suppose? Is it urgent? His Grace is engaged within, but I will +acquaint him. His Grace is engaged----" There came a titter of discovery +and fear from his lips. His words died away into silence. + +Johnnie advanced towards him, his sword pointed at his heart. + +"What does this mean, Mr. Commendone?" + +"Death." + +The man's sword was out in a moment. The touch of it seemed to bring the +life back to him, and with never a word, he sprang at Commendone. He was +a brave man enough, a clever fencer too, but he knew now that his hour +had come. He read it in the fixed face before him, that face of frozen +fury. He knew it directly the blades touched. Indeed he was no match +for Commendone, with his long training, and clean, abstemious life. But +even had he been an infinitely superior swordsman, he knew that he would +have had no chance in that moment. There was something behind the young +man's arm which no Sir John Shelton could resist. + +The blades rattled together and struck sparks in the lamp-light. Click! +Clatter! Click!--"Ah!" the long-drawn breath, a breath surging up from +the very entrails--Click! Clatter! Click! + +The fierce cold fury of that fight was far beyond anything in war, or +the ordinary duello. It was _à outrance_, there was only one end to it, +and that came very swiftly. + +Commendone was not fighting for safety. He cared not, and knew nothing, +of what the other might have in reserve. He did not even wait to test +his adversary's tricks of fence, as was only cautious and usual. Nothing +could have withstood him, and in less than two minutes from the time the +men had engaged, the end came. Commendone made a half-lunge, which was +parried by the dagger in Sir John's left hand, and then, quick as +lightning, his sword was through Shelton's throat, through and through. + +The Captain fell like a log, hiccoughed, and lay still. + +"Two," said John Hull. + +Johnnie withdrew his sword, holding it downwards, watching it drip; then +he turned to his servant. "Sir John was here on guard," he said; "this +is the ante-room to where She is. But I see no door, save only the one +by which we entered." + +"Hist!" Hull replied, almost before his master had finished speaking. + +He pointed to the opposite wall, and both men saw a long, narrow bar of +orange light, a momentarily widening slit, opening in a panel. + +The panel swung back entirely, forming a sort of hatch or window, and +through it, yellow, livid, and terror-struck, looked the face of the +King. + +Without a word John Hull rushed towards that part of the wall. When he +was within a yard of it he gathered himself up and leapt against it, +like a battering-ram. There was a crash, as the concealed door was torn +away from its hinges. Hull lay measuring his length upon the floor, and +Johnnie leaped over the prostrate form into the room beyond. + +This is what he saw: + +In one corner of the room, close to a large couch covered with rich +silks, Elizabeth Taylor stood against the wall. They had dressed her in +a long white robe of the Grecian sort, with a purple border round the +hem of the skirt, the short sleeves and the low neck. Her face was a +white wedge of terror, her arms were upraised, the palms of her hands +turned outwards, as if to ward off some horror unspeakable. + +King Philip, at the other corner of the room, standing by the débris of +the broken door, was perfectly motionless, save only for his head, +which was pushed forward and moved from side to side with a slow +reptilian movement. + +He was dressed entirely in black, his clothes in disarray, and the thin +hair upon his head was matted in fantastic elf-locks with sweat. + +He saw the set face of Commendone, his drawn and bloody sword. He saw +the thick leathern-coated figure of the yeoman rise from the floor. Both +were confronting him, and he knew in a flash that he was trapped. + +Johnnie looked at his master for a moment, and then turned swiftly. +"Elizabeth," he said, "Elizabeth!" + +At his voice the girl's hands fell from her face. She looked at him for +a second in wild amazement, and then she cried out, in a high, quavering +voice of welcome, "Johnnie! Johnnie! you've come!" + +He put his arms about her, soothing, stroking her hair, speaking in a +low, caressing voice, as a man might speak to a child. And all the time +his heart, which had been frozen into deadly purpose, was leaping, +bounding, and drumming within him so furiously, so strongly, that it +seemed as if his body could hardly contain it. This mortal frame must +surely be dissolved and swept away by such a tumult of feeling. + +She had only seen him once. She had never received his little posy of +white flowers, but he was "Johnnie" to her. + +"They have not hurt you, my maid?" he said. "Tell me they have not +harmed you." + +She shook her head. Happiness sponged away the horror which had been +upon her face. "No, Johnnie," she answered, clinging, her fingers +clutching for a firmer hold of him. "No, Johnnie, only they took me +away, and Alice, that is my maid. They took me away violently, and I +have been penned up here in this place until that man came and said +strange things to me, and would embrace me." + +"Sit you here, my darling maid," the young man said, "sit you here," +guiding her to the couch hard by. "He shall do you no harm. Thou art +with me, and thy good friend there, thy father's yeoman." + +She had not seen John Hull before, but now she looked up at him over +Johnnie's arm, and smiled. "'Tis all well now," she murmured, drooping +and half-faint. "Hull is here, and thou also, Johnnie." + +Even in the wild joy of finding her, and knowing instinctively that she +was to be his, that she had thought of him so much, Commendone lost +nothing of his sang-froid. + +He knew that desperate as had been his adventure when he started out +from the Tower, it was now more desperate still. He and Hull had taken +their lives in their hands when they went to Duck Lane. Their enterprise +had so far been successful, their rescue complete, but--and he was in no +way mistaken--the enterprise was not over, and his life was worth even +a smaller price than it had been before. + +With that, he turned from the girl, and strode up to the King, before +whom John Hull had been standing, grimly silent. + +Commendone's sword was still in his hand; he had not relinquished it +even when he had embraced Elizabeth, and now he stood before his master, +the point upon the floor, his young face set into judgment. + +"And now, Sire?" he said, shortly and quickly. + +Philip's face was flushed with shame and fear, but at these sharp words, +he drew himself to his full height. + +"Señor," he said, "you are going to do something which will damn you for +ever in the sight of God and Our Lady. You are going to slay the +anointed of the Lord. I will meet death at your hands, and doubtless for +my sins I have deserved death; but, nevertheless, you will be damned." + +Then he threw his arms out wide, and there came a sob into his voice as +the liquid Spanish poured from him. + +"But to die thus!" he said. "Mother of God! to die thus! unshrived, with +my sins upon me!" + +Johnnie tapped impatiently with the point of his sword upon the floor. + +"Kill you, Sire?" he said. "I have sworn the oath of allegiance to Her +Grace, the Queen, and eke to you. I break no oaths. Kill you I will +not. Kill you I cannot. I dare not raise my hand against the King." + +He dropped on one knee. "Sire," he said again, "I am your Gentleman, and +you will go free from this vile house as you came into it." + +Then he rose, took his sword, snapped it across his knee--staining his +hands in doing so--and flung it into the corner of the room. + +"And that is that," he said, with a different manner. "So now as man to +man, as from one gentleman to another, hear my voice. You are a +gentleman of high degree, and you are King also of half this globe, +named, and glad to be named His Most Catholic Majesty. Of your kingship +I am not at this moment aware. I am not Royal. But as a gentleman and a +Christian, I tell you to your face that you are low and vile. You +deceive a wife that loveth you. You take maidens to force them to your +will. If you were a simple gentleman I would kill you where you stood. +No! If thou wert a simple gentleman, I would not cross swords with thee, +because thou art unworthy of my sword. I would tell my man here to slit +thee and have done. But as thou art a King"--he spat upon the floor in +his disgust--"and I am sworn to thee, I cannot punish thee as I would, +thou son of hell, thou very scurvy, lying, and most dirty knave." + +The King's face was a dead white now. He lifted his hands and beat with +them upon his breast. "_Mea culpa! Mea culpa!_ What have I done that I +should endure this?" + +"What no King should ever do, what no gentleman could ever do." + +The King's hands dropped to his side. + +"I am wearing no sword," he said quietly, "as you see, Señor, but +doubtless you will provide me with one. If you will meet me here and +now, as a simple gentleman, then I give you licence to kill me. I will +defend myself as best I am able." + +Johnnie hesitated, irresolutely. All the training of his life was up in +arms with the wishes and the emotions of the moment--until he heard the +voice of common sense. + +John Hull broke in. The man had not understood one word of the Spanish, +but he had realised its meaning, and the keen, untutored intelligence, +focused upon the flying minutes, saw very clearly into the future. + +"Master," he said, "cannot ye see that all this is but chivalry and +etiquette of courts? Cannot ye see that if ye kill His Highness, England +will not be big enough to hide thee? Cannot ye see, also, that if thou +dost not kill him, but let him go, England will not be big enough to +hide thee either? Master, we must settle this business with speed, and +get far away before the hue and cry, for I tell thee, that this bloody +night's work will bring thee, and Mistress Elizabeth, and myself to the +rack and worse torture, to the stake, and worse than that. Haste! speed! +we must be gone. There is but one thing to be done." + +"And what is that, John Hull?" + +"Why, thou art lost in a dream, master! To tie up His Highness so that +he cannot move or speak for several hours. To send that Spaniard which +is his man, away from the door outside, and then to fly from this +accursed house, you, I, and the little mistress, and hide ourselves, if +God will let us, from the wrath to come." + +The quick, decisive words were so absolutely true, so utterly +unanswerable, that Johnnie nodded, though he shuddered as he did so. + +Upon that, John Hull strode up to the King. + +"Put your hands behind you, Sire," he said. + +The King was wearing a dagger in his belt. As Hull came up to him, his +face was transfixed with fury. He drew it out and lunged at the man's +heart. + +Hull was standing a little obliquely to the blow, the dagger glanced +upon his leather surcoat, cut a long groove, and glanced harmlessly +away. + +With that, Hull raised his great brown fist and smote King Philip in the +face, driving him to the floor. He was on him in a moment, crouching +over him with one hand upon the Royal throat. + +"Quick, master; quick, master! Quick, master! Bonds! Bonds! We must e'en +truss him up, as we did her ladyship below." + +It was done. The King was tied and bound. It was done as gently as +possible, and they did not gag him. + +Together they laid him upon the floor. + +Slow, half-strangled, and venomous words came, came in gouts of +poisonous sound, which made the sweet Spanish hideous.... + +"The whole world, Mr. Commendone, will not be wide enough to hide you, +your paramour, and this villain from my vengeance." + +Johnnie would have heard anything but that one word--that shameful word. +At the word "paramour," hardly knowing what he did, he lifted his hand +and struck the bound and helpless King upon the face. + +A timepiece from the next room beat. It was one o'clock in the morning. + +Johnnie turned to Elizabeth. "Come, sweetheart," he said, in a hurried, +agitated voice, "come away from this place." + +He took her by the arm, half leading, half supporting her, and together +they passed out of the room, without so much as a backward glance at the +bound figure upon the floor. As they went through the broken doorway in +the ante-room, John Hull pressed after them, and walked on the other +side of Elizabeth, talking to her quickly in a cheery voice. + +As he looked over the girl's head at his servant, Johnnie knew what Hull +was doing. He was hiding the corpse of Sir John Shelton from the girl's +view. + +They came into the corridor, and descended the stairs. Just as they were +about to open the door in the arras, Hull stopped them upon the lowest +step. + +"I will go first, master," he said, and again Johnnie realised what was +meant. + +When a few seconds afterwards, he and Elizabeth entered the +tapestry-hung room; the great pile of cushions upon the left-hand side +was a little higher, but that was all. + +The girl raised her hands to her throat. "Oh," she said, "Johnnie, thank +God you came! I cannot bear it. Take me home, take me home now, to Mr. +Cressemer and Aunt Catherine." + +Johnnie took her hands in his own, holding her very firmly by the +wrists, and looked full into her face. + +"Dear," he said, "you cannot go to Mr. Cressemer's. You know nothing of +what has happened this night. You do not realise anything at all. Will +you trust in me?" + +"Yes," she faltered, though her eyes were firm. + +"Then, if you do that, and if God helps us," he said, with a gasp in his +throat, "we may yet win to safety and life, though I doubt it. +Sweetheart, it is right that I should tell you that man upstairs in the +room is the King Consort, husband of Her Grace the Queen." + +The girl gave a loud, startled cry, and instantly Commendone saw +comprehension flash into her face. + +"Sit here," he said to her, putting a chair for her. + +Then he turned. Behind the ebony table, motionless, vast, and purple in +the face, was the great mummy of the procuress. + +"What shall we do?" he said to Hull. + +"The first thing, master, is to send the Spanish valet away; that you +must do, and therein lies our chance." + +Johnnie nodded. He passed out into the passage, went to the front door, +pulled aside three huge bolts which worked with a lever very silently, +for they were all oiled, and let in a puff of fresh wind from the +street. + +For a moment he could see nothing in the dark. He called in Spanish: +"Torromé, Torromé, where are you? Come here at once." He had hardly done +so when the cloaked figure of the valet came out from behind a buttress. + +"Ah, Señor," he said, "I am perished with this cold wind. His Highness +is ready, then?" + +Johnnie shook his head. "No," he answered, "His Highness and Sir John +are still engaged, but I am sent to tell you that you may go home. I and +my man will attend His Highness to the Tower, but we shall not come +until dawn. Go you back to the King's lodging, and if His Highness doth +not come in due time, keep all inquiries at bay. He will be sick--you +understand?" + +Torromé nodded. + +"Then get you to horse, leave His Highness's horse with ours, and speed +back to the Tower as soon as may be." + +Commendone waited until the man had mounted, very glad to be relieved of +his long waiting, and was trotting towards London Bridge. Then he closed +the door, pulled the lever, and went back into the red, scented room. + +He saw that Hull had cut the strips of red velvet that bound Madame La +Motte, the gag was taken from her mouth, and he was holding a goblet of +wine to the thick, swollen, and bleeding lips. + +There was a long deep sigh and gurgle. The woman shuddered, gasped +again, and then some light and understanding came into her eyes, and she +stared out in front of her. + +"What are we to do?" Johnnie asked his servant once more. + +"What have ye done, masters?" came in a dry whisper from the old +woman--it was like the noise a man makes walking through parched grass +in summer. "What have ye done, masters?" + +Hull answered: "We have killed your servitor, as ye saw," he said, with +a half glance towards the piled cushions against the wall. "Sir John +Shelton is dead also; Mr. Commendone killed him in fair fight." + +"And the King, the King?"--the whisper was dreadful in its anxiety and +fear. + +"He lieth bound in that room of shame where you took my lady." + +There was silence for a moment, and the old woman glanced backwards and +forwards at Hull and Commendone. What she read in their faces terrified +her, and again she shook horribly. + +"Sir," she said to Commendone, "if this be my last hour, then so mote it +be, but I swear that I knew nothing. I was told at high noon yesterday +that a girl was to be sent here, that Sir John and the valet of His +Highness would bring her. I knew, and know nothing of who she is. I did +but do as I have always done in my trade. And, messieurs, it was the +King's command. Now ye have come, and there is the lady unharmed, please +God." + +"Please God!" Johnnie said brutally. "You hag of hell, who are you to +use that name?" + +The fat, artificially whitened hands, with their glittering rings fell +upon the table with a dull thud. + +"Who am I, indeed?" she said. "You may well ask that, but I tell you +others of my women received this lady. I have not seen her until now." + +"Indeed she hath not," came in a low, startled voice from Elizabeth. + +"Sir," La Motte went on, "I see now that this is the end of my sinful +life. Kill me an ye wish, I care not, for I am dead already, and so also +are you, and the young mistress there, and your man too." + +"What mean you?" Johnnie said. + +"What mean I? Why, upstairs lieth the King, bound. We all have two or +three miserable hours, and then we shall be found, and what we shall +endure will pass the bitterness of death before death comes. That, +messieurs, you know very well. + +"So what matters it," she continued, her extraordinary vitality +overcoming everything, her voice growing stronger each moment, "what +matters it! Let us drink wine one to the other, to death! in this house +of death, in this house to which worse than death cometh apace." + +She reached out for the flagon of wine before her with a cackle of +laughter. + +It was too true. Commendone knew it well. He looked at Hull, and +together they both looked at Elizabeth Taylor. + +The girl, in the long white robe which they had put on her, rose from +her seat and came between them, tall, slim, and now composed. She put +one hand upon Johnnie's shoulder and laid the other with an affectionate +gesture upon Hull's arm. + +"Look you," she said, "Mr. Commendone, and you, John Hull, my father's +friend, what matters it at all? I see now all that hath passed. There is +no hope for us, none at all. Therefore let us praise God, pray to Him, +and die. We shall soon be with my father in heaven; and, sure, he seeth +all this, and is waiting for us." + +John Hull's face was knitted into thought. He hardly seemed to hear the +girl's voice at all. + +"Mistress Lizzie," he said, almost peevishly, "pr'ythee be silent a +moment. Master, look you. 'Tis this way. They will come again and find +His Highness when he returneth not to the Tower, but he will dare do +nothing against us openly for fear of the Queen's Grace. Were it known +that he had come to such a stew as this, the Queen would ne'er give him +her confidence again. She would ne'er forgive him. Doubtless the +vengeance will pursue us, but it cannot be put in motion for some hours +until the King is rescued, and has had time to confer with his familiars +and think out a plan. After that, when they catch us, nothing will avail +us, because nothing we can say will be believed. But we are not caught +yet." + +Johnnie, who for the last few moments had been quite without hope, +looked up quickly at his servant's words. + +"You are right," he said, "in what you say; there speaketh good sense. +Very well, then we must get away at once. But where shall we go? If we +go to His Worship's house, we shall soon be discovered, and bring His +Worship and Mistress Catherine with us to the rack and stake. If we go +to my father's house in Kent, he will not be able to hide us; it will be +the first place to which they will look." + +He spread his arms out in a gesture of despair. + +"You see," he said, "we in this room to-night have no refuge nor +harbour. For a few hours, a day it may be, we can lie lost from +vengeance. But after that no earthly power can save us. We have done the +thing for which there is no pardon." + +"I don't like, master, to wait for death in this way," Hull answered. +"But art wiser than I, and so it must be. But pr'ythee let us have a +little course. The hounds may come, but let us run before them, and +then, if death is at the end of it, well--well, there's an end on't; and +so say I." + +There was a voice behind them, a voice speaking in broken but fluent +English. + +"You have broken into my house, you have killed my servant, you have +prevented me from calling for help from you, a King lies bound in my +upper chamber, _v'là_! And now you go to run a little course, to scurry +hither and thither before the dogs are at your throats. You are all +prepared to die. I also am ready to die if it must be so, but it need +not be so if you will listen to me." + +"What mean you?" Johnnie said. + +As he spoke he saw, with a mingling of surprise and disgust, that the +big painted face of Madame La Motte was full of animation and +excitement. She seemed as if the events of the last hour had but stirred +her to endeavour, had given a fillip to her sluggish life. + +More astonishing than all, she rose from her chair, gathering together +her vast, unwieldy bulk, came round from behind the table, and joined +their conference almost with vivacity. + +"_Tiens_," she said, "there are other countries than this. An army +beaten in an engagement is not always routed. Retreat is possible within +friendly frontiers." + +The horrible old creature had such a strength and personality about her +that, with her blood-stained mouth, her great panting body, her +trembling jewelled hands, she yet in that moment dominated them all. + +"There is one last chance. At dawn--and dawn is near by--the ship _St. +Iago_ sails from the Thames for foreign parts. The master of the ship, +Clark, is"--she lowered her voice and spoke only to Commendone--"is a +client of mine here. He is much indebted to me in many ways, and ere day +breaks we may all be aboard of her and sailing away. What is't to be, +messieurs?" + +They all looked at each other for a moment in silence. + +Then Elizabeth put her arms round the old woman's neck and kissed her. + +"Madame," she said, "surely God put this into your heart to save us all. +I will come with you, and Johnnie will come, and good John Hull withal, +and so we may escape and live." + +The old Frenchwoman patted the slim girl upon the back. "_Bien, +chérie_," she said, "that's a thing done. I will look after you and be a +mother to you, and so we will all be happy." + +Commendone and his servant looked on in amazement. At this dreadful +hour, in this moment of extremest peril, the wicked old woman seemed to +take charge of them all. She did not seem wicked now, only genial and +competent, though there was a tremor of fear in her voice and her +movements were hurried and decisive. + +"Jean-Marie," she called suddenly, and then, "Phut! I forgot. It is +under the cushions. Well, we must even do without a messenger. Have you +money, Master Commendone?" + +Johnnie shook his head. "Not here." + +"_Mais, mon Dieu!_ I have a plenty," she answered, "which is good for +all of us. Wait you here." + +She hurried away, and went up the stair towards the rooms above. + +"Shall I follow her, master?" Hull said, his hand upon his dagger. + +Johnnie shook his head. + +"No," he answered, "she is in our boat. She must sink or swim with us." + +They waited there for five or ten minutes, hearing the heavy noise of +Madame's progress above their heads. They waited there, and as they did +so the room seemed to become cold, their blood ran slowly within them, +the three grouped themselves close together as if for mutual warmth and +consolation. + +Then they heard a high-pitched voice at the top of the stairs. + +"Send your man up, Monsieur, send your man up. I have no strength to +lift this bag." + +At a nod from Johnnie, Hull ran up the stairs. In a moment more he came +down, staggering under the burden of a great leather wallet slung over +his shoulder, and was followed by Madame La Motte, now covered in a fur +cloak and hood. + +She held another on her arm. "Put it on, put it on," she said to +Elizabeth, "quickly. We must get out of this. The dawn comes, the wind +freshens, we have but an hour." + +And then in the ghostly dawn the four people left the House of Shame, +left it with the red door open to the winds, and hurried away towards +the river. + +None of them spoke. The old dame in her fur robe shuffled on with +extraordinary vitality, past straggling houses, past inns from which +nautical signs were hung, for a quarter of a mile towards the mud-marsh +which fringed the pool of Thames. She walked down a causeway of stones, +sunk in the mud and gravel, to the edge of the water. + +It was now high tide and the four came out in the grey light upon a +little stone quay where some sheds were set. + +In front of one of them, heavily covered with tar, a lantern was still +burning, wan and yellow in the coming light of day. + +Madame La Motte kicked at the door of this shed with her high-heeled +shoe. There was no response. She opened the door, burst into a stuffy, +foetid place where two men were lying upon coils of rope. She stirred +them with her foot, but they were in heavy sleep, and only groaned and +snored in answer. + +"I'll wake them, Madame," Johnnie said, "I'll stir them up," his voice +full of that thin, high note which comes to those who feel themselves +hunted. He clapped his hand to his side to find his sword; his fingers +touched an empty scabbard. Then he remembered. + +"I am swordless," he cried, forgetting everything else as he realised +it. + +Behind him there was a thud and a clanking, as John Hull dropped the +leathern bag he held. + +"Say not so, master," he said, and held out to the young man a sword in +a scabbard of crimson leather, its hilt of gold wire, its guard set with +emeralds and rubies, the belt which hung down on either side of the +blade, of polished leather studded with little stars and bosses of gold. + +"What is this?" + +"Look you, sir, as we passed out of Madame's room, I saw this sword +leaning in a corner of the wall by the door. His Highness had left it +there, doubtless, ere he went upstairs. 'So,' says I to myself, 'this is +true spoil of war, and in especial for my master!'" + +Johnnie took the sword, looked at it for a moment, and then unbuttoned +his own belt and girded it on. + +"So shall it be for a remembrance to me," he said, "for now and always." + +But he did not need to use it. Madame's exertions had been sufficient. +Her shrill, angry voice had wakened the watermen. They rose to their +feet, wiped their eyes, and, seeing persons of quality before them, they +hastened down the little hard and embarked the company in their wherry. +Then they pulled out into the stream. The tide was running fast and +free towards the Nore, but they made for a large ship of quite six +hundred tons, which was at anchor in mid-stream. When they came up to +it, and caught the hanging ladder upon the quarter with a boat-hook, the +deck was already busy with seamen in red caps, and a tarry, bearded old +salt, his head tied up in a woollen cloth, was standing on the high +poop, and cursing the men below. Madame La Motte saw him first. She put +two fat fingers in her mouth and gave a long whistle, like a street boy. + +The captain looked round him, up into the rigging where the sailors were +already busy upon the yards, looked to his right, looked to his left, +and then straight down from the poop upon the starboard quarter, and saw +Madame La Motte. He stumbled down the steps on to the main deck, and +peered over the bulwarks. "Mother of God!" he cried, "and what's this, +so early in the morning?" + +The old Frenchwoman shrieked up at him in her broken English. "_Tiens! +Tiens!_ Send your men to help us up, Captain Clark. Thou art not awake. +Do as I tell you." + +The captain rubbed his eyes again, called out some orders, and in a +moment or two Johnnie had mounted the ladder, and stood upon the deck. + +"Now the ladies," he said in a quick, authoritative voice. + +Elizabeth came up to the side, and then it was the question of Madame +La Motte. John Hull stood in the tossing, heaving wherry, and gave the +woman her first impetus. She clawed the side ropes, cursing and spitting +like a cat as she did so, mounting the low waist of the ship like a +great black slug. As soon as she got within arm's length of the captain +and a couple of sailors, they caught her and heaved her on board as if +she had been a sack, and within ten seconds afterwards John Hull, with +the leather bag over his shoulder, stood on the deck beside them. +Johnnie felt in his pocket and found some coins there. He flung them +over to the watermen, and they fell in the centre of the boat as it +sheered off. + +Mr. Clark, captain of the _St. Iago_, was now very wide awake. + +"I will thank ye, Madame," he said, "to explain your boarding of my ship +with your friends." + +The quick-witted Frenchwoman went up to him, put her fat arms round his +neck, pulled his head down, and spoke in his ear for a minute. When she +had finished the captain raised his head, scratched his ear, and looked +doubtfully at Commendone, Elizabeth, and John Hull. + +"Well," he said, in a thick voice, "since you say it, I suppose I must, +though there is little accommodation on board for the likes of you. You +pay your passage, Madame, I suppose?" + +"Phut! I will make you rich." + +The captain's eyes contracted with leery cunning. + +"There is more in this than meets mine eye--that ye should be so eager +to leave London. What have ye done, that is what I would like to know? I +must inquire into this, though we are due to sail. I must send a man +ashore to speak with the Sheriff----" + +"The Sheriff! And where would any of your dirty sailors find the Sheriff +at this hour of the morning? You'll lose the tide, Master Clark, and +you'll lose your money, too." + +The captain scratched his head again. + +"Natheless, I am not sure," he began. + +Then Johnnie stepped forward. + +"Captain Clark?" he said, in short, quick accents of authority. + +"That am I," said the captain. + +"Very good. Then you will take these ladies and bestow them as well as +you are able, and you will set sail at once. This ship, I believe, +belongs to His Worship the Alderman, Master Robert Cressemer?" + +The captain touched his forehead. + +"Yes, sir, indeed she does," he answered, in a very different voice. + +Johnnie, from where he had been standing, had looked down into the +waist, and had seen the great bags of wool with the Alderman's +trade-mark upon them. "Very well," he said, "you'll heave anchor at +once, and this is my warrant." + +He put his hand into his doublet and pulled out the Alderman's letter. +He showed him the last paragraph of it. + +It was enough. + +"I crave your pardon, master," the captain said. "I did not know that +you came from His Worship. That old Moll, I was ready to oblige her, +though it seemed a queer thing her coming aboard just as we were setting +sail. Why did you not speak at first, sir? Well, all is right. The wind +is favourable, and off we go." + +Turning away from Johnnie, he rushed up to the poop again, put his hand +to his mouth, and bellowed out a crescendo of orders. + +The yards swarmed with men, there was a "Heave ho and a rumbelow," a +clanking of the winch as the anchor came up, a flapping of unfurled +topsails at the three square-rigged masts, and in five minutes more the +_St. Iago_ began to move down the river. + +Johnnie walked along the open planking of the waist, mounted to the +poop, and heard the "lap, lap" and ripple of the river waves against the +rudder. He turned and saw not far away to his left the White Tower +growing momentarily more distinct and clear in the dawn. + +The whole of the Palace and Citadel was clear to view, the two flags of +England and Spain were just hoisted, running out before the breeze. To +his left, as he turned right round, were huddled houses at the southern +end of London Bridge. In one of them, empty, lit and blown through by +the morning winds, His Most Catholic Majesty was lying, silent and +helpless. + +He turned again, looked forward, and took in a great breath of the salt +air. + +The cordage began to creak, the sails to belly out, the hoarse voice of +the pilot by Johnnie's side to call directions. Presently Sheppey Island +came into view, and the sky above it was all streaked with the promise +of daylight. + +Regardless of Captain Clark and two other men, who were busied coiling +ropes and making the poop ship-shape for the Channel, Johnnie fell upon +his knees, brought the cross-belt of the King's sword to his lips, and +thanked God that he was away with his love. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"WHY, WHO BUT YOU, JOHNNIE!" + + +Three weeks and two days had passed, and the _St. Iago_ was off Lisbon, +and at anchor. + +The sun beat down upon the decks, the pitch bubbled in the seams, but +now and then a cool breeze came off the land. The city with its long +white terraces of houses shimmered in a haze of heat, but on the west +side of the valley in which the city lay, the florid gothic of the great +church of St. Jerome, built just five-and-fifty years before, was +perfectly clear-cut against the sapphire sky--burnt into a vast enamel +of blue, it seemed; bright grey upon blue, with here and there a +twinkling spot of gold crowning the towers. + +Twenty-three days the ship had taken to cut through the long oily +Atlantic swell and come to port. There had been no rough winds in the +Bay, no tempests such as make it terrible for mariners at other times of +the year. + + * * * * * + +When they had arrived on board, and the ship had got out of the Thames, +none of the four fugitives had the slightest idea as to where they were +going--Madame La Motte least of all. The relief at their escape had +been too great; strangely enough, they had not even enquired. + +The old Frenchwoman, as soon as the ship was under way, and Captain +Clark could attend to her, had gone below with him for half an hour; +while Johnnie, Hull, and Elizabeth remained upon the poop. + +When La Motte returned, the captain was smiling. There was a genial +twinkle in his eye. He came up to the others in a very friendly fashion. + +"S'death," he said, "I am in luck's way. Here you are, Master +Commendone, that are my owner's friend and bear a letter from him; and +here is Mistress La Motte, whom I have known long agone. By carrying ye +to Cadiz I shall be earning the Alderman's gratitude, and also good red +coins of the Mint, which Madame hath now paid me." + +"Cadiz?" Johnnie said. "Cadiz in Spain?" + +"That fair city and none other," the captain answered. "Heaven favouring +us, we shall bowl along to the city of wine, of fruit, and of fish. You +shall sip the sherries of Jerez and San Lucar, and eke taste the soup of +lobsters--langosta, they call it--and _bouillabaisse_ in the southern +parts of France--upon the island of San Leon, where the folk do go upon +a Sunday for that refection. But now come you down below and see to your +quarters. I have given up my cabin to the ladies, and you, sir," he +turned to Johnnie, "must turn in with me, to which end I have +commandeered the cabin of Master Mew, that is my chief officer, and a +merry fellow from the Isle of Wight, who will sing you a right good +catch of an evening, I'll warrant. And as for this your servant, the +bo'son will look to him, and he will not be among the men." + +They had gone below, and everything was arranged accordingly. The +quarters were more comfortable than Commendone had expected, and as far +as this part of the expedition was concerned all was well. + +Nevertheless, as Johnnie came up again upon the poop with the captain, +he was in great perturbation. They were sailing to Spain! To the very +country which was ruled by the man he had so evilly entreated. Might it +not well be that, escaping Scylla, they were sailing into the whirlpool +of Charybdis? + +The captain seemed to divine something of the young man's thoughts. He +sat down upon a coil of rope and looked upward with a shrewd and +weather-beaten eye. + +"Look you here, master," he said. "Why you came aboard my ship I know +not. You caught me as I was weighing anchor. Thou art a gentleman of +condition, and yet you come aboard with no mails, and nothing but that +in which you stand up. And you come aboard in company with that old Moll +of Flanders, La Motte--no fit company for a gentleman upon a voyage. And +furthermore, you have with you a young and well-looking lady, who also +hath no baggage with her. I tell you truly that I would not have +shipped you all had it not been for the letter of His Worship the +Alderman--whose hand of write I know very well upon bills of lading and +such. I like the look of you, and as Madame there has paid me well, 'tis +no business of mine what you are doing or have done. But look you here, +if that pretty young mistress is being forced to come with you against +her will--and what else can I think when I see her in the company of old +Moll?--then I will be a party to nothing of the sort. I am not a married +man, not regular church-sworn, that is, though I have a woman friend or +two in this port or that. And moreover, I have been oft-times to visit +the house with the red door. So you'll see I am no Puritan. But at the +same time I will be no help to the ravishing of maids of gentle blood, +and that I ask you well to believe, master." + +Johnnie heard him patiently to the end. + +"Let me tell you this, captain," he said, "that in what I am doing there +is no harm of any sort. Mistress Taylor, which is the name of the +younger lady, is the ward of Mr. Robert Cressemer. The Alderman is my +very good friend. My father, Sir Henry Commendone, of Commendone in +Kent, is his constant friend and correspondent. The young lady was taken +away yesterday from her guardian's care, taken in secret by some one +high about the Court--from which I also come, being a Gentleman in the +following of King Philip. Late last night, I received a letter from the +Alderman, telling me of this, upon which I and my servant immediately +set out for where we thought to find the stolen lady, in that we might +rescue her. She had been taken, shame that it should be said, to the +house of Madame La Motte in Duck Lane. From there we took her, but in +the taking I slew a most unknightly knight of the Court, and offered a +grave indignity to one placed even more highly than he was. Of +necessity, therefore, we fled from that ill-famed house. Madame La Motte +brought us to your ship, knowing you. Her we had to take with us, for if +not, vengeance would doubtless have fallen upon her for what I did. And +that, Captain Clark, is my whole story. As regards the future, Madame La +Motte, you say, hath paid you well. I have no money with me, but I am +the son of a rich man, and moreover, I can draw upon Mr. Cressemer for +anything I require. Gin you take us safely to Cadiz, I will give you +such a letter to the Alderman as will ensure your promotion in his +service, and will also be productive of a sum of money for you. I well +know that Master Cressemer would give a bag of ducats more than you +could lift, to secure the safety of Mistress Taylor." + +The captain nodded. "Hast explained thyself very well, sir," he replied. +"As for the money, I am already paid, though if there is more to come, +the better I shall be pleased. But now that I know your state and +condition, and have heard your story, rest assured that I will do all I +can to help you. We touch at Lisbon first. There you can purchase +proper clothing for yourself and those who are with you, and there also +you can indite a letter to the Alderman, which will go to him by an +English ship very speedily. You have told your tale, and I ask to know +no more. I would not know any more, i' faith, even if thou wert to press +the knowledge on me. Now do not answer me in what I am about to say, +which, in brief, is this: We of the riverside have heard talk and +rumours. We know very well who hath now and then been a patron of La +Motte. It may be that you have come across and offered indignity to the +person of whom I speak--I am no fool, Mr. Commendone, and gentlemen of +your degree do not generally come aboard a vessel in the tideway at +early dawn in company of a mistress of a house with a red door! If what +I say is true--and I do not wish you to deny or to affirm upon the +same--then you are as well in Cadiz as anywhere else. It is, indeed, a +far cry from the Tower of London, and no one will know who you are in +Spain." + +Instinctively Johnnie held out his hand, and the big seaman clasped it +in his brown and tarry fist. + +"Yes," he said slowly, in answer, weighing his words as he did so, +"doubtless we shall be safe in Spain for a time, until advices can reach +us from England with money and reports of what has happened." + +"I said so," Captain Clark answered, "and now you see it also. Mark +you, any vengeance that might fall upon you could only be secret, +because--if it is as I think, and, indeed, well believe--the person who +has suffered indignity at your hands could not confess to it, for reason +of his state, and where it was he suffered it. In Spain it would be +different, but who's to know that you are in Spain--for a long time, at +any rate?" + +"And by that time," Johnnie replied, "I shall hope to have gone farther +afield, and be out of the fire of any one to hurt me. But there is this, +captain, which you must consider, sith you have opened your mind to me +as I to you. Enquiry will be made; the wharfingers who brought us aboard +may be discovered, and will speak. It will be known--at any rate it +_may_ be known--that you and your ship were the instruments of our +escape. And how will you do then?" + +"I like you for saying that," said the captain, "seeing that you are, as +it were, in my power. But alarm yourself not at all, Master Commendone." + +He rose from the coil of hemp where he had been sitting and spat out +into the sea. + +"By'r Lady," he cried, "and dost think that an honest British seafaring +man fears anything that a rascally, yellow-faced, jelly-gutted lot of +Spanish toads, that have fastened them on to our fair England, can do? +Why! as thinking is now, in the City of London, my owner, Master +Cressemer, and three or four others with him, could put such pressure +upon Whitehall that ne'er a word would be said. It is them that hath the +money, and the train bands at their back, that both pay the piper and +call the tune in London City." + +"I'm glad you take it that way, captain," Commendone said, "but I felt +bound in duty to put your risk before you. Yet if it is as you say, and +the power of the merchant princes of the City is so great, why do those +about the Queen burn and throw in prison so many good men for their +religion?" + +"Ah, there you have me," said the captain. "Religion is a very different +thing--a plague to religion, say I--though I would not say it unless I +were walking my own deck and upon the high seas. But, look you, religion +is very different. They can burn a man for his religion in England, but +if he is in otherwise right, according to the powers that be, they +cannot make religion a mere excuse for burning him. Now I myself am a +good Catholic mariner"--he put his tongue in his cheek as he +spoke--"when I am ashore I take very good care--these days--to be +regular at Mass. And this ship hath been baptised by a priest withal! +Make your mind at rest; they cannot touch me in England for taking of +you away. There is too much at my back! And they cannot touch me in +Spain because no one will know anything about it there. And now 'tis +time for dinner. So come you down. There's a piece of pickled beef that +hath been in the pot this long time, and good green herbs with it +too--the want of which you will feel ere ever you make the Tagus." + + * * * * * + +It is astonishing--although the observation is trite--how soon people +adapt themselves to entirely new conditions of life. The environment of +yesterday seems like the experience of another life; that of to-day, +though we have but just experienced it, becomes already a thing of use +and wont. + +It was thus with the fugitives. They were not three days out from London +River before they had shaken down into their places and life had become +normal to them all. + +It was not, of course, without its discomforts. Hull, messing with the +bo'son, was very well off and speedily became popular with every one. +The brightness and cheeriness of the fellow's disposition made him hail +and happy met with all of them, while his great personal strength and +general handiness detracted nothing from his popularity. Madame La +Motte, wicked old soldier of fortune as she was, adapted herself to her +surroundings with true and cynical French philosophy. She, who was used +to live in the greatest personal luxury, put up with the rough fare, the +confined quarters, with equanimity, though it was fortunate that their +passage was smooth, and that all the time the sea was tranquil as a +pond. She was accustomed to drink fine French and Italian wines--and to +drink a great deal of them. Now she found, perforce, consolation in +Captain Clark's puncheons of Antwerp spirit, the white fiery _schiedam_. +She was a drunkard, this engaging lady, and imbibed great quantities of +liquor, much to the satisfaction of the captain, who was paid for it in +good coin of the realm. + +The woman never became confused or intoxicated by what she drank. +Towards the end of the day she became a little sentimental, and was wont +to talk overmuch of her good birth, to expatiate upon the fallen glories +of her family. Nevertheless, no single word escaped her which could +shock or enlighten the sensitive purity of the young girl who was now in +her charge. There must have been some truth in her stories, because +Commendone, who was a thoroughly well-bred man, could see that her +manners were those of his own class. There was certainly a +free-and-easiness, a rakish _bonhomie_, and a caustic wit which was no +part of the attributes of the great ladies Johnnie had met--always +excepting the wit. This side of the old woman came from the depths into +which she had descended; but in other essentials she was a lady, and the +young man, with his limited experience of life, marvelled at it, and +more than once thanked God that things were no worse. + +It was during this strange voyage that he learnt, or began to learn, +that great lesson of _tolerance_, which was to serve him so well in his +after life. He realised that there was good even in this unclean old +procuress; that she had virtues which some decent women he had known had +lacked. She tended Elizabeth with a maternal care; the girl clung to +her, became fond of her at once, and often said to Johnnie how kind the +woman was to her and what an affection she inspired. + +Reflecting on these things in the lonely watches of the night, +Commendone saw his views of life perceptibly changing and becoming +softened. This young man, so carefully trained, so highly educated, so +exquisitely refined in thought and behaviour, found himself feeling a +real friendship and something akin to tenderness for this kindly, +battered jetsam of life. + +She spoke frankly to him about her dreadful trade of the past, regarding +it philosophically. There was a demand; fortune or fate had put her in +the position of supplying that demand. _Il faut vivre_--and there you +were! And yet it was a most singular contradiction that this woman, who +for so long had exploited and sold womanhood, was now as kind and +tender, as scrupulous and loving to Elizabeth Taylor as if the girl was +her own daughter. + +It was not without great significance, Johnnie remembered, that the soul +of the Canaanitish harlot was the first that Christ redeemed. + +With Elizabeth--and surely there was never a stranger courting--Johnnie +sank at once into the position of her devoted lover. It seemed +inevitable. There was no prelude to it; there were no hesitations; it +just happened, as if it were a thing pre-ordained. + +From the very first the girl accepted him as her natural protector; she +looked up to him in all things; he became her present and her horizon. + +It was on one lovely night, when the moon was rising, the winds were +soft and low, and the stars came out in the dark sky like golden rain, +that he first spoke to her of what was to happen. + +It was all quite simple, though inexpressibly sweet. + +They were alone together in the forward part of the ship, and suddenly +he took her slim white hand--like a thing of carved and living +ivory--and held it close to his heart. + +"My dear," he said, in a voice tremulous with feeling, "my dear Lizzie, +you are my love and my lady. When first I saw you outside St. Botolph +his Church, so slim and sorrowful in the grey dawning, my heart was +pierced with love for you, and during the sad day that came I vowed that +I would devote my life to loving you, and that if God pleased thou +shouldst be my little wife. Wilt marry me, darling? nay, thou _must_ +marry me, for I need you so sore, to be mine for ever both here in this +mortal world and afterwards with God and His Angels. Tell me, +sweetheart, wilt marry me?" + +She looked up in his face, and the little hand upon his heart trembled +as she did so. + +"Why, Johnnie," she answered at length, "why, Johnnie, who could I marry +but you?" + +He gathered the sweet and fragrant Simplicity to him; he kissed the soft +scarlet mouth, his strong arms were a home for her. + +"Or ever we get to Seville," he said, "we will be married, sweetheart, +and never will we part from that day." + +She echoed him. "Never part!" she said. "Oh, Johnnie, my true love; my +dear and darling Johnnie!" + + * * * * * + +At Lisbon, where they lay five days, Madame La Motte and Elizabeth went +ashore, and purchased suitable clothes and portmanteaux, while Johnnie +also fitted himself out afresh. Madame La Motte had brought a very large +sum with her in carefully hoarded gold, while she had also carried away +all her jewels, which, in themselves, were worth a small fortune. She +placed the whole of her money at Commendone's disposal, and made him +take charge of it, with an airy generosity which much touched the young +man. He explained to her that in the course of three months or so any +money that he needed would reach him from England, and that she would be +repaid, but she hardly seemed to hear him and waved such suggestion +away. And it is a most curious thing that not till a long time afterward +did it ever occur to the young man how and in what way the money he was +using had been earned. The realisation of that was to come to him later; +the time was not yet. + +At Lisbon the passengers on board the _St. Iago_ were added to. A small +yellow-faced Spaniard of very pleasant manners--Don Pedro Perez by +name--bought a passage to Cadiz from Captain Clark, and there was +another fellow of the lower classes, a tall, athletic young man, very +much of Johnnie's build, though with a heavy and rather cruel face, who +also joined the vessel. This person, who paid the captain a small sum to +be carried to the great port, lived with the sailors, and interfered +nothing with the life of the others. + +Don Perez proved himself an amusing companion and was very courteous to +the ladies. + +From him Johnnie made many enquiries and learnt a good deal of what he +wanted to know. It will be remembered that Commendone's mother was a +Spaniard, a girl of the Senebria family of Seville. Johnnie knew little +of his relations on his mother's side, but old Sir Henry still kept up +some slight intercourse with Don José Senebria, the brother of his late +wife. Now and again a cask of wine and some pottles of olives arrived at +Commendone, and occasionally the knight returned the present, sending +out bales of Flemish cloth. It was Johnnie's purpose to immediately +proceed from Cadiz to Seville after their arrival at the port. He learnt +with satisfaction that Don José still inhabited the old family palace by +the Giralda, and he felt that he would at least be among friends and +sure of a welcome. + +While the _St. Iago_ lay at Lisbon, two days before she set sail from +there, an English ship arrived, and from that time until she weighed +anchor Johnnie and none of his companions went ashore. It was extremely +unlikely that they would incur any danger, for the _Queen Mary_, which +was the name of the ship, must have sailed at very much the same time as +they did. It was as well, however, to undergo no unnecessary risks. + +On the day before the _St. Iago_ sailed for Cadiz a great Spanish galley +came up the Tagus, a long and splendid ship, gliding swiftly up the +river with its two banks of oars. It was the first galley Johnnie had +ever seen, and he shuddered as he thought of the chained slaves below, +who propelled that sort of vessel, which was spoken of in England as a +floating hell. The galley lay at Lisbon for several hours, and then at +evening left the wharf where she had been tied and once more went down +the river for the open sea. + +Johnnie was on deck as she passed, just about sunset, and watched with +great interest, for the galley crossed the stern of the _St. Iago_ only +fifty yards away from him. + +He heard the regular machine-like chunking of the oars; he heard also a +sharper, more pistol-like sound, which he knew was none other than the +cracking of the overseers' whips, as they flogged the slaves to greater +exertions. + +He did not see that among a little group of people upon the high +castellated poop of the galley there was one figure, a tall figure, +muffled in a cloak, and with a broad-brimmed Spanish hat low upon its +face, who started and peered eagerly at him as the ship went by. + +Nor did he hear a low chuckle of amusement which came from that cloaked +figure. + +Elizabeth was standing by his side. He turned to her. + +"Let us go below," he said; "they will be bringing supper. Sweetheart, I +feel sad to think of those wretched men that pull that splendid ship so +swiftly through the seas." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +"MISERICORDIA ET JUSTITIA" + +(_The ironic motto of the Spanish Inquisition_) + + +They had passed Cape de St. Vincent, and, under a huge copper-coloured +moon which flooded the sea with light and seemed like a chased buckler +of old Rome, were slipping along towards Faro, southwards and eastwards +to Cadiz. + +The night was fair, sweet, and golden. The airs which filled the sails +of the square-rigged ship were soft and warm. The "lap, lap" of the +small waves upon the cutwater was soothing and in harmony with the hour. + +Elizabeth had been sleeping in the cabin long since, but Commendone, old +Madame La Motte, and the little weazened Don Perez were sitting on the +forecastle deck together, among the six brass carronades which were +mounted there, ready loaded, in case of an attack by the pirates of +Tangier. + +"You were going to tell us, Señor," Johnnie said, "something of the Holy +Office, and why, when you leave Seville, you leave Spain for ever." + +Don Perez nodded. He rose to his feet and peered round the wooden tower +of the forecastle, which nearly filled the bow-deck. + +"There is nobody there," he said, with a little sigh of relief. "That +fellow we took aboard at Lisbon is down in the waist with the mariners." + +"But why do you fear him?" Johnnie answered in surprise. + +The little yellow man plucked at his pointed black beard, hesitated for +a moment, and then spoke. + +"Have you noticed his hands, Señor?" he asked. + +"Since you say so," Johnnie replied, with wonder in his voice, "I have +noticed them. He is a proper young man of his inches, strong and an +athlete, though I like not his face. But his hands are out of all +proportion. They are too large, and the thumbs too broad--indeed, I have +never seen thumbs like them upon a hand before." + +Don Pedro Perez nodded significantly. "_Ciertamenta_," he answered +dryly. "It is hereditary; it comes of his class. He is a sworn torturer +of the Holy Office." + +Johnnie shuddered. They had been speaking in Spanish. Now he exclaimed +in his own tongue. "Good God!" he said, "how horrible!" + +Perez grinned sadly and cynically as the moonlight fell upon his yellow +face. "You may well start, Señor," he said, "but you know little of the +land to which you are going yet." + +There came a sudden, rapid exclamation in French. Madame La Motte, +speaking in that slow, frightened voice which had been hers throughout +the voyage, was interposing. + +"I don't understand," she said, "but I want to hear what the gentleman +has to say. He speaks French; let us therefore use that language." + +Don Perez bowed. "I am quite agreeable," he said; "but I doubt, Madame, +that you will care to hear all I was going to tell the Señor here." + +"Phut!" said the Frenchwoman. "I know more evil things than you or Don +Commendone have ever dreamed of. Say what you will." + +Don Perez drew a little nearer to the others, squatting down, with his +head against the bow-men's tower. + +"You have asked me about the Inquisition, Monsieur and Madame," he said +in a low voice, "and as ye are going to Seville, I will tell you, for +you have been courteous and kind to me since I left Lisbon, and you may +as well be warned. I am peculiarly fitted to tell you, because my +brother--God and Our Lady rest his blood-stained soul!--was a notary of +the Holy Office at Seville. We are, originally, Lisbon people, and my +brother was paying a visit to his family, being on leave from his +duties. He caught fever and died, and I am bearing back his papers with +me to Seville, from which city I shall depart as soon as may be. It is +only care for my own skin that makes me act thus as executor to my +brother, Garcia Perez. Did I not, they would seek me out wherever I +might be." + +"You go in fear, then?" Johnnie asked curiously. + +"All Spaniards go in fear," Perez answered, "under this reign. It is the +horror of the Inquisition that while any one may be haled before it on a +complaint which is anonymous, hardly any one ever escapes certain +penalties. Señor," his voice trembled, and a deep note of feeling came +into it, "if the fate of that wretch is heavy who, being innocent of +heresy, will not confess his guilt, and is therefore tortured until he +confesses imaginary guilt, and is then burned to death, hardly less is +the misery of the victim who recants or repenteth and is freed from the +penalty of death." + +"_Tiens!_" said La Motte, shuddering. "I have heard somewhat of this in +Paris; but continue, Monsieur, continue." + +"No one knows," the little man answered, "how the Holy Office is +striking at the root of all national life in my country. And no one has +a better knowledge of it all at second hand--for, thank Our Lady, I have +never yet been suspected or arraigned--than I myself, for my brother +being for long notary and secretary to the Grand Inquisitor of Seville, +I have heard much. Now I must tell you, that the place of torture is +generally an underground and very dark room, to which one enters through +several doors. There is a tribunal erected in it, where the Inquisitor, +Inspector, and Secretary sit. When the candles are lighted, and the +person to be tortured is brought in, the executioner, who is waiting +for him, makes an astonishing and dreadful appearance. He is covered all +over with black linen garments down to his feet and tied close to his +body. His head and face are all hidden with a long black cowl, only two +little holes being left in it for him to see through. All this is +intended to strike the miserable wretch with greater terror in mind and +body, when he sees himself going to be tortured by the hands of one who +thus looks like the very Devil." + +Johnnie moved uneasily in his seat and struck the breech of a carronade +with his open hand. "Phew! Devil's tricks indeed," he said. + +"Whilst," Don Perez went on, "whilst the officers are getting things +ready for the torture, the Bishop and Inquisitor by themselves, and +other men zealous for the faith, endeavour to persuade the person to be +tortured freely to confess the truth, and if he will not, they order the +officers to strip him, who do it in an instant. + +"Whilst the person to be tortured is stripping, he is persuaded to +confess the truth. If he refuses it, he is taken aside by certain men +and urged to confess, and told by them that if he confesses he will not +be put to death, but only be made to swear that he will not return to +the heresy he hath abjured. If he is persuaded neither by threatenings +nor promises to confess his crime, he is tortured either more lightly or +grievously according as his crime requires, and frequently interrogated +during the torture upon those articles for which he is put to it, +beginning with the lesser ones, because they think he would sooner +confess the lesser matters than the greater." + +"Criminals are racked in England," Johnnie said, "and are flogged most +grievously, as well they deserve, I do not doubt." + +Perez chuckled. "Aye," he said, "that I well know; but you have nothing +in England like the Holy Office. But let me tell you more as to the law +of it, for, as I have said, my brother was one of them." + +He went on in a low regular voice, almost as if he were repeating +something learned by rote.... + +"What think you of this? The Inquisitors themselves must interrogate the +criminals during their torture, nor can they commit this business to +others unless they are engaged in other important affairs, in which case +they may depute certain skilful men for the purpose. + +"Although in other nations criminals are publicly tortured, yet in Spain +it is forbidden by the Royal Law for any to be present whilst they are +torturing, besides the judges, secretaries, and torturers. The +Inquisitors must also choose proper torturers, born of ancient +Christians, who must be bound by oath by no means to discover their +secrets, nor to report anything that is said. + +"The judges also shall protest that if the criminal should happen to die +under his torture, or by reason of it, or should suffer the loss of any +of his limbs, it is not to be imputed to them, but to the criminal +himself, who will not plainly confess the truth before he is tortured. + +"A heretic may not only be interrogated concerning himself, but in +general also concerning his companions and accomplices in his crime, his +teachers and his disciples, for he ought to discover them, though he be +not interrogated; but when he is interrogated concerning them, he is +much more obliged to discover them than his accomplices in any other the +most grievous crimes. + +"A person also suspected of heresy and fully convicted may be tortured +upon another account, that is, to discover his companions and +accomplices in the crime. This must be done when he hesitates, or it is +half fully proved, at least, that he was actually present with them, or +he hath such companions and accomplices in his crime; for in this case +he is not tortured as a criminal, but as a witness. + +"But he who makes full confession of himself is not tortured upon a +different account; whereas if he be a negative he may be tortured upon +another account, to discover his accomplices and other heretics though +he be full convicted himself, and it be half fully proved that he hath +such accomplices. + +"The reason of the difference in these cases is this, because he who +confesses against himself would certainly much rather confess against +other heretics if he knew them. But it is otherwise when the criminal is +a negative. + +"While these things are doing, the notary writes everything down in the +process, as what tortures were inflicted, concerning what matters the +prisoner was interrogated, and what he answered. + +"If by these tortures they cannot draw from him a confession, they show +him other kind of tortures, and tell him he must undergo all of them, +unless he confesses the truth. + +"If neither by these means they can extort the truth, they may, to +terrify him and engage him to confess, assign the second or third day to +continue, not to repeat, the torture, till he hath undergone all those +kinds of them to which he is condemned." + +"It is bitter cruel," Madame La Motte said, "bitter cruel. It is not +honest torture such as we have in Paris." + +Commendone shuddered. "Honest torture!" he said. "There is no torture +which is honest, nor could be liked by Christ our Lord. I saw a saint +burned to his death a few weeks agone. It taught me a lesson." + +The little Spaniard tittered. "It must be! It must be!" he said; "and +who are you and I, Señor, to flout the decrees of Holy Church? The +burning doth not last for long. I have seen a many burned upon the +Quemadero, and twenty minutes is the limit of their suffering. It is not +so in the dungeons of the Holy Office." + +"What then do they do?" Madame La Motte asked eagerly, though she +trembled as she asked it--morbid excitement alone being able to thrill +her vicious, degenerate blood. + +"The degrees of torture are five, which are inflicted in turn," Perez +answered briskly. "First, the being threatened to be tortured; secondly, +being carried to the place of torture; thirdly, by stripping and +binding; fourthly, the being hoisted on the rack; fifthly, squassation. + +"The stripping is performed without any regard to humanity or honour, +not only to men, but to women and virgins, though the most virtuous and +chaste, of whom they have sometimes many in their prison at Seville. For +they cause them to be stripped even to their very shifts, which they +afterwards take off, forgive the expression, and then put on them +straight linen drawers, and then make their arms naked quite up to their +shoulders.--You ask me what is squassation?" + +Nobody had asked him, but he went on: + +"It is thus performed: The prisoner hath his hands bound behind his back +and weights tied to his feet, and then he is drawn up on high till his +head reaches the very pulley. He is kept hanging in this manner for some +time, that by the greatness of the weight hanging at his feet, all his +joints and limbs may be dreadfully stretched, and on a sudden he is let +down with a jerk by slacking the rope, but kept from coming quite to the +ground, by the which terrible shake his arms and legs are all +disjointed, whereby he is put to the most exquisite pain; the shock +which he receives by the sudden stop of the fall, and the weight at his +feet, stretching his whole body more intently and cruelly." + +Johnnie jumped up from the deck and stretched his arms. "What fiends be +these!" he cried. "Is there no justice nor true legal process in Spain?" + +"Holy Church! Holy Church, Señor!" the Don replied. "But sit you down +again. Sith you are going to Seville, as I understand you to say, let me +tell you what happened to a noble lady of that city, Joan Bohorquia, the +wife of Francis Varquius, a very eminent man and lord of Highuera, and +daughter of Peter Garcia Xeresius, a most wealthy citizen. All this I +tell you of my personal knowledge, in that my brother was acquainted +with it all and part of the machinery of the Holy Office. And this is a +most sad and pitiful story, which, Señor Englishman, you would think a +story of the doings of devils from hell! But no! 'Twas all done by the +priests of Jesus our Lord; and so now to my story. + +"Eight days after her delivery they took the child from her, and on the +fifteenth shut her close up, and made her undergo the fate of the other +prisoners, and began to manage her with their usual arts and rigour. In +so dreadful a calamity she had only this comfort, that a certain pious +young woman, who was afterwards burned for her religion by the +Inquisitors, was allowed her for her companion. + +"This young creature was, on a certain day, carried out to her torture, +and being returned from it into her jail, she was so shaken, and had all +her limbs so miserably disjointed, that when she laid upon her bed of +rushes it rather increased her misery than gave her rest, so that she +could not turn herself without most excessive pain. + +"In this condition, as Bohorquia had it not in her power to show her any +or but very little outward kindness, she endeavoured to comfort her mind +with great tenderness. + +"The girl had scarce begun to recover from her torture, when Bohorquia +was carried out to the same exercise, and was tortured with such +diabolical cruelty upon the rack, that the rope pierced and cut into the +very bones in several places, and in this manner she was brought back to +prison, just ready to expire, the blood immediately running out of her +mouth in great plenty. Undoubtedly they had burst her bowels, insomuch +that the eighth day after her torture she died. + +"And when, after all, they could not procure sufficient evidence to +condemn her, though sought after and procured by all their inquisitorial +arts, yet as the accused person was born in that place, where they were +obliged to give some account of the affair to the people, and, indeed, +could not by any means dissemble it, in the first act of triumph +appointed her death, they commanded her sentence to be pronounced in +these words: 'Because this lady died in prison (without doubt +suppressing the causes of it), and was found to be innocent upon +inspecting and diligently examining her cause, therefore the holy +tribunal pronounces her free from all charges brought against her by the +fiscal, and absolving her from any further process, doth restore her +both as to her innocence and reputation, and commands all her effects, +which had been confiscated, to be restored to those to whom they of +right belonged, etc.' And thus, after they had murdered her by torture +with savage cruelty, they pronounced her innocent!" + +"I will not go to Spain! They'll have me; they're bound to have me! I +dare not go!" La Motte spluttered. + +"Hush, Madame!" said Perez. "Even here on the high seas you do not know +who hears you--there is that man...." + +Again Johnnie leapt to his feet; he paced up and down the little portion +of the deck between the forecastle and bowsprit. + +Elizabeth was sleeping quietly down below. He had seen her father die. +His mind whirled. "Jesus!" he said in a low voice, "and is this indeed +Thy world, when men who love Thee must die for a shadow of belief in +their worship! Surely some savage pagan god would not exact this from +his votaries." + +He swung round to Perez, still sitting upon the deck. + +"And may not we love God and His Mother in Spain?" he asked, "without +definitions and little tiny rules? Then, if this is so, God indeed +hides His face from Christian countries." + +"_Chiton!_" the Spaniard said. "Hush! if you said that, Señor, or +anything like it, where you are going, you would not be twelve hours out +of the prisons of the Holy Office. If that hang-faced dog who is down +below with the mariners had heard you, you might well look to your +landing in the dominions of his Most Catholic Majesty." + +He laughed, a bitter and cynical laugh. "Well," he said, "for my part, I +shall soon be done with it. Hitherto I have been protected by my +brother, who, as I have told you, is but lately dead; but, knowing what +I know, I dare no longer remain in Spain. 'Tis a wonder to me, indeed, +that men can go about their business under the sun in the fashion that +they do. But I am not strong enough to endure the strain, and also I +know more than the ordinary--I know too much. So when I have delivered +the papers that I carry of my brother's to the authorities in Seville, I +sail away. I have enough money to live in ease for the rest of my life, +and in some little vineyard of the Apeninnes I shall watch my grapes +ripen, live a simple life, and meditate upon the ferocity of men.--But +you have not heard all yet, Señor." + +Johnnie leant against the forecastle, tall and silent in the moonlight. + +"Then tell me more, Señor," he said; "it is well to know all. But"--he +looked at Madame La Motte. + +"_Continuez_," the old creature answered in a cracked voice; "I also +would hear it all, if, indeed, there is worse than this." + +"Worse!" Perez answered. "Let me tell you of the fate of a man I knew +well, and liked withal. He was a Jew, Señor, but nevertheless I liked +him well. We had dealings together, and I found him more honest in his +walking than many a Christian man. Orobio was his name--Isaac Orobio, +doctor of physic, who was accused to the Inquisition as a Jew by a +certain Moor, his servant, who had, by his order, before this been +whipped for thieving. Orobio conformed to religion, but the Moor accused +him, and four years after this he was again accused by an enemy of his, +for another fact which would have proved him a Jew. But Orobio +obstinately denied that he was one." + +"I like not Jews," Commendone said, with a little shudder, voicing the +popular hatred of the day. + +"Art young, Señor," the Spaniard replied, "and doubtless thou hast not +known nor been friends with members of that oppressed race. I have known +many, and have had sweet friends among them; and among the Ebrews are to +be found salt of the earth. But I will give you the story of Orobio's +torture as I had it from his own mouth. + +"After three whole years which he had been in jail, and several +examinations, and the discovery of the crimes to him of which he was +accused, in order to his confession and his constant denial of them, he +was, at length, carried out of his jail and through several turnings and +brought to the place of torture. This was towards evening. + +"It was a large, underground room, arched, and the walls covered with +black hangings. The candlesticks were fastened to the wall, and the +whole room enlightened with candles placed in them. At one end of it +there was an enclosed place like a closet, where the Inquisitor and +notary sat at a table--that notary, Señor, was my brother. The place +seemed to Orobio as the very mansion of death, everything appearing so +terrible and awful. Here the Inquisitor again admonished him to confess +the truth before his torment began. + +"When he answered he had told the truth, the Inquisitor gravely +protested that since he was so obstinate as to suffer the torture, the +Holy Office would be innocent if he should shed his blood, or even +expire in his torments. When he had said this, they put a linen garment +over Orobio's body, and drew it so very close on each side as almost to +squeeze him to death. When he was almost dying, they slackened, at once, +the sides of the garment, and after he began to breathe again, the +sudden alteration put him to most grievous anguish and pain. When he had +overcome this torture, the same admonition was repeated, that he would +confess the truth in order to prevent further torment. + +"And as he persisted in his denial, they tied his thumbs so very tightly +with small cords as made the extremities of them greatly swell, and +caused the blood to spurt out from under his nails. After this, he was +placed with his back against the wall and fixed upon a little bench. +Into the wall were fastened little iron pulleys, through which there +were ropes drawn and tied round his body in several places, and +especially his arms and legs. The executioner drawing these ropes with +great violence, fastened his body with them to the wall, so that his +hands and feet, and especially his fingers and toes, being bound so +straitly with them, put him to the most exquisite pain, and seemed to +him just as though he had been dissolving in flames. In the midst of +these torments, the torturer of a sudden drew the bench from under him, +so that the miserable wretch hung by the cords without anything to +support him, and by the weight of his body drew the knots yet much +closer. + +"After this a new kind of torture succeeded. There was an instrument +like a small ladder, made of two upright pieces of wood and five cross +ones, sharpened before. This the torturer placed over against him, and +by a certain proper motion struck it with great violence against both +his shins, so that he received upon each of them, at once, five violent +strokes, which put him to such intolerable anguish that he fainted away. +After he came to himself they inflicted on him the last torture. + +"The torturer tied ropes round Orobio's wrists, and then put those ropes +about his own back, which was covered with leather to prevent his +hurting himself. Then, falling backwards, and putting his feet up +against the wall, he drew them with all his might till they cut through +Orobio's flesh, even to the very bones; and this torture was repeated +thrice, the ropes being tied about his arms, about the distance of two +fingers' breadth from his former wound, and drawn with the same +violence. + +"But it happened to poor Orobio that as the ropes were drawing the +second time they slid into the first wound, which caused so great an +effusion of blood that he seemed to be dying. Upon this, the physician +and surgeon, who are always ready, were sent for out of a neighbouring +apartment, to ask their advice, whether the torture could be continued +without danger of death, lest the ecclesiastical judges should be guilty +of an irregularity if the criminal should die in his torments. + +"Now they, Señor, who were very far from being enemies to Orobio, +answered that he had strength enough to endure the rest of the torture. +And by doing this they preserved him from having the torture he had +already endured repeated on him, because his sentence was that he should +suffer them all at one time, one after another, so that if at any time +they are forced to leave off, through fear of death, the tortures, even +those already suffered, must be successively inflicted to satisfy the +sentence. Upon this the torture was repeated the third time, and then +was ended. After this Orobio was bound up in his own clothes and carried +back to his prison, and was scarce healed of his wounds in seventy +days, and inasmuch as he made no confession under his torture, he was +condemned, not as one convicted, but suspected of Judaism, to wear for +two whole years the infamous habit called the _sanbenito_, and it was +further decreed that after that term he should suffer perpetual +banishment from the kingdom of Seville." + +The Frenchwoman, who had been listening with strained attention, broke +in suddenly. "_Nom de Dieu!_" she cried; "to be banished from there +would surely be like entering into paradise!" + +Perez went on. He took a morbid pleasure in the telling of these hideous +truths. It was obvious that he had long suffered mentally under the +obsession that some day some such horrors might happen to himself. +Connected with it all by family ties, absolutely unable to say a word +for many years, now, under the sweet skies of heaven, in the calm and +splendid night, he was disemburdening himself of that which had been +pent within him for so long. + +He seemed impatient of interruption, anxious to say more.... + +"Ah," he whispered, "but the _Tormento di Toca_, that is the worst, that +would frighten me more than all--that, the _Chafing-dish_, and the +_Water-Cure_. The _Tormento di Toca_ is that the torturer--that fellow +down there with the sailors has doubtless performed it full many a +time--the torturer throws over the victim's mouth and nostrils a thin +cloth, so that he is scarce able to breathe through it, and in the +meanwhile a small stream of water, like a thread, not drop by drop, +falls from on high upon the mouth of the person lying in this miserable +condition, and so easily sinks down the thin cloth to the bottom of his +throat, so that there is no possibility of breathing, the mouth being +stopped with water, and his nostrils with the cloth, so that the poor +wretch is in the same agony as persons ready to die, and breathing out +their last. When the cloth is drawn out of his throat, as it often is, +that he may answer to the questions, it is all wet with water and blood, +and is like pulling his bowels through his mouth." + +"What is the _Chafing-dish_?" Madame La Motte asked thinly. + +"They order a large iron chafing-dish full of lighted charcoal to be +brought in and held close to the soles of the tortured person's feet, +greased over with lard, so that the heat of the fire may more quickly +pierce through them. And as for the _Water-Cure_, it was done to William +Lithgow, an Englishman, Señor, upon whom my brother saw it performed. He +was taken up as a spy in Malaga, and was exposed to most cruel torments +as an heretic. He was condemned in the beginning of Lent to suffer the +night following eleven most cruel torments, and after Easter to be +carried privately to Granada, there to be burned at midnight, and his +ashes to be scattered into the air. When night came on his fetters were +taken off. Then he was stripped naked, put upon his knees, and his head +lifted up by force, after which, opening his mouth with iron +instruments, they filled his belly with water till it came out of his +jaws. Then they tied a rope hard about his neck, and in this condition +rolled him seven times the whole length of the room, till he almost +quite strangled. After this they tied a small cord about both his great +toes, and hung him up thereby with his head down, letting him remain in +this condition till the water discharged out of his mouth, so that he +was laid on the ground as just dead, and had his irons put on him +again." + +"Is this true, Señor?" Commendone asked in a low voice; but even while +he asked it he knew how true it was--had he not seen Dr. Taylor beaten +to the stake? + +"True, Señor?" the little man said. "You do not doubt my word? I see you +do not. It was but a natural expression. You are fortunate to be a +citizen of England--a citizen of no mean country--but still, as I have +heard, now that His Most Catholic Majesty is wedded to your kingdom +there are many burnings." + +"At any rate," Johnnie answered hotly, "we have no Holy Office." + +"Aye, but you will, Señor, you _will_! if the Queen Maria liveth long +enough, for they tell me she is sickly, and not like to make a goodly +age. But still, to come from England is most deadly unwise, and I cannot +think why a _caballero_ should care to do so." + +Johnnie did not answer him for a moment. He knew very well why he had +cared, or dared, to do so. He looked at Madame La Motte with a grim +little smile. + +The woman took him on the instant. + +"A chevalier, such as Monsieur here, hath his own reasons for where he +goes and what he does," she said. "Take not upon you, Monsieur Perez, to +enquire too much...." + +Johnnie stopped her with a sudden exclamation. + +"But touching the Holy Office, Señor," he said, "what you have told me +is all very well. I am a good Catholic, I trust and hope; but surely +these circumstances are very occasional. You describe things which have +doubtless happened, but not things which happen every day. It is +impossible to believe that this is a system." + +"Think you so?" said the little man. "Then I will very soon disabuse you +of any such idea. I have papers in my mails, papers of my brother's, +which--why, who comes here?" + +His voice died away into silence, as round the other side of the wooden +tower of the forecastle--with which all big merchantmen were provided in +those days for defence against the enterprise of pirates--a black +shadow, followed by a short, thick-set form, came into their view. + +Johnnie recognised Hull. + +"I thought you had been asleep," he said, "but thou art very welcome. We +are talking of grave matters dealing with the foreign parts to which we +go, and the Señor Don here hath been telling us much. Still, thou +wouldst not have understood hadst thou been with us, for Don Perez +speaks naught but the Spanish and the French." + +The little Spaniard, standing up against the bulwarks, looked uneasily +towards Commendone and his servant, comprehending nothing of what was +said. + +"This man is safe?" he asked in a trembling voice. + +"Safe!" Johnnie answered. "This is my faithful servant, who would die +for me and the lady who is sleeping below." + +A freakish humour possessed him, a bitter, freakish humour, in this +fantastic, brilliant moonlight, this ironic comedy upon the +southern-growing seas. + +"Take him by the hand, Señor," he said in Spanish, "take him by his +great, strong right hand, for I'll wager you will not easily shake a +hand so honest in the dominions of the King of Spain to which we sail." + +The little man looked round him as if in fear. There was an obvious +suggestion in his eyes and face that he was somehow trapped. + +"Hold out thy hand, John Hull, and shake that of this honest gentleman," +Johnnie said. + +The big brown hand of the Englishman went out, the little yellow fingers +of the Spaniard advanced tentatively towards it. + +They shook hands. + +Johnnie watched it with amusement. These dreadful stories of unthinkable +cruelty had stirred up something within him. He was not cruel, but very +tender-hearted, yet this little play upon the doubting Spaniard was +welcome and fitted in with his mood. + +Then he saw an astonishing thing, and one which he could not explain. + +The two men, the huge, squat John Hull of Suffolk, the little weazened +gentleman from Lisbon, shook hands, looked at each other earnestly in +the face, and then, wonder of wonders, linked arms, turned their backs +upon Johnnie and the sleepy old Frenchwoman by the carronade, and spoke +earnestly to each other for a moment. + +Their forms were silhouetted against the silver sea. There was an +inexplicable motion of arms, a word whispered and a word exchanged, and +then Don Perez wheeled round. + +In the moonlight and the glimmer from the lantern on the forecastle, +Johnnie saw that his face, which had been twitching with anxiety, was +now absolutely at rest. It was radiant even, excited, pleased--it wore +the aspect of one alone among enemies who had found a friend. + +"'Tis all right, Señor," Perez said. "I will go and fetch you the papers +of which I spoke. You may command me in any way now. You are not +yourself--by any chance...." + +John Hull shook his head violently, and the little Spaniard skipped away +with a chuckle. + +"What is this?" John Commendone asked. "How have you made quick friends +with the Don? What is't--art magic, or what?" + +"'Tis nothing, sir," Hull answered, with some embarrassment, "'tis but +the Craft." + +"The Craft?" Johnnie asked. "And what may that be?" + +"We're brethren, this man and I," Hull answered; "we're of the +Freemasons, and that is why, master." + +Johnnie nodded. He said no more. The whole thing was inexplicable to +him. He knew, of course, of the Freemasons, that such a society existed, +but no evidence of it had ever come to his knowledge before this night. +The persecution of Freemasonry which was to ensue in Queen Elizabeth's +reign was not yet, and the Brethren were a very hidden people in 1555. + +There was a patter of feet upon the ladder leading up to the +forecastle-deck. Perez appeared again with a bundle of papers in his +hand. + +"Now, then, Señor," he said, "you shall see if this of which I have told +you is a _system_ or is not. These are documents, forms, belonging to my +brother's business as Notary of the Holy Office. Thus thou wilt see." + +He handed a piece of parchment, printed parchment, to Commendone. + +Johnnie held it up under the light of the lantern, and read it, with a +chilling of the blood. + +It was "The Proper Form of Torture for Women," and it was one of many +forms left blank for convenience to record the various steps. + +As he glanced through it, his lips grew dry, his eyes, straining in the +half-sufficient light, seemed to burn. + +There was something peculiarly terrible in the very omission of a +special name, and the consequent thought of the number of wretches whose +vain words and torments had been recorded upon forms like this--and were +yet to be recorded--froze the young man into a still figure of horror +and of silence. + +And this is what he read: + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or orders would be given to + strip her. She said, etc. She was commanded to be stripped + naked._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or orders would be given to + cut off her hair. She said, etc._ + + "_Orders were given to cut of her hair; and when it was taken + off she was examined by the doctor and surgeon, who said there + was not any objection to her being put to the torture._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth or she would be commanded to + mount the rack. She said, etc._ + + "_She was commanded to mount, and she said, etc._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or her body would be bound. + She said, etc. She was ordered to be bound._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or, if not, they would order + her right foot to be made fast for the trampazo. She said, etc. + They commanded it to be made fast._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would command her + left foot to be made fast for the trampazo. She said, etc. They + commanded it to be made fast. She said, etc. It was ordered to + be done._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the + binding of the right arm to be stretched. She said, etc. It was + commanded to be done. And the same with the left arm. It was + ordered to be executed._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the + fleshy part of her right arm to be made fast for the garrote. + She said, etc. It was ordered to be made fast._ + + "_And by the said lord inquisitor, it was repeated to her many + times, that she should tell the truth, and not let herself be + brought into so great torment; and the physician and surgeon + were called in, who said, etc. And the criminal, etc. And + orders were given to make it fast._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the first + turn of mancuerda. She said, etc. It was commanded to be done._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would command the + garrote to be applied again to the right arm. She said, etc. It + was ordered to be done._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the + second turn of mancuerda. She said, etc. It was commanded to be + done._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the + garrote to be applied again to the left arm. She said, etc. It + was ordered to be done._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the third + turn of mancuerda. She said, etc. It was commanded to be done._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the + trampazo to be laid on the right foot. She said, etc. It was + commanded to be done._ + + "_For women you do not go beyond this._" + +Johnnie finished his reading. Then he tore it up into four pieces and +flung it out upon the starboard bow. + +The yellow parchment fluttered over Madame La Motte's head like great +moonlit moths. + +Then he turned and stared at Don Pedro, almost as if he would have +sprung at him. + +"'Tis nothing of mine, Señor," the little man said. "You asked me to +tell you, and that I have done. I am no enemy of yours, so look not at +me in that way. Here"--he put his hand out and touched John Hull--"here +I have a very worthy brother, eke a Master of mine, who will answer for +me in all that I do." + +The old Frenchwoman began to gather her vast bulk together to descend +into the cabin for sleep. + +Johnnie helped her to her feet, and as he did so a sweet tenor voice +shivered out beneath the bellying sails, and there was the thrid of a +lute accompanying it: + + "_I sail, I sail the Spanish seas, + Hey ho, in the sun and the cloud + To bring fair ladies + Wool to Cadiz, + To deck their bodies that are so proud, + In the ship of St. James a mariner I_".... + +Suddenly the voice of the singer ceased, shut off into silence. + +There was a half-frightened shout, a flapping of the sails as the +square-rigged ship fell out of the night wind for a moment, and then a +clamour of loud voices. + +"Over the side! Over the side! The man from Lisbon's gone." + +Johnnie had jumped to the port taffrail at the noise, and he saw what +had happened. He saw the whole of it quite distinctly. A long, lithe +figure had been balancing itself upon the bulwarks, giving its body to +the gentle motion of the ship. + +Suddenly it fell backwards, there was a resounding splash in the quiet +sea, and something black was struggling and threshing in a pool of +silver water. From the sea came a loud cry--"_Socorro! Socorro!_" + +From the time the splash was heard and the cry came up to the forecastle +the ship had slipped a hundred yards through the still waters. + +Johnnie jumped up upon the bulwarks, held his hands above his head for a +moment, judged his distance--ships were not high out of the water in +that day--and dived into the phosphorescent sea. + +He was lightly clad, and he swam strongly, with the long left-arm +overhand stroke--conquering an element with joy in the doing of it--glad +to be in wild and furious action, happy to throw off the oppression of +the dreadful things which the little Spaniard had droned upon the deck. +He got up to the man easily enough, circled round him, as he rose +splashing for the third time, and caught him under the arm-pits, lying +on his back with the other above him. + +The man began to struggle, trying to turn and grip. + +Johnnie raised his head a little from the water, sinking as he did so, +and pulling down the other also, and shouted a Spanish curse into his +ear. + +"Be quiet," he said; "lie still! If you don't I'll drown you!" + +Commendone was a good swimmer. He had swam and dived in the lake at +Commendone since he was a boy. He knew now exactly what to do, and his +voice, though half-strangled with the salt water, and his grip of the +drowning man's arm-pits had their effect. + +There was a half-choked, "_Si, Señor_," and in twenty to thirty seconds +Johnnie lay back in the warm water of the Atlantic, knowing that for a +few minutes, at any rate, he could support the man he had come to save. + +It was curious that at this moment he felt no fear or alarm whatever. +His whole mind was directed towards one thing--that the man he had dived +to rescue would keep still. His mouth and nose were just out of the +water, when suddenly there came into his mind the catch of an old song. + +He heard again the high, delicate notes of the Queen's lute--"_Time hath +to siluer turn'd_...." + +Hardly knowing what he did, he even laughed with pleasure at the memory. + +As that was heard, a strong, lusty voice came to him. + +"I'm here, master, I'm here! We shall not be long now. Ah--ah-h-h!" + +Hull, blowing like a grampus, had swam up to them. + +"I'll take him, master," he said; "do you rest for a moment. They'll +have us out of this 'fore long." + +There were no life-belts invented in those days, and to lower a boat +from the ship was long in doing. But the _St. Iago_ was brought up with +all sails standing, the boat at the stern was let down most gingerly +into the sea, and four mariners rowed towards the swimming men. It was +near twenty minutes before Hull and Commendone heard the chunk of the +oars in the rowlocks. But they heard it at last. The tub-like galley +shadowed them, there was a loud cry of welcome and relief, and then the +two men, still grasping the inert figure of him who had fallen +overboard, caught hold of the stern of the boat. Willing hands hauled +the half-drowned man into the boat. Johnnie and Hull clambered over the +broad stern, sat down amid-ships, and shook themselves. + +The moonlight was still extraordinarily powerful, and gave a fallen day +to this southern world. + +As Commendone shot the water out of his ears, he looked upon the limp, +prone figure of the man he had rescued. + +"_Dame!_" he cried; "it is the torturer that we've been overboard for. +Pity we didn't let him drown." + +John Hull had turned the figure of the Spaniard upon its stomach and was +working vigorously at the arms, using them like pump-handles, as the +sailors got their oars into the rowlocks again, and pulled back towards +the shivering, silver ship near quarter of a mile away. + +"I'll bring the life back to him, master," said John Hull. "He's warm +now--there! He's vomited a pint or more of sea-water as I speak." + +"I doubt he was worth saving," Johnnie said in a low voice to his +servant's ear. "Still, he is saved, and I suppose a man like this hath a +soul?" + +Hull looked at Commendone in surprise. He knew nothing about the man +they had rescued; he could not understand why his master spoke in this +way. + +But with his usual dog-like fidelity he nodded an assent, though he did +not cease the pumping motion of the half-drowned man's arms. + +"Perhaps he hath no soul, master," Hull said, "you know better than I. +At any rate, we have got him out of this here sea, and so praise God Who +hath given us the sturdiness to do it." + +Commendone looked at his henchman and then at the slowly reviving +Spaniard. + +"Amen," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SILENT MEN IN BLACK + + +"Sing to us, Johnnie." + +"_Mais oui, chantez, Monsieur_," said Madame La Motte. + +Johnnie took up a chitarrone, the archlute, a large, double-necked +Spanish instrument, which lay upon a marble table by his side in the +courtyard. + +He looked up into the sky, the painted sunset sky of Spain, as if to +find some inspiration there. + +The hum of Seville came to them in an almost organ-like harmony. Bells +were tolling from the cathedral and the innumerable churches; pigeons +were wheeling round the domes and spires; occasionally a faint burst of +music reached them where they sat. + +The young man looked gravely at the two women. His face at this moment +was singularly tranquil and refined. He was dressed with scrupulous +care--the long journey over, his natural habits resumed. He had all the +air and grace of a gallant in a Court. + +He bowed to Madame La Motte and to his sweetheart, smiling gently at +them. + +"By your patience, ladies," he said, "I will make endeavour to improvise +for you upon a theme. We have spent this day in seeing beauties such as +sure I never thought to see with my mortal eyes. We are in the land of +colour, of sweet odours; the balmy smells of nard and cassia are flung +about the cedarn alleys where we walk. We have sucked the liquid air in +a veritable garden of the Hesperides, and, indeed, I looked to see the +three fair daughters of Hesperus along those crispèd shades and bowers. +And we have seen also"--his voice was almost dreaming as he spoke--"the +greatest church e'er built to God's glory by the hand of man. 'Tis +indeed a mountain scooped out, a valley turned upsides. The towers of +the Abbey Church at Westminster might walk erect in the middle nave; +there are pillars with the girth of towers, and which appear so slender +that they make one shudder as they rise from out the ground or depend +them from the gloomy roof like stalactites in the cave of a giant." + +Madame La Motte nodded, purred, and murmured to herself. The whimsical +and studied Court language did not now fall upon her ears for the first +time. In the fashion of that age all men of culture and position learnt +to talk in this fashion upon occasion, with classic allusion and in +graceful prose. + +But to sweet Elizabeth it was all new and beautiful, and as she gazed at +her lover her eyes were liquid with caressing wonder, her lips curved +into a bow of pride at such dear eloquence. + +Johnnie plucked the strings of the chitarrone once or twice, and then, +his eyes half closed, began a simple improvisation in a minor key, the +while he lifted his voice and began to sing his ballad of evening +colours: + + See! limner Phoebus paints the sky + Vermilion and gold + And doth with purple tapestry + The waning day enfold. + --The royal, lucent, Tyrian dye + King Philip wore in Thessaly. + + The Lord of Morning now doth keep + Herald for Lady Night, + Whose robes of black and silver sweep + Before his tabard bright. + --All silver-soft and sable-deep, + As when she brought Endymion sleep! + + Now honey-coloured Luna she + Hath lit her lamp on high; + And paleth in her Majestie + The twin Dioscuri. + --Set in gold-powdered samite, she-- + Queen of the Night! Queen of the Sea! + +His voice faded away into silence; the mellow tenor ceasing in an +imperceptible diminuendo of sound. + +There was a silence, and then Lizzie's hand stole out and touched her +lover's. "Oh, Johnnie," she said, "how gracious! And did those lovely +words come into thy head as thou sangst them?" + +"In truth they did, fairest lady of evening," he answered, bending low +over her hand. "And sure 'twas thy dear presence that sent them to me, +the musick of thy voice hath breathed a soul into this lute." + +... They had arrived safely in Seville the night before, spending three +days upon the journey from Cadiz, but travelling in very pleasant and +easy fashion. + +Mr. Mew, the mate of the _St. Iago_, had business in the city, and while +the vessel was discharging its cargo at Cadiz he went up to Seville and +took the four travellers with him on board an _alijador_--a long barge +with quarters for passengers, and a hold for cargo, which was propelled +partly by oars in the narrower reaches of the river, but principally by +a large lug sail. + +Don Perez had remained in Cadiz, but the tall and sinister young fellow +whom Hull and Johnnie had rescued from the Atlantic came in the barge +also. The fugitives from England had little to say to him, knowing what +he was. Alonso--which was the man's name--had been profuse in his +gratitude. His profuseness, however, had been mingled with a continuous +astonishment, a brutish wonder which was quite inexplicable to +Elizabeth. + +"He seemeth," she said once to her esquire, "to think as if such a deed +of daring as thou didst in thy kindness for a fellow-creature in peril +hath never been known in the world before!" + +Madame La Motte and Commendone, however, had said nothing. They knew +very well why this poor wretch, who gained his food by such a hideous +calling, was amazed at his rescue. They said nothing to the girl, +however, dreading that she should ever have an inkling of what the man +was. + +On the voyage to Seville, a happy, lazy time under the bright sun, +Johnnie could not quite understand an obvious friendship and liking +which seemed to have sprung up between Alonso and Mr. Mew, who spoke +Spanish very adequately. + +"I cannot understand," he said upon one occasion to the sturdy man from +the Isle of Wight, "I cannot understand, sir, how you that are an +English mariner can talk and consort with this tool of hell." + +Mr. Mew looked at him with a dry smile. "And yet, master," he said in +the true Hampshire idiom and drawl, "bless your heart, you jumped +overboard for this same man!" + +"The case is different," Johnnie said; "'twas a fellow-creature, and I +did as behoved me. But that is no reason to be friendly with such a +wretch." + +"Look you, Master Commendone," said Mr. Mew, "every man to his trade. I +would burn both hands, myself, before I'd live by sworn torturing. But, +then, 'tis not my trade. This man's father and his brother have been +doing of it almost since birth, and they do it--and sure, a good +Catholic like yourself," here he smiled dryly, "cannot but remember that +'tis done under the shield and order of Holy Church! The damned old Pope +hath ordered it." + +Johnnie crossed himself. "The sovereign Pontiff," he said, "hath +established the Holy Office for punishment of heretics. But the +punishment is light and without harshness in the states of His +Holiness. In Spain 'tis a matter very different. It was under the Holy +Father Innocent IV that this tribunal was created, and the Holy Office +in Spain differed in no wise from the comparatively innocuous----" + +"What is that, master? That word?" + +"It meaneth 'harmless,' Master Mew. What was I saying? Oh, that it +differed nothing at all in Spain from the harmless Council which was to +detect heresy and reprove it. But during the reign of our good King +Edward IV the Holy Office was changed in Spain. The Ebrews were +plotting, or said to be plotting, against the realm, and they had come +to much wealth and power. Pope Sixtus made many protests, but the right +of appointing inquisitors and directing the operation of the Holy Office +in Spain was reserved to the Spanish Crown. And from this date, Master +Mew, Holy Church at any rate hath disclaimed to be responsible for it. +That was then and is now the true feeling of Rome. 'Tis true that in +Spain the Church tolerates the Inquisition, but its blood-stained acts +are from the Crown and such priests as are ministers of the Crown." + +Father Chilches had taught Johnnie his history, truly enough. But it +seemed to make very little impression upon the mate. + +"Art a gentleman," he said, "and know doubtless more than I, but such +peddling with words and splicing of facts are not to my mind. The +damned old Pope say I, and always shall, when it's safe to speak! But +the pith of our talk, Master Commendone, was that you would not have me +give comradeship with this Alonso. I see not your point of view. He is +of his time and must do his duty." + +The mate snapped a tarry thumb and finger with a tolerant smile. "You've +saved him, so that he may go on with his torturin'," he said, "and I +like to talk with him because I find him a good fellow, and that is all +about it, Master Commendone." + +Johnnie had not got much small change from his conference with the mate, +but when they arrived at Seville, he saw him and the man called Alonso +no more, and his mind was directed upon very other things. + +They arrived at the city late at night, and their mails were taken to +the great inn of Seville known as the Posada de las Muñecas, or house of +puppets, so called from the fact that in days gone by, at the great +annual Seville fair, a famous performance of marionettes had taken place +in front of it. + +The Posada was an old Moorish palace, as beautiful under the sunlight as +an Oriental song, and when they rose in the morning and Johnnie had +despatched a serving-man to find if Don José Senebria was in residence, +he and his companions wakened to the realisation of a loveliness of +which they had never dreamed. + +The sky was like a great hollow turquoise; the sun beat down upon the +Pearl of Andalusia with limpid glory, and played perpetually upon the +white and painted walls. The orange trees, only introduced into Spain +some five-and-twenty years before from Asia, were globed with their +golden fruit among the dark, jade-like leaves of polished green; +feathery palms with their mailed trunks rose up to cut the blue, and on +every side buildings which glowed like immense jewels were set to greet +the unaccustomed northern eye. The Posada was a blaze of colour, half +Moorish, half Gothic, fantastic and alluring as a rare dream. + +Johnnie heard early in the morning that Don José would be away for two +days, having travelled to his vineyards beyond the old Roman village of +Sancios. The day therefore, and the morrow also, was left to them for +sight-seeing. Both he and Elizabeth had in part forgotten the cloud of +distress under which they had left their native land. The child often +talked to him of her father, making many half-shy confidences about her +happy life at Hadley, telling him constantly of that brave and stalwart +gentleman. But she now accepted all that had happened with the perfect +innocence and trustfulness of youth. Upon her white and stainless mind +what she had undergone had left but little trace. Even now she only half +realised her ravishment to the house with the red door, and that Madame +La Motte was not a pattern of kindness, discretion, and fine feeling +would never have entered Lizzie's simple mind. She was going to be +married to Johnnie!--it was to be arranged almost at once--and then she +knew that there need be no more trouble, no weariness, no further +searchings of heart. She and Johnnie would be together for ever and +ever, and that was all that mattered! + +Indeed, under these bright skies, among the gay, good-humoured, and +heedless people of Seville, it would have been very difficult for much +older and more world-weary people than this young man and maid to be sad +or apprehensive. + +It had all been a feast, a never-ending feast for eye and ear. They had +stood before pictures which were world-famous--they had seen that +marvellous allegory in pigment, where "a hand holds a pair of scales, in +which the sins of the world--set forth by bats, peacocks, serpents, and +other emblems--are weighed against the emblems of the Passion of Christ +our Lord; and eke in the same frame, which is thought to be the finer +composition, Death, with a coffin under one arm, is about to extinguish +a taper, which lighteth a table besprent with crowns, jewels, and all +the gewgaws of this earthly pomp. 'In Ictu Oculi' are the words which +circle the taper's gleaming light, while set upon the ground resteth a +coffin open, the corpse within being dimly revealed." + +They had walked through the long colonnade in the palace of the Alcazar, +to the baths of Maria de Padilla, the lovely mistress of Pedro the +Cruel, "at the Court of whom it was esteemed a mark of gallantry and +loyalty to drink the waters of the bath after that Maria had performed +her ablutions. Upon a day observing that one of his knights refrained +from this act of homage, the King questioned him, and elicited the +reply, 'I dare not drink of the water, Sire, lest, having tasted the +sauce, I should covet the partridge.'" + +All these things they had done together in their love and youth, +forgetting all else but the incomparable beauties of art and nature +which surrounded them, the music and splendour of Love within their +hearts. + +... A serving-man came through the patio. + +"_Puedo cenar?_" Johnnie asked. "_A qué hora es el cenar?_" + +The man told him that supper was ready then, and together with the +ladies Johnnie left the courtyard and entered the long _comedor_, or +dining-hall, a narrow room with good tapestries upon the walls, and a +ceiling decorated with heads of warriors and ladies in carved and +painted stucco. + +It was lit by candle, and supper was spread for the three in the middle +of one great table, an oasis of fruit, lights, and flowers. + +"_Este es un vino bueno_," said the waiter who stood there. + +"It is all good wine in Spain," Johnnie answered, with a smile, as the +man poured out _borgoña_, and another brought them a dish of grilled +salmon. + +They lifted their glasses to each other, and fell to with a good +appetite. Suddenly Johnnie stopped eating. "Where is John Hull?" he +said. "God forgive me, I have not thought of him for hours." + +"He will be safe enough," Madame La Motte answered, her mouth full of +_salmón asado_. "_Mon Dieu!_ but this fish is good! Fear not, Monsieur, +thy serving-man can very well take care of himself." + +"I suppose so," Johnnie replied, though with a little uneasiness. + +"But, Johnnie," Elizabeth said, "Hull told me that he was to be with +Master Mew, the mate of our late ship, to see the town with him, so all +will be well." + +Johnnie lifted his goblet of wine; he had never felt more free, +careless, and happy in his life. + +"Here," he said, "is to this sweet and hospitable land of Spain, whither +we have come through long toils and dangers. 'Tis our Latium, for as the +grandest of all poets, Vergil yclept, hath it, '_Per varios casus, per +tot discrimina rerum, tendimus in Latium, sedes ubi fata quietas +ostendunt_.'" + +"And what may that mean, Monsieur?" asked Madame La Motte, pulling the +_botella_ towards her. "My Credo, my Paternoster, and my Ave are all my +Latin." + +"It means, Madame," Johnnie answered, "that we have gone through many +troubles and trials, through all sorts of changes in affairs, but we +approach towards Latium, which the poet meaneth for Imperial Rome, where +the fates will let us live in peace." + +"In peace!" Elizabeth whispered. + +"Aye, sweetheart mine," the young man answered; "we have won to peace +at last. Thou and I together!" + +For a moment or two they were all silent, and then the door of the +_comedor_ was suddenly opened, not quietly, as for the entrance of a +serving-man, but flung open widely and with noise. + +They all turned and looked towards the archway of the door. + +In a moment more six or seven people pressed into the room--people +dressed in black, people whose feet made no noise upon the floor. + +Ere ever any of them at the table realised what was happening, they +found themselves gripped by strong, firm hands, though there was never a +word spoken. + +Before he could reach the dagger in his belt--for he was not wearing his +sword--Johnnie's arms were bound to his side, and he was held fast. + +It was all done with strange deftness and silence, Elizabeth and the +Frenchwoman being held also, each by two men, though their arms were not +bound. + +Johnnie burst out in indignant English, then, remembering where he was, +changed to Spanish. "In God's name," he cried, "what means this outrage +upon peaceable and quiet folk?" + +His voice was loud and angry, but there was fear in it as he cried out. +The answer came from a tall figure which came noiselessly through the +door, a figure in a cassock, with a large gold cross hung upon its +breast, and followed by two others in the dress of priests. + +"Ah, Mr. Commendone, we meet again," came in excellent English, as the +man removed his broad-brimmed felt hat. + +"You have come a long way from England, Mr. Commendone, you and +your--friends. But the arm of the King, the hand of the Church, which +are as the arm of God Himself, can stretch swiftly and very far." + +Johnnie's face grew dead white as he heard the well-remembered voice of +Father Diego Deza. In a flash he remembered that King Philip's confessor +and confidential adviser had told him that he was to leave England for +Spain on the morning of the very day when he had rescued Elizabeth from +shame. + +His voice rattled in his throat and came hoarsely through parched lips. +He made one effort, though he felt that it was hopeless. + +"Don Diego," he said, "I am very glad to see you in Spain"--the other +gave a nasty little laugh. "Don Diego," Johnnie continued, "I have +offended nothing against the laws of England. What means this capture +and durance of myself and my companions?" + +"You are not in England now, Mr. Commendone," the priest replied; "but +you are in the dominion of His Most Catholic Majesty; you are not +accused of any crime against the civil law of England or of this +country, but I, in my authority as Grand Inquisitor of the Holy Office +in Seville--to do which duty I have now come to Spain--arrest you and +your companions on charges which will be afterwards disclosed to you. + +"Take them away," he said in Spanish to his officers. + +There was a horrid wail, echoing and re-echoing through the long room +and beating upon the ear-drums of all who were there.... + +Madame La Motte had heard all that the priest had said in English. She +shrieked and shrieked again. + +"Ah-h-h! _C'est vrai alors! L'inquisition! qui lance la mort!_" + +With extraordinary and sudden strength she twisted herself away from the +two sombre figures which held her. She bent forward over the table, +snatched up a long knife, gripped the handle firmly with two fat white +hands, and plunged it into her breast to the hilt. + +For quite three seconds she stood upright. Her face of horror changed +into a wonder, as if she was surprised at what she had done. Then she +smiled foolishly, like a child who realises that it has made a silly +mistake, coughed loudly like a man, and fell in heavy death upon the +floor. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN THE BOX + + "Devant l'Inquisition, quand on vient à jubé, + Si l'on ne soit rôti, l'on soit au moins flambé." + + +It was not light that pressed upon the retina of the eye. There was no +vibration to the sensitive lenses. It was a sudden vision not of the +eye, but in the memory-cells of the brain which now and then filled the +dreadful blackness with a fierce radiance, filled it for an +infinitesimal fraction of a second. + +And then all was dark again. + +It was not dark with the darkness that ordinary men know. At no time, in +all probability, has any man or woman escaped a long sleepless night in +a darkened room. The candle is out; the silence begins to nibble at the +nerves; there is no sound but the uneasy tossing upon the bed. It seems, +one would rather say, that there is no sound save only that made by the +sufferer. At such hours comes a dread weariness of life, a restlessness +which is but the physical embroidery upon despair. The body itself is at +the lowest pitch of its vitality. Through the haunted chambers of the +mind fantastic thoughts chase each other, and evil things--evil +_personalities_ it almost seems--uncoil themselves and erect their +heads. + +But it is not really darkness, not really despair, as people know when +the night has gone and dawn begins. Nor is it really _silence_. The ear +becomes attuned to its environment; a little wind moans round the house. +There is the soft patter of falling rain--the distant moaning of the +sea. + +Furniture creaks as the temperature changes; there are rustlings, +whispers, unexplained noises--the night is indeed full of sound. + +Nor is it really _darkness_, as the mind discovers towards the end of +the sick and restless vigil. The eye also is attuned to that which +limits and surrounds its potentialities. The blinds are drawn, but still +some faint mysterious greyness creeps between them and the window. The +room, then, is a real room still! Over there is the long mirror which +will presently begin to stir and reflect the birth-pangs of light. That +squat, black monster, which crouches in the corner of the dark, will +grow larger, and become only the wardrobe after all. And soon the air of +the chamber will take on a subtle and indefinable change. It will have a +new savour, it will tell that far down in the under world the sun is +moaning and muttering in the last throes of sleep. The blackness will +go. Dim, inchoate nothingness will change to wan dove-coloured light, +and with the first chirpings of half-awakened birds the casement will +show "a slowly glimmering square," and the tortured brain will sink to +rest. + +Day has come! There is no longer any need for fear. The nervous pain, +more terrible than all, has gone. The heart is calmed, the brain is +soothed, utter prostration and despair appears, mercifully, a thing of +long ago. + +Some such experience as this all modern men have endured. To John +Commendone, in the prison of the Inquisition where he had been put, no +such alleviation came. + +For him there was no blessed morning; for him the darkness was that +awful negation of light--of physical light--and of hope, which is +without remedy. + +He did not know how long it had been since he was caught up suddenly out +of the rich room where he was dining with his love--dining among the +scent of flowers, with the echo of music in his ears, his whole heart +suffused with thankfulness and peace. + +He did not know how long it had been; he only remembered the hurried +progress in a closed carriage from the hotel to the fortress of the +Triana in the suburbs, which was the prison and assize of the Holy +Office. + +In all Europe in this era prisons were dark, damp holes. They were real +graves, full of mould, animal filth, the pest-breeding smells. It was +the boast of the Inquisition, and even Llorente speaks of it, that the +prisons were "well-arched, light and dry rooms where the prisoners could +make some movement." + +This was generally true, and Commendone had heard of it from Don Perez. + +It was not true in his case. He had been taken hurriedly into the prison +as night fell, marched silently through interminable courtyards and +passage-ways--corridors which slanted downwards, ever downwards--until +in a dark stone passage, illuminated only by the torches which were +carried by those who conducted him, he had come to a low door, heavily +studded with iron. + +This had been opened with a key. The wards of the lock had shot back +with a well-oiled and gentle click. He had bent his head a little as +they pushed him into the living tomb--a box of stone five feet square +exactly. He was nearly six feet in height; he could not stand erect; he +could not stretch himself at full length. The thing was a refinement of +the dreadful "little-ease" of the Tower of London and many other secular +prisons where wretches were tortured for a week before their execution. +He had heard of places like them, but he realised that it was not the +design of those who had him fast to kill him yet. He knew that he must +undergo an infinity of mental and bodily torture ere ever the scarred +and trembling soul would be allowed to wing its way from the still, +broken body. + +He was in absolute, complete darkness, buried in a box of stone. + +The rayless gloom was without any relief whatever; it was the enclosing +sable of death itself; a pitchy oblivion that lay upon him like a solid +weight, a thing obscene and hopeless. And the silence was a real +silence, an utter stillness such as no modern man ever knows--save only +the few demoniac prisoners in the _cachot noir_ of the French convict +prisons of Noumea. + +Once every two days--if there indeed were such things as days and hours +in this still hell--the door of the cell was noiselessly opened. There +was a dim red glow in the stone corridor without, a pitcher of water, +some black bread, and every now and then a few ripe figs, were pushed +into the box. + +Then a clang, the oily swish of the bolts, and another eternity of +silence. + +The man's brain did not go. It was too soon for that. He lay a +fortnight--ten thousand years it seemed to him--in this box of horror. + +He was not to die yet. He was not even to lose his mind; of that he was +perfectly aware. He was no ordinary prisoner. No usual fate was in store +for him; that also he knew. A charge of heresy in his case was absurd. +No witnesses could be brought who, speaking truth, could condemn him for +heresy. But what Don Perez had told him was now easily understood. He +was in a place where there was no appeal, a situation with no egress. + +There was not the slightest doubt in his mind that a dreadful vengeance +was to be taken upon him for his treatment of the King of Spain. The +Holy Office was a royal court provided with ecclesiastical weapons. Its +familiars had got him in their grip; he was to die the death. + +As he lay motionless day after day, night after night, in the +silence--the hideous silence without light--the walls so close, pressing +on him, forbidding him free movement, at every moment seeming as if they +would rush together and crush him in this night of Erebus, he began to +have visitors. + +Sometimes a sulphurous radiance would fill the place. He would see the +bowing, mocking figure of King Philip, the long yellow face looking down +upon him with a malign smile. He would hear a great hoarse voice, and a +little woman with a shrivelled face and covered with jewels, would +squeak and gibber at him. Then, with a clank of armour, and a sudden +fresh smell of the fields, Sir Henry Commendone would stand there, with +a "How like you this life of the pit, Johnnie?" ... "How like you this +blackness, my son?" + +Then he would put up his hands and press these grisly phantoms out of +the dark. He would press them away with one great effort of the will. + +They would go, and he remained trembling in the chill, damp negation of +light, which was so far more than darkness. He would grope for the +pieces of his miserable food, and search the earthen pitcher for water. + +And all this, these tortures beyond belief, beyond understanding of the +ordinary man, were but as soft couches to one who is weary, food to one +hungered, water to lips parched in a desert--compared with the deepest, +unutterable descent of all. + +The cold and stinking blackness which held him tight as a fossil in a +bed of clay was not the worst. His eyes that saw nothing, his limbs that +were shot with cramping pain, his nostrils and stomach that could not +endure this uncleaned cage, were a torture beyond thinking. + +Many a time he thought of the mercy of Bishop Bonner and Queen Mary--the +mercy that let a gentleman ride under the pleasant skies of England to a +twenty minutes' death--God! these were pleasant tortures! His own +present hopelessness, all that he endured in body--why, dear God! these +were but pleasant tortures too, things to bite upon and endure, compared +with the Satanic horror, the icy dread, the bitter, hopeless tears, when +he thought of Elizabeth. + +He had long since ceased praying for himself. It mattered little or +nothing what happened to him. That he should be taken out to torture +would be a relief, a happiness. He would lie in the rack laughing. They +could fill his belly with water, or strain the greasy hempen ropes into +his flesh, and still he would laugh and forgive them--Dr. Taylor had +forgiven less than they would do to him, he would forgive more than all +for the sake of Christ and His Maid-Mother. How easy that would be! To +be given something to endure, to prove himself a man and a Christian! + +But to forgive them for what they might be doing, they might have done, +to his dear lady--how could he forgive _that_ to these blood-stained +men? + +Through all the icy hours he thought of one thing, until his own pains +vanished to nothingness. + +Perchance, and the dreadful uncertainty in his utter impotence and +silence swung like a bell in his brain, and cut through his soul like +the swinging pendola which they said the familiars of the Holy Office +used, Elizabeth had already suffered unspeakable things. + +He saw again a pair of hands--cruel hands--hands with thick thumbs. Had +hands like these grasped and twisted the white limbs of the girl he +loved? Divorced from him, helpless, away from any comfort, any kind +voice, was it not true--_was_ it true?--that already his sweetheart had +been tortured to her death? + +He had tried over and over again to pray for Elizabeth, to call to the +seat where God was, that He might save the dear child from these +torments unspeakable. + +But there was always the silence, the dead physical blackness and +silence. He beat his hands upon the stone wall; he bruised his head upon +the roof of darkness which would not let him stand upright, and he +knew--as it is appointed to some chosen men to know--that unutterable, +unthinkable despair of travail which made Our Lord Himself call out in +the last hour of His passion, [Greek: Êli, Êli lamà sabachthaní] + +There was no response to his prayers. Into his heart came no answering +message of hope. + +And then the mind of this man, which had borne so much, and suffered so +greatly, began to become powerless to feel. A bottle can only hold a +certain amount of water, the strings of an instrument be plucked to a +certain measure of sound, the brain of a man can endure up to a certain +strain, and then it snaps entirely, or is drowsed with misery. + +Physically, the young man was in perfect health when they had taken him +to his prison. He had lived always a cleanly and athletic life. No +sensual ease had ever dimmed his faculties. And therefore, though he +knew it not, the frightful mental agony he had undergone had but drawn +upon the reserve of his physical forces, and had hardly injured his body +at all. The food they gave him, at any rate for the time of his +disappearance from the world of sentient beings, was enough to support +life. And while he lay in dreadful hopelessness, while his limbs were +racked with pain, and it seemed to him that he stood upon the very +threshold of death, he was in reality physically competent, and a few +hours of relief would bring his body back to its pristine strength. + +There came a time when he lay upon his stone floor perfectly motionless. +The merciful anodyne that comes to all tortured people when either the +brain or body can bear no more, had come to him now. + +It seemed but a short moment--in reality it was several hours--since his +jailors, those masked still-moving figures, had brought him a renewal of +his food. He could not eat the bread, but two figs upon the platter +were grateful and cooling to his throat, though he was unconscious of +any physical gratification. He knew, sometime after, that sustenance had +been brought to him, and that he had a great thirst. He stretched out +his hand mechanically for the pitcher, rising from the floor and +pressing the brim to his lips. + +He drank deeply, and as he drank became suddenly aware that this was not +the lukewarm water of the past darkness, but something that ran through +his veins, that swiftly ran through them, and as the blood mounted to +his brain gave him courage, awoke him, fed the starved nerves. It was +wine he was drinking! wine that perhaps would be red in the light; wine +that once more filled him with endeavour, and a desperate desire which +was not hope but the last protest against his fate. + +He lay back once more, by no means the same man he had been some little +time agone, and as he reclined in a happy physical stupor--the while his +brain was alive again and began to work--he said many times to himself +the name of Jesus. + +"Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!"--it was all he could say; it was all he could +think of, it was his last prayer. Just the name alone. + +And very speedily the prayer was answered. Out of the depths he +cried--"_De profundis clamavit_"--and the door opened, as it opened to +the Apostle Paul, and the place where he was was filled with red light. + +For a moment he was unable to realise it. He passed one wasted and +dirty hand before his eyes. "Jesus!" he said again, in a dreamy, +wondering voice. + +He felt himself lifted up from where he lay. Two strong hands were under +his arms; he was taken out of the stinking _oubliette_ into the corridor +beyond. + +He stood upright. He stretched out his arms. He breathed another air. It +was a damp, foetid, underground air, but it seemed to him that it came +from the gardens of the Hesperides. + +Then he became conscious of a voice speaking quietly, quickly, and with +great insistence. + +The voice in his ear! + +... "Señor, we have had to wait. You have had to lie in this dungeon, +and I could do nothing for you--for you that saved my life. It hath +taken many days to think out a plan to save you and the Señorita. But +'tis done now, 'tis cut and dried, and neither you nor she shall go to +the death designed for you both. It hath been designed by the Assessor +and the Procurator Fiscal, acting under orders of the Grand Inquisitor, +that you shall be tortured to death, or near to it, and that to the +Señorita shall be done the same. Then you are to be taken to the +Quemadero--that great altar of stone supported by figures of the Holy +Apostles--and there burnt to death at the forthcoming _auto da fé_." + +"Then what,"--Johnnie's voice came from him in a hollow whisper. + +"Hush, hush," the other voice answered him; "'tis all arranged. 'Tis all +settled, but still it dependeth upon you, Señor. Will you save your lady +love, and go free with her from here, and with your servant also, or +will you die and let her die too?" + +"Then she hath not been tortured?" + +"Not yet; it is for to-night. You come afterwards. But you do not know +me, Señor; you do not realise who I am." + +At this Johnnie looked into the face of the man who supported him. + +"Ah," he said, in a dreamy voice, "Alonso!--I took you from the sea, did +not I?" + +Everything was circling round him, he wanted to fall, to lie down and +sleep in this new air.... + +The torturer saw it--he had a dreadful knowledge of those who were about +to faint. He caught hold of Johnnie somewhere at the back of the neck. +There was a sudden scientific pressure of the flat thumb upon a nerve, +and the sinking senses of the captive came back to him in a flood of +painful consciousness. + +"Ah!" he cried, "but I feel better now! Go on, go on, tell me, what is +all this?..." + +One big thumb was pressed gently at the back of Johnnie's head. "It is +this," said the voice, "and now, Señor, listen to me as if you had never +listened to any other voice in this whole world. In the first place, you +have much money; you have much money to be employed for you, in the +hands of your servant, and from him I hear that you are noble and +wealthy in England. I myself am a young man, but lately introduced to do +the work I do. I am in debt, Señor, and neither my father nor my brother +will help me. There is a family feud between us. Now my father is the +head sworn-torturer of the Holy Office; my brother is his assistant, and +I am the assistant to my brother. The three of us do rack and put to +pain those who come before us. But I myself am tired of this business, +and would away to a country where I can earn a more honest and kindly +living. Therefore if thou wilt help me to do this, all will be well. +There is a carrack sailing for the port of Rome this very night, and we +can all be aboard of it, and save ourselves, if thou wilt do what we +have made a plan of." + +"And what is that?" Johnnie asked. + +"'Tis a dangerous and deadly thing. We may win a way to safety and joy, +or it may be that we perish. I'll put it upon the throw of the die, and +so must you, Señor." + +Johnnie clutched Alonso by the arm. "Man! man!" he said, "there is some +doubt in your voice. What is it? what is it? I would do anything but +lose my immortal soul to save the Señorita from what is to be done to +her to-night." + +"'Tis well," the other answered briefly. "Then now I will tell you what +you must do. 'Tis now the hour of sunset. In two hours more the Señorita +will be brought to the rooms of the Question. Thy servant is of the +height and build of my father. Thou art the same as regards my brother. +If you consent to what I shall tell you, you and your servant will take +the place of my brother and father. No one will know you from them, +because we wear black linen garments and a hood which covereth our +faces. I will go away, and I will put something in their wine which will +send my father and my brother to sleep for long hours--sometimes we put +it in the water we give to drink to those who come to us for torture, +and who are able, or their relatives indeed, to pay well for such +service. My people will know nothing, and you, with Juan thy servant, +will take their places. Nor will the Inquisitor know. It hath been well +thought out, Señor. I shall give you your directions, and understanding +Spanish you will follow them out as if you were indeed my blood-brother. +As for the man Juan, it will be your part to whisper to him what he has +to do, for I cannot otherwise make him understand." + +Suddenly a dreadful thought flashed into Johnnie's mind. This man +understood no word of English. How, then, had he plotted this scheme of +rescue and escape with John Hull? Was this not one of those dreadful +traps--themselves part of a devilish scheme of torture--of which he had +heard in England, and of which Don Perez had more than hinted? + +"And how dost _thou_ understand my man John," he said, "seeing that thou +knowest no word of his language?" + +The other made an impatient movement of his hands. "Señor," he said, "I +marked that you did not seem to trust me. I am here to adventure my +life, in recompense for that you did so for me. I am here also to get +away from Spain with the aid of thy money--to get away to Rome, where +the Holy Office will reach none of us. In doing this, I am risking my +life, as I have said. And for me I am risking far more than life. I, +that have done so many grievous things to others, am a great coward, and +go in horrid fear of pain. I could not stand the least of the tortures, +and if I am caught in this enterprise, I shall endure the worst of all. +In any case, thou hast nothing to lose, for if I am indeed endeavouring +to entrap you, you will gain nothing. The worst is reserved for you--as +we have previous orders--for it is whispered that yours is not so much a +matter of heresy, but that you did things against King Philip's Majesty +in England." + +Johnnie nodded. "'Tis true," he said; "but still, tell me for a further +sign and token of thy fidelity how thou camest to be in communication +with John Hull." + +"Did I not tell thee?" the man answered, in amazement. "Why, 'twas +through the second captain of the _St. Iago_, I cannot say his name, who +hath been with Juan these many days, and speakest Spanish near as well +as you." + +Johnnie realised the truth at once, surprised that it had not come to +him before. It was Mr. Mew, whom he had tackled for his friendship with +Alonso! "Then what am I to do?" he said. + +Alonso began to speak slowly and with some hesitation. + +"The work to do to-night," he said, "is to put a Carthusian monk, Luis +Mercader, to the torture of the _trampezo_. After that, the Señorita +will be brought in, interrogated, and is to be scourged as the first of +her tortures." + +The man started away--Johnnie had growled in his throat like a dog.... + +"It will not be, it will not be, Señor," Alonso said. "When Luis is +finished with, he will be taken away by the surgeon and afterwards by +the jailors. Then they will bring the Señorita and retire. There will be +none in the room of the Question but thou, Juan, and myself, wearing our +linen hoods, and Father Deza, that is the Grand Inquisitor newly come +from England, his notary, and the physician. The doors leading to the +prisons will be locked, for none must see the torture save only the +officials concerned therein--as hath long been the law. It will be easy +for us three to overpower the Inquisitor, the surgeon, and the notary. +Then we can escape through the private rooms of us torturers, which lead +to the back entrance of the fortress. The _caballeros_ will not be +discovered, if bound--or killed, indeed--for some hours, for none are +allowed to approach the room of Question from the prisons until they are +summoned by a bell. I shall have everything ready, and mules waiting, +so that we may go straight to the _muelle_--the wharf to which the +carrack is tied. The captain thereof is the Italian mariner Pozzi, who +hath no love towards Spain, and we shall be upon the high seas before +even our absence is discovered." + +"Good," Johnnie answered, his voice unconsciously assuming the note of +command it was wont to use, the wine having reanimated him, his whole +body and brain tense with excitement, ready for the daring deed that +awaited him. + +"My friend," he said, "I will not only take you away from all this +wickedness and horror, but you shall have money enough to live like a +gentleman in Italy. I have--now I understand it--plenty of money in the +hands of my servant to bring us well to Rome. Once in Rome, I can send +letters to my friends in England, and be rich in a few short months. I +shall not forget you; I shall see to your guerdon." + +The man spat upon his hands and rubbed them together--those large +prehensile hands. "I knew it," he said, half to himself, "I pay a debt +for my life, as is but right and just, and I win a fortune too! I knew +it!" + +"Tell me exactly what is to happen," Johnnie said. + +In the flickering light of the torch, once more Alonso looked curiously +at Commendone. He hesitated for a moment, and then he spoke. + +"There is just the business of the heretic Luis," he said. "He must be +tortured before ever the Señorita is brought in. And you and Juan must +help in the torture to sustain your parts." + +Johnnie started. Until this very moment he had not realised that hideous +necessity. He understood Alonso's hesitation now. + +There was a dead silence for a moment or two. Alonso broke it. + +"I shall do the principal part, Señor," he said hurriedly. "It is +nothing to me. I have done so much of it! But there are certain things +that thou must do and thy servant also, or at least must seem to do. +There is no other way." + +Johnnie put his poor soiled hands to his face. "I cannot do it," he +said, in a low voice, from which hope, which had rung in it before, had +now departed. "I cannot do it. I will not stain my honour thus." + +"So said Juan to me at first," the other answered. "They have been +hunting high and low for Juan, but he hath escaped the Familiars, in +that I have hid him. For himself, Juan said he would do nothing of the +sort, but for you he finally said he would do it. 'For, look you,' Juan +said to me, 'I love the gentleman that is my master, and I love my +little mistress better, so that I will even help to torture this +Spaniard, and let no word escape me in the doing of it that may betray +our design.' That was what thy servant said, Señor. And now, what sayest +thou?" + +"She would not wish it," Commendone half said, half sobbed. "If she +knew, she would die a thousand deaths rather than that I should do it." + +"That may be very sure, Señor, but she will never know it if we win to +safety. And as for this Luis Mercader, he must die, anyhow. There is no +hope for him. He _must_ be tortured, if not by you, Juan, and I, then by +myself, my father, and my brother. It is remediless." + +"I cannot do evil that good may come," Johnnie replied, in a whisper. + +Alonso stamped upon the ground in his impatience. He could not +understand the prisoner's attitude, though he had realised some +possibility of it from his conferences with John Hull. He had half +known, when he came to Commendone, that there would be something of this +sort. If the rough man of his own rank turned in horror and dislike from +the only opportunity presented for saving the Señorita, how much more +would the master do so? + +For himself, he could not understand it. He did his hideous work with +the regularity of a machine, and with as little pity. Outside in his +private life, he was much as other men. He could be tender to a woman he +loved, kindly and generous to his friends. But business was business, +and he was hardly human at his work. + +Habit makes slaves of us all, and this mental attitude of the sworn +torturer--horrible as it may seem at first glance--is very easily +understood by the psychologist, though hardly by the sentimentalist, +who is always a thoroughly illogical person. Alonso tortured human +beings. In doing this he had the sanction and the order of his social +superiors and his ecclesiastical directors. In 1910 one has not heard, +for example, that a pretty and gentle girl refuses to marry a butcher +because he plunges his knife into the neck of the sheep tied down upon +the stool, twists his little cord around the snout of some shrieking pig +and cuts its throat with his keen blade.... + +Alonso could not understand the man whom he hoped to save, but he +recognised and was prepared for his point of view. + +"Señor," he said, in a thick, hurried voice, "I will do it all myself. +You will have to help in the binding, and to stand by. That is all. +Think of the little Señorita whom you love. That French lady drove a +table-knife into her heart, rather than endure the torments. Think of +the Señorita! You will not let her die thus? For you, it is different; I +well know that you would endure all that is in store, if it were but a +question of saving your own life. But you must think of her, and you +must remember always that the man Luis is most certainly doomed, and +that no action of yours can stay that doom. You will have to look on, +that is all--to _seem_ as if you approved and were helping." + +He had said enough. His cause was won. Johnnie had seen Dr. Rowland +Taylor die in pious agony, and had neither lifted voice nor drawn sword +to prevent it. + +"I thank you, I thank you, Alonso," he said. "I must endure it for the +sake of the Señorita. And more than all I thank you that you will not +require me to agonise this unhappy wretch myself." + +"Good; that is understood," Alonso answered. "We have already been +talking too long. Get you back, Señor, into your prison, for an hour or +more. Then I will come to you. Indeed, more depends upon this than upon +any other detail of what we purpose. We who are sworn to torture are +distinct and separate from the prison jailors. We are paid a larger +salary, but we have no jurisdiction or power within the prisons +themselves, save only what we make by interest. But the man who bringeth +you your food is a friend of my family, and hath cast an eye upon my +sister, though she as yet has responded little to his overtures. I have +made private cause with Isabella, and she hath given him a meeting this +very night outside the church of Santa Ana. He could not meet with her +this night, were it not for my intervention. He came to me in great +perplexity, longing before anything to meet Isabella. I told him, though +I was difficult to be approached on the point, that I would myself look +after the prisoners in this ward, and that he must give me his keys. +This he hath done, and I am free of this part of the prison. So that, +Señor, in an hour or two I shall come to you again with your dress of a +tormentor. I shall take you through devious ways out of the prison +proper, and into our room on the other side of the Chamber, so all will +be well." + +Johnnie took the huge splay hand in his, and stumbled back into the +stone box. There was a clang as the door closed upon him, and he sank +down upon the floor. + +He sank down upon the floor no longer in absolute despair. The darkness +was as thick and horrible as ever, but Hope was there. + +Then he knelt, placed his hands together, recited a Paternoster, and +began to pray. He prayed first of all for the soul of the man--the +unknown man--whose semi-final torture he was to witness, and perchance +help in. Then he prayed to Our Lord that there might be a happy issue +out of these present afflictions, that if it pleased Jesus he, +Elizabeth, the stout John Hull might yet sail away over the tossing seas +towards safety. + +Then he made a prayer for the soul of Madame La Motte--she who had +traded upon virtue, she who had taken her own life, but in whom was yet +some germ of good, a well and fountain of kindliness and sympathy +withal. + +After that he pulled himself together, felt his muscle, stretched +himself to see that his great and supple strength had not deserted him, +and remained with a placid mind, waiting for the opening of his prison +door again. + +The anguish of his thoughts about Elizabeth was absolutely gone. A cool +certainty came to him that he would save her. + +He was waiting now, alert and aware. Every nerve was ready for the +enterprise. With a scrutiny of his own consciousness--for he perfectly +realised that death might still be very near--he asked himself if he had +performed all his religious duties. If he were to die in the next hour +or so, he would have no sacramental absolution. That he knew. Therefore, +he was endeavouring to make his _private_ peace with God, and as he +looked upon his thoughts with the higher super-brain, it did not seem to +him that there was anything lacking in his pious resignation to what +should come. + +He was going to make a bold and desperate bid for Lizzie's freedom, his +own, and their mutual happiness. + +As well as he was able, he had put his house in order, and was waiting. + +But for Don Diego Deza he did not pray at all. He was but human. That he +lacked power to do, and in so far fell away from the Example. + +But as he thought of It, and the words so sacrosanct, he remembered that +the torturers of Christ knew not what they did. They were even as this +man Alonso. + +But Don Diego, cultured, highly sensitive, a brilliant man, knew what he +did very well. + +Even the young man's wholly contrite and more than half-broken heart +could send no message to the Throne for the Grand Inquisitor of +Seville. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +"TENDIMUS IN LATIUM" + + +It was very hot. + +Commendone stood in the ante-chamber of the torturers. + +He wore the garment of black linen, the hood of the same, with the two +circular orifices for his eyes. + +John Hull kept touching him with an almost caressing movement--John +Hull, a grotesque and terrible figure also in his torturer's dress. + +Alonso moved about the place hurriedly, putting this and that to rights, +looking after his instruments, but with a flitting, bird-like movement, +showing how deeply he was excited. + +The room was a long, low place. The ceiling but just above their heads. +A glowing fire was at one end, and shelves all round the room. At one +side of the fire was a portable brazier of iron, glowing with coals, and +on the top of it a shape of white-hot metal was lying. + +Alonso came up to Commendone, a dreadful black figure, a silently moving +figure, with nothing humanly alive about him save only the two slits +through which his eyes might be seen. + +"Courage, Señor," he whispered, "it will not be long now." + +Johnnie, unaware that he himself was an equally hideous and sinister +figure, nodded, and swallowed something in his throat. + +John Hull, short, broad, and dreadful in this black disguise, sidled up +to him. + +"Master," he whispered, "it will soon be over, and we shall win away. We +have been in a very evil case before, and that went well. Now that we +are dressed in these grave-clothes and must do bitter business, we must +make up our minds to do it. 'Tis for the sake of Mistress Elizabeth, +whom we love--Jesus! what is that hell-hound doing?" + +The broad figure shuddered, and into the kindly English voice came a +note of horror. + +Johnnie turned also, and saw that the torturer was tumbling several +long-handled pincers into a wooden tray. Then the torturer took one of +them up, and turned the glowing _something_ in the brazier, quietly, +professionally, though the red glow that fell upon his horrible black +costume gave him indeed the aspect of a devil from the pit--the bloody +pantomime which was designed! + +The two Englishmen stood shoulder to shoulder and shuddered, as they saw +this figure moving about the glowing coals. + +Johnnie took a half-step forward, when Hull pressed him back. + +"God's death, master," Hull said. "_We_ look like that; we are even as +he is in aspect; we have to do our work--now!" + +A door to the right suddenly swung open. Two steps led up to it, and a +face peeped round. It was the face of a bearded man, with heavy eyebrows +and very white cheeks. Upon the head was a biretta of black velvet. + +The head nodded. "We are ready," came the voice from it. The door fell +to again. + +Then Alonso came up to Johnnie. "The work begins," he said, in a gruff +voice, from which all respect had gone with design. "You and Juan will +carry in that brazier of coals." + +He went to the door, mounted the two stone steps, and held it open. +Johnnie and Hull bore in the brazier up the steps, and into a large room +lit, but not very brightly, with candles set in sconces upon the walls. + +Following the directions of Alonso, they placed the brazier in a far +corner, and stood by it, waiting in silence. + +They were in a big, arched dungeon, far under ground, as it seemed. At +one end of it there was an alcove, brilliantly lit. In the alcove was a +daïs, or platform. On the platform was a long table draped with black, +and set with silver candlesticks. On the wall behind was a great +crucifix of white and black--the figure of the Christ made of plaster, +or white painted wood, the cross of ebony. In the centre of the long +table sat Don Diego Deza. On one side of him was a man in a robe of +velvet and a flat cap. On the other, the person who had peeped through +the door into the room of the torturers. + +There came a beating, a heavy, muffled knock, upon a door to the left of +the alcove. + +Alonso left the others and hurried to the door. With some effort he +pulled back a lever which controlled several massive bolts. The door +swung open, there was a red glare of torches, and two dark figures, +piloted by the torturer, half-led, half-carried the bound figure of a +man into the room. + +They placed this figure upon an oak stool with a high back, a yard or +two away from the daïs, and then quietly retired. + +As the door leading to the prison closed, Alonso shot the bolts into +their place, and, returning, stood by the stool on which was the figure. + +The notary came down from the platform, followed by the physician. In +his hand was a parchment and a pen; while a long ink-horn depended from +his belt. Father Deza was left alone at the table above. + +"I have read thy depositions," the Inquisitor said, speaking down to the +man, "wherein thou hast not refuted in detail the terrible blasphemies +of Servetus, and therefore, Luis Mercader, I thank the Son of God, Who +deputeth to me the power to sentence thee at the end of this thy +struggle between Holy Church and thine own obstinate blasphemies. In +accordance with justice of my brother inquisitors, I now sign thy +warrant for death, which is indeed our right and duty to execute a +blasphemous person after a regular examination. Thou art to be burnt +anon at the forthcoming Act of Faith. Thou art to be delivered to the +secular arm to suffer this last penalty. Thy blood shall not be upon our +heads, for the Holy Office is ever merciful. But before thou goest, in +our kindness we have ordained that thou shalt learn something of the +sufferings to come. For so only, between this night and the day of thy +death, shalt thou have opportunity to reason with thyself, perchance +recant thy errors, and make thy peace with God." + +He had said this in a rapid mutter, a monotone of vengeance. As he +concluded he nodded to the black figure by the prisoner's chair. + +Alonso turned round. With shaking footsteps, Hull and Johnnie came up to +him, carrying ropes. + +There was a quick whisper. + +"Tie him up--_thus_--_yes, the hands behind the back of the stool_; the +left leg bound fast--it is the right foot upon which we put the +_trampezo_." + +They did it deftly and quietly. Under the long linen garments which +concealed them, their hearts were beating like drums, their throats were +parched and dry, their eyes burnt as they looked out upon this dreadful +scene. + +The notary went back to the daïs, and sat beside Father Deza. The +surgeon took Alonso aside. Johnnie heard what he said.... + +"It will be all right; he can bear it; he will not die; in any case the +_auto da fé_ will be in three days; he _must_ endure it; have the water +ready to bring him back if he fainteth." + +The chirurgeon went back to the alcove and sat on the other side of the +Inquisitor. + +"Bring up the brazier," Alonso said to Commendone. + +Together Johnnie and Hull carried it to the chair. + +"Now send Juan for the pincers...." + +There came a long, low wail of despair from the broken, motionless +figure on the stool. The long pincers, like those with which a +blacksmith pulls out a shoe from the charcoal, were produced.... + +The torturer took the glowing _thing_ on the top of the brazier, and +pulled it off, scattering the coals as he did so. + +Close to the foot of the bound figure he placed the glowing shoe. Then +he motioned to Hull to take up the other side of it with his pincers, +and put it in place so that the foot of the victim should be clamped to +it and burnt away. + +John Hull took up the long pincers, and caught hold of one side of the +shoe. + +Johnnie turned his head away; he looked straight through his black hood +at the three people on the daïs. + +The notary was quietly writing. The surgeon was looking on with cool +professional eye; but Don Deza was watching the imminent horror below +him with a white face which dripped with sweat, with eyes dilated to two +rims, gazing, gazing, _drinking the sight in_. Every now and again the +Inquisitor licked his pallid lips with his tongue. And in that moment of +watching, Johnnie knew that Cruelty, for the sake of Cruelty, the mad +pleasure of watching suffering in its most hideous forms, was the hidden +vice, the true nature, of this priest of Courts. + +At the moment, and doubtless at many other moments in the past, Father +Deza was compensating, and had compensated, for a life of abstinence +from sensual indulgence. He was giving scope to the deadlier vices of +the heart, pride, bigotry, intolerance, and horrid cruelty--those vices +far more opposed to the hope of salvation, and far more extensively +mischievous to society, than anything the sensualist can do. + +The bitterness of it; the horror of it--this was the wine the brilliant +priest was drinking, had drunk, and would ever drink. Into him had come +a devil which had killed his soul, and looked out from his narrow +twitching eyes, rejoicing that it saw these things with the symbol of +God's pain high above it, with the cloak of God's Church upon his +shoulders. + +As Johnnie watched, fascinated with an unnameable horror, he heard a +loud shout close to his ear. He saw a black-hooded, thick figure pass +him and rush towards the daïs. + +In the hands of this figure was a long pair of blacksmith's pincers, and +at the end of the pincers was a shoe of white-hot metal. + +There was another loud shout, a broad band of white light, as the mass +of glowing metal shot through the air in a hissing arc, and then the +face of the Inquisitor disappeared and was no more. + +At that moment both Commendone and the sworn torturer realised what had +happened. They leapt nimbly on to the daïs. From under his robe Alonso +took a stiletto and plunged it into the throat of the notary; while +Johnnie, in a mad fury, caught the physician by the neck, placed his +open hand upon the man's chin, and bent his head back, slowly, steadily, +and with terrible pressure, until there was a faint click, and the +black-robed figure sank down. + +The _trampezo_ was burning into the wooden floor of the daïs. Alonso ran +back into the room, caught up a pail of water, and poured it upon the +gathering flames. There was a hiss, and a column of steam rose up into +the alcove. + +He turned his head and looked at the motionless form of the Inquisitor. +The face was all black and red, and rising into white blisters. + +He turned to Commendone. "He's dead, or dying," he said, "and now, thou +hast indeed cast the die, and all is over. Thy man hath spoilt it all, +and nothing remains for us but death." + +"Silence!" Johnnie answered, captain of himself now, and of all of them +there. "How is the next prisoner to be summoned?" + +The torturer understood him. "Why," he said, "we may yet save +ourselves!--that bell there"--he pointed to a hanging cord. "That +summons the jailors. They are waiting to bring the Señorita for +judgment. Don Luis, there, who was to undergo the _trampezo_, would not +have been taken back into the prison at once, but into our room, where +the surgeon would have attended him. Therefore, we will ring for the +Señorita. She will be pushed into this place very gently. The door will +not be opened wide. Doors are never widely opened in the Holy Office. +The jailors will see us taking charge of her, and all will be well. If +not, get your poignard ready, Señor, and you, too, Juan, for 'twill be +better to die a fighting death in this cellar than to wait for what +would come hereafter." + +He stretched out his hand and pulled down the bell-cord. + +They stood waiting in absolute silence, Alonso and John Hull, in their +dreadful disguise, standing close to the door. + +There was not a sound in the brilliantly lit room. The victim that was +to be had fainted away, and lay as dead as the three corpses upon the +daïs. There was a smell of hot coal, of burning wood, and still there +came a little sizzling noise from the half-quenched glowing iron upon +the platform. + +Thud! + +A quiet answering knock from Alonso. Another thud--the heave of the +lever, the slither of the bolts, the door opening a little, murmured +voices, and a low, shuddering cry of horror, as a tall girl, in a long +woollen garment, a coarse garment of wool dyed yellow, was pushed into +the embrace of the black-hooded figures who stood waiting for her. + +Clang--the bolts were shot back. + +Then a tearing, ripping noise, as Hull pulled the black hood from his +face and shoulders. + +"My dear, my dear," he cried, "Miss Lizzie. 'Tis over now. Fear nothing! +I and thy true love have brought thee to safety." + +The girl gave a great cry. "Johnnie! Johnnie!" + +He rushed up to her, and held her in his arms. He was still clothed in +the dreadful disguise of a torturer. It had not come into his mind to +take it off. But she was not frightened. She knew his arms, she heard +his voice, she sank fainting upon his shoulder. + + * * * * * + +Once more it was John Hull speaking in English who brought the lovers to +realisation. His strong and anxious voice was seconded by the Spanish of +Alonso. + +"Quick! quick!" both the men said. "All hath gone well. We have a start +of many hours, but we must be gone from here at once." + +Johnnie released Elizabeth from his arms, and then he also doffed the +terror-inspiring costume which he wore. + +"Sweetheart," he said, "go you with John Hull and this Alonso into the +room beyond, where they will give you robes to wear. I will join you in +less than a minute." + +They passed away with quick, frightened footsteps. + +But as for Commendone, he went to the centre of the alcove, and knelt +down just below the long black table. + +The three bodies of the men they had slain he could not see. He could +only see the black form of the tablecloth, and above it the great white +Crucifix. + +He prayed that nothing he had done upon this night should stain his +soul, that Jesus--as indeed he believed--had been looking on him and all +that he did, with help and favour. + +And once more he renewed his vow to live for Jesus and for the girl he +loved. + +Crossing himself, he rose, and clapped his hands to his right side. Once +more he found he was without a sword. He bowed again to the cross. "It +will come back to me," he said, in a quiet voice. + +He turned to go, he had no concern with those who lay dead above him; +but as he went towards the door leading to the place of the torturers, +his eye fell upon the oak stool in the middle of the room--the oak chair +by which the brazier still glowed, and in which a silent, doll-like +figure was bound. + +He stepped up to the chair, and immediately he saw that Don Luis was +dead. + +The shock had killed him. He lay back there with patches of grey marked +in his hair, as if fingers had been placed upon it--a young face, now +prematurely old, and writhed into horror, but with a little quiet smile +of satisfaction upon it after all.... + + * * * * * + +And so they sailed away to the Court of Rome, to take a high part in +what went forward in the palace of the Vatican. They were to be fused +into that wonderful revival of Learning and the Arts known as the +Renaissance. + +God willing, and still seeing fit to give strength to the hand and mind +of the present chronicler, what they did in Rome, all that befell them +there, and of Johnnie's friendship and adventures with Messer Benvenuto +Cellini will be duly set out in another volume during the year of Grace +to come. + + _Et veniam pro laude peto: laudatus abunde + Non fastiditus si tibi, lector, ero._ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSE OF TORMENT*** + + +******* This file should be named 36721-8.txt or 36721-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/7/2/36721 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions 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. 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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 = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: House of Torment</p> +<p> A Tale of the Remarkable Adventures of Mr. John Commendone, Gentleman to King Phillip II of Spain at the English Court</p> +<p>Author: Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull</p> +<p>Release Date: July 13, 2011 [eBook #36721]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSE OF TORMENT***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by Mark C. Orton, Mary Meehan,<br /> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> + from page images generously made available by<br /> + Internet Archive<br /> + (<a href="http://www.archive.org">http://www.archive.org</a>)</h4> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/houseoftormentta00gulliala"> + http://www.archive.org/details/houseoftormentta00gulliala</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>HOUSE OF TORMENT</h1> + + +<h3>A Tale of the Remarkable Adventures of<br /> +MR. JOHN COMMENDONE<br /> +Gentleman to King Philip II of Spain at the English Court</h3> + + +<h2>By C. RANGER-GULL</h2> + +<h3>Author of "The Serf," etc.</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3>NEW YORK<br /> +DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY<br /> +1911</h3> + +<h3>Published September, 1911<br /> +THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS<br /> +RAHWAY, N. J.</h3> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>DEDICATION TO DAVID WHITELAW</h3> + +<h3>SOUVENIR OF A LONG FRIENDSHIP</h3> + + +<blockquote><p><i>My dear David,</i></p> + +<p><i>Since I first met you, considerably more than a decade ago, in +a little studio high up in a great London building, we have +both seen much water flow under the bridges of our lives.</i></p> + +<p><i>We have all sorts of memories, have we not?</i></p> + +<p><i>Late midnights and famishing morrows, in the gay hard days +when we were endeavouring to climb the ladder of our Art; a +succession of faces, a welter of experiences. Some of us fell +in the struggle; others failed and still haunt the reprobate +purlieus of Fleet Street and the Strand! There was one who +achieved a high and delicate glory before he died—"Tant va la +cruche à l'eau qu'à la fin elle se casse."</i></p> + +<p><i>There is another who is slowly and surely finding his way to a +certainty of fame.</i></p> + +<p><i>And the rest of us have done something, if not—as yet—all we +hoped to do. At any rate, the slopes of the first hills lie +beneath us. We are in good courage and resolute for the +mountains.</i></p> + +<p><i>The mist eddies and is spiralled below in the valleys from +which we have come, but already we are among the deep sweet +billows of the mountain winds, and I think it is because we +have both found our "Princess Galvas" that we have got this far +upon the way.</i></p> + +<p><i>We may never stand upon the summit and find that tempest of +fire we call the Sun full upon us. But the pleasure of going on +is ours still—there will always be that.</i></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Ever your friend,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>C. RANGER-GULL.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +</blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<table> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">In the Queen's Closet; the Four Faces</span></a> </td><td align="right">1</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">The House of Shame; the Ladder of Glory</span></a> </td><td align="right">36</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">The Meeting with John Hull at Chelmsford</span></a> </td><td align="right">87</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">Part Taken in Affairs by the Half Testoon</span></a> </td><td align="right">111</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">The Finding of Elizabeth</span></a> </td><td align="right">144</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">A King and a Victim. Two Grim Men</span></a> </td><td align="right">169</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">Hey Ho! and a Rumbelow!</span></a> </td><td align="right">191</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. "<span class="smcap">Why, Who But You, Johnnie!</span>"</a> </td><td align="right">226</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. "<span class="smcap">Misericordia et Justitia</span>"</a> </td><td align="right">242</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">The Silent Men in Black</span></a> </td><td align="right">274</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">In the Box</span></a> </td><td align="right">288</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. "<span class="smcap">Tendimus in Latium</span>"</a> </td><td align="right">311</td></tr> +</table> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>IN THE QUEEN'S CLOSET; THE FOUR FACES</h3> + + +<p>Sir Henry Commendone sat upon an oak box clamped with bands of iron and +watched his son completing his morning toilette.</p> + +<p>"And how like you this life of the Court, John?" he said.</p> + +<p>The young man smoothed out the feather of his tall cone-shaped hat. +"Truly, father," he answered, "in respect of itself it seems a very good +life, but in respect that it is far from the fields and home it is +naught. But I like it very well. And I think I am likely to rise high. I +am now attached to the King Consort, by the Queen's pleasure. His +Highness has spoken frequently with me, and I have my commission duly +written out as <i>caballerizo</i>."</p> + +<p>"I never could learn Spanish," the elder man replied, wagging his head. +"Father Chilches tried to teach me often of an afternoon when you were +hawking. What does the word mean in essence?"</p> + +<p>"Groom of the body, father—equerry. It is doubtless because I speak +Spanish that it hath been given me."</p> + +<p>"Very like, Johnnie. But since the Queen, God bless her, has come to the +throne, and England<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> is reconciled to Holy Church, thou wert bound to +get a post at Court. They could not ignore our name. I wrote to the +Bishop of London myself, he placed my request before the Queen's Grace, +and hence thou art here and in high favour."</p> + +<p>The young man smiled. "Which I shall endeavour to keep," he answered. +"And now I must soon go to the Queen's lodging. I am in attendance on +King Philip."</p> + +<p>"And I to horse with my men at noon and so home to Kent. I am glad to +have seen thee, Johnnie, in thy new life, though I do not love London +and the Court. But tell me of the Queen's husband. The neighbours will +all want news of him. It's little enough they like the Spanish match in +Kent. Give me a picture of him."</p> + +<p>"I have been at Court a month," John Commendone answered, "and I have +learned more than one good lesson. There is a Spanish saying that runs +this way, '<i>Palabras y plumas viento las Heva</i>' (Words and feathers are +carried far by the wind). I will tell you, father, but repeat nothing +again. Kent is not far away, and I have ambition."</p> + +<p>Sir Henry chuckled. "Prudent lad," he said; "thou art born to be about a +palace. I'll say nothing."</p> + +<p>"Well then, here is your man, a pedant and a fool, a stickler for little +trifles, a very child for detail. Her Grace the Queen and all the nobles +speak<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> many languages. Every man is learned now. His Highness speaks but +Spanish, though he has a little French. Never did I see a man with so +small a mind, and yet he thinks he can see deep down into men's hearts +and motives, and knows all private and public affairs."</p> + +<p>Sir John whistled. He plucked at one of the roses of burnt silver +embroidered upon the doublet of green tissue he was wearing—the gala +dress which he had put on for his visit to Court, a garment which was a +good many years behind the fashion, but thought most elegant by his +brother squires in Kent.</p> + +<p>"So!" he said, "then this match will prove as bad for the country as all +the neighbours are saying. Still, he is a good Catholic, and that is +something."</p> + +<p>John nodded carelessly. "More so," he replied, "than is thought becoming +to his rank and age by many good Catholics about the Court. He is as +regular at mass, sermons, and vespers as a monk—hath a leash of friars +to preach for his instruction, and disputes in theology with others half +the night till Her Grace hath to send one of her gentlemen to bid him +come to bed."</p> + +<p>"Early days for that," said the Kentish gentleman, "though, in faith, +the Queen is thirty-eight and——"</p> + +<p>John started. "Whist!" he said. "I'm setting you an evil example, sir. +Long ears abound in the Tower. I'll say no more."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm mum, Johnnie," Sir Henry replied. "I'll break in upon thee no more. +Get on with thy tale."</p> + +<p>"'Tis a bargain then, sir, and repeat nothing I tell you. I was saying +about His Highness's religion. He consults Don Diego Deza, a Dominican +who is his confessor, most minutely as to all the actions of life, +inquiring most anxiously if this or that were likely to burden his +conscience. And yet—though Her Grace suspects nothing—he is of a very +gross and licentious temper. He hath issued forth at night into the +city, disguised, and indulged himself in the common haunts of vice. I +much fear me that he will command me to go with him on some such +expedition, for he begins to notice me more than any others of the +English gentlemen in his company, and to talk with me in the Spanish +tongue...."</p> + +<p>The elder man laughed tolerantly.</p> + +<p>"Every man to his taste," he said; "and look you, Johnnie, a prince is +wedded for state reasons, and not for love. The ox hath his bow, the +faulcon his bells, and as pigeon's bill man hath his desire and would be +nibbling!"</p> + +<p>John Commendone drew himself up to his full slim height and made a +motion of disgust.</p> + +<p>"'Tis not my way," he said. "Bachelor, I hunt no fardingales, nor would +I do so wedded."</p> + +<p>"God 'ild you, Johnnie. Hast ever taken a clean and commendable view of +life, and I love thee for it. But have charity, get you charity as you +grow older. His Highness is narrow, you tell me;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> be not so yourself. +Thou art not a little pot and soon hot, but I think thou wilt find a +fire that will thaw thee at Court. A young man must get experience. I +would not have thee get through the streets with a bragging look nor +frequent the stews of town. But young blood must have its May-day. +Whilst can, have thy May-day, Johnnie. Have thy door shadowed with green +birches, long fennel, St. John's wort, orphine, and white lilies. Wilt +not be always young. But I babble; tell me more of King Philip."</p> + +<p>The tall youth had stood silent while his father spoke, his grave, oval +face set in courteous attention. It was a coarse age. Henry the Eighth +was not long dead, and the scandals of his court and life influenced all +private conduct. That Queen Mary was rigid in her morals went for very +little. The Lady Elizabeth, still a young girl, was already committing +herself to a course of life which—despite the historians of the popular +textbooks—made her court in after years as licentious as ever her +father's had been. Old Sir Henry spoke after his kind, and few young men +in 1555 were so fastidious as John Commendone.</p> + +<p>He welcomed the change in conversation. To hear his father—whom he +dearly loved—speak thus, was most distasteful to him.</p> + +<p>"His Highness is a glutton for work," the young man went on. "I see him +daily, and he is ever busy with his pen. He hateth to converse upon +affairs of state, but will write a letter eighteen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> pages long when his +correspondent is in the next room, howbeit the subject is one which a +man of sense would settle in six words of the tongue. Indeed, sir, he is +truly of opinion that the world is to move upon protocols and +apostilles. Events must not be born without a preparatory course of his +obstetrical pedantry! Never will he learn that the world will not rest +on its axis while he writeth directions of the way it is to turn."</p> + +<p>Sir Henry shook himself like a dog.</p> + +<p>"And the Queen mad for such a husband as this!" he said.</p> + +<p>"Aye, worships him as it were a saint in a niche. A skilled lutanist +with a touch on the strings remarkable for its science, speaking many +languages with fluency and grace, Latin in especial, Her Grace yet +thinks His Highness a great statesman and of a polished easy wit."</p> + +<p>"How blind is love, Johnnie! blinder still when it cometh late. A cap +out of fashion and ill-worn. 'Tis like one of your French withered +pears. It looks ill and eats dryly."</p> + +<p>"I was in the Queen's closet two days gone, in waiting on His Highness. +A letter had come from Paris, narrating how a member of the Spanish +envoy's suit to that court had been assassinated. The letter ran that +the manner in which he had been killed was that a Jacobin monk had given +him a pistol-shot in the head—'<i>la façon que l'on dit qu'il a etté tuè, +sa etté par un Jacobin qui luy a donnè d'un cou de pístolle dans la +tayte</i>.' His Highness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> took up his pen and scrawled with it upon the +margin. He drew a line under one word '<i>pístolle</i>'; 'this is perhaps +some kind of knife,' quoth he; 'and as for "<i>tayte</i>," it can be nothing +else but head, which is not <i>tayte</i>, but <i>tête</i> or <i>teyte</i>, as you very +well know.' And, father, the Queen was all smiles and much pleased with +this wonderful commentary!"</p> + +<p>Sir Henry rose.</p> + +<p>"I will hear no more," he said. "It is time I went. You have given me +much food for thought. Fare thee well, Johnnie. Write me letters with +thy doings when thou canst. God bless thee."</p> + +<p>The two men stood side by side, looking at each other in silence, one +hale and hearty still, but with his life drawing to its close, the other +in the first flush of early manhood, entering upon a career which +promised a most brilliant future, with every natural and material +advantage, either his already, or at hand.</p> + +<p>They were like and yet unlike.</p> + +<p>The father was big, burly, iron-grey of head and beard, with hooked nose +and firm though simple eyes under thick, shaggy brows.</p> + +<p>John was of his father's height, close on six feet. He was slim, but +with the leanness of perfect training and condition. Supple as an eel, +with a marked grace of carriage and bearing, he nevertheless suggested +enormous physical strength. The face was a pure oval with an olive tinge +in the skin, the nose hooked like his sire's, the lips curved into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> a +bow, but with a singular graveness and strength overlying and informing +their delicacy. The eyes, of a dark brown, were inscrutable. Steadfast +in regard, with a hint of cynicism and mockery in them, they were at the +same time instinct with alertness and a certain watchfulness. He seemed, +as he stood in his little room in the old palace of the Tower, a +singularly handsome, clever, and capable young man, but a man with +reservations, with secrets of character which no one could plumb or +divine.</p> + +<p>He was the only son of Sir Henry Commendone and a Spanish lady of high +birth who had come to England in 1512 to take a position in the suite of +Catherine of Arragon, three years after her marriage to Henry VIII. +During the early part of Henry's reign Sir Henry Commendone was much at +Windsor and a personal friend of the King. Those were days of great +brilliancy. The King was young, courteous, and affable. His person was +handsome, he was continually engaged in martial exercises and all forms +of field sports. Sir Henry was one of the band of gay youths who tilted +and hawked or hunted in the Great Park. He fell in love with the +beautiful young Juanita de Senabria, married her with the consent and +approbation of the King and Queen, and immediately retired to his manors +in Kent. From that time forward he took absolutely no part in politics +or court affairs. He lived the life of a country squire of his day in +serene health and happiness. His wife died when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> John—the only issue of +the marriage—was six years old, and the boy was educated by Father +Chilches, a placid and easy-going Spanish priest, who acted as domestic +chaplain at Commendone. This man, loving ease and quiet, was +nevertheless a scholar and a gentleman. He had been at the court of +Charles V, and was an ideal tutor for Johnnie. His religion, though +sincere, sat easily upon him. The Divorce from Rome did not draw him +from his calm retreat, the oath enforcing the King's supremacy had no +terrors for him, and he died at a good old age in 1548, during the +protectorate of Somerset.</p> + +<p>From this man Johnnie had learnt to speak Spanish, Italian, and French. +Naturally quick and intelligent, he had added something of his mother's +foreign grace and self-possession to the teachings and worldly-wisdom of +Don Chilches, while his father had delighted to train him in all manly +exercises, than whom none was more fitted to do.</p> + +<p>Sir Henry became rich as the years went on, but lived always as a simple +squire. Most of his land was pasturage, then far more profitable than +the growing of corn. Tillage, with no knowledge of the rotation of +crops, no turnip industry to fatten sheep, miserable appliances and +entire ignorance of manures, afforded no interest on capital. But the +export of wool and broadcloth was highly profitable, and Sir Henry's +wool was paid for in good double ryals by the manufacturers and +merchants of the great towns.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> + +<p>John Commendone entered upon his career, therefore, with plenty of +money—far more than any one suspected—a handsome person, thoroughly +accomplished in all that was necessary for a gentleman of that day.</p> + +<p>In addition, his education was better than the general, he was without +vices, and, in the present reign, the consistent Catholicity of his +house recommended him most strongly to the Queen and her advisers.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"So God 'ild ye, Johnnie. Come not down the stairs with me. Let us make +farewell here and now. I go to the Constable's to leave my duty, and +then to take a stirrup-cup with the Lieutenant. My serving-men and +horses are waiting at the south of White Tower at Coal Harbour Gate. +Farewell."</p> + +<p>The old man put his arms in their out-moded bravery round his son and +kissed him on both cheeks. He hugged like a bear, and his beard was wiry +and strong against the smooth cheeks of his son. Then coughing a little, +he almost imperceptibly made the sign of the cross, and, turning, +clanked away, his sword ringing on the stone floor and his spurs—for he +wore riding-boots of Spanish leather—clicking in unison.</p> + +<p>John was left alone.</p> + +<p>He sat down upon the low wooden bed and gazed at the chest where the +knight had been sitting. The little room, with its single window looking +out upon the back offices of the palace, seemed strangely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> empty, +momentarily forlorn. Johnnie sighed. He thought of the woods of +Commendone, of the old Tudor house with its masses of chimneys and +deep-mullioned windows—of all that home-life so warm and pleasant; dawn +in the park with the deer cropping wet, silver grass, the whistle of the +wild duck as they flew over the lake, the garden of rosemary, St. John's +wort, and French lavender, which had been his mother's.</p> + +<p>Then, stifling a sigh, he sprang to his feet, buckled on his sword—the +fashionable "whiffle"-shaped weapon with globular pommel and the +quillons of the guard ornamented in gold—and gave a glance at a little +mirror hung upon the wall. By no means vain, he had a very careful taste +in dress, and was already considered something of a dandy by the young +men of his set.</p> + +<p>He wore a doublet of black satin, slashed with cloth of silver; and +black velvet trunks trussed and tagged with the same. His short cloak +was of cloth of silver lined with blue velvet pounced with his cypher, +and it fell behind him from his left shoulder.</p> + +<p>He smoothed his small black moustache—for he wore no beard—set his +ruff of two pleats in order, and stepped gaily out of his room into a +long panelled corridor, a very proper young man, taut, trim, and <i>point +device</i>.</p> + +<p>There were doors on each side of the corridor, some closed, some ajar. A +couple of serving-men were hastening along it with ewers of water and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +towels. There was a hum and stir down the whole length of the place as +the younger gentlemen of the Court made their toilettes.</p> + +<p>From one door a high sweet tenor voice shivered out in song—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Filz de Venus, voz deux yeux desbendez<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Et mes ecrits lisez et entendez..."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"That's Mr. Ambrose Cholmondely," Johnnie nodded to himself. "He has a +sweet voice. He sang in the sextette with Lady Bedingfield and Lady +Paget last night. A sweet voice, but a fool! Any girl—or dame either +for that matter—can do what she likes with him. He travels fastest who +travels alone. Master Ambrose will not go far, pardieu, nor travel +fast!"</p> + +<p>He came to the stair-head—it was a narrow, open stairway leading into a +small hall, also panelled. On the right of the hall was a wide, open +door, through which he turned and entered the common-room of the +gentlemen who were lodged in this wing of the palace.</p> + +<p>The place was very like the senior common-room of one of the more +ancient Oxford colleges, wainscoted in oak, and with large mullioned +windows on the side opposite to a high carved fire-place.</p> + +<p>A long table ran down the centre, capable of seating thirty or forty +people, and at one end was a beaufet or side-board with an almost +astonishing array of silver plate, which reflected the sunlight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> that +was pouring into the big, pleasant room in a thousand twinkling points +of light.</p> + +<p>It was an age of silver. The secretary to Francesco Capella, the +Venetian Ambassador to London, writes of the period: "There is no small +innkeeper, however poor and humble he may be, who does not serve his +table with silver dishes and drinking cups; and no one who has not in +his house silver plate to the amount of at least £100 sterling is +considered by the English to be a person of any consequence. The most +remarkable thing in London is the quantity of wrought silver."</p> + +<p>The gentlemen about the Queen and the King Consort had their own private +silver, which was kept in this their common messroom, and was also +supplemented from the Household stores.</p> + +<p>Johnnie sat down at the table and looked round. At the moment, save for +two serving-men and the pantler, he was alone. Before him was the silver +plate and goblet he had brought from Commendone, stamped with his crest +and motto, "<i>Sapere aude et tace</i>." He was hungry, and his eye fell upon +a dish of perch in foyle, one of the many good things upon the table.</p> + +<p>The pantler hastened up.</p> + +<p>"The carpes of venison are very good this morning, sir," he said +confidentially, while one serving-man brought a great piece of manchet +bread and another filled Johnnie's flagon with ale.</p> + +<p>"I'll try some," he answered, and fell to with a good appetite.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<p>Various young men strolled in and stood about, talking and jesting or +whispering news of the Court, calling each other by familiar nicknames, +singing and whistling, examining a new sword, cursing the amount of +their tailors' bills—as young men have done and will do from the dawn +of civilisation to the end.</p> + +<p>John finished his breakfast, crossed himself for grace, and, exchanging +a remark or two here and there, went out of the room and into the +morning sunshine which bathed the old palace of the Tower in splendour.</p> + +<p>How fresh the morning air was! how brilliant the scene before him!</p> + +<p>To his right was the Coal Harbour Gate and the huge White Tower. Two +Royal standards shook out in the breeze, the Leopards of England and +blazoned heraldry of Spain, with its tower of gold upon red for Castile, +the red and yellow bars of Arragon, the red and white checkers of +Burgundy, and the spread-eagle sable of Sicily.</p> + +<p>To the left was that vast range of halls and galleries and gardens which +was the old palace, now utterly swept away for ever. The magnificent +pile of brick and timber known as the Queen's gallery, which was the +actual Royal lodging, was alive and astir with movement. Halberdiers of +the guard were stationed at regular distances upon the low stone terrace +of the façade, groups of officers went in and out of the doors, already +some ladies were walking in the privy garden among the parterres<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> of +flowers, brilliant as a window of stained glass. The gilding and painted +blazonry on the great hall built by Henry III glowed like huge jewels.</p> + +<p>On the gravel sweep before the palace grooms and men-at-arms were +holding richly caparisoned horses, and people were continually coming up +and riding away, their places to be filled by new arrivals.</p> + +<p>It is almost impossible, in our day, to do more than faintly imagine a +scene so splendid and so debonair. The clear summer sky, its crushed +sapphire unveiled by smoke, the mass of roofs, flat, turreted, +embattled—some with stacks of warm, red chimneys splashed with the jade +green of ivy—the cupulars and tall clock towers, the crocketed +pinnacles and fantastic timbered gables, made a whole of extraordinary +beauty.</p> + +<p>Dozens of great gilt vanes rose up into the still, bright air, the gold +seeming as if it were cunningly inlaid upon the curve of a blue bowl.</p> + +<p>The pigeons cooed softly to each other, the jackdaws wheeled and +chuckled round the dizzy heights of the White Tower, there was a sweet +scent of wood smoke and flowers borne upon the cool breezes from the +Thames.</p> + +<p>The clocks beat out the hour of noon, there was the boom of a gun and a +white puff of smoke from the Constable Tower, a gay fanfaronade of +trumpets shivered out, piercingly sweet and triumphant, a distant bell +began to toll somewhere over by St. John's Chapel.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> + +<p>John Commendone entered the great central door of the Queen's gallery.</p> + +<p>He passed the guard of halberdiers that stood at the foot of the great +staircase, exchanging good mornings with Mr. Champneys, who was in +command, and went upwards to the gallery, which was crowded with people. +Officers of the Queen's archers, dressed in scarlet and black velvet, +with a rose and imperial crown woven in gold upon their doublets, +chatted with permanent officials of the household. There was a +considerable sprinkling of clergy, and at one end of the gallery, +nearest to the door of the Ante-room, was a little knot of Dominican +monks, dark and somewhat saturnine figures, who whispered to each other +in liquid Spanish. John went straight to the Ante-room entrance, which +was screened by heavy curtains of tapestry. He spoke a word to the +officer guarding it with a drawn sword, and was immediately admitted to +a long room hung with pictures and lit by large windows all along one +side of its length.</p> + +<p>Here were more soldiers and several gentlemen ushers with white wands in +their hands. One of them had a list of names upon a slip of parchment, +which he was checking with a pen. He looked up as John came in.</p> + +<p>"Give you good day, Mr. Commendone," he said. "I have you here upon this +paper. His Highness is with the Queen in her closet, and you are to be +in waiting. Lord Paget has just had audience, and the Bishop of London +is to come."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + +<p>He lowered his voice, speaking confidentially. "Things are coming to a +head," he said. "I doubt me but that there will be some savage doings +anon. Now, Mr. Commendone, I wish you very well. You are certainly +marked out for high preferment. Your cake is dough on both sides. See +you keep it. And, above all, give talking a lullaby."</p> + +<p>John nodded. He saw that the other knew something. He waited to hear +more.</p> + +<p>"You have been observed, Mr. Commendone," the other went on, his pointed +grey beard rustling on his ruff with a sound as of whispering leaves, +and hardly louder than the voice in which he spoke. "You have had those +watching you as to your demeanours and deportments whom you did not +think. And you have been very well reported of. The King likes you and +Her Grace also. They have spoken of you, and you are to be advanced. And +if, as I very well think, you will be made privy to affairs of state and +policy, pr'ythee remember that I am always at your service, and love you +very well."</p> + +<p>He took his watch from his doublet. "It is time you were announced," he +said, and turning, opened a door opposite the tapestry-hung portal +through which Johnnie had entered.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Commendone," he said, "His Highness's gentleman."</p> + +<p>An officer within called the name down a short passage to a captain who +stood in front of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> door of the closet. There was a knock, a murmur +of voices, and John was beckoned to proceed.</p> + +<p>He felt unusually excited, though at the same time quite cool. Old Sir +James Clinton at the door had not spoken for nothing. Certainly his +prospects were bright.... In another moment he had entered the Queen's +room and was kneeling upon one knee as the door closed behind him.</p> + +<p>The room was large and cheerful. It was panelled throughout, and the +wainscoting had been painted a dull purple or liver-colour, with the +panel-beadings picked out in gold. The roof was of stone, and +waggon-headed with Welsh groins—that is to say, groins which cut into +the main arch below the apex. Two long Venice mirrors hung on one wall, +and over the fire-place was a crucifix of ivory.</p> + +<p>In the centre of the place was a large octagonal table covered with +papers, and a massive silver ink-holder.</p> + +<p>Seated at the table, very busy with a mass of documents, was King Philip +II of Spain. Don Diego Deza, his confessor and private chaplain, stood +by the side of the King's chair.</p> + +<p>Seated at another and smaller table in a window embrasure Queen Mary was +bending over a large flat book. It was open at an illuminated page, and +the sunlight fell upon the gold and vermilion, the <i>rouge-de-fer</i> and +powder-blue, so that it gleamed like a little <i>parterre</i> of jewels.</p> + +<p>It was the second time that John Commendone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> had been admitted to the +Privy Closet. He had been in waiting at supper, the Queen had spoken to +him once or twice; he was often in the King Consort's lodging, and was +already a favourite among the members of the Spanish suite. But this was +quite different. He knew it at once. He realised immediately that he was +here—present at this "domestic interior," so to speak, for some +important purpose. Had he known the expressive idiom of our day, he +would have said to himself, "I have arrived!"</p> + +<p>Philip looked up. His small, intensely serious eyes gave a gleam of +recognition.</p> + +<p>"Buenos dias, señor," he said.</p> + +<p>John bowed very low.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the room was filled with a harsh and hoarse volume of sound, a +great booming, resonant voice, like the voice of a strong, rough man.</p> + +<p>It came from the Queen.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Commendone, come you here. His Highness hath work to do. Art a +lutanist, Lady Paget tells me, then look at this new book of tablature +with the voice part very well writ and the painting of the initial most +skilfully done."</p> + +<p>The young man advanced to the Queen. She held out her left hand, a +little shrivelled hand, for him to kiss. He did so, and then, rising, +bent over the wonderfully illuminated music book.</p> + +<p>The six horizontal lines of the lute notation, each named after a +corresponding note of the instrument, were drawn in scarlet. The Arabic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +numerals which indicated the frets to be used in producing the notes +were black and orange, the initial H was a wealth of flat heraldic +colour.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"His golden locks time hath to filuer turnde"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>the Queen read out in her great masculine voice,—a little subdued now, +but still fierce and strong, like the purring of a panther. "What think +you of my new book of songs, Mr. Commendone?"</p> + +<p>"A beautiful book, Madam, and fit for Your Grace's skill, who hath no +rival with the lute."</p> + +<p>"'Tis kind of you to say so, Mr. Commendone, but you over compliment +me."</p> + +<p>She bent her brows together, lost in serious thought for a moment, and +drummed with lean fingers upon the table.</p> + +<p>Suddenly she looked up and her face cleared.</p> + +<p>"I can say truly," she continued, "that I am a very skilled player. For +a woman I can fairly put myself in the first rank. But I have met others +surpassing me greatly."</p> + +<p>She had thought it out with perfect fairness, with an almost pedantic +precision. Woman-like, she was pleased with what the young courtier had +said, but she weighed truth in grains and scruples—tithe of mint and +cummin, the very word and article of bald fact; always her way.</p> + +<p>"And here, Mr. Commendone," she continued, "is my new virginal. It hath +come from Firenze, and was made by Nicolo Pedrini himself. My Lord Mayor +begged Our acceptance of it."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<p>The virginal was a fine instrument—spinet it came to be called in +Elizabeth's reign, from the spines or crow-quills which were attached to +the "jacks" and plucked at the strings.</p> + +<p>The case was made of cypress wood, inlaid with whorls of thin silver and +enamels of various colours.</p> + +<p>"We were pleased at the Lord Mayor's courtesy," the Queen concluded, and +the change in pronoun showed John that the interview was over in its +personal sense, and that he had been very highly honoured.</p> + +<p>He bowed, with a murmur of assent, and drew aside to the wall of the +room, waiting easily there, a fresh and gallant figure, for any further +commands.</p> + +<p>Nor did it escape him that the Queen had given him a look of prim, but +quite marked approval—as an old maid may look upon a handsome and +well-mannered boy.</p> + +<p>The Queen pressed down the levers of the spinet once or twice, and the +thin, sweet chords like the ghost of a harp rang out into the room.</p> + +<p>John watched her from the wall.</p> + +<p>The divine right of monarchs was a doctrine very firmly implanted in his +mind by his upbringing and the time in which he lived. The absolutism of +Henry VIII had had an extraordinary influence on public thought.</p> + +<p>To a man such as John Commendone the monarch of England was rather more +than human.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> + +<p>At the same time his cool and clever brain was busily at work, drinking +in details, criticising, appraising, wondering.</p> + +<p>The Queen wore a robe of claret-coloured velvet, fringed with gold +thread and furred with powdered ermine. Over her rather thin hair, +already turning very grey, she wore the simple caul of the period, a +head-dress which was half bonnet, half skull-cap, made of cloth of +tinsel set with pearls.</p> + +<p>Small, lean, sickly, painfully near-sighted, yet with an eye full of +fierceness and fire—your true Tudor-tiger eye—she was yet singularly +feminine. As she sat there, her face wrinkled by care and evil passions +even more than by time, touching the keys of her spinet, picking up a +piece of embroidery, and frequently glancing at her husband with quick, +hungry looks of fretful and even suspicious affection, she was far more +woman than queen.</p> + +<p>The great booming voice which terrified strong men, coming from this +frail and sinister figure, was silent now. There was pathos even in her +attitude. A submissive wife of Philip with her woman's gear.</p> + +<p>The King of Spain went on writing, coldly, carefully, and with +concentrated attention, and John's eyes fell upon him also, his new +master, the most powerful man in the world of that day. King of Spain, +Naples, Sicily, Duke of Milan, Lord of Franche Comté and the +Netherlands, Ruler of Tunis and the Barbary coast, the Canaries, Cape de +Verd Islands, Philippines and Spice Islands, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> huge West Indian +colonies, and the vast territories of Mexico and Peru—an almost +unthinkable power was in the hands of this man.</p> + +<p>As it all came to him, Johnnie shuddered for a moment. His nerves were +tense, his imagination at work, it seemed difficult to breathe the same +air as these two super-normal beings in the still, warm chamber.</p> + +<p>From outside came the snarling of trumpets, the stir and noise of +soldiery—here, warm silence, the scratching of a pen upon parchment, +the echo of a voice which rolled like a kettle-drum....</p> + +<p>Suddenly the King laid down his pen and rose to his feet, a tall, lean, +sombre-faced man in black and gold. He spoke a few words to Father Diego +Deza and then went up to the Queen in the window.</p> + +<p>The monk went on arranging papers in orderly bundles, and tying some of +them with cords of green silk, which he drew from a silver box.</p> + +<p>John saw the Queen's face. It lit up and became almost beautiful for a +second as Philip approached. Then as husband and wife conversed in low +voices, the equerry saw yet another change come over Mary's twitching +and expressive countenance. It hardened and froze, the thin lips +tightened to a line of dull pink, the eyes grew bitter bright, the head +nodded emphatically several times, as if in agreement at something the +King was saying.</p> + +<p>Then John felt some one touch his arm, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> found that the Dominican had +come to him noiselessly, and was smiling into his face with a flash of +white teeth and steady, watchful eyes.</p> + +<p>He started violently and turned his head from the Royal couple in some +confusion. He felt as though he had been detected in some breach of +manners, of espionage almost.</p> + +<p>"Buenos dias, señor, como anda usted?" Don Diego asked in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, I am very well," Johnnie answered in Spanish.</p> + +<p>"Como está su padre?"</p> + +<p>"My father is very well also. He has just left me to ride home to Kent," +John replied, wondering how in the world this foreign priest knew of the +old knight's visit.</p> + +<p>It was true, then, what Sir James Clinton had said! He was being +carefully watched. Even in the Royal Closet his movements were known.</p> + +<p>"A loyal gentleman and a good son of the Church," said the priest, "we +have excellent reports of him, and of you also, señor," he concluded, +with another smile.</p> + +<p>John bowed.</p> + +<p>"<i>Los negocios del politica</i>—affairs of state," the chaplain whispered +with a half-glance at the couple in the window. "There are great times +coming for England, señor. And if you prove yourself a loyal servant and +good Catholic, you are destined to go far. His Most Catholic Majesty has +need of an English gentleman such as you in his suite, of good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> birth, +of the true religion, with Spanish blood in his veins, and speaking +Spanish."</p> + +<p>Again the young man bowed. He knew very well that these words were +inspired. This suave ecclesiastic was the power behind the throne. He +held the King's conscience, was his confessor, more powerful than any +great lord or Minister—the secret, unofficial director of world-wide +policies.</p> + +<p>His heart beat high within him. The prospects opening before him were +enough to dazzle the oldest and most experienced courtier; he was upon +the threshold of such promotion and intimacies as he, the son of a plain +country gentleman, had never dared to hope for.</p> + +<p>It had grown very hot; he remarked upon it to the priest, noticing, as +he did so, that the room was darker than before.</p> + +<p>The air of the closet was heavy and oppressive, and glancing at the +windows, he saw that it was no fancy of strained and excited nerves, but +that the sky over the river was darkening, and the buildings upon London +Bridge stood out with singular sharpness.</p> + +<p>"A storm of thunder," said Don Diego indifferently, and then, with a +gleam in his eyes, "and such a storm shall presently break over England +that the air shall be cleared of heresy by the lightnings of Holy +Church—ah! here cometh His Grace of London!"</p> + +<p>The Captain of the Guard had suddenly beaten upon the door. It was flung +open, and Sir James<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> Clinton, who had come down the passage from the +Ante-room, preceded the Bishop, and announced him in a loud, sonorous +voice.</p> + +<p>Johnnie instinctively drew himself up to attention, the chaplain +hastened forward, King Philip, in the window, stood upright, and the +Queen remained seated. From the wall Johnnie saw all that happened quite +distinctly. The scene was one which he never forgot.</p> + +<p>There was the sudden stir and movement of his lordship's entrance, the +alteration and grouping of the people in the closet, the challenge of +the captain at the door, the heralding voice of Sir James—and then, +into the room, which was momentarily growing darker as the thunder +clouds advanced on London, Bishop Bonner came.</p> + +<p>The man <i>pressed</i> into the room, swift, sudden, assertive. In his +scarlet chimere and white rochet, with his bullet head and bristling +beard, it was as though a shell had fallen into the room.</p> + +<p>A streak of livid light fell upon his face—set, determined, and alive +with purpose—and the man's eyes, greenish brown and very bright, caught +a baleful fire from the waning gleam.</p> + +<p>Then, with almost indecent haste, he brushed past John Commendone and +the eager Spanish monk, and knelt before the Queen.</p> + +<p>He kissed her hand, and the hand of the King Consort also, with some +murmured words which Johnnie could not catch. Then he rose, and the +Queen, as she had done upon her arrival from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> Winchester after her +marriage, knelt for his blessing.</p> + +<p>Commendone and the chaplain knelt also; the King of Spain bowed his +head, as the rapid, breathless pattering Latin filled the place, and one +outstretched hand—two white fingers and one white thumb—quivered for a +moment and sank in the leaden light.</p> + +<p>There was a new grouping of figures, some quick talk, and then the +Queen's great voice filled the room.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Commendone! See that there are lights!"</p> + +<p>Johnnie stumbled out of the closet, now dark as at late evening, strode +down the passage, burst into the Ante-room, and called out loudly, +"Bring candles, bring candles!"</p> + +<p>Even as he said it there was a terrible crash of thunder high in the air +above the Palace, and a simultaneous flash of lightning, which lit up +the sombre Ante-room with a blinding and ghostly radiance for the +fraction of a second.</p> + +<p>White faces immobile as pictures, tense forms of all waiting there, and +then the voice of Sir James and the hurrying of feet as the servants +rushed away....</p> + +<p>It was soon done. While the thunder pealed and stammered overhead, the +amethyst lightning sheets flickered and cracked, the white whips of the +fork-lightning cut into the black and purple gloom, a little procession +was made, and gentlemen ushers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> followed Johnnie back to the Royal +Closet, carrying candles in their massive silver sconces, dozens of +twinkling orange points to illumine what was to be done.</p> + +<p>The door was closed. The King, Queen, and the Bishop sat down at the +central table upon which all the lights were set.</p> + +<p>Don Diego Deza stood behind Philip's chair.</p> + +<p>The Queen turned to John.</p> + +<p>"Stand at the door, Mr. Commendone," she said, "and with your sword +drawn. No one is to come in. We are engaged upon affairs of state."</p> + +<p>Her voice was a second to the continuous mutter of the thunder, low, +fierce, and charged with menace. Save for the candles, the room was now +quite dark.</p> + +<p>A furious wind had risen and blew great gouts of hot rain upon the +window-panes with a rattle as of distant artillery.</p> + +<p>Johnnie drew his sword, held it point downwards, and stood erect, +guarding the door. He could feel the tapestry which covered it moving +behind him, bellying out and pressing gently upon his back.</p> + +<p>He could see the faces of the people at the table very distinctly.</p> + +<p>The King of Spain and his chaplain were in profile to him. The Queen and +the Bishop of London he saw full-face. He had not met the Bishop before, +though he had heard much about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> him, and it was on the prelate's +countenance that his glance of curiosity first fell.</p> + +<p>Young as he was, Johnnie had already begun to cultivate that cool +scrutiny and estimation of character which was to stand him in such +stead during the years that were to come. He watched the face of Edmund +Bonner, or Boner, as the Bishop was more generally called at that time, +with intense interest. Boner was to the Queen what the Dominican Deza +was to her husband. The two priests ruled two monarchs.</p> + +<p>In the yellow candle-light, an oasis of radiance in the murk and gloom +of the storm, the faces of the people round the table hid nothing. The +Bishop was bullet-headed, had protruding eyes, a bright colour, and his +moustache and beard only partially hid lips that were red and full. The +lips were red and full, there was a coarseness, and even sensuality, +about them, which was, nevertheless, oddly at war with their +determination and inflexibility. The young man, pure and fastidious +himself, immediately realised that Boner was not vicious in the ordinary +meaning of the word. One hears a good deal about "thin, cruel lips"—the +Queen had them, indeed—but there are full and blood-charged lips which +are cruel too. And these were the lips of the Bishop of London.</p> + +<p>There was a huge force about the man. He was plebeian, common, but +strong.</p> + +<p>Don Diego, Commendone himself, the Queen and her husband, were all +aristocrats in their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> different degree, bred from a line—pedigree +people.</p> + +<p>That was the bond between them.</p> + +<p>The Bishop was outside all this, impatient of it, indeed; but even while +the groom of the body twirled his moustache with an almost mechanical +gesture of disgust and misliking, he felt the power of the man.</p> + +<p>And no historian has ever ventured to deny that. The natural son of the +hedge-priest, George Savage—himself a bastard—walked life with a +shield of brutal power as his armour. The blood-stained man from whom—a +few years after—Queen Elizabeth turned away with a shudder of +irrepressible horror, was the man who had dared to browbeat and bully +Pope Clement VII himself. He took a personal and undignified delight in +the details of physical and mental torture of his victims. In 1546 he +had watched with his own eyes the convulsions of Dame Anne Askew upon +the rack. He was sincere, inflexible, and remarkable for obstinacy in +everything except principle. As Ambassador to Paris in Henry's reign he +had smuggled over printed sheets of Coverdale's and Grafton's +translation of the Bible in his baggage—the personal effects of an +ambassador being then, as now, immune from prying eyes. During the +Protectorate he had lain in prison, and now the strenuous opposer of +papal claims in olden days was a bishop in full communion with Rome.</p> + +<p>... He was speaking now, in a loud and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> vulgar voice, which even the +presence of their Majesties failed to soften or subdue.</p> + +<p>—"And this, so please Your Grace, is but a sign and indication of the +spirit abroad. There is no surcease from it. We shall do well to gird us +up and scourge this heresy from England. This letter was delivered by an +unknown woman to my chaplain, Father Holmes. 'Tis a sign of the times."</p> + +<p>He unfolded a paper and began to read.</p> + +<p>"I see that you are set all in a rage like a ravening wolf against the +poor lambs of Christ appointed to the slaughter for the testimony of the +truth. Indeed, you are called the common cut-throat and general +slaughter-slave to all the bishops of England; and therefore 'tis wisdom +for me and all other simple sheep of the Lord to keep us out of your +butcher's stall as long as we can. The very papists themselves begin now +to abhor your blood-thirstiness, and speak shame of your tyranny. Like +tyranny, believe me, my lord, any child that can any whit speak, can +call you by your name and say, 'Bloody Boner is Bishop of London'; and +every man hath it as perfectly upon his fingers'-ends as his +Paternoster, how many you, for your part, have burned with fire and +famished in prison; they say the whole sum surmounteth to forty persons +within this three-quarters of this year. Therefore, my lord, though your +lordship believeth that there is neither heaven nor hell nor God nor +devil, yet if your lordship love your own honesty, which was lost long +agone, you were best to surcease from this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> cruel burning of Christian +men, and also from murdering of some in prison, for that, indeed, +offendeth men's minds most. Therefore, say not but a woman gave you +warning, if you list to take it. And as for the obtaining of your popish +purpose in suppressing the Truth, I put you out of doubt, you shall not +obtain it as long as you go to work this way as ye do; for verily I +believe that you have lost the hearts of twenty thousand that were rank +papists within this twelve months."</p> + +<p>The Bishop put the letter down upon the table and beat upon it with his +clenched fist. His face was alight with inquiry and anger.</p> + +<p>Every one took it in a different fashion.</p> + +<p>Philip crossed himself and said nothing, formal, cold, and almost +uninterested. Don Diego crossed himself also. His face was stern, but +his eyes flitted hither and thither, sparkling in the light.</p> + +<p>Then the Queen's great voice boomed out into the place, drowning the +thunder and the beating rain upon the window-panes, pressing in gouts of +sound on the hot air of the closet.</p> + +<p>Her face was bagged and pouched like a quilt. All womanhood was wiped +out of it—lips white, eyes like ice....</p> + +<p>"I'll stamp it out of this realm! I'll burn it out. Jesus! but we will +burn it out!"</p> + +<p>The Bishop's face was trembling with excitement. He thrust a paper in +front of the Queen.</p> + +<p>"Madam," he said, "this is the warrant for Doctor Rowland Taylor."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mary caught up a pen and wrote her name at the foot of the document in +the neat separated letters of one accustomed to write in Greek, below +the signature of the Chancellor Gardiner and the Lords Montague and +Wharton, judges of the Legantine Court for the trial of heretics.</p> + +<p>"I will make short with him," the Queen said, "and of all blasphemers +and heretics. There is the paper, my lord, with my hand to it. A black +knave this, they tell me, and withal very stubborn and lusty in +blasphemy."</p> + +<p>"A very black knave, Madam. I performed the ceremony of degradation upon +him yestereen, and, by my troth, never did the walls of Newgate chapel +shelter such a rogue before. He would not put on the vestments which I +was to strip from him, and was then, at my order, robed by another. And +when he was thoroughly furnished therewith, he set his hands to his +sides and cried, 'How say you, my lord, am I not a goodly fool? How say +you, my masters, if I were in Chepe, should I not have boys enough to +laugh at these apish toys?'"</p> + +<p>The Queen crossed herself. Her face blazed with fury. "Dog!" she cried. +"Perchance he will sing another tune to-morrow morn. But what more?"</p> + +<p>"I took my crosier-staff to smite him on the breast," the Bishop +continued. "And upon that Mr. Holmes, that is my chaplain, said, 'Strike +him not, my lord, for he will sure strike again.' 'Yes, and by St. Peter +will I,' quoth Doctor Taylor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> 'The cause is Christ's, and I were no +good Christian if I would not fight in my Master's quarrel.' So I laid +my curse on him, and struck him not."</p> + +<p>The King's large, sombre face twisted into a cold sneer.</p> + +<p>"<i>Perro labrador nunca buen mordedor</i>—a barking dog is never a good +fighter," he said. "I shall watch this clerk-convict to-morrow. Methinks +he will not be so lusty at his burning."</p> + +<p>The Bishop looked up quickly with surprise in his face.</p> + +<p>"My lord," the Queen said to him, "His Majesty, as is both just and +right, desireth to see this blasphemer's end, and will report to me on +the matter. Mr. Commendone, come here."</p> + +<p>Johnnie advanced to the table.</p> + +<p>"You will go to Sir John Shelton," the Queen went on, "and learn from +him all that hath been arranged for the burning of this heretic. The +King will ride with the party and you in close attendance upon His +Majesty. Only you and Sir John will know who the King is, and your life +depends upon his safety. I am weary of this business. My heart grieves +for Holy Church while these wolves are not let from their wickedness. Go +now, Mr. Commendone, upon your errand, and report to Father Deza this +afternoon."</p> + +<p>She held out her hand. John knelt on one knee and kissed it.</p> + +<p>As he left the closet the rain was still lashing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> the window-panes, and +the candles burnt yellow in the gloom.</p> + +<p>By a sudden flash of lightning he saw the four faces looking down at the +death warrant. There was a slight smile on all of them, and the +expressions were very intent.</p> + +<p>The great white crucifix upon the panelling gleamed like a ghost.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE HOUSE OF SHAME; THE LADDER OF GLORY</h3> + + +<p>It was ten o'clock in the evening. The thunderstorm of the morning had +long since passed away. The night was cool and still. There was no moon, +but the sky above London was powdered with stars.</p> + +<p>The Palace of the Tower was ablaze with lights. The King and Queen had +supped in state at eight, and now a masque was in progress, held in the +glorious hall which Henry III painted with the story of Antiochus.</p> + +<p>The sweet music shivered out into the night as John Commendone came into +the garden among the sleeping flowers.</p> + +<p>"And the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe, and wine are in their +feasts." Commendone had never read the Bible, but the words of the +Prophet would have well expressed his mood had he but known them.</p> + +<p>For he was melancholy and ill at ease. The exaltation of the morning had +quite gone. Though he was still pleasantly conscious that he was in a +fair way to great good fortune, some of the savour was lost. He could +not forget the lurid scene in the Closet—the four faces haunted him +still. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> he knew also that a strange and probably terrible experience +waited him during the next few hours.</p> + +<p>"God on the Cross," he said to himself, snapping his fingers in +perplexity and misease—it was the fashion at Court to use the great +Tudor oaths—"I am come to touch with life—real life at last. And I am +not sure that I like it. But 'tis too new as yet. I must be as other men +are, I suppose!"</p> + +<p>As he walked alone in the night, and the cool air played upon his face, +he began to realise how placid, how much upon the surface, his life had +always been until now. He had come to Court perfectly equipped by +nature, birth, and training for the work of pageantry, a picturesque +part in the retinue of kings. He had fallen into his place quite +naturally. It all came easy to him. He had no trace of the "young +gentleman from the country" about him—he might have started life as a +Court page.</p> + +<p>But the real emotions of life, the under-currents, the hates, loves, and +strivings, had all been a closed book. He recognised their existence, +but never thought they would or could affect him. He had imagined that +he would always be aloof, an interested spectator, untouched, +untroubled.</p> + +<p>And he knew to-night that all this had been but a phantom of his brain. +He was to be as other men. Life had got hold on him at last, stern and +relentless.</p> + +<p>"To-night," he thought, "I really begin to live.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> I am quickened to +action. Some day, anon, I too must make a great decision, one way or the +other. The scene is set, they are pulling the traverse from before it, +the play begins.</p> + +<p>"I am a fair white page," he said to himself, "on which nothing is writ, +I have ever been that. To-night comes Master Scrivener. 'I have a mind +to write upon thee,' he saith, and needs be that I submit."</p> + +<p>He sighed.</p> + +<p>The music came to him, sweet and gracious. The long orange-litten +windows of the Palace spoke of the splendours within.</p> + +<p>But he thought of a man—whose name he had never heard until that +morning—lying in some dark room, waiting for those who were to come for +him, the man whom he would watch burning before the sun had set again.</p> + +<p>It had been an evening of incomparable splendour.</p> + +<p>The King and Queen had been served with all the panoply of state. The +Duke of Norfolk, the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke, Lord Paget and Lord +Rochester, had been in close attendance.</p> + +<p>The Duke had held the ewer of water, Paget and Rochester the bason and +napkin. After the ablutions the Bishop of London said grace.</p> + +<p>The Queen blazed with jewels. The life of seclusion she had led before +her accession had by no means dulled the love of splendour inherent in +her family. Even the French ambassador, well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> used to pomp and display, +leaves his own astonishment on record.</p> + +<p>She wore raised cloth of gold, and round her thin throat was a partlet +or collar of emeralds. Her stomacher was of diamonds, an almost barbaric +display of twinkling fire, and over her gold caul was a cap of black +velvet sewn with pearls.</p> + +<p>During the whole of supper it was remarked that Her Grace was merry. The +gay lords and ladies who surrounded her and the King—for all alike, +young maids and grey-haired dames of sixty must blaze and sparkle +too—nodded and whispered to each other, wondering at this high +good-humour.</p> + +<p>When the Server advanced with his white wand, heading the procession of +yeomen-servers with the gilt dishes of the second course—he was a fat +pottle-bellied man—the Queen turned to the Duke of Norfolk.</p> + +<p>"<i>Dame!</i>" she said in French, "here is a prancing pie! <i>Ma mye!</i> A capon +of high grease! Methinks this gentleman hath a very single eye for the +larder!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, m'am," the Duke answered, "and so would make a better feast for +Polypheme than e'er the lean Odysseus."</p> + +<p>They went on with their play of words upon the names of the dishes in +the menu....</p> + +<p>"But say rather a porpoise in armour."</p> + +<p>"Halibut engrailed, Madam, hath a face of peculiar whiteness like the +under belly of that fish!"</p> + +<p>"A jowl of sturgeon!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + +<p>"A Florentine of puff paste, m'am."</p> + +<p>"<i>Habet!</i>" the Queen replied, "I can't better that. Could you, Lady +Paget? You are a great jester."</p> + +<p>Lady Paget, a stately white-haired dame, bowed to the Duke and then to +the Queen.</p> + +<p>"His Grace is quick in the riposte," she said, "and if Your Majesty +gives him the palm—<i>qui meruit ferat</i>! But capon of high grease for my +liking."</p> + +<p>"But you've said nothing, Lady Paget."</p> + +<p>"My wit is like my body, m'am, grown old and rheumy. The salad days of +it are over. I abdicate in favour of youth."</p> + +<p>Again this adroit lady bowed.</p> + +<p>The Queen flushed up, obviously pleased with the compliment. She looked +at the King to see if he had heard or understood it.</p> + +<p>The King had been talking to the Bishop of London, partly in such Latin +as he could muster, which was not much, but principally with the aid of +Don Diego Deza, who stood behind His Majesty's chair, and acted as +interpreter—the Dominican speaking English fluently.</p> + +<p>During the whole of supper Philip had appeared less morose than usual. +There was a certain fire of expectancy and complacence in his eye. He +had smiled several times; his manner to the Queen had been more genial +than it was wont to be—a fact which, in the opinion of everybody, duly +accounted for Her Grace's high spirits and merriment.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + +<p>He looked up now as Lady Paget spoke.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ensalada!</i>" he said, having caught one word of Lady Paget's +speech—salad. "Yes, give me some salad. It is the one thing"—he +hastened to correct himself—"it is one of the things they make better +in England than in my country."</p> + +<p>The Queen was in high glee.</p> + +<p>"His Highness grows more fond of our English food," she said; and in a +moment or two the Comptroller of the Household came up to the King's +chair, followed by a pensioner bearing a great silver bowl of one of +those wonderful salads of the period, which no modern skill of the +kitchen seems able to produce to-day—burridge, chicory, bugloss, +marigold leaves, rocket, and alexanders, all mixed with eggs, cinnamon, +oil, and ginger.</p> + +<p>Johnnie, who was sitting at the Esquires' table, with the Gentlemen of +the Body and Privy Closet, had watched the gay and stately scene till +supper was nearly over.</p> + +<p>The lights, the music, the high air, the festivity, had had no power to +lighten the oppression which he felt, and when at length the King and +Queen rose and withdrew to the great gallery where the Masque was +presently to begin, he had slipped out alone into the garden.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"His golden locks time hath to silver turned."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The throbbing music of the old song, the harps' thridding, the lutes +shivering out their arpeggio accompaniment, the viols singing +together—came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> to him with rare and plaintive sweetness, but they +brought but little balm or assuagement to his dark, excited mood.</p> + +<p>Ten o'clock beat out from the roof of the Palace. Johnnie left the +garden. He was to receive his instruction as to his night's doing from +Mr. Medley, the Esquire of Sir John Shelton, in the Common Room of the +Gentlemen of the Body.</p> + +<p>He strode across the square in front of the façade, and turned into the +long panelled room where he had breakfasted that morning.</p> + +<p>It was quite empty now—every one was at the Masque—but two silver +lamps illuminated it, and shone upon the dark walls of the glittering +array of plate upon the beaufet.</p> + +<p>He had not waited there a minute, however, leaning against the tall +carved mantelpiece, a tall and gallant figure in his rich evening dress, +when steps were heard coming through the hall, the door swung open, and +Mr. Medley entered.</p> + +<p>He was a thick-set, bearded man of middle height, more soldier than +courtier, with the stamp of the barrack-room and camp upon him; a brisk, +quick-spoken man, with compressed lips and an air of swift service.</p> + +<p>"Give you good evening, Mr. Commendone," he said; "I am come with Sir +John's orders."</p> + +<p>Johnnie bowed. "At your service," he answered.</p> + +<p>The soldier looked round the room carefully before speaking.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There is no one here, Mr. Medley," Johnnie said.</p> + +<p>The other nodded and came close up to the young courtier.</p> + +<p>"The Masque hath been going this half-hour," he said, in a low voice, +"but His Highness hath withdrawn. Her Grace is still with the dancers, +and in high good-humour. Now, I must tell you, Mr. Commendone, that the +Queen thinketh His Highness in his own wing of the Palace, and with Don +Diego and Don de Castro, his two confessors. She is willing that this +should be so, and said 'Good night' to His Highness after supper, +knowing that he will presently set out to the burning of Dr. Taylor. She +knoweth that the party sets out for Hadley at two o'clock, and thinketh +that His Highness is spending the time before then in prayer and a +little sleep. I tell you this, Mr. Commendone, in order that you go not +back to the Masque before that you set out from the Tower to a certain +house where His Highness will be with Sir John Shelton. You will take +your own servant mounted and armed, and a man-at-arms also will be at +the door of your lodging here at ten minutes of midnight. The word at +the Coal Harbour Gate is 'Christ.' With your two men you will at once +ride over London Bridge and so to Duck Lane, scarce a furlong from the +other side of the bridge. Doubtless you know it"—and here the man's +eyes flickered with a half smile for a moment—"but if not, the +man-at-arms, one of Sir John's men, will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> show you the way. You will +knock at the big house with the red door, and be at once admitted. There +will be a light over the door. His Highness will be there with Sir John, +and that is all I have to tell you. Afterwards you will know what to +do."</p> + +<p>Johnnie bowed. "Give you good night," he said. "I understand very well."</p> + +<p>As soon as the Esquire had gone, Johnnie turned out of the Common Room, +ascended the stairs, went to his own chamber and threw himself upon the +little bed.</p> + +<p>He had imagined that something like this was likely to occur. The King's +habits were perfectly well known to all those about him, and indeed were +whispered of in the Court at large, Queen Mary, alone, apparently +knowing nothing of the truth as yet. The King's unusual bonhomie at +supper could hardly be accounted for, at least so Johnnie thought, by +the fact that he was to see his own and the Queen's bigotry translated +into dreadful reality. To the keen young student of faces the King had +seemed generally relieved, expectant, with the air of a boy about to be +released from school. Now, the reason was plain enough. His Highness had +gone with Sir John Shelton to some infamous house in a bad quarter of +the city, and it was there the Equerry was to meet him and ride to the +death scene.</p> + +<p>Johnnie tossed impatiently upon his bed. He remembered how on that very +morning he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> expressed his hopes to Sir Henry that his duties would +not lead him into dubious places. A lot of water had run under the +bridges since he kissed his father farewell in the bright morning light. +His whole prospects were altered, and advanced. For one thing, he had +been present at an intimate and private conference and had received +marked and special favour—he shuddered now as he remembered the four +intent faces round the table in the Privy Closet, those sharp faces, +with a cruel smirk upon them, those still faces with the orange light +playing over them in the dark, tempest-haunted room.</p> + +<p>"I' faith," he said to himself, "thou art fairly put to sea, Johnnie! +but I will not feed myself with questioning. I am in the service of +princes, and must needs do as I am told. Who am I to be squeamish? But +hey-ho! I would I were in the park at Commendone to-night."</p> + +<p>About eleven o'clock his servant came to him and helped him to change +his dress. He wore long riding-boots of Spanish leather, a light +corselet of tough steel, inlaid with arabesques of gold, and a big +quilted Spanish hat. Over all he fastened a short riding-cloak of supple +leather dyed purple. He primed his pistols and gave them to a man to be +put into his holsters, and about a quarter before midnight descended the +stairs.</p> + +<p>He found a man-at-arms with a short pike, already mounted, and his +servant leading the other two horses; he walked toward the Coal Harbour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +Gate, gave the word to the Lieutenant of the Guard, and left the Tower.</p> + +<p>A light moon was just beginning to rise and throw fantastic shadows over +Tower Hill. It was bright enough to ride by, and Johnnie forbade his man +to light the horn lantern which was hanging at the fellow's saddle-bow.</p> + +<p>They went at a foot pace, the horses' feet echoing with an empty, +melancholy sound from the old timbered houses back to the great bastion +wall of the Tower.</p> + +<p>The man-at-arms led the way. When they came to London Bridge, where a +single lantern showed the broad oak bar studded with nails, which ran +across the roadway, Johnnie noticed that upon the other side of it were +two halberdiers of the Tower Guard in their uniforms of black and +crimson, talking to the keeper of the gate.</p> + +<p>As they came up the bar swung open.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Commendone?" said the keeper, an elderly man in a leather jerkin.</p> + +<p>Johnnie nodded.</p> + +<p>"Pass through, sir," the man replied, saluting, as did also the two +soldiers who were standing there.</p> + +<p>The little cavalcade went slowly over the bridge between the tall houses +on either side, which at certain points almost met with their +overhanging eaves. The shutters were up all over the little jewellers' +shops. Here and there a lamp burned from an upstairs window, and the +swish and swirl<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> of the river below could be heard quite distinctly.</p> + +<p>At the middle of the bridge, just by the well-known armourer's shop of +Guido Ponzio, the Italian sword-smith, whose weapons were eagerly +purchased by members of the Court and the officers both of the Tower and +Whitehall, another halberdier was standing, who again saluted Commendone +as he rode by.</p> + +<p>It was quite obvious to Johnnie that every precaution had been taken so +that the King's excursion into <i>les coulisses</i> might be undisturbed.</p> + +<p>The pike was swung open for them on the south side of the bridge +directly they drew near, and putting their horses to the trot, they +cantered over a hundred yards of trodden grass round which houses were +standing in the form of a little square, and in a few minutes more +turned into Duck Lane.</p> + +<p>At this hour of the night the narrow street of heavily-timbered houses +was quite dark and silent. It seemed there was not a soul abroad, and +this surprised Johnnie, who had been led to understand that at midnight +"The Lane" was frequently the scene of roistering activity. Now, +however, the houses were all blind and dark, and the three horsemen +might have been moving down a street in the city of the dead.</p> + +<p>Only the big honey-coloured moon threw a primrose light upon the topmost +gables of the houses on the left side of "The Lane"—all the rest being +black velvet, sombreness and shadow.</p> + +<p>John's mouth curved a little in disdain under his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> small dark moustache, +as he noted all this and realised exactly what it meant.</p> + +<p>When a king set out for furtive pleasures, lesser men of vice must get +them to their kennels! Lights were out, all manifestation of evil was +thickly curtained. The shameless folk of that wicked quarter of the town +must have shame imposed upon them for the night.</p> + +<p>The King was taking his pleasure.</p> + +<p>John Commendone, since his arrival in London, and at the Court, had +quietly refused to be a member of any of those hot-blooded parties of +young men who sallied out from the Tower or from Whitehall when the +reputable world was sleeping. It was not to his taste. He was perfectly +capable of tolerating vice in others—looking on it, indeed, as a +natural manifestation of human nature and event. But for himself he had +preferred aloofness.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, from the descriptions of his friends, he knew that Duck +Lane to-night was wearing an aspect which it very seldom wore, and as he +rode slowly down that blind and sinister thoroughfare with his +attendants, he realised with a little cold shudder what it was to be a +king.</p> + +<p>He himself was the servant of a king, one of those whom good fortune and +opportunity had promoted to be a minister to those almost super-human +beings who could do no wrong, and ruled and swayed all other men by +means of their Divine Right.</p> + +<p>This was a position he perfectly accepted, had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> accepted from the first. +Already he was rising high in the course of life he had started to +pursue. He had no thought of questioning the deeds of princes. He knew +that it was his duty, his <i>métier</i>, in life to be a pawn in the great +game. What affected him now, however, as they came up to a big house of +free-stone and timber, where a lanthorn of horn hung over a door painted +a dull scarlet, was a sense of the enormous and irrevocable power of +those who were set on high to rule.</p> + +<p>No! They were not human, they were not as other men and women are.</p> + +<p>He had been in the Queen's Closet that morning, and had seen the death +warrant signed. The great convulsion of nature, the furious thunders of +God, had only been, as it were, a mere accompaniment to the business of +the four people in the Queen's lodge.</p> + +<p>A scratch of a pen—a man to die.</p> + +<p>And then, during the evening, he had seen, once more, the King and +Queen, bright, glittering and radiant, surrounded by the highest and +noblest of England, serene, unapproachable, the centre of the stupendous +pageant of the hour.</p> + +<p>And now, again, he was come to the stews, to the vile quarter of London, +and even here the secret presence of a king closed all doors, and kept +the pandars and victims of evil silent in their dens like crouching +hares.</p> + +<p>As they came up to the big, dark house, a little breeze from the river +swirled down the Lane, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> fell fresh upon Johnnie's cheek. As it did +so, he knew that he was hot and fevered, that the riot of thought within +him had risen the temperature of his blood. It was cool and +grateful—this little clean breeze of the water, and he longed once +more, though only for a single second, that he was home in the stately +park of Commendone, and had never heard the muffled throb of the great +machine of State, of polity, and the going hither and thither of kings +and queens.</p> + +<p>But it only lasted for a moment.</p> + +<p>He was disciplined, he was under orders. He pulled himself together, +banished all wild and speculative thought—sat up in the saddle, gripped +the sides of his cob with his knees, and set his left arm akimbo.</p> + +<p>"This is the house, sir," said the trooper, saluting.</p> + +<p>"Very well," Johnnie answered, as his servant dismounted and took his +horse by the bridle.</p> + +<p>Johnnie leapt to the ground, pulled his sword-belt into position, +settled his hat upon his head, and with his gloved fist beat upon the +big red door before him.</p> + +<p>In ten seconds he heard a step on the other side of the door. It swung +open, and a tall, thin person, wearing a scarlet robe and a mask of +black velvet over the upper part of the face, bowed low before him, and +with a gesture invited him to enter.</p> + +<p>Johnnie turned round.</p> + +<p>"You will stay here," he said to the men. "Be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> quite silent, and don't +stray away a yard from the door."</p> + +<p>Then he followed the tall, thin figure, which closed the door, and +flitted down a short passage in front of him with noiseless footsteps.</p> + +<p>He knew at once that he was in Queer Street.</p> + +<p>The nondescript figure in its fantastic robe and mask struck a chill of +disgust to his blood.</p> + +<p>It was a fantastic age, and all aberrations—all deviations—from the +normal were constantly accentuated by means of costumes and theatric +effect.</p> + +<p>The superficial observer of the manners of our day is often apt to +exclaim upon the decadence of our time. One has heard perfectly sincere +and healthy Englishmen inveigh with anger upon the literature of the +moment, the softness and luxury of life and art, the invasion of sturdy +English ideals by the corrupt influences of France.</p> + +<p>"Give me the days of Good Queen Bess, the hearty, healthy, strong Tudor +life," is the sort of exclamation by no means rare in our time.</p> + +<p>... "Bluff King Hal! Drake, Raleigh, all that rough, brave, and splendid +time! Think of Shakespeare, my boy!"</p> + +<p>Whether or no our own days are deficient in hardihood and endurance is +not a question to be discussed here—though the private records of +England's last war might very well provide a complete answer to the +query. It is certain, however, that in an age when personal prowess with +arms was still a title to fortune, when every gentleman of position<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> and +birth knew and practised the use of weapons, the under-currents of life, +the hidden sides of social affairs, were at least as "curious" and +"decadent" as anything Montmartre or the Quartier Latin have to show.</p> + +<p>It must be remembered that in the late Tudor Age almost every one of +good family, each gentleman about the Court, was not only a trained +soldier, but also a highly cultured person as well. The Renaissance in +Italy was in full swing and activity. Its culture had crossed the Alps, +its art was borne upon the wings of its advance to our northern shores.</p> + +<p>Grossness was refined....</p> + +<p>Johnnie twirled his moustache as he followed the nondescript sexless +figure which flitted down the dimly-lit panelled passage before him like +some creature from a masque.</p> + +<p>At the end of the passage there was a door.</p> + +<p>Arrived at it, a long, thin arm, in a sleeve of close-fitting black +silk, shot out from the red robe. A thin ivory-coloured hand, with +fingers of almost preternatural length, rose to a painted scarlet slit +which was the creature's mouth.</p> + +<p>The masked head dropped a little to one side, one lean finger, shining +like a fish-bone, tapped the mouth significantly, the door opened, some +heavy curtains of Flanders tapestry were pushed aside, and the Equerry +walked into a place as strange and sickly as he had ever met in some +fantastic or disordered dream.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> + +<p>Johnnie heard the door close softly behind him, the "swish, swish" of +the falling curtains. And then he stood up, his eyes blinking a little +in the bright light which streamed upon them—his hand upon his +sword-hilt—and looked around to find himself. He was in a smallish +room, hung around entirely with an arras of scarlet cloth, powdered at +regular intervals with a pattern of golden bats.</p> + +<p>The floor was covered with a heavy carpet of Flanders pile—a very rare +and luxurious thing in those days—and the whole room was lit by its +silver lamps, which hung from the ceiling upon chains. On one side, +opposite the door, was a great pile of cushions, going half-way up the +wall towards the ceiling—cushions as of strange barbaric colours, +violent colours that smote upon the eye and seemed almost to do the +brain a violence.</p> + +<p>In the middle of the room, right in the centre, was a low oak stool, +upon which was a silver tray. In the middle of the tray was a miniature +chafing-dish, beneath which some volatile amethyst-coloured flame was +burning, and from the dish itself a pastille, smouldering and heated, +sent up a thin, grey whip of odorous smoke.</p> + +<p>The whole air of this curious tented room was heavy and languorous with +perfume. Sickly, and yet with a sensuous allurement, the place seemed to +reel round the young man, to disgust one side of him, the real side; and +yet, in some low, evil fashion, to beckon to base things in his +blood—base<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> thoughts, physical influences which he had never known +before, and which now seemed to suddenly wake out of a long sleep, and +to whisper in his ears.</p> + +<p>All this, this surveyal of the place in which he found himself, took but +a moment, and he had hardly stood there for three seconds—tall, +upright, and debonair, amid the wicked luxury of the room—when he heard +a sound to his left, and, turning, saw that he was not alone.</p> + +<p>Behind a little table of Italian filigree work, upon which were a pair +of tiny velvet slippers, embroidered with burnt silver, a +sprunking-glass—or pocket mirror—and a tall-stemmed bottle of wine, +sat a vast, pink, fleshy, elderly woman.</p> + +<p>Her face, which was as big as a ham, was painted white and scarlet. Her +eyebrows were pencilled with deep black, the heavy eyes shared the +vacuity of glass, with an evil and steadfast glitter of welcome.</p> + +<p>There were great pouches underneath the eyes; the nose was hawk-like, +the chins pendulous, the lips once, perhaps, well curved and beautiful +enough, now full, bloated, and red with horrid invitation.</p> + +<p>The woman was dressed with extreme richness.</p> + +<p>Fat and powdered fingers were covered with rings. Her corsage was +jewelled—she was like some dreadful mummy of what youth had been, a +sullen caricature of a long-past youth, when she also might have walked +in the fields under God's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> sky, heard bird-music, and seen the dew upon +the bracken at dawn.</p> + +<p>Johnnie stirred and blinked at this apparition for a moment; then his +natural courtesy and training came to him, and he bowed.</p> + +<p>As he did so, the fat old woman threw out her jewelled arms, leant back +in her chair, stuttering and choking with amusement.</p> + +<p>"<i>Tiens!</i>" she said in French, "<i>Monsieur qui arrive!</i> Why have you +never been to see me before, my dear?"</p> + +<p>Johnnie said nothing at all. His head was bent a little forward. He was +regarding this old French procuress with grave attention.</p> + +<p>He knew now at once who she was. He had heard her name handed about the +Court very often—Madame La Motte.</p> + +<p>"You are a little out of my way, Madame," Johnnie answered. "I come not +over Thames. You see, I am but newly arrived at the Court."</p> + +<p>He said it perfectly politely, but with a little tiny, half-hidden +sneer, which the woman was quick to notice.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Monsieur," she said, "you are here on duty. <i>Merci</i>, that I know +very well. Those for whom you have come will be down from above stairs +very soon, and then you can go about your business. But you will take a +glass of wine with me?"</p> + +<p>"I shall be very glad, Madame," Johnnie answered, as he watched the fat, +trembling hand,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> with all its winking jewels, pouring Vin de Burgogne +into a glass. He raised it and bowed.</p> + +<p>The old painted woman raised her glass also, and lifted it to her lips, +tossing the wine down with a sudden smack of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Then, in that strange perfumed room, the two oddly assorted people +looked at each other straightly for a moment.</p> + +<p>Neither spoke.</p> + +<p>At length Madame La Motte, of the great big house with the red door, +heaved herself out of her arm-chair, and waddled round the table. She +was short and fat; she put one hand upon the shoulder of the tall, clean +young man in his riding suit and light armour.</p> + +<p>"<i>Mon ami</i>," she said thickly, "don't come here again."</p> + +<p>Johnnie looked down at the hideous old creature, but with a singular +feeling of pity and compassion.</p> + +<p>"Madame," he said, "I don't propose to come again."</p> + +<p>"Thou art limn and debonair, and a very pretty boy, but come not here, +because in thy face I see other things for thee. Lads of the Court come +to see me and my girls, proper lads too, but in their faces there is not +what I discern in thy face. For them it matters nothing; for thee +'twould be a stain for all thy life. Thou knowest well whom I am, +Monsieur, and canst guess well where I shall go—e'en though His Most +Catholic Majesty be above stairs, and will get absolution for all he is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +pleased to do here. But you—thou wilt be a clean boy. Is it not so?"</p> + +<p>The fat hand trembled upon the young man's arm, the hoarse, sodden voice +was full of pleading.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ma mère</i>," Johnnie answered her in her own language, "have no fear for +me. I thank you—but I did not understand...."</p> + +<p>"Boy," she cried, "thou canst not understand. Many steps down hellwards +have I gone, and in the pit there is knowledge. I knew good as thou +knowest it. Evil now I know as, please God, thou wilt never know it. +But, look you, from my very knowledge of evil, I am given a tongue with +which to speak to thee. Keep virgin. Thou art virgin now; my hand upon +thy sword-arm tells me that. Keep virgin until the day cometh and +bringeth thy lady and thy destined love to thee."</p> + +<p>There were tears in the young man's eyes as he looked down into the +great pendulous painted face, from which now the evil seemed to be wiped +away as a cloth wipes away a chalk mark upon a slate.</p> + +<p>As the last ray of a setting sun sometimes touches to a fugitive +glory—a last fugitive glory—some ugly, sordid building of a town, so +here he saw something maternal and sweet upon the face of this old +brothel-keeper, this woman who had amassed a huge fortune in ministering +to the pride of life, the pomp, vanity, and lusts of Principalities and +Powers.</p> + +<p>He turned half round, and took the woman's left hand in his.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> + +<p>"My mother," he said, with an infinitely winning and yet very melancholy +gaze, "my mother, I think, indeed, that love will never come to me. I am +not made so. May the Mother of God shield me from that which is not +love, but natheless seemeth to have love's visage when one is hot in +wine or stirred to excitement. But thou, thou wert not ever...."</p> + +<p>She broke in upon him quickly.</p> + +<p>Her great red lips pouted out like a ripe plum. The protruding fishy +eyes positively lit up with disdain of herself and of her life.</p> + +<p>"<i>Mon cher</i>," she said, "<i>Holà!</i> I was a young girl once in Lorraine. I +had a brother—I will tell you little of that old time—but I have +blood."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she continued, throwing back her head, till the great rolls of +flesh beneath her chin stretched into tightness, "yes, I have blood. +There was a day when I was a child, when the poet Jean D'Aquis wrote of +us—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Quand nous habitions tous ensemble<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sur nos collines d'autrefois,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Où l'eau court, où le buisson tremble<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dans la maison qui touche aux bois.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>... It was." Suddenly she left Johnnie standing in the middle of the +room, and with extraordinary agility for her weight and years, glided +round the little table, and sank once more into her seat.</p> + +<p>The door at the other end of the room opened, and a tall girl, with a +white face and thin, wicked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> mouth, and a glorious coronal of red hair +came into the room.</p> + +<p>"'Tis finished," she said, to the mistress of the house. "Sir John +Shelton is far in drink. He——" she stopped suddenly, as she saw +Johnnie, gave him a keen, questioning glance, and then looked once more +towards the fat woman in the chair.</p> + +<p>Madame nodded. "This is His Highness's gentleman," she said, "awaiting +him. So it's finished?"</p> + +<p>The girl nodded, beginning to survey Johnnie with a cruel, wicked +scrutiny, which made him flush with mingled embarrassment and anger.</p> + +<p>"His Highness is coming down, Mr. Esquire," she said, pushing out a +little red tip of tongue from between her lips. "His Highness...."</p> + +<p>The old woman in the chair suddenly leapt up. She ran at the tall, +red-haired girl, caught her by the throat, and beat her about the face +with her fat, jewelled hands, cursing her in strange French oaths, +clutching at her hair, shaking her, swinging her about with a dreadful +vulgar ferocity which turned John's blood cold.</p> + +<p>As he stood there he caught a glimpse, never to be forgotten, of all +that underlay this veneer of midnight luxury. He saw vile passions at +work, he realised—for the first time truly and completely—in what a +hideous place he was.</p> + +<p>The tall girl, sobbing and bleeding in the face, disappeared behind the +arras. The old woman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> turned to Johnnie. Her face was almost purple with +exertion, her eyes blazed, her hawk-like nose seemed to twitch from side +to side, she panted out an apology:</p> + +<p>"She dared, Monsieur, she dared, one of my girls, one of my slaves! +Hist!"</p> + +<p>A loud voice was heard from above, feet trampled upon stairs, through +the open door which led to the upper parts of the house of ill-fame came +Sir John Shelton, a big, gross, athletic man, obviously far gone in +wine.</p> + +<p>He saw Johnnie. "Ah, Mr. Commendone," he said thickly. "Here we are, and +here are you! God's teeth! I like well to see you. I myself am well gone +in wine, though I will sit my horse, as thou wilt see."</p> + +<p>He lurched up to Johnnie and whispered in the young man's ear, with hot, +wine-tainted breath.</p> + +<p>"He's coming down," he whispered. "It's your part to take charge of His +Highness. He's——"</p> + +<p>Sir John stood upright, swaying a little from the shoulders, as down the +stairway, framed in the lintel of the door, came King Philip of Spain.</p> + +<p>The King was dressed very much as Johnnie himself was dressed; his long, +melancholy face was a little flushed—though not with wine. His eyes +were bright, his thin lips moved and worked.</p> + +<p>Directly he saw Commendone his face lit up with recognition. It seemed +suddenly to change.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you are here, Mr. Commendone," he said in Spanish. "I am glad to +see you. We have had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> our amusements, and now we go upon serious +business."</p> + +<p>The alteration in the King's demeanour was instant. Temperate, as all +Spaniards were and are, he was capable at a moment's notice of +dismissing what had passed, and changing from <i>bon viveur</i> into a grave +potentate in a flash.</p> + +<p>He came up to Johnnie. "Now, Mr. Commendone," he said, in a quiet, +decisive voice, "we will get to horse and go upon our business. The +<i>señor don</i> here is gone in wine, but he will recover as we ride to +Hadley. You are in charge. Let's begone from this house."</p> + +<p>The King led the way out of the red room.</p> + +<p>The old procuress bowed to the ground as he went by, but he took no +notice of her.</p> + +<p>Johnnie followed the King, Sir John Shelton came staggering after, and +in a moment or two they were out in the street, where was now gathered a +small company of horse, with serving-men holding up torches to illumine +the blackness of the night.</p> + +<p>They mounted and rode away slowly out of Duck Lane and across London +Bridge, the noise of their passing echoing between the tall, barred +houses.</p> + +<p>Several soldiers rode first, and after them came Sir John Shelton. +Commendone rode at the King's left hand, and he noticed that His +Highness's broad hat was pulled low over his face and a riding cloak +muffled the lower part of it. Behind them came the other men-at-arms. As +soon as they were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> clear of the bridge the walk changed into a trot, and +the cavalcade pushed toward Aldgate. Not a soul was in the streets until +they came to the city gate itself, where there was the usual guard. They +passed through and came up to the "Woolsack," a large inn which was just +outside the wall. In the light of the torches Commendone could see that +the place was obviously one of considerable importance, and had probably +been a gentleman's house in the past.</p> + +<p>Large square windows divided into many lights by mullions and transoms +took up the whole of the front. The roofs were ornamental, richly +crocketed and finialed, while there was a blazonry of painted heraldry +and coats of arms over and around the large central porch. Large stacks +of tall, slender chimney-shafts, moulded and twisted, rose up into the +dark, and were ornamented over their whole surface with diaper patterns +and more armorial bearings. The big central door of the "Woolsack" stood +open, and a ruddy light beamed out from the hall and from the windows +upon the ground-floor. As they came up, and Sir John Shelton stumbled +from his horse, holding the King's stirrup for him to dismount, +Commendone saw that the space in front of the inn, a wide square with a +little trodden green in the centre of it, held groups of dark figures +standing here and there.</p> + +<p>Halberds rose up against the walls of the houses, showing distinctly in +the occasional light from a cresset held by a man-at-arms.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> + +<p>Sir John Shelton strode noisily into a big panelled hall, the King and +Commendone following him, Johnnie realising that, of course, His +Highness was incognito.</p> + +<p>The host of the inn, Putton, hurried forward, and behind him was one of +the Sheriffs of London, who held some papers in his hand and greeted Sir +John Shelton with marked civility.</p> + +<p>The knight pulled himself together, and shook the Sheriff by the hand.</p> + +<p>"Is everything prepared," he said, "Mr. Sheriff?"</p> + +<p>"We are all quite ready, Sir John," the Sheriff answered, looking with +inquiring eyes at Commendone and the tall, muffled figure of the King.</p> + +<p>"Two gentlemen of the Court who have been deputed by Her Grace to see +justice done," Sir John said. "And now we will to the prisoner."</p> + +<p>Putton stepped forward. "This way, gentlemen," he said. "Dr. Taylor is +with his guards in the large room. He hath taken a little succory +pottage and a flagon of ale, and seemeth resigned and ready to set out."</p> + +<p>With that the host opened a door upon the right-hand side of the hall +and ushered the party into a room which was used as the ordinary of the +inn, a lofty and spacious place lit with candles.</p> + +<p>There was a high carved chimney-piece, over which were the arms of the +Vintners' Company, sable and chevron <i>cetu</i>, three tuns argent, with +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> figure of Bacchus for a crest. A long table ran down the centre of +the place, and at one end of it, seated in a large chair of oak, sat the +late Archdeacon of Exeter. Three or four guards stood round in silence.</p> + +<p>Dr. Rowland Taylor was a huge man, over six feet in height, and more +than a little corpulent. His face, which was very pale, was strongly +cast, his eyes, under shaggy white brows, bright and humorous; the big, +genial mouth, half-hidden by the white moustache and beard, both kindly +and strong. He wore a dark gown and a flat velvet cap upon his head, and +he rose immediately as the company entered.</p> + +<p>"We are come for you, Dr. Taylor," the Sheriff said, "and you must +immediately to horse."</p> + +<p>The big man bowed, with quiet self-possession.</p> + +<p>"'Tis very well, Master Sheriff," he said; "I have been waiting this +half-hour agone."</p> + +<p>"Bring him out," said Sir John Shelton, in a loud, harsh voice. "Keep +silence, Master Taylor, or I will find a way to silence thee."</p> + +<p>John Commendone shivered with disgust as the leader of the party spoke.</p> + +<p>Even as he did so he felt a hand upon his arm, and the tall, muffled +figure of the King stood close behind him.</p> + +<p>"Tell the knight, señor," the King said rapidly in Spanish, "to use the +gentleman with more civility. He is to die, as is well fitting a heretic +should die, for God's glory and the safety of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> realm. But he is of +gentle birth. Tell Sir John Shelton."</p> + +<p>Commendone stepped up to Sir John. "Sir," he said, in a voice which, try +as he would, he could not keep from being very disdainful and +cold—"Sir, His Highness bids me to tell you to use Dr. Taylor with +civility, as becomes a man of his birth."</p> + +<p>The half-drunken captain glared at the cool young courtier for a moment, +but he said nothing, and, turning on his heel, clanked out of the room +with a rattle of his sword and an aggressive, ruffling manner.</p> + +<p>Dr. Taylor, with guards on each side, the Sheriff immediately preceding +him, walked down the room and out into the hall.</p> + +<p>Commendone and the King came last.</p> + +<p>Johnnie was seized with a sudden revulsion of feeling towards his +master. This man, cruel and bigoted as he was, the man whom he had seen +with fanaticism and the blood lust blazing in his eye, the man whom he +had seen calmly leaving a vile house, was nevertheless a king and a +gentleman. The young man could hardly understand or realise the +extraordinary combination of qualities in the austere figure by his side +of the man who ruled half the known world. Again, he felt that sense of +awe, almost of fear, in the presence of one so far removed from ordinary +men, so swift in his alterations from coarseness to kingliness, from +relentless cruelty to cold, sombre decorum.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> + +<p>Dr. Taylor was mounted upon a stout cob, closely surrounded by guards, +and with a harsh word of command from Sir John, the party set out.</p> + +<p>The host of the "Woolsack" stood at his lighted door, where there was a +little group of serving-men and halberdiers, sharply outlined against +the red-litten façade of the quaint old building, and then, as they +turned a corner, it all flashed away, and they went forward quietly and +steadily through a street of tall gabled houses.</p> + +<p>Directly the lights of the inn and the square in front of it were left +behind, they saw at once that dawn was about to begin. The houses were +grey now, each moment more grey and ghostly, and they were no longer +sable and shapeless. The air, too, had a slight stir and chill within +it, and each moment of their advance the ghostly light grew stronger, +more wan and spectral than ever the dark had been.</p> + +<p>Pursuant to his instructions, Commendone kept close to the King, who +rode silently with a drooping head, as one lost in thought. In front of +them were the backs of the guards in their steel corselets, and in the +centre of the group was the massive figure of the man who was riding to +his death, a huge, black outline, erect and dignified.</p> + +<p>John rode with the rest as a man in a dream. His mind and imagination +were in a state in which the moving figures around him, the cavalcade of +which he himself was a part, seemed but phantoms<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> playing fantastic +parts upon the stage of some unreal theatre of dreams.</p> + +<p>He heard once more the great man-like voice of Queen Mary, but it seemed +very far away, a sinister thing, echoing from a time long past.</p> + +<p>The music of the dance in the Palace tinkled and vibrated through his +subconscious brain, and then once more he heard the voice of the evil +old woman of the red house, the voice of one in hell, telling him to +flee youthful lusts, telling him to wait stainless until love should +come to him.</p> + +<p>Love! He smiled unconsciously to himself. Love!—why should the thoughts +of love come to a heart-whole man riding upon this sad errand of death; +through ghostly streets, stark and grey?...</p> + +<p>He looked up dreamily and saw before him, cutting into a sky which was +now big and tremulous with dawn, the tower of St. Botolph's Church, a +faint, misty purple. Far away in the east the sky was faintly streaked +with pink and orange, the curtain of the dark was shaken by the +birth-pangs of the morning. The western sky over St. Paul's was already +aglow with a red, reflected light.</p> + +<p>The transition was extraordinarily sudden. Every instant the aspect of +things changed; the whole visible world was being re-created, second by +second, not gradually, but with a steady, pressing onrush, in which time +seemed merged and forgotten, to be of no account at all, and a thing +that was not.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> + +<p>Johnnie had seen the great copper-coloured moon heave itself out of the +sea just like that—the world turning to splendour before his eyes.</p> + +<p>But it was dawn now, and in the miraculously clear, inspiring light, the +countless towers and pinnacles of the city rose with sharp outline into +the quiet sky.</p> + +<p>The breeze from the river rustled and whispered by them like the +trailing skirts of unseen presences, and as the cool air in all its +purity came over the silent town, the feverishness and sense of +unreality in the young man's mind were dissolved and blown away.</p> + +<p>How silent London was!—the broad street stretched out before them like +a ribbon of silver-grey, but the tower of St. Botolph's was already +solid stone, and no longer mystic purple.</p> + +<p>And then, for some reason or other, John Commendone's heart began to +beat furiously. He could not have said why or how. There seemed no +reason to account for it, but all his pulses were stirred. A sense of +expectancy, which was painful in its intensity, and unlike anything he +had ever known before in his life, pervaded all his consciousness.</p> + +<p>He gripped his horse by the knees, his left hand holding the leather +reins, hung with little tassels of vermilion silk, his right hand +resting upon the handle of his sword.</p> + +<p>They came up to the porch of the church, and suddenly the foremost +men-at-arms halted, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> slight backward movement of their horses +sending those who followed backward also. There was a pawing of hooves, +a rattle of accoutrements, a sharp order from somewhere in front, and +then they were all sitting motionless.</p> + +<p>The moment had arrived. John Commendone saw what he had come to see. +From that instant his real life began. All that had gone before, as he +saw in after years, had been but a leading up and preparation for this +time.</p> + +<p>Standing just outside the porch of the church was a small group of +figures, clustering together, white faces, pitiful and forlorn.</p> + +<p>Dr. Taylor's wife, suspecting that her husband should that night be +carried away, had watched all night in St. Botolph's porch, having with +her her two children, and a man-servant of their house.</p> + +<p>The men-at-arms had opened out a little, remaining quite motionless on +their horses.</p> + +<p>Sir John Shelton, obviously mindful of Commendone's warning at the +"Woolsack," remained silent also, his blotched face grey and scowling in +the dawn, though he said no word.</p> + +<p>The King pulled his hat further over his eyes, and Johnnie at his right +could see perfectly all that was happening.</p> + +<p>He heard a voice, a girl's voice.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear father! Mother! mother! here is my father led away."</p> + +<p>Almost every one who has lived from any depth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> of being, for whom the +world is no grossly material place, but a state which is constantly +impinged upon and mingles with the Unseen, must be conscious that at one +time or other of his life sound has been, perhaps, the most predominant +influence in it.</p> + +<p>Now and again, at rare and memorable intervals, the grossness of this +tabernacle wherein the soul is encased is pierced by sound. More than +all else, sound penetrates deep into the spiritual consciousness, +punctuates life, as it were, at rare moments of emotion, gathering up +and crystallising a thousand fancies and feelings which seem to have no +adequate cause among outward things.</p> + +<p>Johnnie had heard the sound of his mother's voice, as she lay dying—a +dry, whispering, husky sound, never to be forgotten, as she said, +"Johnnie, promise mother to be good; promise me to be good." He had +heard the sweet sound of the death mort winded by the huntsman in the +park of Commendone, as he had run down his first stag—in the voice of +the girl who cried out with anguish in the pure morning light, he heard +for the third or fourth time, a sound which would always be part of his +life.</p> + +<p>"<i>O, my dear father! Mother! mother! here is my father led away.</i>"</p> + +<p>She was a tall girl, in a long grey cloak.</p> + +<p>Her hair, growing low upon her forehead, and very thick, was the colour +of ripe corn. Great eyes of a deep blue, like cut sapphire, shone in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +the dead white oval of her face. The parted lips were a scarlet +eloquence of agony.</p> + +<p>By her side was a tall, grey-haired dame, trembling exceedingly.</p> + +<p>One delicate white hand flickered before the elder woman's eyes, all +blind with tears and anguish.</p> + +<p>Then the Doctor's wife cried, "Rowland, Rowland, where art thou?"</p> + +<p>Dr. Taylor answered, "Dear wife, I am here."</p> + +<p>Then she came to him, and he took a younger girl, who had been clinging +to her mother's skirts, his little daughter Mary, in his arms, +dismounting from his horse as he did so, with none to stay him. He, his +wife, and the tall girl Elizabeth, knelt down and said the Lord's +Prayer.</p> + +<p>At the sight of it the Sheriff wept apace, and so did divers others of +the company, and the salt tears ran down Johnnie's cheeks and splashed +upon his breast-plate.</p> + +<p>After they had prayed Dr. Taylor rose up and kissed his wife, and shook +her by the hand, and said: "Farewell, my dear wife, be of good comfort, +for I am quiet in my conscience. God shall stir up a father for my +children."</p> + +<p>After that he kissed his daughter Mary and said, "God bless thee and +make thee His servant," and kissing Elizabeth also he said, "God bless +thee. I pray you all stand strong and steadfast unto Christ His Word, +and keep you from idolatry."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + +<p>The tall lady clung to him, weeping bitterly. "God be with thee, dear +Rowland," she said; "I shall, with God's grace, meet thee anon in +heaven."</p> + +<p>Then Johnnie saw the serving-man, a broad, thick-set fellow, with a +keen, brown face, who had been standing a little apart, come up to Dr. +Taylor. He was holding by the hand a little boy of ten years or so, with +wide, astonished eyes, Thomas, the Doctor's son.</p> + +<p>When Dr. Taylor saw them he called them, saying, "Come hither, my son +Thomas."</p> + +<p>John Hull lifted the child, and sat him upon the saddle of the horse by +which his father stood, and Dr. Taylor put off his hat, and said to the +members of the party that stood there looking at him: "Good people, this +is mine own son, begotten of my body in lawful matrimony; and God be +blessed for lawful matrimony."</p> + +<p>Johnnie upon his horse was shaking uncontrollably, but at these last +words he heard an impatient jingle of accoutrements by his side, and +looking, saw that the face of His Highness was fierce and angry that an +ordained priest should speak thus of wedlock.</p> + +<p>But this was only for a passing moment; the young man's eyes were fixed +upon the great clergyman again in an instant.</p> + +<p>The priest lifted up his eyes towards heaven, and prayed for his son. He +laid his hand upon the child's head and blessed him; and so delivered +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> child to John Hull, whom he took by the hand and said, "Farewell, +John Hull, the faithfullest servant that ever man had."</p> + +<p>There was a silence, broken only by the sobbing of women and a low +murmur of sympathy from the rough men-at-arms.</p> + +<p>Sir John Shelton heard it and glanced quickly at the muffled figure of +the King.</p> + +<p>It was a shrewd, penetrating look, and well understood by His Highness. +This natural emotion of the escort, at such a sad and painful scene, +might well prove a leaven which would work in untutored minds. There +must be no more sympathy for heretics. Sir John gave a harsh order, the +guard closed in upon Dr. Taylor, there was a loud cry from the +Archdeacon's wife as she fell fainting into the arms of the sturdy +servant, and the cavalcade proceeded at a smart pace. John looked round +once, and this is what he saw—the tall figure of Elizabeth Taylor, +fixed and rigid, the lovely face set in a stare of horror and +unspeakable grief, a star of sorrow as the dawn reddened and day began.</p> + +<p>And now, as they left London, the progress was more rapid, the stern +business upon which they were engaged looming up and becoming more +imminent every moment, the big man in the centre of the troop being +hurried relentlessly to his end.</p> + +<p>And so they rode forth to Brentwood, where, during a short stay, Sir +John Shelton and his men caused to be made for Dr. Taylor a close hood,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +with two holes for his eyes to look out at, and a slit for his mouth to +breathe at. This they did that no man in the pleasant country ways, the +villages or little towns, should speak to him, nor he to any man.</p> + +<p>It was a practice that they had used with others, and very wise and +politic.</p> + +<p>"For," says a chronicler of the time, "their own consciences told them +that they led innocent lambs to the slaughter. Wherefore they feared +lest if the people should have heard them speak or have seen them, they +might have been more strengthened by their godly exhortations to stand +steadfast in God's Word, to fly the superstitions and idolatries of the +Papacy."</p> + +<p>All the way Dr. Taylor was joyful and merry, as one that accounted +himself going to a most pleasant banquet or bridal. He said many notable +things to the Sheriff and the yeomen of the guard that conducted him, +and often moved them to weep through his much earnest calling upon them +to repent and to amend their evil and wicked living. Oftentimes, also, +he caused them to wonder and rejoice, to see him so constant and +steadfast, void of all fear, joyful in heart, and glad to die. At one +time during their progress he said: "I will tell you, I have been +deceived, and, as I think, I shall deceive a great many. I am, as you +see, a man that hath a very great carcase, which I thought would have +been buried in Hadley churchyard, if I died in my bed, as I well hoped I +should have done; but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> herein I see I was deceived. And there are a +great number of worms in Hadley churchyard, which should have had a +jolly feed upon this carrion, which they have looked for many a day. But +now I know we are to be deceived, both I and they; for this carcase must +be burnt to ashes; and so shall they lose their bait and feeding, that +they looked to have had of it."</p> + +<p>Sir John Shelton, who was riding by the side of Commendone, and who was +now sober enough, the wine of his midnight revels having died from him, +turned to Johnnie with a significant grin as he heard Dr. Taylor say +this to his guards.</p> + +<p>Shelton was coarse, overbearing, and a blackguard, but he had a keen +mind of a sort, and was of gentle birth.</p> + +<p>"Listen to this curtail dog, Mr. Commendone," he said, with a sneer. "A +great loss to the Church, i' faith. He talketh like some bully-rook or +clown of the streets. And these are the men who in their contumacy and +their daring deny the truth of Holy Church——" He spat upon the ground +with disgust.</p> + +<p>Commendone nodded gravely. His insight was keener far than the other's. +He saw, in what Bishop Heber afterwards called "the coarse vigour" of +the Archdeacon's pleasantry, no foolish irreverence indeed, but the racy +English courage and humour of a saintly man, resolved to meet his +earthly doom brightly, and to be an example to common men.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> + +<p>Johnnie was the son of a bluff Kentish squire. He knew the English soil, +and all the stoic hardy virtues, the racy mannerisms which spring from +it. Courtier and scholar, a man of exquisite refinement, imbued with no +small share of foreign grace and courtliness, there was yet a side of +him which was thoroughly English. He saw deeper than the coarse-mouthed +captain at his side.</p> + +<p>The voices of those who had gathered round the porch of St. Botolph's +without Aldgate still rang in his ears.</p> + +<p>The Sheriff and his company, when they heard Dr. Rowland Taylor jesting +in this way, were amazed, and looked one at another, marvelling at the +man's constant mind, that thus, without any fear, made but a jest at the +cruel torment and death now at hand prepared for him.</p> + +<p>The sun clomb the sky, the woods were green, the birds were all at +matins. Through many a shady village they passed where the ripening corn +rustled in the breeze, the wood smoke went up in blue lines from cottage +and manor house, the clink of the forge rang out into the street as the +blacksmiths lit their fires, the milkmaids strode out to find the lowing +kine in the pastures. It was a brilliant happy morning as they rode +along through the green lanes, a very bridal morning indeed.</p> + +<p>When they were come within two miles of Hadley, Dr. Taylor desired for a +while to light off his horse. They let him do it, and the Sheriff at his +request ordered the hood to be removed from him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + +<p>The whole troop halted for a minute or two, and the Doctor, says the +chronicler, "leaped and set a frisk or twain as men commonly do in +dancing. 'Why, Master Doctor,' quoth the Sheriff, 'how do you now?' He +answered, 'Well, God be praised, good Master Sheriff, never better; for +now I know I am almost at home. I have not pass two stiles to go over, +and I am even at my father's house.'</p> + +<p>"'But, Master Sheriff,' said he, 'shall we not go through Hadley?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' said the Sheriff, 'you shall go through Hadley.'</p> + +<p>"'Then,' said he, 'O good Lord! I thank Thee, I shall yet once more ere +I die see my flock, whom Thou, Lord, knowest I have most heartily loved +and truly taught. Good Lord! bless them and keep them steadfast in Thy +word and truth.'"</p> + +<p>The streets of Hadley were beset on both sides of the way with women and +men of the town and the country-side around, who awaited to see Dr. +Taylor.</p> + +<p>As the troop passed by, now at walking pace, when the people beheld +their old friend led to death in this way, their voices were raised in +lamentation and there was great weeping.</p> + +<p>On all sides John Commendone heard the broad homely Suffolk voices, +lifted high in sorrow.</p> + +<p>"Ah, good Lord," said one fat farmer's wife to her man, "there goeth our +good shepherd from us that so faithfully hath taught us, so fatherly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +hath cared for us, so godly hath governed us."</p> + +<p>And again, the landlord of the "Three Cranes" at Hadley, where the troop +stopped for a moment to water their horses at the trough before the inn, +and the country people surged and crowded round: "O merciful God; what +shall we poor scattered lambs do? What shall come of this most wicked +world! Good Lord! strengthen him and comfort him. Alack, dear Doctor, +may the Lord help thee!"</p> + +<p>The great man upon his horse, towering above the yeomen of the guard who +surrounded him, lifted his hand.</p> + +<p>"Friends," he said, "and neighbours all, grieve not for me. I have +preached to you God's word and truth, and am come this day to seal it +with my blood."</p> + +<p>Johnnie would have thought that the people who bore such an obvious love +for their rector, and who now numbered several hundreds—sturdy +country-men all—would have raised an outcry against the Sheriff and his +officers. Many of them had stout cudgels in their hands, some of them +bore forks with which they were going to the fields, but there was very +little anger. The people were cowed, that was very plain to see. The +power of the law struck fear into them still; the long, unquestioned +despotism of Henry VIII still exercised its sway over simple minds. Now +and again, as the horses were being watered, a fierce snarl of anger +came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> from the outskirts of the crowd. Commendone himself, with his +somewhat foreign appearance, and the tall, muffled figure of the King, +excited murmurs and insults.</p> + +<p>"They be Spaniards," one fellow cried, "they two be—Spaniards from the +Queen's Papist husband. How like you this work, Master Don?"</p> + +<p>But that was all. Once Sir John Shelton looked with some apprehension at +the King, but the King understood nothing, and though the sturdy +country-folk in their numbers might well have overcome the guard, a +rescue was obviously not thought of nor was the slightest attempt at it +made.</p> + +<p>All this was quite homely and natural to Johnnie. He felt with the +people; he had spent his life in the country. Down at quiet, retired +Commendone his father and he were greatly loved by all the farmers and +peasants of the estate. His mother—that graceful Spanish lady—had +endeared herself for many years to the simple folk of Kent. Old Father +Chilches had said Mass in the chapel at Commendone for many years +without let or hindrance. Catholic as the house of Commendone had always +been, there was nothing bigoted or fanatical in their religion. And now +the young man's heart was stirred to its very depths as this homely +rustic folk lifted up their voices in sorrow.</p> + +<p>Even then, however, he questioned nothing in his mind of the justice of +what was to be done. Despite the infinite pity he felt for this good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +pastor who was to die and his flock who grieved him so, he was yet +perfectly loyal in his mind to the power which ordained the execution, +part of whose machinery he was. The Queen had said so; the monarch could +do no wrong. There were reasons of State, reasons of polity, reasons of +religion which he himself was not competent to enter into or to discuss, +but which he accepted blindly then.</p> + +<p>And so, as they moved onwards towards Aldham Common, where the final +scene was to be enacted, he moved with the others, one of the ministers +of doom.</p> + +<p>And through all the bright morning air, through the cries and tears of +the country-folk, he heard one voice, the voice of a girl, he saw one +white and lovely face ever before his eyes.</p> + +<p>When they came to Aldham Common there was a great multitude of people +gathered there.</p> + +<p>"What place is this?" Dr. Taylor asked, with a smile, though he knew +very well. "And what meaneth it that so much people are gathered +together?"</p> + +<p>The Sheriff, who was a stranger to this part of the country, and who was +very agitated and upset, answered him with eager and deprecating +civility. "It is Aldham Common, Dr. Taylor, the place where you must +suffer; and the people are come to look upon you." The good man hardly +knew what he was saying.</p> + +<p>Dr. Taylor smiled once more.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Thanked be God," he said, "I am even at home," and alighted from his +horse.</p> + +<p>Sir John Shelton, who also dismounted, snatched the hat from the +Doctor's head, which was shown to be clipped close, like a horse's back +in summer time—a degradation which Bishop Bonner had caused to be +performed upon him the night before as a mean and vulgar revenge for the +Doctor's words to him at the ceremony of his degradation.</p> + +<p>But when the people saw Dr. Taylor's reverent and ancient face and his +long white beard, they burst into louder weeping than ever, and cried, +"God save thee, good Dr. Taylor! Jesus Christ strengthen thee, and help +thee; the Holy Ghost comfort thee," and many other suchlike godly +wishes.</p> + +<p>They were now come into the centre of Aldham Common, where already a +posse of men sent by the Sheriff of the county were keeping a space +clear round a tall post which had been set into the ground, and which +was the stake.</p> + +<p>Sir John Shelton, who now assumed complete command of the proceedings, +gave several loud orders. The people were pressed back with oaths and +curses by the yeomen of the escort, and Dr. Taylor was hurried quickly +towards the stake.</p> + +<p>The long ride from London had not been without a certain quiet and +dignity; but from this moment everything that was done was rude, +hurried, and violent. The natural brutality of Shelton and his men +blazed up suddenly. What before had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> been ineffably sad was now changed +to horror, as John Commendone sat his horse by the side of the man whose +safety he was there to guard, and watched the final scene.</p> + +<p>Dr. Taylor, who was standing by the stake and disrobing, wished to speak +to the people, but the yeomen of the guard were so busy about him that +as soon as he opened his mouth one or another of these fellows thrust a +fist or tipstaff into his mouth. They were round him like a pack of +dogs, snarling, buffeting him, making him feel indeed the bitterness of +death.</p> + +<p>This was done by Sir John Shelton's orders, no doubt committed to him +from London, for it was obvious that any popular feeling in the martyr's +favour must be suppressed as soon as possibly could be done.</p> + +<p>If Dr. Taylor had been allowed to speak to the surging crowd that knew +and loved him, the well-known voice, the familiar and beloved +exhortations might well have aroused a fury against the ministers of the +law which they would be powerless to withstand.</p> + +<p>Dr. Taylor himself seemed to recognise this, for he sat down upon a +stool which was placed near the stake and did not offer to speak again. +He looked round while three or four ill-favoured fellows in leather were +bringing up bundles of furze and freshly cut faggots to the stake, and +as he was obviously not about to address the people, the guard was a +little relaxed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> + +<p>He saw pressing on the outskirts of the crowd an old countryman, with a +brown wrinkled face.</p> + +<p>"Soyce," he called out cheerily, "I pray thee come and pull off my +boots, and take them for thy labour. Thou hast long looked for them, now +take them."</p> + +<p>The ancient fellow, who was indeed the sexton of Hadley Church, came +trembling up, and did as the rector asked.</p> + +<p>Then Dr. Taylor rose up, and put off his clothes unto his shirt, and +gave them away. Which done, he said with a loud voice, "Good people! I +have taught you nothing but God's Holy Word and those lessons that I +have taken out of God's blessed Book, the Holy Bible."</p> + +<p>He had hardly said it when a sergeant of the guard, named Homes, gave +him a great stroke upon the head with a waster, and said, "Is that the +keeping of thy promise, thou heretic?"</p> + +<p>The venerable head, now stained with blood, drooped, and for a moment +the vitality and vigour seemed to go from the Rector. He saw that it was +utterly useless, that there was no hope of him being allowed to address +his folk, and so he knelt down and prayed in silence.</p> + +<p>While he was praying a very old woman, in poor rags, that was standing +among the people, ran in and knelt by his side, and prayed with him.</p> + +<p>Homes caught hold of her and tried to drag her from the Doctor, but she +screamed loudly and clung to the Rector's knees.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Tread her down with horses; tread her down," said Sir John Shelton, his +face purple with anger.</p> + +<p>But even the knight's men would not do it, and there was such a deep +threatening murmur from the crowd that Shelton forbore, and the old +woman stayed there and prayed with the Doctor.</p> + +<p>At last he rose, blessing her, and, dressed only in his shirt, big, +burly, and very dignified, he went to the stake and kissed it, and set +himself into a pitch barrel, which they had put for him to stand in.</p> + +<p>He stood there so, with his back upright against the stake, with his +hands folded together, and his eyes towards heaven, praying continually.</p> + +<p>Four men set up the faggots and piled them round him, and one brought a +torch to make the fire.</p> + +<p>As the furze lit and began to crackle at the bottom of the pile, the man +Homes, either really mad with religious hatred, or, as is more probable, +a brute, only zealous to ingratiate himself with his commander, picked +up a billet of wood and cast it most cruelly at the Doctor. It lit upon +his head and broke his face, so that the blood ran down it.</p> + +<p>Then said Dr. Taylor, "O friend, I have harm enough; what needed that?"</p> + +<p>Then, with Sir John Shelton standing close by, and the people round +shuddering with horror, the Rector began to say the Psalm <i>Miserere</i> in +English.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<p>Sir John shot out his great red hand and struck the martyr upon the lips +with his open palm.</p> + +<p>"Ye knave," he said, "speak Latin; I will make thee."</p> + +<p>At that, John Commendone, scarcely knowing what he did, leapt from his +horse and caught Shelton by the shoulder. With all the strength of his +young athletic frame he sent him spinning away from the stake. Sir John +staggered, recovered himself, and with his face blazing with anger, +rushed at the young man.</p> + +<p>At that the King suddenly wheeled his horse, and interposed between +them.</p> + +<p>"Keep you away, Sir John," he said in Spanish, "that is enough."</p> + +<p>The knight did not understand the King's words, but the tone and the +accent were significant. With a glare of fury at Johnnie, he slunk aside +to his men.</p> + +<p>The calm voice of the Rector went on reciting the words of the Psalm. +When it was finished he said the Gloria, and as the smoke rolled up +around him, and red tongues of flame began to be brightly visible in the +sunlight, he held up both his hands, and said, "Merciful Father of +heaven, for Jesus Christ my Saviour's sake, receive my soul into Thy +hands."</p> + +<p>So stood he still without either crying or moving, with his hands folded +together, until suddenly one of the men-at-arms caught up a halbert<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> and +struck him on the head so that the brains fell out, and the corpse sank +into the fire.</p> + +<p>"Thus," says the chronicler, "the man of God gave his blessed soul into +the hands of his merciful Father, and his most dear and certain Saviour +Jesus Christ, Whom he most entirely loved, faithfully and earnestly +preached, obediently followed in living, and constantly glorified in +death."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>THE MEETING WITH JOHN HULL AT CHELMSFORD</h3> + + +<p>John Commendone, Sir John Shelton, and the King of Spain walked up a +flight of broad stone steps, which led to the wide-open door of Mr. +Peter Lacel's house on the far side of Aldham Common.</p> + +<p>It was now about ten o'clock in the morning, or a little after.</p> + +<p>As soon as the body of the martyr had fallen into the flames, Sir John +had wheeled round upon his horse, and, attended by his men, had trotted +away, breaking through the crowd, who had rushed to the smouldering pyre +and were pressing round it. They had gone some three hundred yards on to +the Common at a quick pace.</p> + +<p>"I don't like this at all, Sire," Sir John had muttered to the King. +"The people are very turbulent. It will be as well, I think, that we go +to the 'Crown.' It is that large house on the other side of the Common. +There we shall find entertainment and refreshment, for I am told it is a +good inn by a letter from the Sheriff, Mr. Peter Lacel—whom I had +looked to see here as was duly arranged."</p> + +<p>Then Sir John had stopped suddenly.</p> + +<p>"He cometh," he cried. "That is Mr. Lacel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> with his yeomen," and as the +knight spoke Johnnie saw a little party upon horseback galloping towards +them. Foremost of them was a bluff, bearded country gentleman, his face +agitated and concerned.</p> + +<p>"Good Sir John," said the gentleman as he reined up his horse, "I would +not have had this happen for much money. I have mistook the hour, and +was upon some county business with two of the justices at my house. Is +it all over then? Hath Dr. Taylor suffered?"</p> + +<p>"The runagate is stone dead," Shelton replied. "It is all over, and hath +passed off as well as may be, though I like not very much the demeanour +of the people. But how do you, Mr. Lacel?"</p> + +<p>"I do very well, thank you," the Sheriff answered, "but I hope much, Sir +John, that this mischance of mine will not be accounted to me as being +any lack of zeal to Her Grace."</p> + +<p>Shelton waved his hand. "No," he said, "we know you very well, Mr. +Lacel. Lack of loyalty will never be put to your charge. But now, +doubtless, you will entertain us, for we have ridden since early dawn, +and are very tired."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lacel's face shone with relief. "Come you, Sir John," he said, "come +you with these gentlemen and your men forthwith to the Manor. You must +indeed be weary and needing refreshment. But what of yonder?"</p> + +<p>He pointed in front of him, and Sir John turned in his saddle.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> + +<p>A few hundred yards away a dense crowd was swaying, and above their +heads even now was a column of yellow smoke.</p> + +<p>"There is no need for you there, Mr. Lacel," Sir John replied. "The +Sheriff of London and his men are doing all that is needful. I am here +with mine, and we shall all be glad to taste your hospitality after this +business. This,"—he made a little gesture of the hand towards +Johnnie—"is Mr. Commendone, Sir Henry Commendone's son, of Kent, +attached to the King's person, and here to-day to report of Dr. Taylor's +burning to the Queen. This"—here he bowed towards Philip—"a Spanish +nobleman of high degree, who is of His Majesty's Gentlemen, and who hath +ridden with us."</p> + +<p>"Bid ye welcome, gentlemen," said Mr. Lacel, "and now, an ye will follow +me, there is breakfast ready in the Manor, and you can forget this nasty +work, for I doubt none of you like it better than myself."</p> + +<p>With that the whole party had trotted onwards towards the Sheriff's +house.</p> + +<p>The men-at-arms were met by grooms and servants, and taken round to the +buttery. John, Shelton, and the King walked up the steps and into a +great hall, where a long table was laid for their reception.</p> + +<p>The King, whose demeanour to his host was haughty and indifferent, spoke +no word at all, and Sir John Shelton was in considerable embarrassment.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +At all costs, the King's incognito must be preserved. Mr. Lacel was a +Catholic gentleman of Suffolk, a simple, faithful, unthinking country +squire, who, at the same time, had some local influence. It would never +do, however, to let the Sheriff know that the King himself was under his +roof, and yet His Highness's demeanour was so reserved and cold, his +face so melancholy, frozen, and inscrutable, that Shelton was +considerably perplexed. It was with a sense of great relief that he +remembered the King spoke but little English, and he took Mr. Lacel +aside while serving-men were placing chairs at the table, and whispered +that the Don was a cold, unlikeable fellow, but high in the Royal +favour, and must be considered.</p> + +<p>"Not a testoon care I," Mr. Lacel answered. "I am glad to see ye, Sir +John, and these Court gallants from Spain disturb me not at all. Now, +sit ye down, sit ye down, and fall to."</p> + +<p>They all sat down at the table.</p> + +<p>The King took a silver cup of wine, bowed to his host, and sipped. His +face was very yellow, his eyes dwindled, and a general air of cold and +lassitude pervaded him. Suddenly he turned to Commendone, who was +sitting by his side watching his master with eager and somewhat +frightened attention.</p> + +<p>"Señor," he said, in Spanish, "Señor Commendone, I am very far from +well. The long ride hath tired me. I would rest. Speak to Sir John<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +Shelton, and ask this worthy <i>caballero</i>, who is my host, if I may +retire to rest."</p> + +<p>Johnnie spoke at once to Mr. Lacel, explaining that the Spanish nobleman +was very fatigued and wished to lie down.</p> + +<p>The Sheriff jumped up at once, profuse in hospitality, and himself led +the way, followed by the King and Commendone, to an upper chamber.</p> + +<p>They saw the King lie down upon the bed, and curtains pulled half-way +over the mullioned windows of the room, letting only a faint beam of +sunlight enter there.</p> + +<p>"Thy friend will be all right now, Mr. Commendone," said the squire. +"These Spanish gentlemen are not over-strong, methinks." He laughed +roughly, and Johnnie heard again, in the voice of this country +gentleman, that dislike of Spain and of the Spanish Match, which his own +father shared.</p> + +<p>They went out of the room together, and Johnnie shrugged his +shoulders—it was absolutely necessary that the identity of the King +should not be suspected.</p> + +<p>"Well, well, Mr. Lacel," he said, linking his arm within his host's, and +assuming a friendly country manner—which, of course, came perfectly +natural to him, "it is not for you and I to question or to make comment +upon those gentlemen from over-seas who are in high favour in London +just now. Let us to breakfast."</p> + +<p>In a minute more they were sitting at the table,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> where Sir John Shelton +was already busy with wine and food.</p> + +<p>For a few minutes the three men ate in silence. Then Mr. Lacel must have +from them every detail of the execution. It was supplied him with great +vigour and many oaths by Sir John.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lacel shook himself.</p> + +<p>"I am indeed sorry," said he, "that I was not at the execution, because +it was my bounden duty to be there. Natheless, I am not sorry for +myself. To see a rogue or masterless man trussed up is very well, but +Dr. Rowland Taylor that was Rector here, and hath in times past been a +guest at this very table—well, I am glad I did not see the man die. Was +a pleasant fellow, could wind a horn or throw a falcon with any of the +gentry round, had a good lusty voice in a chorus, and learning much +beyond the general."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lacel, Mr. Lacel," Sir John Shelton said in a loud and rather +bullying voice, "surely you have no sympathy nor liking for heretics?"</p> + +<p>"Not I, i' faith," said the old gentleman at the top of the table, +striking the thick oak with his fist. "I have been a good Catholic ever, +and justice must be done. 'Twas the man I liked, Master Shelton, 'twas +the man I liked. Now we have here as Rector a Mr. Lacy. He is a good +Catholic priest, and dutiful at all his services. I go to Mass three +times a week. But Father Lacy, as a man, is but a sorry scrub. He eateth +nothing, and a firkin of ale would last him six months. Still,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +gentlemen, ye cannot live on both sides of a buckler. Poor Roly Taylor +was a good, honest man, a sportsman withal, and well loved over the +country-side—I am glad I saw not his burning. Certainly upon religion +he was mad and very ill-advised, and so dies he. I trust his stay in +purgation be but short."</p> + +<p>Sir John Shelton put down his tankard with a crash.</p> + +<p>"My friend," he said, "doth not know that His Grace of London did curse +this heretic? I myself was there and heard it."</p> + +<p>The ruffian lifted his tankard of wine to his lips, and took a long +draught. His face was growing red, his eyes twinkled with half-drunken +cunning and suspicion.</p> + +<p>"Aye," he cried, "I heard it—'And by the authority of God the Father +Almighty, and of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of St. Peter and Paul, and of +the Holy Saints, we excommunicate, we utterly curse and ban, commit and +deliver to the Devil of hell, ye that have in spite of God and of St. +Peter, whose Church this is, in spite of holy saints, and in spite of +our most Holy Father the Pope, God's Vicar here on earth, denied the +truths of Holy Church. Accursed may ye be, and give body and soul to the +Devil. We give ye over utterly to the power of the Fiend, and thy soul +when thou art dead shall lie this night in the pains of hell-fire, as +this candle is now quenched and put out.'"</p> + +<p>As he finished, Sir John knocked over a tall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> glass cruet of French +vinegar, and stared with increasing drunkenness at his host.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lacel, simple gentleman that he was, was obviously disgusted at his +guest. He said very little, however, seeing that the man was somewhat +gone in liquor, as Johnnie also realised that the stale potations of the +night before were wakened by the new drink, and rising up into Shelton's +brain.</p> + +<p>"Well, well, Sir John," Mr. Lacel replied, "I am no theologian, but I am +a good son of the Church, and have always been, as you and those at +Court—those in high places, Sir John," he said it with a certain +emphasis and spirit—"know very well."</p> + +<p>The quiet and emphatic voice had its effect. Shelton dropped his +bullying manner. He was aware, and realised that Mr. Lacel probably knew +also, that he was but a glorified man-at-arms, a led captain, and not at +all in the confidence of great people, nor acquainted with private +affairs of State. He had been puffed up by his recent association with +the King in his vile pleasures, but a clever ruffian enough, he saw now +that he had gone too far.</p> + +<p>He saw also that John Commendone was looking at him with a fixed and +disdainful expression. He remembered that the young courtier was high in +the good graces of the King and Queen.</p> + +<p>"I' faith," he cried, with an entire change of manner—"I' faith, old +friend Peter, I was but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> jesting; we all know thou art loyal to Church +and State, their law. Mr. Commendone, I ask you, hast seen a more——"</p> + +<p>Johnnie's voice cut into the man's babbling.</p> + +<p>"Sir John," he said, "if I were you I would go upstairs and see how the +Spanish gentleman doeth."</p> + +<p>He looked very keenly, and with great meaning, at the knight.</p> + +<p>Sir John pushed his chair from the table. "Spine of God," he cried +thickly, "and I was near forgetting His Highness. I will to him at +once."</p> + +<p>He stumbled away from the table, pulled himself together, and, following +Mr. Lacel's butler, who had just come into the hall, ascended the broad +stairway.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lacel looked very curiously at Johnnie.</p> + +<p>"Sir," he said in a low voice, looking round the hall to see if any +servant were within earshot, "that drunkard hath said more than he +meant. I am not quite the country fool I seem to be, but least said is +soonest mended. I have known Sir John Shelton for some years—a good man +in the chase, a soldier, but a drunken fool withal. I know your name, +and I have met your father at the Wool Exchange in London. We are both +of Catholic houses, but I think none of us like what is going on now, +and like to go on since"—here he dropped his voice almost to a whisper, +and glanced upwards to the gallery which ran round the hall—"since<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> Her +Grace had wedded out of the kingdom. But we must say nothing. Who that +gentleman upstairs is, I do not seek to know, but I tell you this, Mr. +Commendone, that, heretic or none, I go to-morrow morning to Father Lacy +and give him a rose-angel to say masses for the soul of a good dead +friend of mine. I shall not tell him who 'tis, and he's too big a fool +to ask, but——"</p> + +<p>The old man's voice caught in his throat. He lifted his cup, and +instinctively Johnnie did the same.</p> + +<p>"Here's to him," Mr. Lacel whispered, "and to his dame, a sweet and +gracious lady, and to his little lad Thomas, and the girl Mary; they +have oft sat on my knee—for I am an old widower, Mr. Commendone—when I +have told them the tale of the babes in the wood."</p> + +<p>Tears were in the Sheriff's eyes, and in the eyes of the young man also, +as he raised his cup to his lips and drank the sad and furtive toast.</p> + +<p>"And here," Mr. Lacel continued, lifting his cup once more, and leaning +forward over the table close to his, "and here's to Lizzie, whom dear +Dr. Taylor adopted to be as his own daughter when she was but a little +maid of three. Here's to Elizabeth, the sweetest girl, the most blithe +companion, the daintiest, most brave little lady that ever trod the +lanes of Suffolk——"</p> + +<p>He had hardly finished speaking, and Johnnie's hand was trembling as he +lifted the goblet to his lips, when there was a noise in the gallery +above,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> and Sir John Shelton, pale of face, and followed by the butler, +came noisily down the oak stairs.</p> + +<p>The knight's manner was more than a little excited.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Commendone," he said in a quick but conciliatory voice, "His +Highness—that is to say, the Spanish gentleman—is very fatigued, and +cannot ride to London to-day."</p> + +<p>He turned to Mr. Lacel.</p> + +<p>"Peter," he said, and his voice was now anxious and suave, the voice of +a man of affairs, and with something definite to say, "Peter, I must +claim your hospitality for the night for myself and for my Spanish +friend. Also, I fear, for my men."</p> + +<p>Mr. Lacel bowed. "Sir John," he said, "my poor house is very gladly at +your disposal, and you may command me in all ways."</p> + +<p>"I thank you," Sir John answered, "I thank you very much. You are doing +me a service, and perhaps other people a service which——" He broke off +shortly, and turned once more to Commendone. "Mr. Commendone," he said, +"it is requisite that you will at once to horse with your own servant +and one of my men, and ride to London—Excuse me, Peter, but I have a +privy word to say to the Esquire."</p> + +<p>He drew Johnnie aside. "You must ride post-haste to the Queen," he said, +"and tell her that His Majesty is very weary or eke unwell. He will lie +the night here and come to London with me in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> the morning, and by the +Mass, Mr. Commendone, I don't envy you your commission!"</p> + +<p>"I will go at once," Johnnie answered, looking at his watch.</p> + +<p>"Very good, Mr. Commendone," Sir John answered. "I am not of the Privy +Closet, as you know. You are in communion with Her Grace, and have been. +But if all we of the guard hear is true, then I am sorry for you. +Natheless, you must do it. Tell Her Grace of the burning—oh, tell her +anything that commendeth itself to you, but let her not think that His +Highness is upon some lover's business. And of Duck Lane not a word, not +a single word, as you value your favour!"</p> + +<p>"It is very likely, is it not, Sir John," Commendone answered, "that I +should say anything of Duck Lane?"</p> + +<p>The sneer in his voice was so pronounced that the big bully writhed +uneasily.</p> + +<p>"Surely," he replied, "you are a very pattern and model of discretion. I +know it well enough, Mr. Commendone."</p> + +<p>Johnnie made his adieux to his host.</p> + +<p>"But what about your horses, sir?" the old gentleman asked. "As I +understand it, you ride post-haste to London. Your nag will not take you +there very fast after your long ride."</p> + +<p>"I must post, that is all," Johnnie answered. "I can get a relay at +Chelmsford."</p> + +<p>"Nay, Mr. Commendone, it is not to be thought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> of," said the squire. +"Now, look you. I have a plenty horses in my stables. There is a roan +mare spoiling for work that will suit you very well. And what servants +are you taking?"</p> + +<p>Sir John Shelton broke in.</p> + +<p>"Hadst better take thy own servant and two of my men," he said. "You +will be riding back upon the way we came, and I doubt me the country +folk are too friendly."</p> + +<p>"That is easy done," said Mr. Lacel. "I can horse your yeomen also. In +four days I ride myself to Westminster, where I spend a sennight with my +brother, and hope to pay my duties at the Court when it moveth to +Whitehall, as I hear it is about to do. The horses I shall lend you, Mr. +Commendone, can be sent to my brother's, Sir Frank Lacel, of Lacel +House."</p> + +<p>"I thank you very much, sir," Johnnie answered, "you are very kind." And +with that he said farewell, and in a very few minutes was riding over +Aldham Common, on his way back to London.</p> + +<p>Right in the centre of the Common there was still a large crowd of +people, and he saw a farm cart with two horses standing there.</p> + +<p>He made a wide detour, however, to get into the main road for Hadley, +shrinking with a sudden horror, more poignant and more physically +sickening than anything he had known before, from the last sordid and +grisly details of the martyr's obsequies.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + +<p>... No! Anything would be better than to see this dreadful cleaning +up....</p> + +<p>The big rawbone mare which he was riding was fresh and playful. Johnnie +was a consummate horseman, and he was glad of the distraction of keeping +the beast under control. She had a hard mouth, and needed all his skill.</p> + +<p>For four or five miles, followed by his attendants at a distance of two +or three hundred yards, he rode at a fast canter, now and then letting +the mare stretch her legs upon the turf which bordered the rough country +road. After this, when the horse began to settle down to steady work, he +went on at a fast trot, but more mechanically, and thought began to be +born within him again.</p> + +<p>Until now he had seemed to be walking and moving in a dream. Even the +horrors he had seen had been hardly real. Inexperienced as he was in +many aspects of life, he yet knew well that the man with an imagination +and sensitive nerves suffers far more in the memory of a dreadful thing +than he does at the actual witnessing of it. The very violence of what +he had seen done that day had deadened all the nerves, forbidding full +sensation—as a man wounded in battle, or with a limb lopped off by +sword or shot, is often seen looking with an amazed incredulity at +himself, feeling no pain whatever for the moment.</p> + +<p>It was now that John Commendone began to suffer. Every detail of Dr. +Taylor's death etched<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> themselves in upon his brain in a succession of +pictures which burnt like fire.</p> + +<p>As this or that detail—in colour, movement, and sound—came back to him +so vividly, his heart began to drum, his eyes to fill with tears, or +grow dry with horror, the palms of his hands to become wet. He lived the +whole thing over again. And once more his present surroundings became +dream-like, as he cantered through the lanes, and what was past became +hideously, dreadfully real.</p> + +<p>Yet, as the gallant mare bore him swiftly onwards, he realised that the +horror and disgust he felt were in reality subservient to something else +within him. His whole being seemed quickened, infinitely more alert, +ready for action, than it had ever been before. He was like a man who +had all his life been looking out upon the world through smoked or +tinted glasses—very pleased and delighted with all he saw, unable to +realise that there could be anything more true, more vivid.</p> + +<p>Then, suddenly, the glass is removed. The neutral greyness which he has +taken for the natural, commendable view of things, changes and falls +away. The whole world is seen in an infinity of light and colour +undreamed of, unexpected, wonderfully, passionately new.</p> + +<p>It was thus with Johnnie, and the fact for some time was stunning and +paralysing.</p> + +<p>Then, as the brain adjusted itself slowly to fresh and marvellous +conditions, he began to question himself.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> + +<p>What did it mean? What did it mean to him? What lay before?</p> + +<p>Quite suddenly the explanation came, and he knew.</p> + +<p>It was the face of a tall girl, who stood by St. Botolph's tower in the +ghostly dawn that had done this thing. It was her voice that had rent +aside the veil; it was her eyes of agony which lit up the world so +differently.</p> + +<p>With that knowledge, with the quick hammering of love at a virgin heart, +there came also an enormous expectation. Till now life had been pleasant +and happy. All the excitements of the past seemed but incidents in a +long tranquillity.</p> + +<p>The orchestra had finished the prelude to the play. Now the traverse was +drawn aside, and action began.</p> + +<p>As the young man realised this, and the white splendour of the full +summer sun was answered by the inexpressible glow within, he realised, +physically, that he was galloping madly along the road, pressing his +spurs to his horse's flanks, riding with loose rein, the stirrups behind +him, crouching forward upon the peaked saddle. He pulled his horse up +within two or three hundred yards, though with considerable difficulty, +the animal seeming, in some subtle way, to share and be part of that +which was rioting within his brain.</p> + +<p>He pulled her up, however, and she stood trembling and breathing hard, +with great clots of white foam covering the rings of the bit. He +soothed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> her, patting the strong veined neck with his hand, bringing it +away from the darkening hide covered with sweat. Then, when she was a +little more at ease, he slipped from the saddle and led her a few paces +along the road to where in the hedge a stile was set, upon which he sat +himself.</p> + +<p>He held hold of the rein for a minute until he saw the mare begin to +crop the roadside grass quietly enough, when he released her.</p> + +<p>For a mile or more the road by which he had come stretched white and +empty in the sun. There was no trace of his men. He waited there till +they could come up to him.</p> + +<p>He began to talk to himself in slow, measured terms, his own voice +sounding strange in his ears, coming to them with a certain comfort. It +was as though once more he had regained full command and captaincy of +his own soul. There were great things to be done, he was commander of +his own legions, and, like a general before a battle, he was issuing +measured orders to his staff.</p> + +<p>"So that it must be; it must be just that; I must find Elizabeth"—his +subconscious brain heard with a certain surprise and wonder how the slow +voice trembled at the word—"I must find Elizabeth. And then, when I +have found her, I must tell her that she, and she alone, is to be my +wife, and my lady ever more. I must sue and woo her, and then she must +be my wife. It is that which I have to do. The Court is nothing; my +service is nothing; it is Elizabeth!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + +<p>The mare raised her head, her mouth full of long sweet grass, and she +looked at him with mild, brown eyes.</p> + +<p>He rose from the stile, put his hand within his doublet, and pulled out +a little crucifix of ebony, with a Christ of gold nailed to it.</p> + +<p>He kissed it, and then, singularly heartened and resolute in mind, he +mounted again, seeing, as he did so, that his men were coming up behind. +He waited till they were near and then trotted off, and in an hour came +to the outskirts of Chelmsford town.</p> + +<p>It was now more than two hours after noon, and he halted with his men at +the "Tun," the principal inn of the place, and adjacent to a brewery of +red brick, where the famous Chelmsford ale—no less celebrated then than +now—was brewed.</p> + +<p>He rode into the courtyard of the inn, and the ostlers came hurrying up +and took his horse away, while he went into the ordinary and sat down +before a great round of beef.</p> + +<p>The landlord, seeing a gentleman of quality, bustled in and carved for +him—a pottle-bellied, voluble man, with something eminently kindly and +human in his eye.</p> + +<p>"From the Court, sir, I do not doubt?" he said.</p> + +<p>Johnnie nodded.</p> + +<p>"If I mistake not, you are one of the gentlemen who rode with the +Sheriff and Dr. Rowland Taylor this morning?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That was I," Johnnie answered, looking keenly at the man.</p> + +<p>"I would have wagered it was, sir. We saw the party go by early. Is the +Doctor dead, sir?"</p> + +<p>Johnnie nodded once more.</p> + +<p>"And a very right and proper thing it is," the landlord continued, "that +such should die the death."</p> + +<p>"And why think you that, landlord?" Johnnie asked.</p> + +<p>The landlord scratched his head, looking doubtfully at his guest.</p> + +<p>"It is not for me to say, sir," he replied, after a moment's hesitation. +"I am but a tradesman, and have no concern with affairs of State. I am a +child in these things, but doubtless what was done was done very well."</p> + +<p>Johnnie pushed away the pewter plate in front of him. "My man," he said, +"you can speak freely to me. What think you in truth?"</p> + +<p>The landlord stared at him for a moment, and then suddenly sat down at +the table.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, sir," he said, "who or what you may be. As thou art from +the Court, thou art a good Catholic doubtless, or wouldst not be there, +but you have an honest face, and I will tell you what I think. Under +King Hal I gat me to church, and profited well thereby in that reign, +for the abbey being broke up, and the friars dispersed, there was no +more free beer for any rogue or masterless man to get from the buttery, +aye, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> others of this town with property, and well-liked men, who +would drink the monks' brew free rather than pay for mine own. So, God +bless King Henry, I say, who brought much custom to mine inn, being a +wise prince. And now, look you, I go to Mass, and custom diminisheth not +at all. I have had this inn for thirty years, my father before me for +fifty; and in this inn, sir, I mean to die. It is nothing to me whether +bread and wine are but bread and wine, or whether they be That which all +must now believe. I am but a simple man, and let wiser than I decide, +keeping always with those who must certainly know better than I. +Meanwhile I shall sell my beer and bring up my family as an honest man +should do—God's death! What is that?"</p> + +<p>He started from his chair as Johnnie did likewise, for even as the man +spoke a most horrid and untoward noise filled all the air.</p> + +<p>Both men rushed to the bulging window of leaded glass, which looked out +into the High Street.</p> + +<p>There was a huge shouting, a frightful stamp and clatter as of feet and +horses' hooves upon the stones, but above all there came a shrill, +snarling, neighing noise, ululating with a ferocity that was not human, +a vibration of rage, which was like nothing Commendone had ever heard +before.</p> + +<p>"Jesus! But what is this?" Johnnie cried, flinging open the casement, +his face suddenly white with fear—so utterly outside all experience was +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> dreadful screeching, which now seemed a thousand times louder.</p> + +<p>He peered out into the street and saw people rushing to the doors and +windows of all the houses opposite, with faces as white and startled as +his own. He looked to the right, for it was from there the pealing +horror of sound was coming, but he could see nothing, because less than +twenty yards away the High Street made a sudden turn at right angles +towards the Market Place.</p> + +<p>"It is some devil, certes," the landlord panted. "Apollyon must have +just such a voice. What——"</p> + +<p>The words died away upon his lips, and in a moment the two men and all +the other watchers in the street knew what had happened.</p> + +<p>With a furious stamping of hooves, round the corner of an old timbered +house, leaping from the ground in ungovernable fury, and in that leaping +advancing but very slowly, came a huge stallion, black as a coal, its +eyes red with malice, its ears laid back over its head, the huge +bull-like neck erect, and smeared with foam and blood.</p> + +<p>Commendone had never seen such a monster; indeed, there were but few of +them in England at that time—the product of Lanarkshire mares crossed +with the fierce Flanders stallions, only just then introduced into +England by that Earl of Arran who had been a suitor for the hand of the +Princess Elizabeth.</p> + +<p>The thing seemed hardly horse, but malignant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> demon rather, and with a +cold chill at their hearts the landlord and his guest saw that the +stallion gripped a man by one arm and shoulder, a man that was no more a +man, but a limp bundle of clothes, and shook him as a terrier shakes a +rat.</p> + +<p>The bloody and evil eyes glared round on every side as the great +creature heaved itself into the air, the long "feather" of silky hair +about its fetlocks waving like the pennons of lances. There was a +dreadful sense of <i>display</i>. The stallion was consciously and wickedly +performing, showing what it could do in its strength of hatred—evil, +sentient, malign.</p> + +<p>It tossed the wretched man up into the air, and flung him lifeless and +broken at its fore feet. And then, horror upon horror, it began to pound +him, smashing, breaking, and treading out what little life remained, +with an action the more dreadful and alarming in that it was one +absolutely alien to the usual habits of the horse.</p> + +<p>It stopped at last, stiffened all over, its long, wicked head stretched +out like that of a pointing dog, while its eyes roved round as if in +search of a new victim.</p> + +<p>There was a dead silence in the street.</p> + +<p>Then Johnnie saw a short, thick-set man, with a big head and a brown +face, come out from the archway opposite, where he had been standing in +amazement, into the full street, facing the silent, waiting beast.</p> + +<p>Something stabbed the young man's heart<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> strangely. It was not fear for +the man; it was quite distinct from the breathless excitement and +sickening wonder of the moment.</p> + +<p>Johnnie had seen this man before.</p> + +<p>With slow, very slow, but resolute and determined steps, the man drew +nearer to the stallion.</p> + +<p>He was within four yards of it, when it threw up its head and opened its +mouth wide, showing the great glistening yellow teeth, the purple lips +curling away from them, in a rictus of malignity. From the open mouth, +covered with blood and foam, once more came the frightful cry, the mad +challenge.</p> + +<p>Even as that happened, the man, who carried a stout stick of ash such as +drovers used, leapt at the beast and struck it full and fair upon the +muzzle, a blow so swift, and so hefty withal, that the ash-plant snapped +in twain and flew up into the air.</p> + +<p>The next thing happened very swiftly. The man, who had a short cloak +upon his arm, threw it over the stallion's head with a sudden movement. +There was a white flash in the sunshine, as his short knife left his +belt, and with one fierce blow plunged deep into the lower portion of +the stallion's neck just above the great roll of fat and muscle which +arched down towards the chest.</p> + +<p>Then, with both hands at the handle of the knife, the man pulled it +upwards, leaning back as he did so, and putting all his strength into +what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> he did, cutting through the living veins and trachea as a butcher +cuts meat.</p> + +<p>There was a dreadful scream, which changed upon an instant to a cough, a +fountain of dark blood, and the monster staggered and fell over upon its +side with a crash.</p> + +<p>A minute afterwards Commendone was out in the High Street mingling with +the excited crowd of townspeople.</p> + +<p>He touched the sturdy brown-faced man upon the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Come into the inn," he said. "I have somewhat to say to you, John +Hull."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>PART TAKEN IN AFFAIRS BY THE HALF TESTOON</h3> + + +<p>It was seven o'clock in the evening when John Commendone arrived at the +Tower. He went to the Queen's Gallery, and found that Her Majesty had +just come back from Vespers in St. John's Chapel, and was in the Privy +Garden with some of her ladies.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ambrose Cholmondely was lieutenant of the guard at this hour, and +Johnnie went to him, explaining that he must see the Queen at once.</p> + +<p>"She won't see any one, Commendone," young Mr. Cholmondely answered. "I +really cannot send your name to Her Grace."</p> + +<p>"But I must see Her Grace. It is highly important."</p> + +<p>Cholmondely looked at Commendone.</p> + +<p>"You have ridden far and fast," he said. "You might even be the bearer +of despatches, my friend John. But I cannot send in your name to the +Queen. Even if I could, I certainly would not do so when you are like +this, in such disorder of dress. You've come from no battle-field with +news of victory. If the matter urgeth, as you say, then you have your +own remedy. The King Consort lies ill in his own lodging; he hath not +been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> seen of any one since supper last night. I don't know where you +have been or what you have been doing, and it is no concern of mine, i' +faith, but you can very well go to the King's quarters, where, if your +business is as you say, one of the dons or Spanish priests will speedily +arrange an audience for you with Her Grace."</p> + +<p>Johnnie knew the rigid etiquette of the Court very well.</p> + +<p>Technically young Mr. Cholmondely was within his rights. He had received +orders and must obey them. Upon the other hand, no one knew better than +Commendone that this young gallant was a fool, puffed up with the favour +of ladies, and who from the first had regarded him as in some sense a +rival—was jealous of him.</p> + +<p>John realised in a moment that no one of the Court except the Queen and +King Philip's private gentlemen knew of His Highness's absence. It had +been put about that he was ill. It would have been an easy thing for +Johnnie to turn away from the gate of the Privy Garden, where, in the +soft sunset light, Mr. Cholmondely ruffled it so bravely, and find +Father Diego. But he was in no mood at that moment for compromise. He +was perfectly certain of his own right to admission. He knew that the +tidings he bore were far more important than any point of etiquette. He +was cool and suave enough as a general rule—not at all inclined, or a +likely person, to infringe the stately machinery which controlled the +lives of monarchs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> But now he was in a mood when these things seemed +shrunken, smaller than they had ever been before. He himself was +animated by a great private purpose, he bore a message from the King +himself to the Queen; he was in a state of exaltation, and looking at +the richly dressed young courtier before him, remembering what a +popinjay and lap-dog of ladies he was, he felt a sudden contempt for the +man who barred his way.</p> + +<p>He wouldn't have felt it before, but he was older now. He had bitten in +upon life, an extraordinary strength and determination influenced him +and ran in his blood.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Cholmondely," he said, "nevertheless, I will go to the Queen, as I +am, and go at once."</p> + +<p>Cholmondely was just inside the gates which led to the Privy Garden, +strolling up and down, while outside the gates were two archers of the +Queen's Guard, and a halberdier of the garrison, who was sitting upon a +low stone bench.</p> + +<p>Johnnie had passed the men and was standing within the garden.</p> + +<p>"You will, Mr. Commendone?"</p> + +<p>Johnnie took a step forward and brushed the other away with his left +arm, contemptuously, as if he had been a serving-man. Then he strode +onwards.</p> + +<p>The other's sword was out of his scabbard in a second, and he threw +himself on guard, his face livid with passion. Johnnie made no motion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +towards his own sword hilt, but he grasped the other's light rapier with +his right hand, twisted it away with a swift muscular motion, broke it +upon his knee and flung the pieces into Cholmondely's face.</p> + +<p>"I go to Her Majesty," he said. "When I have done my business with her, +I will see you again, Mr. Cholmondely, and you can send your friend to +my lodging."</p> + +<p>Without a further glance at the lieutenant of the guard he hurried down +a broad gravelled path, edged with stocks, asters and dark green borders +of box, towards where he knew he would find the Queen.</p> + +<p>Cholmondely stood, swaying and reeling for a second. No word escaped +him, but from his cheek, cut by the broken sword, came a thin trickle of +scarlet.</p> + +<p>Johnnie had turned out of the broad walk and into the terraced +rose-garden, which went down to the river—where he saw a group of +brightly-dressed ladies, rightly conjecturing that the Queen was among +them—when he heard running steps behind him.</p> + +<p>Cholmondely had almost caught him up, and a dagger gleamed in his right +hand. A loud oath burst from him, and he flung himself upon Commendone.</p> + +<p>At the exact moment that he did so, the ladies had turned, and saw what +was going on; and while the two young men wrestled together,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +Cholmondely vainly trying to free his dagger-arm from Commendone's +vice-like grip, there came a loud, angry voice which both knew well, +booming through the pergolas of roses. The instant the great voice +struck upon their ears they fell away from each other, arms dropped to +their sides, breaths panting, eyes of hate and anger suddenly changed +and full of apprehension.</p> + +<p>There were one or two shrieks and feminine twitters, a rustle of silk +skirts, a jangle of long silver chatelaines, and like a bouquet of +flowers coming towards them, the queen's ladies hurried over the lawn; +Her Grace's small form was a little in advance of the rest.</p> + +<p>Queen Mary came up to them, her thin face suffused with passion.</p> + +<p>"Sirs," she shouted, "what mean you by this? Are gentlemen of Our Court +to brawl in Our gardens? By the Mass, it shall go very hard with you +gentlemen. It——"</p> + +<p>She saw Commendone.</p> + +<p>Her voice changed in a second.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Commendone! Mr. Commendone! You here? I had looked to see you hours +agone. Where is——"</p> + +<p>She had nearly said it, but a warning flash from the young man's eyes +stayed the wild inquiry upon her lips. Clever as she was, the Queen +caught herself up immediately.</p> + +<p>"What is this, sir?" she said, more softly, and in Spanish.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + +<p>Johnnie sank on one knee.</p> + +<p>"I have just come to the Tower, M'am," he said, "with news for Your +Majesty. As you see, I am but just from my horse. I sought you +post-haste, and were told that you were here. Unfortunately, I could not +persuade Mr. Cholmondely of the urgency of my business. He had orders to +admit no one, and daring greatly, I pushed past him, and in the +execution of his duty he followed me."</p> + +<p>The Queen said nothing for a moment. Then she turned upon Cholmondely.</p> + +<p>"And who are you, Mr. Cholmondely," she said in a cold, hard voice, "to +deny the Esquire Our presence when he comes with special tidings to Us?"</p> + +<p>Cholmondely bowed low.</p> + +<p>"I did but hold to my orders, Madam," he said, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>The Queen ground her high-heeled shoe into the gravel.</p> + +<p>"Your sword, Mr. Cholmondely," she said, "you will hand it to the +Esquire, and you will go to your lodging to await our pleasure."</p> + +<p>At that, the lieutenant of the guard gave a loud sob, and his face +became purple.</p> + +<p>The Queen looked at him in amazement and then saw that his scabbard was +empty.</p> + +<p>In a moment Johnnie had whipped out his own riding-sword and pressed it +into Mr. Cholmondely's hand.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Stupid!" he said, "here thou art. Now give it me in order."</p> + +<p>The Queen had taken it all in immediately. The daughter of a King to +whom the forms and etiquette of chivalry were one of the guiding +principles of life, she realised in a moment what had occurred.</p> + +<p>"Boys! Boys!" she said, impatiently. "A truce to your quarrels. If Mr. +Commendone robbed you of your sword, Mr. Cholmondely, he hath very well +made amends in giving you his. You were right, Mr. Cholmondely, in not +admitting Mr. Commendone to Our presence, because you knew not the +business upon which he came. And you were right, Mr. Commendone, in +coming to Us as you did at all hazards. Art two brave, hot-headed boys. +Now take each other's hand; let there be no more of this, for"—and her +voice became lowing and full of menace again—"if I hear so much as the +rattle of thy swords against each other, in future, neither of thee will +e'er put hand to pummel again."</p> + +<p>The two young men touched each other's hand—both of them, to tell the +truth, excessively glad that affairs had turned out in this way.</p> + +<p>"Get you back to your post," the Queen said to the lieutenant. "Mr. +Commendone, come here."</p> + +<p>She turned swiftly, passing through her ladies, who all remained a few +yards behind.</p> + +<p>"Well, well," she said impatiently, "hath His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> Highness returned? Hath +he borne the fatigue of the journey well?"</p> + +<p>Most carefully, with studied phrases, furtively watching her face, with +the skill and adroitness of an old courtier, Johnnie told his story. At +any moment he expected an outburst of temper, but it did not come. To +his surprise, the Queen was now in a quiet and reflective mood. She +walked up and down the bowling green with him, her ladies standing apart +at one edge of it, nodding and whispering to see this young gallant so +favoured, and wondering what his mission might be.</p> + +<p>The Queen asked Johnnie minute questions about Mr. Peter Lacel's house. +Was it well found? Would His Highness find proper accommodation to lie +there? Was Mr. Lacel married, and had he daughters?</p> + +<p>Johnnie assured Her Grace that Mr. Lacel was a widower and without +children. He could plainly see that the Queen had that fierce jealousy +of a woman wedded late. Not only the torturing of other women, but also +the stronger and more pervading dislike of a husband living any life, +going through any experiences that she herself did not share. At the +same time, he saw also that the Queen was doing her very best to +overcome such thoughts as these, was endeavouring to assume the matron +of common sense and to put the evil thing away from her.</p> + +<p>Then, just as the young man was beginning to feel a little embarrassed +at the quick patter of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> questions, wondering if he would be able to be +as adequate as hitherto, remembering guiltily where he had met the King +the night before, the Queen ceased to speak of her husband.</p> + +<p>She began to ask him of Dr. Rowland Taylor and his end.</p> + +<p>He told her some of the details as quietly as he could, trying to soften +the horror which even now overwhelmed him in memory. At one question he +hesitated for a moment, mistaking its intent, and the Queen touched him +smartly on the arm.</p> + +<p>"No, no," she said, "I don't want to hear of the runagate's torment. He +suffered rightly, and doubtless his sufferings were great. But tell me +not of them. They are not meet for our ears. Tell me of what he said, +and if grace came to him at last."</p> + +<p>He was forced to tell her, as he knew others would tell her afterwards, +of the sturdy denial of the martyr till the very end.</p> + +<p>And as he did so, he saw the face, which had been alight with tenderness +and anxiety when the King's name was mentioned, gravely judicial and a +little disgusted when the actual sufferings of the Archdeacon were +touched upon, now become hard and cruel, aflame with bigotry.</p> + +<p>"They shall go," the Queen said, rather to herself than to him. "They +shall be rooted out; they shall die the death, and so may God's most +Holy Church be maintained."</p> + +<p>At that, with another and astonishing change of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> mood, she looked at the +young man, looked him up and down, saw his long boots powdered with +dust, his dress in disorder, him travel-stained and weary.</p> + +<p>"You have done well," she said, with a very kindly and eminently human +smile. "I would that all the younger gentlemen of our old houses were +like you, Mr. Commendone. His Highness trusts you and likes you. I +myself have reason to think well of you. You are tired by your long +ride. Get you to your lodging, and if so you wish it, you shall do as +you please to-night, for when His Highness returns I will see that he +hath no need of you. And take this from your Queen."</p> + +<p>In her hand the Queen carried a little volume, bound in Nile-green skin, +powdered with gold heraldic roses. It was the <i>Tristia et Epistolae ex +Ponto</i> of Ovid, which she had been reading. Johnnie sank upon one knee +and took the book from the ivory-white and wrinkled hand.</p> + +<p>"Madam," he said, "I will lose my life rather than this gracious gift."</p> + +<p>"Hey ho!" the Queen answered. "Tell that to your mistress, Mr. +Commendone, if you have one. Still, the book is rare, and when you read +of the poet's sorrows at Tomi, think sometimes of the giver who—and do +not doubt it—hath many sorrows of her own. It is an ill thing to rule +We sometimes think, Mr. Commendone, but God hath put Us in Our place, +and We must not falter."</p> + +<p>She turned. "Lady Paget," she called, "I have done with this young spark +for the nonce; come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> you, and help me pick red roses, red roses, for my +chamber. The King loveth deep red roses, and I am told that they are the +favoured flower of all noble gentlemen and ladies in the dominions of +Spain."</p> + +<p>Bowing deeply once more, and walking backwards to the edge of the +bowling green, Johnnie withdrew.</p> + +<p>He passed through the flower-bordered ways till he came to the gate of +the garden.</p> + +<p>Outside the gate this time, on the big gravelled sweep which went in +front of the Palace, Cholmondely was walking up and down, the blood +dried upon his cheek, but not washed away. He turned in his sentinel's +parade as Johnnie came out, and the two young men looked at each other +for a moment in silence.</p> + +<p>"What's it to be?" Johnnie said, with a smile—"Lincoln's Inn Fields +to-morrow morning? Her Grace will never know of it."</p> + +<p>"I was waiting for you, Johnnie," the other answered. "No, we'll not +fight, unless you wish it. Come you to the Common Room, and the pantler +shall boil his kettle and brew us some sack."</p> + +<p>Johnnie thrust his arm into the other's and together they passed away +from the garden, better friends at that moment than they had ever been +before—friends destined to be friends for two hours before they were to +part forever, though during these hours one of them was to do the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> other +a service which would help to alter the whole course of his life.</p> + +<p>They went into the Common Room, and the pantler was summoned and ordered +to brew them a bowl of sack—simply the hot wine and water, with added +spices, which our grandmothers of the present time sipped over their +cards, and called Negus.</p> + +<p>Commendone sunk down into a big oak chair, his hands stretched out along +the arms, his whole body relaxed in utter weariness, his dark face now +grown quite white. There were lines about his eyes which had not been +there a few hours before. The eyes themselves were dull and glassy, the +lips were flaccid.</p> + +<p>Cholmondely looked at him in amazement. "Go by, Jeronymo!" he said, +using a popular tag, or catch-word, of the time, the "What ho, she +bumps!" of the period, though there were no music-halls in those days to +popularise such gems of phrase. "What ails you, Esquire? I was +frightened also by Her Grace, and, i' faith, 'tis a fearful thing to +hear the voice of Majesty in reproof. But thou camest better out of it +than I, though all was well at the end of it for both of us. Is it with +you still?"</p> + +<p>Johnnie shook his head feebly. "No," he said, lifting a three-handled +silver cup of sack to his lips. "'Twas not that, though I was sorely +angered with you, Ambrose; but I have had a long journey into the +country, and have returned but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> half an hour agone. I have seen +much—much." He put one hand to his throat, swallowing as he spoke, and +then recollecting himself, adding hurriedly, "Upon affairs of State."</p> + +<p>The other gallant sipped his wine. "Thou need'st not have troubled to +tell me that," he said dryly. "When a gentleman bursts into the Privy +Garden against all order he is doubtless upon business of State. What +brought you to this doing I do not know, and I don't ask you, Johnnie. +All's well that ends well, and I hope we are to be friends."</p> + +<p>"With all my goodwill," Commendone answered. "We should have been +friends before."</p> + +<p>The other nodded. He was a tall, handsome young man, a little florid in +face, but of a high and easy bearing. There was, nevertheless, something +infinitely more boyish and ingenuous in his appearance than in that of +Commendone. The latter, perhaps of the same age as his companion, was +infinitely more unreadable than the other. He seemed older, not in +feature indeed, but in manner and capability. Cholmondely was explicit. +There was a swagger about him. He was thoroughly typical. Johnnie was +cool, collected, and aware.</p> + +<p>"To tell you the truth, Commendone," Cholmondely said, with a light +laugh which rang with perfect sincerity, "to tell you the truth, I have +been a little jealous of you since you came to Court. Thou art a +newcomer here, and thou hast risen to very high favour; and then, by the +Mass!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> thou dost not seem to care about it all. Here am I, a squire of +dames, who pursue the pleasures of Venus with great ardour and not ever +with success. But as for thee, John Commendone of Kent, i' faith, the +women are quarrelling for thee! Eyes grow bright when thou comest into +the dance. A week agone, at the barrier fight in the great hall, Cicily +Thwaites, that I had marked out for myself to be her knight, was looking +at thee with the eyes of a duck in a tempest of thunder. So that is +that, Johnnie. 'Tis why I have not liked thee much. But we're friends +now, and see here——"</p> + +<p>He stepped up to the young man in the chair and clapped his hand upon +his shoulder. "See here," he went on in a deeper voice, "thou hast well +purged the dregs and leaven of my dislike. Thou gav'st me thy sword when +hadst disarmed me, and I stood before Her Grace shamed. I don't forget +that. I will never forget it. There will never be any savour or smell of +malice between thou and me."</p> + +<p>The wine had roused the blood in Commendone's tired veins. He was more +himself now. The terrible fatigue and nerve tension of the past few +hours was giving place to a sense of physical well-being. He looked at +the handsome young fellow before him standing up so taut and trim, with +the sunlight pouring in upon his face from one of the long open windows, +his head thrown slightly back, his lips a little parted, bright with the +health of youth, and felt glad that Ambrose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> Cholmondely was to be his +friend. And he would want friends now, for some reason or other—why he +could not divine—he had a curious sense that friends would be valuable +to him now. He felt immeasurably older than the other, immeasurably +older than he had ever felt before. There was something big and stern +coming into his life. The diplomatic, the cautious, trained side of him +knew that it must hold out hands to meet all those that were proffered +in the name of friend.</p> + +<p>Cholmondely sat down upon the table, swinging his legs backwards and +forwards, and stroking the smooth pointed yellow beard which lay upon +his ruff, with one long hand covered with rings.</p> + +<p>"And how like you, Johnnie," he said, "your attendance upon His Majesty? +From what we of the Queen's Household hear, the garden of that service +is not all lavender. Nay, nor ale and skittles neither."</p> + +<p>Johnnie shrugged his shoulders, his face quite expressionless. In a +similar circumstance, Ambrose Cholmondely would have gleefully entered +into a gossip and discussion, but Commendone was wiser than that, older +than his years. He knew the value of silence, the virtue of a still +tongue.</p> + +<p>"Sith you ask me, Ambrose," he answered, sipping his wine quietly, "I +find the service good enough."</p> + +<p>The other grinned with boyish malice. There was a certain rivalry +between those English gentlemen who had been attached to King Philip +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> those who were of the Queen's suite. Her Majesty was far more +inclined to show favour to those whom she had put about her husband than +to the members of her own <i>entourage</i>. They were picked men, and the gay +young English sparks resented undue and too rapid promotion and favour +shown to men of their own standing, while, Catholics as most of them +were, there was yet an innate political distrust instilled into them by +their fathers and relations of this Spanish Match. And many courtiers +thought that, despite all the safe-guards embodied in the marriage +contract, the marriage might yet mean a foreign dominion over the +realm—so fond and anxious was the Queen.</p> + +<p>"Each man to his taste," Cholmondely said. "I don't know precisely what +your duties are, Johnnie, but for your own sake I well hope they don't +bring you much into the companionship of such gentry as Sir John +Shelton, let us say."</p> + +<p>Johnnie could hardly repress a start, though it passed unnoticed by his +friend. "Sir John Shelton?" he said, wondering if the other knew or +suspected anything of the events of the last twenty-four hours. "Sir +John Shelton? It's little enough I have to do with him."</p> + +<p>"And all the better."</p> + +<p>Johnnie's ears were pricked. He was most anxious to get to know what was +behind Cholmondely's words. It would be worth a good deal to him to have +a thorough understanding of the general Court view about the King +Consort. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> affected an elaborate carelessness, even as he did so +smiling within himself at the ease by which this boy could be drawn.</p> + +<p>"Why all the better?" he said. "I care not for a bully-rook such as +Shelton any more than you, but I have nothing to do with him."</p> + +<p>"Then you make no excursions and sallies late o' nights?"</p> + +<p>Commendone's face was an elaborate mask of wonder.</p> + +<p>"Sallies o' nights?" he said.</p> + +<p>The other young man swung his legs to and fro, and began to chuckle. He +caught hold of the edge of the table with both hands, and looked down on +Johnnie in the chair with an amused smile.</p> + +<p>"And I had thought you were right in the thick of it," he said. "Thy +very innocence, Johnnie, hath prevented thee from seeing what goes on +under thy nose. Why, His Highness, Sir John Shelton, and Mr. Clarence +Attwood leave the Tower night after night and hie them to old Mother +Motte's in Duck Lane whenever the Queen hath the vapours and thinketh +her lord is in bed, or at his prayers. Phew!"—he made a gesture of +disgust. "It stinketh all over the Court. I see, Commendone, now why +thou knowest nothing of this. The King chooseth for his night-bird +friends ruffians like Shelton and Attwood. He would not dare ask one +that is a gentleman to wallow in brothels with him. But be assured, I +speak entirely the truth."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p> + +<p>Johnnie shrugged his shoulders once more. "I know nothing of it," he +said, with a quick, side-long glance at Ambrose Cholmondely. "I am not +asked to be Esquire on such occasions, at any rate."</p> + +<p>"And wouldst not go if thou wert," Cholmondely said, loudly. "Nor would +any other gentleman that I know of—only the very scum and vermin of the +Court. The game of love, look you, is very well. I am no purist, but I +hunt after my own kind, and so should we all do. I don't bemire myself +in the stews. Well, there it is. And now, much refreshed by this good +wine, and much heartened by our compact, I'll leave thee. I must get +back to guard at the garden gate. Her Grace will be leaving anon to +dress for supper. Perchance to-night the King will be well enough to +make appearance. While thou hast been away, he hath been close in his +quarters and very sick. The Spanish priests have been buzzing round him +like autumn wasps. And Thorne, the chirurgeon from Wood Street, a very +skilful man, hath, they say, been summoned this morning to the Palace. +Addio!"</p> + +<p>With a bright smile and a wave of his hand, he flung out of the room.</p> + +<p>Johnnie finished the lukewarm sack in his goblet. He had learnt +something that he wished to know, and as he saw his friend pass beyond +the windows outside, his feet crunching the gravel and humming a little +song, Johnnie smiled bitterly to himself.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> He knew rather more about +King Philip's illness than most people in England at that moment. And as +for Duck Lane—well! he knew something of that also. As the thought came +to him, indeed, he shuddered. He remembered the great ham-like face of +the procuress who kept this fashionable hell. He heard her voice +speaking to him as, very surely, she spoke to but few people who visited +her there. He thought of Ambrose Cholmondely's fastidiousness, and he +smiled again as he wondered what the Esquire would say if he only knew.</p> + +<p>It was not a merry smile. There was no humour in it. It was bitter, +cynical, and fraught with something of fear and expectation.</p> + +<p>He had drunk the wine, and it had reanimated him physically; but he rose +now and realised how weary he was in mind, and also—for he was always +most scrupulous and careful about his dress—how stained and travel-worn +in appearance.</p> + +<p>He walked out of the Common Room, his riding sword and spurs clanking as +he did so, mounted the stairway of the hall and entered the long +corridor which led to his own room.</p> + +<p>He had nearly got to his doorway when he heard, coming from a little way +beyond it, a low, musical, humming voice. He remembered with a start +that there was an interview before him which would mean much one way or +the other to his private desires.</p> + +<p>During the interview with the Queen and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> squabble with Ambrose +Cholmondely—as also afterwards, when he was drinking in the Common +Room—he had lost mental sight and grip of his own private wishes and +affairs. Now they all came back to him in a flash as he heard the +humming voice coming from the end of the corridor—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Bartl'my Fair! Bartl'my Fair!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swanked I and drank I when I was there;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Boiled and roast goose and baiting of bear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who plays with cudgels at Bartl'my Fair?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>He turned into his own room and looked round. He saw that some of his +accoutrements had been taken away. There were vacant pegs upon the +walls. He sat down upon the small low bed, bent forward, clasped his +hands upon his knees, and wondered whether he should speak or not. He +wondered very greatly whether he dare make a query, start an +investigation, nearer to his heart than anything else in the world.</p> + +<p>At Chelmsford he had run out of the Tun Inn and touched the burly man +who had killed the maddened stallion on the shoulder. He had brought him +into the ordinary, sat him down in a chair, put a great stoup of ale +before him, and then begun to talk to him.</p> + +<p>"I know who you are," he said, "very well, because I was one of the +gentlemen riding from town to Hadley with your late master, Dr. Taylor. +I saw you when his Reverence was wishing good-bye outside St. Botolph, +his church, and I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> heard the words your master said—eke that you were +the 'faithfullest servant that ever a man had.' What do you here now, +John Hull?"</p> + +<p>The man had drunk his great stoup of ale very calmly. The daring deed in +which he had been engaged had seemed to affect his nerves in no way at +all. He was shortish, thick-set, with a broad chest measurement, and a +huge thickness between chest and back. His face was tanned to the colour +of an old saddle, very keen and alert, and he was clean-shaved, a rather +odd and distinguishing feature in a serving-man of that time.</p> + +<p>He told Johnnie that, now he knew, he recognised him as one of the +company who rode with Dr. Taylor to his death. He had followed the +cavalcade almost immediately, and on foot. The way was long, and he had +arrived at Chelmsford faint and weary with very little money in his +pouch, and been compelled to wait there a time for rest and food. His +design was to proceed to Hadley, where he knew he could get work and +would be welcome.</p> + +<p>Mr. Peter Lacel, he told Johnnie in the inn, would doubtless employ him, +for though a Catholic gentleman, he had been a friend of the Rector's in +the past.</p> + +<p>"You want work, then?" Johnnie had said. "You do not wish to be a +masterless man, a hedge-dodger, poacher, or a rogue?"</p> + +<p>"Work I must have, sir," John Hull replied, "but it must be with a good +master. Mr. Peter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> Lacel will take me on. Masterless, I should be a very +great rogue."</p> + +<p>All this happened in the dining-room of the Chelmsford inn, Johnnie +sitting in his chair and looking at the thick, brown-faced man with a +cool scrutiny which well disguised the throbbing excitement he felt at +seeing him—at meeting him in this strange, and surely pre-ordained +fashion.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell thee who I am," Johnnie had said to the man, naming himself +and his state. "That the Doctor spoke of you as he did when going to his +death is enough recommendation to me of your fidelity. I need a servant +myself, but I would ask you this, John Hull: You are, doubtless, of a +certain party. If I took you to my service, how would you square with +who and what I am? A led man of mine must be loyal."</p> + +<p>Hull had answered but very little. "Ye can but try me, sir," he said, +"but I will come with you to London very joyfully. And I well think——"</p> + +<p>He stopped, mumbled something, and stood there, his hands stained with +the blood of the horse he had killed, rather clumsy, very much +tongue-tied, but with something faithful and even hungry in his eyes.</p> + +<p>Johnnie's own servant was a man called Thumb, a dissolute London fellow, +who had been with him for a month, and who had performed his duties in a +very perfunctory way. Life had been so quick and vivid, so full of +movement and the newness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> of Court life, that the Groom of the Body had +hardly had time to remember the personal discomfort he endured from the +fellow who had been recommended to him by one of the lieutenants of the +Queen's Archers. He had always meant to get rid of him at the first +opportunity. Now the opportunity presented itself, though it was not for +mere convenience that Commendone had engaged his new servitor.</p> + +<p>He had not the slightest doubt in his own mind that the man was sent to +him—put in his way—by the Power which ruled and controlled the +fortunes of men. Living as he did, and had done for many years, in a +quiet, fastidious, but very real dream and communion with things that +the hand or body do not touch and see, he had always known within +himself that the goings-in and goings-out of those who believe depend +not at all upon chance. Like all men of that day, Commendone was deeply +religious. His religion had not made him bigoted, though he clung to the +Church in which he had been brought up. But, nevertheless, it was very +real to him. There were good and bad angels in those days, who fought +for the souls of men. The powers of good and evil were invoked....</p> + +<p>The Esquire was certain that this sturdy John Hull had come into his +life with a set purpose.</p> + +<p>He was riding back to London with one fixed idea in his mind. One word +rang and chimed in his brain—the word was "Elizabeth!"</p> + +<p>He had left Chelmsford with John Hull<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> definitely enrolled as his +servant, had hired a horse for him from the landlord of the "Tun," and +had taken him straight to the Tower. When he had entered within the +walls, he had told his man Thumb that he would dismiss him on the +morrow, and pay him his wages due. He had told him, moreover, that—just +as he was hurrying to the Privy Garden with news for the Queen—he must +take John Hull to his quarters and put him into the way of service. For +a moment, Thumb had been inclined to be insolent, but one single look +from the dark, cool eyes, one hinted flash of anger upon the oval +olive-coloured face, had sent the Londoner humbly to what he had to do; +while the fellow looked, not without a certain apprehension, at the +thick-set quiet man who followed him to be shown his new duties....</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The Spanish don came over seas,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Hey ho nonino;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Gracious Lady tried to please,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Hey ho nonny.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The country fellows strung their bows,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Hey ho nonino;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What 'twill be, no jack man knows!<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Hey ho nonny."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Johnnie jumped up from his bed, strode out of the room, walked a yard or +two down the corridor, and entered another and larger room, which he +shared with three other members of the suite.</p> + +<p>It was the place where they kept their armour, their riding-boots, and +some of their swords.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> + +<p>As he came in he saw that Hull was sitting upon an overturned barrel, +which had held quarels for cross-bows.</p> + +<p>The man had tied a piece of sacking round his waist and over his +breeches, and was hard at work.</p> + +<p>Johnnie's three or four damascened daggers were rubbed bright with hog's +lard and sand. His extra set of holster pistols gleamed fresh and +new—the rust had been all removed from flint-locks and hammers; while +the stocks shone with porpoise oil.</p> + +<p>And now the new servant was polishing a high-peaked Spanish saddle, and +all the leather trappings of a charger, with an inside crust of barley +bread and a piece of apple rind.</p> + +<p>Directly the man saw his new master he stood up and made a saluting +motion with his hand.</p> + +<p>Johnnie looked at him coldly, though inwardly he felt an extreme +pleasure at the sight of his new recruit so lately added to him, so +swift to get to work, and withal so blithe about it.</p> + +<p>"You must not sing the songs I have heard you singing," he said, +shortly. "Don't you know where you are?"</p> + +<p>"I had forgotten, sir," the man replied. "I have a plaguey knowledge of +rhymes. They do run in my head, and must out."</p> + +<p>"They must not, I assure you," Johnnie answered, "but I like this well +enough. Hast got thee to work at once, then."</p> + +<p>"I love it, sir. To handle such stuff as yours<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> is rare for a man like +me. Look you here, sir"—he lifted up a small dagger which he withdrew +from its sheath of stag's leather, dyed vermilion—"Hear how it +ringeth!"</p> + +<p>He twanged the supple blade with his forefinger, and the little +shivering noise rang out into the room.</p> + +<p>The man's keen, brown face was lit up with simple enjoyment. "I love +weapons, master," he said, as if in apology.</p> + +<p>Johnnie knew at once that here was the man he had been looking for for +weeks. The man who cared, the faithful man; but he knew also, or thought +he knew, that it was but poor policy to praise a servant unduly.</p> + +<p>"Well, well," he said, "you can get on with your work. To-morrow +morning, I will see you fitted out as becometh my body servant. To-night +you will go below with the other men. I have spoken to the intendant +that I have a new servant, and you will have your evening-meat and a +place to lie in."</p> + +<p>He turned to go.</p> + +<p>With all his soul he was longing to ask this man certain questions. He +believed that he had been sent to him to tell him of the whereabouts of +the girl to whom, so strangely, at such a dreadful hour, he had vowed +his life. But the long control over temperament and emotion which old +Father Chilches had imposed upon him—the very qualities which made him, +already, a successful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> courtier—stood him in good stead now. The +dominant desire of his heart was to be repressed. He knew very well, he +realised perfectly clearly, how intimate a member of Dr. Taylor's +household this faithful servant—"the faithfullest servant that ever man +had"—must have been. And knowing it, he felt sure that the time was not +yet come to ask John Hull any questions. He must arouse no suspicions +within the man's mind. Hull had entered his service gladly, and promised +to be more than adequate and worthy of any trust that could be reposed +in him. But he had seen Johnnie riding away with his beloved master, one +of those who had taken him to torture and death. The very shrewdness and +cleverness imprinted upon the fellow's face were enough to say that he +would at once take alarm at any questioning about Dr. Taylor's family, +at this moment.</p> + +<p>John Hull scraped with his foot and made a clumsy bow as his new master +turned away. Then, suddenly, he seemed to remember something. His face +changed in expression.</p> + +<p>"God forgive me, sir," he said, "indeed, I had near forgot it. When I +went into your chamber and took this harness for cleaning, there was a +letter lying there for you. I can read, sir; Dr. Taylor taught me to +read somewhat. I took the letter, fearing that it might be overlooked or +e'en taken away, for there are a plaguey lot of serving-men in this +passage. 'Tis here, sir, and I crave you pardon me for forgetting of it +till now."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> + +<p>He handed Johnnie a missive of thick yellow-brown paper—such as was +woven from linen rags at Arches Smithfield Factory of that day. The +letter was folded four-square and tied round with a cord of green silk, +and where the threads intersected at the back was a broad seal of dull +red wax, bearing the sign of a lamb in its centre.</p> + +<p>Johnnie pulled off the cord, the wax cracked, and the thick yellow paper +rustled as he pulled it open.</p> + +<p>This was the letter:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Honoured Sir</span>,—This from my house in Chepe. Thy honoured +father who hath lately left the City hath left with me a sum of +money which remaineth here at your charges, and for your +disposal thereof as you may think fit. This shall be sent to +you upon your letter and signature, to-morrow an you so wish.</p> + +<p>"Natheless, should you come to my house to-night I will hand it +into your keeping in gold coin. I will say that Sir Henry +expressed hope that you might care to come to my poor house +which has long been the agency for Commendone. For your +father's son, sir, there will be very open welcome.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Your obt. svt.,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">and good friend,<br /></span> +<span class="i4"><span class="smcap">Robert Cressemer</span>,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Alderman of ye City of London."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +</blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> + +<p>Commendone read the letter through with care.</p> + +<p>His father had been most generous since Johnnie had arrived at Court, +and the young man was in no need of money. Sir Henry had, indeed, hinted +that further supplies would be sent shortly, and he must have arranged +it with the Alderman ere he left the City.</p> + +<p>Johnnie sighed. His father had always been good to him. No desire of his +had ever been left ungratified. Many sons of noblemen at Court had +neither such a generous allowance nor perfect equipment as he had. He +never thought of his father and the old house in Kent without a little +pang of regret. Was it worth it all? Were not the silent woods of +Commendone, with their shy forest creatures, better far than this +stately citadel and home of kings?</p> + +<p>His life had been so tranquil in the past. The happy days had gone by +with the regularity of some slow-turning wheel. Now all was stress and +turmoil. Dark and dreadful doings encompassed him. He was afloat upon +strange waters, and there was no pilot aboard, nor did he know what port +he should make, what unknown coast-line should greet his troubled eyes +when dawn should come.</p> + +<p>These thoughts were but fleeting, as he sat in his bedroom, where he had +taken the letter from Mr. Cressemer. He sent them away with an effort of +will. The past life was definitely over; now he must gather himself +together and consider the immediate future without vain regrets.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> + +<p>As he mounted the stairs from the Common Room he had it in mind to +change from his riding costume and sleep. He needed sleep. He wanted to +enter that mysterious country so close to the frontiers of death, to be +alone that he might think of Elizabeth. He knew now how men dreamed and +meditated of their loves, why lovers loved to be alone.</p> + +<p>He held the letter in his hand, looking down at the firm, clear writing +with lack-lustre eyes. What should he do? sleep, lose himself in happy +fancies, or go to the house of the Alderman? He had no Court duties that +night.</p> + +<p>He knew Robert Cressemer's name well. Every one knew it in London, but +Commendone had heard it mentioned at home for many years. Mr. Cressemer, +who would be the next Lord Mayor, was one of those merchant princes who, +ever since the time of that great commercial genius, Henry VII, had +become such an important factor in the national life.</p> + +<p>For many years the Alderman, the foundation of whose fortune had been +the export of English wool, had been in intimate relations, both of +business and friendship, with Sir Henry Commendone. The knight's wool +all went to the warehouses in Chepe. He had shares in the fleet of +trading vessels belonging to Cressemer, which supplied the wool-fairs of +Holland and the Netherlands. The childlike and absolutely uneconomic act +of Edward VI which endeavoured to make all interest illegal,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> and +enacted that "<i>whoever shall henceforth lend any sum of money for any +manner of usury, increase, lucre, gain or interest to be had, received, +or hoped for, over and above the sum so lent</i>," should suffer serious +penalties, had been repealed.</p> + +<p>Banking had received a tremendous impetus, Robert Cressemer had +adventured largely in it, and Sir Henry Commendone was a partner with +him in more than one enterprise.</p> + +<p>Of all this Johnnie knew nothing. He had not the slightest idea how rich +his father was, and knew nothing of the fortune that would one day be +his.</p> + +<p>He did know, however, that Mr. Cressemer was a very important person +indeed, the admired and trusted confidant of Sir Henry, and a man of +enormous influence. Such a letter, coming from such a man, was hardly to +be neglected by a young courtier. Johnnie knew how, if one of his +colleagues had received it, it would have been shown about in the Common +Room, what rosy visions of fortune and paid bills it would invoke!</p> + +<p>He read the letter again. There was no need to go to Mr. Cressemer's +house that night if he did not wish to do so. He was weary, he wanted to +be alone to taste and savour this new thing within him that was called +love. Yet something kept urging him to go, nevertheless. He could not +quite have said what it was, though again the sense that he stood very +much alone and friends were good—especially such a powerful one as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +this—crossed his mind. And, as an instance of the quite unconscious but +very real revolution that had taken place in his thoughts during the +last forty hours, it is to be noted that he <i>did</i> feel the need of +friends and supporters.</p> + +<p>Yet he was high in favour with the King and Queen, envied by every one, +certain of rapid advancement.</p> + +<p>But he no longer thought anything of this. Those great ones were on one +side of a great <i>something</i> which he would not or could not define. He +was on the other, he and the girl with eyes of crushed sapphire and a +red mouth of sorrow.</p> + +<p>It would be politic to go.... "I'll put it to chance," he said to +himself at length. "How doth Ovid have it?...</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'<i>Casus ubique valet; semper tibi pendeat hamus:</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Quo minime credas gurgite, piscis erit</i>.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I remember Father Chilches' translation:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'There's always room for chance, so drop thy hook,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A fish there'll be when least for it you look.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Here goes!"</p> + +<p>He opened his purse to find a coin with which to settle the matter, and +poured out the contents into his palm. There were eight or nine gold +sovereigns of Henry VIII, beautiful coins with "<i>Hiberniæ Rex</i>" among +the other titles, which were still known as "double ryals," three gold +ducats, coined in that year, with the Queen and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> King Consort +<i>vis-à-vis</i> and one crown above the heads of both, and one little silver +half testoon.</p> + +<p>He put the gold back in his purse and held out the small coin upon his +hand. "What is't to be, little testoon?" he said whimsically, looking at +the big M and crown, "bed and thoughts of her, or the worshipful Master +Cressemer and, I don't doubt, a better supper than I'm likely to get in +the Tower? 'M,' I go."</p> + +<p>He spun the coin, and it came down with the initial uppermost. He +laughed and flung it on to a shelf, calling John Hull to help him change +his dress.</p> + +<p>Nothing told him that in that spin he had decided—or let it better be +said there was decided for him—the whole course of his life. At that +actual moment!</p> + +<p>Thus the intrusion of the little testoon.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>THE FINDING OF ELIZABETH</h3> + + +<p>At a little before nine in the late twilight, Commendone left the Tower. +He was attended by John Hull, whom he had armed with the short +cutlass-shaped sword which serving-men were allowed to wear.</p> + +<p>He might be late, and the City was no very safe place in those days for +people returning home through the dark. Johnnie knew, moreover, that he +would be carrying a considerable sum in gold with him, and it was as +well to have an attendant.</p> + +<p>They walked towards Chepe, Johnnie in front, his man a yard or so +behind. It was summer-time, but even in summer London went to bed early, +and the prentices were returning home from their cudgel-play and +shooting at the butts in Finsbury fields.</p> + +<p>The sky was a faint primrose above the spires of the town. The sun, that +tempest of fire, had sunk, but still left long lines in the sky, lines +which looked as if they had been drawn by a vermilion pencil; while, +here and there, were locks, friths, and islands of gold and purple +floating in the sky, billowed and upheaved into an infinity of distant +glory.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> + +<p>They went through the narrow streets beneath the hundreds of coloured +signs which hung from shop and warehouse.</p> + +<p>At a time when the ordinary porter, prentice, and messenger could hardly +read, each place of business must signify and locate itself by a sign. A +merchant of those days did not send a letter by hand to a business +house, naming it to the messenger. He told the man to go to the sign of +the Three Cranes, the Gold Pig on a black ground, the Tower and Dragon +in such and such a street.</p> + +<p>London was not lit on a summer night at this hour. In the winter, up to +half-past eight or so the costers' barrows with their torches provided +the only illumination. After that all was dark, and in summer there was +no artificial light at all when the day had gone.</p> + +<p>They came up to the cross standing to the east of Wood Street, which was +silhouetted against the last gleams of day in the sky. Its hexagonal +form of three sculptured tiers, which rose from one another like the +divisions of a telescope, cut out a black pattern against the coloured +background. The niches with their statues, representing many of the +Sovereigns of England, were all in grey shadow, but the large gilt cross +which surmounted it still caught something of the evening fires.</p> + +<p>To the east there was the smaller tower of octagonal form, which was the +Conduit, and here also the top was bathed in light—a figure standing +upon a gilded cone and blowing a horn.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> + +<p>The gutters in the streets were dry now, for the rain storm of two days +ago had not lasted long, and they were sticky and odorous with vegetable +and animal filth.</p> + +<p>The two men walked in the centre of the street, as was wiser in those +days, for—as still happens in the narrow quarters of old French towns +to-day—garret windows were open, and pails were emptied with but little +regard for those who were passing by.</p> + +<p>When they came into Chepe itself, things were a little less congested, +for great houses were built there, and Johnnie walked more quickly. Many +of the houses of the merchant princes were but little if at all inferior +to the mansions of the nobility at that time. They stood often enough in +gloomy and unfrequented courts, and were accessible only by inconvenient +passages, but once arrived at, their interiors were of extraordinary +comfort and magnificence.</p> + +<p>Johnnie knew that Mr. Cressemer's house was hereabouts, but was not +certain of the precise location. He looked up through the endless +succession of Saracens' heads, Tudor roses, blue bears, and golden +lambs, but could see nothing in the growing dark. He turned round and +beckoned to John Hull.</p> + +<p>"You know the City?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Very well, master," the man answered, looking at him, so Johnnie +thought, with a very strange expression.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then, certes, you can tell me the house of Master Robert Cressemer, the +Alderman," said Johnnie.</p> + +<p>Hull gave a sudden, violent start. His eyes, always keen and alert, now +grew wide.</p> + +<p>"Sir," he said, "I know that house very well, but what do you there?"</p> + +<p>Johnnie stared at him in amazement for a moment. Then the blood mantled +in his cheeks.</p> + +<p>"Sirrah," he said, "what mean you by this? What is it to you where I go +or what I do?"</p> + +<p>There was nobody in their immediate vicinity at the moment, and the +thick-set serving-man, by a quick movement, placed himself in front of +his master, his right hand upon the newly-provided sword, his left +playing with the hilt of the long knife which had served him so well at +Chelmsford.</p> + +<p>"I said I would be loyal to ye, master," the fellow growled, "but I see +now that it cannot be. I will be no servant of those who do burn and +slay innocent folk, and shalt not to the Alderman's if thou goest with +evil intent."</p> + +<p>An enormous surprise almost robbed the young man of his anger.</p> + +<p>Was this man, this "faithfullest servant," some brigand or robber, or +assassin, in disguise? What could it mean? His hand was upon his sword +in a moment, it was ready to flash out, and the accomplished fencer who +had been trained in every art and trick of sword-play, knew well that +the strength of the thick-set man before him would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> avail nothing. But +he waited a moment, really more interested and surprised than angered or +alarmed.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to kill you, my good man," he said, "and so I will give +you leave to speak. But by the Mass! this is too much; an you don't +explain yourself, in the kennel and carrion you lie."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, sir," Hull answered, his face taking into it a note +of apology, "but you come from the Court; you rode with those bloody +villains that did take my dear master that was to his death. Are you not +now going with a like intent to the house of Mr. Cressemer?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," Johnnie answered, "why I should explain to you the +reason for my visit to His Worship, but despite this gross impudence, I +will give you a chance, for I have learnt to know that there is often an +explanation behind what seemeth most foul. The Alderman is one of the +oldest and best friends my father, the Knight of Kent, hath ever had. +The letter thou gavest me two hours agone was from His Worship bidding +me to supper. And now, John Hull, what hast to say before I slit you?"</p> + +<p>For answer, John Hull suddenly fell upon his knees, and held out his +hands in supplication.</p> + +<p>"Sir," he said, in a humble voice, "I crave that of your mercy and +gentleness you will forgive me, and let this pass. Sure, I knew you for +a gallant gentleman, and no enemy to my people when first I saw you. I +marked you outside St. Botolph's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> Church, and knew you again at +Chelmsford. But I thought you meant harm...."</p> + +<p>His voice died away in an inarticulate mumble. He seemed enormously +sincere and penitent, and dreadfully embarrassed also by some knowledge +or thought at the back of his mind, something which he feared, or was +unable to disclose.</p> + +<p>Johnnie's heart was beating strangely, though he did not know why. He +seemed to tread into something strange and unexpected. Life was full of +surprises now.</p> + +<p>All he said was: "Make a fool of thyself no longer, John Hull; get up +and lead me to His Worship's. I forgive thee. But mark you, I shall +require the truth from you anon."</p> + +<p>The man scrambled up, made a clumsy bow, and hurried on for a few yards, +until a narrow opening between two great stacks of houses disclosed +itself. He walked down it, his shoes echoing upon a pavement stone. +Johnnie followed him, and they came out into a dark courtyard in which a +single lantern of glass and iron hung over a massive door studded with +nails.</p> + +<p>"This is His Worship's house," said John Hull.</p> + +<p>Johnnie went up to the door and beat upon it with the handle of his +dagger, standing on the single step before it. In less than half a +minute, the door was opened and a serving-man in livery of yellow stood +before him.</p> + +<p>"Mr. John Commendone," Johnnie said, "to see His Worship the Alderman +upon an invitation."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p> + +<p>The man bowed, opened the door still wider, and invited Johnnie into a +large flagged hall, lit by three silver lamps.</p> + +<p>"Worshipful sir," he said, "my master told me that perchance you would +be a-coming this night, and he awaits you in the parlour."</p> + +<p>"This is my servant," Johnnie said to the man, and even as he did so, he +saw a look of immense surprise, mingled with welcome, upon the fellow's +face.</p> + +<p>"I will take him to the kitchen, Your Worship," the man said, and as he +spoke, a footman came out of a door on the opposite side of the hall, +bowed low to Johnnie, and led him up a broad flight of stairs.</p> + +<p>Commendone shrugged his shoulders. There were mysteries here, it seemed, +but so far they were none of his, and at any rate he was within the +house of a friend.</p> + +<p>At first there was no evidence of any particular luxury, and Johnnie was +surprised. Though he had little idea how wealthy his own father had +become, the great house of Commendone was a very stately, well-found +place. He knew, moreover, that Mr. Robert Cressemer was one of the +richest citizens of London, and he had heard his friends talking at +Court of the state and splendour of some of those hidden mansions which +clustered in the environs of Chepeside, Wood Street, and Basinghall +Street.</p> + +<p>He had not gone much farther in his progress<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> when he knew. He passed +through a pair of folding doors, inlaid with rare woods—a novelty to +him at that time, for he had never travelled in Italy or France. He +walked down a broad corridor, the walls hung with pictures and the floor +tesselated with wood, and was shown by another footman who was standing +at a door at the end of the corridor into a superb room, wainscoted with +cedar up to half of its height, and above it adorned with battles of +gods and giants in fresco. The room was brilliantly lit by candles, at +frequent intervals all round the panelled walls, and close to the gilded +beading which divided them from the frescoes above, were arms of some +black wood or stone, which they were he could not have said, stretched +out, and holding silver sconces in which the candles were set.</p> + +<p>It was as though gigantic Moors or Nubians had thrown their arms through +the wall to hold up the light which illuminated this large and splendid +place. At one end of the room was a high carved fire-place, and though +it was summer, some logs of green elm smouldered and crackled upon the +hearth, though the place was cool enough.</p> + +<p>Seated by the fireside was a stout, short, elderly man, with a pointed +grey beard, and heavy black eyebrows from beneath which large, slightly +prominent, and very alert eyes looked out. His hair was white, and +apparently he was bald, because a skull cap of black velvet covered his +head. He wore a ruff and a long surtout of wool dyed crimson,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> and +pointed here and there with braid of dark green and thin lace of gold. A +belt of white leather was round his middle, and from it hung a +chatelaine of silver by his right side, from which depended a pen case +and some ivory tablets. On his left side, Johnnie noticed that a short +serviceable dagger was worn. His trunk hose were of black, his shoes +easy ones of Spanish leather with crimson rosettes upon the instep.</p> + +<p>"Mr. John Commendone," said the footman.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cressemer rose from his seat, his shrewd, capable face lighting up +with welcome.</p> + +<p>"Ah," he said, "so thou hast come to see me, Mr. Commendone. 'Tis very +good of thee, and a welcome sight to eyes which have looked upon your +father so often."</p> + +<p>He went up to the slim young man as the footman closed the door, and +shook him warmly by the hand, looking him in the face meanwhile with a +keen wise scrutiny, which made Johnnie feel young, inexperienced, a +little embarrassed.</p> + +<p>He felt he was being summed up, judged and weighed, appraised in the +most kindly fashion, but by one who did not easily make a mistake in his +estimate of men.</p> + +<p>At Court, King Philip had regarded him with cold interest, the Queen +herself with piercing and more lively regard. Since his arrival in +London, Johnnie had been used to scrutinies. But this was different from +any other he had known. It was eminently human and kindly first of all, +but in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> second place it was more searching, more real, than any +other he had hitherto undergone. In short, a king or queen looked at a +courtier from a certain point of view. Would he serve their ends? Was he +the right man in the right place? Had they chosen well?</p> + +<p>There was nothing of this now. It was all kindliness mingled with a +grave curiosity, almost with hope.</p> + +<p>Johnnie, who was much taller than Mr. Cressemer, could not help smiling +a little, as the bearded man looked at him so earnestly, and it was his +smile that broke the silence, and made them friends from that very +moment.</p> + +<p>The Alderman put his left hand upon Johnnie's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Lad," he said, and his voice was the voice of a leader of men, "lad, I +am right glad to see thee in my poor house. Art thy father's son, and +that is enough for me. Come, sit you down t'other side of the fire. +Come, come."</p> + +<p>With kindly geniality the merchant bustled his guest to a chair opposite +his own, and made him sit. Then he stood upon a big hearthrug of +bear-skin, rubbed his hands, and chuckled.</p> + +<p>"When I heard ye announced," he said, "I thought to myself, 'Here's +another young gallant of the Court keen on his money; he hath lost no +time in calling for it.' But now I see thee, and know thee for what thou +art—for it is my boast, and a true one, that I was never deceived in +man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> yet—I see my apprehensions were quite unfounded."</p> + +<p>Johnnie bowed. For a moment or two he could hardly speak. There was +something so homelike, so truly kind, in this welcome that his nerves, +terribly unstrung by all he had gone through of late, were almost upon +the point of breakdown.</p> + +<p>This was like home. This was the real thing. This was not the Court—and +here before him he knew very well was a man not only good and kindly, +but resolute and great.</p> + +<p>"Now, I'll tell thee what we'll do, Master Johnnie, sith thou hast come +to me so kindly. We will sip a little water of Holland—I'll wager +you've tasted nothing like it, for it cometh straight from the English +Exchange house at Antwerp—and then we will to supper, where you will +meet my dear sister, Mistress Catherine Cressemer, who hath been the +long companion of my widowerhood, and ordereth this my house for me."</p> + +<p>He turned to where a square sheet of copper hung from a peg upon a cord +of twisted purple silk. Taking up the massive silver pen case at the end +of his chatelaine, he beat upon the gong, and the copper thunder echoed +through the big room.</p> + +<p>A man entered immediately, to whom Mr. Cressemer gave orders, and then +sat himself down upon the other side of the fire.</p> + +<p>"Your father," he said confidentially, "came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> to me after he left you in +the Tower the morning before this. He was very pleased with what he saw +of you, Master Johnnie, and what he heard of you also. Art going to be a +big man in affairs without doubt. I wish I had met ye before. I have +been twice to Commendone Park. Once when thou wert a little rosy thing +of two year old or less, and the Señora—Holy Mary give her grace!—had +thee upon her knee. I was staying with the Knight. And then again when +Father Chilches was thy tutor, and thou must have been fourteen year or +more. I was at the Park for three days. But thou wert away with thy +aunt, Miss Commendone, of Wanstone Court, and I saw nothing of thee."</p> + +<p>"So you knew my mother," Johnnie said eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Aye, that I did, and a very gracious lady she was, Master Commendone. I +will tell thee of her, and thy house in those days, at supper. My sister +will be well pleased to hear it also. Meanwhile"—he sipped at the white +liqueur which the servant had brought, and motioned Johnnie towards his +own thin green glass with little golden spirals running through +it—"meanwhile, tell me how like you the Court life?"</p> + +<p>Johnnie started. They were the exact words of his father. "I am getting +on very well," he said in reply.</p> + +<p>"So I hear, and am well pleased," the Alderman answered. "You have +everything in your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> favour—a knowledge of Spanish, a pleasant presence, +and trained to the usage of good society. But, though you may not think +it, I have influence, even at Court, though it is in no ways apparent. +Tell me something of your aims, and your views, and I shall doubtless be +able to help your advancement. There are ticklish times coming, be +certain of that, and my experience may be of great service to you. Her +Grace, God bless her! is, I fear—I speak to you as man to man, Mr. +Commendone—too keen set and determined upon the Papal Supremacy for the +true welfare of this realm. I am Catholic. I have always been Catholic. +But doctrine, and a purely political dominion from Rome, aye, or from +Spain either, is not what we of the City, and who control the finances +of the kingdom much more than less, desire or wish to see. After all, +Mr. Commendone, I trust I make myself clearly understood to you, and +that you are of the same temper and mind as your father and myself; +after all is loudly set and perchance badly done, we have to look to the +upholding of the realm, inside and out, rather than to be fine upon +points of doctrine."</p> + +<p>He leant forward in his seat with great earnestness, clasped his right +hand, upon the little finger of which was a great ring, with a cut seal +of emerald, and brought it down heavily upon the table by his side.</p> + +<p>"I believe," he said, "in the Mass, and if I were asked to die for my +belief, that would I do.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> I would do it very reluctantly, Master John. I +would evade the necessity for doing it in every way I knew. But if I +were set down in front of judges or eke inquisitors, and asked to say +that when the priest hath said the words of consecration, the elements +are not the very true body of Our Lord Jesus, then I would die for that +belief. And of the Invocation of Saints, and of the greatest saint of +all—Our Lady—I see no harm in it, but a very right and pleasant +practice. For, look you, if these are indeed, as we believe and know +clustering around the throne of God, which is the Holy Trinity, then +indeed they must hear our prayers, if we believe truly in the Communion +of Saints; and hearing them, being in high favour in heaven, their +troubles past and they glorified, certes, we down here may well think +their voices will be heard around the Throne. That is true Catholic +doctrine as I see it. But of the power of the Bishop of Rome to direct +and interfere in the honest internal affairs of a country—well, I snap +my fingers at it. And of the power of the priesthood, which is but part +of the machinery by which His Holiness endeavoureth to accrue to himself +all earthly power, at that also I spit. From my standpoint, a priest is +an ordained man of God; his function is to say Mass, to consecrate the +elements, and so to bring God near to us upon the altar. But of your +confessions, your pryings into family life, your temporal dominion, I +have the deepest mistrust. And also, I think, that the cause of Holy +Church<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> would be much better served if its priests were allowed—for +such of them as wished it—to be married men. A man is a man, and God +hath given him his natural attributes. I am not really learned, nor am I +well read in the history of the world, but I have looked into it enough, +Master Commendone, to know that God hath ordained that men should take +women in marriage and rear up children for the glory of the Lord and the +welfare of the State. Mark you"—his face became striated with lines of +contempt and dislike—"mark you, this celibacy is to be the thing which +will destroy the power of the sacrificing priest in the eyes of all +before many hundred years have passed. I shall not see it, thou wilt not +see it. We are good Church of England men now, but what I say will come +to pass, and then God himself only knoweth what anarchs and deniers, +what blasphemers and runagates will hold the world.</p> + +<p>"Her Grace," he went on, "believeth that as Moses ordered blasphemers to +be put to death, so she thinketh it the duty of a Christian prince to +eradicate the cockle from the fold of God's Church, to cut out the +gangrene that it may not spread to the sounder parts. But Her Grace is a +woman that hath been much sequestered all her life till now. She cometh +to the throne, and is but—I trust I speak no treason, Mr. Commendone—a +tool and instrument of the priests from Spain, and the man from Spain +also who is her lord. Why! if only the Church in this realm could go<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> on +as King Henry started it—not a new Church, mind you, but a Church which +hath thrown off an unnecessary dominion from Italy—if it could go on as +under the reign of the little King Edward was set out and promised very +well, 'twould be truly Catholic still, and the priests of the Church +would be all married men and citizens within the State, with a stake in +civil affairs, and so by reason of their spiritual power and civil +obligations, the very bulwark of society."</p> + +<p>Johnnie listened intently, nodding now and then as the Alderman made a +point, and as he himself realised the value of it.</p> + +<p>"Look you, Master Commendone," His Worship continued, "look you, only +yesterday a worthy clergyman, whom I knew and loved, a man of his +inches, a shrewd and clever gentleman of good birth, was haled from the +City down to his own parish and burnt as a heretic. Heretic doubtless +the good man was. He would be living now if he had not denied the +blessed and comforting truth of Transubstantiation before that +blood-stained wolf, the Bishop of London. The man I speak of was a good +man, and though he was mistaken on that issue, he would, under kindlier +auspices, doubtless have returned to the central truth of our religion. +He was married, and had lived in honourable wedlock with his wife for +many years. She was a lady from Wales, and a sweet woman. But it was his +marriage as much as any other thing about him that brought him to his +death."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Alderman's voice sank into something very like a whisper. "One of my +men," he said, "was riding down with the Sheriff of London to Hadley, +where Dr. Taylor, he of whom I speak, suffered this very morning. At +five this afternoon my man was back, and told me how the good doctor +died. He died with great constancy, very much, Mr. Commendone, as one of +the old saints that the Romans did use so cruelly in the early years of +Our Lord's Church. Yet, as something of a student of affairs—and Dr. +Taylor is not the first good heretic who hath died rather than recant—I +see that the married clergy suffer with the most alacrity. And why? +Because, as I see it, they are bearing testimony to the validity and +sanctity of their marriage. The honour of their wives and children is at +stake; the desire of leaving them an unsullied name and a virtuous +example, combined with a sense of religious duty. And thus the heart +derives strength from the very ties which in other circumstances might +well tend to weaken it.</p> + +<p>"I am in mourning to-night, mourning in my heart, Mr. Commendone, for a +good, mistaken friend who hath suffered death."</p> + +<p>As his voice fell, the Alderman was looking sadly into the red embers of +the fire with the music of a deep sadness and regret in his voice. He +wasn't an emotional man at all—by nature that is—Johnnie saw it at +once. But he saw also that his host was very deeply moved. Johnnie rose +from his chair.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You are telling me no news at all, Mr. Alderman," he said. "I had +orders, and I was one of those who rode with Sir John Shelton and the +Sheriff to take Dr. Taylor to the stake at Aldham Common."</p> + +<p>Mr. Cressemer started violently.</p> + +<p>"Mother of God!" he said, "did you see that done?"</p> + +<p>Johnnie nodded. He could not trust himself to speak.</p> + +<p>The Alderman's cry of horror brought home to him almost for the first +time not the terror of what he had seen—that he had realised long +ago—but a sense of personal guilt, a disgust with himself that he +should have been a participator in such a deed, a spectator, however +pitying.</p> + +<p>He felt unclean.</p> + +<p>Then he said in a low voice: "What I tell you, Mr. Cressemer, will, I +know, remain as a secret between us. I feel I am not betraying any trust +in telling <i>you</i>. I am, as you know, attached to the person of His +Majesty, and I have been admitted into great confidence both by him and +Her Grace the Queen. The King rode to Hadley disguised as a simple +cavalier, and I was with him as his attendant."</p> + +<p>He stopped short, feeling that the explanation was bald and unsufficing.</p> + +<p>The Alderman stepped up to Johnnie and put his hand upon his arm. "Poor +lad, poor lad," he said in tones of deepest pity. "I grieve in that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +thou hadst to witness such a thing in the following of thy duty."</p> + +<p>"I had thought," the young man faltered, his assurance deserting him for +a moment at the words of this reverend and broad-souled man, "I thought +you would think me stained in some wise, Mr. Cressemer. I...."</p> + +<p>"Whist!" the elder man answered impatiently. "Have no such foolish +thoughts. Am I not a man of affairs? Do I not know what discipline +means? But this gives me great cause for thought. You have confided in +me, Mr. Commendone, and so likewise will I in you. This morning the +Doctor's wife, his little son, and little daughter Mary, set off for the +Marches of Wales with a party of my men and their baggage. Mistress +Taylor was born a Rhyader, of a good family in Conway town. Her brother +liveth there, and all her friends are of Wales. It was as well that the +dame should leave the City at once, for none knoweth what will be done +to the relations of heretics at this time——Why, man! Thou art white as +linen, thy hand shakes. What meaneth it?"</p> + +<p>Johnnie, in truth, was a strange sight as he stood in front of his host. +All his composure was gone. His eyes burnt in a white face, his lips +were dry and parted, there was an almost terrible inquiry in his whole +aspect and manner.</p> + +<p>"'Tis nothing," he managed to say in a hoarse voice, which he hardly +knew for his own. "Pr'ythee continue, sir."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. Cressemer gave the young man a keen, questioning glance before he +went on speaking. Then he said:</p> + +<p>"As I tell you, these members of the good Doctor's family are now safely +on their way, and God grant them rest and peace in their new life. They +will want for nothing. But the Doctor's other daughter, Mistress +Elizabeth, was not his own daughter, but was adopted by him when she was +but a little child. The girl is a very sweet and good girl, and my +sister, Mistress Catherine, has long loved her. And as this is a +childless house, alas! the maid hath come to live with us and she will +be as my own daughter, if God wills it."</p> + +<p>"She is well?" Johnnie asked, in a hoarse whisper.</p> + +<p>The Alderman shook his head sadly. "She is the bravest maiden I have +ever met," he said. "She hath stuff in her which recalls the ladies of +old Rome, so calm and steadfast is she. There is in her at this time +some divine illumination, Mr. Commendone, that keepeth her strong and +unafraid. Ah, but she is sore stricken! She knew some hours agone of the +doings at Hadley, for as I told you, one of my men brought the news. She +hath been in prayer a long time, poor lamb, and now my sister is with +her to hearten her and give her such comfort as may be. God's ways are +very strange, Mr. John. Who would have thought now that you should come +to this house to-night from that butchery?" He sighed deeply.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> + +<p>Johnnie made the sign of the cross. "God moveth in a mysterious way," he +said, "to perform His wonders. He rides upon the tempest, and eke +directs the storm, and leadeth pigmy men and women with a sure hand and +a certain purpose."</p> + +<p>"Say not 'pigmy,' Mr. John," the Alderman answered, "we are not small in +His eyes, though it is well that we should be in our own. But you speak +with a certain meaning. You grew pale just now. I think you may justly +confide in me. I am of thy father's age, and a friend of thy father's. +What is it, lad?"</p> + +<p>Speaking with great difficulty, looking downwards at the floor, Johnnie +told him. He told him how he had met John Hull and taken him into his +service, how that even now the man was in the kitchen among the servants +of the Alderman. He told of the fellow's menace in Chepe, and how +inexplicable it had seemed to him. Then he hesitated, and his voice sunk +into silence.</p> + +<p>"Ye saw the poor lamb?" Mr. Cressemer said in a low voice, which +nevertheless trembled with excitement. "Ye saw her weeping as good Dr. +Taylor was borne away? Ye took this good varlet Hull into thy service? +And now thou art in my house. It seemeth indeed that God's finger is +writing in the book of thy life; but I must hear more from thee, Mr. +Commendone. Tell me, if thou wilt, what it may mean."</p> + +<p>Johnnie straightened himself. He put his hand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> upon the pummel of his +sword. He looked his host full in the eyes.</p> + +<p>"It means this, sir," he said, in a quiet and resolute voice. "All my +life I have kept myself from those pleasures and peccadilloes that young +gentlemen of my station are wont to use. I have never looked upon a +maiden with eyes of love—or worse. Before God His Throne, Our Lady the +Blessed Virgin, and all the crowned saints I say it. But yester morn, +when I saw her weeping in the grey, my heart went out from me, and is no +more mine. I vowed then that by God's grace I would be her knight and +lover for ever and a day. My employment hath not to-day given me the +opportunity to go to Mass, but I have promised myself to-morrow morn +that in the chapel of St. John I will vow myself to her with all fealty, +and indeed nor man, nor power, nor obstacle of any sort shall keep me +from her, if God allows. Wife she shall be to me, and so I can make her +love me. All this I swear to you, by my honour"—here he pulled his +sword from the scabbard and reverently kissed the hilt—"and to the +Blessed Trinity." And now he pulled his crucifix from his doublet, and +kissed it.</p> + +<p>Then he turned away from the Alderman, took a few steps to the +fire-place, and leant against the carving, his head bowed upon his arms.</p> + +<p>There was a dead silence in the big room. Tears were gathering in the +eyes of the grave elderly man, while his mind worked furiously. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> saw +in all this the direct hand of Providence working towards a definite and +certain end.</p> + +<p>He had loved the slim and gracious lad directly he saw him. His heart +had gone out to one so gallant and one so debonair, the son of his old +and trusted friend. He had long loved the Rector of Hadley's sweet +daughter, who was so idolised also by Mistress Catherine Cressemer, his +sister. During the reign of Edward VI the girl had often come up to +London to spend some months with her wealthy and influential friends. +She had a great part in the heart of the childless widower.</p> + +<p>Now this strange and wonderful thing had happened.</p> + +<p>These thoughts passed through the old man's mind in a few seconds, while +the silence was not broken. Then, as he was about to turn and speak to +Johnnie, the door of the room opened quickly, and a short, elderly woman +hurried in.</p> + +<p>She was very simply dressed in grey woollen stuff, though the bodice and +skirt were edged with costly fur. The white lace of Bruges upon her head +framed a face of great sweetness, and now it was alive with excitement.</p> + +<p>She was a little woman, fifty years of age, with a flat wrinkled face; +but her eyes were full of kindness, and, indeed, so was her whole face, +although her lips were drawn in by the loss of her front teeth, and this +gave her a rather witch-like mouth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Robert! Robert!" she said in a high, excited voice. "John Hull, that +was servant to our dear Doctor, is in this house. The men have him in +the kitchen—word has just been sent up to me. What shall we do? Dear +Lizzie—she is more tranquil now, and bearing her cross very +bravely—dear Lizzie had thought not to see him again. Will it be well +that we should have him up? Think you the child can bear seeing him?"</p> + +<p>The lady had piped this out in a rush of excited words. Then suddenly +she saw Johnnie, who had turned round and stood by the fire, bowing. His +face was drawn and white, and he was trembling.</p> + +<p>"Catherine," Mr. Cressemer said, "strange things are happening to-night, +of which I must speak with you anon. But this is Mr. John Commendone, +son of our dear Knight of Kent, who hath come to see me, and who haply +or by design of God was forced to witness the death of Dr. Rowland this +morning."</p> + +<p>Johnnie made a low bow, the little lady a lower curtsey.</p> + +<p>Then, heedless of all etiquette, with the tears streaming down her +cheeks, she trotted up to the young man and caught hold of both his +hands, looking up at him with the saddest, kindest face he had ever +seen.</p> + +<p>"Oh, boy, boy," she said, "thou hast come at the right time. We know +with what constancy the Doctor died, but our lamb will be well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> content +to hear of it from kindly lips, for she is very strong and stedfast, the +pretty dear! And thou hast a good face, and surely art a true son of thy +father, Sir Henry of Commendone."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>A KING AND A VICTIM. TWO GRIM MEN</h3> + + +<p>There was a "Red Mass," a votive Mass of the Holy Ghost, sung on the +next morning in the Tower.</p> + +<p>The King and Queen, with all the Court, were present.</p> + +<p>Johnnie knelt with the gentlemen attached to the persons of the King and +Queen, the gentlemen ushers behind them, and then the military officers +of the guard.</p> + +<p>The <i>Veni Creator Spiritus</i> was intoned by the Chancellor, and the music +of the Mass was that of Dom Giovanni Palestrina, director of sacred +music at the Vatican at that time.</p> + +<p>The music, which by its dignity and beauty had alone prevented the +Council of Trent from prohibiting polyphonic music at the Mass, had a +marvellous appeal to the Esquire. It was founded upon a <i>canto fermo</i>, a +melody of an ancient plain song of the Middle Ages, and used in High +Mass from a very remote period.</p> + +<p>The six movements of the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and +Agnus Dei were of a superlative technical excellence. The trained ear, +the musical mind, were alike enthralled by them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> Tinel, Waddington, and +Christopher Tye had written no music then, and the mellow angelic +harmonies of Messer Palestrina were all new and fresh in their +inspiration of dignity, grandeur, and devotion, most precious incense, +as it were, about the feet of the Lord.</p> + +<p>The Bishop of London was celebrant, and Father Deza deacon. The Queen +and King received in the one Kind, while two of the re-established +Carthusians from Sheen, and two Brigittine monks from Sion, held a white +cloth before Their Graces.</p> + +<p>This was not liked by many there—it had always been the privilege of +peers.</p> + +<p>But of this Commendone knew nothing. The hour was for him one of the +deepest devotion and solemnity. He had not slept all the night long. For +a few moments he had seen Elizabeth, had spoken with her, had held her +by the hand. His life was utterly and absolutely changed. His mind, +excited with want of sleep, irrevocably stamped and impressed by the +occupation of the last two days, was caught up by the exquisite music +into a passionate surrender of self as he vowed his life to God and his +lady.</p> + +<p>Earth and all it held—save only her—was utterly dissolved and swept +away. An unspeakable peace and stillness was in his heart.</p> + +<p>Much, we read, is required from those to whom much is given, and Johnnie +was to go through places far more terrible than the Valley of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +Shadow of Death ever is to most men before he saw the Dawn.</p> + +<p>When the Mass was said—the final "<i>Missa est</i>" was to ring in the young +man's ears for many a long day—he went to breakfast. He took nothing in +the Common Room, however, but John Hull brought him food in his own +chamber.</p> + +<p>The man's brown, keen face beamed with happiness. He was like some +faithful dog that had lost one master and found another. He could not do +enough for Johnnie now—after the visit to Mr. Cressemer's house. He +took charge of him as if he had been his man for years. There was a +quiet assumption which secretly delighted Commendone. There they were, +master and man, a relationship fixed and settled.</p> + +<p>On that afternoon there was to be a tournament in the tilting yard, and +Johnnie meant to ride—he had nearly carried away the ring at the last +joust. Hull knew of it—in a few hours the fellow seemed to have fallen +into his place in an extraordinary fashion—and he had been busy with +his master's armour since early dawn.</p> + +<p>While Johnnie was making his breakfast, though he would very willingly +have been alone, and indeed had retired for that very purpose, Hull came +bustling in and out of the armour-room his face a brown wedge of +pleasure and excitement. The <i>volante pièce</i>, the <i>mentonnière</i>, the +<i>grande-garde</i> of his master's exquisite suite of light Milan armour +shone like a newly-minted coin. The black<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> and lacquered <i>cuirasse</i>, +with a line of light blue enamel where it would meet the gorget, was +oiled and polished—he had somehow found the little box of bandrols with +the Commendone colour and cypher which were to be tied above the +coronels of Johnnie's lances.</p> + +<p>And all the time John Hull chattered and worked, perfectly happy, +perfectly at home. Already, to Commendone's intense amusement, the man +had become dictatorial—as old and trusted servants are. He had got some +powder of resin, and was about to pour it into the jointed steel +gauntlet of the lance hand.</p> + +<p>"It gives the grip, master," he said. "By this means the hand fitteth +better to the joints of the steel."</p> + +<p>"But 'tis never used that I know of. 'Tis not like the grip of a bare +hand on the ash stave of a pike...."</p> + +<p>There was a technical discussion, which ended in Johnnie's defeat—at +least, John Hull calmly powdered the inside of the glaive.</p> + +<p>He was got rid of at last, sent to his meal with the other serving-men, +and Commendone was left alone. He had an hour to himself, an hour in +which to recall the brief but perfect joy of the night before.</p> + +<p>They had taken him to Elizabeth after supper, his good host and hostess. +There was something piteously sweet in the tall slim girl in her black +dress—the dear young mouth trembling, the blue<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> eyes full of a mist of +unshed tears, the hair ripest wheat or brownest barley.</p> + +<p>She had taken his hand—hers was like cool white ivory—and listened to +him as a sister might.</p> + +<p>He had sat beside her, and told her of her father's glorious death. His +dark and always rather melancholy face had been lit with sympathy and +tenderness. Quite unconscious of his own grace and grave young dignity, +he had dwelt upon the Martyr's joy at setting out upon his last journey, +with an incomparable delicacy and perfection of phrase.</p> + +<p>His voice, though he knew it not, was full of music. His extreme good +looks, the refinement and purity of his face, came to the poor child +with a wonderful message of consolation.</p> + +<p>When he told her how a brutal yeoman had thrown a faggot at the +Archdeacon, she shuddered and moaned a little.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cressemer and his sister looked at Johnnie with reproach.</p> + +<p>But he had done it of set purpose. "And then, Mistress Elizabeth," he +continued, "the Doctor said, 'Friend, I have harm enough. What needeth +that?'"</p> + +<p>His hand had been upon his knee. She caught it up between her +own—innocent, as to a brother, unutterably sweet.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear Father!" she cried. "It is just what he would have said. It is +so like him!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is liker Christ our Lord," Robert Cressemer broke in, his deep voice +shaking with sorrow. "For what, indeed, said He at His cruel nailing? +'[Greek: Pater, aphes autois ou gar oidasi ti poiusi.]'"</p> + +<p>... And then they had sent Johnnie away, marvelling at the goodness, +shrewdness, and knowledge of the Alderman, with his whole being one sob +of love, pity, and protection for his dear simple mourner—so crystal +clear, so sisterlike and sweet!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It was time to go upon duty.</p> + +<p>Johnnie looked at his thick oval watch—a "Nuremberg Egg," as it was +called in those days—cut short his reverie of sweet remembrance, and +went straight to the King Consort's wing of the Palace.</p> + +<p>When he was come into the King's room he found him alone with Torromé, +his valet, sitting in a big leather-covered arm-chair, his ruff and +doublet taken off, and wearing a long dressing-gown of brown stuff, a +friar's gown it almost seemed.</p> + +<p>The melancholy yellow face brightened somewhat as the Esquire came in.</p> + +<p>"I am home again, Señor," he said in Spanish, though "<i>en casa</i>" was the +word he used for home, and that had a certain pathos in it. "There is a +<i>torneo</i>, a <i>justa</i>, after dinner, so they tell me. I had wished to ride +myself, but I am weary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> from our <i>viajero</i> into the country. I shall sit +with the Queen, and you, Señor, will attend me."</p> + +<p>He must have seen a slight, fleeting look of disappointment upon +Commendone's face.</p> + +<p>Himself, as the envoy Suriano said of him in 1548, "deficient in that +energy which becometh a man, sluggish in body and timid in martial +enterprise," he nevertheless affected an exaggerated interest in manly +sports. He had, it is true, mingled in some tournaments at Brussels in +the past, and Calvera says that he broke his lances, "very much to the +satisfaction of his father and aunts." But in England, at any rate, he +had done nothing of the sort, and his voice to Commendone was almost +apologetic.</p> + +<p>"We will break a lance together some day," he said, "but you must forego +the lists this afternoon."</p> + +<p>Johnnie bowed very low. This was extraordinary favour. He knew, of +course, that the King would never tilt with him, but he recognised the +compliment.</p> + +<p>He knew, again, that his star was high in the ascendant. The son of the +great Charles V was reserved, cautious, suspicious of all men—except +when, in private, he would unbend to buffoons and vulgar rascals like +Sir John Shelton—and the icy gravity of his deportment to courtiers +seldom varied.</p> + +<p>Commendone was quite aware that the King did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> not class him with men of +Shelton's stamp. He was the more signally honoured therefore.</p> + +<p>"This night," His Grace continued, "after the jousts, your attendance +will be excused, Señor. I retire early to rest."</p> + +<p>The Esquire bowed, but he had caught a certain gleam in the King's small +eyes. "Duck Lane or Bankside!" he thought to himself. "Thank God he hath +not commanded me to be with him."</p> + +<p>Johnnie was beginning to understand, more than he had hitherto done, +something of his sudden rise to favour and almost intimacy. The King +Consort was trying him, testing him in every way, hoping to find at +length a companion less dangerous and drunken, a reputation less blown +upon, a servant more discreet....</p> + +<p>He could have spat in his disgust. What he had tolerated in others +before, though loftily repudiated for himself, now became utterly +loathsome—in King or commoner, black and most foul.</p> + +<p>The King wore a mask; Johnnie wore one also—there was <i>finesse</i> in the +game between master and servant. And to-night the King would wear a +literal mask, the "<i>maschera</i>," which Badovardo speaks of when he set +down the frailties of this monarch for after generations to read of: +"<i>Nelle piaceri delle donnè è incontinente, predendo dilletatione +d'andare in maschera la notte et nei tempi de negotii gravi</i>."</p> + +<p>Then and there Johnnie made a resolution, one which had been nascent in +his mind for many hours.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> He would have done with the Court as soon as +may be. Ambition, so new a child of his brain, was already dead. He +would marry, retire from pageant and splendour even as his father had +done years and years ago. With Elizabeth by his side he would once more +live happily among the woods and wolds of Commendone.</p> + +<p>Torromé, the <i>criado</i> or valet, came into the room again from the +bed-chamber. His Highness was to change his clothes once more—at high +noon he must be with the Queen upon State affairs. The Chancellor and +Lord Wharton were coming, and with them Brookes, the Bishop of +Gloucester, the papal sub-delegate, and the Royal Proctors, Mr. Martin +and Mr. Storey.</p> + +<p>The prelates, Ridley and Latimer, were lying in prison—their ultimate +fate was to be discussed on that morning.</p> + +<p>The King had but hardly gone into his bed-chamber when the door of the +Closet opened and Don Diego Deza entered, unannounced, and with the +manner of habitude and use.</p> + +<p>He greeted Commendone heartily, shaking him by the hand with +considerable warmth, his clear-cut, inscrutable face wearing an +expression of fixed kindliness—put on for the occasion, meant to appear +sincere, there for a purpose.</p> + +<p>"I will await His Grace here," the priest said, glancing at the door +leading to the bedroom, which was closed. "I am to attend him to the +Council Chamber, where there is much business to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> be done. So next week, +Mr. Commendone, you'll be at Whitehall! The Court will be gayer +there—more suited to you young gallants."</p> + +<p>"For my part," Johnnie answered, "I like the Tower well enough."</p> + +<p>"Hast a contented mind, Señor," the priest answered brightly. "But I hap +to know that the Queen will be glad to be gone from the City. This hath +been a necessary visit, one of ceremony, but Her Grace liketh the Palace +of Westminster better, and her Castle of Windsor best of all. I shall +meet you at Windsor in the new year, and hope to see you more advanced. +Wilt be wearing the gold spurs then, I believe, and there will be two +knights of the honoured name of Commendone!"</p> + +<p>Johnnie answered: "I think not, Father," he said, turning over his own +secret resolve in his mind with an inward smile. "But why at Windsor? +Doubtless we shall meet near every day."</p> + +<p>"Say nothing, Mr. Commendone," the priest answered in a low voice. +"There can be no harm in telling you—who are privy to so much—but I +sail for Spain to-morrow morn, and shall be some months absent upon His +Most Catholic Majesty's affairs."</p> + +<p>Shortly after this, the King came out of his room, three of his Spanish +gentlemen were shown in, and with Johnnie, the Dominican, and his +escort, His Highness walked to the Council Chamber, round the tower of +which stood a company<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> of the Queen's Archers, showing that Her Grace +had already arrived.</p> + +<p>Then for two hours Johnnie kicked his heels in the Ante-room, watching +this or that great man pass in and out of the Council Chamber, chatting +with the members of the Spanish suite—bored to death.</p> + +<p>At half-past one the Council was over, and Their Majesties went to +dinner, as did also Johnnie in the Common Room.</p> + +<p>At half-past three of the clock the Esquire was standing in the Royal +box behind the King and Queen, among a group of other courtiers, and +looking down on the great tilting yard, where he longed himself to be.</p> + +<p>The Royal Gallery was at one end of the yard, a great stage-box, as it +were, into which two carved chairs were set, and which was designated, +as a somewhat fervent chronicler records, "the gallery, or place at the +end of the tilting yard adjoining to Her Grace's Palace of the Tower, +whereat her person should be placed. It was called, and with good cause, +the Castle, or Fortress of Perfect Beauty, forasmuch as Her Highness +should be there included."</p> + +<p>Johnnie stood and watched it all with eyes in which there was but little +animation. A few days before nothing would have gladdened him more than +such a spectacle as this. To-day it was as nothing to him.</p> + +<p>Down below was a device of painted canvas,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> imitating a rolling-trench, +which was supposed to be the besieging works of those who attempted the +"Fortress of Perfect Beauty."</p> + +<p>"Upon the top of it were set two cannons wrought of wood, and coloured +so passing well, as, indeed, they seemed to be two fair field-pieces of +ordnance. And by them were placed two men for gunners in cloth and +crimson sarcanet, with baskets of earth for defence of their bodies +withal."</p> + +<p>At the far end of the lists there came a clanking and hammering of the +farriers' and armourers' forges.</p> + +<p>Grooms in mandilions—the loose, sleeveless jacket of their +calling—were running about everywhere, leading the chargers trapped +with velvet and gold in their harness. Gentlemen in short cloaks and +Venetian hose bustled about among the knights, and here and there from +the stables, and withdrawing sheds outside the lists, great armoured +figures came, the sun shining upon their plates—russet-coloured, +fluted, damascened with gold in a hundred points of fire.</p> + +<p>Nothing could be more splendid, as the trumpeters advanced into the +lists, and the fierce fanfaronade snarled up to the sky. The Garter +King-at-arms in his tabard, mounted on a white horse with gold housings, +rode out into the centre of the yard, and behind him, though on foot, +were Blue-mantle and Rouge-dragon.</p> + +<p>The afternoon air was full of martial noise,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> the clank of metal, the +brazen notes of horns, the stir and murmur of a great company.</p> + +<p>To Johnnie it seemed that he did not know the shadow from the substance. +It all passed before him in a series of coloured pictures, unreal and +far away. Had he been down there among the knights and lords, he felt +that he would but have fought with shadows. It was as though a weird +seizure had taken hold on him, a waking dream enmeshed him in its drowsy +impalpable net, so that on a sudden, in the midst of men and day, while +he walked and talked and stood as ever before, he yet seemed to move +among a world of ghosts, to feel himself the shadow of a dream. Once +when Sir Charles Paston Cooper, a very clever rider at the swinging +ring, and also doughty in full shock of combat, had borne down his +adversary, the Queen clapped her hands.</p> + +<p>"Habet!" she cried, like any Roman empress, excited and glad, because +young Sir Charles was a very strong adherent of the Crown, and known to +be bitterly opposed to the pretensions of the Lady Elizabeth. "Habet!" +the Queen cried again, with a shriek of delight.</p> + +<p>She looked at her husband, whose head was a little bent, whose sallow +face was lost in thought. She did not venture to disturb his reverie, +but glanced behind him and above his chair to where John Commendone was +standing.</p> + +<p>"C'est bien fait, n'est-ce pas, Monsieur?" she said in French.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p> + +<p>The young man's face, also, was frozen into immobility. It did not waken +to the Queen's joyous exclamation. The eyes were turned inwards, he was +hearing nothing of it all.</p> + +<p>Her Grace's face flushed a little. She said no more, but wondered +exceedingly.</p> + +<p>The stately display-at-arms went on. The sun declined towards his +western bower, and blue shadows crept slowly over the sand.</p> + +<p>A little chill wind arose suddenly, and as it did so, Commendone awoke.</p> + +<p>Everything flashed back to him. In the instant that it did so, and the +dreaming of his mind was blown away, the curtain before his subconscious +intelligence rolled up and showed him the real world. The first thing he +saw was the head of King Philip just below him. The tall conical felt +hat moved suddenly, leaning downwards towards a corner of the arena just +below the Royal box.</p> + +<p>Johnnie saw the King's profile, the lean, sallow jowl, the corner of the +curved, tired, and haughty lip—the small eye suddenly lit up.</p> + +<p>Following the King's glance, he saw below the figure of Sir John +Shelton, dressed very quietly in ordinary riding costume, and by the +side of the knight, Torromé, the valet of His Highness.</p> + +<p>Both men nodded, and the King slightly inclined his head in reply.</p> + +<p>Then His Highness leant back in his chair, and a little hissing noise, a +sigh of relief or pleasure, came from his lips.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> + +<p>Immediately he turned to the Queen, placed one hand upon her jewelled +glove, and began to speak with singular animation and brightness.</p> + +<p>The Queen changed in a moment. The lassitude and disappointment went +from her face in a flash. She turned to her husband, radiant and happy, +and once more her face became beautiful.</p> + +<p>It was the last time that John Commendone ever saw the face of Queen +Mary. In after years he preferred always to think of her as he saw her +then.</p> + +<p>The tourney was over. Everybody had left the tilting yard and its +vicinity, save only the farriers, the armour smiths, and grooms.</p> + +<p>In front of the old palace hardly a soul was to be seen, except the +sentinels and men of the guard, who paced up and down the terraces.</p> + +<p>It was eight o'clock, and twilight was falling. All the windows were +lit, every one was dressing for supper, and now and then little roulades +of flutes, the twanging of viols being tuned, the mellow +clarionette-like voice of the <i>piccolo-milanese</i> showed that the Royal +band was preparing for the feast.</p> + +<p>Johnnie was off duty; his time was his own now, and he could do as he +would.</p> + +<p>He longed more than anything to go to Chepe to be with the Cressemers +again, to see Elizabeth; but, always punctilious upon points of +etiquette, and especially remembering the sad case and dolour of his +love, he felt it would be better not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> to go. Nevertheless, he took a +sheet of paper from his case into the Common Room, and wrote a short +letter of greeting to the Alderman. With this he also sent a posy of +white roses, which he bribed a serving-man to get from the Privy Garden, +desiring that the flowers should be given to Mistress Elizabeth Taylor.</p> + +<p>This done, he sought and found his servant.</p> + +<p>"To-night, John Hull," he said, "I shall not need thee, and thou mayest +go into the City and do as thou wilt. I am going to rest early, for I am +very tired. Come you back before midnight—you can get the servant's +pass from the lieutenant of the guard if you mention my name—and wake +me and bring me some milk. But while thou art away, take this letter and +these flowers to the house of Master Robert Cressemer. Do not deliver +them at once when thou goest, but at ten or a little later, and desire +them to be taken at once to His Worship."</p> + +<p>This he said, knowing something of the habits of the great house in +Chepeside, and thinking that his posy would be taken to Elizabeth when +she was retiring to her sleep.</p> + +<p>"Perchance she may think of me all night," said cunning Johnnie to +himself.</p> + +<p>Hull took the letter and the flowers, and departed. Johnnie went to his +chamber, disembarrassing himself of his stiff starched ruff, took off +his sword, and put on the cassock-coat, which was the undress for the +young gentlemen of the Court<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> when they met in the Common Room for a +meal.</p> + +<p>He designed to take some food, and then to go straight to bed and sleep +until his servant should wake him with the milk he had ordered, and +especially with the message of how he had done in Chepe.</p> + +<p>He had just arrayed himself and was wearily stretching out his arms, +wondering whether after all he should go downstairs to sup or no, when +the door of his bedroom was pushed open and Ambrose Cholmondely entered.</p> + +<p>Johnnie was glad to see his friend.</p> + +<p>"<i>Holà!</i>" he said, "I was in need of some one with whom to talk. You +come in a good moment, <i>mon ami</i>."</p> + +<p>Cholmondely sat down upon the bed.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "didst come off well at the tourney?"</p> + +<p>Johnnie shook his head. "I didn't ride," he said, "I was in attendance +upon His Grace, rather to my disgust, for I had hoped for some exercise. +But you? Where were you, Ambrose?"</p> + +<p>"I? Well, Johnnie, I was excused attendance this afternoon. I made +interest with Mr. Champneys, and so I got off."</p> + +<p>"Venus, her service, I doubt me," Johnnie answered.</p> + +<p>Ambrose Cholmondely nodded.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "i' faith, a very bootless quest it was. A girl at an +inn that I lit upon some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> time agone—you would not know it—'tis a big +hostel of King Henry's time without Aldgate, the 'Woolsack.'"</p> + +<p>Johnnie started. "I went there once," he said.</p> + +<p>"I should well have thought," Cholmondely replied, "it would have been +out of your purview. Never mind. My business came not to a satisfactory +end. The girl was very coy. But I tell you what I did see, and that hath +given me much reason for thought. Along the road towards Essex, where I +was walking, hoping to meet my inamorata, came a damsel walking, by her +dress and bearing of gentle birth, and with a serving-maid by her side. +I was not upon the high road, but sat under a sycamore tree in a field +hard by, but I saw all that passed very well. A carriage came slowly +down the road towards this lady. Out of it jumped that bully-rook John +Shelton, and close behind him the Spanish valet Torromé, that is the +King's private servant. They caught hold of the girl, Shelton clapped a +hand upon her mouth, and they had her in the carriage in a moment and +her maid with her—which immediately turned round and went back at a +quick pace through Aldgate. I would have interfered, but I could not get +to the high road in time; 'twas so quickly done. Johnnie, there will be +great trouble in London, if Shelton and these Spaniards he is so +friendly with are to do such things in England. It may go on well enough +for a time, but suddenly the bees will be roused from their hive, and +there will be such a to-do and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> turmoil, such a candle will be lit as +will not easily be put out."</p> + +<p>Johnnie shrugged his shoulders. In his mood of absolute disgust with his +surroundings, the recital interested him very little. He connected it at +once with the appearance of Shelton and the valet at the end of the +tourney, but it was not his business.</p> + +<p>"The hog to his stye," he said bitterly. "I am going to take some +supper, and then to bed, for I am very weary."</p> + +<p>Arm in arm with Ambrose Cholmondely, he descended the stairs, went into +the Common Room, and made a simple meal.</p> + +<p>The place was riotous with high spirits, the talk was fast and free, but +he joined in none of it, and in a very few minutes had returned to his +room, closed the door, and thrown himself upon the bed.</p> + +<p>Almost immediately he sank into a deep sleep.</p> + +<p>He was dreaming of Elizabeth, and in his dream was interwoven the sound +of great bells, when the fantastic painted pictures of sleep were +suddenly shaken violently and dissolved. They flashed away, and his +voice rose in calling after them to stay, when he suddenly awoke.</p> + +<p>The bells were still going on, deep golden notes from the central cupola +over the Queen's Gallery, beating out the hour of eleven. But as they +changed from dream into reality—much louder and imminent—he felt +himself shaken violently.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> A strong hand gripped his shoulder, a hoarse +voice mingled with the bell-music in his ears. He awoke.</p> + +<p>His little room was lit by a lanthorn standing upon the mantel with the +door open.</p> + +<p>John Hull, a huge broad shadow, was bending over him. He sat up in bed.</p> + +<p>"<i>Dame!</i>" he cried, "and what is this?"</p> + +<p>"Master! Master! She has been taken away! My little mistress! Most +foully taken away, and none know where she may be!"</p> + +<p>Johnnie sprang from his bed, upright and trembling.</p> + +<p>"I took the letter and the flowers as you bade me. But all was sorrow +and turmoil at the house. Mistress Elizabeth went out in the afternoon +with Alice her maid. She was to take the air. They have not returned. +Nothing is known. His Worship hath fifty men searching for her, and hath +had for hours. But it avails nothing."</p> + +<p>Johnnie suddenly became quite quiet. Hull saw his face change. The +smooth, gracious contours were gone. An inner face, sharp, resolute, +haggard and terribly alive, sprang out and pushed the other away.</p> + +<p>"His Worship writ thee a letter, sir. Here 'tis."</p> + +<p>Johnnie held out his hand. The letter was brief, the writing hurried and +indistinct with alarm.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Lad</span>,—They have taken our Lizzie, whom I know not. But I +fear the worst things.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> I cannot find her with all my resource. +An' if <i>I</i> cannot, one must dread exceeding. I dare say no +more. But come to me on the instant, if canst. Thou—being at +Court—I take it, may be able to do more than I, at the moment +and in the article of our misfortune. The weight I bring to +bear is heavy, but taketh time. Command me in every way as +seemeth good to you. Order, and if needs be threaten in my +name. All you do or say is as if I said it, and they that deny +it will feel my hand heavy on them.</p> + +<p>"But come, dear lad. Our Lady help and shield the little lamb.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Your friend,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"<span class="smcap">Robert Cressemer</span>,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">"Alderman."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Johnnie thrust the letter into his bosom.</p> + +<p>"John Hull, art ready to follow me to the death, as it may be and very +like will?"</p> + +<p>"Certes, master."</p> + +<p>"Anything for her? Are you my man to do all and everything I tell thee +till the end?"</p> + +<p>John Hull answered nothing. He ran out of the room and returned in an +instant with his master's boots and sword. He saw that the holster +pistols were primed. He took one of Johnnie's daggers and thrust it into +the sheath of his knife without asking.</p> + +<p>The two men armed themselves to the teeth without another word.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'll be round to the stables," Hull said at length. "Two horses, +master? I will rouse one groom only and say 'tis State business."</p> + +<p>"You know then where we must go?"</p> + +<p>"I know not the place. But I guess it. We hear much—we Court servants!" +He spat upon the floor. "And I saw <i>him</i> looking at her as the Doctor +rode to Hadley."</p> + +<p>"Wilt risk it?—death, torture, which is worse, John Hull?"</p> + +<p>"Duck Lane, master?"</p> + +<p>"Duck Lane."</p> + +<p>"I thought so. I'm for the horses."</p> + +<p>A clatter of descending footsteps, a man standing in a little darkling +room, his hand upon his sword hilt. His teeth set, his brain working in +ice.</p> + +<p>Receding footsteps.... "Faithfullest servant that ever man had!"</p> + +<p>And so to the bitter work!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>HEY HO! AND A RUMBELOW!</h3> + + +<p>They had ridden over London Bridge.</p> + +<p>The night was dark, and a wind was beginning to rise. Again, here and +there about the bridge, soldiers were lounging, but Commendone and his +servant passed over successfully. He was recognised from the last time, +three nights ago. As they walked their horses through the scattered +houses immediately at the southern end of the bridge, Johnnie spoke to +Hull.</p> + +<p>"I have plans," he said quietly; "my mind is full of them. But I can +give you no hint until we are there and doing. Be quick at the uptake, +follow me in all I do, but if necessary act thyself, and remember that +we are desperate men upon an adventure as desperate. Let nothing stand +in the way, as I shall not."</p> + +<p>For answer he heard a low mutter, almost a growl, and they rode on in +silence.</p> + +<p>Both were cool and calm, strung up to the very highest point, every +single faculty of mind and body on the alert and poised to strike.</p> + +<p>One, the Spanish blood within him turning to that cold icy fury which +would stick at nothing in this world to achieve his ends, the while his +trained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> intelligence and high mental powers sat, as it were, upon his +frozen anger and rode it as a horse; the other, a volcano of hidden +snarling fury, seeing red at each step of his way through the dark, but +subordinate and disciplined by the master mind.</p> + +<p>They came to the entrance to Duck Lane, walked their horses quietly down +it—once more it was in silence—until under the lamp above the big red +door of the House of Shame, they saw two horses tethered to a ring in +the wall, and a man in a cloak walking up and down in front of the +house.</p> + +<p>He looked up sharply as they came into the circle of lamp-light, and +Johnnie saw, with a fierce throb of exultation, that it was Torromé, the +King's valet.</p> + +<p>"It is you, Señor," the man said in a low voice of relief.</p> + +<p>Johnnie nodded curtly as he dismounted.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, in a voice equally low, putting something furtive and +sly into the tones, for he was a consummate actor. "Yes, it is I, +Torromé. I must see His Grace at once on matters of high importance."</p> + +<p>"His Grace said nothing," the man began.</p> + +<p>"I know, I know," Johnnie answered. "It was not thought that I should +have to come, but as events turn out"—he struck with his hand upon the +door as he spoke—"I am to see His Highness at once."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I trust Her Grace——" the man whispered in a frightened voice.</p> + +<p>"Not a word," Commendone replied. "Take our horses and keep watch over +them also. My man cometh in with me. Word will be sent out to you anon +what to do."</p> + +<p>The man bowed, and gathered up the bridle of the two new horses on his +arm; while as he did so, the big red door swung open a little, and a +thin face, covered with a mask of black velvet, peered out at the +newcomers.</p> + +<p>"It is all right," the valet said, in French. "This gentleman is of the +suite of His Highness."</p> + +<p>The peering, masked face scrutinised Johnnie for a second, then nodded, +and the red lips below twisted into a sinister smile.</p> + +<p>"Enter, sir," came in a soft, cooing voice. "I remember you three nights +back...."</p> + +<p>Johnnie entered, closely followed by Hull, and the door was closed +behind him. They stood once more in the quiet carpeted passage, with its +sense of mystery, its heavily perfumed air, and once again the tall +nondescript figure flitted noiselessly in front of them, and scratched +upon a panel of the big door at the end of the passage. There was the +tinkle of a bell within. The door was opened. Johnnie pushed aside the +curtains and entered the room, hung with crimson arras, powdered with +the design of gold bats, lit with its hanging silver lamps, and reeking +with the odour of the scented gums which were burning there.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> + +<p>Madame La Motte rose from her chair behind the little table as they +entered. The big, painted face was quite still and motionless, like a +mask, but the eyes glanced with quick, cunning brightness at Commendone +and his companion—the only things alive in that huge countenance. She +recognised Johnnie in a moment, and then her eyebrows went up into her +forehead and the lower part of her face moved down a little, as if the +whole were actuated by the sudden pull of a lever.</p> + +<p>"<i>Mon gars</i>," she said, in French, "and what brings you here to-night? +And who is this?..."</p> + +<p>Her eyes had fallen upon the broad figure of the serving-man in his +leather coat, his short sword hanging from his belt, his hand upon his +dagger.</p> + +<p>She might well look in alarm, this ancient, evil woman, for the keen +brown face of the servant was gashed and lined with a terrible and quiet +fury, the lips curled away from the teeth, the fore part of the body was +bent forward a little as if to spring.</p> + +<p>Johnnie took two steps up to the woman.</p> + +<p>"Madam," he said, in a voice so low that it was hardly more than a +whisper, but every syllable of which was perfectly distinct and clear, +"a lady has been stolen from her friends, and brought to this hell. +Where is she?"</p> + +<p>The woman knew in a moment why they had come. She gave a sudden swift +glance towards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> the door in the arras at the other side of the room, +which told Commendone all he wanted to know.</p> + +<p>"It is true, then?" he said. "Thou cat of hell, bound mistress of the +fiend, she is here?"</p> + +<p>The huge body of the woman began to tremble like a jelly, slowly at +first in little shivers, and then more rapidly until face and shapeless +form shook and swayed from side to side in a convulsion of fear, while +all the jewels upon her winked and flashed.</p> + +<p>As the young man bent forward and looked into her face, she found a +voice, a horrid, strangled voice. "I know nothing," she coughed.</p> + +<p>There was a low snarl, like a wakened panther, as Commendone, shuddering +as he did so, gripped one bare, powdered shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Silence!" he said.</p> + +<p>With one convulsive effort, the woman shot out a fat hand, and rang the +little silver bell upon the table.</p> + +<p>Almost immediately the door swung open; there was a swish of curtains, +and the tall, fantastic figure of the creature who had let them into the +house stood there.</p> + +<p>"<i>Allez—la maison en face—viens toi vite,—Jules, Louis.</i>"</p> + +<p>Commendone clapped his hand over the woman's mouth, just as the eel-like +creature at the door, realising the situation in a moment, was gliding +through the curtains to summon the bullies of the house.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> + +<p>But John Hull was too quick for him. He caught him by the arm, wrenched +him back into the room, sent him spinning into the centre of it, and +took two steps towards him, his right fist half raised to deal him a +great blow.</p> + +<p>The creature mewed like a cat, ducked suddenly and ran at the yeoman, +gripping him round the waist with long, thin arms.</p> + +<p>There was no sound as they struggled—this long, eel-like thing, in its +mask and crimson robe twining round his sturdy opponent like some +parasite writhing with evil life.</p> + +<p>John Hull rocked, striving to bend forward and get a grip of his +antagonist. But it was useless. He could do nothing, and he was being +slowly forced backwards towards the door.</p> + +<p>There was horror upon the man's brown face, horror of this silent, +clinging thing which fought with fury, and in a fashion that none other +had fought with him in all his life.</p> + +<p>Then, as he realised what was happening, he stood up for a moment, +staggering backwards as he did so, pulled out the dagger from his belt +and struck three great blows downwards into the thin scarlet back, +burying the steel up to the hilt at each fierce stroke.</p> + +<p>There was a sudden "Oh," quite quiet and a little surprised, the sort of +sound a man might make when he sees a friend come unexpectedly into his +room....</p> + +<p>That was all. It was over in some thirty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> seconds, there was a +convulsive wriggle on the floor, and the man, if indeed it was a man, +lay on its back stiff in death. The mask of black velvet had been torn +off in the struggle, and they saw a tiny white face, painted and +hairless, set on the end of a muscular and stringy neck—a monster lying +there in soulless death.</p> + +<p>"Have you killed it?" Commendone asked, suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, master." Hull's head was averted from what lay upon the carpet, +even while he was pushing it towards the heap of cushions at the side of +the room. Leaning over the body, he took a cushion from the heap—a +gaudy thing of green and orange—and wiped his boot.</p> + +<p>"Listen!" Johnnie said, still with his hand covering the woman's face.</p> + +<p>They listened intently. Not a sound was to be heard.</p> + +<p>"As I take it," Commendone answered, "there are no men in the house +except only those two we have come to seek. The alarm hath not been +given, and that <i>eunuque</i> is dead. We must settle Madame here." He +laughed a grim, menacing laugh as he spoke.</p> + +<p>Immediately the figure in his hands began to writhe and tremble, the +feet beat a dull tattoo upon the carpet, the eyes protruded from their +layers of paint, a snorting, snuffling noise came from beneath +Commendone's hand. He caught it away instantly, shuddering with +disgust.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Kill me not! kill me not!" the old woman gasped. "They are upstairs, +the King and his friend. The girl is there. I know nothing of her, she +was brought to me in the dark by the King's servants. Kill me not; I +will stay silent." Her voice failed. She fell suddenly back in her +chair, and looked at them with indescribable horror in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I'll see to her, master," Hull said in a quiet voice, his face still +distorted with mastiff-like fury.</p> + +<p>He caught up his blood-stained dagger from the floor, stepped to the +stiffened corpse, curved by tetanus into a bow, and ripped up a long +piece of the gown which covered it. Quickly and silently he tied the old +woman's ankles together, her hands behind her back—the podgy wrists +would not meet, nor near it—and again he went to the corpse for further +bonds.</p> + +<p>"And now to stop her mouth," he said, "or she will be calling."</p> + +<p>Commendone took out his handkerchief. "Here," he said. In an instant +Hull had rolled it into a ball, pressed it between the painted lips, and +tied it in its place with the last strip of velvet.</p> + +<p>All this had taken but hardly a minute. Then he stood up and looked at +his master. "The time comes," he said.</p> + +<p>Johnnie nodded, and walked slowly, with quiet footsteps, towards the +door in the arras at the other side of the room.</p> + +<p>He felt warily for the handle, found it, turned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> it gently, and saw a +narrow stairway stretching upwards, and lit by a lamp somewhere above. +The stair was uncarpeted, but it was of old and massive oak, and, +drawing his sword, he crept cautiously up, Hull following him like a +cat.</p> + +<p>They found themselves in a corridor with doors on each side, each door +painted with a big white number. It was lit, warm, and very still.</p> + +<p>Johnnie put his fingers to his lips, and both men listened intently.</p> + +<p>The silence was absolute. They might have been in an empty house. No +single indication of human movement came to them as they stood there.</p> + +<p>For nearly a minute they remained motionless. Their eyes were fixed and +horror-struck, their ears strained to an intensity of listening.</p> + +<p>Then, at last, they heard a sound, quite unexpectedly and very near.</p> + +<p>It came from the door immediately upon their right, which was painted +with the number "3," and was simply the click of a sword in its +scabbard. Johnnie took two noiseless steps to the door, settled his +sword in his hand, flung it open, and leapt in.</p> + +<p>He was in a large low room panelled round its sides, the panels painted +white, the beadings picked out in crimson. A carpet covered the floor, a +low fire burnt upon a wide open hearth. There were two or three padded +sofa lounges here and there, and in front of the fire-place in riding +clothes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> though without his hat or gloves, stood Sir John Shelton.</p> + +<p>There was a dead silence for several seconds, only broken by the click +of the outer door, as Hull pushed it into its place, and shot the bolt.</p> + +<p>Shelton grew very white, but said nothing.</p> + +<p>With his sword ready to assume the guard, Johnnie walked to the centre +of the room.</p> + +<p>The bully's face grew whiter still. Little drops of moisture glistened +on his forehead, and on his blonde moustache.</p> + +<p>Then he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Mr. Commendone!" he said, with a horrid little laugh. "News from +Court, I suppose? Is it urgent? His Grace is engaged within, but I will +acquaint him. His Grace is engaged——" There came a titter of discovery +and fear from his lips. His words died away into silence.</p> + +<p>Johnnie advanced towards him, his sword pointed at his heart.</p> + +<p>"What does this mean, Mr. Commendone?"</p> + +<p>"Death."</p> + +<p>The man's sword was out in a moment. The touch of it seemed to bring the +life back to him, and with never a word, he sprang at Commendone. He was +a brave man enough, a clever fencer too, but he knew now that his hour +had come. He read it in the fixed face before him, that face of frozen +fury. He knew it directly the blades touched. Indeed he was no match +for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> Commendone, with his long training, and clean, abstemious life. But +even had he been an infinitely superior swordsman, he knew that he would +have had no chance in that moment. There was something behind the young +man's arm which no Sir John Shelton could resist.</p> + +<p>The blades rattled together and struck sparks in the lamp-light. Click! +Clatter! Click!—"Ah!" the long-drawn breath, a breath surging up from +the very entrails—Click! Clatter! Click!</p> + +<p>The fierce cold fury of that fight was far beyond anything in war, or +the ordinary duello. It was <i>à outrance</i>, there was only one end to it, +and that came very swiftly.</p> + +<p>Commendone was not fighting for safety. He cared not, and knew nothing, +of what the other might have in reserve. He did not even wait to test +his adversary's tricks of fence, as was only cautious and usual. Nothing +could have withstood him, and in less than two minutes from the time the +men had engaged, the end came. Commendone made a half-lunge, which was +parried by the dagger in Sir John's left hand, and then, quick as +lightning, his sword was through Shelton's throat, through and through.</p> + +<p>The Captain fell like a log, hiccoughed, and lay still.</p> + +<p>"Two," said John Hull.</p> + +<p>Johnnie withdrew his sword, holding it downwards, watching it drip; then +he turned to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> servant. "Sir John was here on guard," he said; "this +is the ante-room to where She is. But I see no door, save only the one +by which we entered."</p> + +<p>"Hist!" Hull replied, almost before his master had finished speaking.</p> + +<p>He pointed to the opposite wall, and both men saw a long, narrow bar of +orange light, a momentarily widening slit, opening in a panel.</p> + +<p>The panel swung back entirely, forming a sort of hatch or window, and +through it, yellow, livid, and terror-struck, looked the face of the +King.</p> + +<p>Without a word John Hull rushed towards that part of the wall. When he +was within a yard of it he gathered himself up and leapt against it, +like a battering-ram. There was a crash, as the concealed door was torn +away from its hinges. Hull lay measuring his length upon the floor, and +Johnnie leaped over the prostrate form into the room beyond.</p> + +<p>This is what he saw:</p> + +<p>In one corner of the room, close to a large couch covered with rich +silks, Elizabeth Taylor stood against the wall. They had dressed her in +a long white robe of the Grecian sort, with a purple border round the +hem of the skirt, the short sleeves and the low neck. Her face was a +white wedge of terror, her arms were upraised, the palms of her hands +turned outwards, as if to ward off some horror unspeakable.</p> + +<p>King Philip, at the other corner of the room, standing by the débris of +the broken door, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> perfectly motionless, save only for his head, +which was pushed forward and moved from side to side with a slow +reptilian movement.</p> + +<p>He was dressed entirely in black, his clothes in disarray, and the thin +hair upon his head was matted in fantastic elf-locks with sweat.</p> + +<p>He saw the set face of Commendone, his drawn and bloody sword. He saw +the thick leathern-coated figure of the yeoman rise from the floor. Both +were confronting him, and he knew in a flash that he was trapped.</p> + +<p>Johnnie looked at his master for a moment, and then turned swiftly. +"Elizabeth," he said, "Elizabeth!"</p> + +<p>At his voice the girl's hands fell from her face. She looked at him for +a second in wild amazement, and then she cried out, in a high, quavering +voice of welcome, "Johnnie! Johnnie! you've come!"</p> + +<p>He put his arms about her, soothing, stroking her hair, speaking in a +low, caressing voice, as a man might speak to a child. And all the time +his heart, which had been frozen into deadly purpose, was leaping, +bounding, and drumming within him so furiously, so strongly, that it +seemed as if his body could hardly contain it. This mortal frame must +surely be dissolved and swept away by such a tumult of feeling.</p> + +<p>She had only seen him once. She had never received his little posy of +white flowers, but he was "Johnnie" to her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p> + +<p>"They have not hurt you, my maid?" he said. "Tell me they have not +harmed you."</p> + +<p>She shook her head. Happiness sponged away the horror which had been +upon her face. "No, Johnnie," she answered, clinging, her fingers +clutching for a firmer hold of him. "No, Johnnie, only they took me +away, and Alice, that is my maid. They took me away violently, and I +have been penned up here in this place until that man came and said +strange things to me, and would embrace me."</p> + +<p>"Sit you here, my darling maid," the young man said, "sit you here," +guiding her to the couch hard by. "He shall do you no harm. Thou art +with me, and thy good friend there, thy father's yeoman."</p> + +<p>She had not seen John Hull before, but now she looked up at him over +Johnnie's arm, and smiled. "'Tis all well now," she murmured, drooping +and half-faint. "Hull is here, and thou also, Johnnie."</p> + +<p>Even in the wild joy of finding her, and knowing instinctively that she +was to be his, that she had thought of him so much, Commendone lost +nothing of his sang-froid.</p> + +<p>He knew that desperate as had been his adventure when he started out +from the Tower, it was now more desperate still. He and Hull had taken +their lives in their hands when they went to Duck Lane. Their enterprise +had so far been successful, their rescue complete, but—and he was in no +way mistaken—the enterprise was not over, and his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> life was worth even +a smaller price than it had been before.</p> + +<p>With that, he turned from the girl, and strode up to the King, before +whom John Hull had been standing, grimly silent.</p> + +<p>Commendone's sword was still in his hand; he had not relinquished it +even when he had embraced Elizabeth, and now he stood before his master, +the point upon the floor, his young face set into judgment.</p> + +<p>"And now, Sire?" he said, shortly and quickly.</p> + +<p>Philip's face was flushed with shame and fear, but at these sharp words, +he drew himself to his full height.</p> + +<p>"Señor," he said, "you are going to do something which will damn you for +ever in the sight of God and Our Lady. You are going to slay the +anointed of the Lord. I will meet death at your hands, and doubtless for +my sins I have deserved death; but, nevertheless, you will be damned."</p> + +<p>Then he threw his arms out wide, and there came a sob into his voice as +the liquid Spanish poured from him.</p> + +<p>"But to die thus!" he said. "Mother of God! to die thus! unshrived, with +my sins upon me!"</p> + +<p>Johnnie tapped impatiently with the point of his sword upon the floor.</p> + +<p>"Kill you, Sire?" he said. "I have sworn the oath of allegiance to Her +Grace, the Queen, and eke to you. I break no oaths. Kill you I will +not.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> Kill you I cannot. I dare not raise my hand against the King."</p> + +<p>He dropped on one knee. "Sire," he said again, "I am your Gentleman, and +you will go free from this vile house as you came into it."</p> + +<p>Then he rose, took his sword, snapped it across his knee—staining his +hands in doing so—and flung it into the corner of the room.</p> + +<p>"And that is that," he said, with a different manner. "So now as man to +man, as from one gentleman to another, hear my voice. You are a +gentleman of high degree, and you are King also of half this globe, +named, and glad to be named His Most Catholic Majesty. Of your kingship +I am not at this moment aware. I am not Royal. But as a gentleman and a +Christian, I tell you to your face that you are low and vile. You +deceive a wife that loveth you. You take maidens to force them to your +will. If you were a simple gentleman I would kill you where you stood. +No! If thou wert a simple gentleman, I would not cross swords with thee, +because thou art unworthy of my sword. I would tell my man here to slit +thee and have done. But as thou art a King"—he spat upon the floor in +his disgust—"and I am sworn to thee, I cannot punish thee as I would, +thou son of hell, thou very scurvy, lying, and most dirty knave."</p> + +<p>The King's face was a dead white now. He lifted his hands and beat with +them upon his breast. "<i>Mea culpa! Mea culpa!</i> What have I done that I +should endure this?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What no King should ever do, what no gentleman could ever do."</p> + +<p>The King's hands dropped to his side.</p> + +<p>"I am wearing no sword," he said quietly, "as you see, Señor, but +doubtless you will provide me with one. If you will meet me here and +now, as a simple gentleman, then I give you licence to kill me. I will +defend myself as best I am able."</p> + +<p>Johnnie hesitated, irresolutely. All the training of his life was up in +arms with the wishes and the emotions of the moment—until he heard the +voice of common sense.</p> + +<p>John Hull broke in. The man had not understood one word of the Spanish, +but he had realised its meaning, and the keen, untutored intelligence, +focused upon the flying minutes, saw very clearly into the future.</p> + +<p>"Master," he said, "cannot ye see that all this is but chivalry and +etiquette of courts? Cannot ye see that if ye kill His Highness, England +will not be big enough to hide thee? Cannot ye see, also, that if thou +dost not kill him, but let him go, England will not be big enough to +hide thee either? Master, we must settle this business with speed, and +get far away before the hue and cry, for I tell thee, that this bloody +night's work will bring thee, and Mistress Elizabeth, and myself to the +rack and worse torture, to the stake, and worse than that. Haste! speed! +we must be gone. There is but one thing to be done."</p> + +<p>"And what is that, John Hull?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, thou art lost in a dream, master! To tie up His Highness so that +he cannot move or speak for several hours. To send that Spaniard which +is his man, away from the door outside, and then to fly from this +accursed house, you, I, and the little mistress, and hide ourselves, if +God will let us, from the wrath to come."</p> + +<p>The quick, decisive words were so absolutely true, so utterly +unanswerable, that Johnnie nodded, though he shuddered as he did so.</p> + +<p>Upon that, John Hull strode up to the King.</p> + +<p>"Put your hands behind you, Sire," he said.</p> + +<p>The King was wearing a dagger in his belt. As Hull came up to him, his +face was transfixed with fury. He drew it out and lunged at the man's +heart.</p> + +<p>Hull was standing a little obliquely to the blow, the dagger glanced +upon his leather surcoat, cut a long groove, and glanced harmlessly +away.</p> + +<p>With that, Hull raised his great brown fist and smote King Philip in the +face, driving him to the floor. He was on him in a moment, crouching +over him with one hand upon the Royal throat.</p> + +<p>"Quick, master; quick, master! Quick, master! Bonds! Bonds! We must e'en +truss him up, as we did her ladyship below."</p> + +<p>It was done. The King was tied and bound. It was done as gently as +possible, and they did not gag him.</p> + +<p>Together they laid him upon the floor.</p> + +<p>Slow, half-strangled, and venomous words came,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> came in gouts of +poisonous sound, which made the sweet Spanish hideous....</p> + +<p>"The whole world, Mr. Commendone, will not be wide enough to hide you, +your paramour, and this villain from my vengeance."</p> + +<p>Johnnie would have heard anything but that one word—that shameful word. +At the word "paramour," hardly knowing what he did, he lifted his hand +and struck the bound and helpless King upon the face.</p> + +<p>A timepiece from the next room beat. It was one o'clock in the morning.</p> + +<p>Johnnie turned to Elizabeth. "Come, sweetheart," he said, in a hurried, +agitated voice, "come away from this place."</p> + +<p>He took her by the arm, half leading, half supporting her, and together +they passed out of the room, without so much as a backward glance at the +bound figure upon the floor. As they went through the broken doorway in +the ante-room, John Hull pressed after them, and walked on the other +side of Elizabeth, talking to her quickly in a cheery voice.</p> + +<p>As he looked over the girl's head at his servant, Johnnie knew what Hull +was doing. He was hiding the corpse of Sir John Shelton from the girl's +view.</p> + +<p>They came into the corridor, and descended the stairs. Just as they were +about to open the door in the arras, Hull stopped them upon the lowest +step.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I will go first, master," he said, and again Johnnie realised what was +meant.</p> + +<p>When a few seconds afterwards, he and Elizabeth entered the +tapestry-hung room; the great pile of cushions upon the left-hand side +was a little higher, but that was all.</p> + +<p>The girl raised her hands to her throat. "Oh," she said, "Johnnie, thank +God you came! I cannot bear it. Take me home, take me home now, to Mr. +Cressemer and Aunt Catherine."</p> + +<p>Johnnie took her hands in his own, holding her very firmly by the +wrists, and looked full into her face.</p> + +<p>"Dear," he said, "you cannot go to Mr. Cressemer's. You know nothing of +what has happened this night. You do not realise anything at all. Will +you trust in me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she faltered, though her eyes were firm.</p> + +<p>"Then, if you do that, and if God helps us," he said, with a gasp in his +throat, "we may yet win to safety and life, though I doubt it. +Sweetheart, it is right that I should tell you that man upstairs in the +room is the King Consort, husband of Her Grace the Queen."</p> + +<p>The girl gave a loud, startled cry, and instantly Commendone saw +comprehension flash into her face.</p> + +<p>"Sit here," he said to her, putting a chair for her.</p> + +<p>Then he turned. Behind the ebony table,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> motionless, vast, and purple in +the face, was the great mummy of the procuress.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do?" he said to Hull.</p> + +<p>"The first thing, master, is to send the Spanish valet away; that you +must do, and therein lies our chance."</p> + +<p>Johnnie nodded. He passed out into the passage, went to the front door, +pulled aside three huge bolts which worked with a lever very silently, +for they were all oiled, and let in a puff of fresh wind from the +street.</p> + +<p>For a moment he could see nothing in the dark. He called in Spanish: +"Torromé, Torromé, where are you? Come here at once." He had hardly done +so when the cloaked figure of the valet came out from behind a buttress.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Señor," he said, "I am perished with this cold wind. His Highness +is ready, then?"</p> + +<p>Johnnie shook his head. "No," he answered, "His Highness and Sir John +are still engaged, but I am sent to tell you that you may go home. I and +my man will attend His Highness to the Tower, but we shall not come +until dawn. Go you back to the King's lodging, and if His Highness doth +not come in due time, keep all inquiries at bay. He will be sick—you +understand?"</p> + +<p>Torromé nodded.</p> + +<p>"Then get you to horse, leave His Highness's horse with ours, and speed +back to the Tower as soon as may be."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p> + +<p>Commendone waited until the man had mounted, very glad to be relieved of +his long waiting, and was trotting towards London Bridge. Then he closed +the door, pulled the lever, and went back into the red, scented room.</p> + +<p>He saw that Hull had cut the strips of red velvet that bound Madame La +Motte, the gag was taken from her mouth, and he was holding a goblet of +wine to the thick, swollen, and bleeding lips.</p> + +<p>There was a long deep sigh and gurgle. The woman shuddered, gasped +again, and then some light and understanding came into her eyes, and she +stared out in front of her.</p> + +<p>"What are we to do?" Johnnie asked his servant once more.</p> + +<p>"What have ye done, masters?" came in a dry whisper from the old +woman—it was like the noise a man makes walking through parched grass +in summer. "What have ye done, masters?"</p> + +<p>Hull answered: "We have killed your servitor, as ye saw," he said, with +a half glance towards the piled cushions against the wall. "Sir John +Shelton is dead also; Mr. Commendone killed him in fair fight."</p> + +<p>"And the King, the King?"—the whisper was dreadful in its anxiety and +fear.</p> + +<p>"He lieth bound in that room of shame where you took my lady."</p> + +<p>There was silence for a moment, and the old woman glanced backwards and +forwards at Hull<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> and Commendone. What she read in their faces terrified +her, and again she shook horribly.</p> + +<p>"Sir," she said to Commendone, "if this be my last hour, then so mote it +be, but I swear that I knew nothing. I was told at high noon yesterday +that a girl was to be sent here, that Sir John and the valet of His +Highness would bring her. I knew, and know nothing of who she is. I did +but do as I have always done in my trade. And, messieurs, it was the +King's command. Now ye have come, and there is the lady unharmed, please +God."</p> + +<p>"Please God!" Johnnie said brutally. "You hag of hell, who are you to +use that name?"</p> + +<p>The fat, artificially whitened hands, with their glittering rings fell +upon the table with a dull thud.</p> + +<p>"Who am I, indeed?" she said. "You may well ask that, but I tell you +others of my women received this lady. I have not seen her until now."</p> + +<p>"Indeed she hath not," came in a low, startled voice from Elizabeth.</p> + +<p>"Sir," La Motte went on, "I see now that this is the end of my sinful +life. Kill me an ye wish, I care not, for I am dead already, and so also +are you, and the young mistress there, and your man too."</p> + +<p>"What mean you?" Johnnie said.</p> + +<p>"What mean I? Why, upstairs lieth the King, bound. We all have two or +three miserable hours, and then we shall be found, and what we shall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +endure will pass the bitterness of death before death comes. That, +messieurs, you know very well.</p> + +<p>"So what matters it," she continued, her extraordinary vitality +overcoming everything, her voice growing stronger each moment, "what +matters it! Let us drink wine one to the other, to death! in this house +of death, in this house to which worse than death cometh apace."</p> + +<p>She reached out for the flagon of wine before her with a cackle of +laughter.</p> + +<p>It was too true. Commendone knew it well. He looked at Hull, and +together they both looked at Elizabeth Taylor.</p> + +<p>The girl, in the long white robe which they had put on her, rose from +her seat and came between them, tall, slim, and now composed. She put +one hand upon Johnnie's shoulder and laid the other with an affectionate +gesture upon Hull's arm.</p> + +<p>"Look you," she said, "Mr. Commendone, and you, John Hull, my father's +friend, what matters it at all? I see now all that hath passed. There is +no hope for us, none at all. Therefore let us praise God, pray to Him, +and die. We shall soon be with my father in heaven; and, sure, he seeth +all this, and is waiting for us."</p> + +<p>John Hull's face was knitted into thought. He hardly seemed to hear the +girl's voice at all.</p> + +<p>"Mistress Lizzie," he said, almost peevishly, "pr'ythee be silent a +moment. Master, look you. 'Tis this way. They will come again and find +His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> Highness when he returneth not to the Tower, but he will dare do +nothing against us openly for fear of the Queen's Grace. Were it known +that he had come to such a stew as this, the Queen would ne'er give him +her confidence again. She would ne'er forgive him. Doubtless the +vengeance will pursue us, but it cannot be put in motion for some hours +until the King is rescued, and has had time to confer with his familiars +and think out a plan. After that, when they catch us, nothing will avail +us, because nothing we can say will be believed. But we are not caught +yet."</p> + +<p>Johnnie, who for the last few moments had been quite without hope, +looked up quickly at his servant's words.</p> + +<p>"You are right," he said, "in what you say; there speaketh good sense. +Very well, then we must get away at once. But where shall we go? If we +go to His Worship's house, we shall soon be discovered, and bring His +Worship and Mistress Catherine with us to the rack and stake. If we go +to my father's house in Kent, he will not be able to hide us; it will be +the first place to which they will look."</p> + +<p>He spread his arms out in a gesture of despair.</p> + +<p>"You see," he said, "we in this room to-night have no refuge nor +harbour. For a few hours, a day it may be, we can lie lost from +vengeance. But after that no earthly power can save us. We have done the +thing for which there is no pardon."</p> + +<p>"I don't like, master, to wait for death in this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> way," Hull answered. +"But art wiser than I, and so it must be. But pr'ythee let us have a +little course. The hounds may come, but let us run before them, and +then, if death is at the end of it, well—well, there's an end on't; and +so say I."</p> + +<p>There was a voice behind them, a voice speaking in broken but fluent +English.</p> + +<p>"You have broken into my house, you have killed my servant, you have +prevented me from calling for help from you, a King lies bound in my +upper chamber, <i>v'là</i>! And now you go to run a little course, to scurry +hither and thither before the dogs are at your throats. You are all +prepared to die. I also am ready to die if it must be so, but it need +not be so if you will listen to me."</p> + +<p>"What mean you?" Johnnie said.</p> + +<p>As he spoke he saw, with a mingling of surprise and disgust, that the +big painted face of Madame La Motte was full of animation and +excitement. She seemed as if the events of the last hour had but stirred +her to endeavour, had given a fillip to her sluggish life.</p> + +<p>More astonishing than all, she rose from her chair, gathering together +her vast, unwieldy bulk, came round from behind the table, and joined +their conference almost with vivacity.</p> + +<p>"<i>Tiens</i>," she said, "there are other countries than this. An army +beaten in an engagement is not always routed. Retreat is possible within +friendly frontiers."</p> + +<p>The horrible old creature had such a strength<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> and personality about her +that, with her blood-stained mouth, her great panting body, her +trembling jewelled hands, she yet in that moment dominated them all.</p> + +<p>"There is one last chance. At dawn—and dawn is near by—the ship <i>St. +Iago</i> sails from the Thames for foreign parts. The master of the ship, +Clark, is"—she lowered her voice and spoke only to Commendone—"is a +client of mine here. He is much indebted to me in many ways, and ere day +breaks we may all be aboard of her and sailing away. What is't to be, +messieurs?"</p> + +<p>They all looked at each other for a moment in silence.</p> + +<p>Then Elizabeth put her arms round the old woman's neck and kissed her.</p> + +<p>"Madame," she said, "surely God put this into your heart to save us all. +I will come with you, and Johnnie will come, and good John Hull withal, +and so we may escape and live."</p> + +<p>The old Frenchwoman patted the slim girl upon the back. "<i>Bien, +chérie</i>," she said, "that's a thing done. I will look after you and be a +mother to you, and so we will all be happy."</p> + +<p>Commendone and his servant looked on in amazement. At this dreadful +hour, in this moment of extremest peril, the wicked old woman seemed to +take charge of them all. She did not seem wicked now, only genial and +competent, though there was a tremor of fear in her voice and her +movements were hurried and decisive.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Jean-Marie," she called suddenly, and then, "Phut! I forgot. It is +under the cushions. Well, we must even do without a messenger. Have you +money, Master Commendone?"</p> + +<p>Johnnie shook his head. "Not here."</p> + +<p>"<i>Mais, mon Dieu!</i> I have a plenty," she answered, "which is good for +all of us. Wait you here."</p> + +<p>She hurried away, and went up the stair towards the rooms above.</p> + +<p>"Shall I follow her, master?" Hull said, his hand upon his dagger.</p> + +<p>Johnnie shook his head.</p> + +<p>"No," he answered, "she is in our boat. She must sink or swim with us."</p> + +<p>They waited there for five or ten minutes, hearing the heavy noise of +Madame's progress above their heads. They waited there, and as they did +so the room seemed to become cold, their blood ran slowly within them, +the three grouped themselves close together as if for mutual warmth and +consolation.</p> + +<p>Then they heard a high-pitched voice at the top of the stairs.</p> + +<p>"Send your man up, Monsieur, send your man up. I have no strength to +lift this bag."</p> + +<p>At a nod from Johnnie, Hull ran up the stairs. In a moment more he came +down, staggering under the burden of a great leather wallet slung over +his shoulder, and was followed by Madame La Motte, now covered in a fur +cloak and hood.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p> + +<p>She held another on her arm. "Put it on, put it on," she said to +Elizabeth, "quickly. We must get out of this. The dawn comes, the wind +freshens, we have but an hour."</p> + +<p>And then in the ghostly dawn the four people left the House of Shame, +left it with the red door open to the winds, and hurried away towards +the river.</p> + +<p>None of them spoke. The old dame in her fur robe shuffled on with +extraordinary vitality, past straggling houses, past inns from which +nautical signs were hung, for a quarter of a mile towards the mud-marsh +which fringed the pool of Thames. She walked down a causeway of stones, +sunk in the mud and gravel, to the edge of the water.</p> + +<p>It was now high tide and the four came out in the grey light upon a +little stone quay where some sheds were set.</p> + +<p>In front of one of them, heavily covered with tar, a lantern was still +burning, wan and yellow in the coming light of day.</p> + +<p>Madame La Motte kicked at the door of this shed with her high-heeled +shoe. There was no response. She opened the door, burst into a stuffy, +fœtid place where two men were lying upon coils of rope. She stirred +them with her foot, but they were in heavy sleep, and only groaned and +snored in answer.</p> + +<p>"I'll wake them, Madame," Johnnie said, "I'll stir them up," his voice +full of that thin, high note which comes to those who feel themselves +hunted.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> He clapped his hand to his side to find his sword; his fingers +touched an empty scabbard. Then he remembered.</p> + +<p>"I am swordless," he cried, forgetting everything else as he realised +it.</p> + +<p>Behind him there was a thud and a clanking, as John Hull dropped the +leathern bag he held.</p> + +<p>"Say not so, master," he said, and held out to the young man a sword in +a scabbard of crimson leather, its hilt of gold wire, its guard set with +emeralds and rubies, the belt which hung down on either side of the +blade, of polished leather studded with little stars and bosses of gold.</p> + +<p>"What is this?"</p> + +<p>"Look you, sir, as we passed out of Madame's room, I saw this sword +leaning in a corner of the wall by the door. His Highness had left it +there, doubtless, ere he went upstairs. 'So,' says I to myself, 'this is +true spoil of war, and in especial for my master!'"</p> + +<p>Johnnie took the sword, looked at it for a moment, and then unbuttoned +his own belt and girded it on.</p> + +<p>"So shall it be for a remembrance to me," he said, "for now and always."</p> + +<p>But he did not need to use it. Madame's exertions had been sufficient. +Her shrill, angry voice had wakened the watermen. They rose to their +feet, wiped their eyes, and, seeing persons of quality before them, they +hastened down the little hard and embarked the company in their wherry. +Then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> they pulled out into the stream. The tide was running fast and +free towards the Nore, but they made for a large ship of quite six +hundred tons, which was at anchor in mid-stream. When they came up to +it, and caught the hanging ladder upon the quarter with a boat-hook, the +deck was already busy with seamen in red caps, and a tarry, bearded old +salt, his head tied up in a woollen cloth, was standing on the high +poop, and cursing the men below. Madame La Motte saw him first. She put +two fat fingers in her mouth and gave a long whistle, like a street boy.</p> + +<p>The captain looked round him, up into the rigging where the sailors were +already busy upon the yards, looked to his right, looked to his left, +and then straight down from the poop upon the starboard quarter, and saw +Madame La Motte. He stumbled down the steps on to the main deck, and +peered over the bulwarks. "Mother of God!" he cried, "and what's this, +so early in the morning?"</p> + +<p>The old Frenchwoman shrieked up at him in her broken English. "<i>Tiens! +Tiens!</i> Send your men to help us up, Captain Clark. Thou art not awake. +Do as I tell you."</p> + +<p>The captain rubbed his eyes again, called out some orders, and in a +moment or two Johnnie had mounted the ladder, and stood upon the deck.</p> + +<p>"Now the ladies," he said in a quick, authoritative voice.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth came up to the side, and then it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> the question of Madame +La Motte. John Hull stood in the tossing, heaving wherry, and gave the +woman her first impetus. She clawed the side ropes, cursing and spitting +like a cat as she did so, mounting the low waist of the ship like a +great black slug. As soon as she got within arm's length of the captain +and a couple of sailors, they caught her and heaved her on board as if +she had been a sack, and within ten seconds afterwards John Hull, with +the leather bag over his shoulder, stood on the deck beside them. +Johnnie felt in his pocket and found some coins there. He flung them +over to the watermen, and they fell in the centre of the boat as it +sheered off.</p> + +<p>Mr. Clark, captain of the <i>St. Iago</i>, was now very wide awake.</p> + +<p>"I will thank ye, Madame," he said, "to explain your boarding of my ship +with your friends."</p> + +<p>The quick-witted Frenchwoman went up to him, put her fat arms round his +neck, pulled his head down, and spoke in his ear for a minute. When she +had finished the captain raised his head, scratched his ear, and looked +doubtfully at Commendone, Elizabeth, and John Hull.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, in a thick voice, "since you say it, I suppose I must, +though there is little accommodation on board for the likes of you. You +pay your passage, Madame, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Phut! I will make you rich."</p> + +<p>The captain's eyes contracted with leery cunning.</p> + +<p>"There is more in this than meets mine eye—that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> ye should be so eager +to leave London. What have ye done, that is what I would like to know? I +must inquire into this, though we are due to sail. I must send a man +ashore to speak with the Sheriff——"</p> + +<p>"The Sheriff! And where would any of your dirty sailors find the Sheriff +at this hour of the morning? You'll lose the tide, Master Clark, and +you'll lose your money, too."</p> + +<p>The captain scratched his head again.</p> + +<p>"Natheless, I am not sure," he began.</p> + +<p>Then Johnnie stepped forward.</p> + +<p>"Captain Clark?" he said, in short, quick accents of authority.</p> + +<p>"That am I," said the captain.</p> + +<p>"Very good. Then you will take these ladies and bestow them as well as +you are able, and you will set sail at once. This ship, I believe, +belongs to His Worship the Alderman, Master Robert Cressemer?"</p> + +<p>The captain touched his forehead.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, indeed she does," he answered, in a very different voice.</p> + +<p>Johnnie, from where he had been standing, had looked down into the +waist, and had seen the great bags of wool with the Alderman's +trade-mark upon them. "Very well," he said, "you'll heave anchor at +once, and this is my warrant."</p> + +<p>He put his hand into his doublet and pulled out the Alderman's letter. +He showed him the last paragraph of it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was enough.</p> + +<p>"I crave your pardon, master," the captain said. "I did not know that +you came from His Worship. That old Moll, I was ready to oblige her, +though it seemed a queer thing her coming aboard just as we were setting +sail. Why did you not speak at first, sir? Well, all is right. The wind +is favourable, and off we go."</p> + +<p>Turning away from Johnnie, he rushed up to the poop again, put his hand +to his mouth, and bellowed out a crescendo of orders.</p> + +<p>The yards swarmed with men, there was a "Heave ho and a rumbelow," a +clanking of the winch as the anchor came up, a flapping of unfurled +topsails at the three square-rigged masts, and in five minutes more the +<i>St. Iago</i> began to move down the river.</p> + +<p>Johnnie walked along the open planking of the waist, mounted to the +poop, and heard the "lap, lap" and ripple of the river waves against the +rudder. He turned and saw not far away to his left the White Tower +growing momentarily more distinct and clear in the dawn.</p> + +<p>The whole of the Palace and Citadel was clear to view, the two flags of +England and Spain were just hoisted, running out before the breeze. To +his left, as he turned right round, were huddled houses at the southern +end of London Bridge. In one of them, empty, lit and blown through by +the morning winds, His Most Catholic Majesty was lying, silent and +helpless.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p> + +<p>He turned again, looked forward, and took in a great breath of the salt +air.</p> + +<p>The cordage began to creak, the sails to belly out, the hoarse voice of +the pilot by Johnnie's side to call directions. Presently Sheppey Island +came into view, and the sky above it was all streaked with the promise +of daylight.</p> + +<p>Regardless of Captain Clark and two other men, who were busied coiling +ropes and making the poop ship-shape for the Channel, Johnnie fell upon +his knees, brought the cross-belt of the King's sword to his lips, and +thanked God that he was away with his love.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>"WHY, WHO BUT YOU, JOHNNIE!"</h3> + + +<p>Three weeks and two days had passed, and the <i>St. Iago</i> was off Lisbon, +and at anchor.</p> + +<p>The sun beat down upon the decks, the pitch bubbled in the seams, but +now and then a cool breeze came off the land. The city with its long +white terraces of houses shimmered in a haze of heat, but on the west +side of the valley in which the city lay, the florid gothic of the great +church of St. Jerome, built just five-and-fifty years before, was +perfectly clear-cut against the sapphire sky—burnt into a vast enamel +of blue, it seemed; bright grey upon blue, with here and there a +twinkling spot of gold crowning the towers.</p> + +<p>Twenty-three days the ship had taken to cut through the long oily +Atlantic swell and come to port. There had been no rough winds in the +Bay, no tempests such as make it terrible for mariners at other times of +the year.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>When they had arrived on board, and the ship had got out of the Thames, +none of the four fugitives had the slightest idea as to where they were +going—Madame La Motte least of all. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> relief at their escape had +been too great; strangely enough, they had not even enquired.</p> + +<p>The old Frenchwoman, as soon as the ship was under way, and Captain +Clark could attend to her, had gone below with him for half an hour; +while Johnnie, Hull, and Elizabeth remained upon the poop.</p> + +<p>When La Motte returned, the captain was smiling. There was a genial +twinkle in his eye. He came up to the others in a very friendly fashion.</p> + +<p>"S'death," he said, "I am in luck's way. Here you are, Master +Commendone, that are my owner's friend and bear a letter from him; and +here is Mistress La Motte, whom I have known long agone. By carrying ye +to Cadiz I shall be earning the Alderman's gratitude, and also good red +coins of the Mint, which Madame hath now paid me."</p> + +<p>"Cadiz?" Johnnie said. "Cadiz in Spain?"</p> + +<p>"That fair city and none other," the captain answered. "Heaven favouring +us, we shall bowl along to the city of wine, of fruit, and of fish. You +shall sip the sherries of Jerez and San Lucar, and eke taste the soup of +lobsters—langosta, they call it—and <i>bouillabaisse</i> in the southern +parts of France—upon the island of San Leon, where the folk do go upon +a Sunday for that refection. But now come you down below and see to your +quarters. I have given up my cabin to the ladies, and you, sir," he +turned to Johnnie, "must turn in with me, to which end I have +commandeered the cabin of Master Mew, that is my chief officer, and a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +merry fellow from the Isle of Wight, who will sing you a right good +catch of an evening, I'll warrant. And as for this your servant, the +bo'son will look to him, and he will not be among the men."</p> + +<p>They had gone below, and everything was arranged accordingly. The +quarters were more comfortable than Commendone had expected, and as far +as this part of the expedition was concerned all was well.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, as Johnnie came up again upon the poop with the captain, +he was in great perturbation. They were sailing to Spain! To the very +country which was ruled by the man he had so evilly entreated. Might it +not well be that, escaping Scylla, they were sailing into the whirlpool +of Charybdis?</p> + +<p>The captain seemed to divine something of the young man's thoughts. He +sat down upon a coil of rope and looked upward with a shrewd and +weather-beaten eye.</p> + +<p>"Look you here, master," he said. "Why you came aboard my ship I know +not. You caught me as I was weighing anchor. Thou art a gentleman of +condition, and yet you come aboard with no mails, and nothing but that +in which you stand up. And you come aboard in company with that old Moll +of Flanders, La Motte—no fit company for a gentleman upon a voyage. And +furthermore, you have with you a young and well-looking lady, who also +hath no baggage with her. I tell<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> you truly that I would not have +shipped you all had it not been for the letter of His Worship the +Alderman—whose hand of write I know very well upon bills of lading and +such. I like the look of you, and as Madame there has paid me well, 'tis +no business of mine what you are doing or have done. But look you here, +if that pretty young mistress is being forced to come with you against +her will—and what else can I think when I see her in the company of old +Moll?—then I will be a party to nothing of the sort. I am not a married +man, not regular church-sworn, that is, though I have a woman friend or +two in this port or that. And moreover, I have been oft-times to visit +the house with the red door. So you'll see I am no Puritan. But at the +same time I will be no help to the ravishing of maids of gentle blood, +and that I ask you well to believe, master."</p> + +<p>Johnnie heard him patiently to the end.</p> + +<p>"Let me tell you this, captain," he said, "that in what I am doing there +is no harm of any sort. Mistress Taylor, which is the name of the +younger lady, is the ward of Mr. Robert Cressemer. The Alderman is my +very good friend. My father, Sir Henry Commendone, of Commendone in +Kent, is his constant friend and correspondent. The young lady was taken +away yesterday from her guardian's care, taken in secret by some one +high about the Court—from which I also come, being a Gentleman in the +following of King Philip. Late last night, I received a letter from the +Alderman,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> telling me of this, upon which I and my servant immediately +set out for where we thought to find the stolen lady, in that we might +rescue her. She had been taken, shame that it should be said, to the +house of Madame La Motte in Duck Lane. From there we took her, but in +the taking I slew a most unknightly knight of the Court, and offered a +grave indignity to one placed even more highly than he was. Of +necessity, therefore, we fled from that ill-famed house. Madame La Motte +brought us to your ship, knowing you. Her we had to take with us, for if +not, vengeance would doubtless have fallen upon her for what I did. And +that, Captain Clark, is my whole story. As regards the future, Madame La +Motte, you say, hath paid you well. I have no money with me, but I am +the son of a rich man, and moreover, I can draw upon Mr. Cressemer for +anything I require. Gin you take us safely to Cadiz, I will give you +such a letter to the Alderman as will ensure your promotion in his +service, and will also be productive of a sum of money for you. I well +know that Master Cressemer would give a bag of ducats more than you +could lift, to secure the safety of Mistress Taylor."</p> + +<p>The captain nodded. "Hast explained thyself very well, sir," he replied. +"As for the money, I am already paid, though if there is more to come, +the better I shall be pleased. But now that I know your state and +condition, and have heard your story, rest assured that I will do all I +can to help<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> you. We touch at Lisbon first. There you can purchase +proper clothing for yourself and those who are with you, and there also +you can indite a letter to the Alderman, which will go to him by an +English ship very speedily. You have told your tale, and I ask to know +no more. I would not know any more, i' faith, even if thou wert to press +the knowledge on me. Now do not answer me in what I am about to say, +which, in brief, is this: We of the riverside have heard talk and +rumours. We know very well who hath now and then been a patron of La +Motte. It may be that you have come across and offered indignity to the +person of whom I speak—I am no fool, Mr. Commendone, and gentlemen of +your degree do not generally come aboard a vessel in the tideway at +early dawn in company of a mistress of a house with a red door! If what +I say is true—and I do not wish you to deny or to affirm upon the +same—then you are as well in Cadiz as anywhere else. It is, indeed, a +far cry from the Tower of London, and no one will know who you are in +Spain."</p> + +<p>Instinctively Johnnie held out his hand, and the big seaman clasped it +in his brown and tarry fist.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said slowly, in answer, weighing his words as he did so, +"doubtless we shall be safe in Spain for a time, until advices can reach +us from England with money and reports of what has happened."</p> + +<p>"I said so," Captain Clark answered, "and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> now you see it also. Mark +you, any vengeance that might fall upon you could only be secret, +because—if it is as I think, and, indeed, well believe—the person who +has suffered indignity at your hands could not confess to it, for reason +of his state, and where it was he suffered it. In Spain it would be +different, but who's to know that you are in Spain—for a long time, at +any rate?"</p> + +<p>"And by that time," Johnnie replied, "I shall hope to have gone farther +afield, and be out of the fire of any one to hurt me. But there is this, +captain, which you must consider, sith you have opened your mind to me +as I to you. Enquiry will be made; the wharfingers who brought us aboard +may be discovered, and will speak. It will be known—at any rate it +<i>may</i> be known—that you and your ship were the instruments of our +escape. And how will you do then?"</p> + +<p>"I like you for saying that," said the captain, "seeing that you are, as +it were, in my power. But alarm yourself not at all, Master Commendone."</p> + +<p>He rose from the coil of hemp where he had been sitting and spat out +into the sea.</p> + +<p>"By'r Lady," he cried, "and dost think that an honest British seafaring +man fears anything that a rascally, yellow-faced, jelly-gutted lot of +Spanish toads, that have fastened them on to our fair England, can do? +Why! as thinking is now, in the City of London, my owner, Master +Cressemer, and three or four others with him, could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> put such pressure +upon Whitehall that ne'er a word would be said. It is them that hath the +money, and the train bands at their back, that both pay the piper and +call the tune in London City."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you take it that way, captain," Commendone said, "but I felt +bound in duty to put your risk before you. Yet if it is as you say, and +the power of the merchant princes of the City is so great, why do those +about the Queen burn and throw in prison so many good men for their +religion?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, there you have me," said the captain. "Religion is a very different +thing—a plague to religion, say I—though I would not say it unless I +were walking my own deck and upon the high seas. But, look you, religion +is very different. They can burn a man for his religion in England, but +if he is in otherwise right, according to the powers that be, they +cannot make religion a mere excuse for burning him. Now I myself am a +good Catholic mariner"—he put his tongue in his cheek as he +spoke—"when I am ashore I take very good care—these days—to be +regular at Mass. And this ship hath been baptised by a priest withal! +Make your mind at rest; they cannot touch me in England for taking of +you away. There is too much at my back! And they cannot touch me in +Spain because no one will know anything about it there. And now 'tis +time for dinner. So come you down. There's a piece of pickled beef that +hath been in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> the pot this long time, and good green herbs with it +too—the want of which you will feel ere ever you make the Tagus."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It is astonishing—although the observation is trite—how soon people +adapt themselves to entirely new conditions of life. The environment of +yesterday seems like the experience of another life; that of to-day, +though we have but just experienced it, becomes already a thing of use +and wont.</p> + +<p>It was thus with the fugitives. They were not three days out from London +River before they had shaken down into their places and life had become +normal to them all.</p> + +<p>It was not, of course, without its discomforts. Hull, messing with the +bo'son, was very well off and speedily became popular with every one. +The brightness and cheeriness of the fellow's disposition made him hail +and happy met with all of them, while his great personal strength and +general handiness detracted nothing from his popularity. Madame La +Motte, wicked old soldier of fortune as she was, adapted herself to her +surroundings with true and cynical French philosophy. She, who was used +to live in the greatest personal luxury, put up with the rough fare, the +confined quarters, with equanimity, though it was fortunate that their +passage was smooth, and that all the time the sea was tranquil as a +pond. She was accustomed to drink fine French and Italian wines—and to +drink<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> a great deal of them. Now she found, perforce, consolation in +Captain Clark's puncheons of Antwerp spirit, the white fiery <i>schiedam</i>. +She was a drunkard, this engaging lady, and imbibed great quantities of +liquor, much to the satisfaction of the captain, who was paid for it in +good coin of the realm.</p> + +<p>The woman never became confused or intoxicated by what she drank. +Towards the end of the day she became a little sentimental, and was wont +to talk overmuch of her good birth, to expatiate upon the fallen glories +of her family. Nevertheless, no single word escaped her which could +shock or enlighten the sensitive purity of the young girl who was now in +her charge. There must have been some truth in her stories, because +Commendone, who was a thoroughly well-bred man, could see that her +manners were those of his own class. There was certainly a +free-and-easiness, a rakish <i>bonhomie</i>, and a caustic wit which was no +part of the attributes of the great ladies Johnnie had met—always +excepting the wit. This side of the old woman came from the depths into +which she had descended; but in other essentials she was a lady, and the +young man, with his limited experience of life, marvelled at it, and +more than once thanked God that things were no worse.</p> + +<p>It was during this strange voyage that he learnt, or began to learn, +that great lesson of <i>tolerance</i>, which was to serve him so well in his +after life. He realised that there was good even in this unclean<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> old +procuress; that she had virtues which some decent women he had known had +lacked. She tended Elizabeth with a maternal care; the girl clung to +her, became fond of her at once, and often said to Johnnie how kind the +woman was to her and what an affection she inspired.</p> + +<p>Reflecting on these things in the lonely watches of the night, +Commendone saw his views of life perceptibly changing and becoming +softened. This young man, so carefully trained, so highly educated, so +exquisitely refined in thought and behaviour, found himself feeling a +real friendship and something akin to tenderness for this kindly, +battered jetsam of life.</p> + +<p>She spoke frankly to him about her dreadful trade of the past, regarding +it philosophically. There was a demand; fortune or fate had put her in +the position of supplying that demand. <i>Il faut vivre</i>—and there you +were! And yet it was a most singular contradiction that this woman, who +for so long had exploited and sold womanhood, was now as kind and +tender, as scrupulous and loving to Elizabeth Taylor as if the girl was +her own daughter.</p> + +<p>It was not without great significance, Johnnie remembered, that the soul +of the Canaanitish harlot was the first that Christ redeemed.</p> + +<p>With Elizabeth—and surely there was never a stranger courting—Johnnie +sank at once into the position of her devoted lover. It seemed +inevitable. There was no prelude to it; there were no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> hesitations; it +just happened, as if it were a thing pre-ordained.</p> + +<p>From the very first the girl accepted him as her natural protector; she +looked up to him in all things; he became her present and her horizon.</p> + +<p>It was on one lovely night, when the moon was rising, the winds were +soft and low, and the stars came out in the dark sky like golden rain, +that he first spoke to her of what was to happen.</p> + +<p>It was all quite simple, though inexpressibly sweet.</p> + +<p>They were alone together in the forward part of the ship, and suddenly +he took her slim white hand—like a thing of carved and living +ivory—and held it close to his heart.</p> + +<p>"My dear," he said, in a voice tremulous with feeling, "my dear Lizzie, +you are my love and my lady. When first I saw you outside St. Botolph +his Church, so slim and sorrowful in the grey dawning, my heart was +pierced with love for you, and during the sad day that came I vowed that +I would devote my life to loving you, and that if God pleased thou +shouldst be my little wife. Wilt marry me, darling? nay, thou <i>must</i> +marry me, for I need you so sore, to be mine for ever both here in this +mortal world and afterwards with God and His Angels. Tell me, +sweetheart, wilt marry me?"</p> + +<p>She looked up in his face, and the little hand upon his heart trembled +as she did so.</p> + +<p>"Why, Johnnie," she answered at length, "why, Johnnie, who could I marry +but you?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> + +<p>He gathered the sweet and fragrant Simplicity to him; he kissed the soft +scarlet mouth, his strong arms were a home for her.</p> + +<p>"Or ever we get to Seville," he said, "we will be married, sweetheart, +and never will we part from that day."</p> + +<p>She echoed him. "Never part!" she said. "Oh, Johnnie, my true love; my +dear and darling Johnnie!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>At Lisbon, where they lay five days, Madame La Motte and Elizabeth went +ashore, and purchased suitable clothes and portmanteaux, while Johnnie +also fitted himself out afresh. Madame La Motte had brought a very large +sum with her in carefully hoarded gold, while she had also carried away +all her jewels, which, in themselves, were worth a small fortune. She +placed the whole of her money at Commendone's disposal, and made him +take charge of it, with an airy generosity which much touched the young +man. He explained to her that in the course of three months or so any +money that he needed would reach him from England, and that she would be +repaid, but she hardly seemed to hear him and waved such suggestion +away. And it is a most curious thing that not till a long time afterward +did it ever occur to the young man how and in what way the money he was +using had been earned. The realisation of that was to come to him later; +the time was not yet.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> + +<p>At Lisbon the passengers on board the <i>St. Iago</i> were added to. A small +yellow-faced Spaniard of very pleasant manners—Don Pedro Perez by +name—bought a passage to Cadiz from Captain Clark, and there was +another fellow of the lower classes, a tall, athletic young man, very +much of Johnnie's build, though with a heavy and rather cruel face, who +also joined the vessel. This person, who paid the captain a small sum to +be carried to the great port, lived with the sailors, and interfered +nothing with the life of the others.</p> + +<p>Don Perez proved himself an amusing companion and was very courteous to +the ladies.</p> + +<p>From him Johnnie made many enquiries and learnt a good deal of what he +wanted to know. It will be remembered that Commendone's mother was a +Spaniard, a girl of the Senebria family of Seville. Johnnie knew little +of his relations on his mother's side, but old Sir Henry still kept up +some slight intercourse with Don José Senebria, the brother of his late +wife. Now and again a cask of wine and some pottles of olives arrived at +Commendone, and occasionally the knight returned the present, sending +out bales of Flemish cloth. It was Johnnie's purpose to immediately +proceed from Cadiz to Seville after their arrival at the port. He learnt +with satisfaction that Don José still inhabited the old family palace by +the Giralda, and he felt that he would at least be among friends and +sure of a welcome.</p> + +<p>While the <i>St. Iago</i> lay at Lisbon, two days<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> before she set sail from +there, an English ship arrived, and from that time until she weighed +anchor Johnnie and none of his companions went ashore. It was extremely +unlikely that they would incur any danger, for the <i>Queen Mary</i>, which +was the name of the ship, must have sailed at very much the same time as +they did. It was as well, however, to undergo no unnecessary risks.</p> + +<p>On the day before the <i>St. Iago</i> sailed for Cadiz a great Spanish galley +came up the Tagus, a long and splendid ship, gliding swiftly up the +river with its two banks of oars. It was the first galley Johnnie had +ever seen, and he shuddered as he thought of the chained slaves below, +who propelled that sort of vessel, which was spoken of in England as a +floating hell. The galley lay at Lisbon for several hours, and then at +evening left the wharf where she had been tied and once more went down +the river for the open sea.</p> + +<p>Johnnie was on deck as she passed, just about sunset, and watched with +great interest, for the galley crossed the stern of the <i>St. Iago</i> only +fifty yards away from him.</p> + +<p>He heard the regular machine-like chunking of the oars; he heard also a +sharper, more pistol-like sound, which he knew was none other than the +cracking of the overseers' whips, as they flogged the slaves to greater +exertions.</p> + +<p>He did not see that among a little group of people upon the high +castellated poop of the galley there was one figure, a tall figure, +muffled in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> cloak, and with a broad-brimmed Spanish hat low upon its +face, who started and peered eagerly at him as the ship went by.</p> + +<p>Nor did he hear a low chuckle of amusement which came from that cloaked +figure.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth was standing by his side. He turned to her.</p> + +<p>"Let us go below," he said; "they will be bringing supper. Sweetheart, I +feel sad to think of those wretched men that pull that splendid ship so +swiftly through the seas."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>"MISERICORDIA ET JUSTITIA"</h3> + +<h3>(<i>The ironic motto of the Spanish Inquisition</i>)</h3> + + +<p>They had passed Cape de St. Vincent, and, under a huge copper-coloured +moon which flooded the sea with light and seemed like a chased buckler +of old Rome, were slipping along towards Faro, southwards and eastwards +to Cadiz.</p> + +<p>The night was fair, sweet, and golden. The airs which filled the sails +of the square-rigged ship were soft and warm. The "lap, lap" of the +small waves upon the cutwater was soothing and in harmony with the hour.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth had been sleeping in the cabin long since, but Commendone, old +Madame La Motte, and the little weazened Don Perez were sitting on the +forecastle deck together, among the six brass carronades which were +mounted there, ready loaded, in case of an attack by the pirates of +Tangier.</p> + +<p>"You were going to tell us, Señor," Johnnie said, "something of the Holy +Office, and why, when you leave Seville, you leave Spain for ever."</p> + +<p>Don Perez nodded. He rose to his feet and peered round the wooden tower +of the forecastle, which nearly filled the bow-deck.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There is nobody there," he said, with a little sigh of relief. "That +fellow we took aboard at Lisbon is down in the waist with the mariners."</p> + +<p>"But why do you fear him?" Johnnie answered in surprise.</p> + +<p>The little yellow man plucked at his pointed black beard, hesitated for +a moment, and then spoke.</p> + +<p>"Have you noticed his hands, Señor?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Since you say so," Johnnie replied, with wonder in his voice, "I have +noticed them. He is a proper young man of his inches, strong and an +athlete, though I like not his face. But his hands are out of all +proportion. They are too large, and the thumbs too broad—indeed, I have +never seen thumbs like them upon a hand before."</p> + +<p>Don Pedro Perez nodded significantly. "<i>Ciertamenta</i>," he answered +dryly. "It is hereditary; it comes of his class. He is a sworn torturer +of the Holy Office."</p> + +<p>Johnnie shuddered. They had been speaking in Spanish. Now he exclaimed +in his own tongue. "Good God!" he said, "how horrible!"</p> + +<p>Perez grinned sadly and cynically as the moonlight fell upon his yellow +face. "You may well start, Señor," he said, "but you know little of the +land to which you are going yet."</p> + +<p>There came a sudden, rapid exclamation in French. Madame La Motte, +speaking in that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> slow, frightened voice which had been hers throughout +the voyage, was interposing.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand," she said, "but I want to hear what the gentleman +has to say. He speaks French; let us therefore use that language."</p> + +<p>Don Perez bowed. "I am quite agreeable," he said; "but I doubt, Madame, +that you will care to hear all I was going to tell the Señor here."</p> + +<p>"Phut!" said the Frenchwoman. "I know more evil things than you or Don +Commendone have ever dreamed of. Say what you will."</p> + +<p>Don Perez drew a little nearer to the others, squatting down, with his +head against the bow-men's tower.</p> + +<p>"You have asked me about the Inquisition, Monsieur and Madame," he said +in a low voice, "and as ye are going to Seville, I will tell you, for +you have been courteous and kind to me since I left Lisbon, and you may +as well be warned. I am peculiarly fitted to tell you, because my +brother—God and Our Lady rest his blood-stained soul!—was a notary of +the Holy Office at Seville. We are, originally, Lisbon people, and my +brother was paying a visit to his family, being on leave from his +duties. He caught fever and died, and I am bearing back his papers with +me to Seville, from which city I shall depart as soon as may be. It is +only care for my own skin that makes me act thus as executor to my +brother, Garcia Perez. Did I not, they would seek me out wherever I +might be."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You go in fear, then?" Johnnie asked curiously.</p> + +<p>"All Spaniards go in fear," Perez answered, "under this reign. It is the +horror of the Inquisition that while any one may be haled before it on a +complaint which is anonymous, hardly any one ever escapes certain +penalties. Señor," his voice trembled, and a deep note of feeling came +into it, "if the fate of that wretch is heavy who, being innocent of +heresy, will not confess his guilt, and is therefore tortured until he +confesses imaginary guilt, and is then burned to death, hardly less is +the misery of the victim who recants or repenteth and is freed from the +penalty of death."</p> + +<p>"<i>Tiens!</i>" said La Motte, shuddering. "I have heard somewhat of this in +Paris; but continue, Monsieur, continue."</p> + +<p>"No one knows," the little man answered, "how the Holy Office is +striking at the root of all national life in my country. And no one has +a better knowledge of it all at second hand—for, thank Our Lady, I have +never yet been suspected or arraigned—than I myself, for my brother +being for long notary and secretary to the Grand Inquisitor of Seville, +I have heard much. Now I must tell you, that the place of torture is +generally an underground and very dark room, to which one enters through +several doors. There is a tribunal erected in it, where the Inquisitor, +Inspector, and Secretary sit. When the candles are lighted, and the +person to be tortured is brought in, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> executioner, who is waiting +for him, makes an astonishing and dreadful appearance. He is covered all +over with black linen garments down to his feet and tied close to his +body. His head and face are all hidden with a long black cowl, only two +little holes being left in it for him to see through. All this is +intended to strike the miserable wretch with greater terror in mind and +body, when he sees himself going to be tortured by the hands of one who +thus looks like the very Devil."</p> + +<p>Johnnie moved uneasily in his seat and struck the breech of a carronade +with his open hand. "Phew! Devil's tricks indeed," he said.</p> + +<p>"Whilst," Don Perez went on, "whilst the officers are getting things +ready for the torture, the Bishop and Inquisitor by themselves, and +other men zealous for the faith, endeavour to persuade the person to be +tortured freely to confess the truth, and if he will not, they order the +officers to strip him, who do it in an instant.</p> + +<p>"Whilst the person to be tortured is stripping, he is persuaded to +confess the truth. If he refuses it, he is taken aside by certain men +and urged to confess, and told by them that if he confesses he will not +be put to death, but only be made to swear that he will not return to +the heresy he hath abjured. If he is persuaded neither by threatenings +nor promises to confess his crime, he is tortured either more lightly or +grievously according as his crime requires, and frequently interrogated +during the torture upon those articles for which he is put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> to it, +beginning with the lesser ones, because they think he would sooner +confess the lesser matters than the greater."</p> + +<p>"Criminals are racked in England," Johnnie said, "and are flogged most +grievously, as well they deserve, I do not doubt."</p> + +<p>Perez chuckled. "Aye," he said, "that I well know; but you have nothing +in England like the Holy Office. But let me tell you more as to the law +of it, for, as I have said, my brother was one of them."</p> + +<p>He went on in a low regular voice, almost as if he were repeating +something learned by rote....</p> + +<p>"What think you of this? The Inquisitors themselves must interrogate the +criminals during their torture, nor can they commit this business to +others unless they are engaged in other important affairs, in which case +they may depute certain skilful men for the purpose.</p> + +<p>"Although in other nations criminals are publicly tortured, yet in Spain +it is forbidden by the Royal Law for any to be present whilst they are +torturing, besides the judges, secretaries, and torturers. The +Inquisitors must also choose proper torturers, born of ancient +Christians, who must be bound by oath by no means to discover their +secrets, nor to report anything that is said.</p> + +<p>"The judges also shall protest that if the criminal should happen to die +under his torture, or by reason of it, or should suffer the loss of any +of his limbs, it is not to be imputed to them, but to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> the criminal +himself, who will not plainly confess the truth before he is tortured.</p> + +<p>"A heretic may not only be interrogated concerning himself, but in +general also concerning his companions and accomplices in his crime, his +teachers and his disciples, for he ought to discover them, though he be +not interrogated; but when he is interrogated concerning them, he is +much more obliged to discover them than his accomplices in any other the +most grievous crimes.</p> + +<p>"A person also suspected of heresy and fully convicted may be tortured +upon another account, that is, to discover his companions and +accomplices in the crime. This must be done when he hesitates, or it is +half fully proved, at least, that he was actually present with them, or +he hath such companions and accomplices in his crime; for in this case +he is not tortured as a criminal, but as a witness.</p> + +<p>"But he who makes full confession of himself is not tortured upon a +different account; whereas if he be a negative he may be tortured upon +another account, to discover his accomplices and other heretics though +he be full convicted himself, and it be half fully proved that he hath +such accomplices.</p> + +<p>"The reason of the difference in these cases is this, because he who +confesses against himself would certainly much rather confess against +other heretics if he knew them. But it is otherwise when the criminal is +a negative.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> + +<p>"While these things are doing, the notary writes everything down in the +process, as what tortures were inflicted, concerning what matters the +prisoner was interrogated, and what he answered.</p> + +<p>"If by these tortures they cannot draw from him a confession, they show +him other kind of tortures, and tell him he must undergo all of them, +unless he confesses the truth.</p> + +<p>"If neither by these means they can extort the truth, they may, to +terrify him and engage him to confess, assign the second or third day to +continue, not to repeat, the torture, till he hath undergone all those +kinds of them to which he is condemned."</p> + +<p>"It is bitter cruel," Madame La Motte said, "bitter cruel. It is not +honest torture such as we have in Paris."</p> + +<p>Commendone shuddered. "Honest torture!" he said. "There is no torture +which is honest, nor could be liked by Christ our Lord. I saw a saint +burned to his death a few weeks agone. It taught me a lesson."</p> + +<p>The little Spaniard tittered. "It must be! It must be!" he said; "and +who are you and I, Señor, to flout the decrees of Holy Church? The +burning doth not last for long. I have seen a many burned upon the +Quemadero, and twenty minutes is the limit of their suffering. It is not +so in the dungeons of the Holy Office."</p> + +<p>"What then do they do?" Madame La Motte asked eagerly, though she +trembled as she asked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> it—morbid excitement alone being able to thrill +her vicious, degenerate blood.</p> + +<p>"The degrees of torture are five, which are inflicted in turn," Perez +answered briskly. "First, the being threatened to be tortured; secondly, +being carried to the place of torture; thirdly, by stripping and +binding; fourthly, the being hoisted on the rack; fifthly, squassation.</p> + +<p>"The stripping is performed without any regard to humanity or honour, +not only to men, but to women and virgins, though the most virtuous and +chaste, of whom they have sometimes many in their prison at Seville. For +they cause them to be stripped even to their very shifts, which they +afterwards take off, forgive the expression, and then put on them +straight linen drawers, and then make their arms naked quite up to their +shoulders.—You ask me what is squassation?"</p> + +<p>Nobody had asked him, but he went on:</p> + +<p>"It is thus performed: The prisoner hath his hands bound behind his back +and weights tied to his feet, and then he is drawn up on high till his +head reaches the very pulley. He is kept hanging in this manner for some +time, that by the greatness of the weight hanging at his feet, all his +joints and limbs may be dreadfully stretched, and on a sudden he is let +down with a jerk by slacking the rope, but kept from coming quite to the +ground, by the which terrible shake his arms and legs are all +disjointed, whereby he is put to the most exquisite pain; the shock +which he receives by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> sudden stop of the fall, and the weight at his +feet, stretching his whole body more intently and cruelly."</p> + +<p>Johnnie jumped up from the deck and stretched his arms. "What fiends be +these!" he cried. "Is there no justice nor true legal process in Spain?"</p> + +<p>"Holy Church! Holy Church, Señor!" the Don replied. "But sit you down +again. Sith you are going to Seville, as I understand you to say, let me +tell you what happened to a noble lady of that city, Joan Bohorquia, the +wife of Francis Varquius, a very eminent man and lord of Highuera, and +daughter of Peter Garcia Xeresius, a most wealthy citizen. All this I +tell you of my personal knowledge, in that my brother was acquainted +with it all and part of the machinery of the Holy Office. And this is a +most sad and pitiful story, which, Señor Englishman, you would think a +story of the doings of devils from hell! But no! 'Twas all done by the +priests of Jesus our Lord; and so now to my story.</p> + +<p>"Eight days after her delivery they took the child from her, and on the +fifteenth shut her close up, and made her undergo the fate of the other +prisoners, and began to manage her with their usual arts and rigour. In +so dreadful a calamity she had only this comfort, that a certain pious +young woman, who was afterwards burned for her religion by the +Inquisitors, was allowed her for her companion.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p> + +<p>"This young creature was, on a certain day, carried out to her torture, +and being returned from it into her jail, she was so shaken, and had all +her limbs so miserably disjointed, that when she laid upon her bed of +rushes it rather increased her misery than gave her rest, so that she +could not turn herself without most excessive pain.</p> + +<p>"In this condition, as Bohorquia had it not in her power to show her any +or but very little outward kindness, she endeavoured to comfort her mind +with great tenderness.</p> + +<p>"The girl had scarce begun to recover from her torture, when Bohorquia +was carried out to the same exercise, and was tortured with such +diabolical cruelty upon the rack, that the rope pierced and cut into the +very bones in several places, and in this manner she was brought back to +prison, just ready to expire, the blood immediately running out of her +mouth in great plenty. Undoubtedly they had burst her bowels, insomuch +that the eighth day after her torture she died.</p> + +<p>"And when, after all, they could not procure sufficient evidence to +condemn her, though sought after and procured by all their inquisitorial +arts, yet as the accused person was born in that place, where they were +obliged to give some account of the affair to the people, and, indeed, +could not by any means dissemble it, in the first act of triumph +appointed her death, they commanded her sentence to be pronounced in +these words: 'Because this lady died in prison (without doubt +suppressing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> the causes of it), and was found to be innocent upon +inspecting and diligently examining her cause, therefore the holy +tribunal pronounces her free from all charges brought against her by the +fiscal, and absolving her from any further process, doth restore her +both as to her innocence and reputation, and commands all her effects, +which had been confiscated, to be restored to those to whom they of +right belonged, etc.' And thus, after they had murdered her by torture +with savage cruelty, they pronounced her innocent!"</p> + +<p>"I will not go to Spain! They'll have me; they're bound to have me! I +dare not go!" La Motte spluttered.</p> + +<p>"Hush, Madame!" said Perez. "Even here on the high seas you do not know +who hears you—there is that man...."</p> + +<p>Again Johnnie leapt to his feet; he paced up and down the little portion +of the deck between the forecastle and bowsprit.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth was sleeping quietly down below. He had seen her father die. +His mind whirled. "Jesus!" he said in a low voice, "and is this indeed +Thy world, when men who love Thee must die for a shadow of belief in +their worship! Surely some savage pagan god would not exact this from +his votaries."</p> + +<p>He swung round to Perez, still sitting upon the deck.</p> + +<p>"And may not we love God and His Mother in Spain?" he asked, "without +definitions and little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> tiny rules? Then, if this is so, God indeed +hides His face from Christian countries."</p> + +<p>"<i>Chiton!</i>" the Spaniard said. "Hush! if you said that, Señor, or +anything like it, where you are going, you would not be twelve hours out +of the prisons of the Holy Office. If that hang-faced dog who is down +below with the mariners had heard you, you might well look to your +landing in the dominions of his Most Catholic Majesty."</p> + +<p>He laughed, a bitter and cynical laugh. "Well," he said, "for my part, I +shall soon be done with it. Hitherto I have been protected by my +brother, who, as I have told you, is but lately dead; but, knowing what +I know, I dare no longer remain in Spain. 'Tis a wonder to me, indeed, +that men can go about their business under the sun in the fashion that +they do. But I am not strong enough to endure the strain, and also I +know more than the ordinary—I know too much. So when I have delivered +the papers that I carry of my brother's to the authorities in Seville, I +sail away. I have enough money to live in ease for the rest of my life, +and in some little vineyard of the Apeninnes I shall watch my grapes +ripen, live a simple life, and meditate upon the ferocity of men.—But +you have not heard all yet, Señor."</p> + +<p>Johnnie leant against the forecastle, tall and silent in the moonlight.</p> + +<p>"Then tell me more, Señor," he said; "it is well to know all. But"—he +looked at Madame La Motte.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p> + +<p>"<i>Continuez</i>," the old creature answered in a cracked voice; "I also +would hear it all, if, indeed, there is worse than this."</p> + +<p>"Worse!" Perez answered. "Let me tell you of the fate of a man I knew +well, and liked withal. He was a Jew, Señor, but nevertheless I liked +him well. We had dealings together, and I found him more honest in his +walking than many a Christian man. Orobio was his name—Isaac Orobio, +doctor of physic, who was accused to the Inquisition as a Jew by a +certain Moor, his servant, who had, by his order, before this been +whipped for thieving. Orobio conformed to religion, but the Moor accused +him, and four years after this he was again accused by an enemy of his, +for another fact which would have proved him a Jew. But Orobio +obstinately denied that he was one."</p> + +<p>"I like not Jews," Commendone said, with a little shudder, voicing the +popular hatred of the day.</p> + +<p>"Art young, Señor," the Spaniard replied, "and doubtless thou hast not +known nor been friends with members of that oppressed race. I have known +many, and have had sweet friends among them; and among the Ebrews are to +be found salt of the earth. But I will give you the story of Orobio's +torture as I had it from his own mouth.</p> + +<p>"After three whole years which he had been in jail, and several +examinations, and the discovery of the crimes to him of which he was +accused, in order to his confession and his constant denial of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> them, he +was, at length, carried out of his jail and through several turnings and +brought to the place of torture. This was towards evening.</p> + +<p>"It was a large, underground room, arched, and the walls covered with +black hangings. The candlesticks were fastened to the wall, and the +whole room enlightened with candles placed in them. At one end of it +there was an enclosed place like a closet, where the Inquisitor and +notary sat at a table—that notary, Señor, was my brother. The place +seemed to Orobio as the very mansion of death, everything appearing so +terrible and awful. Here the Inquisitor again admonished him to confess +the truth before his torment began.</p> + +<p>"When he answered he had told the truth, the Inquisitor gravely +protested that since he was so obstinate as to suffer the torture, the +Holy Office would be innocent if he should shed his blood, or even +expire in his torments. When he had said this, they put a linen garment +over Orobio's body, and drew it so very close on each side as almost to +squeeze him to death. When he was almost dying, they slackened, at once, +the sides of the garment, and after he began to breathe again, the +sudden alteration put him to most grievous anguish and pain. When he had +overcome this torture, the same admonition was repeated, that he would +confess the truth in order to prevent further torment.</p> + +<p>"And as he persisted in his denial, they tied his thumbs so very tightly +with small cords as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> made the extremities of them greatly swell, and +caused the blood to spurt out from under his nails. After this, he was +placed with his back against the wall and fixed upon a little bench. +Into the wall were fastened little iron pulleys, through which there +were ropes drawn and tied round his body in several places, and +especially his arms and legs. The executioner drawing these ropes with +great violence, fastened his body with them to the wall, so that his +hands and feet, and especially his fingers and toes, being bound so +straitly with them, put him to the most exquisite pain, and seemed to +him just as though he had been dissolving in flames. In the midst of +these torments, the torturer of a sudden drew the bench from under him, +so that the miserable wretch hung by the cords without anything to +support him, and by the weight of his body drew the knots yet much +closer.</p> + +<p>"After this a new kind of torture succeeded. There was an instrument +like a small ladder, made of two upright pieces of wood and five cross +ones, sharpened before. This the torturer placed over against him, and +by a certain proper motion struck it with great violence against both +his shins, so that he received upon each of them, at once, five violent +strokes, which put him to such intolerable anguish that he fainted away. +After he came to himself they inflicted on him the last torture.</p> + +<p>"The torturer tied ropes round Orobio's wrists, and then put those ropes +about his own back, which was covered with leather to prevent his +hurting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> himself. Then, falling backwards, and putting his feet up +against the wall, he drew them with all his might till they cut through +Orobio's flesh, even to the very bones; and this torture was repeated +thrice, the ropes being tied about his arms, about the distance of two +fingers' breadth from his former wound, and drawn with the same +violence.</p> + +<p>"But it happened to poor Orobio that as the ropes were drawing the +second time they slid into the first wound, which caused so great an +effusion of blood that he seemed to be dying. Upon this, the physician +and surgeon, who are always ready, were sent for out of a neighbouring +apartment, to ask their advice, whether the torture could be continued +without danger of death, lest the ecclesiastical judges should be guilty +of an irregularity if the criminal should die in his torments.</p> + +<p>"Now they, Señor, who were very far from being enemies to Orobio, +answered that he had strength enough to endure the rest of the torture. +And by doing this they preserved him from having the torture he had +already endured repeated on him, because his sentence was that he should +suffer them all at one time, one after another, so that if at any time +they are forced to leave off, through fear of death, the tortures, even +those already suffered, must be successively inflicted to satisfy the +sentence. Upon this the torture was repeated the third time, and then +was ended. After this Orobio was bound up in his own clothes and carried +back to his prison, and was scarce healed of his wounds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> in seventy +days, and inasmuch as he made no confession under his torture, he was +condemned, not as one convicted, but suspected of Judaism, to wear for +two whole years the infamous habit called the <i>sanbenito</i>, and it was +further decreed that after that term he should suffer perpetual +banishment from the kingdom of Seville."</p> + +<p>The Frenchwoman, who had been listening with strained attention, broke +in suddenly. "<i>Nom de Dieu!</i>" she cried; "to be banished from there +would surely be like entering into paradise!"</p> + +<p>Perez went on. He took a morbid pleasure in the telling of these hideous +truths. It was obvious that he had long suffered mentally under the +obsession that some day some such horrors might happen to himself. +Connected with it all by family ties, absolutely unable to say a word +for many years, now, under the sweet skies of heaven, in the calm and +splendid night, he was disemburdening himself of that which had been +pent within him for so long.</p> + +<p>He seemed impatient of interruption, anxious to say more....</p> + +<p>"Ah," he whispered, "but the <i>Tormento di Toca</i>, that is the worst, that +would frighten me more than all—that, the <i>Chafing-dish</i>, and the +<i>Water-Cure</i>. The <i>Tormento di Toca</i> is that the torturer—that fellow +down there with the sailors has doubtless performed it full many a +time—the torturer throws over the victim's mouth and nostrils a thin +cloth, so that he is scarce able to breathe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> through it, and in the +meanwhile a small stream of water, like a thread, not drop by drop, +falls from on high upon the mouth of the person lying in this miserable +condition, and so easily sinks down the thin cloth to the bottom of his +throat, so that there is no possibility of breathing, the mouth being +stopped with water, and his nostrils with the cloth, so that the poor +wretch is in the same agony as persons ready to die, and breathing out +their last. When the cloth is drawn out of his throat, as it often is, +that he may answer to the questions, it is all wet with water and blood, +and is like pulling his bowels through his mouth."</p> + +<p>"What is the <i>Chafing-dish</i>?" Madame La Motte asked thinly.</p> + +<p>"They order a large iron chafing-dish full of lighted charcoal to be +brought in and held close to the soles of the tortured person's feet, +greased over with lard, so that the heat of the fire may more quickly +pierce through them. And as for the <i>Water-Cure</i>, it was done to William +Lithgow, an Englishman, Señor, upon whom my brother saw it performed. He +was taken up as a spy in Malaga, and was exposed to most cruel torments +as an heretic. He was condemned in the beginning of Lent to suffer the +night following eleven most cruel torments, and after Easter to be +carried privately to Granada, there to be burned at midnight, and his +ashes to be scattered into the air. When night came on his fetters were +taken off. Then he was stripped naked, put upon his knees, and his head<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> +lifted up by force, after which, opening his mouth with iron +instruments, they filled his belly with water till it came out of his +jaws. Then they tied a rope hard about his neck, and in this condition +rolled him seven times the whole length of the room, till he almost +quite strangled. After this they tied a small cord about both his great +toes, and hung him up thereby with his head down, letting him remain in +this condition till the water discharged out of his mouth, so that he +was laid on the ground as just dead, and had his irons put on him +again."</p> + +<p>"Is this true, Señor?" Commendone asked in a low voice; but even while +he asked it he knew how true it was—had he not seen Dr. Taylor beaten +to the stake?</p> + +<p>"True, Señor?" the little man said. "You do not doubt my word? I see you +do not. It was but a natural expression. You are fortunate to be a +citizen of England—a citizen of no mean country—but still, as I have +heard, now that His Most Catholic Majesty is wedded to your kingdom +there are many burnings."</p> + +<p>"At any rate," Johnnie answered hotly, "we have no Holy Office."</p> + +<p>"Aye, but you will, Señor, you <i>will</i>! if the Queen Maria liveth long +enough, for they tell me she is sickly, and not like to make a goodly +age. But still, to come from England is most deadly unwise, and I cannot +think why a <i>caballero</i> should care to do so."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p> + +<p>Johnnie did not answer him for a moment. He knew very well why he had +cared, or dared, to do so. He looked at Madame La Motte with a grim +little smile.</p> + +<p>The woman took him on the instant.</p> + +<p>"A chevalier, such as Monsieur here, hath his own reasons for where he +goes and what he does," she said. "Take not upon you, Monsieur Perez, to +enquire too much...."</p> + +<p>Johnnie stopped her with a sudden exclamation.</p> + +<p>"But touching the Holy Office, Señor," he said, "what you have told me +is all very well. I am a good Catholic, I trust and hope; but surely +these circumstances are very occasional. You describe things which have +doubtless happened, but not things which happen every day. It is +impossible to believe that this is a system."</p> + +<p>"Think you so?" said the little man. "Then I will very soon disabuse you +of any such idea. I have papers in my mails, papers of my brother's, +which—why, who comes here?"</p> + +<p>His voice died away into silence, as round the other side of the wooden +tower of the forecastle—with which all big merchantmen were provided in +those days for defence against the enterprise of pirates—a black +shadow, followed by a short, thick-set form, came into their view.</p> + +<p>Johnnie recognised Hull.</p> + +<p>"I thought you had been asleep," he said, "but thou art very welcome. We +are talking of grave matters dealing with the foreign parts to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> which we +go, and the Señor Don here hath been telling us much. Still, thou +wouldst not have understood hadst thou been with us, for Don Perez +speaks naught but the Spanish and the French."</p> + +<p>The little Spaniard, standing up against the bulwarks, looked uneasily +towards Commendone and his servant, comprehending nothing of what was +said.</p> + +<p>"This man is safe?" he asked in a trembling voice.</p> + +<p>"Safe!" Johnnie answered. "This is my faithful servant, who would die +for me and the lady who is sleeping below."</p> + +<p>A freakish humour possessed him, a bitter, freakish humour, in this +fantastic, brilliant moonlight, this ironic comedy upon the +southern-growing seas.</p> + +<p>"Take him by the hand, Señor," he said in Spanish, "take him by his +great, strong right hand, for I'll wager you will not easily shake a +hand so honest in the dominions of the King of Spain to which we sail."</p> + +<p>The little man looked round him as if in fear. There was an obvious +suggestion in his eyes and face that he was somehow trapped.</p> + +<p>"Hold out thy hand, John Hull, and shake that of this honest gentleman," +Johnnie said.</p> + +<p>The big brown hand of the Englishman went out, the little yellow fingers +of the Spaniard advanced tentatively towards it.</p> + +<p>They shook hands.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p> + +<p>Johnnie watched it with amusement. These dreadful stories of unthinkable +cruelty had stirred up something within him. He was not cruel, but very +tender-hearted, yet this little play upon the doubting Spaniard was +welcome and fitted in with his mood.</p> + +<p>Then he saw an astonishing thing, and one which he could not explain.</p> + +<p>The two men, the huge, squat John Hull of Suffolk, the little weazened +gentleman from Lisbon, shook hands, looked at each other earnestly in +the face, and then, wonder of wonders, linked arms, turned their backs +upon Johnnie and the sleepy old Frenchwoman by the carronade, and spoke +earnestly to each other for a moment.</p> + +<p>Their forms were silhouetted against the silver sea. There was an +inexplicable motion of arms, a word whispered and a word exchanged, and +then Don Perez wheeled round.</p> + +<p>In the moonlight and the glimmer from the lantern on the forecastle, +Johnnie saw that his face, which had been twitching with anxiety, was +now absolutely at rest. It was radiant even, excited, pleased—it wore +the aspect of one alone among enemies who had found a friend.</p> + +<p>"'Tis all right, Señor," Perez said. "I will go and fetch you the papers +of which I spoke. You may command me in any way now. You are not +yourself—by any chance...."</p> + +<p>John Hull shook his head violently, and the little Spaniard skipped away +with a chuckle.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What is this?" John Commendone asked. "How have you made quick friends +with the Don? What is't—art magic, or what?"</p> + +<p>"'Tis nothing, sir," Hull answered, with some embarrassment, "'tis but +the Craft."</p> + +<p>"The Craft?" Johnnie asked. "And what may that be?"</p> + +<p>"We're brethren, this man and I," Hull answered; "we're of the +Freemasons, and that is why, master."</p> + +<p>Johnnie nodded. He said no more. The whole thing was inexplicable to +him. He knew, of course, of the Freemasons, that such a society existed, +but no evidence of it had ever come to his knowledge before this night. +The persecution of Freemasonry which was to ensue in Queen Elizabeth's +reign was not yet, and the Brethren were a very hidden people in 1555.</p> + +<p>There was a patter of feet upon the ladder leading up to the +forecastle-deck. Perez appeared again with a bundle of papers in his +hand.</p> + +<p>"Now, then, Señor," he said, "you shall see if this of which I have told +you is a <i>system</i> or is not. These are documents, forms, belonging to my +brother's business as Notary of the Holy Office. Thus thou wilt see."</p> + +<p>He handed a piece of parchment, printed parchment, to Commendone.</p> + +<p>Johnnie held it up under the light of the lantern, and read it, with a +chilling of the blood.</p> + +<p>It was "The Proper Form of Torture for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> Women," and it was one of many +forms left blank for convenience to record the various steps.</p> + +<p>As he glanced through it, his lips grew dry, his eyes, straining in the +half-sufficient light, seemed to burn.</p> + +<p>There was something peculiarly terrible in the very omission of a +special name, and the consequent thought of the number of wretches whose +vain words and torments had been recorded upon forms like this—and were +yet to be recorded—froze the young man into a still figure of horror +and of silence.</p> + +<p>And this is what he read:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<i>She was told to tell the truth, or orders would be given to +strip her. She said, etc. She was commanded to be stripped +naked.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She was told to tell the truth, or orders would be given to +cut off her hair. She said, etc.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>Orders were given to cut of her hair; and when it was taken +off she was examined by the doctor and surgeon, who said there +was not any objection to her being put to the torture.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She was told to tell the truth or she would be commanded to +mount the rack. She said, etc.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She was commanded to mount, and she said, etc.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She was told to tell the truth, or her body would be bound. +She said, etc. She was ordered to be bound.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She was told to tell the truth, or, if not, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> would order +her right foot to be made fast for the trampazo. She said, etc. +They commanded it to be made fast.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She was told to tell the truth, or they would command her +left foot to be made fast for the trampazo. She said, etc. They +commanded it to be made fast. She said, etc. It was ordered to +be done.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the +binding of the right arm to be stretched. She said, etc. It was +commanded to be done. And the same with the left arm. It was +ordered to be executed.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the +fleshy part of her right arm to be made fast for the garrote. +She said, etc. It was ordered to be made fast.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>And by the said lord inquisitor, it was repeated to her many +times, that she should tell the truth, and not let herself be +brought into so great torment; and the physician and surgeon +were called in, who said, etc. And the criminal, etc. And +orders were given to make it fast.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the first +turn of mancuerda. She said, etc. It was commanded to be done.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She was told to tell the truth, or they would command the +garrote to be applied again to the right arm. She said, etc. It +was ordered to be done.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She was told to tell the truth, or they would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> order the +second turn of mancuerda. She said, etc. It was commanded to be +done.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the +garrote to be applied again to the left arm. She said, etc. It +was ordered to be done.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the third +turn of mancuerda. She said, etc. It was commanded to be done.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the +trampazo to be laid on the right foot. She said, etc. It was +commanded to be done.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>For women you do not go beyond this.</i>"</p></blockquote> + +<p>Johnnie finished his reading. Then he tore it up into four pieces and +flung it out upon the starboard bow.</p> + +<p>The yellow parchment fluttered over Madame La Motte's head like great +moonlit moths.</p> + +<p>Then he turned and stared at Don Pedro, almost as if he would have +sprung at him.</p> + +<p>"'Tis nothing of mine, Señor," the little man said. "You asked me to +tell you, and that I have done. I am no enemy of yours, so look not at +me in that way. Here"—he put his hand out and touched John Hull—"here +I have a very worthy brother, eke a Master of mine, who will answer for +me in all that I do."</p> + +<p>The old Frenchwoman began to gather her vast bulk together to descend +into the cabin for sleep.</p> + +<p>Johnnie helped her to her feet, and as he did so a sweet tenor voice +shivered out beneath the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> bellying sails, and there was the thrid of a +lute accompanying it:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"<i>I sail, I sail the Spanish seas,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Hey ho, in the sun and the cloud</i><br /></span> +<span class="i4"><i>To bring fair ladies</i><br /></span> +<span class="i4"><i>Wool to Cadiz,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>To deck their bodies that are so proud,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>In the ship of St. James a mariner I</i>"....<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Suddenly the voice of the singer ceased, shut off into silence.</p> + +<p>There was a half-frightened shout, a flapping of the sails as the +square-rigged ship fell out of the night wind for a moment, and then a +clamour of loud voices.</p> + +<p>"Over the side! Over the side! The man from Lisbon's gone."</p> + +<p>Johnnie had jumped to the port taffrail at the noise, and he saw what +had happened. He saw the whole of it quite distinctly. A long, lithe +figure had been balancing itself upon the bulwarks, giving its body to +the gentle motion of the ship.</p> + +<p>Suddenly it fell backwards, there was a resounding splash in the quiet +sea, and something black was struggling and threshing in a pool of +silver water. From the sea came a loud cry—"<i>Socorro! Socorro!</i>"</p> + +<p>From the time the splash was heard and the cry came up to the forecastle +the ship had slipped a hundred yards through the still waters.</p> + +<p>Johnnie jumped up upon the bulwarks, held his hands above his head for a +moment, judged his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> distance—ships were not high out of the water in +that day—and dived into the phosphorescent sea.</p> + +<p>He was lightly clad, and he swam strongly, with the long left-arm +overhand stroke—conquering an element with joy in the doing of it—glad +to be in wild and furious action, happy to throw off the oppression of +the dreadful things which the little Spaniard had droned upon the deck. +He got up to the man easily enough, circled round him, as he rose +splashing for the third time, and caught him under the arm-pits, lying +on his back with the other above him.</p> + +<p>The man began to struggle, trying to turn and grip.</p> + +<p>Johnnie raised his head a little from the water, sinking as he did so, +and pulling down the other also, and shouted a Spanish curse into his +ear.</p> + +<p>"Be quiet," he said; "lie still! If you don't I'll drown you!"</p> + +<p>Commendone was a good swimmer. He had swam and dived in the lake at +Commendone since he was a boy. He knew now exactly what to do, and his +voice, though half-strangled with the salt water, and his grip of the +drowning man's arm-pits had their effect.</p> + +<p>There was a half-choked, "<i>Si, Señor</i>," and in twenty to thirty seconds +Johnnie lay back in the warm water of the Atlantic, knowing that for a +few minutes, at any rate, he could support the man he had come to save.</p> + +<p>It was curious that at this moment he felt no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> fear or alarm whatever. +His whole mind was directed towards one thing—that the man he had dived +to rescue would keep still. His mouth and nose were just out of the +water, when suddenly there came into his mind the catch of an old song.</p> + +<p>He heard again the high, delicate notes of the Queen's lute—"<i>Time hath +to siluer turn'd</i>...."</p> + +<p>Hardly knowing what he did, he even laughed with pleasure at the memory.</p> + +<p>As that was heard, a strong, lusty voice came to him.</p> + +<p>"I'm here, master, I'm here! We shall not be long now. Ah—ah-h-h!"</p> + +<p>Hull, blowing like a grampus, had swam up to them.</p> + +<p>"I'll take him, master," he said; "do you rest for a moment. They'll +have us out of this 'fore long."</p> + +<p>There were no life-belts invented in those days, and to lower a boat +from the ship was long in doing. But the <i>St. Iago</i> was brought up with +all sails standing, the boat at the stern was let down most gingerly +into the sea, and four mariners rowed towards the swimming men. It was +near twenty minutes before Hull and Commendone heard the chunk of the +oars in the rowlocks. But they heard it at last. The tub-like galley +shadowed them, there was a loud cry of welcome and relief, and then the +two men, still grasping the inert figure of him who had fallen +overboard, caught hold of the stern of the boat. Willing hands hauled +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> half-drowned man into the boat. Johnnie and Hull clambered over the +broad stern, sat down amid-ships, and shook themselves.</p> + +<p>The moonlight was still extraordinarily powerful, and gave a fallen day +to this southern world.</p> + +<p>As Commendone shot the water out of his ears, he looked upon the limp, +prone figure of the man he had rescued.</p> + +<p>"<i>Dame!</i>" he cried; "it is the torturer that we've been overboard for. +Pity we didn't let him drown."</p> + +<p>John Hull had turned the figure of the Spaniard upon its stomach and was +working vigorously at the arms, using them like pump-handles, as the +sailors got their oars into the rowlocks again, and pulled back towards +the shivering, silver ship near quarter of a mile away.</p> + +<p>"I'll bring the life back to him, master," said John Hull. "He's warm +now—there! He's vomited a pint or more of sea-water as I speak."</p> + +<p>"I doubt he was worth saving," Johnnie said in a low voice to his +servant's ear. "Still, he is saved, and I suppose a man like this hath a +soul?"</p> + +<p>Hull looked at Commendone in surprise. He knew nothing about the man +they had rescued; he could not understand why his master spoke in this +way.</p> + +<p>But with his usual dog-like fidelity he nodded an assent, though he did +not cease the pumping motion of the half-drowned man's arms.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he hath no soul, master," Hull said,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> "you know better than I. +At any rate, we have got him out of this here sea, and so praise God Who +hath given us the sturdiness to do it."</p> + +<p>Commendone looked at his henchman and then at the slowly reviving +Spaniard.</p> + +<p>"Amen," he said.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>THE SILENT MEN IN BLACK</h3> + + +<p>"Sing to us, Johnnie."</p> + +<p>"<i>Mais oui, chantez, Monsieur</i>," said Madame La Motte.</p> + +<p>Johnnie took up a chitarrone, the archlute, a large, double-necked +Spanish instrument, which lay upon a marble table by his side in the +courtyard.</p> + +<p>He looked up into the sky, the painted sunset sky of Spain, as if to +find some inspiration there.</p> + +<p>The hum of Seville came to them in an almost organ-like harmony. Bells +were tolling from the cathedral and the innumerable churches; pigeons +were wheeling round the domes and spires; occasionally a faint burst of +music reached them where they sat.</p> + +<p>The young man looked gravely at the two women. His face at this moment +was singularly tranquil and refined. He was dressed with scrupulous +care—the long journey over, his natural habits resumed. He had all the +air and grace of a gallant in a Court.</p> + +<p>He bowed to Madame La Motte and to his sweetheart, smiling gently at +them.</p> + +<p>"By your patience, ladies," he said, "I will make endeavour to improvise +for you upon a theme.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> We have spent this day in seeing beauties such as +sure I never thought to see with my mortal eyes. We are in the land of +colour, of sweet odours; the balmy smells of nard and cassia are flung +about the cedarn alleys where we walk. We have sucked the liquid air in +a veritable garden of the Hesperides, and, indeed, I looked to see the +three fair daughters of Hesperus along those crispèd shades and bowers. +And we have seen also"—his voice was almost dreaming as he spoke—"the +greatest church e'er built to God's glory by the hand of man. 'Tis +indeed a mountain scooped out, a valley turned upsides. The towers of +the Abbey Church at Westminster might walk erect in the middle nave; +there are pillars with the girth of towers, and which appear so slender +that they make one shudder as they rise from out the ground or depend +them from the gloomy roof like stalactites in the cave of a giant."</p> + +<p>Madame La Motte nodded, purred, and murmured to herself. The whimsical +and studied Court language did not now fall upon her ears for the first +time. In the fashion of that age all men of culture and position learnt +to talk in this fashion upon occasion, with classic allusion and in +graceful prose.</p> + +<p>But to sweet Elizabeth it was all new and beautiful, and as she gazed at +her lover her eyes were liquid with caressing wonder, her lips curved +into a bow of pride at such dear eloquence.</p> + +<p>Johnnie plucked the strings of the chitarrone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> once or twice, and then, +his eyes half closed, began a simple improvisation in a minor key, the +while he lifted his voice and began to sing his ballad of evening +colours:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">See! limner Phœbus paints the sky<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Vermilion and gold<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And doth with purple tapestry<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The waning day enfold.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">—The royal, lucent, Tyrian dye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">King Philip wore in Thessaly.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Lord of Morning now doth keep<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Herald for Lady Night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose robes of black and silver sweep<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Before his tabard bright.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">—All silver-soft and sable-deep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As when she brought Endymion sleep!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now honey-coloured Luna she<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Hath lit her lamp on high;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And paleth in her Majestie<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The twin Dioscuri.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">—Set in gold-powdered samite, she—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Queen of the Night! Queen of the Sea!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>His voice faded away into silence; the mellow tenor ceasing in an +imperceptible diminuendo of sound.</p> + +<p>There was a silence, and then Lizzie's hand stole out and touched her +lover's. "Oh, Johnnie," she said, "how gracious! And did those lovely +words come into thy head as thou sangst them?"</p> + +<p>"In truth they did, fairest lady of evening," he answered, bending low +over her hand. "And sure 'twas thy dear presence that sent them to me,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> +the musick of thy voice hath breathed a soul into this lute."</p> + +<p>... They had arrived safely in Seville the night before, spending three +days upon the journey from Cadiz, but travelling in very pleasant and +easy fashion.</p> + +<p>Mr. Mew, the mate of the <i>St. Iago</i>, had business in the city, and while +the vessel was discharging its cargo at Cadiz he went up to Seville and +took the four travellers with him on board an <i>alijador</i>—a long barge +with quarters for passengers, and a hold for cargo, which was propelled +partly by oars in the narrower reaches of the river, but principally by +a large lug sail.</p> + +<p>Don Perez had remained in Cadiz, but the tall and sinister young fellow +whom Hull and Johnnie had rescued from the Atlantic came in the barge +also. The fugitives from England had little to say to him, knowing what +he was. Alonso—which was the man's name—had been profuse in his +gratitude. His profuseness, however, had been mingled with a continuous +astonishment, a brutish wonder which was quite inexplicable to +Elizabeth.</p> + +<p>"He seemeth," she said once to her esquire, "to think as if such a deed +of daring as thou didst in thy kindness for a fellow-creature in peril +hath never been known in the world before!"</p> + +<p>Madame La Motte and Commendone, however, had said nothing. They knew +very well why this poor wretch, who gained his food by such a hideous +calling, was amazed at his rescue. They said nothing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> to the girl, +however, dreading that she should ever have an inkling of what the man +was.</p> + +<p>On the voyage to Seville, a happy, lazy time under the bright sun, +Johnnie could not quite understand an obvious friendship and liking +which seemed to have sprung up between Alonso and Mr. Mew, who spoke +Spanish very adequately.</p> + +<p>"I cannot understand," he said upon one occasion to the sturdy man from +the Isle of Wight, "I cannot understand, sir, how you that are an +English mariner can talk and consort with this tool of hell."</p> + +<p>Mr. Mew looked at him with a dry smile. "And yet, master," he said in +the true Hampshire idiom and drawl, "bless your heart, you jumped +overboard for this same man!"</p> + +<p>"The case is different," Johnnie said; "'twas a fellow-creature, and I +did as behoved me. But that is no reason to be friendly with such a +wretch."</p> + +<p>"Look you, Master Commendone," said Mr. Mew, "every man to his trade. I +would burn both hands, myself, before I'd live by sworn torturing. But, +then, 'tis not my trade. This man's father and his brother have been +doing of it almost since birth, and they do it—and sure, a good +Catholic like yourself," here he smiled dryly, "cannot but remember that +'tis done under the shield and order of Holy Church! The damned old Pope +hath ordered it."</p> + +<p>Johnnie crossed himself. "The sovereign Pontiff," he said, "hath +established the Holy Office for punishment of heretics. But the +punishment is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> light and without harshness in the states of His +Holiness. In Spain 'tis a matter very different. It was under the Holy +Father Innocent IV that this tribunal was created, and the Holy Office +in Spain differed in no wise from the comparatively innocuous——"</p> + +<p>"What is that, master? That word?"</p> + +<p>"It meaneth 'harmless,' Master Mew. What was I saying? Oh, that it +differed nothing at all in Spain from the harmless Council which was to +detect heresy and reprove it. But during the reign of our good King +Edward IV the Holy Office was changed in Spain. The Ebrews were +plotting, or said to be plotting, against the realm, and they had come +to much wealth and power. Pope Sixtus made many protests, but the right +of appointing inquisitors and directing the operation of the Holy Office +in Spain was reserved to the Spanish Crown. And from this date, Master +Mew, Holy Church at any rate hath disclaimed to be responsible for it. +That was then and is now the true feeling of Rome. 'Tis true that in +Spain the Church tolerates the Inquisition, but its blood-stained acts +are from the Crown and such priests as are ministers of the Crown."</p> + +<p>Father Chilches had taught Johnnie his history, truly enough. But it +seemed to make very little impression upon the mate.</p> + +<p>"Art a gentleman," he said, "and know doubtless more than I, but such +peddling with words and splicing of facts are not to my mind. The +damned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> old Pope say I, and always shall, when it's safe to speak! But +the pith of our talk, Master Commendone, was that you would not have me +give comradeship with this Alonso. I see not your point of view. He is +of his time and must do his duty."</p> + +<p>The mate snapped a tarry thumb and finger with a tolerant smile. "You've +saved him, so that he may go on with his torturin'," he said, "and I +like to talk with him because I find him a good fellow, and that is all +about it, Master Commendone."</p> + +<p>Johnnie had not got much small change from his conference with the mate, +but when they arrived at Seville, he saw him and the man called Alonso +no more, and his mind was directed upon very other things.</p> + +<p>They arrived at the city late at night, and their mails were taken to +the great inn of Seville known as the Posada de las Muñecas, or house of +puppets, so called from the fact that in days gone by, at the great +annual Seville fair, a famous performance of marionettes had taken place +in front of it.</p> + +<p>The Posada was an old Moorish palace, as beautiful under the sunlight as +an Oriental song, and when they rose in the morning and Johnnie had +despatched a serving-man to find if Don José Senebria was in residence, +he and his companions wakened to the realisation of a loveliness of +which they had never dreamed.</p> + +<p>The sky was like a great hollow turquoise; the sun beat down upon the +Pearl of Andalusia with limpid glory, and played perpetually upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +white and painted walls. The orange trees, only introduced into Spain +some five-and-twenty years before from Asia, were globed with their +golden fruit among the dark, jade-like leaves of polished green; +feathery palms with their mailed trunks rose up to cut the blue, and on +every side buildings which glowed like immense jewels were set to greet +the unaccustomed northern eye. The Posada was a blaze of colour, half +Moorish, half Gothic, fantastic and alluring as a rare dream.</p> + +<p>Johnnie heard early in the morning that Don José would be away for two +days, having travelled to his vineyards beyond the old Roman village of +Sancios. The day therefore, and the morrow also, was left to them for +sight-seeing. Both he and Elizabeth had in part forgotten the cloud of +distress under which they had left their native land. The child often +talked to him of her father, making many half-shy confidences about her +happy life at Hadley, telling him constantly of that brave and stalwart +gentleman. But she now accepted all that had happened with the perfect +innocence and trustfulness of youth. Upon her white and stainless mind +what she had undergone had left but little trace. Even now she only half +realised her ravishment to the house with the red door, and that Madame +La Motte was not a pattern of kindness, discretion, and fine feeling +would never have entered Lizzie's simple mind. She was going to be +married to Johnnie!—it was to be arranged almost at once—and then she +knew that there need be no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> more trouble, no weariness, no further +searchings of heart. She and Johnnie would be together for ever and +ever, and that was all that mattered!</p> + +<p>Indeed, under these bright skies, among the gay, good-humoured, and +heedless people of Seville, it would have been very difficult for much +older and more world-weary people than this young man and maid to be sad +or apprehensive.</p> + +<p>It had all been a feast, a never-ending feast for eye and ear. They had +stood before pictures which were world-famous—they had seen that +marvellous allegory in pigment, where "a hand holds a pair of scales, in +which the sins of the world—set forth by bats, peacocks, serpents, and +other emblems—are weighed against the emblems of the Passion of Christ +our Lord; and eke in the same frame, which is thought to be the finer +composition, Death, with a coffin under one arm, is about to extinguish +a taper, which lighteth a table besprent with crowns, jewels, and all +the gewgaws of this earthly pomp. 'In Ictu Oculi' are the words which +circle the taper's gleaming light, while set upon the ground resteth a +coffin open, the corpse within being dimly revealed."</p> + +<p>They had walked through the long colonnade in the palace of the Alcazar, +to the baths of Maria de Padilla, the lovely mistress of Pedro the +Cruel, "at the Court of whom it was esteemed a mark of gallantry and +loyalty to drink the waters of the bath after that Maria had performed +her ablutions. Upon a day observing that one of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> knights refrained +from this act of homage, the King questioned him, and elicited the +reply, 'I dare not drink of the water, Sire, lest, having tasted the +sauce, I should covet the partridge.'"</p> + +<p>All these things they had done together in their love and youth, +forgetting all else but the incomparable beauties of art and nature +which surrounded them, the music and splendour of Love within their +hearts.</p> + +<p>... A serving-man came through the patio.</p> + +<p>"<i>Puedo cenar?</i>" Johnnie asked. "<i>A qué hora es el cenar?</i>"</p> + +<p>The man told him that supper was ready then, and together with the +ladies Johnnie left the courtyard and entered the long <i>comedor</i>, or +dining-hall, a narrow room with good tapestries upon the walls, and a +ceiling decorated with heads of warriors and ladies in carved and +painted stucco.</p> + +<p>It was lit by candle, and supper was spread for the three in the middle +of one great table, an oasis of fruit, lights, and flowers.</p> + +<p>"<i>Este es un vino bueno</i>," said the waiter who stood there.</p> + +<p>"It is all good wine in Spain," Johnnie answered, with a smile, as the +man poured out <i>borgoña</i>, and another brought them a dish of grilled +salmon.</p> + +<p>They lifted their glasses to each other, and fell to with a good +appetite. Suddenly Johnnie stopped eating. "Where is John Hull?" he +said. "God forgive me, I have not thought of him for hours."</p> + +<p>"He will be safe enough," Madame La Motte<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> answered, her mouth full of +<i>salmón asado</i>. "<i>Mon Dieu!</i> but this fish is good! Fear not, Monsieur, +thy serving-man can very well take care of himself."</p> + +<p>"I suppose so," Johnnie replied, though with a little uneasiness.</p> + +<p>"But, Johnnie," Elizabeth said, "Hull told me that he was to be with +Master Mew, the mate of our late ship, to see the town with him, so all +will be well."</p> + +<p>Johnnie lifted his goblet of wine; he had never felt more free, +careless, and happy in his life.</p> + +<p>"Here," he said, "is to this sweet and hospitable land of Spain, whither +we have come through long toils and dangers. 'Tis our Latium, for as the +grandest of all poets, Vergil yclept, hath it, '<i>Per varios casus, per +tot discrimina rerum, tendimus in Latium, sedes ubi fata quietas +ostendunt</i>.'"</p> + +<p>"And what may that mean, Monsieur?" asked Madame La Motte, pulling the +<i>botella</i> towards her. "My Credo, my Paternoster, and my Ave are all my +Latin."</p> + +<p>"It means, Madame," Johnnie answered, "that we have gone through many +troubles and trials, through all sorts of changes in affairs, but we +approach towards Latium, which the poet meaneth for Imperial Rome, where +the fates will let us live in peace."</p> + +<p>"In peace!" Elizabeth whispered.</p> + +<p>"Aye, sweetheart mine," the young man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> answered; "we have won to peace +at last. Thou and I together!"</p> + +<p>For a moment or two they were all silent, and then the door of the +<i>comedor</i> was suddenly opened, not quietly, as for the entrance of a +serving-man, but flung open widely and with noise.</p> + +<p>They all turned and looked towards the archway of the door.</p> + +<p>In a moment more six or seven people pressed into the room—people +dressed in black, people whose feet made no noise upon the floor.</p> + +<p>Ere ever any of them at the table realised what was happening, they +found themselves gripped by strong, firm hands, though there was never a +word spoken.</p> + +<p>Before he could reach the dagger in his belt—for he was not wearing his +sword—Johnnie's arms were bound to his side, and he was held fast.</p> + +<p>It was all done with strange deftness and silence, Elizabeth and the +Frenchwoman being held also, each by two men, though their arms were not +bound.</p> + +<p>Johnnie burst out in indignant English, then, remembering where he was, +changed to Spanish. "In God's name," he cried, "what means this outrage +upon peaceable and quiet folk?"</p> + +<p>His voice was loud and angry, but there was fear in it as he cried out. +The answer came from a tall figure which came noiselessly through the +door, a figure in a cassock, with a large gold cross hung<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> upon its +breast, and followed by two others in the dress of priests.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Mr. Commendone, we meet again," came in excellent English, as the +man removed his broad-brimmed felt hat.</p> + +<p>"You have come a long way from England, Mr. Commendone, you and +your—friends. But the arm of the King, the hand of the Church, which +are as the arm of God Himself, can stretch swiftly and very far."</p> + +<p>Johnnie's face grew dead white as he heard the well-remembered voice of +Father Diego Deza. In a flash he remembered that King Philip's confessor +and confidential adviser had told him that he was to leave England for +Spain on the morning of the very day when he had rescued Elizabeth from +shame.</p> + +<p>His voice rattled in his throat and came hoarsely through parched lips. +He made one effort, though he felt that it was hopeless.</p> + +<p>"Don Diego," he said, "I am very glad to see you in Spain"—the other +gave a nasty little laugh. "Don Diego," Johnnie continued, "I have +offended nothing against the laws of England. What means this capture +and durance of myself and my companions?"</p> + +<p>"You are not in England now, Mr. Commendone," the priest replied; "but +you are in the dominion of His Most Catholic Majesty; you are not +accused of any crime against the civil law of England or of this +country, but I, in my authority<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> as Grand Inquisitor of the Holy Office +in Seville—to do which duty I have now come to Spain—arrest you and +your companions on charges which will be afterwards disclosed to you.</p> + +<p>"Take them away," he said in Spanish to his officers.</p> + +<p>There was a horrid wail, echoing and re-echoing through the long room +and beating upon the ear-drums of all who were there....</p> + +<p>Madame La Motte had heard all that the priest had said in English. She +shrieked and shrieked again.</p> + +<p>"Ah-h-h! <i>C'est vrai alors! L'inquisition! qui lance la mort!</i>"</p> + +<p>With extraordinary and sudden strength she twisted herself away from the +two sombre figures which held her. She bent forward over the table, +snatched up a long knife, gripped the handle firmly with two fat white +hands, and plunged it into her breast to the hilt.</p> + +<p>For quite three seconds she stood upright. Her face of horror changed +into a wonder, as if she was surprised at what she had done. Then she +smiled foolishly, like a child who realises that it has made a silly +mistake, coughed loudly like a man, and fell in heavy death upon the +floor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>IN THE BOX</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Devant l'Inquisition, quand on vient à jubé,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Si l'on ne soit rôti, l'on soit au moins flambé."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>It was not light that pressed upon the retina of the eye. There was no +vibration to the sensitive lenses. It was a sudden vision not of the +eye, but in the memory-cells of the brain which now and then filled the +dreadful blackness with a fierce radiance, filled it for an +infinitesimal fraction of a second.</p> + +<p>And then all was dark again.</p> + +<p>It was not dark with the darkness that ordinary men know. At no time, in +all probability, has any man or woman escaped a long sleepless night in +a darkened room. The candle is out; the silence begins to nibble at the +nerves; there is no sound but the uneasy tossing upon the bed. It seems, +one would rather say, that there is no sound save only that made by the +sufferer. At such hours comes a dread weariness of life, a restlessness +which is but the physical embroidery upon despair. The body itself is at +the lowest pitch of its vitality. Through the haunted chambers of the +mind fantastic thoughts chase each other, and evil things—evil +<i>personalities</i> it almost seems—uncoil themselves and erect their +heads.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p> + +<p>But it is not really darkness, not really despair, as people know when +the night has gone and dawn begins. Nor is it really <i>silence</i>. The ear +becomes attuned to its environment; a little wind moans round the house. +There is the soft patter of falling rain—the distant moaning of the +sea.</p> + +<p>Furniture creaks as the temperature changes; there are rustlings, +whispers, unexplained noises—the night is indeed full of sound.</p> + +<p>Nor is it really <i>darkness</i>, as the mind discovers towards the end of +the sick and restless vigil. The eye also is attuned to that which +limits and surrounds its potentialities. The blinds are drawn, but still +some faint mysterious greyness creeps between them and the window. The +room, then, is a real room still! Over there is the long mirror which +will presently begin to stir and reflect the birth-pangs of light. That +squat, black monster, which crouches in the corner of the dark, will +grow larger, and become only the wardrobe after all. And soon the air of +the chamber will take on a subtle and indefinable change. It will have a +new savour, it will tell that far down in the under world the sun is +moaning and muttering in the last throes of sleep. The blackness will +go. Dim, inchoate nothingness will change to wan dove-coloured light, +and with the first chirpings of half-awakened birds the casement will +show "a slowly glimmering square," and the tortured brain will sink to +rest.</p> + +<p>Day has come! There is no longer any need for fear. The nervous pain, +more terrible than all,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> has gone. The heart is calmed, the brain is +soothed, utter prostration and despair appears, mercifully, a thing of +long ago.</p> + +<p>Some such experience as this all modern men have endured. To John +Commendone, in the prison of the Inquisition where he had been put, no +such alleviation came.</p> + +<p>For him there was no blessed morning; for him the darkness was that +awful negation of light—of physical light—and of hope, which is +without remedy.</p> + +<p>He did not know how long it had been since he was caught up suddenly out +of the rich room where he was dining with his love—dining among the +scent of flowers, with the echo of music in his ears, his whole heart +suffused with thankfulness and peace.</p> + +<p>He did not know how long it had been; he only remembered the hurried +progress in a closed carriage from the hotel to the fortress of the +Triana in the suburbs, which was the prison and assize of the Holy +Office.</p> + +<p>In all Europe in this era prisons were dark, damp holes. They were real +graves, full of mould, animal filth, the pest-breeding smells. It was +the boast of the Inquisition, and even Llorente speaks of it, that the +prisons were "well-arched, light and dry rooms where the prisoners could +make some movement."</p> + +<p>This was generally true, and Commendone had heard of it from Don Perez.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was not true in his case. He had been taken hurriedly into the prison +as night fell, marched silently through interminable courtyards and +passage-ways—corridors which slanted downwards, ever downwards—until +in a dark stone passage, illuminated only by the torches which were +carried by those who conducted him, he had come to a low door, heavily +studded with iron.</p> + +<p>This had been opened with a key. The wards of the lock had shot back +with a well-oiled and gentle click. He had bent his head a little as +they pushed him into the living tomb—a box of stone five feet square +exactly. He was nearly six feet in height; he could not stand erect; he +could not stretch himself at full length. The thing was a refinement of +the dreadful "little-ease" of the Tower of London and many other secular +prisons where wretches were tortured for a week before their execution. +He had heard of places like them, but he realised that it was not the +design of those who had him fast to kill him yet. He knew that he must +undergo an infinity of mental and bodily torture ere ever the scarred +and trembling soul would be allowed to wing its way from the still, +broken body.</p> + +<p>He was in absolute, complete darkness, buried in a box of stone.</p> + +<p>The rayless gloom was without any relief whatever; it was the enclosing +sable of death itself; a pitchy oblivion that lay upon him like a solid +weight, a thing obscene and hopeless. And the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> silence was a real +silence, an utter stillness such as no modern man ever knows—save only +the few demoniac prisoners in the <i>cachot noir</i> of the French convict +prisons of Noumea.</p> + +<p>Once every two days—if there indeed were such things as days and hours +in this still hell—the door of the cell was noiselessly opened. There +was a dim red glow in the stone corridor without, a pitcher of water, +some black bread, and every now and then a few ripe figs, were pushed +into the box.</p> + +<p>Then a clang, the oily swish of the bolts, and another eternity of +silence.</p> + +<p>The man's brain did not go. It was too soon for that. He lay a +fortnight—ten thousand years it seemed to him—in this box of horror.</p> + +<p>He was not to die yet. He was not even to lose his mind; of that he was +perfectly aware. He was no ordinary prisoner. No usual fate was in store +for him; that also he knew. A charge of heresy in his case was absurd. +No witnesses could be brought who, speaking truth, could condemn him for +heresy. But what Don Perez had told him was now easily understood. He +was in a place where there was no appeal, a situation with no egress.</p> + +<p>There was not the slightest doubt in his mind that a dreadful vengeance +was to be taken upon him for his treatment of the King of Spain. The +Holy Office was a royal court provided with ecclesiastical weapons. Its +familiars had got him in their grip; he was to die the death.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p> + +<p>As he lay motionless day after day, night after night, in the +silence—the hideous silence without light—the walls so close, pressing +on him, forbidding him free movement, at every moment seeming as if they +would rush together and crush him in this night of Erebus, he began to +have visitors.</p> + +<p>Sometimes a sulphurous radiance would fill the place. He would see the +bowing, mocking figure of King Philip, the long yellow face looking down +upon him with a malign smile. He would hear a great hoarse voice, and a +little woman with a shrivelled face and covered with jewels, would +squeak and gibber at him. Then, with a clank of armour, and a sudden +fresh smell of the fields, Sir Henry Commendone would stand there, with +a "How like you this life of the pit, Johnnie?" ... "How like you this +blackness, my son?"</p> + +<p>Then he would put up his hands and press these grisly phantoms out of +the dark. He would press them away with one great effort of the will.</p> + +<p>They would go, and he remained trembling in the chill, damp negation of +light, which was so far more than darkness. He would grope for the +pieces of his miserable food, and search the earthen pitcher for water.</p> + +<p>And all this, these tortures beyond belief, beyond understanding of the +ordinary man, were but as soft couches to one who is weary, food to one +hungered, water to lips parched in a desert—compared with the deepest, +unutterable descent of all.</p> + +<p>The cold and stinking blackness which held him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> tight as a fossil in a +bed of clay was not the worst. His eyes that saw nothing, his limbs that +were shot with cramping pain, his nostrils and stomach that could not +endure this uncleaned cage, were a torture beyond thinking.</p> + +<p>Many a time he thought of the mercy of Bishop Bonner and Queen Mary—the +mercy that let a gentleman ride under the pleasant skies of England to a +twenty minutes' death—God! these were pleasant tortures! His own +present hopelessness, all that he endured in body—why, dear God! these +were but pleasant tortures too, things to bite upon and endure, compared +with the Satanic horror, the icy dread, the bitter, hopeless tears, when +he thought of Elizabeth.</p> + +<p>He had long since ceased praying for himself. It mattered little or +nothing what happened to him. That he should be taken out to torture +would be a relief, a happiness. He would lie in the rack laughing. They +could fill his belly with water, or strain the greasy hempen ropes into +his flesh, and still he would laugh and forgive them—Dr. Taylor had +forgiven less than they would do to him, he would forgive more than all +for the sake of Christ and His Maid-Mother. How easy that would be! To +be given something to endure, to prove himself a man and a Christian!</p> + +<p>But to forgive them for what they might be doing, they might have done, +to his dear lady—how could he forgive <i>that</i> to these blood-stained +men?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p> + +<p>Through all the icy hours he thought of one thing, until his own pains +vanished to nothingness.</p> + +<p>Perchance, and the dreadful uncertainty in his utter impotence and +silence swung like a bell in his brain, and cut through his soul like +the swinging pendola which they said the familiars of the Holy Office +used, Elizabeth had already suffered unspeakable things.</p> + +<p>He saw again a pair of hands—cruel hands—hands with thick thumbs. Had +hands like these grasped and twisted the white limbs of the girl he +loved? Divorced from him, helpless, away from any comfort, any kind +voice, was it not true—<i>was</i> it true?—that already his sweetheart had +been tortured to her death?</p> + +<p>He had tried over and over again to pray for Elizabeth, to call to the +seat where God was, that He might save the dear child from these +torments unspeakable.</p> + +<p>But there was always the silence, the dead physical blackness and +silence. He beat his hands upon the stone wall; he bruised his head upon +the roof of darkness which would not let him stand upright, and he +knew—as it is appointed to some chosen men to know—that unutterable, +unthinkable despair of travail which made Our Lord Himself call out in +the last hour of His passion, [Greek: Êli, Êli lamà sabachthaní]</p> + +<p>There was no response to his prayers. Into his heart came no answering +message of hope.</p> + +<p>And then the mind of this man, which had borne<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> so much, and suffered so +greatly, began to become powerless to feel. A bottle can only hold a +certain amount of water, the strings of an instrument be plucked to a +certain measure of sound, the brain of a man can endure up to a certain +strain, and then it snaps entirely, or is drowsed with misery.</p> + +<p>Physically, the young man was in perfect health when they had taken him +to his prison. He had lived always a cleanly and athletic life. No +sensual ease had ever dimmed his faculties. And therefore, though he +knew it not, the frightful mental agony he had undergone had but drawn +upon the reserve of his physical forces, and had hardly injured his body +at all. The food they gave him, at any rate for the time of his +disappearance from the world of sentient beings, was enough to support +life. And while he lay in dreadful hopelessness, while his limbs were +racked with pain, and it seemed to him that he stood upon the very +threshold of death, he was in reality physically competent, and a few +hours of relief would bring his body back to its pristine strength.</p> + +<p>There came a time when he lay upon his stone floor perfectly motionless. +The merciful anodyne that comes to all tortured people when either the +brain or body can bear no more, had come to him now.</p> + +<p>It seemed but a short moment—in reality it was several hours—since his +jailors, those masked still-moving figures, had brought him a renewal of +his food. He could not eat the bread, but two figs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> upon the platter +were grateful and cooling to his throat, though he was unconscious of +any physical gratification. He knew, sometime after, that sustenance had +been brought to him, and that he had a great thirst. He stretched out +his hand mechanically for the pitcher, rising from the floor and +pressing the brim to his lips.</p> + +<p>He drank deeply, and as he drank became suddenly aware that this was not +the lukewarm water of the past darkness, but something that ran through +his veins, that swiftly ran through them, and as the blood mounted to +his brain gave him courage, awoke him, fed the starved nerves. It was +wine he was drinking! wine that perhaps would be red in the light; wine +that once more filled him with endeavour, and a desperate desire which +was not hope but the last protest against his fate.</p> + +<p>He lay back once more, by no means the same man he had been some little +time agone, and as he reclined in a happy physical stupor—the while his +brain was alive again and began to work—he said many times to himself +the name of Jesus.</p> + +<p>"Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!"—it was all he could say; it was all he could +think of, it was his last prayer. Just the name alone.</p> + +<p>And very speedily the prayer was answered. Out of the depths he +cried—"<i>De profundis clamavit</i>"—and the door opened, as it opened to +the Apostle Paul, and the place where he was was filled with red light.</p> + +<p>For a moment he was unable to realise it. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> passed one wasted and +dirty hand before his eyes. "Jesus!" he said again, in a dreamy, +wondering voice.</p> + +<p>He felt himself lifted up from where he lay. Two strong hands were under +his arms; he was taken out of the stinking <i>oubliette</i> into the corridor +beyond.</p> + +<p>He stood upright. He stretched out his arms. He breathed another air. It +was a damp, fœtid, underground air, but it seemed to him that it came +from the gardens of the Hesperides.</p> + +<p>Then he became conscious of a voice speaking quietly, quickly, and with +great insistence.</p> + +<p>The voice in his ear!</p> + +<p>... "Señor, we have had to wait. You have had to lie in this dungeon, +and I could do nothing for you—for you that saved my life. It hath +taken many days to think out a plan to save you and the Señorita. But +'tis done now, 'tis cut and dried, and neither you nor she shall go to +the death designed for you both. It hath been designed by the Assessor +and the Procurator Fiscal, acting under orders of the Grand Inquisitor, +that you shall be tortured to death, or near to it, and that to the +Señorita shall be done the same. Then you are to be taken to the +Quemadero—that great altar of stone supported by figures of the Holy +Apostles—and there burnt to death at the forthcoming <i>auto da fé</i>."</p> + +<p>"Then what,"—Johnnie's voice came from him in a hollow whisper.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Hush, hush," the other voice answered him; "'tis all arranged. 'Tis all +settled, but still it dependeth upon you, Señor. Will you save your lady +love, and go free with her from here, and with your servant also, or +will you die and let her die too?"</p> + +<p>"Then she hath not been tortured?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet; it is for to-night. You come afterwards. But you do not know +me, Señor; you do not realise who I am."</p> + +<p>At this Johnnie looked into the face of the man who supported him.</p> + +<p>"Ah," he said, in a dreamy voice, "Alonso!—I took you from the sea, did +not I?"</p> + +<p>Everything was circling round him, he wanted to fall, to lie down and +sleep in this new air....</p> + +<p>The torturer saw it—he had a dreadful knowledge of those who were about +to faint. He caught hold of Johnnie somewhere at the back of the neck. +There was a sudden scientific pressure of the flat thumb upon a nerve, +and the sinking senses of the captive came back to him in a flood of +painful consciousness.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" he cried, "but I feel better now! Go on, go on, tell me, what is +all this?..."</p> + +<p>One big thumb was pressed gently at the back of Johnnie's head. "It is +this," said the voice, "and now, Señor, listen to me as if you had never +listened to any other voice in this whole world. In the first place, you +have much money; you have much money to be employed for you, in the +hands of your servant,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> and from him I hear that you are noble and +wealthy in England. I myself am a young man, but lately introduced to do +the work I do. I am in debt, Señor, and neither my father nor my brother +will help me. There is a family feud between us. Now my father is the +head sworn-torturer of the Holy Office; my brother is his assistant, and +I am the assistant to my brother. The three of us do rack and put to +pain those who come before us. But I myself am tired of this business, +and would away to a country where I can earn a more honest and kindly +living. Therefore if thou wilt help me to do this, all will be well. +There is a carrack sailing for the port of Rome this very night, and we +can all be aboard of it, and save ourselves, if thou wilt do what we +have made a plan of."</p> + +<p>"And what is that?" Johnnie asked.</p> + +<p>"'Tis a dangerous and deadly thing. We may win a way to safety and joy, +or it may be that we perish. I'll put it upon the throw of the die, and +so must you, Señor."</p> + +<p>Johnnie clutched Alonso by the arm. "Man! man!" he said, "there is some +doubt in your voice. What is it? what is it? I would do anything but +lose my immortal soul to save the Señorita from what is to be done to +her to-night."</p> + +<p>"'Tis well," the other answered briefly. "Then now I will tell you what +you must do. 'Tis now the hour of sunset. In two hours more the Señorita +will be brought to the rooms of the Question. Thy servant is of the +height and build of my father.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> Thou art the same as regards my brother. +If you consent to what I shall tell you, you and your servant will take +the place of my brother and father. No one will know you from them, +because we wear black linen garments and a hood which covereth our +faces. I will go away, and I will put something in their wine which will +send my father and my brother to sleep for long hours—sometimes we put +it in the water we give to drink to those who come to us for torture, +and who are able, or their relatives indeed, to pay well for such +service. My people will know nothing, and you, with Juan thy servant, +will take their places. Nor will the Inquisitor know. It hath been well +thought out, Señor. I shall give you your directions, and understanding +Spanish you will follow them out as if you were indeed my blood-brother. +As for the man Juan, it will be your part to whisper to him what he has +to do, for I cannot otherwise make him understand."</p> + +<p>Suddenly a dreadful thought flashed into Johnnie's mind. This man +understood no word of English. How, then, had he plotted this scheme of +rescue and escape with John Hull? Was this not one of those dreadful +traps—themselves part of a devilish scheme of torture—of which he had +heard in England, and of which Don Perez had more than hinted?</p> + +<p>"And how dost <i>thou</i> understand my man John," he said, "seeing that thou +knowest no word of his language?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p> + +<p>The other made an impatient movement of his hands. "Señor," he said, "I +marked that you did not seem to trust me. I am here to adventure my +life, in recompense for that you did so for me. I am here also to get +away from Spain with the aid of thy money—to get away to Rome, where +the Holy Office will reach none of us. In doing this, I am risking my +life, as I have said. And for me I am risking far more than life. I, +that have done so many grievous things to others, am a great coward, and +go in horrid fear of pain. I could not stand the least of the tortures, +and if I am caught in this enterprise, I shall endure the worst of all. +In any case, thou hast nothing to lose, for if I am indeed endeavouring +to entrap you, you will gain nothing. The worst is reserved for you—as +we have previous orders—for it is whispered that yours is not so much a +matter of heresy, but that you did things against King Philip's Majesty +in England."</p> + +<p>Johnnie nodded. "'Tis true," he said; "but still, tell me for a further +sign and token of thy fidelity how thou camest to be in communication +with John Hull."</p> + +<p>"Did I not tell thee?" the man answered, in amazement. "Why, 'twas +through the second captain of the <i>St. Iago</i>, I cannot say his name, who +hath been with Juan these many days, and speakest Spanish near as well +as you."</p> + +<p>Johnnie realised the truth at once, surprised that it had not come to +him before. It was Mr. Mew, whom he had tackled for his friendship<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> with +Alonso! "Then what am I to do?" he said.</p> + +<p>Alonso began to speak slowly and with some hesitation.</p> + +<p>"The work to do to-night," he said, "is to put a Carthusian monk, Luis +Mercader, to the torture of the <i>trampezo</i>. After that, the Señorita +will be brought in, interrogated, and is to be scourged as the first of +her tortures."</p> + +<p>The man started away—Johnnie had growled in his throat like a dog....</p> + +<p>"It will not be, it will not be, Señor," Alonso said. "When Luis is +finished with, he will be taken away by the surgeon and afterwards by +the jailors. Then they will bring the Señorita and retire. There will be +none in the room of the Question but thou, Juan, and myself, wearing our +linen hoods, and Father Deza, that is the Grand Inquisitor newly come +from England, his notary, and the physician. The doors leading to the +prisons will be locked, for none must see the torture save only the +officials concerned therein—as hath long been the law. It will be easy +for us three to overpower the Inquisitor, the surgeon, and the notary. +Then we can escape through the private rooms of us torturers, which lead +to the back entrance of the fortress. The <i>caballeros</i> will not be +discovered, if bound—or killed, indeed—for some hours, for none are +allowed to approach the room of Question from the prisons until they are +summoned by a bell. I shall have everything ready, and mules<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> waiting, +so that we may go straight to the <i>muelle</i>—the wharf to which the +carrack is tied. The captain thereof is the Italian mariner Pozzi, who +hath no love towards Spain, and we shall be upon the high seas before +even our absence is discovered."</p> + +<p>"Good," Johnnie answered, his voice unconsciously assuming the note of +command it was wont to use, the wine having reanimated him, his whole +body and brain tense with excitement, ready for the daring deed that +awaited him.</p> + +<p>"My friend," he said, "I will not only take you away from all this +wickedness and horror, but you shall have money enough to live like a +gentleman in Italy. I have—now I understand it—plenty of money in the +hands of my servant to bring us well to Rome. Once in Rome, I can send +letters to my friends in England, and be rich in a few short months. I +shall not forget you; I shall see to your guerdon."</p> + +<p>The man spat upon his hands and rubbed them together—those large +prehensile hands. "I knew it," he said, half to himself, "I pay a debt +for my life, as is but right and just, and I win a fortune too! I knew +it!"</p> + +<p>"Tell me exactly what is to happen," Johnnie said.</p> + +<p>In the flickering light of the torch, once more Alonso looked curiously +at Commendone. He hesitated for a moment, and then he spoke.</p> + +<p>"There is just the business of the heretic Luis," he said. "He must be +tortured before ever the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> Señorita is brought in. And you and Juan must +help in the torture to sustain your parts."</p> + +<p>Johnnie started. Until this very moment he had not realised that hideous +necessity. He understood Alonso's hesitation now.</p> + +<p>There was a dead silence for a moment or two. Alonso broke it.</p> + +<p>"I shall do the principal part, Señor," he said hurriedly. "It is +nothing to me. I have done so much of it! But there are certain things +that thou must do and thy servant also, or at least must seem to do. +There is no other way."</p> + +<p>Johnnie put his poor soiled hands to his face. "I cannot do it," he +said, in a low voice, from which hope, which had rung in it before, had +now departed. "I cannot do it. I will not stain my honour thus."</p> + +<p>"So said Juan to me at first," the other answered. "They have been +hunting high and low for Juan, but he hath escaped the Familiars, in +that I have hid him. For himself, Juan said he would do nothing of the +sort, but for you he finally said he would do it. 'For, look you,' Juan +said to me, 'I love the gentleman that is my master, and I love my +little mistress better, so that I will even help to torture this +Spaniard, and let no word escape me in the doing of it that may betray +our design.' That was what thy servant said, Señor. And now, what sayest +thou?"</p> + +<p>"She would not wish it," Commendone half said, half sobbed. "If she +knew, she would die<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> a thousand deaths rather than that I should do it."</p> + +<p>"That may be very sure, Señor, but she will never know it if we win to +safety. And as for this Luis Mercader, he must die, anyhow. There is no +hope for him. He <i>must</i> be tortured, if not by you, Juan, and I, then by +myself, my father, and my brother. It is remediless."</p> + +<p>"I cannot do evil that good may come," Johnnie replied, in a whisper.</p> + +<p>Alonso stamped upon the ground in his impatience. He could not +understand the prisoner's attitude, though he had realised some +possibility of it from his conferences with John Hull. He had half +known, when he came to Commendone, that there would be something of this +sort. If the rough man of his own rank turned in horror and dislike from +the only opportunity presented for saving the Señorita, how much more +would the master do so?</p> + +<p>For himself, he could not understand it. He did his hideous work with +the regularity of a machine, and with as little pity. Outside in his +private life, he was much as other men. He could be tender to a woman he +loved, kindly and generous to his friends. But business was business, +and he was hardly human at his work.</p> + +<p>Habit makes slaves of us all, and this mental attitude of the sworn +torturer—horrible as it may seem at first glance—is very easily +understood by the psychologist, though hardly by the sentimentalist,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> +who is always a thoroughly illogical person. Alonso tortured human +beings. In doing this he had the sanction and the order of his social +superiors and his ecclesiastical directors. In 1910 one has not heard, +for example, that a pretty and gentle girl refuses to marry a butcher +because he plunges his knife into the neck of the sheep tied down upon +the stool, twists his little cord around the snout of some shrieking pig +and cuts its throat with his keen blade....</p> + +<p>Alonso could not understand the man whom he hoped to save, but he +recognised and was prepared for his point of view.</p> + +<p>"Señor," he said, in a thick, hurried voice, "I will do it all myself. +You will have to help in the binding, and to stand by. That is all. +Think of the little Señorita whom you love. That French lady drove a +table-knife into her heart, rather than endure the torments. Think of +the Señorita! You will not let her die thus? For you, it is different; I +well know that you would endure all that is in store, if it were but a +question of saving your own life. But you must think of her, and you +must remember always that the man Luis is most certainly doomed, and +that no action of yours can stay that doom. You will have to look on, +that is all—to <i>seem</i> as if you approved and were helping."</p> + +<p>He had said enough. His cause was won. Johnnie had seen Dr. Rowland +Taylor die in pious agony, and had neither lifted voice nor drawn sword +to prevent it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I thank you, I thank you, Alonso," he said. "I must endure it for the +sake of the Señorita. And more than all I thank you that you will not +require me to agonise this unhappy wretch myself."</p> + +<p>"Good; that is understood," Alonso answered. "We have already been +talking too long. Get you back, Señor, into your prison, for an hour or +more. Then I will come to you. Indeed, more depends upon this than upon +any other detail of what we purpose. We who are sworn to torture are +distinct and separate from the prison jailors. We are paid a larger +salary, but we have no jurisdiction or power within the prisons +themselves, save only what we make by interest. But the man who bringeth +you your food is a friend of my family, and hath cast an eye upon my +sister, though she as yet has responded little to his overtures. I have +made private cause with Isabella, and she hath given him a meeting this +very night outside the church of Santa Ana. He could not meet with her +this night, were it not for my intervention. He came to me in great +perplexity, longing before anything to meet Isabella. I told him, though +I was difficult to be approached on the point, that I would myself look +after the prisoners in this ward, and that he must give me his keys. +This he hath done, and I am free of this part of the prison. So that, +Señor, in an hour or two I shall come to you again with your dress of a +tormentor. I shall take you through devious ways out of the prison +proper, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> into our room on the other side of the Chamber, so all will +be well."</p> + +<p>Johnnie took the huge splay hand in his, and stumbled back into the +stone box. There was a clang as the door closed upon him, and he sank +down upon the floor.</p> + +<p>He sank down upon the floor no longer in absolute despair. The darkness +was as thick and horrible as ever, but Hope was there.</p> + +<p>Then he knelt, placed his hands together, recited a Paternoster, and +began to pray. He prayed first of all for the soul of the man—the +unknown man—whose semi-final torture he was to witness, and perchance +help in. Then he prayed to Our Lord that there might be a happy issue +out of these present afflictions, that if it pleased Jesus he, +Elizabeth, the stout John Hull might yet sail away over the tossing seas +towards safety.</p> + +<p>Then he made a prayer for the soul of Madame La Motte—she who had +traded upon virtue, she who had taken her own life, but in whom was yet +some germ of good, a well and fountain of kindliness and sympathy +withal.</p> + +<p>After that he pulled himself together, felt his muscle, stretched +himself to see that his great and supple strength had not deserted him, +and remained with a placid mind, waiting for the opening of his prison +door again.</p> + +<p>The anguish of his thoughts about Elizabeth was absolutely gone. A cool +certainty came to him that he would save her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p> + +<p>He was waiting now, alert and aware. Every nerve was ready for the +enterprise. With a scrutiny of his own consciousness—for he perfectly +realised that death might still be very near—he asked himself if he had +performed all his religious duties. If he were to die in the next hour +or so, he would have no sacramental absolution. That he knew. Therefore, +he was endeavouring to make his <i>private</i> peace with God, and as he +looked upon his thoughts with the higher super-brain, it did not seem to +him that there was anything lacking in his pious resignation to what +should come.</p> + +<p>He was going to make a bold and desperate bid for Lizzie's freedom, his +own, and their mutual happiness.</p> + +<p>As well as he was able, he had put his house in order, and was waiting.</p> + +<p>But for Don Diego Deza he did not pray at all. He was but human. That he +lacked power to do, and in so far fell away from the Example.</p> + +<p>But as he thought of It, and the words so sacrosanct, he remembered that +the torturers of Christ knew not what they did. They were even as this +man Alonso.</p> + +<p>But Don Diego, cultured, highly sensitive, a brilliant man, knew what he +did very well.</p> + +<p>Even the young man's wholly contrite and more than half-broken heart +could send no message to the Throne for the Grand Inquisitor of +Seville.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>"TENDIMUS IN LATIUM"</h3> + + +<p>It was very hot.</p> + +<p>Commendone stood in the ante-chamber of the torturers.</p> + +<p>He wore the garment of black linen, the hood of the same, with the two +circular orifices for his eyes.</p> + +<p>John Hull kept touching him with an almost caressing movement—John +Hull, a grotesque and terrible figure also in his torturer's dress.</p> + +<p>Alonso moved about the place hurriedly, putting this and that to rights, +looking after his instruments, but with a flitting, bird-like movement, +showing how deeply he was excited.</p> + +<p>The room was a long, low place. The ceiling but just above their heads. +A glowing fire was at one end, and shelves all round the room. At one +side of the fire was a portable brazier of iron, glowing with coals, and +on the top of it a shape of white-hot metal was lying.</p> + +<p>Alonso came up to Commendone, a dreadful black figure, a silently moving +figure, with nothing humanly alive about him save only the two slits +through which his eyes might be seen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Courage, Señor," he whispered, "it will not be long now."</p> + +<p>Johnnie, unaware that he himself was an equally hideous and sinister +figure, nodded, and swallowed something in his throat.</p> + +<p>John Hull, short, broad, and dreadful in this black disguise, sidled up +to him.</p> + +<p>"Master," he whispered, "it will soon be over, and we shall win away. We +have been in a very evil case before, and that went well. Now that we +are dressed in these grave-clothes and must do bitter business, we must +make up our minds to do it. 'Tis for the sake of Mistress Elizabeth, +whom we love—Jesus! what is that hell-hound doing?"</p> + +<p>The broad figure shuddered, and into the kindly English voice came a +note of horror.</p> + +<p>Johnnie turned also, and saw that the torturer was tumbling several +long-handled pincers into a wooden tray. Then the torturer took one of +them up, and turned the glowing <i>something</i> in the brazier, quietly, +professionally, though the red glow that fell upon his horrible black +costume gave him indeed the aspect of a devil from the pit—the bloody +pantomime which was designed!</p> + +<p>The two Englishmen stood shoulder to shoulder and shuddered, as they saw +this figure moving about the glowing coals.</p> + +<p>Johnnie took a half-step forward, when Hull pressed him back.</p> + +<p>"God's death, master," Hull said. "<i>We</i> look<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> like that; we are even as +he is in aspect; we have to do our work—now!"</p> + +<p>A door to the right suddenly swung open. Two steps led up to it, and a +face peeped round. It was the face of a bearded man, with heavy eyebrows +and very white cheeks. Upon the head was a biretta of black velvet.</p> + +<p>The head nodded. "We are ready," came the voice from it. The door fell +to again.</p> + +<p>Then Alonso came up to Johnnie. "The work begins," he said, in a gruff +voice, from which all respect had gone with design. "You and Juan will +carry in that brazier of coals."</p> + +<p>He went to the door, mounted the two stone steps, and held it open. +Johnnie and Hull bore in the brazier up the steps, and into a large room +lit, but not very brightly, with candles set in sconces upon the walls.</p> + +<p>Following the directions of Alonso, they placed the brazier in a far +corner, and stood by it, waiting in silence.</p> + +<p>They were in a big, arched dungeon, far under ground, as it seemed. At +one end of it there was an alcove, brilliantly lit. In the alcove was a +daïs, or platform. On the platform was a long table draped with black, +and set with silver candlesticks. On the wall behind was a great +crucifix of white and black—the figure of the Christ made of plaster, +or white painted wood, the cross of ebony. In the centre of the long +table sat Don Diego Deza. On one side of him was a man in a robe of +velvet and a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> flat cap. On the other, the person who had peeped through +the door into the room of the torturers.</p> + +<p>There came a beating, a heavy, muffled knock, upon a door to the left of +the alcove.</p> + +<p>Alonso left the others and hurried to the door. With some effort he +pulled back a lever which controlled several massive bolts. The door +swung open, there was a red glare of torches, and two dark figures, +piloted by the torturer, half-led, half-carried the bound figure of a +man into the room.</p> + +<p>They placed this figure upon an oak stool with a high back, a yard or +two away from the daïs, and then quietly retired.</p> + +<p>As the door leading to the prison closed, Alonso shot the bolts into +their place, and, returning, stood by the stool on which was the figure.</p> + +<p>The notary came down from the platform, followed by the physician. In +his hand was a parchment and a pen; while a long ink-horn depended from +his belt. Father Deza was left alone at the table above.</p> + +<p>"I have read thy depositions," the Inquisitor said, speaking down to the +man, "wherein thou hast not refuted in detail the terrible blasphemies +of Servetus, and therefore, Luis Mercader, I thank the Son of God, Who +deputeth to me the power to sentence thee at the end of this thy +struggle between Holy Church and thine own obstinate blasphemies. In +accordance with justice of my brother inquisitors, I now sign thy +warrant for death, which is indeed our right and duty to execute a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> +blasphemous person after a regular examination. Thou art to be burnt +anon at the forthcoming Act of Faith. Thou art to be delivered to the +secular arm to suffer this last penalty. Thy blood shall not be upon our +heads, for the Holy Office is ever merciful. But before thou goest, in +our kindness we have ordained that thou shalt learn something of the +sufferings to come. For so only, between this night and the day of thy +death, shalt thou have opportunity to reason with thyself, perchance +recant thy errors, and make thy peace with God."</p> + +<p>He had said this in a rapid mutter, a monotone of vengeance. As he +concluded he nodded to the black figure by the prisoner's chair.</p> + +<p>Alonso turned round. With shaking footsteps, Hull and Johnnie came up to +him, carrying ropes.</p> + +<p>There was a quick whisper.</p> + +<p>"Tie him up—<i>thus</i>—<i>yes, the hands behind the back of the stool</i>; the +left leg bound fast—it is the right foot upon which we put the +<i>trampezo</i>."</p> + +<p>They did it deftly and quietly. Under the long linen garments which +concealed them, their hearts were beating like drums, their throats were +parched and dry, their eyes burnt as they looked out upon this dreadful +scene.</p> + +<p>The notary went back to the daïs, and sat beside Father Deza. The +surgeon took Alonso aside. Johnnie heard what he said....</p> + +<p>"It will be all right; he can bear it; he will not die; in any case the +<i>auto da fé</i> will be in three days;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> he <i>must</i> endure it; have the water +ready to bring him back if he fainteth."</p> + +<p>The chirurgeon went back to the alcove and sat on the other side of the +Inquisitor.</p> + +<p>"Bring up the brazier," Alonso said to Commendone.</p> + +<p>Together Johnnie and Hull carried it to the chair.</p> + +<p>"Now send Juan for the pincers...."</p> + +<p>There came a long, low wail of despair from the broken, motionless +figure on the stool. The long pincers, like those with which a +blacksmith pulls out a shoe from the charcoal, were produced....</p> + +<p>The torturer took the glowing <i>thing</i> on the top of the brazier, and +pulled it off, scattering the coals as he did so.</p> + +<p>Close to the foot of the bound figure he placed the glowing shoe. Then +he motioned to Hull to take up the other side of it with his pincers, +and put it in place so that the foot of the victim should be clamped to +it and burnt away.</p> + +<p>John Hull took up the long pincers, and caught hold of one side of the +shoe.</p> + +<p>Johnnie turned his head away; he looked straight through his black hood +at the three people on the daïs.</p> + +<p>The notary was quietly writing. The surgeon was looking on with cool +professional eye; but Don Deza was watching the imminent horror below +him with a white face which dripped with sweat, with eyes dilated to two +rims, gazing,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> gazing, <i>drinking the sight in</i>. Every now and again the +Inquisitor licked his pallid lips with his tongue. And in that moment of +watching, Johnnie knew that Cruelty, for the sake of Cruelty, the mad +pleasure of watching suffering in its most hideous forms, was the hidden +vice, the true nature, of this priest of Courts.</p> + +<p>At the moment, and doubtless at many other moments in the past, Father +Deza was compensating, and had compensated, for a life of abstinence +from sensual indulgence. He was giving scope to the deadlier vices of +the heart, pride, bigotry, intolerance, and horrid cruelty—those vices +far more opposed to the hope of salvation, and far more extensively +mischievous to society, than anything the sensualist can do.</p> + +<p>The bitterness of it; the horror of it—this was the wine the brilliant +priest was drinking, had drunk, and would ever drink. Into him had come +a devil which had killed his soul, and looked out from his narrow +twitching eyes, rejoicing that it saw these things with the symbol of +God's pain high above it, with the cloak of God's Church upon his +shoulders.</p> + +<p>As Johnnie watched, fascinated with an unnameable horror, he heard a +loud shout close to his ear. He saw a black-hooded, thick figure pass +him and rush towards the daïs.</p> + +<p>In the hands of this figure was a long pair of blacksmith's pincers, and +at the end of the pincers was a shoe of white-hot metal.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was another loud shout, a broad band of white light, as the mass +of glowing metal shot through the air in a hissing arc, and then the +face of the Inquisitor disappeared and was no more.</p> + +<p>At that moment both Commendone and the sworn torturer realised what had +happened. They leapt nimbly on to the daïs. From under his robe Alonso +took a stiletto and plunged it into the throat of the notary; while +Johnnie, in a mad fury, caught the physician by the neck, placed his +open hand upon the man's chin, and bent his head back, slowly, steadily, +and with terrible pressure, until there was a faint click, and the +black-robed figure sank down.</p> + +<p>The <i>trampezo</i> was burning into the wooden floor of the daïs. Alonso ran +back into the room, caught up a pail of water, and poured it upon the +gathering flames. There was a hiss, and a column of steam rose up into +the alcove.</p> + +<p>He turned his head and looked at the motionless form of the Inquisitor. +The face was all black and red, and rising into white blisters.</p> + +<p>He turned to Commendone. "He's dead, or dying," he said, "and now, thou +hast indeed cast the die, and all is over. Thy man hath spoilt it all, +and nothing remains for us but death."</p> + +<p>"Silence!" Johnnie answered, captain of himself now, and of all of them +there. "How is the next prisoner to be summoned?"</p> + +<p>The torturer understood him. "Why," he said, "we may yet save +ourselves!—that bell there"—he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> pointed to a hanging cord. "That +summons the jailors. They are waiting to bring the Señorita for +judgment. Don Luis, there, who was to undergo the <i>trampezo</i>, would not +have been taken back into the prison at once, but into our room, where +the surgeon would have attended him. Therefore, we will ring for the +Señorita. She will be pushed into this place very gently. The door will +not be opened wide. Doors are never widely opened in the Holy Office. +The jailors will see us taking charge of her, and all will be well. If +not, get your poignard ready, Señor, and you, too, Juan, for 'twill be +better to die a fighting death in this cellar than to wait for what +would come hereafter."</p> + +<p>He stretched out his hand and pulled down the bell-cord.</p> + +<p>They stood waiting in absolute silence, Alonso and John Hull, in their +dreadful disguise, standing close to the door.</p> + +<p>There was not a sound in the brilliantly lit room. The victim that was +to be had fainted away, and lay as dead as the three corpses upon the +daïs. There was a smell of hot coal, of burning wood, and still there +came a little sizzling noise from the half-quenched glowing iron upon +the platform.</p> + +<p>Thud!</p> + +<p>A quiet answering knock from Alonso. Another thud—the heave of the +lever, the slither of the bolts, the door opening a little, murmured +voices, and a low, shuddering cry of horror, as a tall girl, in a long +woollen garment, a coarse garment of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> wool dyed yellow, was pushed into +the embrace of the black-hooded figures who stood waiting for her.</p> + +<p>Clang—the bolts were shot back.</p> + +<p>Then a tearing, ripping noise, as Hull pulled the black hood from his +face and shoulders.</p> + +<p>"My dear, my dear," he cried, "Miss Lizzie. 'Tis over now. Fear nothing! +I and thy true love have brought thee to safety."</p> + +<p>The girl gave a great cry. "Johnnie! Johnnie!"</p> + +<p>He rushed up to her, and held her in his arms. He was still clothed in +the dreadful disguise of a torturer. It had not come into his mind to +take it off. But she was not frightened. She knew his arms, she heard +his voice, she sank fainting upon his shoulder.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Once more it was John Hull speaking in English who brought the lovers to +realisation. His strong and anxious voice was seconded by the Spanish of +Alonso.</p> + +<p>"Quick! quick!" both the men said. "All hath gone well. We have a start +of many hours, but we must be gone from here at once."</p> + +<p>Johnnie released Elizabeth from his arms, and then he also doffed the +terror-inspiring costume which he wore.</p> + +<p>"Sweetheart," he said, "go you with John Hull and this Alonso into the +room beyond, where they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> will give you robes to wear. I will join you in +less than a minute."</p> + +<p>They passed away with quick, frightened footsteps.</p> + +<p>But as for Commendone, he went to the centre of the alcove, and knelt +down just below the long black table.</p> + +<p>The three bodies of the men they had slain he could not see. He could +only see the black form of the tablecloth, and above it the great white +Crucifix.</p> + +<p>He prayed that nothing he had done upon this night should stain his +soul, that Jesus—as indeed he believed—had been looking on him and all +that he did, with help and favour.</p> + +<p>And once more he renewed his vow to live for Jesus and for the girl he +loved.</p> + +<p>Crossing himself, he rose, and clapped his hands to his right side. Once +more he found he was without a sword. He bowed again to the cross. "It +will come back to me," he said, in a quiet voice.</p> + +<p>He turned to go, he had no concern with those who lay dead above him; +but as he went towards the door leading to the place of the torturers, +his eye fell upon the oak stool in the middle of the room—the oak chair +by which the brazier still glowed, and in which a silent, doll-like +figure was bound.</p> + +<p>He stepped up to the chair, and immediately he saw that Don Luis was +dead.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span></p> + +<p>The shock had killed him. He lay back there with patches of grey marked +in his hair, as if fingers had been placed upon it—a young face, now +prematurely old, and writhed into horror, but with a little quiet smile +of satisfaction upon it after all....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>And so they sailed away to the Court of Rome, to take a high part in +what went forward in the palace of the Vatican. They were to be fused +into that wonderful revival of Learning and the Arts known as the +Renaissance.</p> + +<p>God willing, and still seeing fit to give strength to the hand and mind +of the present chronicler, what they did in Rome, all that befell them +there, and of Johnnie's friendship and adventures with Messer Benvenuto +Cellini will be duly set out in another volume during the year of Grace +to come.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Et veniam pro laude peto: laudatus abunde</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Non fastiditus si tibi, lector, ero.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSE OF TORMENT***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 36721-h.txt or 36721-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/7/2/36721">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/7/2/36721</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions 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. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: House of Torment + A Tale of the Remarkable Adventures of Mr. John Commendone, Gentleman to King Phillip II of Spain at the English Court + + +Author: Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull + + + +Release Date: July 13, 2011 [eBook #36721] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSE OF TORMENT*** + + +E-text prepared by Mark C. Orton, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made +available by Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) + + + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://www.archive.org/details/houseoftormentta00gulliala + + + + + +HOUSE OF TORMENT + +A Tale of the Remarkable Adventures of Mr. John Commendone +Gentleman to King Philip II of Spain at the English Court + +by + +C. RANGER-GULL + +Author of "The Serf," etc. + + + + + + + +New York +Dodd, Mead and Company +1911 + +Published September, 1911 + +The Quinn & Boden Co. Press +Rahway, N. J. + + + + +DEDICATION TO DAVID WHITELAW + +SOUVENIR OF A LONG FRIENDSHIP + + + _My dear David,_ + + _Since I first met you, considerably more than a decade ago, in + a little studio high up in a great London building, we have + both seen much water flow under the bridges of our lives._ + + _We have all sorts of memories, have we not?_ + + _Late midnights and famishing morrows, in the gay hard days + when we were endeavouring to climb the ladder of our Art; a + succession of faces, a welter of experiences. Some of us fell + in the struggle; others failed and still haunt the reprobate + purlieus of Fleet Street and the Strand! There was one who + achieved a high and delicate glory before he died--"Tant va la + cruche a l'eau qu'a la fin elle se casse."_ + + _There is another who is slowly and surely finding his way to a + certainty of fame._ + + _And the rest of us have done something, if not--as yet--all we + hoped to do. At any rate, the slopes of the first hills lie + beneath us. We are in good courage and resolute for the + mountains._ + + _The mist eddies and is spiralled below in the valleys from + which we have come, but already we are among the deep sweet + billows of the mountain winds, and I think it is because we + have both found our "Princess Galvas" that we have got this far + upon the way._ + + _We may never stand upon the summit and find that tempest of + fire we call the Sun full upon us. But the pleasure of going on + is ours still--there will always be that._ + + _Ever your friend, + C. RANGER-GULL._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I IN THE QUEEN'S CLOSET; THE FOUR FACES + + II THE HOUSE OF SHAME; THE LADDER OF GLORY + + III THE MEETING WITH JOHN HULL AT CHELMSFORD + + IV PART TAKEN IN AFFAIRS BY THE HALF TESTOON + + V THE FINDING OF ELIZABETH + + VI A KING AND A VICTIM. TWO GRIM MEN + + VII HEY HO! AND A RUMBELOW! + + VIII "WHY, WHO BUT YOU, JOHNNIE!" + + IX "MISERICORDIA ET JUSTITIA" + + X THE SILENT MEN IN BLACK + + XI IN THE BOX + + XII "TENDIMUS IN LATIUM" + + + + +CHAPTER I + +IN THE QUEEN'S CLOSET; THE FOUR FACES + + +Sir Henry Commendone sat upon an oak box clamped with bands of iron and +watched his son completing his morning toilette. + +"And how like you this life of the Court, John?" he said. + +The young man smoothed out the feather of his tall cone-shaped hat. +"Truly, father," he answered, "in respect of itself it seems a very good +life, but in respect that it is far from the fields and home it is +naught. But I like it very well. And I think I am likely to rise high. I +am now attached to the King Consort, by the Queen's pleasure. His +Highness has spoken frequently with me, and I have my commission duly +written out as _caballerizo_." + +"I never could learn Spanish," the elder man replied, wagging his head. +"Father Chilches tried to teach me often of an afternoon when you were +hawking. What does the word mean in essence?" + +"Groom of the body, father--equerry. It is doubtless because I speak +Spanish that it hath been given me." + +"Very like, Johnnie. But since the Queen, God bless her, has come to the +throne, and England is reconciled to Holy Church, thou wert bound to +get a post at Court. They could not ignore our name. I wrote to the +Bishop of London myself, he placed my request before the Queen's Grace, +and hence thou art here and in high favour." + +The young man smiled. "Which I shall endeavour to keep," he answered. +"And now I must soon go to the Queen's lodging. I am in attendance on +King Philip." + +"And I to horse with my men at noon and so home to Kent. I am glad to +have seen thee, Johnnie, in thy new life, though I do not love London +and the Court. But tell me of the Queen's husband. The neighbours will +all want news of him. It's little enough they like the Spanish match in +Kent. Give me a picture of him." + +"I have been at Court a month," John Commendone answered, "and I have +learned more than one good lesson. There is a Spanish saying that runs +this way, '_Palabras y plumas viento las Heva_' (Words and feathers are +carried far by the wind). I will tell you, father, but repeat nothing +again. Kent is not far away, and I have ambition." + +Sir Henry chuckled. "Prudent lad," he said; "thou art born to be about a +palace. I'll say nothing." + +"Well then, here is your man, a pedant and a fool, a stickler for little +trifles, a very child for detail. Her Grace the Queen and all the nobles +speak many languages. Every man is learned now. His Highness speaks but +Spanish, though he has a little French. Never did I see a man with so +small a mind, and yet he thinks he can see deep down into men's hearts +and motives, and knows all private and public affairs." + +Sir John whistled. He plucked at one of the roses of burnt silver +embroidered upon the doublet of green tissue he was wearing--the gala +dress which he had put on for his visit to Court, a garment which was a +good many years behind the fashion, but thought most elegant by his +brother squires in Kent. + +"So!" he said, "then this match will prove as bad for the country as all +the neighbours are saying. Still, he is a good Catholic, and that is +something." + +John nodded carelessly. "More so," he replied, "than is thought becoming +to his rank and age by many good Catholics about the Court. He is as +regular at mass, sermons, and vespers as a monk--hath a leash of friars +to preach for his instruction, and disputes in theology with others half +the night till Her Grace hath to send one of her gentlemen to bid him +come to bed." + +"Early days for that," said the Kentish gentleman, "though, in faith, +the Queen is thirty-eight and----" + +John started. "Whist!" he said. "I'm setting you an evil example, sir. +Long ears abound in the Tower. I'll say no more." + +"I'm mum, Johnnie," Sir Henry replied. "I'll break in upon thee no more. +Get on with thy tale." + +"'Tis a bargain then, sir, and repeat nothing I tell you. I was saying +about His Highness's religion. He consults Don Diego Deza, a Dominican +who is his confessor, most minutely as to all the actions of life, +inquiring most anxiously if this or that were likely to burden his +conscience. And yet--though Her Grace suspects nothing--he is of a very +gross and licentious temper. He hath issued forth at night into the +city, disguised, and indulged himself in the common haunts of vice. I +much fear me that he will command me to go with him on some such +expedition, for he begins to notice me more than any others of the +English gentlemen in his company, and to talk with me in the Spanish +tongue...." + +The elder man laughed tolerantly. + +"Every man to his taste," he said; "and look you, Johnnie, a prince is +wedded for state reasons, and not for love. The ox hath his bow, the +faulcon his bells, and as pigeon's bill man hath his desire and would be +nibbling!" + +John Commendone drew himself up to his full slim height and made a +motion of disgust. + +"'Tis not my way," he said. "Bachelor, I hunt no fardingales, nor would +I do so wedded." + +"God 'ild you, Johnnie. Hast ever taken a clean and commendable view of +life, and I love thee for it. But have charity, get you charity as you +grow older. His Highness is narrow, you tell me; be not so yourself. +Thou art not a little pot and soon hot, but I think thou wilt find a +fire that will thaw thee at Court. A young man must get experience. I +would not have thee get through the streets with a bragging look nor +frequent the stews of town. But young blood must have its May-day. +Whilst can, have thy May-day, Johnnie. Have thy door shadowed with green +birches, long fennel, St. John's wort, orphine, and white lilies. Wilt +not be always young. But I babble; tell me more of King Philip." + +The tall youth had stood silent while his father spoke, his grave, oval +face set in courteous attention. It was a coarse age. Henry the Eighth +was not long dead, and the scandals of his court and life influenced all +private conduct. That Queen Mary was rigid in her morals went for very +little. The Lady Elizabeth, still a young girl, was already committing +herself to a course of life which--despite the historians of the popular +textbooks--made her court in after years as licentious as ever her +father's had been. Old Sir Henry spoke after his kind, and few young men +in 1555 were so fastidious as John Commendone. + +He welcomed the change in conversation. To hear his father--whom he +dearly loved--speak thus, was most distasteful to him. + +"His Highness is a glutton for work," the young man went on. "I see him +daily, and he is ever busy with his pen. He hateth to converse upon +affairs of state, but will write a letter eighteen pages long when his +correspondent is in the next room, howbeit the subject is one which a +man of sense would settle in six words of the tongue. Indeed, sir, he is +truly of opinion that the world is to move upon protocols and +apostilles. Events must not be born without a preparatory course of his +obstetrical pedantry! Never will he learn that the world will not rest +on its axis while he writeth directions of the way it is to turn." + +Sir Henry shook himself like a dog. + +"And the Queen mad for such a husband as this!" he said. + +"Aye, worships him as it were a saint in a niche. A skilled lutanist +with a touch on the strings remarkable for its science, speaking many +languages with fluency and grace, Latin in especial, Her Grace yet +thinks His Highness a great statesman and of a polished easy wit." + +"How blind is love, Johnnie! blinder still when it cometh late. A cap +out of fashion and ill-worn. 'Tis like one of your French withered +pears. It looks ill and eats dryly." + +"I was in the Queen's closet two days gone, in waiting on His Highness. +A letter had come from Paris, narrating how a member of the Spanish +envoy's suit to that court had been assassinated. The letter ran that +the manner in which he had been killed was that a Jacobin monk had given +him a pistol-shot in the head--'_la facon que l'on dit qu'il a ette tue, +sa ette par un Jacobin qui luy a donne d'un cou de pistolle dans la +tayte_.' His Highness took up his pen and scrawled with it upon the +margin. He drew a line under one word '_pistolle_'; 'this is perhaps +some kind of knife,' quoth he; 'and as for "_tayte_," it can be nothing +else but head, which is not _tayte_, but _tete_ or _teyte_, as you very +well know.' And, father, the Queen was all smiles and much pleased with +this wonderful commentary!" + +Sir Henry rose. + +"I will hear no more," he said. "It is time I went. You have given me +much food for thought. Fare thee well, Johnnie. Write me letters with +thy doings when thou canst. God bless thee." + +The two men stood side by side, looking at each other in silence, one +hale and hearty still, but with his life drawing to its close, the other +in the first flush of early manhood, entering upon a career which +promised a most brilliant future, with every natural and material +advantage, either his already, or at hand. + +They were like and yet unlike. + +The father was big, burly, iron-grey of head and beard, with hooked nose +and firm though simple eyes under thick, shaggy brows. + +John was of his father's height, close on six feet. He was slim, but +with the leanness of perfect training and condition. Supple as an eel, +with a marked grace of carriage and bearing, he nevertheless suggested +enormous physical strength. The face was a pure oval with an olive tinge +in the skin, the nose hooked like his sire's, the lips curved into a +bow, but with a singular graveness and strength overlying and informing +their delicacy. The eyes, of a dark brown, were inscrutable. Steadfast +in regard, with a hint of cynicism and mockery in them, they were at the +same time instinct with alertness and a certain watchfulness. He seemed, +as he stood in his little room in the old palace of the Tower, a +singularly handsome, clever, and capable young man, but a man with +reservations, with secrets of character which no one could plumb or +divine. + +He was the only son of Sir Henry Commendone and a Spanish lady of high +birth who had come to England in 1512 to take a position in the suite of +Catherine of Arragon, three years after her marriage to Henry VIII. +During the early part of Henry's reign Sir Henry Commendone was much at +Windsor and a personal friend of the King. Those were days of great +brilliancy. The King was young, courteous, and affable. His person was +handsome, he was continually engaged in martial exercises and all forms +of field sports. Sir Henry was one of the band of gay youths who tilted +and hawked or hunted in the Great Park. He fell in love with the +beautiful young Juanita de Senabria, married her with the consent and +approbation of the King and Queen, and immediately retired to his manors +in Kent. From that time forward he took absolutely no part in politics +or court affairs. He lived the life of a country squire of his day in +serene health and happiness. His wife died when John--the only issue of +the marriage--was six years old, and the boy was educated by Father +Chilches, a placid and easy-going Spanish priest, who acted as domestic +chaplain at Commendone. This man, loving ease and quiet, was +nevertheless a scholar and a gentleman. He had been at the court of +Charles V, and was an ideal tutor for Johnnie. His religion, though +sincere, sat easily upon him. The Divorce from Rome did not draw him +from his calm retreat, the oath enforcing the King's supremacy had no +terrors for him, and he died at a good old age in 1548, during the +protectorate of Somerset. + +From this man Johnnie had learnt to speak Spanish, Italian, and French. +Naturally quick and intelligent, he had added something of his mother's +foreign grace and self-possession to the teachings and worldly-wisdom of +Don Chilches, while his father had delighted to train him in all manly +exercises, than whom none was more fitted to do. + +Sir Henry became rich as the years went on, but lived always as a simple +squire. Most of his land was pasturage, then far more profitable than +the growing of corn. Tillage, with no knowledge of the rotation of +crops, no turnip industry to fatten sheep, miserable appliances and +entire ignorance of manures, afforded no interest on capital. But the +export of wool and broadcloth was highly profitable, and Sir Henry's +wool was paid for in good double ryals by the manufacturers and +merchants of the great towns. + +John Commendone entered upon his career, therefore, with plenty of +money--far more than any one suspected--a handsome person, thoroughly +accomplished in all that was necessary for a gentleman of that day. + +In addition, his education was better than the general, he was without +vices, and, in the present reign, the consistent Catholicity of his +house recommended him most strongly to the Queen and her advisers. + + * * * * * + +"So God 'ild ye, Johnnie. Come not down the stairs with me. Let us make +farewell here and now. I go to the Constable's to leave my duty, and +then to take a stirrup-cup with the Lieutenant. My serving-men and +horses are waiting at the south of White Tower at Coal Harbour Gate. +Farewell." + +The old man put his arms in their out-moded bravery round his son and +kissed him on both cheeks. He hugged like a bear, and his beard was wiry +and strong against the smooth cheeks of his son. Then coughing a little, +he almost imperceptibly made the sign of the cross, and, turning, +clanked away, his sword ringing on the stone floor and his spurs--for he +wore riding-boots of Spanish leather--clicking in unison. + +John was left alone. + +He sat down upon the low wooden bed and gazed at the chest where the +knight had been sitting. The little room, with its single window looking +out upon the back offices of the palace, seemed strangely empty, +momentarily forlorn. Johnnie sighed. He thought of the woods of +Commendone, of the old Tudor house with its masses of chimneys and +deep-mullioned windows--of all that home-life so warm and pleasant; dawn +in the park with the deer cropping wet, silver grass, the whistle of the +wild duck as they flew over the lake, the garden of rosemary, St. John's +wort, and French lavender, which had been his mother's. + +Then, stifling a sigh, he sprang to his feet, buckled on his sword--the +fashionable "whiffle"-shaped weapon with globular pommel and the +quillons of the guard ornamented in gold--and gave a glance at a little +mirror hung upon the wall. By no means vain, he had a very careful taste +in dress, and was already considered something of a dandy by the young +men of his set. + +He wore a doublet of black satin, slashed with cloth of silver; and +black velvet trunks trussed and tagged with the same. His short cloak +was of cloth of silver lined with blue velvet pounced with his cypher, +and it fell behind him from his left shoulder. + +He smoothed his small black moustache--for he wore no beard--set his +ruff of two pleats in order, and stepped gaily out of his room into a +long panelled corridor, a very proper young man, taut, trim, and _point +device_. + +There were doors on each side of the corridor, some closed, some ajar. A +couple of serving-men were hastening along it with ewers of water and +towels. There was a hum and stir down the whole length of the place as +the younger gentlemen of the Court made their toilettes. + +From one door a high sweet tenor voice shivered out in song-- + + "Filz de Venus, voz deux yeux desbendez + Et mes ecrits lisez et entendez..." + +"That's Mr. Ambrose Cholmondely," Johnnie nodded to himself. "He has a +sweet voice. He sang in the sextette with Lady Bedingfield and Lady +Paget last night. A sweet voice, but a fool! Any girl--or dame either +for that matter--can do what she likes with him. He travels fastest who +travels alone. Master Ambrose will not go far, pardieu, nor travel +fast!" + +He came to the stair-head--it was a narrow, open stairway leading into a +small hall, also panelled. On the right of the hall was a wide, open +door, through which he turned and entered the common-room of the +gentlemen who were lodged in this wing of the palace. + +The place was very like the senior common-room of one of the more +ancient Oxford colleges, wainscoted in oak, and with large mullioned +windows on the side opposite to a high carved fire-place. + +A long table ran down the centre, capable of seating thirty or forty +people, and at one end was a beaufet or side-board with an almost +astonishing array of silver plate, which reflected the sunlight that +was pouring into the big, pleasant room in a thousand twinkling points +of light. + +It was an age of silver. The secretary to Francesco Capella, the +Venetian Ambassador to London, writes of the period: "There is no small +innkeeper, however poor and humble he may be, who does not serve his +table with silver dishes and drinking cups; and no one who has not in +his house silver plate to the amount of at least L100 sterling is +considered by the English to be a person of any consequence. The most +remarkable thing in London is the quantity of wrought silver." + +The gentlemen about the Queen and the King Consort had their own private +silver, which was kept in this their common messroom, and was also +supplemented from the Household stores. + +Johnnie sat down at the table and looked round. At the moment, save for +two serving-men and the pantler, he was alone. Before him was the silver +plate and goblet he had brought from Commendone, stamped with his crest +and motto, "_Sapere aude et tace_." He was hungry, and his eye fell upon +a dish of perch in foyle, one of the many good things upon the table. + +The pantler hastened up. + +"The carpes of venison are very good this morning, sir," he said +confidentially, while one serving-man brought a great piece of manchet +bread and another filled Johnnie's flagon with ale. + +"I'll try some," he answered, and fell to with a good appetite. + +Various young men strolled in and stood about, talking and jesting or +whispering news of the Court, calling each other by familiar nicknames, +singing and whistling, examining a new sword, cursing the amount of +their tailors' bills--as young men have done and will do from the dawn +of civilisation to the end. + +John finished his breakfast, crossed himself for grace, and, exchanging +a remark or two here and there, went out of the room and into the +morning sunshine which bathed the old palace of the Tower in splendour. + +How fresh the morning air was! how brilliant the scene before him! + +To his right was the Coal Harbour Gate and the huge White Tower. Two +Royal standards shook out in the breeze, the Leopards of England and +blazoned heraldry of Spain, with its tower of gold upon red for Castile, +the red and yellow bars of Arragon, the red and white checkers of +Burgundy, and the spread-eagle sable of Sicily. + +To the left was that vast range of halls and galleries and gardens which +was the old palace, now utterly swept away for ever. The magnificent +pile of brick and timber known as the Queen's gallery, which was the +actual Royal lodging, was alive and astir with movement. Halberdiers of +the guard were stationed at regular distances upon the low stone terrace +of the facade, groups of officers went in and out of the doors, already +some ladies were walking in the privy garden among the parterres of +flowers, brilliant as a window of stained glass. The gilding and painted +blazonry on the great hall built by Henry III glowed like huge jewels. + +On the gravel sweep before the palace grooms and men-at-arms were +holding richly caparisoned horses, and people were continually coming up +and riding away, their places to be filled by new arrivals. + +It is almost impossible, in our day, to do more than faintly imagine a +scene so splendid and so debonair. The clear summer sky, its crushed +sapphire unveiled by smoke, the mass of roofs, flat, turreted, +embattled--some with stacks of warm, red chimneys splashed with the jade +green of ivy--the cupulars and tall clock towers, the crocketed +pinnacles and fantastic timbered gables, made a whole of extraordinary +beauty. + +Dozens of great gilt vanes rose up into the still, bright air, the gold +seeming as if it were cunningly inlaid upon the curve of a blue bowl. + +The pigeons cooed softly to each other, the jackdaws wheeled and +chuckled round the dizzy heights of the White Tower, there was a sweet +scent of wood smoke and flowers borne upon the cool breezes from the +Thames. + +The clocks beat out the hour of noon, there was the boom of a gun and a +white puff of smoke from the Constable Tower, a gay fanfaronade of +trumpets shivered out, piercingly sweet and triumphant, a distant bell +began to toll somewhere over by St. John's Chapel. + +John Commendone entered the great central door of the Queen's gallery. + +He passed the guard of halberdiers that stood at the foot of the great +staircase, exchanging good mornings with Mr. Champneys, who was in +command, and went upwards to the gallery, which was crowded with people. +Officers of the Queen's archers, dressed in scarlet and black velvet, +with a rose and imperial crown woven in gold upon their doublets, +chatted with permanent officials of the household. There was a +considerable sprinkling of clergy, and at one end of the gallery, +nearest to the door of the Ante-room, was a little knot of Dominican +monks, dark and somewhat saturnine figures, who whispered to each other +in liquid Spanish. John went straight to the Ante-room entrance, which +was screened by heavy curtains of tapestry. He spoke a word to the +officer guarding it with a drawn sword, and was immediately admitted to +a long room hung with pictures and lit by large windows all along one +side of its length. + +Here were more soldiers and several gentlemen ushers with white wands in +their hands. One of them had a list of names upon a slip of parchment, +which he was checking with a pen. He looked up as John came in. + +"Give you good day, Mr. Commendone," he said. "I have you here upon this +paper. His Highness is with the Queen in her closet, and you are to be +in waiting. Lord Paget has just had audience, and the Bishop of London +is to come." + +He lowered his voice, speaking confidentially. "Things are coming to a +head," he said. "I doubt me but that there will be some savage doings +anon. Now, Mr. Commendone, I wish you very well. You are certainly +marked out for high preferment. Your cake is dough on both sides. See +you keep it. And, above all, give talking a lullaby." + +John nodded. He saw that the other knew something. He waited to hear +more. + +"You have been observed, Mr. Commendone," the other went on, his pointed +grey beard rustling on his ruff with a sound as of whispering leaves, +and hardly louder than the voice in which he spoke. "You have had those +watching you as to your demeanours and deportments whom you did not +think. And you have been very well reported of. The King likes you and +Her Grace also. They have spoken of you, and you are to be advanced. And +if, as I very well think, you will be made privy to affairs of state and +policy, pr'ythee remember that I am always at your service, and love you +very well." + +He took his watch from his doublet. "It is time you were announced," he +said, and turning, opened a door opposite the tapestry-hung portal +through which Johnnie had entered. + +"Mr. Commendone," he said, "His Highness's gentleman." + +An officer within called the name down a short passage to a captain who +stood in front of the door of the closet. There was a knock, a murmur +of voices, and John was beckoned to proceed. + +He felt unusually excited, though at the same time quite cool. Old Sir +James Clinton at the door had not spoken for nothing. Certainly his +prospects were bright.... In another moment he had entered the Queen's +room and was kneeling upon one knee as the door closed behind him. + +The room was large and cheerful. It was panelled throughout, and the +wainscoting had been painted a dull purple or liver-colour, with the +panel-beadings picked out in gold. The roof was of stone, and +waggon-headed with Welsh groins--that is to say, groins which cut into +the main arch below the apex. Two long Venice mirrors hung on one wall, +and over the fire-place was a crucifix of ivory. + +In the centre of the place was a large octagonal table covered with +papers, and a massive silver ink-holder. + +Seated at the table, very busy with a mass of documents, was King Philip +II of Spain. Don Diego Deza, his confessor and private chaplain, stood +by the side of the King's chair. + +Seated at another and smaller table in a window embrasure Queen Mary was +bending over a large flat book. It was open at an illuminated page, and +the sunlight fell upon the gold and vermilion, the _rouge-de-fer_ and +powder-blue, so that it gleamed like a little _parterre_ of jewels. + +It was the second time that John Commendone had been admitted to the +Privy Closet. He had been in waiting at supper, the Queen had spoken to +him once or twice; he was often in the King Consort's lodging, and was +already a favourite among the members of the Spanish suite. But this was +quite different. He knew it at once. He realised immediately that he was +here--present at this "domestic interior," so to speak, for some +important purpose. Had he known the expressive idiom of our day, he +would have said to himself, "I have arrived!" + +Philip looked up. His small, intensely serious eyes gave a gleam of +recognition. + +"Buenos dias, senor," he said. + +John bowed very low. + +Suddenly the room was filled with a harsh and hoarse volume of sound, a +great booming, resonant voice, like the voice of a strong, rough man. + +It came from the Queen. + +"Mr. Commendone, come you here. His Highness hath work to do. Art a +lutanist, Lady Paget tells me, then look at this new book of tablature +with the voice part very well writ and the painting of the initial most +skilfully done." + +The young man advanced to the Queen. She held out her left hand, a +little shrivelled hand, for him to kiss. He did so, and then, rising, +bent over the wonderfully illuminated music book. + +The six horizontal lines of the lute notation, each named after a +corresponding note of the instrument, were drawn in scarlet. The Arabic +numerals which indicated the frets to be used in producing the notes +were black and orange, the initial H was a wealth of flat heraldic +colour. + + "His golden locks time hath to filuer turnde" + +the Queen read out in her great masculine voice,--a little subdued now, +but still fierce and strong, like the purring of a panther. "What think +you of my new book of songs, Mr. Commendone?" + +"A beautiful book, Madam, and fit for Your Grace's skill, who hath no +rival with the lute." + +"'Tis kind of you to say so, Mr. Commendone, but you over compliment +me." + +She bent her brows together, lost in serious thought for a moment, and +drummed with lean fingers upon the table. + +Suddenly she looked up and her face cleared. + +"I can say truly," she continued, "that I am a very skilled player. For +a woman I can fairly put myself in the first rank. But I have met others +surpassing me greatly." + +She had thought it out with perfect fairness, with an almost pedantic +precision. Woman-like, she was pleased with what the young courtier had +said, but she weighed truth in grains and scruples--tithe of mint and +cummin, the very word and article of bald fact; always her way. + +"And here, Mr. Commendone," she continued, "is my new virginal. It hath +come from Firenze, and was made by Nicolo Pedrini himself. My Lord Mayor +begged Our acceptance of it." + +The virginal was a fine instrument--spinet it came to be called in +Elizabeth's reign, from the spines or crow-quills which were attached to +the "jacks" and plucked at the strings. + +The case was made of cypress wood, inlaid with whorls of thin silver and +enamels of various colours. + +"We were pleased at the Lord Mayor's courtesy," the Queen concluded, and +the change in pronoun showed John that the interview was over in its +personal sense, and that he had been very highly honoured. + +He bowed, with a murmur of assent, and drew aside to the wall of the +room, waiting easily there, a fresh and gallant figure, for any further +commands. + +Nor did it escape him that the Queen had given him a look of prim, but +quite marked approval--as an old maid may look upon a handsome and +well-mannered boy. + +The Queen pressed down the levers of the spinet once or twice, and the +thin, sweet chords like the ghost of a harp rang out into the room. + +John watched her from the wall. + +The divine right of monarchs was a doctrine very firmly implanted in his +mind by his upbringing and the time in which he lived. The absolutism of +Henry VIII had had an extraordinary influence on public thought. + +To a man such as John Commendone the monarch of England was rather more +than human. + +At the same time his cool and clever brain was busily at work, drinking +in details, criticising, appraising, wondering. + +The Queen wore a robe of claret-coloured velvet, fringed with gold +thread and furred with powdered ermine. Over her rather thin hair, +already turning very grey, she wore the simple caul of the period, a +head-dress which was half bonnet, half skull-cap, made of cloth of +tinsel set with pearls. + +Small, lean, sickly, painfully near-sighted, yet with an eye full of +fierceness and fire--your true Tudor-tiger eye--she was yet singularly +feminine. As she sat there, her face wrinkled by care and evil passions +even more than by time, touching the keys of her spinet, picking up a +piece of embroidery, and frequently glancing at her husband with quick, +hungry looks of fretful and even suspicious affection, she was far more +woman than queen. + +The great booming voice which terrified strong men, coming from this +frail and sinister figure, was silent now. There was pathos even in her +attitude. A submissive wife of Philip with her woman's gear. + +The King of Spain went on writing, coldly, carefully, and with +concentrated attention, and John's eyes fell upon him also, his new +master, the most powerful man in the world of that day. King of Spain, +Naples, Sicily, Duke of Milan, Lord of Franche Comte and the +Netherlands, Ruler of Tunis and the Barbary coast, the Canaries, Cape de +Verd Islands, Philippines and Spice Islands, the huge West Indian +colonies, and the vast territories of Mexico and Peru--an almost +unthinkable power was in the hands of this man. + +As it all came to him, Johnnie shuddered for a moment. His nerves were +tense, his imagination at work, it seemed difficult to breathe the same +air as these two super-normal beings in the still, warm chamber. + +From outside came the snarling of trumpets, the stir and noise of +soldiery--here, warm silence, the scratching of a pen upon parchment, +the echo of a voice which rolled like a kettle-drum.... + +Suddenly the King laid down his pen and rose to his feet, a tall, lean, +sombre-faced man in black and gold. He spoke a few words to Father Diego +Deza and then went up to the Queen in the window. + +The monk went on arranging papers in orderly bundles, and tying some of +them with cords of green silk, which he drew from a silver box. + +John saw the Queen's face. It lit up and became almost beautiful for a +second as Philip approached. Then as husband and wife conversed in low +voices, the equerry saw yet another change come over Mary's twitching +and expressive countenance. It hardened and froze, the thin lips +tightened to a line of dull pink, the eyes grew bitter bright, the head +nodded emphatically several times, as if in agreement at something the +King was saying. + +Then John felt some one touch his arm, and found that the Dominican had +come to him noiselessly, and was smiling into his face with a flash of +white teeth and steady, watchful eyes. + +He started violently and turned his head from the Royal couple in some +confusion. He felt as though he had been detected in some breach of +manners, of espionage almost. + +"Buenos dias, senor, como anda usted?" Don Diego asked in a low voice. + +"Thank you, I am very well," Johnnie answered in Spanish. + +"Como esta su padre?" + +"My father is very well also. He has just left me to ride home to Kent," +John replied, wondering how in the world this foreign priest knew of the +old knight's visit. + +It was true, then, what Sir James Clinton had said! He was being +carefully watched. Even in the Royal Closet his movements were known. + +"A loyal gentleman and a good son of the Church," said the priest, "we +have excellent reports of him, and of you also, senor," he concluded, +with another smile. + +John bowed. + +"_Los negocios del politica_--affairs of state," the chaplain whispered +with a half-glance at the couple in the window. "There are great times +coming for England, senor. And if you prove yourself a loyal servant and +good Catholic, you are destined to go far. His Most Catholic Majesty has +need of an English gentleman such as you in his suite, of good birth, +of the true religion, with Spanish blood in his veins, and speaking +Spanish." + +Again the young man bowed. He knew very well that these words were +inspired. This suave ecclesiastic was the power behind the throne. He +held the King's conscience, was his confessor, more powerful than any +great lord or Minister--the secret, unofficial director of world-wide +policies. + +His heart beat high within him. The prospects opening before him were +enough to dazzle the oldest and most experienced courtier; he was upon +the threshold of such promotion and intimacies as he, the son of a plain +country gentleman, had never dared to hope for. + +It had grown very hot; he remarked upon it to the priest, noticing, as +he did so, that the room was darker than before. + +The air of the closet was heavy and oppressive, and glancing at the +windows, he saw that it was no fancy of strained and excited nerves, but +that the sky over the river was darkening, and the buildings upon London +Bridge stood out with singular sharpness. + +"A storm of thunder," said Don Diego indifferently, and then, with a +gleam in his eyes, "and such a storm shall presently break over England +that the air shall be cleared of heresy by the lightnings of Holy +Church--ah! here cometh His Grace of London!" + +The Captain of the Guard had suddenly beaten upon the door. It was flung +open, and Sir James Clinton, who had come down the passage from the +Ante-room, preceded the Bishop, and announced him in a loud, sonorous +voice. + +Johnnie instinctively drew himself up to attention, the chaplain +hastened forward, King Philip, in the window, stood upright, and the +Queen remained seated. From the wall Johnnie saw all that happened quite +distinctly. The scene was one which he never forgot. + +There was the sudden stir and movement of his lordship's entrance, the +alteration and grouping of the people in the closet, the challenge of +the captain at the door, the heralding voice of Sir James--and then, +into the room, which was momentarily growing darker as the thunder +clouds advanced on London, Bishop Bonner came. + +The man _pressed_ into the room, swift, sudden, assertive. In his +scarlet chimere and white rochet, with his bullet head and bristling +beard, it was as though a shell had fallen into the room. + +A streak of livid light fell upon his face--set, determined, and alive +with purpose--and the man's eyes, greenish brown and very bright, caught +a baleful fire from the waning gleam. + +Then, with almost indecent haste, he brushed past John Commendone and +the eager Spanish monk, and knelt before the Queen. + +He kissed her hand, and the hand of the King Consort also, with some +murmured words which Johnnie could not catch. Then he rose, and the +Queen, as she had done upon her arrival from Winchester after her +marriage, knelt for his blessing. + +Commendone and the chaplain knelt also; the King of Spain bowed his +head, as the rapid, breathless pattering Latin filled the place, and one +outstretched hand--two white fingers and one white thumb--quivered for a +moment and sank in the leaden light. + +There was a new grouping of figures, some quick talk, and then the +Queen's great voice filled the room. + +"Mr. Commendone! See that there are lights!" + +Johnnie stumbled out of the closet, now dark as at late evening, strode +down the passage, burst into the Ante-room, and called out loudly, +"Bring candles, bring candles!" + +Even as he said it there was a terrible crash of thunder high in the air +above the Palace, and a simultaneous flash of lightning, which lit up +the sombre Ante-room with a blinding and ghostly radiance for the +fraction of a second. + +White faces immobile as pictures, tense forms of all waiting there, and +then the voice of Sir James and the hurrying of feet as the servants +rushed away.... + +It was soon done. While the thunder pealed and stammered overhead, the +amethyst lightning sheets flickered and cracked, the white whips of the +fork-lightning cut into the black and purple gloom, a little procession +was made, and gentlemen ushers followed Johnnie back to the Royal +Closet, carrying candles in their massive silver sconces, dozens of +twinkling orange points to illumine what was to be done. + +The door was closed. The King, Queen, and the Bishop sat down at the +central table upon which all the lights were set. + +Don Diego Deza stood behind Philip's chair. + +The Queen turned to John. + +"Stand at the door, Mr. Commendone," she said, "and with your sword +drawn. No one is to come in. We are engaged upon affairs of state." + +Her voice was a second to the continuous mutter of the thunder, low, +fierce, and charged with menace. Save for the candles, the room was now +quite dark. + +A furious wind had risen and blew great gouts of hot rain upon the +window-panes with a rattle as of distant artillery. + +Johnnie drew his sword, held it point downwards, and stood erect, +guarding the door. He could feel the tapestry which covered it moving +behind him, bellying out and pressing gently upon his back. + +He could see the faces of the people at the table very distinctly. + +The King of Spain and his chaplain were in profile to him. The Queen and +the Bishop of London he saw full-face. He had not met the Bishop before, +though he had heard much about him, and it was on the prelate's +countenance that his glance of curiosity first fell. + +Young as he was, Johnnie had already begun to cultivate that cool +scrutiny and estimation of character which was to stand him in such +stead during the years that were to come. He watched the face of Edmund +Bonner, or Boner, as the Bishop was more generally called at that time, +with intense interest. Boner was to the Queen what the Dominican Deza +was to her husband. The two priests ruled two monarchs. + +In the yellow candle-light, an oasis of radiance in the murk and gloom +of the storm, the faces of the people round the table hid nothing. The +Bishop was bullet-headed, had protruding eyes, a bright colour, and his +moustache and beard only partially hid lips that were red and full. The +lips were red and full, there was a coarseness, and even sensuality, +about them, which was, nevertheless, oddly at war with their +determination and inflexibility. The young man, pure and fastidious +himself, immediately realised that Boner was not vicious in the ordinary +meaning of the word. One hears a good deal about "thin, cruel lips"--the +Queen had them, indeed--but there are full and blood-charged lips which +are cruel too. And these were the lips of the Bishop of London. + +There was a huge force about the man. He was plebeian, common, but +strong. + +Don Diego, Commendone himself, the Queen and her husband, were all +aristocrats in their different degree, bred from a line--pedigree +people. + +That was the bond between them. + +The Bishop was outside all this, impatient of it, indeed; but even while +the groom of the body twirled his moustache with an almost mechanical +gesture of disgust and misliking, he felt the power of the man. + +And no historian has ever ventured to deny that. The natural son of the +hedge-priest, George Savage--himself a bastard--walked life with a +shield of brutal power as his armour. The blood-stained man from whom--a +few years after--Queen Elizabeth turned away with a shudder of +irrepressible horror, was the man who had dared to browbeat and bully +Pope Clement VII himself. He took a personal and undignified delight in +the details of physical and mental torture of his victims. In 1546 he +had watched with his own eyes the convulsions of Dame Anne Askew upon +the rack. He was sincere, inflexible, and remarkable for obstinacy in +everything except principle. As Ambassador to Paris in Henry's reign he +had smuggled over printed sheets of Coverdale's and Grafton's +translation of the Bible in his baggage--the personal effects of an +ambassador being then, as now, immune from prying eyes. During the +Protectorate he had lain in prison, and now the strenuous opposer of +papal claims in olden days was a bishop in full communion with Rome. + +... He was speaking now, in a loud and vulgar voice, which even the +presence of their Majesties failed to soften or subdue. + +--"And this, so please Your Grace, is but a sign and indication of the +spirit abroad. There is no surcease from it. We shall do well to gird us +up and scourge this heresy from England. This letter was delivered by an +unknown woman to my chaplain, Father Holmes. 'Tis a sign of the times." + +He unfolded a paper and began to read. + +"I see that you are set all in a rage like a ravening wolf against the +poor lambs of Christ appointed to the slaughter for the testimony of the +truth. Indeed, you are called the common cut-throat and general +slaughter-slave to all the bishops of England; and therefore 'tis wisdom +for me and all other simple sheep of the Lord to keep us out of your +butcher's stall as long as we can. The very papists themselves begin now +to abhor your blood-thirstiness, and speak shame of your tyranny. Like +tyranny, believe me, my lord, any child that can any whit speak, can +call you by your name and say, 'Bloody Boner is Bishop of London'; and +every man hath it as perfectly upon his fingers'-ends as his +Paternoster, how many you, for your part, have burned with fire and +famished in prison; they say the whole sum surmounteth to forty persons +within this three-quarters of this year. Therefore, my lord, though your +lordship believeth that there is neither heaven nor hell nor God nor +devil, yet if your lordship love your own honesty, which was lost long +agone, you were best to surcease from this cruel burning of Christian +men, and also from murdering of some in prison, for that, indeed, +offendeth men's minds most. Therefore, say not but a woman gave you +warning, if you list to take it. And as for the obtaining of your popish +purpose in suppressing the Truth, I put you out of doubt, you shall not +obtain it as long as you go to work this way as ye do; for verily I +believe that you have lost the hearts of twenty thousand that were rank +papists within this twelve months." + +The Bishop put the letter down upon the table and beat upon it with his +clenched fist. His face was alight with inquiry and anger. + +Every one took it in a different fashion. + +Philip crossed himself and said nothing, formal, cold, and almost +uninterested. Don Diego crossed himself also. His face was stern, but +his eyes flitted hither and thither, sparkling in the light. + +Then the Queen's great voice boomed out into the place, drowning the +thunder and the beating rain upon the window-panes, pressing in gouts of +sound on the hot air of the closet. + +Her face was bagged and pouched like a quilt. All womanhood was wiped +out of it--lips white, eyes like ice.... + +"I'll stamp it out of this realm! I'll burn it out. Jesus! but we will +burn it out!" + +The Bishop's face was trembling with excitement. He thrust a paper in +front of the Queen. + +"Madam," he said, "this is the warrant for Doctor Rowland Taylor." + +Mary caught up a pen and wrote her name at the foot of the document in +the neat separated letters of one accustomed to write in Greek, below +the signature of the Chancellor Gardiner and the Lords Montague and +Wharton, judges of the Legantine Court for the trial of heretics. + +"I will make short with him," the Queen said, "and of all blasphemers +and heretics. There is the paper, my lord, with my hand to it. A black +knave this, they tell me, and withal very stubborn and lusty in +blasphemy." + +"A very black knave, Madam. I performed the ceremony of degradation upon +him yestereen, and, by my troth, never did the walls of Newgate chapel +shelter such a rogue before. He would not put on the vestments which I +was to strip from him, and was then, at my order, robed by another. And +when he was thoroughly furnished therewith, he set his hands to his +sides and cried, 'How say you, my lord, am I not a goodly fool? How say +you, my masters, if I were in Chepe, should I not have boys enough to +laugh at these apish toys?'" + +The Queen crossed herself. Her face blazed with fury. "Dog!" she cried. +"Perchance he will sing another tune to-morrow morn. But what more?" + +"I took my crosier-staff to smite him on the breast," the Bishop +continued. "And upon that Mr. Holmes, that is my chaplain, said, 'Strike +him not, my lord, for he will sure strike again.' 'Yes, and by St. Peter +will I,' quoth Doctor Taylor. 'The cause is Christ's, and I were no +good Christian if I would not fight in my Master's quarrel.' So I laid +my curse on him, and struck him not." + +The King's large, sombre face twisted into a cold sneer. + +"_Perro labrador nunca buen mordedor_--a barking dog is never a good +fighter," he said. "I shall watch this clerk-convict to-morrow. Methinks +he will not be so lusty at his burning." + +The Bishop looked up quickly with surprise in his face. + +"My lord," the Queen said to him, "His Majesty, as is both just and +right, desireth to see this blasphemer's end, and will report to me on +the matter. Mr. Commendone, come here." + +Johnnie advanced to the table. + +"You will go to Sir John Shelton," the Queen went on, "and learn from +him all that hath been arranged for the burning of this heretic. The +King will ride with the party and you in close attendance upon His +Majesty. Only you and Sir John will know who the King is, and your life +depends upon his safety. I am weary of this business. My heart grieves +for Holy Church while these wolves are not let from their wickedness. Go +now, Mr. Commendone, upon your errand, and report to Father Deza this +afternoon." + +She held out her hand. John knelt on one knee and kissed it. + +As he left the closet the rain was still lashing the window-panes, and +the candles burnt yellow in the gloom. + +By a sudden flash of lightning he saw the four faces looking down at the +death warrant. There was a slight smile on all of them, and the +expressions were very intent. + +The great white crucifix upon the panelling gleamed like a ghost. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE HOUSE OF SHAME; THE LADDER OF GLORY + + +It was ten o'clock in the evening. The thunderstorm of the morning had +long since passed away. The night was cool and still. There was no moon, +but the sky above London was powdered with stars. + +The Palace of the Tower was ablaze with lights. The King and Queen had +supped in state at eight, and now a masque was in progress, held in the +glorious hall which Henry III painted with the story of Antiochus. + +The sweet music shivered out into the night as John Commendone came into +the garden among the sleeping flowers. + +"And the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe, and wine are in their +feasts." Commendone had never read the Bible, but the words of the +Prophet would have well expressed his mood had he but known them. + +For he was melancholy and ill at ease. The exaltation of the morning had +quite gone. Though he was still pleasantly conscious that he was in a +fair way to great good fortune, some of the savour was lost. He could +not forget the lurid scene in the Closet--the four faces haunted him +still. And he knew also that a strange and probably terrible experience +waited him during the next few hours. + +"God on the Cross," he said to himself, snapping his fingers in +perplexity and misease--it was the fashion at Court to use the great +Tudor oaths--"I am come to touch with life--real life at last. And I am +not sure that I like it. But 'tis too new as yet. I must be as other men +are, I suppose!" + +As he walked alone in the night, and the cool air played upon his face, +he began to realise how placid, how much upon the surface, his life had +always been until now. He had come to Court perfectly equipped by +nature, birth, and training for the work of pageantry, a picturesque +part in the retinue of kings. He had fallen into his place quite +naturally. It all came easy to him. He had no trace of the "young +gentleman from the country" about him--he might have started life as a +Court page. + +But the real emotions of life, the under-currents, the hates, loves, and +strivings, had all been a closed book. He recognised their existence, +but never thought they would or could affect him. He had imagined that +he would always be aloof, an interested spectator, untouched, +untroubled. + +And he knew to-night that all this had been but a phantom of his brain. +He was to be as other men. Life had got hold on him at last, stern and +relentless. + +"To-night," he thought, "I really begin to live. I am quickened to +action. Some day, anon, I too must make a great decision, one way or the +other. The scene is set, they are pulling the traverse from before it, +the play begins. + +"I am a fair white page," he said to himself, "on which nothing is writ, +I have ever been that. To-night comes Master Scrivener. 'I have a mind +to write upon thee,' he saith, and needs be that I submit." + +He sighed. + +The music came to him, sweet and gracious. The long orange-litten +windows of the Palace spoke of the splendours within. + +But he thought of a man--whose name he had never heard until that +morning--lying in some dark room, waiting for those who were to come for +him, the man whom he would watch burning before the sun had set again. + +It had been an evening of incomparable splendour. + +The King and Queen had been served with all the panoply of state. The +Duke of Norfolk, the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke, Lord Paget and Lord +Rochester, had been in close attendance. + +The Duke had held the ewer of water, Paget and Rochester the bason and +napkin. After the ablutions the Bishop of London said grace. + +The Queen blazed with jewels. The life of seclusion she had led before +her accession had by no means dulled the love of splendour inherent in +her family. Even the French ambassador, well used to pomp and display, +leaves his own astonishment on record. + +She wore raised cloth of gold, and round her thin throat was a partlet +or collar of emeralds. Her stomacher was of diamonds, an almost barbaric +display of twinkling fire, and over her gold caul was a cap of black +velvet sewn with pearls. + +During the whole of supper it was remarked that Her Grace was merry. The +gay lords and ladies who surrounded her and the King--for all alike, +young maids and grey-haired dames of sixty must blaze and sparkle +too--nodded and whispered to each other, wondering at this high +good-humour. + +When the Server advanced with his white wand, heading the procession of +yeomen-servers with the gilt dishes of the second course--he was a fat +pottle-bellied man--the Queen turned to the Duke of Norfolk. + +"_Dame!_" she said in French, "here is a prancing pie! _Ma mye!_ A capon +of high grease! Methinks this gentleman hath a very single eye for the +larder!" + +"Yes, m'am," the Duke answered, "and so would make a better feast for +Polypheme than e'er the lean Odysseus." + +They went on with their play of words upon the names of the dishes in +the menu.... + +"But say rather a porpoise in armour." + +"Halibut engrailed, Madam, hath a face of peculiar whiteness like the +under belly of that fish!" + +"A jowl of sturgeon!" + +"A Florentine of puff paste, m'am." + +"_Habet!_" the Queen replied, "I can't better that. Could you, Lady +Paget? You are a great jester." + +Lady Paget, a stately white-haired dame, bowed to the Duke and then to +the Queen. + +"His Grace is quick in the riposte," she said, "and if Your Majesty +gives him the palm--_qui meruit ferat_! But capon of high grease for my +liking." + +"But you've said nothing, Lady Paget." + +"My wit is like my body, m'am, grown old and rheumy. The salad days of +it are over. I abdicate in favour of youth." + +Again this adroit lady bowed. + +The Queen flushed up, obviously pleased with the compliment. She looked +at the King to see if he had heard or understood it. + +The King had been talking to the Bishop of London, partly in such Latin +as he could muster, which was not much, but principally with the aid of +Don Diego Deza, who stood behind His Majesty's chair, and acted as +interpreter--the Dominican speaking English fluently. + +During the whole of supper Philip had appeared less morose than usual. +There was a certain fire of expectancy and complacence in his eye. He +had smiled several times; his manner to the Queen had been more genial +than it was wont to be--a fact which, in the opinion of everybody, duly +accounted for Her Grace's high spirits and merriment. + +He looked up now as Lady Paget spoke. + +"_Ensalada!_" he said, having caught one word of Lady Paget's +speech--salad. "Yes, give me some salad. It is the one thing"--he +hastened to correct himself--"it is one of the things they make better +in England than in my country." + +The Queen was in high glee. + +"His Highness grows more fond of our English food," she said; and in a +moment or two the Comptroller of the Household came up to the King's +chair, followed by a pensioner bearing a great silver bowl of one of +those wonderful salads of the period, which no modern skill of the +kitchen seems able to produce to-day--burridge, chicory, bugloss, +marigold leaves, rocket, and alexanders, all mixed with eggs, cinnamon, +oil, and ginger. + +Johnnie, who was sitting at the Esquires' table, with the Gentlemen of +the Body and Privy Closet, had watched the gay and stately scene till +supper was nearly over. + +The lights, the music, the high air, the festivity, had had no power to +lighten the oppression which he felt, and when at length the King and +Queen rose and withdrew to the great gallery where the Masque was +presently to begin, he had slipped out alone into the garden. + + "His golden locks time hath to silver turned." + +The throbbing music of the old song, the harps' thridding, the lutes +shivering out their arpeggio accompaniment, the viols singing +together--came to him with rare and plaintive sweetness, but they +brought but little balm or assuagement to his dark, excited mood. + +Ten o'clock beat out from the roof of the Palace. Johnnie left the +garden. He was to receive his instruction as to his night's doing from +Mr. Medley, the Esquire of Sir John Shelton, in the Common Room of the +Gentlemen of the Body. + +He strode across the square in front of the facade, and turned into the +long panelled room where he had breakfasted that morning. + +It was quite empty now--every one was at the Masque--but two silver +lamps illuminated it, and shone upon the dark walls of the glittering +array of plate upon the beaufet. + +He had not waited there a minute, however, leaning against the tall +carved mantelpiece, a tall and gallant figure in his rich evening dress, +when steps were heard coming through the hall, the door swung open, and +Mr. Medley entered. + +He was a thick-set, bearded man of middle height, more soldier than +courtier, with the stamp of the barrack-room and camp upon him; a brisk, +quick-spoken man, with compressed lips and an air of swift service. + +"Give you good evening, Mr. Commendone," he said; "I am come with Sir +John's orders." + +Johnnie bowed. "At your service," he answered. + +The soldier looked round the room carefully before speaking. + +"There is no one here, Mr. Medley," Johnnie said. + +The other nodded and came close up to the young courtier. + +"The Masque hath been going this half-hour," he said, in a low voice, +"but His Highness hath withdrawn. Her Grace is still with the dancers, +and in high good-humour. Now, I must tell you, Mr. Commendone, that the +Queen thinketh His Highness in his own wing of the Palace, and with Don +Diego and Don de Castro, his two confessors. She is willing that this +should be so, and said 'Good night' to His Highness after supper, +knowing that he will presently set out to the burning of Dr. Taylor. She +knoweth that the party sets out for Hadley at two o'clock, and thinketh +that His Highness is spending the time before then in prayer and a +little sleep. I tell you this, Mr. Commendone, in order that you go not +back to the Masque before that you set out from the Tower to a certain +house where His Highness will be with Sir John Shelton. You will take +your own servant mounted and armed, and a man-at-arms also will be at +the door of your lodging here at ten minutes of midnight. The word at +the Coal Harbour Gate is 'Christ.' With your two men you will at once +ride over London Bridge and so to Duck Lane, scarce a furlong from the +other side of the bridge. Doubtless you know it"--and here the man's +eyes flickered with a half smile for a moment--"but if not, the +man-at-arms, one of Sir John's men, will show you the way. You will +knock at the big house with the red door, and be at once admitted. There +will be a light over the door. His Highness will be there with Sir John, +and that is all I have to tell you. Afterwards you will know what to +do." + +Johnnie bowed. "Give you good night," he said. "I understand very well." + +As soon as the Esquire had gone, Johnnie turned out of the Common Room, +ascended the stairs, went to his own chamber and threw himself upon the +little bed. + +He had imagined that something like this was likely to occur. The King's +habits were perfectly well known to all those about him, and indeed were +whispered of in the Court at large, Queen Mary, alone, apparently +knowing nothing of the truth as yet. The King's unusual bonhomie at +supper could hardly be accounted for, at least so Johnnie thought, by +the fact that he was to see his own and the Queen's bigotry translated +into dreadful reality. To the keen young student of faces the King had +seemed generally relieved, expectant, with the air of a boy about to be +released from school. Now, the reason was plain enough. His Highness had +gone with Sir John Shelton to some infamous house in a bad quarter of +the city, and it was there the Equerry was to meet him and ride to the +death scene. + +Johnnie tossed impatiently upon his bed. He remembered how on that very +morning he had expressed his hopes to Sir Henry that his duties would +not lead him into dubious places. A lot of water had run under the +bridges since he kissed his father farewell in the bright morning light. +His whole prospects were altered, and advanced. For one thing, he had +been present at an intimate and private conference and had received +marked and special favour--he shuddered now as he remembered the four +intent faces round the table in the Privy Closet, those sharp faces, +with a cruel smirk upon them, those still faces with the orange light +playing over them in the dark, tempest-haunted room. + +"I' faith," he said to himself, "thou art fairly put to sea, Johnnie! +but I will not feed myself with questioning. I am in the service of +princes, and must needs do as I am told. Who am I to be squeamish? But +hey-ho! I would I were in the park at Commendone to-night." + +About eleven o'clock his servant came to him and helped him to change +his dress. He wore long riding-boots of Spanish leather, a light +corselet of tough steel, inlaid with arabesques of gold, and a big +quilted Spanish hat. Over all he fastened a short riding-cloak of supple +leather dyed purple. He primed his pistols and gave them to a man to be +put into his holsters, and about a quarter before midnight descended the +stairs. + +He found a man-at-arms with a short pike, already mounted, and his +servant leading the other two horses; he walked toward the Coal Harbour +Gate, gave the word to the Lieutenant of the Guard, and left the Tower. + +A light moon was just beginning to rise and throw fantastic shadows over +Tower Hill. It was bright enough to ride by, and Johnnie forbade his man +to light the horn lantern which was hanging at the fellow's saddle-bow. + +They went at a foot pace, the horses' feet echoing with an empty, +melancholy sound from the old timbered houses back to the great bastion +wall of the Tower. + +The man-at-arms led the way. When they came to London Bridge, where a +single lantern showed the broad oak bar studded with nails, which ran +across the roadway, Johnnie noticed that upon the other side of it were +two halberdiers of the Tower Guard in their uniforms of black and +crimson, talking to the keeper of the gate. + +As they came up the bar swung open. + +"Mr. Commendone?" said the keeper, an elderly man in a leather jerkin. + +Johnnie nodded. + +"Pass through, sir," the man replied, saluting, as did also the two +soldiers who were standing there. + +The little cavalcade went slowly over the bridge between the tall houses +on either side, which at certain points almost met with their +overhanging eaves. The shutters were up all over the little jewellers' +shops. Here and there a lamp burned from an upstairs window, and the +swish and swirl of the river below could be heard quite distinctly. + +At the middle of the bridge, just by the well-known armourer's shop of +Guido Ponzio, the Italian sword-smith, whose weapons were eagerly +purchased by members of the Court and the officers both of the Tower and +Whitehall, another halberdier was standing, who again saluted Commendone +as he rode by. + +It was quite obvious to Johnnie that every precaution had been taken so +that the King's excursion into _les coulisses_ might be undisturbed. + +The pike was swung open for them on the south side of the bridge +directly they drew near, and putting their horses to the trot, they +cantered over a hundred yards of trodden grass round which houses were +standing in the form of a little square, and in a few minutes more +turned into Duck Lane. + +At this hour of the night the narrow street of heavily-timbered houses +was quite dark and silent. It seemed there was not a soul abroad, and +this surprised Johnnie, who had been led to understand that at midnight +"The Lane" was frequently the scene of roistering activity. Now, +however, the houses were all blind and dark, and the three horsemen +might have been moving down a street in the city of the dead. + +Only the big honey-coloured moon threw a primrose light upon the topmost +gables of the houses on the left side of "The Lane"--all the rest being +black velvet, sombreness and shadow. + +John's mouth curved a little in disdain under his small dark moustache, +as he noted all this and realised exactly what it meant. + +When a king set out for furtive pleasures, lesser men of vice must get +them to their kennels! Lights were out, all manifestation of evil was +thickly curtained. The shameless folk of that wicked quarter of the town +must have shame imposed upon them for the night. + +The King was taking his pleasure. + +John Commendone, since his arrival in London, and at the Court, had +quietly refused to be a member of any of those hot-blooded parties of +young men who sallied out from the Tower or from Whitehall when the +reputable world was sleeping. It was not to his taste. He was perfectly +capable of tolerating vice in others--looking on it, indeed, as a +natural manifestation of human nature and event. But for himself he had +preferred aloofness. + +Nevertheless, from the descriptions of his friends, he knew that Duck +Lane to-night was wearing an aspect which it very seldom wore, and as he +rode slowly down that blind and sinister thoroughfare with his +attendants, he realised with a little cold shudder what it was to be a +king. + +He himself was the servant of a king, one of those whom good fortune and +opportunity had promoted to be a minister to those almost super-human +beings who could do no wrong, and ruled and swayed all other men by +means of their Divine Right. + +This was a position he perfectly accepted, had accepted from the first. +Already he was rising high in the course of life he had started to +pursue. He had no thought of questioning the deeds of princes. He knew +that it was his duty, his _metier_, in life to be a pawn in the great +game. What affected him now, however, as they came up to a big house of +free-stone and timber, where a lanthorn of horn hung over a door painted +a dull scarlet, was a sense of the enormous and irrevocable power of +those who were set on high to rule. + +No! They were not human, they were not as other men and women are. + +He had been in the Queen's Closet that morning, and had seen the death +warrant signed. The great convulsion of nature, the furious thunders of +God, had only been, as it were, a mere accompaniment to the business of +the four people in the Queen's lodge. + +A scratch of a pen--a man to die. + +And then, during the evening, he had seen, once more, the King and +Queen, bright, glittering and radiant, surrounded by the highest and +noblest of England, serene, unapproachable, the centre of the stupendous +pageant of the hour. + +And now, again, he was come to the stews, to the vile quarter of London, +and even here the secret presence of a king closed all doors, and kept +the pandars and victims of evil silent in their dens like crouching +hares. + +As they came up to the big, dark house, a little breeze from the river +swirled down the Lane, and fell fresh upon Johnnie's cheek. As it did +so, he knew that he was hot and fevered, that the riot of thought within +him had risen the temperature of his blood. It was cool and +grateful--this little clean breeze of the water, and he longed once +more, though only for a single second, that he was home in the stately +park of Commendone, and had never heard the muffled throb of the great +machine of State, of polity, and the going hither and thither of kings +and queens. + +But it only lasted for a moment. + +He was disciplined, he was under orders. He pulled himself together, +banished all wild and speculative thought--sat up in the saddle, gripped +the sides of his cob with his knees, and set his left arm akimbo. + +"This is the house, sir," said the trooper, saluting. + +"Very well," Johnnie answered, as his servant dismounted and took his +horse by the bridle. + +Johnnie leapt to the ground, pulled his sword-belt into position, +settled his hat upon his head, and with his gloved fist beat upon the +big red door before him. + +In ten seconds he heard a step on the other side of the door. It swung +open, and a tall, thin person, wearing a scarlet robe and a mask of +black velvet over the upper part of the face, bowed low before him, and +with a gesture invited him to enter. + +Johnnie turned round. + +"You will stay here," he said to the men. "Be quite silent, and don't +stray away a yard from the door." + +Then he followed the tall, thin figure, which closed the door, and +flitted down a short passage in front of him with noiseless footsteps. + +He knew at once that he was in Queer Street. + +The nondescript figure in its fantastic robe and mask struck a chill of +disgust to his blood. + +It was a fantastic age, and all aberrations--all deviations--from the +normal were constantly accentuated by means of costumes and theatric +effect. + +The superficial observer of the manners of our day is often apt to +exclaim upon the decadence of our time. One has heard perfectly sincere +and healthy Englishmen inveigh with anger upon the literature of the +moment, the softness and luxury of life and art, the invasion of sturdy +English ideals by the corrupt influences of France. + +"Give me the days of Good Queen Bess, the hearty, healthy, strong Tudor +life," is the sort of exclamation by no means rare in our time. + +... "Bluff King Hal! Drake, Raleigh, all that rough, brave, and splendid +time! Think of Shakespeare, my boy!" + +Whether or no our own days are deficient in hardihood and endurance is +not a question to be discussed here--though the private records of +England's last war might very well provide a complete answer to the +query. It is certain, however, that in an age when personal prowess with +arms was still a title to fortune, when every gentleman of position and +birth knew and practised the use of weapons, the under-currents of life, +the hidden sides of social affairs, were at least as "curious" and +"decadent" as anything Montmartre or the Quartier Latin have to show. + +It must be remembered that in the late Tudor Age almost every one of +good family, each gentleman about the Court, was not only a trained +soldier, but also a highly cultured person as well. The Renaissance in +Italy was in full swing and activity. Its culture had crossed the Alps, +its art was borne upon the wings of its advance to our northern shores. + +Grossness was refined.... + +Johnnie twirled his moustache as he followed the nondescript sexless +figure which flitted down the dimly-lit panelled passage before him like +some creature from a masque. + +At the end of the passage there was a door. + +Arrived at it, a long, thin arm, in a sleeve of close-fitting black +silk, shot out from the red robe. A thin ivory-coloured hand, with +fingers of almost preternatural length, rose to a painted scarlet slit +which was the creature's mouth. + +The masked head dropped a little to one side, one lean finger, shining +like a fish-bone, tapped the mouth significantly, the door opened, some +heavy curtains of Flanders tapestry were pushed aside, and the Equerry +walked into a place as strange and sickly as he had ever met in some +fantastic or disordered dream. + +Johnnie heard the door close softly behind him, the "swish, swish" of +the falling curtains. And then he stood up, his eyes blinking a little +in the bright light which streamed upon them--his hand upon his +sword-hilt--and looked around to find himself. He was in a smallish +room, hung around entirely with an arras of scarlet cloth, powdered at +regular intervals with a pattern of golden bats. + +The floor was covered with a heavy carpet of Flanders pile--a very rare +and luxurious thing in those days--and the whole room was lit by its +silver lamps, which hung from the ceiling upon chains. On one side, +opposite the door, was a great pile of cushions, going half-way up the +wall towards the ceiling--cushions as of strange barbaric colours, +violent colours that smote upon the eye and seemed almost to do the +brain a violence. + +In the middle of the room, right in the centre, was a low oak stool, +upon which was a silver tray. In the middle of the tray was a miniature +chafing-dish, beneath which some volatile amethyst-coloured flame was +burning, and from the dish itself a pastille, smouldering and heated, +sent up a thin, grey whip of odorous smoke. + +The whole air of this curious tented room was heavy and languorous with +perfume. Sickly, and yet with a sensuous allurement, the place seemed to +reel round the young man, to disgust one side of him, the real side; and +yet, in some low, evil fashion, to beckon to base things in his +blood--base thoughts, physical influences which he had never known +before, and which now seemed to suddenly wake out of a long sleep, and +to whisper in his ears. + +All this, this surveyal of the place in which he found himself, took but +a moment, and he had hardly stood there for three seconds--tall, +upright, and debonair, amid the wicked luxury of the room--when he heard +a sound to his left, and, turning, saw that he was not alone. + +Behind a little table of Italian filigree work, upon which were a pair +of tiny velvet slippers, embroidered with burnt silver, a +sprunking-glass--or pocket mirror--and a tall-stemmed bottle of wine, +sat a vast, pink, fleshy, elderly woman. + +Her face, which was as big as a ham, was painted white and scarlet. Her +eyebrows were pencilled with deep black, the heavy eyes shared the +vacuity of glass, with an evil and steadfast glitter of welcome. + +There were great pouches underneath the eyes; the nose was hawk-like, +the chins pendulous, the lips once, perhaps, well curved and beautiful +enough, now full, bloated, and red with horrid invitation. + +The woman was dressed with extreme richness. + +Fat and powdered fingers were covered with rings. Her corsage was +jewelled--she was like some dreadful mummy of what youth had been, a +sullen caricature of a long-past youth, when she also might have walked +in the fields under God's sky, heard bird-music, and seen the dew upon +the bracken at dawn. + +Johnnie stirred and blinked at this apparition for a moment; then his +natural courtesy and training came to him, and he bowed. + +As he did so, the fat old woman threw out her jewelled arms, leant back +in her chair, stuttering and choking with amusement. + +"_Tiens!_" she said in French, "_Monsieur qui arrive!_ Why have you +never been to see me before, my dear?" + +Johnnie said nothing at all. His head was bent a little forward. He was +regarding this old French procuress with grave attention. + +He knew now at once who she was. He had heard her name handed about the +Court very often--Madame La Motte. + +"You are a little out of my way, Madame," Johnnie answered. "I come not +over Thames. You see, I am but newly arrived at the Court." + +He said it perfectly politely, but with a little tiny, half-hidden +sneer, which the woman was quick to notice. + +"Ah! Monsieur," she said, "you are here on duty. _Merci_, that I know +very well. Those for whom you have come will be down from above stairs +very soon, and then you can go about your business. But you will take a +glass of wine with me?" + +"I shall be very glad, Madame," Johnnie answered, as he watched the fat, +trembling hand, with all its winking jewels, pouring Vin de Burgogne +into a glass. He raised it and bowed. + +The old painted woman raised her glass also, and lifted it to her lips, +tossing the wine down with a sudden smack of satisfaction. + +Then, in that strange perfumed room, the two oddly assorted people +looked at each other straightly for a moment. + +Neither spoke. + +At length Madame La Motte, of the great big house with the red door, +heaved herself out of her arm-chair, and waddled round the table. She +was short and fat; she put one hand upon the shoulder of the tall, clean +young man in his riding suit and light armour. + +"_Mon ami_," she said thickly, "don't come here again." + +Johnnie looked down at the hideous old creature, but with a singular +feeling of pity and compassion. + +"Madame," he said, "I don't propose to come again." + +"Thou art limn and debonair, and a very pretty boy, but come not here, +because in thy face I see other things for thee. Lads of the Court come +to see me and my girls, proper lads too, but in their faces there is not +what I discern in thy face. For them it matters nothing; for thee +'twould be a stain for all thy life. Thou knowest well whom I am, +Monsieur, and canst guess well where I shall go--e'en though His Most +Catholic Majesty be above stairs, and will get absolution for all he is +pleased to do here. But you--thou wilt be a clean boy. Is it not so?" + +The fat hand trembled upon the young man's arm, the hoarse, sodden voice +was full of pleading. + +"_Ma mere_," Johnnie answered her in her own language, "have no fear for +me. I thank you--but I did not understand...." + +"Boy," she cried, "thou canst not understand. Many steps down hellwards +have I gone, and in the pit there is knowledge. I knew good as thou +knowest it. Evil now I know as, please God, thou wilt never know it. +But, look you, from my very knowledge of evil, I am given a tongue with +which to speak to thee. Keep virgin. Thou art virgin now; my hand upon +thy sword-arm tells me that. Keep virgin until the day cometh and +bringeth thy lady and thy destined love to thee." + +There were tears in the young man's eyes as he looked down into the +great pendulous painted face, from which now the evil seemed to be wiped +away as a cloth wipes away a chalk mark upon a slate. + +As the last ray of a setting sun sometimes touches to a fugitive +glory--a last fugitive glory--some ugly, sordid building of a town, so +here he saw something maternal and sweet upon the face of this old +brothel-keeper, this woman who had amassed a huge fortune in ministering +to the pride of life, the pomp, vanity, and lusts of Principalities and +Powers. + +He turned half round, and took the woman's left hand in his. + +"My mother," he said, with an infinitely winning and yet very melancholy +gaze, "my mother, I think, indeed, that love will never come to me. I am +not made so. May the Mother of God shield me from that which is not +love, but natheless seemeth to have love's visage when one is hot in +wine or stirred to excitement. But thou, thou wert not ever...." + +She broke in upon him quickly. + +Her great red lips pouted out like a ripe plum. The protruding fishy +eyes positively lit up with disdain of herself and of her life. + +"_Mon cher_," she said, "_Hola!_ I was a young girl once in Lorraine. I +had a brother--I will tell you little of that old time--but I have +blood." + +"Yes," she continued, throwing back her head, till the great rolls of +flesh beneath her chin stretched into tightness, "yes, I have blood. +There was a day when I was a child, when the poet Jean D'Aquis wrote of +us-- + + 'Quand nous habitions tous ensemble + Sur nos collines d'autrefois, + Ou l'eau court, ou le buisson tremble + Dans la maison qui touche aux bois.' + +... It was." Suddenly she left Johnnie standing in the middle of the +room, and with extraordinary agility for her weight and years, glided +round the little table, and sank once more into her seat. + +The door at the other end of the room opened, and a tall girl, with a +white face and thin, wicked mouth, and a glorious coronal of red hair +came into the room. + +"'Tis finished," she said, to the mistress of the house. "Sir John +Shelton is far in drink. He----" she stopped suddenly, as she saw +Johnnie, gave him a keen, questioning glance, and then looked once more +towards the fat woman in the chair. + +Madame nodded. "This is His Highness's gentleman," she said, "awaiting +him. So it's finished?" + +The girl nodded, beginning to survey Johnnie with a cruel, wicked +scrutiny, which made him flush with mingled embarrassment and anger. + +"His Highness is coming down, Mr. Esquire," she said, pushing out a +little red tip of tongue from between her lips. "His Highness...." + +The old woman in the chair suddenly leapt up. She ran at the tall, +red-haired girl, caught her by the throat, and beat her about the face +with her fat, jewelled hands, cursing her in strange French oaths, +clutching at her hair, shaking her, swinging her about with a dreadful +vulgar ferocity which turned John's blood cold. + +As he stood there he caught a glimpse, never to be forgotten, of all +that underlay this veneer of midnight luxury. He saw vile passions at +work, he realised--for the first time truly and completely--in what a +hideous place he was. + +The tall girl, sobbing and bleeding in the face, disappeared behind the +arras. The old woman turned to Johnnie. Her face was almost purple with +exertion, her eyes blazed, her hawk-like nose seemed to twitch from side +to side, she panted out an apology: + +"She dared, Monsieur, she dared, one of my girls, one of my slaves! +Hist!" + +A loud voice was heard from above, feet trampled upon stairs, through +the open door which led to the upper parts of the house of ill-fame came +Sir John Shelton, a big, gross, athletic man, obviously far gone in +wine. + +He saw Johnnie. "Ah, Mr. Commendone," he said thickly. "Here we are, and +here are you! God's teeth! I like well to see you. I myself am well gone +in wine, though I will sit my horse, as thou wilt see." + +He lurched up to Johnnie and whispered in the young man's ear, with hot, +wine-tainted breath. + +"He's coming down," he whispered. "It's your part to take charge of His +Highness. He's----" + +Sir John stood upright, swaying a little from the shoulders, as down the +stairway, framed in the lintel of the door, came King Philip of Spain. + +The King was dressed very much as Johnnie himself was dressed; his long, +melancholy face was a little flushed--though not with wine. His eyes +were bright, his thin lips moved and worked. + +Directly he saw Commendone his face lit up with recognition. It seemed +suddenly to change. + +"Ah, you are here, Mr. Commendone," he said in Spanish. "I am glad to +see you. We have had our amusements, and now we go upon serious +business." + +The alteration in the King's demeanour was instant. Temperate, as all +Spaniards were and are, he was capable at a moment's notice of +dismissing what had passed, and changing from _bon viveur_ into a grave +potentate in a flash. + +He came up to Johnnie. "Now, Mr. Commendone," he said, in a quiet, +decisive voice, "we will get to horse and go upon our business. The +_senor don_ here is gone in wine, but he will recover as we ride to +Hadley. You are in charge. Let's begone from this house." + +The King led the way out of the red room. + +The old procuress bowed to the ground as he went by, but he took no +notice of her. + +Johnnie followed the King, Sir John Shelton came staggering after, and +in a moment or two they were out in the street, where was now gathered a +small company of horse, with serving-men holding up torches to illumine +the blackness of the night. + +They mounted and rode away slowly out of Duck Lane and across London +Bridge, the noise of their passing echoing between the tall, barred +houses. + +Several soldiers rode first, and after them came Sir John Shelton. +Commendone rode at the King's left hand, and he noticed that His +Highness's broad hat was pulled low over his face and a riding cloak +muffled the lower part of it. Behind them came the other men-at-arms. As +soon as they were clear of the bridge the walk changed into a trot, and +the cavalcade pushed toward Aldgate. Not a soul was in the streets until +they came to the city gate itself, where there was the usual guard. They +passed through and came up to the "Woolsack," a large inn which was just +outside the wall. In the light of the torches Commendone could see that +the place was obviously one of considerable importance, and had probably +been a gentleman's house in the past. + +Large square windows divided into many lights by mullions and transoms +took up the whole of the front. The roofs were ornamental, richly +crocketed and finialed, while there was a blazonry of painted heraldry +and coats of arms over and around the large central porch. Large stacks +of tall, slender chimney-shafts, moulded and twisted, rose up into the +dark, and were ornamented over their whole surface with diaper patterns +and more armorial bearings. The big central door of the "Woolsack" stood +open, and a ruddy light beamed out from the hall and from the windows +upon the ground-floor. As they came up, and Sir John Shelton stumbled +from his horse, holding the King's stirrup for him to dismount, +Commendone saw that the space in front of the inn, a wide square with a +little trodden green in the centre of it, held groups of dark figures +standing here and there. + +Halberds rose up against the walls of the houses, showing distinctly in +the occasional light from a cresset held by a man-at-arms. + +Sir John Shelton strode noisily into a big panelled hall, the King and +Commendone following him, Johnnie realising that, of course, His +Highness was incognito. + +The host of the inn, Putton, hurried forward, and behind him was one of +the Sheriffs of London, who held some papers in his hand and greeted Sir +John Shelton with marked civility. + +The knight pulled himself together, and shook the Sheriff by the hand. + +"Is everything prepared," he said, "Mr. Sheriff?" + +"We are all quite ready, Sir John," the Sheriff answered, looking with +inquiring eyes at Commendone and the tall, muffled figure of the King. + +"Two gentlemen of the Court who have been deputed by Her Grace to see +justice done," Sir John said. "And now we will to the prisoner." + +Putton stepped forward. "This way, gentlemen," he said. "Dr. Taylor is +with his guards in the large room. He hath taken a little succory +pottage and a flagon of ale, and seemeth resigned and ready to set out." + +With that the host opened a door upon the right-hand side of the hall +and ushered the party into a room which was used as the ordinary of the +inn, a lofty and spacious place lit with candles. + +There was a high carved chimney-piece, over which were the arms of the +Vintners' Company, sable and chevron _cetu_, three tuns argent, with +the figure of Bacchus for a crest. A long table ran down the centre of +the place, and at one end of it, seated in a large chair of oak, sat the +late Archdeacon of Exeter. Three or four guards stood round in silence. + +Dr. Rowland Taylor was a huge man, over six feet in height, and more +than a little corpulent. His face, which was very pale, was strongly +cast, his eyes, under shaggy white brows, bright and humorous; the big, +genial mouth, half-hidden by the white moustache and beard, both kindly +and strong. He wore a dark gown and a flat velvet cap upon his head, and +he rose immediately as the company entered. + +"We are come for you, Dr. Taylor," the Sheriff said, "and you must +immediately to horse." + +The big man bowed, with quiet self-possession. + +"'Tis very well, Master Sheriff," he said; "I have been waiting this +half-hour agone." + +"Bring him out," said Sir John Shelton, in a loud, harsh voice. "Keep +silence, Master Taylor, or I will find a way to silence thee." + +John Commendone shivered with disgust as the leader of the party spoke. + +Even as he did so he felt a hand upon his arm, and the tall, muffled +figure of the King stood close behind him. + +"Tell the knight, senor," the King said rapidly in Spanish, "to use the +gentleman with more civility. He is to die, as is well fitting a heretic +should die, for God's glory and the safety of the realm. But he is of +gentle birth. Tell Sir John Shelton." + +Commendone stepped up to Sir John. "Sir," he said, in a voice which, try +as he would, he could not keep from being very disdainful and +cold--"Sir, His Highness bids me to tell you to use Dr. Taylor with +civility, as becomes a man of his birth." + +The half-drunken captain glared at the cool young courtier for a moment, +but he said nothing, and, turning on his heel, clanked out of the room +with a rattle of his sword and an aggressive, ruffling manner. + +Dr. Taylor, with guards on each side, the Sheriff immediately preceding +him, walked down the room and out into the hall. + +Commendone and the King came last. + +Johnnie was seized with a sudden revulsion of feeling towards his +master. This man, cruel and bigoted as he was, the man whom he had seen +with fanaticism and the blood lust blazing in his eye, the man whom he +had seen calmly leaving a vile house, was nevertheless a king and a +gentleman. The young man could hardly understand or realise the +extraordinary combination of qualities in the austere figure by his side +of the man who ruled half the known world. Again, he felt that sense of +awe, almost of fear, in the presence of one so far removed from ordinary +men, so swift in his alterations from coarseness to kingliness, from +relentless cruelty to cold, sombre decorum. + +Dr. Taylor was mounted upon a stout cob, closely surrounded by guards, +and with a harsh word of command from Sir John, the party set out. + +The host of the "Woolsack" stood at his lighted door, where there was a +little group of serving-men and halberdiers, sharply outlined against +the red-litten facade of the quaint old building, and then, as they +turned a corner, it all flashed away, and they went forward quietly and +steadily through a street of tall gabled houses. + +Directly the lights of the inn and the square in front of it were left +behind, they saw at once that dawn was about to begin. The houses were +grey now, each moment more grey and ghostly, and they were no longer +sable and shapeless. The air, too, had a slight stir and chill within +it, and each moment of their advance the ghostly light grew stronger, +more wan and spectral than ever the dark had been. + +Pursuant to his instructions, Commendone kept close to the King, who +rode silently with a drooping head, as one lost in thought. In front of +them were the backs of the guards in their steel corselets, and in the +centre of the group was the massive figure of the man who was riding to +his death, a huge, black outline, erect and dignified. + +John rode with the rest as a man in a dream. His mind and imagination +were in a state in which the moving figures around him, the cavalcade of +which he himself was a part, seemed but phantoms playing fantastic +parts upon the stage of some unreal theatre of dreams. + +He heard once more the great man-like voice of Queen Mary, but it seemed +very far away, a sinister thing, echoing from a time long past. + +The music of the dance in the Palace tinkled and vibrated through his +subconscious brain, and then once more he heard the voice of the evil +old woman of the red house, the voice of one in hell, telling him to +flee youthful lusts, telling him to wait stainless until love should +come to him. + +Love! He smiled unconsciously to himself. Love!--why should the thoughts +of love come to a heart-whole man riding upon this sad errand of death; +through ghostly streets, stark and grey?... + +He looked up dreamily and saw before him, cutting into a sky which was +now big and tremulous with dawn, the tower of St. Botolph's Church, a +faint, misty purple. Far away in the east the sky was faintly streaked +with pink and orange, the curtain of the dark was shaken by the +birth-pangs of the morning. The western sky over St. Paul's was already +aglow with a red, reflected light. + +The transition was extraordinarily sudden. Every instant the aspect of +things changed; the whole visible world was being re-created, second by +second, not gradually, but with a steady, pressing onrush, in which time +seemed merged and forgotten, to be of no account at all, and a thing +that was not. + +Johnnie had seen the great copper-coloured moon heave itself out of the +sea just like that--the world turning to splendour before his eyes. + +But it was dawn now, and in the miraculously clear, inspiring light, the +countless towers and pinnacles of the city rose with sharp outline into +the quiet sky. + +The breeze from the river rustled and whispered by them like the +trailing skirts of unseen presences, and as the cool air in all its +purity came over the silent town, the feverishness and sense of +unreality in the young man's mind were dissolved and blown away. + +How silent London was!--the broad street stretched out before them like +a ribbon of silver-grey, but the tower of St. Botolph's was already +solid stone, and no longer mystic purple. + +And then, for some reason or other, John Commendone's heart began to +beat furiously. He could not have said why or how. There seemed no +reason to account for it, but all his pulses were stirred. A sense of +expectancy, which was painful in its intensity, and unlike anything he +had ever known before in his life, pervaded all his consciousness. + +He gripped his horse by the knees, his left hand holding the leather +reins, hung with little tassels of vermilion silk, his right hand +resting upon the handle of his sword. + +They came up to the porch of the church, and suddenly the foremost +men-at-arms halted, the slight backward movement of their horses +sending those who followed backward also. There was a pawing of hooves, +a rattle of accoutrements, a sharp order from somewhere in front, and +then they were all sitting motionless. + +The moment had arrived. John Commendone saw what he had come to see. +From that instant his real life began. All that had gone before, as he +saw in after years, had been but a leading up and preparation for this +time. + +Standing just outside the porch of the church was a small group of +figures, clustering together, white faces, pitiful and forlorn. + +Dr. Taylor's wife, suspecting that her husband should that night be +carried away, had watched all night in St. Botolph's porch, having with +her her two children, and a man-servant of their house. + +The men-at-arms had opened out a little, remaining quite motionless on +their horses. + +Sir John Shelton, obviously mindful of Commendone's warning at the +"Woolsack," remained silent also, his blotched face grey and scowling in +the dawn, though he said no word. + +The King pulled his hat further over his eyes, and Johnnie at his right +could see perfectly all that was happening. + +He heard a voice, a girl's voice. + +"Oh, my dear father! Mother! mother! here is my father led away." + +Almost every one who has lived from any depth of being, for whom the +world is no grossly material place, but a state which is constantly +impinged upon and mingles with the Unseen, must be conscious that at one +time or other of his life sound has been, perhaps, the most predominant +influence in it. + +Now and again, at rare and memorable intervals, the grossness of this +tabernacle wherein the soul is encased is pierced by sound. More than +all else, sound penetrates deep into the spiritual consciousness, +punctuates life, as it were, at rare moments of emotion, gathering up +and crystallising a thousand fancies and feelings which seem to have no +adequate cause among outward things. + +Johnnie had heard the sound of his mother's voice, as she lay dying--a +dry, whispering, husky sound, never to be forgotten, as she said, +"Johnnie, promise mother to be good; promise me to be good." He had +heard the sweet sound of the death mort winded by the huntsman in the +park of Commendone, as he had run down his first stag--in the voice of +the girl who cried out with anguish in the pure morning light, he heard +for the third or fourth time, a sound which would always be part of his +life. + +"_O, my dear father! Mother! mother! here is my father led away._" + +She was a tall girl, in a long grey cloak. + +Her hair, growing low upon her forehead, and very thick, was the colour +of ripe corn. Great eyes of a deep blue, like cut sapphire, shone in +the dead white oval of her face. The parted lips were a scarlet +eloquence of agony. + +By her side was a tall, grey-haired dame, trembling exceedingly. + +One delicate white hand flickered before the elder woman's eyes, all +blind with tears and anguish. + +Then the Doctor's wife cried, "Rowland, Rowland, where art thou?" + +Dr. Taylor answered, "Dear wife, I am here." + +Then she came to him, and he took a younger girl, who had been clinging +to her mother's skirts, his little daughter Mary, in his arms, +dismounting from his horse as he did so, with none to stay him. He, his +wife, and the tall girl Elizabeth, knelt down and said the Lord's +Prayer. + +At the sight of it the Sheriff wept apace, and so did divers others of +the company, and the salt tears ran down Johnnie's cheeks and splashed +upon his breast-plate. + +After they had prayed Dr. Taylor rose up and kissed his wife, and shook +her by the hand, and said: "Farewell, my dear wife, be of good comfort, +for I am quiet in my conscience. God shall stir up a father for my +children." + +After that he kissed his daughter Mary and said, "God bless thee and +make thee His servant," and kissing Elizabeth also he said, "God bless +thee. I pray you all stand strong and steadfast unto Christ His Word, +and keep you from idolatry." + +The tall lady clung to him, weeping bitterly. "God be with thee, dear +Rowland," she said; "I shall, with God's grace, meet thee anon in +heaven." + +Then Johnnie saw the serving-man, a broad, thick-set fellow, with a +keen, brown face, who had been standing a little apart, come up to Dr. +Taylor. He was holding by the hand a little boy of ten years or so, with +wide, astonished eyes, Thomas, the Doctor's son. + +When Dr. Taylor saw them he called them, saying, "Come hither, my son +Thomas." + +John Hull lifted the child, and sat him upon the saddle of the horse by +which his father stood, and Dr. Taylor put off his hat, and said to the +members of the party that stood there looking at him: "Good people, this +is mine own son, begotten of my body in lawful matrimony; and God be +blessed for lawful matrimony." + +Johnnie upon his horse was shaking uncontrollably, but at these last +words he heard an impatient jingle of accoutrements by his side, and +looking, saw that the face of His Highness was fierce and angry that an +ordained priest should speak thus of wedlock. + +But this was only for a passing moment; the young man's eyes were fixed +upon the great clergyman again in an instant. + +The priest lifted up his eyes towards heaven, and prayed for his son. He +laid his hand upon the child's head and blessed him; and so delivered +the child to John Hull, whom he took by the hand and said, "Farewell, +John Hull, the faithfullest servant that ever man had." + +There was a silence, broken only by the sobbing of women and a low +murmur of sympathy from the rough men-at-arms. + +Sir John Shelton heard it and glanced quickly at the muffled figure of +the King. + +It was a shrewd, penetrating look, and well understood by His Highness. +This natural emotion of the escort, at such a sad and painful scene, +might well prove a leaven which would work in untutored minds. There +must be no more sympathy for heretics. Sir John gave a harsh order, the +guard closed in upon Dr. Taylor, there was a loud cry from the +Archdeacon's wife as she fell fainting into the arms of the sturdy +servant, and the cavalcade proceeded at a smart pace. John looked round +once, and this is what he saw--the tall figure of Elizabeth Taylor, +fixed and rigid, the lovely face set in a stare of horror and +unspeakable grief, a star of sorrow as the dawn reddened and day began. + +And now, as they left London, the progress was more rapid, the stern +business upon which they were engaged looming up and becoming more +imminent every moment, the big man in the centre of the troop being +hurried relentlessly to his end. + +And so they rode forth to Brentwood, where, during a short stay, Sir +John Shelton and his men caused to be made for Dr. Taylor a close hood, +with two holes for his eyes to look out at, and a slit for his mouth to +breathe at. This they did that no man in the pleasant country ways, the +villages or little towns, should speak to him, nor he to any man. + +It was a practice that they had used with others, and very wise and +politic. + +"For," says a chronicler of the time, "their own consciences told them +that they led innocent lambs to the slaughter. Wherefore they feared +lest if the people should have heard them speak or have seen them, they +might have been more strengthened by their godly exhortations to stand +steadfast in God's Word, to fly the superstitions and idolatries of the +Papacy." + +All the way Dr. Taylor was joyful and merry, as one that accounted +himself going to a most pleasant banquet or bridal. He said many notable +things to the Sheriff and the yeomen of the guard that conducted him, +and often moved them to weep through his much earnest calling upon them +to repent and to amend their evil and wicked living. Oftentimes, also, +he caused them to wonder and rejoice, to see him so constant and +steadfast, void of all fear, joyful in heart, and glad to die. At one +time during their progress he said: "I will tell you, I have been +deceived, and, as I think, I shall deceive a great many. I am, as you +see, a man that hath a very great carcase, which I thought would have +been buried in Hadley churchyard, if I died in my bed, as I well hoped I +should have done; but herein I see I was deceived. And there are a +great number of worms in Hadley churchyard, which should have had a +jolly feed upon this carrion, which they have looked for many a day. But +now I know we are to be deceived, both I and they; for this carcase must +be burnt to ashes; and so shall they lose their bait and feeding, that +they looked to have had of it." + +Sir John Shelton, who was riding by the side of Commendone, and who was +now sober enough, the wine of his midnight revels having died from him, +turned to Johnnie with a significant grin as he heard Dr. Taylor say +this to his guards. + +Shelton was coarse, overbearing, and a blackguard, but he had a keen +mind of a sort, and was of gentle birth. + +"Listen to this curtail dog, Mr. Commendone," he said, with a sneer. "A +great loss to the Church, i' faith. He talketh like some bully-rook or +clown of the streets. And these are the men who in their contumacy and +their daring deny the truth of Holy Church----" He spat upon the ground +with disgust. + +Commendone nodded gravely. His insight was keener far than the other's. +He saw, in what Bishop Heber afterwards called "the coarse vigour" of +the Archdeacon's pleasantry, no foolish irreverence indeed, but the racy +English courage and humour of a saintly man, resolved to meet his +earthly doom brightly, and to be an example to common men. + +Johnnie was the son of a bluff Kentish squire. He knew the English soil, +and all the stoic hardy virtues, the racy mannerisms which spring from +it. Courtier and scholar, a man of exquisite refinement, imbued with no +small share of foreign grace and courtliness, there was yet a side of +him which was thoroughly English. He saw deeper than the coarse-mouthed +captain at his side. + +The voices of those who had gathered round the porch of St. Botolph's +without Aldgate still rang in his ears. + +The Sheriff and his company, when they heard Dr. Rowland Taylor jesting +in this way, were amazed, and looked one at another, marvelling at the +man's constant mind, that thus, without any fear, made but a jest at the +cruel torment and death now at hand prepared for him. + +The sun clomb the sky, the woods were green, the birds were all at +matins. Through many a shady village they passed where the ripening corn +rustled in the breeze, the wood smoke went up in blue lines from cottage +and manor house, the clink of the forge rang out into the street as the +blacksmiths lit their fires, the milkmaids strode out to find the lowing +kine in the pastures. It was a brilliant happy morning as they rode +along through the green lanes, a very bridal morning indeed. + +When they were come within two miles of Hadley, Dr. Taylor desired for a +while to light off his horse. They let him do it, and the Sheriff at his +request ordered the hood to be removed from him. + +The whole troop halted for a minute or two, and the Doctor, says the +chronicler, "leaped and set a frisk or twain as men commonly do in +dancing. 'Why, Master Doctor,' quoth the Sheriff, 'how do you now?' He +answered, 'Well, God be praised, good Master Sheriff, never better; for +now I know I am almost at home. I have not pass two stiles to go over, +and I am even at my father's house.' + +"'But, Master Sheriff,' said he, 'shall we not go through Hadley?' + +"'Yes,' said the Sheriff, 'you shall go through Hadley.' + +"'Then,' said he, 'O good Lord! I thank Thee, I shall yet once more ere +I die see my flock, whom Thou, Lord, knowest I have most heartily loved +and truly taught. Good Lord! bless them and keep them steadfast in Thy +word and truth.'" + +The streets of Hadley were beset on both sides of the way with women and +men of the town and the country-side around, who awaited to see Dr. +Taylor. + +As the troop passed by, now at walking pace, when the people beheld +their old friend led to death in this way, their voices were raised in +lamentation and there was great weeping. + +On all sides John Commendone heard the broad homely Suffolk voices, +lifted high in sorrow. + +"Ah, good Lord," said one fat farmer's wife to her man, "there goeth our +good shepherd from us that so faithfully hath taught us, so fatherly +hath cared for us, so godly hath governed us." + +And again, the landlord of the "Three Cranes" at Hadley, where the troop +stopped for a moment to water their horses at the trough before the inn, +and the country people surged and crowded round: "O merciful God; what +shall we poor scattered lambs do? What shall come of this most wicked +world! Good Lord! strengthen him and comfort him. Alack, dear Doctor, +may the Lord help thee!" + +The great man upon his horse, towering above the yeomen of the guard who +surrounded him, lifted his hand. + +"Friends," he said, "and neighbours all, grieve not for me. I have +preached to you God's word and truth, and am come this day to seal it +with my blood." + +Johnnie would have thought that the people who bore such an obvious love +for their rector, and who now numbered several hundreds--sturdy +country-men all--would have raised an outcry against the Sheriff and his +officers. Many of them had stout cudgels in their hands, some of them +bore forks with which they were going to the fields, but there was very +little anger. The people were cowed, that was very plain to see. The +power of the law struck fear into them still; the long, unquestioned +despotism of Henry VIII still exercised its sway over simple minds. Now +and again, as the horses were being watered, a fierce snarl of anger +came from the outskirts of the crowd. Commendone himself, with his +somewhat foreign appearance, and the tall, muffled figure of the King, +excited murmurs and insults. + +"They be Spaniards," one fellow cried, "they two be--Spaniards from the +Queen's Papist husband. How like you this work, Master Don?" + +But that was all. Once Sir John Shelton looked with some apprehension at +the King, but the King understood nothing, and though the sturdy +country-folk in their numbers might well have overcome the guard, a +rescue was obviously not thought of nor was the slightest attempt at it +made. + +All this was quite homely and natural to Johnnie. He felt with the +people; he had spent his life in the country. Down at quiet, retired +Commendone his father and he were greatly loved by all the farmers and +peasants of the estate. His mother--that graceful Spanish lady--had +endeared herself for many years to the simple folk of Kent. Old Father +Chilches had said Mass in the chapel at Commendone for many years +without let or hindrance. Catholic as the house of Commendone had always +been, there was nothing bigoted or fanatical in their religion. And now +the young man's heart was stirred to its very depths as this homely +rustic folk lifted up their voices in sorrow. + +Even then, however, he questioned nothing in his mind of the justice of +what was to be done. Despite the infinite pity he felt for this good +pastor who was to die and his flock who grieved him so, he was yet +perfectly loyal in his mind to the power which ordained the execution, +part of whose machinery he was. The Queen had said so; the monarch could +do no wrong. There were reasons of State, reasons of polity, reasons of +religion which he himself was not competent to enter into or to discuss, +but which he accepted blindly then. + +And so, as they moved onwards towards Aldham Common, where the final +scene was to be enacted, he moved with the others, one of the ministers +of doom. + +And through all the bright morning air, through the cries and tears of +the country-folk, he heard one voice, the voice of a girl, he saw one +white and lovely face ever before his eyes. + +When they came to Aldham Common there was a great multitude of people +gathered there. + +"What place is this?" Dr. Taylor asked, with a smile, though he knew +very well. "And what meaneth it that so much people are gathered +together?" + +The Sheriff, who was a stranger to this part of the country, and who was +very agitated and upset, answered him with eager and deprecating +civility. "It is Aldham Common, Dr. Taylor, the place where you must +suffer; and the people are come to look upon you." The good man hardly +knew what he was saying. + +Dr. Taylor smiled once more. + +"Thanked be God," he said, "I am even at home," and alighted from his +horse. + +Sir John Shelton, who also dismounted, snatched the hat from the +Doctor's head, which was shown to be clipped close, like a horse's back +in summer time--a degradation which Bishop Bonner had caused to be +performed upon him the night before as a mean and vulgar revenge for the +Doctor's words to him at the ceremony of his degradation. + +But when the people saw Dr. Taylor's reverent and ancient face and his +long white beard, they burst into louder weeping than ever, and cried, +"God save thee, good Dr. Taylor! Jesus Christ strengthen thee, and help +thee; the Holy Ghost comfort thee," and many other suchlike godly +wishes. + +They were now come into the centre of Aldham Common, where already a +posse of men sent by the Sheriff of the county were keeping a space +clear round a tall post which had been set into the ground, and which +was the stake. + +Sir John Shelton, who now assumed complete command of the proceedings, +gave several loud orders. The people were pressed back with oaths and +curses by the yeomen of the escort, and Dr. Taylor was hurried quickly +towards the stake. + +The long ride from London had not been without a certain quiet and +dignity; but from this moment everything that was done was rude, +hurried, and violent. The natural brutality of Shelton and his men +blazed up suddenly. What before had been ineffably sad was now changed +to horror, as John Commendone sat his horse by the side of the man whose +safety he was there to guard, and watched the final scene. + +Dr. Taylor, who was standing by the stake and disrobing, wished to speak +to the people, but the yeomen of the guard were so busy about him that +as soon as he opened his mouth one or another of these fellows thrust a +fist or tipstaff into his mouth. They were round him like a pack of +dogs, snarling, buffeting him, making him feel indeed the bitterness of +death. + +This was done by Sir John Shelton's orders, no doubt committed to him +from London, for it was obvious that any popular feeling in the martyr's +favour must be suppressed as soon as possibly could be done. + +If Dr. Taylor had been allowed to speak to the surging crowd that knew +and loved him, the well-known voice, the familiar and beloved +exhortations might well have aroused a fury against the ministers of the +law which they would be powerless to withstand. + +Dr. Taylor himself seemed to recognise this, for he sat down upon a +stool which was placed near the stake and did not offer to speak again. +He looked round while three or four ill-favoured fellows in leather were +bringing up bundles of furze and freshly cut faggots to the stake, and +as he was obviously not about to address the people, the guard was a +little relaxed. + +He saw pressing on the outskirts of the crowd an old countryman, with a +brown wrinkled face. + +"Soyce," he called out cheerily, "I pray thee come and pull off my +boots, and take them for thy labour. Thou hast long looked for them, now +take them." + +The ancient fellow, who was indeed the sexton of Hadley Church, came +trembling up, and did as the rector asked. + +Then Dr. Taylor rose up, and put off his clothes unto his shirt, and +gave them away. Which done, he said with a loud voice, "Good people! I +have taught you nothing but God's Holy Word and those lessons that I +have taken out of God's blessed Book, the Holy Bible." + +He had hardly said it when a sergeant of the guard, named Homes, gave +him a great stroke upon the head with a waster, and said, "Is that the +keeping of thy promise, thou heretic?" + +The venerable head, now stained with blood, drooped, and for a moment +the vitality and vigour seemed to go from the Rector. He saw that it was +utterly useless, that there was no hope of him being allowed to address +his folk, and so he knelt down and prayed in silence. + +While he was praying a very old woman, in poor rags, that was standing +among the people, ran in and knelt by his side, and prayed with him. + +Homes caught hold of her and tried to drag her from the Doctor, but she +screamed loudly and clung to the Rector's knees. + +"Tread her down with horses; tread her down," said Sir John Shelton, his +face purple with anger. + +But even the knight's men would not do it, and there was such a deep +threatening murmur from the crowd that Shelton forbore, and the old +woman stayed there and prayed with the Doctor. + +At last he rose, blessing her, and, dressed only in his shirt, big, +burly, and very dignified, he went to the stake and kissed it, and set +himself into a pitch barrel, which they had put for him to stand in. + +He stood there so, with his back upright against the stake, with his +hands folded together, and his eyes towards heaven, praying continually. + +Four men set up the faggots and piled them round him, and one brought a +torch to make the fire. + +As the furze lit and began to crackle at the bottom of the pile, the man +Homes, either really mad with religious hatred, or, as is more probable, +a brute, only zealous to ingratiate himself with his commander, picked +up a billet of wood and cast it most cruelly at the Doctor. It lit upon +his head and broke his face, so that the blood ran down it. + +Then said Dr. Taylor, "O friend, I have harm enough; what needed that?" + +Then, with Sir John Shelton standing close by, and the people round +shuddering with horror, the Rector began to say the Psalm _Miserere_ in +English. + +Sir John shot out his great red hand and struck the martyr upon the lips +with his open palm. + +"Ye knave," he said, "speak Latin; I will make thee." + +At that, John Commendone, scarcely knowing what he did, leapt from his +horse and caught Shelton by the shoulder. With all the strength of his +young athletic frame he sent him spinning away from the stake. Sir John +staggered, recovered himself, and with his face blazing with anger, +rushed at the young man. + +At that the King suddenly wheeled his horse, and interposed between +them. + +"Keep you away, Sir John," he said in Spanish, "that is enough." + +The knight did not understand the King's words, but the tone and the +accent were significant. With a glare of fury at Johnnie, he slunk aside +to his men. + +The calm voice of the Rector went on reciting the words of the Psalm. +When it was finished he said the Gloria, and as the smoke rolled up +around him, and red tongues of flame began to be brightly visible in the +sunlight, he held up both his hands, and said, "Merciful Father of +heaven, for Jesus Christ my Saviour's sake, receive my soul into Thy +hands." + +So stood he still without either crying or moving, with his hands folded +together, until suddenly one of the men-at-arms caught up a halbert and +struck him on the head so that the brains fell out, and the corpse sank +into the fire. + +"Thus," says the chronicler, "the man of God gave his blessed soul into +the hands of his merciful Father, and his most dear and certain Saviour +Jesus Christ, Whom he most entirely loved, faithfully and earnestly +preached, obediently followed in living, and constantly glorified in +death." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE MEETING WITH JOHN HULL AT CHELMSFORD + + +John Commendone, Sir John Shelton, and the King of Spain walked up a +flight of broad stone steps, which led to the wide-open door of Mr. +Peter Lacel's house on the far side of Aldham Common. + +It was now about ten o'clock in the morning, or a little after. + +As soon as the body of the martyr had fallen into the flames, Sir John +had wheeled round upon his horse, and, attended by his men, had trotted +away, breaking through the crowd, who had rushed to the smouldering pyre +and were pressing round it. They had gone some three hundred yards on to +the Common at a quick pace. + +"I don't like this at all, Sire," Sir John had muttered to the King. +"The people are very turbulent. It will be as well, I think, that we go +to the 'Crown.' It is that large house on the other side of the Common. +There we shall find entertainment and refreshment, for I am told it is a +good inn by a letter from the Sheriff, Mr. Peter Lacel--whom I had +looked to see here as was duly arranged." + +Then Sir John had stopped suddenly. + +"He cometh," he cried. "That is Mr. Lacel with his yeomen," and as the +knight spoke Johnnie saw a little party upon horseback galloping towards +them. Foremost of them was a bluff, bearded country gentleman, his face +agitated and concerned. + +"Good Sir John," said the gentleman as he reined up his horse, "I would +not have had this happen for much money. I have mistook the hour, and +was upon some county business with two of the justices at my house. Is +it all over then? Hath Dr. Taylor suffered?" + +"The runagate is stone dead," Shelton replied. "It is all over, and hath +passed off as well as may be, though I like not very much the demeanour +of the people. But how do you, Mr. Lacel?" + +"I do very well, thank you," the Sheriff answered, "but I hope much, Sir +John, that this mischance of mine will not be accounted to me as being +any lack of zeal to Her Grace." + +Shelton waved his hand. "No," he said, "we know you very well, Mr. +Lacel. Lack of loyalty will never be put to your charge. But now, +doubtless, you will entertain us, for we have ridden since early dawn, +and are very tired." + +Mr. Lacel's face shone with relief. "Come you, Sir John," he said, "come +you with these gentlemen and your men forthwith to the Manor. You must +indeed be weary and needing refreshment. But what of yonder?" + +He pointed in front of him, and Sir John turned in his saddle. + +A few hundred yards away a dense crowd was swaying, and above their +heads even now was a column of yellow smoke. + +"There is no need for you there, Mr. Lacel," Sir John replied. "The +Sheriff of London and his men are doing all that is needful. I am here +with mine, and we shall all be glad to taste your hospitality after this +business. This,"--he made a little gesture of the hand towards +Johnnie--"is Mr. Commendone, Sir Henry Commendone's son, of Kent, +attached to the King's person, and here to-day to report of Dr. Taylor's +burning to the Queen. This"--here he bowed towards Philip--"a Spanish +nobleman of high degree, who is of His Majesty's Gentlemen, and who hath +ridden with us." + +"Bid ye welcome, gentlemen," said Mr. Lacel, "and now, an ye will follow +me, there is breakfast ready in the Manor, and you can forget this nasty +work, for I doubt none of you like it better than myself." + +With that the whole party had trotted onwards towards the Sheriff's +house. + +The men-at-arms were met by grooms and servants, and taken round to the +buttery. John, Shelton, and the King walked up the steps and into a +great hall, where a long table was laid for their reception. + +The King, whose demeanour to his host was haughty and indifferent, spoke +no word at all, and Sir John Shelton was in considerable embarrassment. +At all costs, the King's incognito must be preserved. Mr. Lacel was a +Catholic gentleman of Suffolk, a simple, faithful, unthinking country +squire, who, at the same time, had some local influence. It would never +do, however, to let the Sheriff know that the King himself was under his +roof, and yet His Highness's demeanour was so reserved and cold, his +face so melancholy, frozen, and inscrutable, that Shelton was +considerably perplexed. It was with a sense of great relief that he +remembered the King spoke but little English, and he took Mr. Lacel +aside while serving-men were placing chairs at the table, and whispered +that the Don was a cold, unlikeable fellow, but high in the Royal +favour, and must be considered. + +"Not a testoon care I," Mr. Lacel answered. "I am glad to see ye, Sir +John, and these Court gallants from Spain disturb me not at all. Now, +sit ye down, sit ye down, and fall to." + +They all sat down at the table. + +The King took a silver cup of wine, bowed to his host, and sipped. His +face was very yellow, his eyes dwindled, and a general air of cold and +lassitude pervaded him. Suddenly he turned to Commendone, who was +sitting by his side watching his master with eager and somewhat +frightened attention. + +"Senor," he said, in Spanish, "Senor Commendone, I am very far from +well. The long ride hath tired me. I would rest. Speak to Sir John +Shelton, and ask this worthy _caballero_, who is my host, if I may +retire to rest." + +Johnnie spoke at once to Mr. Lacel, explaining that the Spanish nobleman +was very fatigued and wished to lie down. + +The Sheriff jumped up at once, profuse in hospitality, and himself led +the way, followed by the King and Commendone, to an upper chamber. + +They saw the King lie down upon the bed, and curtains pulled half-way +over the mullioned windows of the room, letting only a faint beam of +sunlight enter there. + +"Thy friend will be all right now, Mr. Commendone," said the squire. +"These Spanish gentlemen are not over-strong, methinks." He laughed +roughly, and Johnnie heard again, in the voice of this country +gentleman, that dislike of Spain and of the Spanish Match, which his own +father shared. + +They went out of the room together, and Johnnie shrugged his +shoulders--it was absolutely necessary that the identity of the King +should not be suspected. + +"Well, well, Mr. Lacel," he said, linking his arm within his host's, and +assuming a friendly country manner--which, of course, came perfectly +natural to him, "it is not for you and I to question or to make comment +upon those gentlemen from over-seas who are in high favour in London +just now. Let us to breakfast." + +In a minute more they were sitting at the table, where Sir John Shelton +was already busy with wine and food. + +For a few minutes the three men ate in silence. Then Mr. Lacel must have +from them every detail of the execution. It was supplied him with great +vigour and many oaths by Sir John. + +Mr. Lacel shook himself. + +"I am indeed sorry," said he, "that I was not at the execution, because +it was my bounden duty to be there. Natheless, I am not sorry for +myself. To see a rogue or masterless man trussed up is very well, but +Dr. Rowland Taylor that was Rector here, and hath in times past been a +guest at this very table--well, I am glad I did not see the man die. Was +a pleasant fellow, could wind a horn or throw a falcon with any of the +gentry round, had a good lusty voice in a chorus, and learning much +beyond the general." + +"Mr. Lacel, Mr. Lacel," Sir John Shelton said in a loud and rather +bullying voice, "surely you have no sympathy nor liking for heretics?" + +"Not I, i' faith," said the old gentleman at the top of the table, +striking the thick oak with his fist. "I have been a good Catholic ever, +and justice must be done. 'Twas the man I liked, Master Shelton, 'twas +the man I liked. Now we have here as Rector a Mr. Lacy. He is a good +Catholic priest, and dutiful at all his services. I go to Mass three +times a week. But Father Lacy, as a man, is but a sorry scrub. He eateth +nothing, and a firkin of ale would last him six months. Still, +gentlemen, ye cannot live on both sides of a buckler. Poor Roly Taylor +was a good, honest man, a sportsman withal, and well loved over the +country-side--I am glad I saw not his burning. Certainly upon religion +he was mad and very ill-advised, and so dies he. I trust his stay in +purgation be but short." + +Sir John Shelton put down his tankard with a crash. + +"My friend," he said, "doth not know that His Grace of London did curse +this heretic? I myself was there and heard it." + +The ruffian lifted his tankard of wine to his lips, and took a long +draught. His face was growing red, his eyes twinkled with half-drunken +cunning and suspicion. + +"Aye," he cried, "I heard it--'And by the authority of God the Father +Almighty, and of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of St. Peter and Paul, and of +the Holy Saints, we excommunicate, we utterly curse and ban, commit and +deliver to the Devil of hell, ye that have in spite of God and of St. +Peter, whose Church this is, in spite of holy saints, and in spite of +our most Holy Father the Pope, God's Vicar here on earth, denied the +truths of Holy Church. Accursed may ye be, and give body and soul to the +Devil. We give ye over utterly to the power of the Fiend, and thy soul +when thou art dead shall lie this night in the pains of hell-fire, as +this candle is now quenched and put out.'" + +As he finished, Sir John knocked over a tall glass cruet of French +vinegar, and stared with increasing drunkenness at his host. + +Mr. Lacel, simple gentleman that he was, was obviously disgusted at his +guest. He said very little, however, seeing that the man was somewhat +gone in liquor, as Johnnie also realised that the stale potations of the +night before were wakened by the new drink, and rising up into Shelton's +brain. + +"Well, well, Sir John," Mr. Lacel replied, "I am no theologian, but I am +a good son of the Church, and have always been, as you and those at +Court--those in high places, Sir John," he said it with a certain +emphasis and spirit--"know very well." + +The quiet and emphatic voice had its effect. Shelton dropped his +bullying manner. He was aware, and realised that Mr. Lacel probably knew +also, that he was but a glorified man-at-arms, a led captain, and not at +all in the confidence of great people, nor acquainted with private +affairs of State. He had been puffed up by his recent association with +the King in his vile pleasures, but a clever ruffian enough, he saw now +that he had gone too far. + +He saw also that John Commendone was looking at him with a fixed and +disdainful expression. He remembered that the young courtier was high in +the good graces of the King and Queen. + +"I' faith," he cried, with an entire change of manner--"I' faith, old +friend Peter, I was but jesting; we all know thou art loyal to Church +and State, their law. Mr. Commendone, I ask you, hast seen a more----" + +Johnnie's voice cut into the man's babbling. + +"Sir John," he said, "if I were you I would go upstairs and see how the +Spanish gentleman doeth." + +He looked very keenly, and with great meaning, at the knight. + +Sir John pushed his chair from the table. "Spine of God," he cried +thickly, "and I was near forgetting His Highness. I will to him at +once." + +He stumbled away from the table, pulled himself together, and, following +Mr. Lacel's butler, who had just come into the hall, ascended the broad +stairway. + +Mr. Lacel looked very curiously at Johnnie. + +"Sir," he said in a low voice, looking round the hall to see if any +servant were within earshot, "that drunkard hath said more than he +meant. I am not quite the country fool I seem to be, but least said is +soonest mended. I have known Sir John Shelton for some years--a good man +in the chase, a soldier, but a drunken fool withal. I know your name, +and I have met your father at the Wool Exchange in London. We are both +of Catholic houses, but I think none of us like what is going on now, +and like to go on since"--here he dropped his voice almost to a whisper, +and glanced upwards to the gallery which ran round the hall--"since Her +Grace had wedded out of the kingdom. But we must say nothing. Who that +gentleman upstairs is, I do not seek to know, but I tell you this, Mr. +Commendone, that, heretic or none, I go to-morrow morning to Father Lacy +and give him a rose-angel to say masses for the soul of a good dead +friend of mine. I shall not tell him who 'tis, and he's too big a fool +to ask, but----" + +The old man's voice caught in his throat. He lifted his cup, and +instinctively Johnnie did the same. + +"Here's to him," Mr. Lacel whispered, "and to his dame, a sweet and +gracious lady, and to his little lad Thomas, and the girl Mary; they +have oft sat on my knee--for I am an old widower, Mr. Commendone--when I +have told them the tale of the babes in the wood." + +Tears were in the Sheriff's eyes, and in the eyes of the young man also, +as he raised his cup to his lips and drank the sad and furtive toast. + +"And here," Mr. Lacel continued, lifting his cup once more, and leaning +forward over the table close to his, "and here's to Lizzie, whom dear +Dr. Taylor adopted to be as his own daughter when she was but a little +maid of three. Here's to Elizabeth, the sweetest girl, the most blithe +companion, the daintiest, most brave little lady that ever trod the +lanes of Suffolk----" + +He had hardly finished speaking, and Johnnie's hand was trembling as he +lifted the goblet to his lips, when there was a noise in the gallery +above, and Sir John Shelton, pale of face, and followed by the butler, +came noisily down the oak stairs. + +The knight's manner was more than a little excited. + +"Mr. Commendone," he said in a quick but conciliatory voice, "His +Highness--that is to say, the Spanish gentleman--is very fatigued, and +cannot ride to London to-day." + +He turned to Mr. Lacel. + +"Peter," he said, and his voice was now anxious and suave, the voice of +a man of affairs, and with something definite to say, "Peter, I must +claim your hospitality for the night for myself and for my Spanish +friend. Also, I fear, for my men." + +Mr. Lacel bowed. "Sir John," he said, "my poor house is very gladly at +your disposal, and you may command me in all ways." + +"I thank you," Sir John answered, "I thank you very much. You are doing +me a service, and perhaps other people a service which----" He broke off +shortly, and turned once more to Commendone. "Mr. Commendone," he said, +"it is requisite that you will at once to horse with your own servant +and one of my men, and ride to London--Excuse me, Peter, but I have a +privy word to say to the Esquire." + +He drew Johnnie aside. "You must ride post-haste to the Queen," he said, +"and tell her that His Majesty is very weary or eke unwell. He will lie +the night here and come to London with me in the morning, and by the +Mass, Mr. Commendone, I don't envy you your commission!" + +"I will go at once," Johnnie answered, looking at his watch. + +"Very good, Mr. Commendone," Sir John answered. "I am not of the Privy +Closet, as you know. You are in communion with Her Grace, and have been. +But if all we of the guard hear is true, then I am sorry for you. +Natheless, you must do it. Tell Her Grace of the burning--oh, tell her +anything that commendeth itself to you, but let her not think that His +Highness is upon some lover's business. And of Duck Lane not a word, not +a single word, as you value your favour!" + +"It is very likely, is it not, Sir John," Commendone answered, "that I +should say anything of Duck Lane?" + +The sneer in his voice was so pronounced that the big bully writhed +uneasily. + +"Surely," he replied, "you are a very pattern and model of discretion. I +know it well enough, Mr. Commendone." + +Johnnie made his adieux to his host. + +"But what about your horses, sir?" the old gentleman asked. "As I +understand it, you ride post-haste to London. Your nag will not take you +there very fast after your long ride." + +"I must post, that is all," Johnnie answered. "I can get a relay at +Chelmsford." + +"Nay, Mr. Commendone, it is not to be thought of," said the squire. +"Now, look you. I have a plenty horses in my stables. There is a roan +mare spoiling for work that will suit you very well. And what servants +are you taking?" + +Sir John Shelton broke in. + +"Hadst better take thy own servant and two of my men," he said. "You +will be riding back upon the way we came, and I doubt me the country +folk are too friendly." + +"That is easy done," said Mr. Lacel. "I can horse your yeomen also. In +four days I ride myself to Westminster, where I spend a sennight with my +brother, and hope to pay my duties at the Court when it moveth to +Whitehall, as I hear it is about to do. The horses I shall lend you, Mr. +Commendone, can be sent to my brother's, Sir Frank Lacel, of Lacel +House." + +"I thank you very much, sir," Johnnie answered, "you are very kind." And +with that he said farewell, and in a very few minutes was riding over +Aldham Common, on his way back to London. + +Right in the centre of the Common there was still a large crowd of +people, and he saw a farm cart with two horses standing there. + +He made a wide detour, however, to get into the main road for Hadley, +shrinking with a sudden horror, more poignant and more physically +sickening than anything he had known before, from the last sordid and +grisly details of the martyr's obsequies. + +... No! Anything would be better than to see this dreadful cleaning +up.... + +The big rawbone mare which he was riding was fresh and playful. Johnnie +was a consummate horseman, and he was glad of the distraction of keeping +the beast under control. She had a hard mouth, and needed all his skill. + +For four or five miles, followed by his attendants at a distance of two +or three hundred yards, he rode at a fast canter, now and then letting +the mare stretch her legs upon the turf which bordered the rough country +road. After this, when the horse began to settle down to steady work, he +went on at a fast trot, but more mechanically, and thought began to be +born within him again. + +Until now he had seemed to be walking and moving in a dream. Even the +horrors he had seen had been hardly real. Inexperienced as he was in +many aspects of life, he yet knew well that the man with an imagination +and sensitive nerves suffers far more in the memory of a dreadful thing +than he does at the actual witnessing of it. The very violence of what +he had seen done that day had deadened all the nerves, forbidding full +sensation--as a man wounded in battle, or with a limb lopped off by +sword or shot, is often seen looking with an amazed incredulity at +himself, feeling no pain whatever for the moment. + +It was now that John Commendone began to suffer. Every detail of Dr. +Taylor's death etched themselves in upon his brain in a succession of +pictures which burnt like fire. + +As this or that detail--in colour, movement, and sound--came back to him +so vividly, his heart began to drum, his eyes to fill with tears, or +grow dry with horror, the palms of his hands to become wet. He lived the +whole thing over again. And once more his present surroundings became +dream-like, as he cantered through the lanes, and what was past became +hideously, dreadfully real. + +Yet, as the gallant mare bore him swiftly onwards, he realised that the +horror and disgust he felt were in reality subservient to something else +within him. His whole being seemed quickened, infinitely more alert, +ready for action, than it had ever been before. He was like a man who +had all his life been looking out upon the world through smoked or +tinted glasses--very pleased and delighted with all he saw, unable to +realise that there could be anything more true, more vivid. + +Then, suddenly, the glass is removed. The neutral greyness which he has +taken for the natural, commendable view of things, changes and falls +away. The whole world is seen in an infinity of light and colour +undreamed of, unexpected, wonderfully, passionately new. + +It was thus with Johnnie, and the fact for some time was stunning and +paralysing. + +Then, as the brain adjusted itself slowly to fresh and marvellous +conditions, he began to question himself. + +What did it mean? What did it mean to him? What lay before? + +Quite suddenly the explanation came, and he knew. + +It was the face of a tall girl, who stood by St. Botolph's tower in the +ghostly dawn that had done this thing. It was her voice that had rent +aside the veil; it was her eyes of agony which lit up the world so +differently. + +With that knowledge, with the quick hammering of love at a virgin heart, +there came also an enormous expectation. Till now life had been pleasant +and happy. All the excitements of the past seemed but incidents in a +long tranquillity. + +The orchestra had finished the prelude to the play. Now the traverse was +drawn aside, and action began. + +As the young man realised this, and the white splendour of the full +summer sun was answered by the inexpressible glow within, he realised, +physically, that he was galloping madly along the road, pressing his +spurs to his horse's flanks, riding with loose rein, the stirrups behind +him, crouching forward upon the peaked saddle. He pulled his horse up +within two or three hundred yards, though with considerable difficulty, +the animal seeming, in some subtle way, to share and be part of that +which was rioting within his brain. + +He pulled her up, however, and she stood trembling and breathing hard, +with great clots of white foam covering the rings of the bit. He +soothed her, patting the strong veined neck with his hand, bringing it +away from the darkening hide covered with sweat. Then, when she was a +little more at ease, he slipped from the saddle and led her a few paces +along the road to where in the hedge a stile was set, upon which he sat +himself. + +He held hold of the rein for a minute until he saw the mare begin to +crop the roadside grass quietly enough, when he released her. + +For a mile or more the road by which he had come stretched white and +empty in the sun. There was no trace of his men. He waited there till +they could come up to him. + +He began to talk to himself in slow, measured terms, his own voice +sounding strange in his ears, coming to them with a certain comfort. It +was as though once more he had regained full command and captaincy of +his own soul. There were great things to be done, he was commander of +his own legions, and, like a general before a battle, he was issuing +measured orders to his staff. + +"So that it must be; it must be just that; I must find Elizabeth"--his +subconscious brain heard with a certain surprise and wonder how the slow +voice trembled at the word--"I must find Elizabeth. And then, when I +have found her, I must tell her that she, and she alone, is to be my +wife, and my lady ever more. I must sue and woo her, and then she must +be my wife. It is that which I have to do. The Court is nothing; my +service is nothing; it is Elizabeth!" + +The mare raised her head, her mouth full of long sweet grass, and she +looked at him with mild, brown eyes. + +He rose from the stile, put his hand within his doublet, and pulled out +a little crucifix of ebony, with a Christ of gold nailed to it. + +He kissed it, and then, singularly heartened and resolute in mind, he +mounted again, seeing, as he did so, that his men were coming up behind. +He waited till they were near and then trotted off, and in an hour came +to the outskirts of Chelmsford town. + +It was now more than two hours after noon, and he halted with his men at +the "Tun," the principal inn of the place, and adjacent to a brewery of +red brick, where the famous Chelmsford ale--no less celebrated then than +now--was brewed. + +He rode into the courtyard of the inn, and the ostlers came hurrying up +and took his horse away, while he went into the ordinary and sat down +before a great round of beef. + +The landlord, seeing a gentleman of quality, bustled in and carved for +him--a pottle-bellied, voluble man, with something eminently kindly and +human in his eye. + +"From the Court, sir, I do not doubt?" he said. + +Johnnie nodded. + +"If I mistake not, you are one of the gentlemen who rode with the +Sheriff and Dr. Rowland Taylor this morning?" + +"That was I," Johnnie answered, looking keenly at the man. + +"I would have wagered it was, sir. We saw the party go by early. Is the +Doctor dead, sir?" + +Johnnie nodded once more. + +"And a very right and proper thing it is," the landlord continued, "that +such should die the death." + +"And why think you that, landlord?" Johnnie asked. + +The landlord scratched his head, looking doubtfully at his guest. + +"It is not for me to say, sir," he replied, after a moment's hesitation. +"I am but a tradesman, and have no concern with affairs of State. I am a +child in these things, but doubtless what was done was done very well." + +Johnnie pushed away the pewter plate in front of him. "My man," he said, +"you can speak freely to me. What think you in truth?" + +The landlord stared at him for a moment, and then suddenly sat down at +the table. + +"I don't know, sir," he said, "who or what you may be. As thou art from +the Court, thou art a good Catholic doubtless, or wouldst not be there, +but you have an honest face, and I will tell you what I think. Under +King Hal I gat me to church, and profited well thereby in that reign, +for the abbey being broke up, and the friars dispersed, there was no +more free beer for any rogue or masterless man to get from the buttery, +aye, and others of this town with property, and well-liked men, who +would drink the monks' brew free rather than pay for mine own. So, God +bless King Henry, I say, who brought much custom to mine inn, being a +wise prince. And now, look you, I go to Mass, and custom diminisheth not +at all. I have had this inn for thirty years, my father before me for +fifty; and in this inn, sir, I mean to die. It is nothing to me whether +bread and wine are but bread and wine, or whether they be That which all +must now believe. I am but a simple man, and let wiser than I decide, +keeping always with those who must certainly know better than I. +Meanwhile I shall sell my beer and bring up my family as an honest man +should do--God's death! What is that?" + +He started from his chair as Johnnie did likewise, for even as the man +spoke a most horrid and untoward noise filled all the air. + +Both men rushed to the bulging window of leaded glass, which looked out +into the High Street. + +There was a huge shouting, a frightful stamp and clatter as of feet and +horses' hooves upon the stones, but above all there came a shrill, +snarling, neighing noise, ululating with a ferocity that was not human, +a vibration of rage, which was like nothing Commendone had ever heard +before. + +"Jesus! But what is this?" Johnnie cried, flinging open the casement, +his face suddenly white with fear--so utterly outside all experience was +the dreadful screeching, which now seemed a thousand times louder. + +He peered out into the street and saw people rushing to the doors and +windows of all the houses opposite, with faces as white and startled as +his own. He looked to the right, for it was from there the pealing +horror of sound was coming, but he could see nothing, because less than +twenty yards away the High Street made a sudden turn at right angles +towards the Market Place. + +"It is some devil, certes," the landlord panted. "Apollyon must have +just such a voice. What----" + +The words died away upon his lips, and in a moment the two men and all +the other watchers in the street knew what had happened. + +With a furious stamping of hooves, round the corner of an old timbered +house, leaping from the ground in ungovernable fury, and in that leaping +advancing but very slowly, came a huge stallion, black as a coal, its +eyes red with malice, its ears laid back over its head, the huge +bull-like neck erect, and smeared with foam and blood. + +Commendone had never seen such a monster; indeed, there were but few of +them in England at that time--the product of Lanarkshire mares crossed +with the fierce Flanders stallions, only just then introduced into +England by that Earl of Arran who had been a suitor for the hand of the +Princess Elizabeth. + +The thing seemed hardly horse, but malignant demon rather, and with a +cold chill at their hearts the landlord and his guest saw that the +stallion gripped a man by one arm and shoulder, a man that was no more a +man, but a limp bundle of clothes, and shook him as a terrier shakes a +rat. + +The bloody and evil eyes glared round on every side as the great +creature heaved itself into the air, the long "feather" of silky hair +about its fetlocks waving like the pennons of lances. There was a +dreadful sense of _display_. The stallion was consciously and wickedly +performing, showing what it could do in its strength of hatred--evil, +sentient, malign. + +It tossed the wretched man up into the air, and flung him lifeless and +broken at its fore feet. And then, horror upon horror, it began to pound +him, smashing, breaking, and treading out what little life remained, +with an action the more dreadful and alarming in that it was one +absolutely alien to the usual habits of the horse. + +It stopped at last, stiffened all over, its long, wicked head stretched +out like that of a pointing dog, while its eyes roved round as if in +search of a new victim. + +There was a dead silence in the street. + +Then Johnnie saw a short, thick-set man, with a big head and a brown +face, come out from the archway opposite, where he had been standing in +amazement, into the full street, facing the silent, waiting beast. + +Something stabbed the young man's heart strangely. It was not fear for +the man; it was quite distinct from the breathless excitement and +sickening wonder of the moment. + +Johnnie had seen this man before. + +With slow, very slow, but resolute and determined steps, the man drew +nearer to the stallion. + +He was within four yards of it, when it threw up its head and opened its +mouth wide, showing the great glistening yellow teeth, the purple lips +curling away from them, in a rictus of malignity. From the open mouth, +covered with blood and foam, once more came the frightful cry, the mad +challenge. + +Even as that happened, the man, who carried a stout stick of ash such as +drovers used, leapt at the beast and struck it full and fair upon the +muzzle, a blow so swift, and so hefty withal, that the ash-plant snapped +in twain and flew up into the air. + +The next thing happened very swiftly. The man, who had a short cloak +upon his arm, threw it over the stallion's head with a sudden movement. +There was a white flash in the sunshine, as his short knife left his +belt, and with one fierce blow plunged deep into the lower portion of +the stallion's neck just above the great roll of fat and muscle which +arched down towards the chest. + +Then, with both hands at the handle of the knife, the man pulled it +upwards, leaning back as he did so, and putting all his strength into +what he did, cutting through the living veins and trachea as a butcher +cuts meat. + +There was a dreadful scream, which changed upon an instant to a cough, a +fountain of dark blood, and the monster staggered and fell over upon its +side with a crash. + +A minute afterwards Commendone was out in the High Street mingling with +the excited crowd of townspeople. + +He touched the sturdy brown-faced man upon the shoulder. + +"Come into the inn," he said. "I have somewhat to say to you, John +Hull." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +PART TAKEN IN AFFAIRS BY THE HALF TESTOON + + +It was seven o'clock in the evening when John Commendone arrived at the +Tower. He went to the Queen's Gallery, and found that Her Majesty had +just come back from Vespers in St. John's Chapel, and was in the Privy +Garden with some of her ladies. + +Mr. Ambrose Cholmondely was lieutenant of the guard at this hour, and +Johnnie went to him, explaining that he must see the Queen at once. + +"She won't see any one, Commendone," young Mr. Cholmondely answered. "I +really cannot send your name to Her Grace." + +"But I must see Her Grace. It is highly important." + +Cholmondely looked at Commendone. + +"You have ridden far and fast," he said. "You might even be the bearer +of despatches, my friend John. But I cannot send in your name to the +Queen. Even if I could, I certainly would not do so when you are like +this, in such disorder of dress. You've come from no battle-field with +news of victory. If the matter urgeth, as you say, then you have your +own remedy. The King Consort lies ill in his own lodging; he hath not +been seen of any one since supper last night. I don't know where you +have been or what you have been doing, and it is no concern of mine, i' +faith, but you can very well go to the King's quarters, where, if your +business is as you say, one of the dons or Spanish priests will speedily +arrange an audience for you with Her Grace." + +Johnnie knew the rigid etiquette of the Court very well. + +Technically young Mr. Cholmondely was within his rights. He had received +orders and must obey them. Upon the other hand, no one knew better than +Commendone that this young gallant was a fool, puffed up with the favour +of ladies, and who from the first had regarded him as in some sense a +rival--was jealous of him. + +John realised in a moment that no one of the Court except the Queen and +King Philip's private gentlemen knew of His Highness's absence. It had +been put about that he was ill. It would have been an easy thing for +Johnnie to turn away from the gate of the Privy Garden, where, in the +soft sunset light, Mr. Cholmondely ruffled it so bravely, and find +Father Diego. But he was in no mood at that moment for compromise. He +was perfectly certain of his own right to admission. He knew that the +tidings he bore were far more important than any point of etiquette. He +was cool and suave enough as a general rule--not at all inclined, or a +likely person, to infringe the stately machinery which controlled the +lives of monarchs. But now he was in a mood when these things seemed +shrunken, smaller than they had ever been before. He himself was +animated by a great private purpose, he bore a message from the King +himself to the Queen; he was in a state of exaltation, and looking at +the richly dressed young courtier before him, remembering what a +popinjay and lap-dog of ladies he was, he felt a sudden contempt for the +man who barred his way. + +He wouldn't have felt it before, but he was older now. He had bitten in +upon life, an extraordinary strength and determination influenced him +and ran in his blood. + +"Mr. Cholmondely," he said, "nevertheless, I will go to the Queen, as I +am, and go at once." + +Cholmondely was just inside the gates which led to the Privy Garden, +strolling up and down, while outside the gates were two archers of the +Queen's Guard, and a halberdier of the garrison, who was sitting upon a +low stone bench. + +Johnnie had passed the men and was standing within the garden. + +"You will, Mr. Commendone?" + +Johnnie took a step forward and brushed the other away with his left +arm, contemptuously, as if he had been a serving-man. Then he strode +onwards. + +The other's sword was out of his scabbard in a second, and he threw +himself on guard, his face livid with passion. Johnnie made no motion +towards his own sword hilt, but he grasped the other's light rapier with +his right hand, twisted it away with a swift muscular motion, broke it +upon his knee and flung the pieces into Cholmondely's face. + +"I go to Her Majesty," he said. "When I have done my business with her, +I will see you again, Mr. Cholmondely, and you can send your friend to +my lodging." + +Without a further glance at the lieutenant of the guard he hurried down +a broad gravelled path, edged with stocks, asters and dark green borders +of box, towards where he knew he would find the Queen. + +Cholmondely stood, swaying and reeling for a second. No word escaped +him, but from his cheek, cut by the broken sword, came a thin trickle of +scarlet. + +Johnnie had turned out of the broad walk and into the terraced +rose-garden, which went down to the river--where he saw a group of +brightly-dressed ladies, rightly conjecturing that the Queen was among +them--when he heard running steps behind him. + +Cholmondely had almost caught him up, and a dagger gleamed in his right +hand. A loud oath burst from him, and he flung himself upon Commendone. + +At the exact moment that he did so, the ladies had turned, and saw what +was going on; and while the two young men wrestled together, +Cholmondely vainly trying to free his dagger-arm from Commendone's +vice-like grip, there came a loud, angry voice which both knew well, +booming through the pergolas of roses. The instant the great voice +struck upon their ears they fell away from each other, arms dropped to +their sides, breaths panting, eyes of hate and anger suddenly changed +and full of apprehension. + +There were one or two shrieks and feminine twitters, a rustle of silk +skirts, a jangle of long silver chatelaines, and like a bouquet of +flowers coming towards them, the queen's ladies hurried over the lawn; +Her Grace's small form was a little in advance of the rest. + +Queen Mary came up to them, her thin face suffused with passion. + +"Sirs," she shouted, "what mean you by this? Are gentlemen of Our Court +to brawl in Our gardens? By the Mass, it shall go very hard with you +gentlemen. It----" + +She saw Commendone. + +Her voice changed in a second. + +"Mr. Commendone! Mr. Commendone! You here? I had looked to see you hours +agone. Where is----" + +She had nearly said it, but a warning flash from the young man's eyes +stayed the wild inquiry upon her lips. Clever as she was, the Queen +caught herself up immediately. + +"What is this, sir?" she said, more softly, and in Spanish. + +Johnnie sank on one knee. + +"I have just come to the Tower, M'am," he said, "with news for Your +Majesty. As you see, I am but just from my horse. I sought you +post-haste, and were told that you were here. Unfortunately, I could not +persuade Mr. Cholmondely of the urgency of my business. He had orders to +admit no one, and daring greatly, I pushed past him, and in the +execution of his duty he followed me." + +The Queen said nothing for a moment. Then she turned upon Cholmondely. + +"And who are you, Mr. Cholmondely," she said in a cold, hard voice, "to +deny the Esquire Our presence when he comes with special tidings to Us?" + +Cholmondely bowed low. + +"I did but hold to my orders, Madam," he said, in a low voice. + +The Queen ground her high-heeled shoe into the gravel. + +"Your sword, Mr. Cholmondely," she said, "you will hand it to the +Esquire, and you will go to your lodging to await our pleasure." + +At that, the lieutenant of the guard gave a loud sob, and his face +became purple. + +The Queen looked at him in amazement and then saw that his scabbard was +empty. + +In a moment Johnnie had whipped out his own riding-sword and pressed it +into Mr. Cholmondely's hand. + +"Stupid!" he said, "here thou art. Now give it me in order." + +The Queen had taken it all in immediately. The daughter of a King to +whom the forms and etiquette of chivalry were one of the guiding +principles of life, she realised in a moment what had occurred. + +"Boys! Boys!" she said, impatiently. "A truce to your quarrels. If Mr. +Commendone robbed you of your sword, Mr. Cholmondely, he hath very well +made amends in giving you his. You were right, Mr. Cholmondely, in not +admitting Mr. Commendone to Our presence, because you knew not the +business upon which he came. And you were right, Mr. Commendone, in +coming to Us as you did at all hazards. Art two brave, hot-headed boys. +Now take each other's hand; let there be no more of this, for"--and her +voice became lowing and full of menace again--"if I hear so much as the +rattle of thy swords against each other, in future, neither of thee will +e'er put hand to pummel again." + +The two young men touched each other's hand--both of them, to tell the +truth, excessively glad that affairs had turned out in this way. + +"Get you back to your post," the Queen said to the lieutenant. "Mr. +Commendone, come here." + +She turned swiftly, passing through her ladies, who all remained a few +yards behind. + +"Well, well," she said impatiently, "hath His Highness returned? Hath +he borne the fatigue of the journey well?" + +Most carefully, with studied phrases, furtively watching her face, with +the skill and adroitness of an old courtier, Johnnie told his story. At +any moment he expected an outburst of temper, but it did not come. To +his surprise, the Queen was now in a quiet and reflective mood. She +walked up and down the bowling green with him, her ladies standing apart +at one edge of it, nodding and whispering to see this young gallant so +favoured, and wondering what his mission might be. + +The Queen asked Johnnie minute questions about Mr. Peter Lacel's house. +Was it well found? Would His Highness find proper accommodation to lie +there? Was Mr. Lacel married, and had he daughters? + +Johnnie assured Her Grace that Mr. Lacel was a widower and without +children. He could plainly see that the Queen had that fierce jealousy +of a woman wedded late. Not only the torturing of other women, but also +the stronger and more pervading dislike of a husband living any life, +going through any experiences that she herself did not share. At the +same time, he saw also that the Queen was doing her very best to +overcome such thoughts as these, was endeavouring to assume the matron +of common sense and to put the evil thing away from her. + +Then, just as the young man was beginning to feel a little embarrassed +at the quick patter of questions, wondering if he would be able to be +as adequate as hitherto, remembering guiltily where he had met the King +the night before, the Queen ceased to speak of her husband. + +She began to ask him of Dr. Rowland Taylor and his end. + +He told her some of the details as quietly as he could, trying to soften +the horror which even now overwhelmed him in memory. At one question he +hesitated for a moment, mistaking its intent, and the Queen touched him +smartly on the arm. + +"No, no," she said, "I don't want to hear of the runagate's torment. He +suffered rightly, and doubtless his sufferings were great. But tell me +not of them. They are not meet for our ears. Tell me of what he said, +and if grace came to him at last." + +He was forced to tell her, as he knew others would tell her afterwards, +of the sturdy denial of the martyr till the very end. + +And as he did so, he saw the face, which had been alight with tenderness +and anxiety when the King's name was mentioned, gravely judicial and a +little disgusted when the actual sufferings of the Archdeacon were +touched upon, now become hard and cruel, aflame with bigotry. + +"They shall go," the Queen said, rather to herself than to him. "They +shall be rooted out; they shall die the death, and so may God's most +Holy Church be maintained." + +At that, with another and astonishing change of mood, she looked at the +young man, looked him up and down, saw his long boots powdered with +dust, his dress in disorder, him travel-stained and weary. + +"You have done well," she said, with a very kindly and eminently human +smile. "I would that all the younger gentlemen of our old houses were +like you, Mr. Commendone. His Highness trusts you and likes you. I +myself have reason to think well of you. You are tired by your long +ride. Get you to your lodging, and if so you wish it, you shall do as +you please to-night, for when His Highness returns I will see that he +hath no need of you. And take this from your Queen." + +In her hand the Queen carried a little volume, bound in Nile-green skin, +powdered with gold heraldic roses. It was the _Tristia et Epistolae ex +Ponto_ of Ovid, which she had been reading. Johnnie sank upon one knee +and took the book from the ivory-white and wrinkled hand. + +"Madam," he said, "I will lose my life rather than this gracious gift." + +"Hey ho!" the Queen answered. "Tell that to your mistress, Mr. +Commendone, if you have one. Still, the book is rare, and when you read +of the poet's sorrows at Tomi, think sometimes of the giver who--and do +not doubt it--hath many sorrows of her own. It is an ill thing to rule +We sometimes think, Mr. Commendone, but God hath put Us in Our place, +and We must not falter." + +She turned. "Lady Paget," she called, "I have done with this young spark +for the nonce; come you, and help me pick red roses, red roses, for my +chamber. The King loveth deep red roses, and I am told that they are the +favoured flower of all noble gentlemen and ladies in the dominions of +Spain." + +Bowing deeply once more, and walking backwards to the edge of the +bowling green, Johnnie withdrew. + +He passed through the flower-bordered ways till he came to the gate of +the garden. + +Outside the gate this time, on the big gravelled sweep which went in +front of the Palace, Cholmondely was walking up and down, the blood +dried upon his cheek, but not washed away. He turned in his sentinel's +parade as Johnnie came out, and the two young men looked at each other +for a moment in silence. + +"What's it to be?" Johnnie said, with a smile--"Lincoln's Inn Fields +to-morrow morning? Her Grace will never know of it." + +"I was waiting for you, Johnnie," the other answered. "No, we'll not +fight, unless you wish it. Come you to the Common Room, and the pantler +shall boil his kettle and brew us some sack." + +Johnnie thrust his arm into the other's and together they passed away +from the garden, better friends at that moment than they had ever been +before--friends destined to be friends for two hours before they were to +part forever, though during these hours one of them was to do the other +a service which would help to alter the whole course of his life. + +They went into the Common Room, and the pantler was summoned and ordered +to brew them a bowl of sack--simply the hot wine and water, with added +spices, which our grandmothers of the present time sipped over their +cards, and called Negus. + +Commendone sunk down into a big oak chair, his hands stretched out along +the arms, his whole body relaxed in utter weariness, his dark face now +grown quite white. There were lines about his eyes which had not been +there a few hours before. The eyes themselves were dull and glassy, the +lips were flaccid. + +Cholmondely looked at him in amazement. "Go by, Jeronymo!" he said, +using a popular tag, or catch-word, of the time, the "What ho, she +bumps!" of the period, though there were no music-halls in those days to +popularise such gems of phrase. "What ails you, Esquire? I was +frightened also by Her Grace, and, i' faith, 'tis a fearful thing to +hear the voice of Majesty in reproof. But thou camest better out of it +than I, though all was well at the end of it for both of us. Is it with +you still?" + +Johnnie shook his head feebly. "No," he said, lifting a three-handled +silver cup of sack to his lips. "'Twas not that, though I was sorely +angered with you, Ambrose; but I have had a long journey into the +country, and have returned but half an hour agone. I have seen +much--much." He put one hand to his throat, swallowing as he spoke, and +then recollecting himself, adding hurriedly, "Upon affairs of State." + +The other gallant sipped his wine. "Thou need'st not have troubled to +tell me that," he said dryly. "When a gentleman bursts into the Privy +Garden against all order he is doubtless upon business of State. What +brought you to this doing I do not know, and I don't ask you, Johnnie. +All's well that ends well, and I hope we are to be friends." + +"With all my goodwill," Commendone answered. "We should have been +friends before." + +The other nodded. He was a tall, handsome young man, a little florid in +face, but of a high and easy bearing. There was, nevertheless, something +infinitely more boyish and ingenuous in his appearance than in that of +Commendone. The latter, perhaps of the same age as his companion, was +infinitely more unreadable than the other. He seemed older, not in +feature indeed, but in manner and capability. Cholmondely was explicit. +There was a swagger about him. He was thoroughly typical. Johnnie was +cool, collected, and aware. + +"To tell you the truth, Commendone," Cholmondely said, with a light +laugh which rang with perfect sincerity, "to tell you the truth, I have +been a little jealous of you since you came to Court. Thou art a +newcomer here, and thou hast risen to very high favour; and then, by the +Mass! thou dost not seem to care about it all. Here am I, a squire of +dames, who pursue the pleasures of Venus with great ardour and not ever +with success. But as for thee, John Commendone of Kent, i' faith, the +women are quarrelling for thee! Eyes grow bright when thou comest into +the dance. A week agone, at the barrier fight in the great hall, Cicily +Thwaites, that I had marked out for myself to be her knight, was looking +at thee with the eyes of a duck in a tempest of thunder. So that is +that, Johnnie. 'Tis why I have not liked thee much. But we're friends +now, and see here----" + +He stepped up to the young man in the chair and clapped his hand upon +his shoulder. "See here," he went on in a deeper voice, "thou hast well +purged the dregs and leaven of my dislike. Thou gav'st me thy sword when +hadst disarmed me, and I stood before Her Grace shamed. I don't forget +that. I will never forget it. There will never be any savour or smell of +malice between thou and me." + +The wine had roused the blood in Commendone's tired veins. He was more +himself now. The terrible fatigue and nerve tension of the past few +hours was giving place to a sense of physical well-being. He looked at +the handsome young fellow before him standing up so taut and trim, with +the sunlight pouring in upon his face from one of the long open windows, +his head thrown slightly back, his lips a little parted, bright with the +health of youth, and felt glad that Ambrose Cholmondely was to be his +friend. And he would want friends now, for some reason or other--why he +could not divine--he had a curious sense that friends would be valuable +to him now. He felt immeasurably older than the other, immeasurably +older than he had ever felt before. There was something big and stern +coming into his life. The diplomatic, the cautious, trained side of him +knew that it must hold out hands to meet all those that were proffered +in the name of friend. + +Cholmondely sat down upon the table, swinging his legs backwards and +forwards, and stroking the smooth pointed yellow beard which lay upon +his ruff, with one long hand covered with rings. + +"And how like you, Johnnie," he said, "your attendance upon His Majesty? +From what we of the Queen's Household hear, the garden of that service +is not all lavender. Nay, nor ale and skittles neither." + +Johnnie shrugged his shoulders, his face quite expressionless. In a +similar circumstance, Ambrose Cholmondely would have gleefully entered +into a gossip and discussion, but Commendone was wiser than that, older +than his years. He knew the value of silence, the virtue of a still +tongue. + +"Sith you ask me, Ambrose," he answered, sipping his wine quietly, "I +find the service good enough." + +The other grinned with boyish malice. There was a certain rivalry +between those English gentlemen who had been attached to King Philip +and those who were of the Queen's suite. Her Majesty was far more +inclined to show favour to those whom she had put about her husband than +to the members of her own _entourage_. They were picked men, and the gay +young English sparks resented undue and too rapid promotion and favour +shown to men of their own standing, while, Catholics as most of them +were, there was yet an innate political distrust instilled into them by +their fathers and relations of this Spanish Match. And many courtiers +thought that, despite all the safe-guards embodied in the marriage +contract, the marriage might yet mean a foreign dominion over the +realm--so fond and anxious was the Queen. + +"Each man to his taste," Cholmondely said. "I don't know precisely what +your duties are, Johnnie, but for your own sake I well hope they don't +bring you much into the companionship of such gentry as Sir John +Shelton, let us say." + +Johnnie could hardly repress a start, though it passed unnoticed by his +friend. "Sir John Shelton?" he said, wondering if the other knew or +suspected anything of the events of the last twenty-four hours. "Sir +John Shelton? It's little enough I have to do with him." + +"And all the better." + +Johnnie's ears were pricked. He was most anxious to get to know what was +behind Cholmondely's words. It would be worth a good deal to him to have +a thorough understanding of the general Court view about the King +Consort. He affected an elaborate carelessness, even as he did so +smiling within himself at the ease by which this boy could be drawn. + +"Why all the better?" he said. "I care not for a bully-rook such as +Shelton any more than you, but I have nothing to do with him." + +"Then you make no excursions and sallies late o' nights?" + +Commendone's face was an elaborate mask of wonder. + +"Sallies o' nights?" he said. + +The other young man swung his legs to and fro, and began to chuckle. He +caught hold of the edge of the table with both hands, and looked down on +Johnnie in the chair with an amused smile. + +"And I had thought you were right in the thick of it," he said. "Thy +very innocence, Johnnie, hath prevented thee from seeing what goes on +under thy nose. Why, His Highness, Sir John Shelton, and Mr. Clarence +Attwood leave the Tower night after night and hie them to old Mother +Motte's in Duck Lane whenever the Queen hath the vapours and thinketh +her lord is in bed, or at his prayers. Phew!"--he made a gesture of +disgust. "It stinketh all over the Court. I see, Commendone, now why +thou knowest nothing of this. The King chooseth for his night-bird +friends ruffians like Shelton and Attwood. He would not dare ask one +that is a gentleman to wallow in brothels with him. But be assured, I +speak entirely the truth." + +Johnnie shrugged his shoulders once more. "I know nothing of it," he +said, with a quick, side-long glance at Ambrose Cholmondely. "I am not +asked to be Esquire on such occasions, at any rate." + +"And wouldst not go if thou wert," Cholmondely said, loudly. "Nor would +any other gentleman that I know of--only the very scum and vermin of the +Court. The game of love, look you, is very well. I am no purist, but I +hunt after my own kind, and so should we all do. I don't bemire myself +in the stews. Well, there it is. And now, much refreshed by this good +wine, and much heartened by our compact, I'll leave thee. I must get +back to guard at the garden gate. Her Grace will be leaving anon to +dress for supper. Perchance to-night the King will be well enough to +make appearance. While thou hast been away, he hath been close in his +quarters and very sick. The Spanish priests have been buzzing round him +like autumn wasps. And Thorne, the chirurgeon from Wood Street, a very +skilful man, hath, they say, been summoned this morning to the Palace. +Addio!" + +With a bright smile and a wave of his hand, he flung out of the room. + +Johnnie finished the lukewarm sack in his goblet. He had learnt +something that he wished to know, and as he saw his friend pass beyond +the windows outside, his feet crunching the gravel and humming a little +song, Johnnie smiled bitterly to himself. He knew rather more about +King Philip's illness than most people in England at that moment. And as +for Duck Lane--well! he knew something of that also. As the thought came +to him, indeed, he shuddered. He remembered the great ham-like face of +the procuress who kept this fashionable hell. He heard her voice +speaking to him as, very surely, she spoke to but few people who visited +her there. He thought of Ambrose Cholmondely's fastidiousness, and he +smiled again as he wondered what the Esquire would say if he only knew. + +It was not a merry smile. There was no humour in it. It was bitter, +cynical, and fraught with something of fear and expectation. + +He had drunk the wine, and it had reanimated him physically; but he rose +now and realised how weary he was in mind, and also--for he was always +most scrupulous and careful about his dress--how stained and travel-worn +in appearance. + +He walked out of the Common Room, his riding sword and spurs clanking as +he did so, mounted the stairway of the hall and entered the long +corridor which led to his own room. + +He had nearly got to his doorway when he heard, coming from a little way +beyond it, a low, musical, humming voice. He remembered with a start +that there was an interview before him which would mean much one way or +the other to his private desires. + +During the interview with the Queen and the squabble with Ambrose +Cholmondely--as also afterwards, when he was drinking in the Common +Room--he had lost mental sight and grip of his own private wishes and +affairs. Now they all came back to him in a flash as he heard the +humming voice coming from the end of the corridor-- + + "Bartl'my Fair! Bartl'my Fair! + Swanked I and drank I when I was there; + Boiled and roast goose and baiting of bear, + Who plays with cudgels at Bartl'my Fair?" + +He turned into his own room and looked round. He saw that some of his +accoutrements had been taken away. There were vacant pegs upon the +walls. He sat down upon the small low bed, bent forward, clasped his +hands upon his knees, and wondered whether he should speak or not. He +wondered very greatly whether he dare make a query, start an +investigation, nearer to his heart than anything else in the world. + +At Chelmsford he had run out of the Tun Inn and touched the burly man +who had killed the maddened stallion on the shoulder. He had brought him +into the ordinary, sat him down in a chair, put a great stoup of ale +before him, and then begun to talk to him. + +"I know who you are," he said, "very well, because I was one of the +gentlemen riding from town to Hadley with your late master, Dr. Taylor. +I saw you when his Reverence was wishing good-bye outside St. Botolph, +his church, and I heard the words your master said--eke that you were +the 'faithfullest servant that ever a man had.' What do you here now, +John Hull?" + +The man had drunk his great stoup of ale very calmly. The daring deed in +which he had been engaged had seemed to affect his nerves in no way at +all. He was shortish, thick-set, with a broad chest measurement, and a +huge thickness between chest and back. His face was tanned to the colour +of an old saddle, very keen and alert, and he was clean-shaved, a rather +odd and distinguishing feature in a serving-man of that time. + +He told Johnnie that, now he knew, he recognised him as one of the +company who rode with Dr. Taylor to his death. He had followed the +cavalcade almost immediately, and on foot. The way was long, and he had +arrived at Chelmsford faint and weary with very little money in his +pouch, and been compelled to wait there a time for rest and food. His +design was to proceed to Hadley, where he knew he could get work and +would be welcome. + +Mr. Peter Lacel, he told Johnnie in the inn, would doubtless employ him, +for though a Catholic gentleman, he had been a friend of the Rector's in +the past. + +"You want work, then?" Johnnie had said. "You do not wish to be a +masterless man, a hedge-dodger, poacher, or a rogue?" + +"Work I must have, sir," John Hull replied, "but it must be with a good +master. Mr. Peter Lacel will take me on. Masterless, I should be a very +great rogue." + +All this happened in the dining-room of the Chelmsford inn, Johnnie +sitting in his chair and looking at the thick, brown-faced man with a +cool scrutiny which well disguised the throbbing excitement he felt at +seeing him--at meeting him in this strange, and surely pre-ordained +fashion. + +"I'll tell thee who I am," Johnnie had said to the man, naming himself +and his state. "That the Doctor spoke of you as he did when going to his +death is enough recommendation to me of your fidelity. I need a servant +myself, but I would ask you this, John Hull: You are, doubtless, of a +certain party. If I took you to my service, how would you square with +who and what I am? A led man of mine must be loyal." + +Hull had answered but very little. "Ye can but try me, sir," he said, +"but I will come with you to London very joyfully. And I well think----" + +He stopped, mumbled something, and stood there, his hands stained with +the blood of the horse he had killed, rather clumsy, very much +tongue-tied, but with something faithful and even hungry in his eyes. + +Johnnie's own servant was a man called Thumb, a dissolute London fellow, +who had been with him for a month, and who had performed his duties in a +very perfunctory way. Life had been so quick and vivid, so full of +movement and the newness of Court life, that the Groom of the Body had +hardly had time to remember the personal discomfort he endured from the +fellow who had been recommended to him by one of the lieutenants of the +Queen's Archers. He had always meant to get rid of him at the first +opportunity. Now the opportunity presented itself, though it was not for +mere convenience that Commendone had engaged his new servitor. + +He had not the slightest doubt in his own mind that the man was sent to +him--put in his way--by the Power which ruled and controlled the +fortunes of men. Living as he did, and had done for many years, in a +quiet, fastidious, but very real dream and communion with things that +the hand or body do not touch and see, he had always known within +himself that the goings-in and goings-out of those who believe depend +not at all upon chance. Like all men of that day, Commendone was deeply +religious. His religion had not made him bigoted, though he clung to the +Church in which he had been brought up. But, nevertheless, it was very +real to him. There were good and bad angels in those days, who fought +for the souls of men. The powers of good and evil were invoked.... + +The Esquire was certain that this sturdy John Hull had come into his +life with a set purpose. + +He was riding back to London with one fixed idea in his mind. One word +rang and chimed in his brain--the word was "Elizabeth!" + +He had left Chelmsford with John Hull definitely enrolled as his +servant, had hired a horse for him from the landlord of the "Tun," and +had taken him straight to the Tower. When he had entered within the +walls, he had told his man Thumb that he would dismiss him on the +morrow, and pay him his wages due. He had told him, moreover, that--just +as he was hurrying to the Privy Garden with news for the Queen--he must +take John Hull to his quarters and put him into the way of service. For +a moment, Thumb had been inclined to be insolent, but one single look +from the dark, cool eyes, one hinted flash of anger upon the oval +olive-coloured face, had sent the Londoner humbly to what he had to do; +while the fellow looked, not without a certain apprehension, at the +thick-set quiet man who followed him to be shown his new duties.... + + "The Spanish don came over seas, + Hey ho nonino; + A Gracious Lady tried to please, + Hey ho nonny. + + The country fellows strung their bows, + Hey ho nonino; + What 'twill be, no jack man knows! + Hey ho nonny." + +Johnnie jumped up from his bed, strode out of the room, walked a yard or +two down the corridor, and entered another and larger room, which he +shared with three other members of the suite. + +It was the place where they kept their armour, their riding-boots, and +some of their swords. + +As he came in he saw that Hull was sitting upon an overturned barrel, +which had held quarels for cross-bows. + +The man had tied a piece of sacking round his waist and over his +breeches, and was hard at work. + +Johnnie's three or four damascened daggers were rubbed bright with hog's +lard and sand. His extra set of holster pistols gleamed fresh and +new--the rust had been all removed from flint-locks and hammers; while +the stocks shone with porpoise oil. + +And now the new servant was polishing a high-peaked Spanish saddle, and +all the leather trappings of a charger, with an inside crust of barley +bread and a piece of apple rind. + +Directly the man saw his new master he stood up and made a saluting +motion with his hand. + +Johnnie looked at him coldly, though inwardly he felt an extreme +pleasure at the sight of his new recruit so lately added to him, so +swift to get to work, and withal so blithe about it. + +"You must not sing the songs I have heard you singing," he said, +shortly. "Don't you know where you are?" + +"I had forgotten, sir," the man replied. "I have a plaguey knowledge of +rhymes. They do run in my head, and must out." + +"They must not, I assure you," Johnnie answered, "but I like this well +enough. Hast got thee to work at once, then." + +"I love it, sir. To handle such stuff as yours is rare for a man like +me. Look you here, sir"--he lifted up a small dagger which he withdrew +from its sheath of stag's leather, dyed vermilion--"Hear how it +ringeth!" + +He twanged the supple blade with his forefinger, and the little +shivering noise rang out into the room. + +The man's keen, brown face was lit up with simple enjoyment. "I love +weapons, master," he said, as if in apology. + +Johnnie knew at once that here was the man he had been looking for for +weeks. The man who cared, the faithful man; but he knew also, or thought +he knew, that it was but poor policy to praise a servant unduly. + +"Well, well," he said, "you can get on with your work. To-morrow +morning, I will see you fitted out as becometh my body servant. To-night +you will go below with the other men. I have spoken to the intendant +that I have a new servant, and you will have your evening-meat and a +place to lie in." + +He turned to go. + +With all his soul he was longing to ask this man certain questions. He +believed that he had been sent to him to tell him of the whereabouts of +the girl to whom, so strangely, at such a dreadful hour, he had vowed +his life. But the long control over temperament and emotion which old +Father Chilches had imposed upon him--the very qualities which made him, +already, a successful courtier--stood him in good stead now. The +dominant desire of his heart was to be repressed. He knew very well, he +realised perfectly clearly, how intimate a member of Dr. Taylor's +household this faithful servant--"the faithfullest servant that ever man +had"--must have been. And knowing it, he felt sure that the time was not +yet come to ask John Hull any questions. He must arouse no suspicions +within the man's mind. Hull had entered his service gladly, and promised +to be more than adequate and worthy of any trust that could be reposed +in him. But he had seen Johnnie riding away with his beloved master, one +of those who had taken him to torture and death. The very shrewdness and +cleverness imprinted upon the fellow's face were enough to say that he +would at once take alarm at any questioning about Dr. Taylor's family, +at this moment. + +John Hull scraped with his foot and made a clumsy bow as his new master +turned away. Then, suddenly, he seemed to remember something. His face +changed in expression. + +"God forgive me, sir," he said, "indeed, I had near forgot it. When I +went into your chamber and took this harness for cleaning, there was a +letter lying there for you. I can read, sir; Dr. Taylor taught me to +read somewhat. I took the letter, fearing that it might be overlooked or +e'en taken away, for there are a plaguey lot of serving-men in this +passage. 'Tis here, sir, and I crave you pardon me for forgetting of it +till now." + +He handed Johnnie a missive of thick yellow-brown paper--such as was +woven from linen rags at Arches Smithfield Factory of that day. The +letter was folded four-square and tied round with a cord of green silk, +and where the threads intersected at the back was a broad seal of dull +red wax, bearing the sign of a lamb in its centre. + +Johnnie pulled off the cord, the wax cracked, and the thick yellow paper +rustled as he pulled it open. + +This was the letter: + + "HONOURED SIR,--This from my house in Chepe. Thy honoured + father who hath lately left the City hath left with me a sum of + money which remaineth here at your charges, and for your + disposal thereof as you may think fit. This shall be sent to + you upon your letter and signature, to-morrow an you so wish. + + "Natheless, should you come to my house to-night I will hand it + into your keeping in gold coin. I will say that Sir Henry + expressed hope that you might care to come to my poor house + which has long been the agency for Commendone. For your + father's son, sir, there will be very open welcome. + + "Your obt. svt., + and good friend, + ROBERT CRESSEMER, + Alderman of ye City of London." + +Commendone read the letter through with care. + +His father had been most generous since Johnnie had arrived at Court, +and the young man was in no need of money. Sir Henry had, indeed, hinted +that further supplies would be sent shortly, and he must have arranged +it with the Alderman ere he left the City. + +Johnnie sighed. His father had always been good to him. No desire of his +had ever been left ungratified. Many sons of noblemen at Court had +neither such a generous allowance nor perfect equipment as he had. He +never thought of his father and the old house in Kent without a little +pang of regret. Was it worth it all? Were not the silent woods of +Commendone, with their shy forest creatures, better far than this +stately citadel and home of kings? + +His life had been so tranquil in the past. The happy days had gone by +with the regularity of some slow-turning wheel. Now all was stress and +turmoil. Dark and dreadful doings encompassed him. He was afloat upon +strange waters, and there was no pilot aboard, nor did he know what port +he should make, what unknown coast-line should greet his troubled eyes +when dawn should come. + +These thoughts were but fleeting, as he sat in his bedroom, where he had +taken the letter from Mr. Cressemer. He sent them away with an effort of +will. The past life was definitely over; now he must gather himself +together and consider the immediate future without vain regrets. + +As he mounted the stairs from the Common Room he had it in mind to +change from his riding costume and sleep. He needed sleep. He wanted to +enter that mysterious country so close to the frontiers of death, to be +alone that he might think of Elizabeth. He knew now how men dreamed and +meditated of their loves, why lovers loved to be alone. + +He held the letter in his hand, looking down at the firm, clear writing +with lack-lustre eyes. What should he do? sleep, lose himself in happy +fancies, or go to the house of the Alderman? He had no Court duties that +night. + +He knew Robert Cressemer's name well. Every one knew it in London, but +Commendone had heard it mentioned at home for many years. Mr. Cressemer, +who would be the next Lord Mayor, was one of those merchant princes who, +ever since the time of that great commercial genius, Henry VII, had +become such an important factor in the national life. + +For many years the Alderman, the foundation of whose fortune had been +the export of English wool, had been in intimate relations, both of +business and friendship, with Sir Henry Commendone. The knight's wool +all went to the warehouses in Chepe. He had shares in the fleet of +trading vessels belonging to Cressemer, which supplied the wool-fairs of +Holland and the Netherlands. The childlike and absolutely uneconomic act +of Edward VI which endeavoured to make all interest illegal, and +enacted that "_whoever shall henceforth lend any sum of money for any +manner of usury, increase, lucre, gain or interest to be had, received, +or hoped for, over and above the sum so lent_," should suffer serious +penalties, had been repealed. + +Banking had received a tremendous impetus, Robert Cressemer had +adventured largely in it, and Sir Henry Commendone was a partner with +him in more than one enterprise. + +Of all this Johnnie knew nothing. He had not the slightest idea how rich +his father was, and knew nothing of the fortune that would one day be +his. + +He did know, however, that Mr. Cressemer was a very important person +indeed, the admired and trusted confidant of Sir Henry, and a man of +enormous influence. Such a letter, coming from such a man, was hardly to +be neglected by a young courtier. Johnnie knew how, if one of his +colleagues had received it, it would have been shown about in the Common +Room, what rosy visions of fortune and paid bills it would invoke! + +He read the letter again. There was no need to go to Mr. Cressemer's +house that night if he did not wish to do so. He was weary, he wanted to +be alone to taste and savour this new thing within him that was called +love. Yet something kept urging him to go, nevertheless. He could not +quite have said what it was, though again the sense that he stood very +much alone and friends were good--especially such a powerful one as +this--crossed his mind. And, as an instance of the quite unconscious but +very real revolution that had taken place in his thoughts during the +last forty hours, it is to be noted that he _did_ feel the need of +friends and supporters. + +Yet he was high in favour with the King and Queen, envied by every one, +certain of rapid advancement. + +But he no longer thought anything of this. Those great ones were on one +side of a great _something_ which he would not or could not define. He +was on the other, he and the girl with eyes of crushed sapphire and a +red mouth of sorrow. + +It would be politic to go.... "I'll put it to chance," he said to +himself at length. "How doth Ovid have it?... + + "'_Casus ubique valet; semper tibi pendeat hamus: + Quo minime credas gurgite, piscis erit_.' + +I remember Father Chilches' translation: + + "'There's always room for chance, so drop thy hook, + A fish there'll be when least for it you look.' + +Here goes!" + +He opened his purse to find a coin with which to settle the matter, and +poured out the contents into his palm. There were eight or nine gold +sovereigns of Henry VIII, beautiful coins with "_Hiberniae Rex_" among +the other titles, which were still known as "double ryals," three gold +ducats, coined in that year, with the Queen and King Consort +_vis-a-vis_ and one crown above the heads of both, and one little silver +half testoon. + +He put the gold back in his purse and held out the small coin upon his +hand. "What is't to be, little testoon?" he said whimsically, looking at +the big M and crown, "bed and thoughts of her, or the worshipful Master +Cressemer and, I don't doubt, a better supper than I'm likely to get in +the Tower? 'M,' I go." + +He spun the coin, and it came down with the initial uppermost. He +laughed and flung it on to a shelf, calling John Hull to help him change +his dress. + +Nothing told him that in that spin he had decided--or let it better be +said there was decided for him--the whole course of his life. At that +actual moment! + +Thus the intrusion of the little testoon. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE FINDING OF ELIZABETH + + +At a little before nine in the late twilight, Commendone left the Tower. +He was attended by John Hull, whom he had armed with the short +cutlass-shaped sword which serving-men were allowed to wear. + +He might be late, and the City was no very safe place in those days for +people returning home through the dark. Johnnie knew, moreover, that he +would be carrying a considerable sum in gold with him, and it was as +well to have an attendant. + +They walked towards Chepe, Johnnie in front, his man a yard or so +behind. It was summer-time, but even in summer London went to bed early, +and the prentices were returning home from their cudgel-play and +shooting at the butts in Finsbury fields. + +The sky was a faint primrose above the spires of the town. The sun, that +tempest of fire, had sunk, but still left long lines in the sky, lines +which looked as if they had been drawn by a vermilion pencil; while, +here and there, were locks, friths, and islands of gold and purple +floating in the sky, billowed and upheaved into an infinity of distant +glory. + +They went through the narrow streets beneath the hundreds of coloured +signs which hung from shop and warehouse. + +At a time when the ordinary porter, prentice, and messenger could hardly +read, each place of business must signify and locate itself by a sign. A +merchant of those days did not send a letter by hand to a business +house, naming it to the messenger. He told the man to go to the sign of +the Three Cranes, the Gold Pig on a black ground, the Tower and Dragon +in such and such a street. + +London was not lit on a summer night at this hour. In the winter, up to +half-past eight or so the costers' barrows with their torches provided +the only illumination. After that all was dark, and in summer there was +no artificial light at all when the day had gone. + +They came up to the cross standing to the east of Wood Street, which was +silhouetted against the last gleams of day in the sky. Its hexagonal +form of three sculptured tiers, which rose from one another like the +divisions of a telescope, cut out a black pattern against the coloured +background. The niches with their statues, representing many of the +Sovereigns of England, were all in grey shadow, but the large gilt cross +which surmounted it still caught something of the evening fires. + +To the east there was the smaller tower of octagonal form, which was the +Conduit, and here also the top was bathed in light--a figure standing +upon a gilded cone and blowing a horn. + +The gutters in the streets were dry now, for the rain storm of two days +ago had not lasted long, and they were sticky and odorous with vegetable +and animal filth. + +The two men walked in the centre of the street, as was wiser in those +days, for--as still happens in the narrow quarters of old French towns +to-day--garret windows were open, and pails were emptied with but little +regard for those who were passing by. + +When they came into Chepe itself, things were a little less congested, +for great houses were built there, and Johnnie walked more quickly. Many +of the houses of the merchant princes were but little if at all inferior +to the mansions of the nobility at that time. They stood often enough in +gloomy and unfrequented courts, and were accessible only by inconvenient +passages, but once arrived at, their interiors were of extraordinary +comfort and magnificence. + +Johnnie knew that Mr. Cressemer's house was hereabouts, but was not +certain of the precise location. He looked up through the endless +succession of Saracens' heads, Tudor roses, blue bears, and golden +lambs, but could see nothing in the growing dark. He turned round and +beckoned to John Hull. + +"You know the City?" he said. + +"Very well, master," the man answered, looking at him, so Johnnie +thought, with a very strange expression. + +"Then, certes, you can tell me the house of Master Robert Cressemer, the +Alderman," said Johnnie. + +Hull gave a sudden, violent start. His eyes, always keen and alert, now +grew wide. + +"Sir," he said, "I know that house very well, but what do you there?" + +Johnnie stared at him in amazement for a moment. Then the blood mantled +in his cheeks. + +"Sirrah," he said, "what mean you by this? What is it to you where I go +or what I do?" + +There was nobody in their immediate vicinity at the moment, and the +thick-set serving-man, by a quick movement, placed himself in front of +his master, his right hand upon the newly-provided sword, his left +playing with the hilt of the long knife which had served him so well at +Chelmsford. + +"I said I would be loyal to ye, master," the fellow growled, "but I see +now that it cannot be. I will be no servant of those who do burn and +slay innocent folk, and shalt not to the Alderman's if thou goest with +evil intent." + +An enormous surprise almost robbed the young man of his anger. + +Was this man, this "faithfullest servant," some brigand or robber, or +assassin, in disguise? What could it mean? His hand was upon his sword +in a moment, it was ready to flash out, and the accomplished fencer who +had been trained in every art and trick of sword-play, knew well that +the strength of the thick-set man before him would avail nothing. But +he waited a moment, really more interested and surprised than angered or +alarmed. + +"I don't want to kill you, my good man," he said, "and so I will give +you leave to speak. But by the Mass! this is too much; an you don't +explain yourself, in the kennel and carrion you lie." + +"I beg your pardon, sir," Hull answered, his face taking into it a note +of apology, "but you come from the Court; you rode with those bloody +villains that did take my dear master that was to his death. Are you not +now going with a like intent to the house of Mr. Cressemer?" + +"I don't know," Johnnie answered, "why I should explain to you the +reason for my visit to His Worship, but despite this gross impudence, I +will give you a chance, for I have learnt to know that there is often an +explanation behind what seemeth most foul. The Alderman is one of the +oldest and best friends my father, the Knight of Kent, hath ever had. +The letter thou gavest me two hours agone was from His Worship bidding +me to supper. And now, John Hull, what hast to say before I slit you?" + +For answer, John Hull suddenly fell upon his knees, and held out his +hands in supplication. + +"Sir," he said, in a humble voice, "I crave that of your mercy and +gentleness you will forgive me, and let this pass. Sure, I knew you for +a gallant gentleman, and no enemy to my people when first I saw you. I +marked you outside St. Botolph's Church, and knew you again at +Chelmsford. But I thought you meant harm...." + +His voice died away in an inarticulate mumble. He seemed enormously +sincere and penitent, and dreadfully embarrassed also by some knowledge +or thought at the back of his mind, something which he feared, or was +unable to disclose. + +Johnnie's heart was beating strangely, though he did not know why. He +seemed to tread into something strange and unexpected. Life was full of +surprises now. + +All he said was: "Make a fool of thyself no longer, John Hull; get up +and lead me to His Worship's. I forgive thee. But mark you, I shall +require the truth from you anon." + +The man scrambled up, made a clumsy bow, and hurried on for a few yards, +until a narrow opening between two great stacks of houses disclosed +itself. He walked down it, his shoes echoing upon a pavement stone. +Johnnie followed him, and they came out into a dark courtyard in which a +single lantern of glass and iron hung over a massive door studded with +nails. + +"This is His Worship's house," said John Hull. + +Johnnie went up to the door and beat upon it with the handle of his +dagger, standing on the single step before it. In less than half a +minute, the door was opened and a serving-man in livery of yellow stood +before him. + +"Mr. John Commendone," Johnnie said, "to see His Worship the Alderman +upon an invitation." + +The man bowed, opened the door still wider, and invited Johnnie into a +large flagged hall, lit by three silver lamps. + +"Worshipful sir," he said, "my master told me that perchance you would +be a-coming this night, and he awaits you in the parlour." + +"This is my servant," Johnnie said to the man, and even as he did so, he +saw a look of immense surprise, mingled with welcome, upon the fellow's +face. + +"I will take him to the kitchen, Your Worship," the man said, and as he +spoke, a footman came out of a door on the opposite side of the hall, +bowed low to Johnnie, and led him up a broad flight of stairs. + +Commendone shrugged his shoulders. There were mysteries here, it seemed, +but so far they were none of his, and at any rate he was within the +house of a friend. + +At first there was no evidence of any particular luxury, and Johnnie was +surprised. Though he had little idea how wealthy his own father had +become, the great house of Commendone was a very stately, well-found +place. He knew, moreover, that Mr. Robert Cressemer was one of the +richest citizens of London, and he had heard his friends talking at +Court of the state and splendour of some of those hidden mansions which +clustered in the environs of Chepeside, Wood Street, and Basinghall +Street. + +He had not gone much farther in his progress when he knew. He passed +through a pair of folding doors, inlaid with rare woods--a novelty to +him at that time, for he had never travelled in Italy or France. He +walked down a broad corridor, the walls hung with pictures and the floor +tesselated with wood, and was shown by another footman who was standing +at a door at the end of the corridor into a superb room, wainscoted with +cedar up to half of its height, and above it adorned with battles of +gods and giants in fresco. The room was brilliantly lit by candles, at +frequent intervals all round the panelled walls, and close to the gilded +beading which divided them from the frescoes above, were arms of some +black wood or stone, which they were he could not have said, stretched +out, and holding silver sconces in which the candles were set. + +It was as though gigantic Moors or Nubians had thrown their arms through +the wall to hold up the light which illuminated this large and splendid +place. At one end of the room was a high carved fire-place, and though +it was summer, some logs of green elm smouldered and crackled upon the +hearth, though the place was cool enough. + +Seated by the fireside was a stout, short, elderly man, with a pointed +grey beard, and heavy black eyebrows from beneath which large, slightly +prominent, and very alert eyes looked out. His hair was white, and +apparently he was bald, because a skull cap of black velvet covered his +head. He wore a ruff and a long surtout of wool dyed crimson, and +pointed here and there with braid of dark green and thin lace of gold. A +belt of white leather was round his middle, and from it hung a +chatelaine of silver by his right side, from which depended a pen case +and some ivory tablets. On his left side, Johnnie noticed that a short +serviceable dagger was worn. His trunk hose were of black, his shoes +easy ones of Spanish leather with crimson rosettes upon the instep. + +"Mr. John Commendone," said the footman. + +Mr. Cressemer rose from his seat, his shrewd, capable face lighting up +with welcome. + +"Ah," he said, "so thou hast come to see me, Mr. Commendone. 'Tis very +good of thee, and a welcome sight to eyes which have looked upon your +father so often." + +He went up to the slim young man as the footman closed the door, and +shook him warmly by the hand, looking him in the face meanwhile with a +keen wise scrutiny, which made Johnnie feel young, inexperienced, a +little embarrassed. + +He felt he was being summed up, judged and weighed, appraised in the +most kindly fashion, but by one who did not easily make a mistake in his +estimate of men. + +At Court, King Philip had regarded him with cold interest, the Queen +herself with piercing and more lively regard. Since his arrival in +London, Johnnie had been used to scrutinies. But this was different from +any other he had known. It was eminently human and kindly first of all, +but in the second place it was more searching, more real, than any +other he had hitherto undergone. In short, a king or queen looked at a +courtier from a certain point of view. Would he serve their ends? Was he +the right man in the right place? Had they chosen well? + +There was nothing of this now. It was all kindliness mingled with a +grave curiosity, almost with hope. + +Johnnie, who was much taller than Mr. Cressemer, could not help smiling +a little, as the bearded man looked at him so earnestly, and it was his +smile that broke the silence, and made them friends from that very +moment. + +The Alderman put his left hand upon Johnnie's shoulder. + +"Lad," he said, and his voice was the voice of a leader of men, "lad, I +am right glad to see thee in my poor house. Art thy father's son, and +that is enough for me. Come, sit you down t'other side of the fire. +Come, come." + +With kindly geniality the merchant bustled his guest to a chair opposite +his own, and made him sit. Then he stood upon a big hearthrug of +bear-skin, rubbed his hands, and chuckled. + +"When I heard ye announced," he said, "I thought to myself, 'Here's +another young gallant of the Court keen on his money; he hath lost no +time in calling for it.' But now I see thee, and know thee for what thou +art--for it is my boast, and a true one, that I was never deceived in +man yet--I see my apprehensions were quite unfounded." + +Johnnie bowed. For a moment or two he could hardly speak. There was +something so homelike, so truly kind, in this welcome that his nerves, +terribly unstrung by all he had gone through of late, were almost upon +the point of breakdown. + +This was like home. This was the real thing. This was not the Court--and +here before him he knew very well was a man not only good and kindly, +but resolute and great. + +"Now, I'll tell thee what we'll do, Master Johnnie, sith thou hast come +to me so kindly. We will sip a little water of Holland--I'll wager +you've tasted nothing like it, for it cometh straight from the English +Exchange house at Antwerp--and then we will to supper, where you will +meet my dear sister, Mistress Catherine Cressemer, who hath been the +long companion of my widowerhood, and ordereth this my house for me." + +He turned to where a square sheet of copper hung from a peg upon a cord +of twisted purple silk. Taking up the massive silver pen case at the end +of his chatelaine, he beat upon the gong, and the copper thunder echoed +through the big room. + +A man entered immediately, to whom Mr. Cressemer gave orders, and then +sat himself down upon the other side of the fire. + +"Your father," he said confidentially, "came to me after he left you in +the Tower the morning before this. He was very pleased with what he saw +of you, Master Johnnie, and what he heard of you also. Art going to be a +big man in affairs without doubt. I wish I had met ye before. I have +been twice to Commendone Park. Once when thou wert a little rosy thing +of two year old or less, and the Senora--Holy Mary give her grace!--had +thee upon her knee. I was staying with the Knight. And then again when +Father Chilches was thy tutor, and thou must have been fourteen year or +more. I was at the Park for three days. But thou wert away with thy +aunt, Miss Commendone, of Wanstone Court, and I saw nothing of thee." + +"So you knew my mother," Johnnie said eagerly. + +"Aye, that I did, and a very gracious lady she was, Master Commendone. I +will tell thee of her, and thy house in those days, at supper. My sister +will be well pleased to hear it also. Meanwhile"--he sipped at the white +liqueur which the servant had brought, and motioned Johnnie towards his +own thin green glass with little golden spirals running through +it--"meanwhile, tell me how like you the Court life?" + +Johnnie started. They were the exact words of his father. "I am getting +on very well," he said in reply. + +"So I hear, and am well pleased," the Alderman answered. "You have +everything in your favour--a knowledge of Spanish, a pleasant presence, +and trained to the usage of good society. But, though you may not think +it, I have influence, even at Court, though it is in no ways apparent. +Tell me something of your aims, and your views, and I shall doubtless be +able to help your advancement. There are ticklish times coming, be +certain of that, and my experience may be of great service to you. Her +Grace, God bless her! is, I fear--I speak to you as man to man, Mr. +Commendone--too keen set and determined upon the Papal Supremacy for the +true welfare of this realm. I am Catholic. I have always been Catholic. +But doctrine, and a purely political dominion from Rome, aye, or from +Spain either, is not what we of the City, and who control the finances +of the kingdom much more than less, desire or wish to see. After all, +Mr. Commendone, I trust I make myself clearly understood to you, and +that you are of the same temper and mind as your father and myself; +after all is loudly set and perchance badly done, we have to look to the +upholding of the realm, inside and out, rather than to be fine upon +points of doctrine." + +He leant forward in his seat with great earnestness, clasped his right +hand, upon the little finger of which was a great ring, with a cut seal +of emerald, and brought it down heavily upon the table by his side. + +"I believe," he said, "in the Mass, and if I were asked to die for my +belief, that would I do. I would do it very reluctantly, Master John. I +would evade the necessity for doing it in every way I knew. But if I +were set down in front of judges or eke inquisitors, and asked to say +that when the priest hath said the words of consecration, the elements +are not the very true body of Our Lord Jesus, then I would die for that +belief. And of the Invocation of Saints, and of the greatest saint of +all--Our Lady--I see no harm in it, but a very right and pleasant +practice. For, look you, if these are indeed, as we believe and know +clustering around the throne of God, which is the Holy Trinity, then +indeed they must hear our prayers, if we believe truly in the Communion +of Saints; and hearing them, being in high favour in heaven, their +troubles past and they glorified, certes, we down here may well think +their voices will be heard around the Throne. That is true Catholic +doctrine as I see it. But of the power of the Bishop of Rome to direct +and interfere in the honest internal affairs of a country--well, I snap +my fingers at it. And of the power of the priesthood, which is but part +of the machinery by which His Holiness endeavoureth to accrue to himself +all earthly power, at that also I spit. From my standpoint, a priest is +an ordained man of God; his function is to say Mass, to consecrate the +elements, and so to bring God near to us upon the altar. But of your +confessions, your pryings into family life, your temporal dominion, I +have the deepest mistrust. And also, I think, that the cause of Holy +Church would be much better served if its priests were allowed--for +such of them as wished it--to be married men. A man is a man, and God +hath given him his natural attributes. I am not really learned, nor am I +well read in the history of the world, but I have looked into it enough, +Master Commendone, to know that God hath ordained that men should take +women in marriage and rear up children for the glory of the Lord and the +welfare of the State. Mark you"--his face became striated with lines of +contempt and dislike--"mark you, this celibacy is to be the thing which +will destroy the power of the sacrificing priest in the eyes of all +before many hundred years have passed. I shall not see it, thou wilt not +see it. We are good Church of England men now, but what I say will come +to pass, and then God himself only knoweth what anarchs and deniers, +what blasphemers and runagates will hold the world. + +"Her Grace," he went on, "believeth that as Moses ordered blasphemers to +be put to death, so she thinketh it the duty of a Christian prince to +eradicate the cockle from the fold of God's Church, to cut out the +gangrene that it may not spread to the sounder parts. But Her Grace is a +woman that hath been much sequestered all her life till now. She cometh +to the throne, and is but--I trust I speak no treason, Mr. Commendone--a +tool and instrument of the priests from Spain, and the man from Spain +also who is her lord. Why! if only the Church in this realm could go on +as King Henry started it--not a new Church, mind you, but a Church which +hath thrown off an unnecessary dominion from Italy--if it could go on as +under the reign of the little King Edward was set out and promised very +well, 'twould be truly Catholic still, and the priests of the Church +would be all married men and citizens within the State, with a stake in +civil affairs, and so by reason of their spiritual power and civil +obligations, the very bulwark of society." + +Johnnie listened intently, nodding now and then as the Alderman made a +point, and as he himself realised the value of it. + +"Look you, Master Commendone," His Worship continued, "look you, only +yesterday a worthy clergyman, whom I knew and loved, a man of his +inches, a shrewd and clever gentleman of good birth, was haled from the +City down to his own parish and burnt as a heretic. Heretic doubtless +the good man was. He would be living now if he had not denied the +blessed and comforting truth of Transubstantiation before that +blood-stained wolf, the Bishop of London. The man I speak of was a good +man, and though he was mistaken on that issue, he would, under kindlier +auspices, doubtless have returned to the central truth of our religion. +He was married, and had lived in honourable wedlock with his wife for +many years. She was a lady from Wales, and a sweet woman. But it was his +marriage as much as any other thing about him that brought him to his +death." + +The Alderman's voice sank into something very like a whisper. "One of my +men," he said, "was riding down with the Sheriff of London to Hadley, +where Dr. Taylor, he of whom I speak, suffered this very morning. At +five this afternoon my man was back, and told me how the good doctor +died. He died with great constancy, very much, Mr. Commendone, as one of +the old saints that the Romans did use so cruelly in the early years of +Our Lord's Church. Yet, as something of a student of affairs--and Dr. +Taylor is not the first good heretic who hath died rather than recant--I +see that the married clergy suffer with the most alacrity. And why? +Because, as I see it, they are bearing testimony to the validity and +sanctity of their marriage. The honour of their wives and children is at +stake; the desire of leaving them an unsullied name and a virtuous +example, combined with a sense of religious duty. And thus the heart +derives strength from the very ties which in other circumstances might +well tend to weaken it. + +"I am in mourning to-night, mourning in my heart, Mr. Commendone, for a +good, mistaken friend who hath suffered death." + +As his voice fell, the Alderman was looking sadly into the red embers of +the fire with the music of a deep sadness and regret in his voice. He +wasn't an emotional man at all--by nature that is--Johnnie saw it at +once. But he saw also that his host was very deeply moved. Johnnie rose +from his chair. + +"You are telling me no news at all, Mr. Alderman," he said. "I had +orders, and I was one of those who rode with Sir John Shelton and the +Sheriff to take Dr. Taylor to the stake at Aldham Common." + +Mr. Cressemer started violently. + +"Mother of God!" he said, "did you see that done?" + +Johnnie nodded. He could not trust himself to speak. + +The Alderman's cry of horror brought home to him almost for the first +time not the terror of what he had seen--that he had realised long +ago--but a sense of personal guilt, a disgust with himself that he +should have been a participator in such a deed, a spectator, however +pitying. + +He felt unclean. + +Then he said in a low voice: "What I tell you, Mr. Cressemer, will, I +know, remain as a secret between us. I feel I am not betraying any trust +in telling _you_. I am, as you know, attached to the person of His +Majesty, and I have been admitted into great confidence both by him and +Her Grace the Queen. The King rode to Hadley disguised as a simple +cavalier, and I was with him as his attendant." + +He stopped short, feeling that the explanation was bald and unsufficing. + +The Alderman stepped up to Johnnie and put his hand upon his arm. "Poor +lad, poor lad," he said in tones of deepest pity. "I grieve in that +thou hadst to witness such a thing in the following of thy duty." + +"I had thought," the young man faltered, his assurance deserting him for +a moment at the words of this reverend and broad-souled man, "I thought +you would think me stained in some wise, Mr. Cressemer. I...." + +"Whist!" the elder man answered impatiently. "Have no such foolish +thoughts. Am I not a man of affairs? Do I not know what discipline +means? But this gives me great cause for thought. You have confided in +me, Mr. Commendone, and so likewise will I in you. This morning the +Doctor's wife, his little son, and little daughter Mary, set off for the +Marches of Wales with a party of my men and their baggage. Mistress +Taylor was born a Rhyader, of a good family in Conway town. Her brother +liveth there, and all her friends are of Wales. It was as well that the +dame should leave the City at once, for none knoweth what will be done +to the relations of heretics at this time----Why, man! Thou art white as +linen, thy hand shakes. What meaneth it?" + +Johnnie, in truth, was a strange sight as he stood in front of his host. +All his composure was gone. His eyes burnt in a white face, his lips +were dry and parted, there was an almost terrible inquiry in his whole +aspect and manner. + +"'Tis nothing," he managed to say in a hoarse voice, which he hardly +knew for his own. "Pr'ythee continue, sir." + +Mr. Cressemer gave the young man a keen, questioning glance before he +went on speaking. Then he said: + +"As I tell you, these members of the good Doctor's family are now safely +on their way, and God grant them rest and peace in their new life. They +will want for nothing. But the Doctor's other daughter, Mistress +Elizabeth, was not his own daughter, but was adopted by him when she was +but a little child. The girl is a very sweet and good girl, and my +sister, Mistress Catherine, has long loved her. And as this is a +childless house, alas! the maid hath come to live with us and she will +be as my own daughter, if God wills it." + +"She is well?" Johnnie asked, in a hoarse whisper. + +The Alderman shook his head sadly. "She is the bravest maiden I have +ever met," he said. "She hath stuff in her which recalls the ladies of +old Rome, so calm and steadfast is she. There is in her at this time +some divine illumination, Mr. Commendone, that keepeth her strong and +unafraid. Ah, but she is sore stricken! She knew some hours agone of the +doings at Hadley, for as I told you, one of my men brought the news. She +hath been in prayer a long time, poor lamb, and now my sister is with +her to hearten her and give her such comfort as may be. God's ways are +very strange, Mr. John. Who would have thought now that you should come +to this house to-night from that butchery?" He sighed deeply. + +Johnnie made the sign of the cross. "God moveth in a mysterious way," he +said, "to perform His wonders. He rides upon the tempest, and eke +directs the storm, and leadeth pigmy men and women with a sure hand and +a certain purpose." + +"Say not 'pigmy,' Mr. John," the Alderman answered, "we are not small in +His eyes, though it is well that we should be in our own. But you speak +with a certain meaning. You grew pale just now. I think you may justly +confide in me. I am of thy father's age, and a friend of thy father's. +What is it, lad?" + +Speaking with great difficulty, looking downwards at the floor, Johnnie +told him. He told him how he had met John Hull and taken him into his +service, how that even now the man was in the kitchen among the servants +of the Alderman. He told of the fellow's menace in Chepe, and how +inexplicable it had seemed to him. Then he hesitated, and his voice sunk +into silence. + +"Ye saw the poor lamb?" Mr. Cressemer said in a low voice, which +nevertheless trembled with excitement. "Ye saw her weeping as good Dr. +Taylor was borne away? Ye took this good varlet Hull into thy service? +And now thou art in my house. It seemeth indeed that God's finger is +writing in the book of thy life; but I must hear more from thee, Mr. +Commendone. Tell me, if thou wilt, what it may mean." + +Johnnie straightened himself. He put his hand upon the pummel of his +sword. He looked his host full in the eyes. + +"It means this, sir," he said, in a quiet and resolute voice. "All my +life I have kept myself from those pleasures and peccadilloes that young +gentlemen of my station are wont to use. I have never looked upon a +maiden with eyes of love--or worse. Before God His Throne, Our Lady the +Blessed Virgin, and all the crowned saints I say it. But yester morn, +when I saw her weeping in the grey, my heart went out from me, and is no +more mine. I vowed then that by God's grace I would be her knight and +lover for ever and a day. My employment hath not to-day given me the +opportunity to go to Mass, but I have promised myself to-morrow morn +that in the chapel of St. John I will vow myself to her with all fealty, +and indeed nor man, nor power, nor obstacle of any sort shall keep me +from her, if God allows. Wife she shall be to me, and so I can make her +love me. All this I swear to you, by my honour"--here he pulled his +sword from the scabbard and reverently kissed the hilt--"and to the +Blessed Trinity." And now he pulled his crucifix from his doublet, and +kissed it. + +Then he turned away from the Alderman, took a few steps to the +fire-place, and leant against the carving, his head bowed upon his arms. + +There was a dead silence in the big room. Tears were gathering in the +eyes of the grave elderly man, while his mind worked furiously. He saw +in all this the direct hand of Providence working towards a definite and +certain end. + +He had loved the slim and gracious lad directly he saw him. His heart +had gone out to one so gallant and one so debonair, the son of his old +and trusted friend. He had long loved the Rector of Hadley's sweet +daughter, who was so idolised also by Mistress Catherine Cressemer, his +sister. During the reign of Edward VI the girl had often come up to +London to spend some months with her wealthy and influential friends. +She had a great part in the heart of the childless widower. + +Now this strange and wonderful thing had happened. + +These thoughts passed through the old man's mind in a few seconds, while +the silence was not broken. Then, as he was about to turn and speak to +Johnnie, the door of the room opened quickly, and a short, elderly woman +hurried in. + +She was very simply dressed in grey woollen stuff, though the bodice and +skirt were edged with costly fur. The white lace of Bruges upon her head +framed a face of great sweetness, and now it was alive with excitement. + +She was a little woman, fifty years of age, with a flat wrinkled face; +but her eyes were full of kindness, and, indeed, so was her whole face, +although her lips were drawn in by the loss of her front teeth, and this +gave her a rather witch-like mouth. + +"Robert! Robert!" she said in a high, excited voice. "John Hull, that +was servant to our dear Doctor, is in this house. The men have him in +the kitchen--word has just been sent up to me. What shall we do? Dear +Lizzie--she is more tranquil now, and bearing her cross very +bravely--dear Lizzie had thought not to see him again. Will it be well +that we should have him up? Think you the child can bear seeing him?" + +The lady had piped this out in a rush of excited words. Then suddenly +she saw Johnnie, who had turned round and stood by the fire, bowing. His +face was drawn and white, and he was trembling. + +"Catherine," Mr. Cressemer said, "strange things are happening to-night, +of which I must speak with you anon. But this is Mr. John Commendone, +son of our dear Knight of Kent, who hath come to see me, and who haply +or by design of God was forced to witness the death of Dr. Rowland this +morning." + +Johnnie made a low bow, the little lady a lower curtsey. + +Then, heedless of all etiquette, with the tears streaming down her +cheeks, she trotted up to the young man and caught hold of both his +hands, looking up at him with the saddest, kindest face he had ever +seen. + +"Oh, boy, boy," she said, "thou hast come at the right time. We know +with what constancy the Doctor died, but our lamb will be well content +to hear of it from kindly lips, for she is very strong and stedfast, the +pretty dear! And thou hast a good face, and surely art a true son of thy +father, Sir Henry of Commendone." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A KING AND A VICTIM. TWO GRIM MEN + + +There was a "Red Mass," a votive Mass of the Holy Ghost, sung on the +next morning in the Tower. + +The King and Queen, with all the Court, were present. + +Johnnie knelt with the gentlemen attached to the persons of the King and +Queen, the gentlemen ushers behind them, and then the military officers +of the guard. + +The _Veni Creator Spiritus_ was intoned by the Chancellor, and the music +of the Mass was that of Dom Giovanni Palestrina, director of sacred +music at the Vatican at that time. + +The music, which by its dignity and beauty had alone prevented the +Council of Trent from prohibiting polyphonic music at the Mass, had a +marvellous appeal to the Esquire. It was founded upon a _canto fermo_, a +melody of an ancient plain song of the Middle Ages, and used in High +Mass from a very remote period. + +The six movements of the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and +Agnus Dei were of a superlative technical excellence. The trained ear, +the musical mind, were alike enthralled by them. Tinel, Waddington, and +Christopher Tye had written no music then, and the mellow angelic +harmonies of Messer Palestrina were all new and fresh in their +inspiration of dignity, grandeur, and devotion, most precious incense, +as it were, about the feet of the Lord. + +The Bishop of London was celebrant, and Father Deza deacon. The Queen +and King received in the one Kind, while two of the re-established +Carthusians from Sheen, and two Brigittine monks from Sion, held a white +cloth before Their Graces. + +This was not liked by many there--it had always been the privilege of +peers. + +But of this Commendone knew nothing. The hour was for him one of the +deepest devotion and solemnity. He had not slept all the night long. For +a few moments he had seen Elizabeth, had spoken with her, had held her +by the hand. His life was utterly and absolutely changed. His mind, +excited with want of sleep, irrevocably stamped and impressed by the +occupation of the last two days, was caught up by the exquisite music +into a passionate surrender of self as he vowed his life to God and his +lady. + +Earth and all it held--save only her--was utterly dissolved and swept +away. An unspeakable peace and stillness was in his heart. + +Much, we read, is required from those to whom much is given, and Johnnie +was to go through places far more terrible than the Valley of the +Shadow of Death ever is to most men before he saw the Dawn. + +When the Mass was said--the final "_Missa est_" was to ring in the young +man's ears for many a long day--he went to breakfast. He took nothing in +the Common Room, however, but John Hull brought him food in his own +chamber. + +The man's brown, keen face beamed with happiness. He was like some +faithful dog that had lost one master and found another. He could not do +enough for Johnnie now--after the visit to Mr. Cressemer's house. He +took charge of him as if he had been his man for years. There was a +quiet assumption which secretly delighted Commendone. There they were, +master and man, a relationship fixed and settled. + +On that afternoon there was to be a tournament in the tilting yard, and +Johnnie meant to ride--he had nearly carried away the ring at the last +joust. Hull knew of it--in a few hours the fellow seemed to have fallen +into his place in an extraordinary fashion--and he had been busy with +his master's armour since early dawn. + +While Johnnie was making his breakfast, though he would very willingly +have been alone, and indeed had retired for that very purpose, Hull came +bustling in and out of the armour-room his face a brown wedge of +pleasure and excitement. The _volante piece_, the _mentonniere_, the +_grande-garde_ of his master's exquisite suite of light Milan armour +shone like a newly-minted coin. The black and lacquered _cuirasse_, +with a line of light blue enamel where it would meet the gorget, was +oiled and polished--he had somehow found the little box of bandrols with +the Commendone colour and cypher which were to be tied above the +coronels of Johnnie's lances. + +And all the time John Hull chattered and worked, perfectly happy, +perfectly at home. Already, to Commendone's intense amusement, the man +had become dictatorial--as old and trusted servants are. He had got some +powder of resin, and was about to pour it into the jointed steel +gauntlet of the lance hand. + +"It gives the grip, master," he said. "By this means the hand fitteth +better to the joints of the steel." + +"But 'tis never used that I know of. 'Tis not like the grip of a bare +hand on the ash stave of a pike...." + +There was a technical discussion, which ended in Johnnie's defeat--at +least, John Hull calmly powdered the inside of the glaive. + +He was got rid of at last, sent to his meal with the other serving-men, +and Commendone was left alone. He had an hour to himself, an hour in +which to recall the brief but perfect joy of the night before. + +They had taken him to Elizabeth after supper, his good host and hostess. +There was something piteously sweet in the tall slim girl in her black +dress--the dear young mouth trembling, the blue eyes full of a mist of +unshed tears, the hair ripest wheat or brownest barley. + +She had taken his hand--hers was like cool white ivory--and listened to +him as a sister might. + +He had sat beside her, and told her of her father's glorious death. His +dark and always rather melancholy face had been lit with sympathy and +tenderness. Quite unconscious of his own grace and grave young dignity, +he had dwelt upon the Martyr's joy at setting out upon his last journey, +with an incomparable delicacy and perfection of phrase. + +His voice, though he knew it not, was full of music. His extreme good +looks, the refinement and purity of his face, came to the poor child +with a wonderful message of consolation. + +When he told her how a brutal yeoman had thrown a faggot at the +Archdeacon, she shuddered and moaned a little. + +Mr. Cressemer and his sister looked at Johnnie with reproach. + +But he had done it of set purpose. "And then, Mistress Elizabeth," he +continued, "the Doctor said, 'Friend, I have harm enough. What needeth +that?'" + +His hand had been upon his knee. She caught it up between her +own--innocent, as to a brother, unutterably sweet. + +"Oh, dear Father!" she cried. "It is just what he would have said. It is +so like him!" + +"It is liker Christ our Lord," Robert Cressemer broke in, his deep voice +shaking with sorrow. "For what, indeed, said He at His cruel nailing? +'[Greek: Pater, aphes autois ou gar oidasi ti poiusi.]'" + +... And then they had sent Johnnie away, marvelling at the goodness, +shrewdness, and knowledge of the Alderman, with his whole being one sob +of love, pity, and protection for his dear simple mourner--so crystal +clear, so sisterlike and sweet! + + * * * * * + +It was time to go upon duty. + +Johnnie looked at his thick oval watch--a "Nuremberg Egg," as it was +called in those days--cut short his reverie of sweet remembrance, and +went straight to the King Consort's wing of the Palace. + +When he was come into the King's room he found him alone with Torrome, +his valet, sitting in a big leather-covered arm-chair, his ruff and +doublet taken off, and wearing a long dressing-gown of brown stuff, a +friar's gown it almost seemed. + +The melancholy yellow face brightened somewhat as the Esquire came in. + +"I am home again, Senor," he said in Spanish, though "_en casa_" was the +word he used for home, and that had a certain pathos in it. "There is a +_torneo_, a _justa_, after dinner, so they tell me. I had wished to ride +myself, but I am weary from our _viajero_ into the country. I shall sit +with the Queen, and you, Senor, will attend me." + +He must have seen a slight, fleeting look of disappointment upon +Commendone's face. + +Himself, as the envoy Suriano said of him in 1548, "deficient in that +energy which becometh a man, sluggish in body and timid in martial +enterprise," he nevertheless affected an exaggerated interest in manly +sports. He had, it is true, mingled in some tournaments at Brussels in +the past, and Calvera says that he broke his lances, "very much to the +satisfaction of his father and aunts." But in England, at any rate, he +had done nothing of the sort, and his voice to Commendone was almost +apologetic. + +"We will break a lance together some day," he said, "but you must forego +the lists this afternoon." + +Johnnie bowed very low. This was extraordinary favour. He knew, of +course, that the King would never tilt with him, but he recognised the +compliment. + +He knew, again, that his star was high in the ascendant. The son of the +great Charles V was reserved, cautious, suspicious of all men--except +when, in private, he would unbend to buffoons and vulgar rascals like +Sir John Shelton--and the icy gravity of his deportment to courtiers +seldom varied. + +Commendone was quite aware that the King did not class him with men of +Shelton's stamp. He was the more signally honoured therefore. + +"This night," His Grace continued, "after the jousts, your attendance +will be excused, Senor. I retire early to rest." + +The Esquire bowed, but he had caught a certain gleam in the King's small +eyes. "Duck Lane or Bankside!" he thought to himself. "Thank God he hath +not commanded me to be with him." + +Johnnie was beginning to understand, more than he had hitherto done, +something of his sudden rise to favour and almost intimacy. The King +Consort was trying him, testing him in every way, hoping to find at +length a companion less dangerous and drunken, a reputation less blown +upon, a servant more discreet.... + +He could have spat in his disgust. What he had tolerated in others +before, though loftily repudiated for himself, now became utterly +loathsome--in King or commoner, black and most foul. + +The King wore a mask; Johnnie wore one also--there was _finesse_ in the +game between master and servant. And to-night the King would wear a +literal mask, the "_maschera_," which Badovardo speaks of when he set +down the frailties of this monarch for after generations to read of: +"_Nelle piaceri delle donne e incontinente, predendo dilletatione +d'andare in maschera la notte et nei tempi de negotii gravi_." + +Then and there Johnnie made a resolution, one which had been nascent in +his mind for many hours. He would have done with the Court as soon as +may be. Ambition, so new a child of his brain, was already dead. He +would marry, retire from pageant and splendour even as his father had +done years and years ago. With Elizabeth by his side he would once more +live happily among the woods and wolds of Commendone. + +Torrome, the _criado_ or valet, came into the room again from the +bed-chamber. His Highness was to change his clothes once more--at high +noon he must be with the Queen upon State affairs. The Chancellor and +Lord Wharton were coming, and with them Brookes, the Bishop of +Gloucester, the papal sub-delegate, and the Royal Proctors, Mr. Martin +and Mr. Storey. + +The prelates, Ridley and Latimer, were lying in prison--their ultimate +fate was to be discussed on that morning. + +The King had but hardly gone into his bed-chamber when the door of the +Closet opened and Don Diego Deza entered, unannounced, and with the +manner of habitude and use. + +He greeted Commendone heartily, shaking him by the hand with +considerable warmth, his clear-cut, inscrutable face wearing an +expression of fixed kindliness--put on for the occasion, meant to appear +sincere, there for a purpose. + +"I will await His Grace here," the priest said, glancing at the door +leading to the bedroom, which was closed. "I am to attend him to the +Council Chamber, where there is much business to be done. So next week, +Mr. Commendone, you'll be at Whitehall! The Court will be gayer +there--more suited to you young gallants." + +"For my part," Johnnie answered, "I like the Tower well enough." + +"Hast a contented mind, Senor," the priest answered brightly. "But I hap +to know that the Queen will be glad to be gone from the City. This hath +been a necessary visit, one of ceremony, but Her Grace liketh the Palace +of Westminster better, and her Castle of Windsor best of all. I shall +meet you at Windsor in the new year, and hope to see you more advanced. +Wilt be wearing the gold spurs then, I believe, and there will be two +knights of the honoured name of Commendone!" + +Johnnie answered: "I think not, Father," he said, turning over his own +secret resolve in his mind with an inward smile. "But why at Windsor? +Doubtless we shall meet near every day." + +"Say nothing, Mr. Commendone," the priest answered in a low voice. +"There can be no harm in telling you--who are privy to so much--but I +sail for Spain to-morrow morn, and shall be some months absent upon His +Most Catholic Majesty's affairs." + +Shortly after this, the King came out of his room, three of his Spanish +gentlemen were shown in, and with Johnnie, the Dominican, and his +escort, His Highness walked to the Council Chamber, round the tower of +which stood a company of the Queen's Archers, showing that Her Grace +had already arrived. + +Then for two hours Johnnie kicked his heels in the Ante-room, watching +this or that great man pass in and out of the Council Chamber, chatting +with the members of the Spanish suite--bored to death. + +At half-past one the Council was over, and Their Majesties went to +dinner, as did also Johnnie in the Common Room. + +At half-past three of the clock the Esquire was standing in the Royal +box behind the King and Queen, among a group of other courtiers, and +looking down on the great tilting yard, where he longed himself to be. + +The Royal Gallery was at one end of the yard, a great stage-box, as it +were, into which two carved chairs were set, and which was designated, +as a somewhat fervent chronicler records, "the gallery, or place at the +end of the tilting yard adjoining to Her Grace's Palace of the Tower, +whereat her person should be placed. It was called, and with good cause, +the Castle, or Fortress of Perfect Beauty, forasmuch as Her Highness +should be there included." + +Johnnie stood and watched it all with eyes in which there was but little +animation. A few days before nothing would have gladdened him more than +such a spectacle as this. To-day it was as nothing to him. + +Down below was a device of painted canvas, imitating a rolling-trench, +which was supposed to be the besieging works of those who attempted the +"Fortress of Perfect Beauty." + +"Upon the top of it were set two cannons wrought of wood, and coloured +so passing well, as, indeed, they seemed to be two fair field-pieces of +ordnance. And by them were placed two men for gunners in cloth and +crimson sarcanet, with baskets of earth for defence of their bodies +withal." + +At the far end of the lists there came a clanking and hammering of the +farriers' and armourers' forges. + +Grooms in mandilions--the loose, sleeveless jacket of their +calling--were running about everywhere, leading the chargers trapped +with velvet and gold in their harness. Gentlemen in short cloaks and +Venetian hose bustled about among the knights, and here and there from +the stables, and withdrawing sheds outside the lists, great armoured +figures came, the sun shining upon their plates--russet-coloured, +fluted, damascened with gold in a hundred points of fire. + +Nothing could be more splendid, as the trumpeters advanced into the +lists, and the fierce fanfaronade snarled up to the sky. The Garter +King-at-arms in his tabard, mounted on a white horse with gold housings, +rode out into the centre of the yard, and behind him, though on foot, +were Blue-mantle and Rouge-dragon. + +The afternoon air was full of martial noise, the clank of metal, the +brazen notes of horns, the stir and murmur of a great company. + +To Johnnie it seemed that he did not know the shadow from the substance. +It all passed before him in a series of coloured pictures, unreal and +far away. Had he been down there among the knights and lords, he felt +that he would but have fought with shadows. It was as though a weird +seizure had taken hold on him, a waking dream enmeshed him in its drowsy +impalpable net, so that on a sudden, in the midst of men and day, while +he walked and talked and stood as ever before, he yet seemed to move +among a world of ghosts, to feel himself the shadow of a dream. Once +when Sir Charles Paston Cooper, a very clever rider at the swinging +ring, and also doughty in full shock of combat, had borne down his +adversary, the Queen clapped her hands. + +"Habet!" she cried, like any Roman empress, excited and glad, because +young Sir Charles was a very strong adherent of the Crown, and known to +be bitterly opposed to the pretensions of the Lady Elizabeth. "Habet!" +the Queen cried again, with a shriek of delight. + +She looked at her husband, whose head was a little bent, whose sallow +face was lost in thought. She did not venture to disturb his reverie, +but glanced behind him and above his chair to where John Commendone was +standing. + +"C'est bien fait, n'est-ce pas, Monsieur?" she said in French. + +The young man's face, also, was frozen into immobility. It did not waken +to the Queen's joyous exclamation. The eyes were turned inwards, he was +hearing nothing of it all. + +Her Grace's face flushed a little. She said no more, but wondered +exceedingly. + +The stately display-at-arms went on. The sun declined towards his +western bower, and blue shadows crept slowly over the sand. + +A little chill wind arose suddenly, and as it did so, Commendone awoke. + +Everything flashed back to him. In the instant that it did so, and the +dreaming of his mind was blown away, the curtain before his subconscious +intelligence rolled up and showed him the real world. The first thing he +saw was the head of King Philip just below him. The tall conical felt +hat moved suddenly, leaning downwards towards a corner of the arena just +below the Royal box. + +Johnnie saw the King's profile, the lean, sallow jowl, the corner of the +curved, tired, and haughty lip--the small eye suddenly lit up. + +Following the King's glance, he saw below the figure of Sir John +Shelton, dressed very quietly in ordinary riding costume, and by the +side of the knight, Torrome, the valet of His Highness. + +Both men nodded, and the King slightly inclined his head in reply. + +Then His Highness leant back in his chair, and a little hissing noise, a +sigh of relief or pleasure, came from his lips. + +Immediately he turned to the Queen, placed one hand upon her jewelled +glove, and began to speak with singular animation and brightness. + +The Queen changed in a moment. The lassitude and disappointment went +from her face in a flash. She turned to her husband, radiant and happy, +and once more her face became beautiful. + +It was the last time that John Commendone ever saw the face of Queen +Mary. In after years he preferred always to think of her as he saw her +then. + +The tourney was over. Everybody had left the tilting yard and its +vicinity, save only the farriers, the armour smiths, and grooms. + +In front of the old palace hardly a soul was to be seen, except the +sentinels and men of the guard, who paced up and down the terraces. + +It was eight o'clock, and twilight was falling. All the windows were +lit, every one was dressing for supper, and now and then little +roulades of flutes, the twanging of viols being tuned, the mellow +clarionette-like voice of the _piccolo-milanese_ showed that the Royal +band was preparing for the feast. + +Johnnie was off duty; his time was his own now, and he could do as he +would. + +He longed more than anything to go to Chepe to be with the Cressemers +again, to see Elizabeth; but, always punctilious upon points of +etiquette, and especially remembering the sad case and dolour of his +love, he felt it would be better not to go. Nevertheless, he took a +sheet of paper from his case into the Common Room, and wrote a short +letter of greeting to the Alderman. With this he also sent a posy of +white roses, which he bribed a serving-man to get from the Privy Garden, +desiring that the flowers should be given to Mistress Elizabeth Taylor. + +This done, he sought and found his servant. + +"To-night, John Hull," he said, "I shall not need thee, and thou mayest +go into the City and do as thou wilt. I am going to rest early, for I am +very tired. Come you back before midnight--you can get the servant's +pass from the lieutenant of the guard if you mention my name--and wake +me and bring me some milk. But while thou art away, take this letter and +these flowers to the house of Master Robert Cressemer. Do not deliver +them at once when thou goest, but at ten or a little later, and desire +them to be taken at once to His Worship." + +This he said, knowing something of the habits of the great house in +Chepeside, and thinking that his posy would be taken to Elizabeth when +she was retiring to her sleep. + +"Perchance she may think of me all night," said cunning Johnnie to +himself. + +Hull took the letter and the flowers, and departed. Johnnie went to his +chamber, disembarrassing himself of his stiff starched ruff, took off +his sword, and put on the cassock-coat, which was the undress for the +young gentlemen of the Court when they met in the Common Room for a +meal. + +He designed to take some food, and then to go straight to bed and sleep +until his servant should wake him with the milk he had ordered, and +especially with the message of how he had done in Chepe. + +He had just arrayed himself and was wearily stretching out his arms, +wondering whether after all he should go downstairs to sup or no, when +the door of his bedroom was pushed open and Ambrose Cholmondely entered. + +Johnnie was glad to see his friend. + +"_Hola!_" he said, "I was in need of some one with whom to talk. You +come in a good moment, _mon ami_." + +Cholmondely sat down upon the bed. + +"Well," he said, "didst come off well at the tourney?" + +Johnnie shook his head. "I didn't ride," he said, "I was in attendance +upon His Grace, rather to my disgust, for I had hoped for some exercise. +But you? Where were you, Ambrose?" + +"I? Well, Johnnie, I was excused attendance this afternoon. I made +interest with Mr. Champneys, and so I got off." + +"Venus, her service, I doubt me," Johnnie answered. + +Ambrose Cholmondely nodded. + +"Yes," he said, "i' faith, a very bootless quest it was. A girl at an +inn that I lit upon some time agone--you would not know it--'tis a big +hostel of King Henry's time without Aldgate, the 'Woolsack.'" + +Johnnie started. "I went there once," he said. + +"I should well have thought," Cholmondely replied, "it would have been +out of your purview. Never mind. My business came not to a satisfactory +end. The girl was very coy. But I tell you what I did see, and that hath +given me much reason for thought. Along the road towards Essex, where I +was walking, hoping to meet my inamorata, came a damsel walking, by her +dress and bearing of gentle birth, and with a serving-maid by her side. +I was not upon the high road, but sat under a sycamore tree in a field +hard by, but I saw all that passed very well. A carriage came slowly +down the road towards this lady. Out of it jumped that bully-rook John +Shelton, and close behind him the Spanish valet Torrome, that is the +King's private servant. They caught hold of the girl, Shelton clapped a +hand upon her mouth, and they had her in the carriage in a moment and +her maid with her--which immediately turned round and went back at a +quick pace through Aldgate. I would have interfered, but I could not get +to the high road in time; 'twas so quickly done. Johnnie, there will be +great trouble in London, if Shelton and these Spaniards he is so +friendly with are to do such things in England. It may go on well enough +for a time, but suddenly the bees will be roused from their hive, and +there will be such a to-do and turmoil, such a candle will be lit as +will not easily be put out." + +Johnnie shrugged his shoulders. In his mood of absolute disgust with his +surroundings, the recital interested him very little. He connected it at +once with the appearance of Shelton and the valet at the end of the +tourney, but it was not his business. + +"The hog to his stye," he said bitterly. "I am going to take some +supper, and then to bed, for I am very weary." + +Arm in arm with Ambrose Cholmondely, he descended the stairs, went into +the Common Room, and made a simple meal. + +The place was riotous with high spirits, the talk was fast and free, but +he joined in none of it, and in a very few minutes had returned to his +room, closed the door, and thrown himself upon the bed. + +Almost immediately he sank into a deep sleep. + +He was dreaming of Elizabeth, and in his dream was interwoven the sound +of great bells, when the fantastic painted pictures of sleep were +suddenly shaken violently and dissolved. They flashed away, and his +voice rose in calling after them to stay, when he suddenly awoke. + +The bells were still going on, deep golden notes from the central cupola +over the Queen's Gallery, beating out the hour of eleven. But as they +changed from dream into reality--much louder and imminent--he felt +himself shaken violently. A strong hand gripped his shoulder, a hoarse +voice mingled with the bell-music in his ears. He awoke. + +His little room was lit by a lanthorn standing upon the mantel with the +door open. + +John Hull, a huge broad shadow, was bending over him. He sat up in bed. + +"_Dame!_" he cried, "and what is this?" + +"Master! Master! She has been taken away! My little mistress! Most +foully taken away, and none know where she may be!" + +Johnnie sprang from his bed, upright and trembling. + +"I took the letter and the flowers as you bade me. But all was sorrow +and turmoil at the house. Mistress Elizabeth went out in the afternoon +with Alice her maid. She was to take the air. They have not returned. +Nothing is known. His Worship hath fifty men searching for her, and hath +had for hours. But it avails nothing." + +Johnnie suddenly became quite quiet. Hull saw his face change. The +smooth, gracious contours were gone. An inner face, sharp, resolute, +haggard and terribly alive, sprang out and pushed the other away. + +"His Worship writ thee a letter, sir. Here 'tis." + +Johnnie held out his hand. The letter was brief, the writing hurried and +indistinct with alarm. + + "DEAR LAD,--They have taken our Lizzie, whom I know not. But I + fear the worst things. I cannot find her with all my resource. + An' if _I_ cannot, one must dread exceeding. I dare say no + more. But come to me on the instant, if canst. Thou--being at + Court--I take it, may be able to do more than I, at the moment + and in the article of our misfortune. The weight I bring to + bear is heavy, but taketh time. Command me in every way as + seemeth good to you. Order, and if needs be threaten in my + name. All you do or say is as if I said it, and they that deny + it will feel my hand heavy on them. + + "But come, dear lad. Our Lady help and shield the little lamb. + + "Your friend, + "ROBERT CRESSEMER, + "Alderman." + +Johnnie thrust the letter into his bosom. +"John Hull, art ready to follow me to the death, as it may be and very +like will?" + +"Certes, master." + +"Anything for her? Are you my man to do all and everything I tell thee +till the end?" + +John Hull answered nothing. He ran out of the room and returned in an +instant with his master's boots and sword. He saw that the holster +pistols were primed. He took one of Johnnie's daggers and thrust it into +the sheath of his knife without asking. + +The two men armed themselves to the teeth without another word. + +"I'll be round to the stables," Hull said at length. "Two horses, +master? I will rouse one groom only and say 'tis State business." + +"You know then where we must go?" + +"I know not the place. But I guess it. We hear much--we Court servants!" +He spat upon the floor. "And I saw _him_ looking at her as the Doctor +rode to Hadley." + +"Wilt risk it?--death, torture, which is worse, John Hull?" + +"Duck Lane, master?" + +"Duck Lane." + +"I thought so. I'm for the horses." + +A clatter of descending footsteps, a man standing in a little darkling +room, his hand upon his sword hilt. His teeth set, his brain working in +ice. + +Receding footsteps.... "Faithfullest servant that ever man had!" + +And so to the bitter work! + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +HEY HO! AND A RUMBELOW! + + +They had ridden over London Bridge. + +The night was dark, and a wind was beginning to rise. Again, here and +there about the bridge, soldiers were lounging, but Commendone and his +servant passed over successfully. He was recognised from the last time, +three nights ago. As they walked their horses through the scattered +houses immediately at the southern end of the bridge, Johnnie spoke to +Hull. + +"I have plans," he said quietly; "my mind is full of them. But I can +give you no hint until we are there and doing. Be quick at the uptake, +follow me in all I do, but if necessary act thyself, and remember that +we are desperate men upon an adventure as desperate. Let nothing stand +in the way, as I shall not." + +For answer he heard a low mutter, almost a growl, and they rode on in +silence. + +Both were cool and calm, strung up to the very highest point, every +single faculty of mind and body on the alert and poised to strike. + +One, the Spanish blood within him turning to that cold icy fury which +would stick at nothing in this world to achieve his ends, the while his +trained intelligence and high mental powers sat, as it were, upon his +frozen anger and rode it as a horse; the other, a volcano of hidden +snarling fury, seeing red at each step of his way through the dark, but +subordinate and disciplined by the master mind. + +They came to the entrance to Duck Lane, walked their horses quietly down +it--once more it was in silence--until under the lamp above the big red +door of the House of Shame, they saw two horses tethered to a ring in +the wall, and a man in a cloak walking up and down in front of the +house. + +He looked up sharply as they came into the circle of lamp-light, and +Johnnie saw, with a fierce throb of exultation, that it was Torrome, the +King's valet. + +"It is you, Senor," the man said in a low voice of relief. + +Johnnie nodded curtly as he dismounted. + +"Yes," he said, in a voice equally low, putting something furtive and +sly into the tones, for he was a consummate actor. "Yes, it is I, +Torrome. I must see His Grace at once on matters of high importance." + +"His Grace said nothing," the man began. + +"I know, I know," Johnnie answered. "It was not thought that I should +have to come, but as events turn out"--he struck with his hand upon the +door as he spoke--"I am to see His Highness at once." + +"I trust Her Grace----" the man whispered in a frightened voice. + +"Not a word," Commendone replied. "Take our horses and keep watch over +them also. My man cometh in with me. Word will be sent out to you anon +what to do." + +The man bowed, and gathered up the bridle of the two new horses on his +arm; while as he did so, the big red door swung open a little, and a +thin face, covered with a mask of black velvet, peered out at the +newcomers. + +"It is all right," the valet said, in French. "This gentleman is of the +suite of His Highness." + +The peering, masked face scrutinised Johnnie for a second, then nodded, +and the red lips below twisted into a sinister smile. + +"Enter, sir," came in a soft, cooing voice. "I remember you three nights +back...." + +Johnnie entered, closely followed by Hull, and the door was closed +behind him. They stood once more in the quiet carpeted passage, with its +sense of mystery, its heavily perfumed air, and once again the tall +nondescript figure flitted noiselessly in front of them, and scratched +upon a panel of the big door at the end of the passage. There was the +tinkle of a bell within. The door was opened. Johnnie pushed aside the +curtains and entered the room, hung with crimson arras, powdered with +the design of gold bats, lit with its hanging silver lamps, and reeking +with the odour of the scented gums which were burning there. + +Madame La Motte rose from her chair behind the little table as they +entered. The big, painted face was quite still and motionless, like a +mask, but the eyes glanced with quick, cunning brightness at Commendone +and his companion--the only things alive in that huge countenance. She +recognised Johnnie in a moment, and then her eyebrows went up into her +forehead and the lower part of her face moved down a little, as if the +whole were actuated by the sudden pull of a lever. + +"_Mon gars_," she said, in French, "and what brings you here to-night? +And who is this?..." + +Her eyes had fallen upon the broad figure of the serving-man in his +leather coat, his short sword hanging from his belt, his hand upon his +dagger. + +She might well look in alarm, this ancient, evil woman, for the keen +brown face of the servant was gashed and lined with a terrible and quiet +fury, the lips curled away from the teeth, the fore part of the body was +bent forward a little as if to spring. + +Johnnie took two steps up to the woman. + +"Madam," he said, in a voice so low that it was hardly more than a +whisper, but every syllable of which was perfectly distinct and clear, +"a lady has been stolen from her friends, and brought to this hell. +Where is she?" + +The woman knew in a moment why they had come. She gave a sudden swift +glance towards the door in the arras at the other side of the room, +which told Commendone all he wanted to know. + +"It is true, then?" he said. "Thou cat of hell, bound mistress of the +fiend, she is here?" + +The huge body of the woman began to tremble like a jelly, slowly at +first in little shivers, and then more rapidly until face and shapeless +form shook and swayed from side to side in a convulsion of fear, while +all the jewels upon her winked and flashed. + +As the young man bent forward and looked into her face, she found a +voice, a horrid, strangled voice. "I know nothing," she coughed. + +There was a low snarl, like a wakened panther, as Commendone, shuddering +as he did so, gripped one bare, powdered shoulder. + +"Silence!" he said. + +With one convulsive effort, the woman shot out a fat hand, and rang the +little silver bell upon the table. + +Almost immediately the door swung open; there was a swish of curtains, +and the tall, fantastic figure of the creature who had let them into the +house stood there. + +"_Allez--la maison en face--viens toi vite,--Jules, Louis._" + +Commendone clapped his hand over the woman's mouth, just as the eel-like +creature at the door, realising the situation in a moment, was gliding +through the curtains to summon the bullies of the house. + +But John Hull was too quick for him. He caught him by the arm, wrenched +him back into the room, sent him spinning into the centre of it, and +took two steps towards him, his right fist half raised to deal him a +great blow. + +The creature mewed like a cat, ducked suddenly and ran at the yeoman, +gripping him round the waist with long, thin arms. + +There was no sound as they struggled--this long, eel-like thing, in its +mask and crimson robe twining round his sturdy opponent like some +parasite writhing with evil life. + +John Hull rocked, striving to bend forward and get a grip of his +antagonist. But it was useless. He could do nothing, and he was being +slowly forced backwards towards the door. + +There was horror upon the man's brown face, horror of this silent, +clinging thing which fought with fury, and in a fashion that none other +had fought with him in all his life. + +Then, as he realised what was happening, he stood up for a moment, +staggering backwards as he did so, pulled out the dagger from his belt +and struck three great blows downwards into the thin scarlet back, +burying the steel up to the hilt at each fierce stroke. + +There was a sudden "Oh," quite quiet and a little surprised, the sort of +sound a man might make when he sees a friend come unexpectedly into his +room.... + +That was all. It was over in some thirty seconds, there was a +convulsive wriggle on the floor, and the man, if indeed it was a man, +lay on its back stiff in death. The mask of black velvet had been torn +off in the struggle, and they saw a tiny white face, painted and +hairless, set on the end of a muscular and stringy neck--a monster lying +there in soulless death. + +"Have you killed it?" Commendone asked, suddenly. + +"Yes, master." Hull's head was averted from what lay upon the carpet, +even while he was pushing it towards the heap of cushions at the side of +the room. Leaning over the body, he took a cushion from the heap--a +gaudy thing of green and orange--and wiped his boot. + +"Listen!" Johnnie said, still with his hand covering the woman's face. + +They listened intently. Not a sound was to be heard. + +"As I take it," Commendone answered, "there are no men in the house +except only those two we have come to seek. The alarm hath not been +given, and that _eunuque_ is dead. We must settle Madame here." He +laughed a grim, menacing laugh as he spoke. + +Immediately the figure in his hands began to writhe and tremble, the +feet beat a dull tattoo upon the carpet, the eyes protruded from their +layers of paint, a snorting, snuffling noise came from beneath +Commendone's hand. He caught it away instantly, shuddering with +disgust. + +"Kill me not! kill me not!" the old woman gasped. "They are upstairs, +the King and his friend. The girl is there. I know nothing of her, she +was brought to me in the dark by the King's servants. Kill me not; I +will stay silent." Her voice failed. She fell suddenly back in her +chair, and looked at them with indescribable horror in her eyes. + +"I'll see to her, master," Hull said in a quiet voice, his face still +distorted with mastiff-like fury. + +He caught up his blood-stained dagger from the floor, stepped to the +stiffened corpse, curved by tetanus into a bow, and ripped up a long +piece of the gown which covered it. Quickly and silently he tied the old +woman's ankles together, her hands behind her back--the podgy wrists +would not meet, nor near it--and again he went to the corpse for further +bonds. + +"And now to stop her mouth," he said, "or she will be calling." + +Commendone took out his handkerchief. "Here," he said. In an instant +Hull had rolled it into a ball, pressed it between the painted lips, and +tied it in its place with the last strip of velvet. + +All this had taken but hardly a minute. Then he stood up and looked at +his master. "The time comes," he said. + +Johnnie nodded, and walked slowly, with quiet footsteps, towards the +door in the arras at the other side of the room. + +He felt warily for the handle, found it, turned it gently, and saw a +narrow stairway stretching upwards, and lit by a lamp somewhere above. +The stair was uncarpeted, but it was of old and massive oak, and, +drawing his sword, he crept cautiously up, Hull following him like a +cat. + +They found themselves in a corridor with doors on each side, each door +painted with a big white number. It was lit, warm, and very still. + +Johnnie put his fingers to his lips, and both men listened intently. + +The silence was absolute. They might have been in an empty house. No +single indication of human movement came to them as they stood there. + +For nearly a minute they remained motionless. Their eyes were fixed and +horror-struck, their ears strained to an intensity of listening. + +Then, at last, they heard a sound, quite unexpectedly and very near. + +It came from the door immediately upon their right, which was painted +with the number "3," and was simply the click of a sword in its +scabbard. Johnnie took two noiseless steps to the door, settled his +sword in his hand, flung it open, and leapt in. + +He was in a large low room panelled round its sides, the panels painted +white, the beadings picked out in crimson. A carpet covered the floor, a +low fire burnt upon a wide open hearth. There were two or three padded +sofa lounges here and there, and in front of the fire-place in riding +clothes, though without his hat or gloves, stood Sir John Shelton. + +There was a dead silence for several seconds, only broken by the click +of the outer door, as Hull pushed it into its place, and shot the bolt. + +Shelton grew very white, but said nothing. + +With his sword ready to assume the guard, Johnnie walked to the centre +of the room. + +The bully's face grew whiter still. Little drops of moisture glistened +on his forehead, and on his blonde moustache. + +Then he spoke. + +"Ah! Mr. Commendone!" he said, with a horrid little laugh. "News from +Court, I suppose? Is it urgent? His Grace is engaged within, but I will +acquaint him. His Grace is engaged----" There came a titter of discovery +and fear from his lips. His words died away into silence. + +Johnnie advanced towards him, his sword pointed at his heart. + +"What does this mean, Mr. Commendone?" + +"Death." + +The man's sword was out in a moment. The touch of it seemed to bring the +life back to him, and with never a word, he sprang at Commendone. He was +a brave man enough, a clever fencer too, but he knew now that his hour +had come. He read it in the fixed face before him, that face of frozen +fury. He knew it directly the blades touched. Indeed he was no match +for Commendone, with his long training, and clean, abstemious life. But +even had he been an infinitely superior swordsman, he knew that he would +have had no chance in that moment. There was something behind the young +man's arm which no Sir John Shelton could resist. + +The blades rattled together and struck sparks in the lamp-light. Click! +Clatter! Click!--"Ah!" the long-drawn breath, a breath surging up from +the very entrails--Click! Clatter! Click! + +The fierce cold fury of that fight was far beyond anything in war, or +the ordinary duello. It was _a outrance_, there was only one end to it, +and that came very swiftly. + +Commendone was not fighting for safety. He cared not, and knew nothing, +of what the other might have in reserve. He did not even wait to test +his adversary's tricks of fence, as was only cautious and usual. Nothing +could have withstood him, and in less than two minutes from the time the +men had engaged, the end came. Commendone made a half-lunge, which was +parried by the dagger in Sir John's left hand, and then, quick as +lightning, his sword was through Shelton's throat, through and through. + +The Captain fell like a log, hiccoughed, and lay still. + +"Two," said John Hull. + +Johnnie withdrew his sword, holding it downwards, watching it drip; then +he turned to his servant. "Sir John was here on guard," he said; "this +is the ante-room to where She is. But I see no door, save only the one +by which we entered." + +"Hist!" Hull replied, almost before his master had finished speaking. + +He pointed to the opposite wall, and both men saw a long, narrow bar of +orange light, a momentarily widening slit, opening in a panel. + +The panel swung back entirely, forming a sort of hatch or window, and +through it, yellow, livid, and terror-struck, looked the face of the +King. + +Without a word John Hull rushed towards that part of the wall. When he +was within a yard of it he gathered himself up and leapt against it, +like a battering-ram. There was a crash, as the concealed door was torn +away from its hinges. Hull lay measuring his length upon the floor, and +Johnnie leaped over the prostrate form into the room beyond. + +This is what he saw: + +In one corner of the room, close to a large couch covered with rich +silks, Elizabeth Taylor stood against the wall. They had dressed her in +a long white robe of the Grecian sort, with a purple border round the +hem of the skirt, the short sleeves and the low neck. Her face was a +white wedge of terror, her arms were upraised, the palms of her hands +turned outwards, as if to ward off some horror unspeakable. + +King Philip, at the other corner of the room, standing by the debris of +the broken door, was perfectly motionless, save only for his head, +which was pushed forward and moved from side to side with a slow +reptilian movement. + +He was dressed entirely in black, his clothes in disarray, and the thin +hair upon his head was matted in fantastic elf-locks with sweat. + +He saw the set face of Commendone, his drawn and bloody sword. He saw +the thick leathern-coated figure of the yeoman rise from the floor. Both +were confronting him, and he knew in a flash that he was trapped. + +Johnnie looked at his master for a moment, and then turned swiftly. +"Elizabeth," he said, "Elizabeth!" + +At his voice the girl's hands fell from her face. She looked at him for +a second in wild amazement, and then she cried out, in a high, quavering +voice of welcome, "Johnnie! Johnnie! you've come!" + +He put his arms about her, soothing, stroking her hair, speaking in a +low, caressing voice, as a man might speak to a child. And all the time +his heart, which had been frozen into deadly purpose, was leaping, +bounding, and drumming within him so furiously, so strongly, that it +seemed as if his body could hardly contain it. This mortal frame must +surely be dissolved and swept away by such a tumult of feeling. + +She had only seen him once. She had never received his little posy of +white flowers, but he was "Johnnie" to her. + +"They have not hurt you, my maid?" he said. "Tell me they have not +harmed you." + +She shook her head. Happiness sponged away the horror which had been +upon her face. "No, Johnnie," she answered, clinging, her fingers +clutching for a firmer hold of him. "No, Johnnie, only they took me +away, and Alice, that is my maid. They took me away violently, and I +have been penned up here in this place until that man came and said +strange things to me, and would embrace me." + +"Sit you here, my darling maid," the young man said, "sit you here," +guiding her to the couch hard by. "He shall do you no harm. Thou art +with me, and thy good friend there, thy father's yeoman." + +She had not seen John Hull before, but now she looked up at him over +Johnnie's arm, and smiled. "'Tis all well now," she murmured, drooping +and half-faint. "Hull is here, and thou also, Johnnie." + +Even in the wild joy of finding her, and knowing instinctively that she +was to be his, that she had thought of him so much, Commendone lost +nothing of his sang-froid. + +He knew that desperate as had been his adventure when he started out +from the Tower, it was now more desperate still. He and Hull had taken +their lives in their hands when they went to Duck Lane. Their enterprise +had so far been successful, their rescue complete, but--and he was in no +way mistaken--the enterprise was not over, and his life was worth even +a smaller price than it had been before. + +With that, he turned from the girl, and strode up to the King, before +whom John Hull had been standing, grimly silent. + +Commendone's sword was still in his hand; he had not relinquished it +even when he had embraced Elizabeth, and now he stood before his master, +the point upon the floor, his young face set into judgment. + +"And now, Sire?" he said, shortly and quickly. + +Philip's face was flushed with shame and fear, but at these sharp words, +he drew himself to his full height. + +"Senor," he said, "you are going to do something which will damn you for +ever in the sight of God and Our Lady. You are going to slay the +anointed of the Lord. I will meet death at your hands, and doubtless for +my sins I have deserved death; but, nevertheless, you will be damned." + +Then he threw his arms out wide, and there came a sob into his voice as +the liquid Spanish poured from him. + +"But to die thus!" he said. "Mother of God! to die thus! unshrived, with +my sins upon me!" + +Johnnie tapped impatiently with the point of his sword upon the floor. + +"Kill you, Sire?" he said. "I have sworn the oath of allegiance to Her +Grace, the Queen, and eke to you. I break no oaths. Kill you I will +not. Kill you I cannot. I dare not raise my hand against the King." + +He dropped on one knee. "Sire," he said again, "I am your Gentleman, and +you will go free from this vile house as you came into it." + +Then he rose, took his sword, snapped it across his knee--staining his +hands in doing so--and flung it into the corner of the room. + +"And that is that," he said, with a different manner. "So now as man to +man, as from one gentleman to another, hear my voice. You are a +gentleman of high degree, and you are King also of half this globe, +named, and glad to be named His Most Catholic Majesty. Of your kingship +I am not at this moment aware. I am not Royal. But as a gentleman and a +Christian, I tell you to your face that you are low and vile. You +deceive a wife that loveth you. You take maidens to force them to your +will. If you were a simple gentleman I would kill you where you stood. +No! If thou wert a simple gentleman, I would not cross swords with thee, +because thou art unworthy of my sword. I would tell my man here to slit +thee and have done. But as thou art a King"--he spat upon the floor in +his disgust--"and I am sworn to thee, I cannot punish thee as I would, +thou son of hell, thou very scurvy, lying, and most dirty knave." + +The King's face was a dead white now. He lifted his hands and beat with +them upon his breast. "_Mea culpa! Mea culpa!_ What have I done that I +should endure this?" + +"What no King should ever do, what no gentleman could ever do." + +The King's hands dropped to his side. + +"I am wearing no sword," he said quietly, "as you see, Senor, but +doubtless you will provide me with one. If you will meet me here and +now, as a simple gentleman, then I give you licence to kill me. I will +defend myself as best I am able." + +Johnnie hesitated, irresolutely. All the training of his life was up in +arms with the wishes and the emotions of the moment--until he heard the +voice of common sense. + +John Hull broke in. The man had not understood one word of the Spanish, +but he had realised its meaning, and the keen, untutored intelligence, +focused upon the flying minutes, saw very clearly into the future. + +"Master," he said, "cannot ye see that all this is but chivalry and +etiquette of courts? Cannot ye see that if ye kill His Highness, England +will not be big enough to hide thee? Cannot ye see, also, that if thou +dost not kill him, but let him go, England will not be big enough to +hide thee either? Master, we must settle this business with speed, and +get far away before the hue and cry, for I tell thee, that this bloody +night's work will bring thee, and Mistress Elizabeth, and myself to the +rack and worse torture, to the stake, and worse than that. Haste! speed! +we must be gone. There is but one thing to be done." + +"And what is that, John Hull?" + +"Why, thou art lost in a dream, master! To tie up His Highness so that +he cannot move or speak for several hours. To send that Spaniard which +is his man, away from the door outside, and then to fly from this +accursed house, you, I, and the little mistress, and hide ourselves, if +God will let us, from the wrath to come." + +The quick, decisive words were so absolutely true, so utterly +unanswerable, that Johnnie nodded, though he shuddered as he did so. + +Upon that, John Hull strode up to the King. + +"Put your hands behind you, Sire," he said. + +The King was wearing a dagger in his belt. As Hull came up to him, his +face was transfixed with fury. He drew it out and lunged at the man's +heart. + +Hull was standing a little obliquely to the blow, the dagger glanced +upon his leather surcoat, cut a long groove, and glanced harmlessly +away. + +With that, Hull raised his great brown fist and smote King Philip in the +face, driving him to the floor. He was on him in a moment, crouching +over him with one hand upon the Royal throat. + +"Quick, master; quick, master! Quick, master! Bonds! Bonds! We must e'en +truss him up, as we did her ladyship below." + +It was done. The King was tied and bound. It was done as gently as +possible, and they did not gag him. + +Together they laid him upon the floor. + +Slow, half-strangled, and venomous words came, came in gouts of +poisonous sound, which made the sweet Spanish hideous.... + +"The whole world, Mr. Commendone, will not be wide enough to hide you, +your paramour, and this villain from my vengeance." + +Johnnie would have heard anything but that one word--that shameful word. +At the word "paramour," hardly knowing what he did, he lifted his hand +and struck the bound and helpless King upon the face. + +A timepiece from the next room beat. It was one o'clock in the morning. + +Johnnie turned to Elizabeth. "Come, sweetheart," he said, in a hurried, +agitated voice, "come away from this place." + +He took her by the arm, half leading, half supporting her, and together +they passed out of the room, without so much as a backward glance at the +bound figure upon the floor. As they went through the broken doorway in +the ante-room, John Hull pressed after them, and walked on the other +side of Elizabeth, talking to her quickly in a cheery voice. + +As he looked over the girl's head at his servant, Johnnie knew what Hull +was doing. He was hiding the corpse of Sir John Shelton from the girl's +view. + +They came into the corridor, and descended the stairs. Just as they were +about to open the door in the arras, Hull stopped them upon the lowest +step. + +"I will go first, master," he said, and again Johnnie realised what was +meant. + +When a few seconds afterwards, he and Elizabeth entered the +tapestry-hung room; the great pile of cushions upon the left-hand side +was a little higher, but that was all. + +The girl raised her hands to her throat. "Oh," she said, "Johnnie, thank +God you came! I cannot bear it. Take me home, take me home now, to Mr. +Cressemer and Aunt Catherine." + +Johnnie took her hands in his own, holding her very firmly by the +wrists, and looked full into her face. + +"Dear," he said, "you cannot go to Mr. Cressemer's. You know nothing of +what has happened this night. You do not realise anything at all. Will +you trust in me?" + +"Yes," she faltered, though her eyes were firm. + +"Then, if you do that, and if God helps us," he said, with a gasp in his +throat, "we may yet win to safety and life, though I doubt it. +Sweetheart, it is right that I should tell you that man upstairs in the +room is the King Consort, husband of Her Grace the Queen." + +The girl gave a loud, startled cry, and instantly Commendone saw +comprehension flash into her face. + +"Sit here," he said to her, putting a chair for her. + +Then he turned. Behind the ebony table, motionless, vast, and purple in +the face, was the great mummy of the procuress. + +"What shall we do?" he said to Hull. + +"The first thing, master, is to send the Spanish valet away; that you +must do, and therein lies our chance." + +Johnnie nodded. He passed out into the passage, went to the front door, +pulled aside three huge bolts which worked with a lever very silently, +for they were all oiled, and let in a puff of fresh wind from the +street. + +For a moment he could see nothing in the dark. He called in Spanish: +"Torrome, Torrome, where are you? Come here at once." He had hardly done +so when the cloaked figure of the valet came out from behind a buttress. + +"Ah, Senor," he said, "I am perished with this cold wind. His Highness +is ready, then?" + +Johnnie shook his head. "No," he answered, "His Highness and Sir John +are still engaged, but I am sent to tell you that you may go home. I and +my man will attend His Highness to the Tower, but we shall not come +until dawn. Go you back to the King's lodging, and if His Highness doth +not come in due time, keep all inquiries at bay. He will be sick--you +understand?" + +Torrome nodded. + +"Then get you to horse, leave His Highness's horse with ours, and speed +back to the Tower as soon as may be." + +Commendone waited until the man had mounted, very glad to be relieved of +his long waiting, and was trotting towards London Bridge. Then he closed +the door, pulled the lever, and went back into the red, scented room. + +He saw that Hull had cut the strips of red velvet that bound Madame La +Motte, the gag was taken from her mouth, and he was holding a goblet of +wine to the thick, swollen, and bleeding lips. + +There was a long deep sigh and gurgle. The woman shuddered, gasped +again, and then some light and understanding came into her eyes, and she +stared out in front of her. + +"What are we to do?" Johnnie asked his servant once more. + +"What have ye done, masters?" came in a dry whisper from the old +woman--it was like the noise a man makes walking through parched grass +in summer. "What have ye done, masters?" + +Hull answered: "We have killed your servitor, as ye saw," he said, with +a half glance towards the piled cushions against the wall. "Sir John +Shelton is dead also; Mr. Commendone killed him in fair fight." + +"And the King, the King?"--the whisper was dreadful in its anxiety and +fear. + +"He lieth bound in that room of shame where you took my lady." + +There was silence for a moment, and the old woman glanced backwards and +forwards at Hull and Commendone. What she read in their faces terrified +her, and again she shook horribly. + +"Sir," she said to Commendone, "if this be my last hour, then so mote it +be, but I swear that I knew nothing. I was told at high noon yesterday +that a girl was to be sent here, that Sir John and the valet of His +Highness would bring her. I knew, and know nothing of who she is. I did +but do as I have always done in my trade. And, messieurs, it was the +King's command. Now ye have come, and there is the lady unharmed, please +God." + +"Please God!" Johnnie said brutally. "You hag of hell, who are you to +use that name?" + +The fat, artificially whitened hands, with their glittering rings fell +upon the table with a dull thud. + +"Who am I, indeed?" she said. "You may well ask that, but I tell you +others of my women received this lady. I have not seen her until now." + +"Indeed she hath not," came in a low, startled voice from Elizabeth. + +"Sir," La Motte went on, "I see now that this is the end of my sinful +life. Kill me an ye wish, I care not, for I am dead already, and so also +are you, and the young mistress there, and your man too." + +"What mean you?" Johnnie said. + +"What mean I? Why, upstairs lieth the King, bound. We all have two or +three miserable hours, and then we shall be found, and what we shall +endure will pass the bitterness of death before death comes. That, +messieurs, you know very well. + +"So what matters it," she continued, her extraordinary vitality +overcoming everything, her voice growing stronger each moment, "what +matters it! Let us drink wine one to the other, to death! in this house +of death, in this house to which worse than death cometh apace." + +She reached out for the flagon of wine before her with a cackle of +laughter. + +It was too true. Commendone knew it well. He looked at Hull, and +together they both looked at Elizabeth Taylor. + +The girl, in the long white robe which they had put on her, rose from +her seat and came between them, tall, slim, and now composed. She put +one hand upon Johnnie's shoulder and laid the other with an affectionate +gesture upon Hull's arm. + +"Look you," she said, "Mr. Commendone, and you, John Hull, my father's +friend, what matters it at all? I see now all that hath passed. There is +no hope for us, none at all. Therefore let us praise God, pray to Him, +and die. We shall soon be with my father in heaven; and, sure, he seeth +all this, and is waiting for us." + +John Hull's face was knitted into thought. He hardly seemed to hear the +girl's voice at all. + +"Mistress Lizzie," he said, almost peevishly, "pr'ythee be silent a +moment. Master, look you. 'Tis this way. They will come again and find +His Highness when he returneth not to the Tower, but he will dare do +nothing against us openly for fear of the Queen's Grace. Were it known +that he had come to such a stew as this, the Queen would ne'er give him +her confidence again. She would ne'er forgive him. Doubtless the +vengeance will pursue us, but it cannot be put in motion for some hours +until the King is rescued, and has had time to confer with his familiars +and think out a plan. After that, when they catch us, nothing will avail +us, because nothing we can say will be believed. But we are not caught +yet." + +Johnnie, who for the last few moments had been quite without hope, +looked up quickly at his servant's words. + +"You are right," he said, "in what you say; there speaketh good sense. +Very well, then we must get away at once. But where shall we go? If we +go to His Worship's house, we shall soon be discovered, and bring His +Worship and Mistress Catherine with us to the rack and stake. If we go +to my father's house in Kent, he will not be able to hide us; it will be +the first place to which they will look." + +He spread his arms out in a gesture of despair. + +"You see," he said, "we in this room to-night have no refuge nor +harbour. For a few hours, a day it may be, we can lie lost from +vengeance. But after that no earthly power can save us. We have done the +thing for which there is no pardon." + +"I don't like, master, to wait for death in this way," Hull answered. +"But art wiser than I, and so it must be. But pr'ythee let us have a +little course. The hounds may come, but let us run before them, and +then, if death is at the end of it, well--well, there's an end on't; and +so say I." + +There was a voice behind them, a voice speaking in broken but fluent +English. + +"You have broken into my house, you have killed my servant, you have +prevented me from calling for help from you, a King lies bound in my +upper chamber, _v'la_! And now you go to run a little course, to scurry +hither and thither before the dogs are at your throats. You are all +prepared to die. I also am ready to die if it must be so, but it need +not be so if you will listen to me." + +"What mean you?" Johnnie said. + +As he spoke he saw, with a mingling of surprise and disgust, that the +big painted face of Madame La Motte was full of animation and +excitement. She seemed as if the events of the last hour had but stirred +her to endeavour, had given a fillip to her sluggish life. + +More astonishing than all, she rose from her chair, gathering together +her vast, unwieldy bulk, came round from behind the table, and joined +their conference almost with vivacity. + +"_Tiens_," she said, "there are other countries than this. An army +beaten in an engagement is not always routed. Retreat is possible within +friendly frontiers." + +The horrible old creature had such a strength and personality about her +that, with her blood-stained mouth, her great panting body, her +trembling jewelled hands, she yet in that moment dominated them all. + +"There is one last chance. At dawn--and dawn is near by--the ship _St. +Iago_ sails from the Thames for foreign parts. The master of the ship, +Clark, is"--she lowered her voice and spoke only to Commendone--"is a +client of mine here. He is much indebted to me in many ways, and ere day +breaks we may all be aboard of her and sailing away. What is't to be, +messieurs?" + +They all looked at each other for a moment in silence. + +Then Elizabeth put her arms round the old woman's neck and kissed her. + +"Madame," she said, "surely God put this into your heart to save us all. +I will come with you, and Johnnie will come, and good John Hull withal, +and so we may escape and live." + +The old Frenchwoman patted the slim girl upon the back. "_Bien, +cherie_," she said, "that's a thing done. I will look after you and be a +mother to you, and so we will all be happy." + +Commendone and his servant looked on in amazement. At this dreadful +hour, in this moment of extremest peril, the wicked old woman seemed to +take charge of them all. She did not seem wicked now, only genial and +competent, though there was a tremor of fear in her voice and her +movements were hurried and decisive. + +"Jean-Marie," she called suddenly, and then, "Phut! I forgot. It is +under the cushions. Well, we must even do without a messenger. Have you +money, Master Commendone?" + +Johnnie shook his head. "Not here." + +"_Mais, mon Dieu!_ I have a plenty," she answered, "which is good for +all of us. Wait you here." + +She hurried away, and went up the stair towards the rooms above. + +"Shall I follow her, master?" Hull said, his hand upon his dagger. + +Johnnie shook his head. + +"No," he answered, "she is in our boat. She must sink or swim with us." + +They waited there for five or ten minutes, hearing the heavy noise of +Madame's progress above their heads. They waited there, and as they did +so the room seemed to become cold, their blood ran slowly within them, +the three grouped themselves close together as if for mutual warmth and +consolation. + +Then they heard a high-pitched voice at the top of the stairs. + +"Send your man up, Monsieur, send your man up. I have no strength to +lift this bag." + +At a nod from Johnnie, Hull ran up the stairs. In a moment more he came +down, staggering under the burden of a great leather wallet slung over +his shoulder, and was followed by Madame La Motte, now covered in a fur +cloak and hood. + +She held another on her arm. "Put it on, put it on," she said to +Elizabeth, "quickly. We must get out of this. The dawn comes, the wind +freshens, we have but an hour." + +And then in the ghostly dawn the four people left the House of Shame, +left it with the red door open to the winds, and hurried away towards +the river. + +None of them spoke. The old dame in her fur robe shuffled on with +extraordinary vitality, past straggling houses, past inns from which +nautical signs were hung, for a quarter of a mile towards the mud-marsh +which fringed the pool of Thames. She walked down a causeway of stones, +sunk in the mud and gravel, to the edge of the water. + +It was now high tide and the four came out in the grey light upon a +little stone quay where some sheds were set. + +In front of one of them, heavily covered with tar, a lantern was still +burning, wan and yellow in the coming light of day. + +Madame La Motte kicked at the door of this shed with her high-heeled +shoe. There was no response. She opened the door, burst into a stuffy, +foetid place where two men were lying upon coils of rope. She stirred +them with her foot, but they were in heavy sleep, and only groaned and +snored in answer. + +"I'll wake them, Madame," Johnnie said, "I'll stir them up," his voice +full of that thin, high note which comes to those who feel themselves +hunted. He clapped his hand to his side to find his sword; his fingers +touched an empty scabbard. Then he remembered. + +"I am swordless," he cried, forgetting everything else as he realised +it. + +Behind him there was a thud and a clanking, as John Hull dropped the +leathern bag he held. + +"Say not so, master," he said, and held out to the young man a sword in +a scabbard of crimson leather, its hilt of gold wire, its guard set with +emeralds and rubies, the belt which hung down on either side of the +blade, of polished leather studded with little stars and bosses of gold. + +"What is this?" + +"Look you, sir, as we passed out of Madame's room, I saw this sword +leaning in a corner of the wall by the door. His Highness had left it +there, doubtless, ere he went upstairs. 'So,' says I to myself, 'this is +true spoil of war, and in especial for my master!'" + +Johnnie took the sword, looked at it for a moment, and then unbuttoned +his own belt and girded it on. + +"So shall it be for a remembrance to me," he said, "for now and always." + +But he did not need to use it. Madame's exertions had been sufficient. +Her shrill, angry voice had wakened the watermen. They rose to their +feet, wiped their eyes, and, seeing persons of quality before them, they +hastened down the little hard and embarked the company in their wherry. +Then they pulled out into the stream. The tide was running fast and +free towards the Nore, but they made for a large ship of quite six +hundred tons, which was at anchor in mid-stream. When they came up to +it, and caught the hanging ladder upon the quarter with a boat-hook, the +deck was already busy with seamen in red caps, and a tarry, bearded old +salt, his head tied up in a woollen cloth, was standing on the high +poop, and cursing the men below. Madame La Motte saw him first. She put +two fat fingers in her mouth and gave a long whistle, like a street boy. + +The captain looked round him, up into the rigging where the sailors were +already busy upon the yards, looked to his right, looked to his left, +and then straight down from the poop upon the starboard quarter, and saw +Madame La Motte. He stumbled down the steps on to the main deck, and +peered over the bulwarks. "Mother of God!" he cried, "and what's this, +so early in the morning?" + +The old Frenchwoman shrieked up at him in her broken English. "_Tiens! +Tiens!_ Send your men to help us up, Captain Clark. Thou art not awake. +Do as I tell you." + +The captain rubbed his eyes again, called out some orders, and in a +moment or two Johnnie had mounted the ladder, and stood upon the deck. + +"Now the ladies," he said in a quick, authoritative voice. + +Elizabeth came up to the side, and then it was the question of Madame +La Motte. John Hull stood in the tossing, heaving wherry, and gave the +woman her first impetus. She clawed the side ropes, cursing and spitting +like a cat as she did so, mounting the low waist of the ship like a +great black slug. As soon as she got within arm's length of the captain +and a couple of sailors, they caught her and heaved her on board as if +she had been a sack, and within ten seconds afterwards John Hull, with +the leather bag over his shoulder, stood on the deck beside them. +Johnnie felt in his pocket and found some coins there. He flung them +over to the watermen, and they fell in the centre of the boat as it +sheered off. + +Mr. Clark, captain of the _St. Iago_, was now very wide awake. + +"I will thank ye, Madame," he said, "to explain your boarding of my ship +with your friends." + +The quick-witted Frenchwoman went up to him, put her fat arms round his +neck, pulled his head down, and spoke in his ear for a minute. When she +had finished the captain raised his head, scratched his ear, and looked +doubtfully at Commendone, Elizabeth, and John Hull. + +"Well," he said, in a thick voice, "since you say it, I suppose I must, +though there is little accommodation on board for the likes of you. You +pay your passage, Madame, I suppose?" + +"Phut! I will make you rich." + +The captain's eyes contracted with leery cunning. + +"There is more in this than meets mine eye--that ye should be so eager +to leave London. What have ye done, that is what I would like to know? I +must inquire into this, though we are due to sail. I must send a man +ashore to speak with the Sheriff----" + +"The Sheriff! And where would any of your dirty sailors find the Sheriff +at this hour of the morning? You'll lose the tide, Master Clark, and +you'll lose your money, too." + +The captain scratched his head again. + +"Natheless, I am not sure," he began. + +Then Johnnie stepped forward. + +"Captain Clark?" he said, in short, quick accents of authority. + +"That am I," said the captain. + +"Very good. Then you will take these ladies and bestow them as well as +you are able, and you will set sail at once. This ship, I believe, +belongs to His Worship the Alderman, Master Robert Cressemer?" + +The captain touched his forehead. + +"Yes, sir, indeed she does," he answered, in a very different voice. + +Johnnie, from where he had been standing, had looked down into the +waist, and had seen the great bags of wool with the Alderman's +trade-mark upon them. "Very well," he said, "you'll heave anchor at +once, and this is my warrant." + +He put his hand into his doublet and pulled out the Alderman's letter. +He showed him the last paragraph of it. + +It was enough. + +"I crave your pardon, master," the captain said. "I did not know that +you came from His Worship. That old Moll, I was ready to oblige her, +though it seemed a queer thing her coming aboard just as we were setting +sail. Why did you not speak at first, sir? Well, all is right. The wind +is favourable, and off we go." + +Turning away from Johnnie, he rushed up to the poop again, put his hand +to his mouth, and bellowed out a crescendo of orders. + +The yards swarmed with men, there was a "Heave ho and a rumbelow," a +clanking of the winch as the anchor came up, a flapping of unfurled +topsails at the three square-rigged masts, and in five minutes more the +_St. Iago_ began to move down the river. + +Johnnie walked along the open planking of the waist, mounted to the +poop, and heard the "lap, lap" and ripple of the river waves against the +rudder. He turned and saw not far away to his left the White Tower +growing momentarily more distinct and clear in the dawn. + +The whole of the Palace and Citadel was clear to view, the two flags of +England and Spain were just hoisted, running out before the breeze. To +his left, as he turned right round, were huddled houses at the southern +end of London Bridge. In one of them, empty, lit and blown through by +the morning winds, His Most Catholic Majesty was lying, silent and +helpless. + +He turned again, looked forward, and took in a great breath of the salt +air. + +The cordage began to creak, the sails to belly out, the hoarse voice of +the pilot by Johnnie's side to call directions. Presently Sheppey Island +came into view, and the sky above it was all streaked with the promise +of daylight. + +Regardless of Captain Clark and two other men, who were busied coiling +ropes and making the poop ship-shape for the Channel, Johnnie fell upon +his knees, brought the cross-belt of the King's sword to his lips, and +thanked God that he was away with his love. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"WHY, WHO BUT YOU, JOHNNIE!" + + +Three weeks and two days had passed, and the _St. Iago_ was off Lisbon, +and at anchor. + +The sun beat down upon the decks, the pitch bubbled in the seams, but +now and then a cool breeze came off the land. The city with its long +white terraces of houses shimmered in a haze of heat, but on the west +side of the valley in which the city lay, the florid gothic of the great +church of St. Jerome, built just five-and-fifty years before, was +perfectly clear-cut against the sapphire sky--burnt into a vast enamel +of blue, it seemed; bright grey upon blue, with here and there a +twinkling spot of gold crowning the towers. + +Twenty-three days the ship had taken to cut through the long oily +Atlantic swell and come to port. There had been no rough winds in the +Bay, no tempests such as make it terrible for mariners at other times of +the year. + + * * * * * + +When they had arrived on board, and the ship had got out of the Thames, +none of the four fugitives had the slightest idea as to where they were +going--Madame La Motte least of all. The relief at their escape had +been too great; strangely enough, they had not even enquired. + +The old Frenchwoman, as soon as the ship was under way, and Captain +Clark could attend to her, had gone below with him for half an hour; +while Johnnie, Hull, and Elizabeth remained upon the poop. + +When La Motte returned, the captain was smiling. There was a genial +twinkle in his eye. He came up to the others in a very friendly fashion. + +"S'death," he said, "I am in luck's way. Here you are, Master +Commendone, that are my owner's friend and bear a letter from him; and +here is Mistress La Motte, whom I have known long agone. By carrying ye +to Cadiz I shall be earning the Alderman's gratitude, and also good red +coins of the Mint, which Madame hath now paid me." + +"Cadiz?" Johnnie said. "Cadiz in Spain?" + +"That fair city and none other," the captain answered. "Heaven favouring +us, we shall bowl along to the city of wine, of fruit, and of fish. You +shall sip the sherries of Jerez and San Lucar, and eke taste the soup of +lobsters--langosta, they call it--and _bouillabaisse_ in the southern +parts of France--upon the island of San Leon, where the folk do go upon +a Sunday for that refection. But now come you down below and see to your +quarters. I have given up my cabin to the ladies, and you, sir," he +turned to Johnnie, "must turn in with me, to which end I have +commandeered the cabin of Master Mew, that is my chief officer, and a +merry fellow from the Isle of Wight, who will sing you a right good +catch of an evening, I'll warrant. And as for this your servant, the +bo'son will look to him, and he will not be among the men." + +They had gone below, and everything was arranged accordingly. The +quarters were more comfortable than Commendone had expected, and as far +as this part of the expedition was concerned all was well. + +Nevertheless, as Johnnie came up again upon the poop with the captain, +he was in great perturbation. They were sailing to Spain! To the very +country which was ruled by the man he had so evilly entreated. Might it +not well be that, escaping Scylla, they were sailing into the whirlpool +of Charybdis? + +The captain seemed to divine something of the young man's thoughts. He +sat down upon a coil of rope and looked upward with a shrewd and +weather-beaten eye. + +"Look you here, master," he said. "Why you came aboard my ship I know +not. You caught me as I was weighing anchor. Thou art a gentleman of +condition, and yet you come aboard with no mails, and nothing but that +in which you stand up. And you come aboard in company with that old Moll +of Flanders, La Motte--no fit company for a gentleman upon a voyage. And +furthermore, you have with you a young and well-looking lady, who also +hath no baggage with her. I tell you truly that I would not have +shipped you all had it not been for the letter of His Worship the +Alderman--whose hand of write I know very well upon bills of lading and +such. I like the look of you, and as Madame there has paid me well, 'tis +no business of mine what you are doing or have done. But look you here, +if that pretty young mistress is being forced to come with you against +her will--and what else can I think when I see her in the company of old +Moll?--then I will be a party to nothing of the sort. I am not a married +man, not regular church-sworn, that is, though I have a woman friend or +two in this port or that. And moreover, I have been oft-times to visit +the house with the red door. So you'll see I am no Puritan. But at the +same time I will be no help to the ravishing of maids of gentle blood, +and that I ask you well to believe, master." + +Johnnie heard him patiently to the end. + +"Let me tell you this, captain," he said, "that in what I am doing there +is no harm of any sort. Mistress Taylor, which is the name of the +younger lady, is the ward of Mr. Robert Cressemer. The Alderman is my +very good friend. My father, Sir Henry Commendone, of Commendone in +Kent, is his constant friend and correspondent. The young lady was taken +away yesterday from her guardian's care, taken in secret by some one +high about the Court--from which I also come, being a Gentleman in the +following of King Philip. Late last night, I received a letter from the +Alderman, telling me of this, upon which I and my servant immediately +set out for where we thought to find the stolen lady, in that we might +rescue her. She had been taken, shame that it should be said, to the +house of Madame La Motte in Duck Lane. From there we took her, but in +the taking I slew a most unknightly knight of the Court, and offered a +grave indignity to one placed even more highly than he was. Of +necessity, therefore, we fled from that ill-famed house. Madame La Motte +brought us to your ship, knowing you. Her we had to take with us, for if +not, vengeance would doubtless have fallen upon her for what I did. And +that, Captain Clark, is my whole story. As regards the future, Madame La +Motte, you say, hath paid you well. I have no money with me, but I am +the son of a rich man, and moreover, I can draw upon Mr. Cressemer for +anything I require. Gin you take us safely to Cadiz, I will give you +such a letter to the Alderman as will ensure your promotion in his +service, and will also be productive of a sum of money for you. I well +know that Master Cressemer would give a bag of ducats more than you +could lift, to secure the safety of Mistress Taylor." + +The captain nodded. "Hast explained thyself very well, sir," he replied. +"As for the money, I am already paid, though if there is more to come, +the better I shall be pleased. But now that I know your state and +condition, and have heard your story, rest assured that I will do all I +can to help you. We touch at Lisbon first. There you can purchase +proper clothing for yourself and those who are with you, and there also +you can indite a letter to the Alderman, which will go to him by an +English ship very speedily. You have told your tale, and I ask to know +no more. I would not know any more, i' faith, even if thou wert to press +the knowledge on me. Now do not answer me in what I am about to say, +which, in brief, is this: We of the riverside have heard talk and +rumours. We know very well who hath now and then been a patron of La +Motte. It may be that you have come across and offered indignity to the +person of whom I speak--I am no fool, Mr. Commendone, and gentlemen of +your degree do not generally come aboard a vessel in the tideway at +early dawn in company of a mistress of a house with a red door! If what +I say is true--and I do not wish you to deny or to affirm upon the +same--then you are as well in Cadiz as anywhere else. It is, indeed, a +far cry from the Tower of London, and no one will know who you are in +Spain." + +Instinctively Johnnie held out his hand, and the big seaman clasped it +in his brown and tarry fist. + +"Yes," he said slowly, in answer, weighing his words as he did so, +"doubtless we shall be safe in Spain for a time, until advices can reach +us from England with money and reports of what has happened." + +"I said so," Captain Clark answered, "and now you see it also. Mark +you, any vengeance that might fall upon you could only be secret, +because--if it is as I think, and, indeed, well believe--the person who +has suffered indignity at your hands could not confess to it, for reason +of his state, and where it was he suffered it. In Spain it would be +different, but who's to know that you are in Spain--for a long time, at +any rate?" + +"And by that time," Johnnie replied, "I shall hope to have gone farther +afield, and be out of the fire of any one to hurt me. But there is this, +captain, which you must consider, sith you have opened your mind to me +as I to you. Enquiry will be made; the wharfingers who brought us aboard +may be discovered, and will speak. It will be known--at any rate it +_may_ be known--that you and your ship were the instruments of our +escape. And how will you do then?" + +"I like you for saying that," said the captain, "seeing that you are, as +it were, in my power. But alarm yourself not at all, Master Commendone." + +He rose from the coil of hemp where he had been sitting and spat out +into the sea. + +"By'r Lady," he cried, "and dost think that an honest British seafaring +man fears anything that a rascally, yellow-faced, jelly-gutted lot of +Spanish toads, that have fastened them on to our fair England, can do? +Why! as thinking is now, in the City of London, my owner, Master +Cressemer, and three or four others with him, could put such pressure +upon Whitehall that ne'er a word would be said. It is them that hath the +money, and the train bands at their back, that both pay the piper and +call the tune in London City." + +"I'm glad you take it that way, captain," Commendone said, "but I felt +bound in duty to put your risk before you. Yet if it is as you say, and +the power of the merchant princes of the City is so great, why do those +about the Queen burn and throw in prison so many good men for their +religion?" + +"Ah, there you have me," said the captain. "Religion is a very different +thing--a plague to religion, say I--though I would not say it unless I +were walking my own deck and upon the high seas. But, look you, religion +is very different. They can burn a man for his religion in England, but +if he is in otherwise right, according to the powers that be, they +cannot make religion a mere excuse for burning him. Now I myself am a +good Catholic mariner"--he put his tongue in his cheek as he +spoke--"when I am ashore I take very good care--these days--to be +regular at Mass. And this ship hath been baptised by a priest withal! +Make your mind at rest; they cannot touch me in England for taking of +you away. There is too much at my back! And they cannot touch me in +Spain because no one will know anything about it there. And now 'tis +time for dinner. So come you down. There's a piece of pickled beef that +hath been in the pot this long time, and good green herbs with it +too--the want of which you will feel ere ever you make the Tagus." + + * * * * * + +It is astonishing--although the observation is trite--how soon people +adapt themselves to entirely new conditions of life. The environment of +yesterday seems like the experience of another life; that of to-day, +though we have but just experienced it, becomes already a thing of use +and wont. + +It was thus with the fugitives. They were not three days out from London +River before they had shaken down into their places and life had become +normal to them all. + +It was not, of course, without its discomforts. Hull, messing with the +bo'son, was very well off and speedily became popular with every one. +The brightness and cheeriness of the fellow's disposition made him hail +and happy met with all of them, while his great personal strength and +general handiness detracted nothing from his popularity. Madame La +Motte, wicked old soldier of fortune as she was, adapted herself to her +surroundings with true and cynical French philosophy. She, who was used +to live in the greatest personal luxury, put up with the rough fare, the +confined quarters, with equanimity, though it was fortunate that their +passage was smooth, and that all the time the sea was tranquil as a +pond. She was accustomed to drink fine French and Italian wines--and to +drink a great deal of them. Now she found, perforce, consolation in +Captain Clark's puncheons of Antwerp spirit, the white fiery _schiedam_. +She was a drunkard, this engaging lady, and imbibed great quantities of +liquor, much to the satisfaction of the captain, who was paid for it in +good coin of the realm. + +The woman never became confused or intoxicated by what she drank. +Towards the end of the day she became a little sentimental, and was wont +to talk overmuch of her good birth, to expatiate upon the fallen glories +of her family. Nevertheless, no single word escaped her which could +shock or enlighten the sensitive purity of the young girl who was now in +her charge. There must have been some truth in her stories, because +Commendone, who was a thoroughly well-bred man, could see that her +manners were those of his own class. There was certainly a +free-and-easiness, a rakish _bonhomie_, and a caustic wit which was no +part of the attributes of the great ladies Johnnie had met--always +excepting the wit. This side of the old woman came from the depths into +which she had descended; but in other essentials she was a lady, and the +young man, with his limited experience of life, marvelled at it, and +more than once thanked God that things were no worse. + +It was during this strange voyage that he learnt, or began to learn, +that great lesson of _tolerance_, which was to serve him so well in his +after life. He realised that there was good even in this unclean old +procuress; that she had virtues which some decent women he had known had +lacked. She tended Elizabeth with a maternal care; the girl clung to +her, became fond of her at once, and often said to Johnnie how kind the +woman was to her and what an affection she inspired. + +Reflecting on these things in the lonely watches of the night, +Commendone saw his views of life perceptibly changing and becoming +softened. This young man, so carefully trained, so highly educated, so +exquisitely refined in thought and behaviour, found himself feeling a +real friendship and something akin to tenderness for this kindly, +battered jetsam of life. + +She spoke frankly to him about her dreadful trade of the past, regarding +it philosophically. There was a demand; fortune or fate had put her in +the position of supplying that demand. _Il faut vivre_--and there you +were! And yet it was a most singular contradiction that this woman, who +for so long had exploited and sold womanhood, was now as kind and +tender, as scrupulous and loving to Elizabeth Taylor as if the girl was +her own daughter. + +It was not without great significance, Johnnie remembered, that the soul +of the Canaanitish harlot was the first that Christ redeemed. + +With Elizabeth--and surely there was never a stranger courting--Johnnie +sank at once into the position of her devoted lover. It seemed +inevitable. There was no prelude to it; there were no hesitations; it +just happened, as if it were a thing pre-ordained. + +From the very first the girl accepted him as her natural protector; she +looked up to him in all things; he became her present and her horizon. + +It was on one lovely night, when the moon was rising, the winds were +soft and low, and the stars came out in the dark sky like golden rain, +that he first spoke to her of what was to happen. + +It was all quite simple, though inexpressibly sweet. + +They were alone together in the forward part of the ship, and suddenly +he took her slim white hand--like a thing of carved and living +ivory--and held it close to his heart. + +"My dear," he said, in a voice tremulous with feeling, "my dear Lizzie, +you are my love and my lady. When first I saw you outside St. Botolph +his Church, so slim and sorrowful in the grey dawning, my heart was +pierced with love for you, and during the sad day that came I vowed that +I would devote my life to loving you, and that if God pleased thou +shouldst be my little wife. Wilt marry me, darling? nay, thou _must_ +marry me, for I need you so sore, to be mine for ever both here in this +mortal world and afterwards with God and His Angels. Tell me, +sweetheart, wilt marry me?" + +She looked up in his face, and the little hand upon his heart trembled +as she did so. + +"Why, Johnnie," she answered at length, "why, Johnnie, who could I marry +but you?" + +He gathered the sweet and fragrant Simplicity to him; he kissed the soft +scarlet mouth, his strong arms were a home for her. + +"Or ever we get to Seville," he said, "we will be married, sweetheart, +and never will we part from that day." + +She echoed him. "Never part!" she said. "Oh, Johnnie, my true love; my +dear and darling Johnnie!" + + * * * * * + +At Lisbon, where they lay five days, Madame La Motte and Elizabeth went +ashore, and purchased suitable clothes and portmanteaux, while Johnnie +also fitted himself out afresh. Madame La Motte had brought a very large +sum with her in carefully hoarded gold, while she had also carried away +all her jewels, which, in themselves, were worth a small fortune. She +placed the whole of her money at Commendone's disposal, and made him +take charge of it, with an airy generosity which much touched the young +man. He explained to her that in the course of three months or so any +money that he needed would reach him from England, and that she would be +repaid, but she hardly seemed to hear him and waved such suggestion +away. And it is a most curious thing that not till a long time afterward +did it ever occur to the young man how and in what way the money he was +using had been earned. The realisation of that was to come to him later; +the time was not yet. + +At Lisbon the passengers on board the _St. Iago_ were added to. A small +yellow-faced Spaniard of very pleasant manners--Don Pedro Perez by +name--bought a passage to Cadiz from Captain Clark, and there was +another fellow of the lower classes, a tall, athletic young man, very +much of Johnnie's build, though with a heavy and rather cruel face, who +also joined the vessel. This person, who paid the captain a small sum to +be carried to the great port, lived with the sailors, and interfered +nothing with the life of the others. + +Don Perez proved himself an amusing companion and was very courteous to +the ladies. + +From him Johnnie made many enquiries and learnt a good deal of what he +wanted to know. It will be remembered that Commendone's mother was a +Spaniard, a girl of the Senebria family of Seville. Johnnie knew little +of his relations on his mother's side, but old Sir Henry still kept up +some slight intercourse with Don Jose Senebria, the brother of his late +wife. Now and again a cask of wine and some pottles of olives arrived at +Commendone, and occasionally the knight returned the present, sending +out bales of Flemish cloth. It was Johnnie's purpose to immediately +proceed from Cadiz to Seville after their arrival at the port. He learnt +with satisfaction that Don Jose still inhabited the old family palace by +the Giralda, and he felt that he would at least be among friends and +sure of a welcome. + +While the _St. Iago_ lay at Lisbon, two days before she set sail from +there, an English ship arrived, and from that time until she weighed +anchor Johnnie and none of his companions went ashore. It was extremely +unlikely that they would incur any danger, for the _Queen Mary_, which +was the name of the ship, must have sailed at very much the same time as +they did. It was as well, however, to undergo no unnecessary risks. + +On the day before the _St. Iago_ sailed for Cadiz a great Spanish galley +came up the Tagus, a long and splendid ship, gliding swiftly up the +river with its two banks of oars. It was the first galley Johnnie had +ever seen, and he shuddered as he thought of the chained slaves below, +who propelled that sort of vessel, which was spoken of in England as a +floating hell. The galley lay at Lisbon for several hours, and then at +evening left the wharf where she had been tied and once more went down +the river for the open sea. + +Johnnie was on deck as she passed, just about sunset, and watched with +great interest, for the galley crossed the stern of the _St. Iago_ only +fifty yards away from him. + +He heard the regular machine-like chunking of the oars; he heard also a +sharper, more pistol-like sound, which he knew was none other than the +cracking of the overseers' whips, as they flogged the slaves to greater +exertions. + +He did not see that among a little group of people upon the high +castellated poop of the galley there was one figure, a tall figure, +muffled in a cloak, and with a broad-brimmed Spanish hat low upon its +face, who started and peered eagerly at him as the ship went by. + +Nor did he hear a low chuckle of amusement which came from that cloaked +figure. + +Elizabeth was standing by his side. He turned to her. + +"Let us go below," he said; "they will be bringing supper. Sweetheart, I +feel sad to think of those wretched men that pull that splendid ship so +swiftly through the seas." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +"MISERICORDIA ET JUSTITIA" + +(_The ironic motto of the Spanish Inquisition_) + + +They had passed Cape de St. Vincent, and, under a huge copper-coloured +moon which flooded the sea with light and seemed like a chased buckler +of old Rome, were slipping along towards Faro, southwards and eastwards +to Cadiz. + +The night was fair, sweet, and golden. The airs which filled the sails +of the square-rigged ship were soft and warm. The "lap, lap" of the +small waves upon the cutwater was soothing and in harmony with the hour. + +Elizabeth had been sleeping in the cabin long since, but Commendone, old +Madame La Motte, and the little weazened Don Perez were sitting on the +forecastle deck together, among the six brass carronades which were +mounted there, ready loaded, in case of an attack by the pirates of +Tangier. + +"You were going to tell us, Senor," Johnnie said, "something of the Holy +Office, and why, when you leave Seville, you leave Spain for ever." + +Don Perez nodded. He rose to his feet and peered round the wooden tower +of the forecastle, which nearly filled the bow-deck. + +"There is nobody there," he said, with a little sigh of relief. "That +fellow we took aboard at Lisbon is down in the waist with the mariners." + +"But why do you fear him?" Johnnie answered in surprise. + +The little yellow man plucked at his pointed black beard, hesitated for +a moment, and then spoke. + +"Have you noticed his hands, Senor?" he asked. + +"Since you say so," Johnnie replied, with wonder in his voice, "I have +noticed them. He is a proper young man of his inches, strong and an +athlete, though I like not his face. But his hands are out of all +proportion. They are too large, and the thumbs too broad--indeed, I have +never seen thumbs like them upon a hand before." + +Don Pedro Perez nodded significantly. "_Ciertamenta_," he answered +dryly. "It is hereditary; it comes of his class. He is a sworn torturer +of the Holy Office." + +Johnnie shuddered. They had been speaking in Spanish. Now he exclaimed +in his own tongue. "Good God!" he said, "how horrible!" + +Perez grinned sadly and cynically as the moonlight fell upon his yellow +face. "You may well start, Senor," he said, "but you know little of the +land to which you are going yet." + +There came a sudden, rapid exclamation in French. Madame La Motte, +speaking in that slow, frightened voice which had been hers throughout +the voyage, was interposing. + +"I don't understand," she said, "but I want to hear what the gentleman +has to say. He speaks French; let us therefore use that language." + +Don Perez bowed. "I am quite agreeable," he said; "but I doubt, Madame, +that you will care to hear all I was going to tell the Senor here." + +"Phut!" said the Frenchwoman. "I know more evil things than you or Don +Commendone have ever dreamed of. Say what you will." + +Don Perez drew a little nearer to the others, squatting down, with his +head against the bow-men's tower. + +"You have asked me about the Inquisition, Monsieur and Madame," he said +in a low voice, "and as ye are going to Seville, I will tell you, for +you have been courteous and kind to me since I left Lisbon, and you may +as well be warned. I am peculiarly fitted to tell you, because my +brother--God and Our Lady rest his blood-stained soul!--was a notary of +the Holy Office at Seville. We are, originally, Lisbon people, and my +brother was paying a visit to his family, being on leave from his +duties. He caught fever and died, and I am bearing back his papers with +me to Seville, from which city I shall depart as soon as may be. It is +only care for my own skin that makes me act thus as executor to my +brother, Garcia Perez. Did I not, they would seek me out wherever I +might be." + +"You go in fear, then?" Johnnie asked curiously. + +"All Spaniards go in fear," Perez answered, "under this reign. It is the +horror of the Inquisition that while any one may be haled before it on a +complaint which is anonymous, hardly any one ever escapes certain +penalties. Senor," his voice trembled, and a deep note of feeling came +into it, "if the fate of that wretch is heavy who, being innocent of +heresy, will not confess his guilt, and is therefore tortured until he +confesses imaginary guilt, and is then burned to death, hardly less is +the misery of the victim who recants or repenteth and is freed from the +penalty of death." + +"_Tiens!_" said La Motte, shuddering. "I have heard somewhat of this in +Paris; but continue, Monsieur, continue." + +"No one knows," the little man answered, "how the Holy Office is +striking at the root of all national life in my country. And no one has +a better knowledge of it all at second hand--for, thank Our Lady, I have +never yet been suspected or arraigned--than I myself, for my brother +being for long notary and secretary to the Grand Inquisitor of Seville, +I have heard much. Now I must tell you, that the place of torture is +generally an underground and very dark room, to which one enters through +several doors. There is a tribunal erected in it, where the Inquisitor, +Inspector, and Secretary sit. When the candles are lighted, and the +person to be tortured is brought in, the executioner, who is waiting +for him, makes an astonishing and dreadful appearance. He is covered all +over with black linen garments down to his feet and tied close to his +body. His head and face are all hidden with a long black cowl, only two +little holes being left in it for him to see through. All this is +intended to strike the miserable wretch with greater terror in mind and +body, when he sees himself going to be tortured by the hands of one who +thus looks like the very Devil." + +Johnnie moved uneasily in his seat and struck the breech of a carronade +with his open hand. "Phew! Devil's tricks indeed," he said. + +"Whilst," Don Perez went on, "whilst the officers are getting things +ready for the torture, the Bishop and Inquisitor by themselves, and +other men zealous for the faith, endeavour to persuade the person to be +tortured freely to confess the truth, and if he will not, they order the +officers to strip him, who do it in an instant. + +"Whilst the person to be tortured is stripping, he is persuaded to +confess the truth. If he refuses it, he is taken aside by certain men +and urged to confess, and told by them that if he confesses he will not +be put to death, but only be made to swear that he will not return to +the heresy he hath abjured. If he is persuaded neither by threatenings +nor promises to confess his crime, he is tortured either more lightly or +grievously according as his crime requires, and frequently interrogated +during the torture upon those articles for which he is put to it, +beginning with the lesser ones, because they think he would sooner +confess the lesser matters than the greater." + +"Criminals are racked in England," Johnnie said, "and are flogged most +grievously, as well they deserve, I do not doubt." + +Perez chuckled. "Aye," he said, "that I well know; but you have nothing +in England like the Holy Office. But let me tell you more as to the law +of it, for, as I have said, my brother was one of them." + +He went on in a low regular voice, almost as if he were repeating +something learned by rote.... + +"What think you of this? The Inquisitors themselves must interrogate the +criminals during their torture, nor can they commit this business to +others unless they are engaged in other important affairs, in which case +they may depute certain skilful men for the purpose. + +"Although in other nations criminals are publicly tortured, yet in Spain +it is forbidden by the Royal Law for any to be present whilst they are +torturing, besides the judges, secretaries, and torturers. The +Inquisitors must also choose proper torturers, born of ancient +Christians, who must be bound by oath by no means to discover their +secrets, nor to report anything that is said. + +"The judges also shall protest that if the criminal should happen to die +under his torture, or by reason of it, or should suffer the loss of any +of his limbs, it is not to be imputed to them, but to the criminal +himself, who will not plainly confess the truth before he is tortured. + +"A heretic may not only be interrogated concerning himself, but in +general also concerning his companions and accomplices in his crime, his +teachers and his disciples, for he ought to discover them, though he be +not interrogated; but when he is interrogated concerning them, he is +much more obliged to discover them than his accomplices in any other the +most grievous crimes. + +"A person also suspected of heresy and fully convicted may be tortured +upon another account, that is, to discover his companions and +accomplices in the crime. This must be done when he hesitates, or it is +half fully proved, at least, that he was actually present with them, or +he hath such companions and accomplices in his crime; for in this case +he is not tortured as a criminal, but as a witness. + +"But he who makes full confession of himself is not tortured upon a +different account; whereas if he be a negative he may be tortured upon +another account, to discover his accomplices and other heretics though +he be full convicted himself, and it be half fully proved that he hath +such accomplices. + +"The reason of the difference in these cases is this, because he who +confesses against himself would certainly much rather confess against +other heretics if he knew them. But it is otherwise when the criminal is +a negative. + +"While these things are doing, the notary writes everything down in the +process, as what tortures were inflicted, concerning what matters the +prisoner was interrogated, and what he answered. + +"If by these tortures they cannot draw from him a confession, they show +him other kind of tortures, and tell him he must undergo all of them, +unless he confesses the truth. + +"If neither by these means they can extort the truth, they may, to +terrify him and engage him to confess, assign the second or third day to +continue, not to repeat, the torture, till he hath undergone all those +kinds of them to which he is condemned." + +"It is bitter cruel," Madame La Motte said, "bitter cruel. It is not +honest torture such as we have in Paris." + +Commendone shuddered. "Honest torture!" he said. "There is no torture +which is honest, nor could be liked by Christ our Lord. I saw a saint +burned to his death a few weeks agone. It taught me a lesson." + +The little Spaniard tittered. "It must be! It must be!" he said; "and +who are you and I, Senor, to flout the decrees of Holy Church? The +burning doth not last for long. I have seen a many burned upon the +Quemadero, and twenty minutes is the limit of their suffering. It is not +so in the dungeons of the Holy Office." + +"What then do they do?" Madame La Motte asked eagerly, though she +trembled as she asked it--morbid excitement alone being able to thrill +her vicious, degenerate blood. + +"The degrees of torture are five, which are inflicted in turn," Perez +answered briskly. "First, the being threatened to be tortured; secondly, +being carried to the place of torture; thirdly, by stripping and +binding; fourthly, the being hoisted on the rack; fifthly, squassation. + +"The stripping is performed without any regard to humanity or honour, +not only to men, but to women and virgins, though the most virtuous and +chaste, of whom they have sometimes many in their prison at Seville. For +they cause them to be stripped even to their very shifts, which they +afterwards take off, forgive the expression, and then put on them +straight linen drawers, and then make their arms naked quite up to their +shoulders.--You ask me what is squassation?" + +Nobody had asked him, but he went on: + +"It is thus performed: The prisoner hath his hands bound behind his back +and weights tied to his feet, and then he is drawn up on high till his +head reaches the very pulley. He is kept hanging in this manner for some +time, that by the greatness of the weight hanging at his feet, all his +joints and limbs may be dreadfully stretched, and on a sudden he is let +down with a jerk by slacking the rope, but kept from coming quite to the +ground, by the which terrible shake his arms and legs are all +disjointed, whereby he is put to the most exquisite pain; the shock +which he receives by the sudden stop of the fall, and the weight at his +feet, stretching his whole body more intently and cruelly." + +Johnnie jumped up from the deck and stretched his arms. "What fiends be +these!" he cried. "Is there no justice nor true legal process in Spain?" + +"Holy Church! Holy Church, Senor!" the Don replied. "But sit you down +again. Sith you are going to Seville, as I understand you to say, let me +tell you what happened to a noble lady of that city, Joan Bohorquia, the +wife of Francis Varquius, a very eminent man and lord of Highuera, and +daughter of Peter Garcia Xeresius, a most wealthy citizen. All this I +tell you of my personal knowledge, in that my brother was acquainted +with it all and part of the machinery of the Holy Office. And this is a +most sad and pitiful story, which, Senor Englishman, you would think a +story of the doings of devils from hell! But no! 'Twas all done by the +priests of Jesus our Lord; and so now to my story. + +"Eight days after her delivery they took the child from her, and on the +fifteenth shut her close up, and made her undergo the fate of the other +prisoners, and began to manage her with their usual arts and rigour. In +so dreadful a calamity she had only this comfort, that a certain pious +young woman, who was afterwards burned for her religion by the +Inquisitors, was allowed her for her companion. + +"This young creature was, on a certain day, carried out to her torture, +and being returned from it into her jail, she was so shaken, and had all +her limbs so miserably disjointed, that when she laid upon her bed of +rushes it rather increased her misery than gave her rest, so that she +could not turn herself without most excessive pain. + +"In this condition, as Bohorquia had it not in her power to show her any +or but very little outward kindness, she endeavoured to comfort her mind +with great tenderness. + +"The girl had scarce begun to recover from her torture, when Bohorquia +was carried out to the same exercise, and was tortured with such +diabolical cruelty upon the rack, that the rope pierced and cut into the +very bones in several places, and in this manner she was brought back to +prison, just ready to expire, the blood immediately running out of her +mouth in great plenty. Undoubtedly they had burst her bowels, insomuch +that the eighth day after her torture she died. + +"And when, after all, they could not procure sufficient evidence to +condemn her, though sought after and procured by all their inquisitorial +arts, yet as the accused person was born in that place, where they were +obliged to give some account of the affair to the people, and, indeed, +could not by any means dissemble it, in the first act of triumph +appointed her death, they commanded her sentence to be pronounced in +these words: 'Because this lady died in prison (without doubt +suppressing the causes of it), and was found to be innocent upon +inspecting and diligently examining her cause, therefore the holy +tribunal pronounces her free from all charges brought against her by the +fiscal, and absolving her from any further process, doth restore her +both as to her innocence and reputation, and commands all her effects, +which had been confiscated, to be restored to those to whom they of +right belonged, etc.' And thus, after they had murdered her by torture +with savage cruelty, they pronounced her innocent!" + +"I will not go to Spain! They'll have me; they're bound to have me! I +dare not go!" La Motte spluttered. + +"Hush, Madame!" said Perez. "Even here on the high seas you do not know +who hears you--there is that man...." + +Again Johnnie leapt to his feet; he paced up and down the little portion +of the deck between the forecastle and bowsprit. + +Elizabeth was sleeping quietly down below. He had seen her father die. +His mind whirled. "Jesus!" he said in a low voice, "and is this indeed +Thy world, when men who love Thee must die for a shadow of belief in +their worship! Surely some savage pagan god would not exact this from +his votaries." + +He swung round to Perez, still sitting upon the deck. + +"And may not we love God and His Mother in Spain?" he asked, "without +definitions and little tiny rules? Then, if this is so, God indeed +hides His face from Christian countries." + +"_Chiton!_" the Spaniard said. "Hush! if you said that, Senor, or +anything like it, where you are going, you would not be twelve hours out +of the prisons of the Holy Office. If that hang-faced dog who is down +below with the mariners had heard you, you might well look to your +landing in the dominions of his Most Catholic Majesty." + +He laughed, a bitter and cynical laugh. "Well," he said, "for my part, I +shall soon be done with it. Hitherto I have been protected by my +brother, who, as I have told you, is but lately dead; but, knowing what +I know, I dare no longer remain in Spain. 'Tis a wonder to me, indeed, +that men can go about their business under the sun in the fashion that +they do. But I am not strong enough to endure the strain, and also I +know more than the ordinary--I know too much. So when I have delivered +the papers that I carry of my brother's to the authorities in Seville, I +sail away. I have enough money to live in ease for the rest of my life, +and in some little vineyard of the Apeninnes I shall watch my grapes +ripen, live a simple life, and meditate upon the ferocity of men.--But +you have not heard all yet, Senor." + +Johnnie leant against the forecastle, tall and silent in the moonlight. + +"Then tell me more, Senor," he said; "it is well to know all. But"--he +looked at Madame La Motte. + +"_Continuez_," the old creature answered in a cracked voice; "I also +would hear it all, if, indeed, there is worse than this." + +"Worse!" Perez answered. "Let me tell you of the fate of a man I knew +well, and liked withal. He was a Jew, Senor, but nevertheless I liked +him well. We had dealings together, and I found him more honest in his +walking than many a Christian man. Orobio was his name--Isaac Orobio, +doctor of physic, who was accused to the Inquisition as a Jew by a +certain Moor, his servant, who had, by his order, before this been +whipped for thieving. Orobio conformed to religion, but the Moor accused +him, and four years after this he was again accused by an enemy of his, +for another fact which would have proved him a Jew. But Orobio +obstinately denied that he was one." + +"I like not Jews," Commendone said, with a little shudder, voicing the +popular hatred of the day. + +"Art young, Senor," the Spaniard replied, "and doubtless thou hast not +known nor been friends with members of that oppressed race. I have known +many, and have had sweet friends among them; and among the Ebrews are to +be found salt of the earth. But I will give you the story of Orobio's +torture as I had it from his own mouth. + +"After three whole years which he had been in jail, and several +examinations, and the discovery of the crimes to him of which he was +accused, in order to his confession and his constant denial of them, he +was, at length, carried out of his jail and through several turnings and +brought to the place of torture. This was towards evening. + +"It was a large, underground room, arched, and the walls covered with +black hangings. The candlesticks were fastened to the wall, and the +whole room enlightened with candles placed in them. At one end of it +there was an enclosed place like a closet, where the Inquisitor and +notary sat at a table--that notary, Senor, was my brother. The place +seemed to Orobio as the very mansion of death, everything appearing so +terrible and awful. Here the Inquisitor again admonished him to confess +the truth before his torment began. + +"When he answered he had told the truth, the Inquisitor gravely +protested that since he was so obstinate as to suffer the torture, the +Holy Office would be innocent if he should shed his blood, or even +expire in his torments. When he had said this, they put a linen garment +over Orobio's body, and drew it so very close on each side as almost to +squeeze him to death. When he was almost dying, they slackened, at once, +the sides of the garment, and after he began to breathe again, the +sudden alteration put him to most grievous anguish and pain. When he had +overcome this torture, the same admonition was repeated, that he would +confess the truth in order to prevent further torment. + +"And as he persisted in his denial, they tied his thumbs so very tightly +with small cords as made the extremities of them greatly swell, and +caused the blood to spurt out from under his nails. After this, he was +placed with his back against the wall and fixed upon a little bench. +Into the wall were fastened little iron pulleys, through which there +were ropes drawn and tied round his body in several places, and +especially his arms and legs. The executioner drawing these ropes with +great violence, fastened his body with them to the wall, so that his +hands and feet, and especially his fingers and toes, being bound so +straitly with them, put him to the most exquisite pain, and seemed to +him just as though he had been dissolving in flames. In the midst of +these torments, the torturer of a sudden drew the bench from under him, +so that the miserable wretch hung by the cords without anything to +support him, and by the weight of his body drew the knots yet much +closer. + +"After this a new kind of torture succeeded. There was an instrument +like a small ladder, made of two upright pieces of wood and five cross +ones, sharpened before. This the torturer placed over against him, and +by a certain proper motion struck it with great violence against both +his shins, so that he received upon each of them, at once, five violent +strokes, which put him to such intolerable anguish that he fainted away. +After he came to himself they inflicted on him the last torture. + +"The torturer tied ropes round Orobio's wrists, and then put those ropes +about his own back, which was covered with leather to prevent his +hurting himself. Then, falling backwards, and putting his feet up +against the wall, he drew them with all his might till they cut through +Orobio's flesh, even to the very bones; and this torture was repeated +thrice, the ropes being tied about his arms, about the distance of two +fingers' breadth from his former wound, and drawn with the same +violence. + +"But it happened to poor Orobio that as the ropes were drawing the +second time they slid into the first wound, which caused so great an +effusion of blood that he seemed to be dying. Upon this, the physician +and surgeon, who are always ready, were sent for out of a neighbouring +apartment, to ask their advice, whether the torture could be continued +without danger of death, lest the ecclesiastical judges should be guilty +of an irregularity if the criminal should die in his torments. + +"Now they, Senor, who were very far from being enemies to Orobio, +answered that he had strength enough to endure the rest of the torture. +And by doing this they preserved him from having the torture he had +already endured repeated on him, because his sentence was that he should +suffer them all at one time, one after another, so that if at any time +they are forced to leave off, through fear of death, the tortures, even +those already suffered, must be successively inflicted to satisfy the +sentence. Upon this the torture was repeated the third time, and then +was ended. After this Orobio was bound up in his own clothes and carried +back to his prison, and was scarce healed of his wounds in seventy +days, and inasmuch as he made no confession under his torture, he was +condemned, not as one convicted, but suspected of Judaism, to wear for +two whole years the infamous habit called the _sanbenito_, and it was +further decreed that after that term he should suffer perpetual +banishment from the kingdom of Seville." + +The Frenchwoman, who had been listening with strained attention, broke +in suddenly. "_Nom de Dieu!_" she cried; "to be banished from there +would surely be like entering into paradise!" + +Perez went on. He took a morbid pleasure in the telling of these hideous +truths. It was obvious that he had long suffered mentally under the +obsession that some day some such horrors might happen to himself. +Connected with it all by family ties, absolutely unable to say a word +for many years, now, under the sweet skies of heaven, in the calm and +splendid night, he was disemburdening himself of that which had been +pent within him for so long. + +He seemed impatient of interruption, anxious to say more.... + +"Ah," he whispered, "but the _Tormento di Toca_, that is the worst, that +would frighten me more than all--that, the _Chafing-dish_, and the +_Water-Cure_. The _Tormento di Toca_ is that the torturer--that fellow +down there with the sailors has doubtless performed it full many a +time--the torturer throws over the victim's mouth and nostrils a thin +cloth, so that he is scarce able to breathe through it, and in the +meanwhile a small stream of water, like a thread, not drop by drop, +falls from on high upon the mouth of the person lying in this miserable +condition, and so easily sinks down the thin cloth to the bottom of his +throat, so that there is no possibility of breathing, the mouth being +stopped with water, and his nostrils with the cloth, so that the poor +wretch is in the same agony as persons ready to die, and breathing out +their last. When the cloth is drawn out of his throat, as it often is, +that he may answer to the questions, it is all wet with water and blood, +and is like pulling his bowels through his mouth." + +"What is the _Chafing-dish_?" Madame La Motte asked thinly. + +"They order a large iron chafing-dish full of lighted charcoal to be +brought in and held close to the soles of the tortured person's feet, +greased over with lard, so that the heat of the fire may more quickly +pierce through them. And as for the _Water-Cure_, it was done to William +Lithgow, an Englishman, Senor, upon whom my brother saw it performed. He +was taken up as a spy in Malaga, and was exposed to most cruel torments +as an heretic. He was condemned in the beginning of Lent to suffer the +night following eleven most cruel torments, and after Easter to be +carried privately to Granada, there to be burned at midnight, and his +ashes to be scattered into the air. When night came on his fetters were +taken off. Then he was stripped naked, put upon his knees, and his head +lifted up by force, after which, opening his mouth with iron +instruments, they filled his belly with water till it came out of his +jaws. Then they tied a rope hard about his neck, and in this condition +rolled him seven times the whole length of the room, till he almost +quite strangled. After this they tied a small cord about both his great +toes, and hung him up thereby with his head down, letting him remain in +this condition till the water discharged out of his mouth, so that he +was laid on the ground as just dead, and had his irons put on him +again." + +"Is this true, Senor?" Commendone asked in a low voice; but even while +he asked it he knew how true it was--had he not seen Dr. Taylor beaten +to the stake? + +"True, Senor?" the little man said. "You do not doubt my word? I see you +do not. It was but a natural expression. You are fortunate to be a +citizen of England--a citizen of no mean country--but still, as I have +heard, now that His Most Catholic Majesty is wedded to your kingdom +there are many burnings." + +"At any rate," Johnnie answered hotly, "we have no Holy Office." + +"Aye, but you will, Senor, you _will_! if the Queen Maria liveth long +enough, for they tell me she is sickly, and not like to make a goodly +age. But still, to come from England is most deadly unwise, and I cannot +think why a _caballero_ should care to do so." + +Johnnie did not answer him for a moment. He knew very well why he had +cared, or dared, to do so. He looked at Madame La Motte with a grim +little smile. + +The woman took him on the instant. + +"A chevalier, such as Monsieur here, hath his own reasons for where he +goes and what he does," she said. "Take not upon you, Monsieur Perez, to +enquire too much...." + +Johnnie stopped her with a sudden exclamation. + +"But touching the Holy Office, Senor," he said, "what you have told me +is all very well. I am a good Catholic, I trust and hope; but surely +these circumstances are very occasional. You describe things which have +doubtless happened, but not things which happen every day. It is +impossible to believe that this is a system." + +"Think you so?" said the little man. "Then I will very soon disabuse you +of any such idea. I have papers in my mails, papers of my brother's, +which--why, who comes here?" + +His voice died away into silence, as round the other side of the wooden +tower of the forecastle--with which all big merchantmen were provided in +those days for defence against the enterprise of pirates--a black +shadow, followed by a short, thick-set form, came into their view. + +Johnnie recognised Hull. + +"I thought you had been asleep," he said, "but thou art very welcome. We +are talking of grave matters dealing with the foreign parts to which we +go, and the Senor Don here hath been telling us much. Still, thou +wouldst not have understood hadst thou been with us, for Don Perez +speaks naught but the Spanish and the French." + +The little Spaniard, standing up against the bulwarks, looked uneasily +towards Commendone and his servant, comprehending nothing of what was +said. + +"This man is safe?" he asked in a trembling voice. + +"Safe!" Johnnie answered. "This is my faithful servant, who would die +for me and the lady who is sleeping below." + +A freakish humour possessed him, a bitter, freakish humour, in this +fantastic, brilliant moonlight, this ironic comedy upon the +southern-growing seas. + +"Take him by the hand, Senor," he said in Spanish, "take him by his +great, strong right hand, for I'll wager you will not easily shake a +hand so honest in the dominions of the King of Spain to which we sail." + +The little man looked round him as if in fear. There was an obvious +suggestion in his eyes and face that he was somehow trapped. + +"Hold out thy hand, John Hull, and shake that of this honest gentleman," +Johnnie said. + +The big brown hand of the Englishman went out, the little yellow fingers +of the Spaniard advanced tentatively towards it. + +They shook hands. + +Johnnie watched it with amusement. These dreadful stories of unthinkable +cruelty had stirred up something within him. He was not cruel, but very +tender-hearted, yet this little play upon the doubting Spaniard was +welcome and fitted in with his mood. + +Then he saw an astonishing thing, and one which he could not explain. + +The two men, the huge, squat John Hull of Suffolk, the little weazened +gentleman from Lisbon, shook hands, looked at each other earnestly in +the face, and then, wonder of wonders, linked arms, turned their backs +upon Johnnie and the sleepy old Frenchwoman by the carronade, and spoke +earnestly to each other for a moment. + +Their forms were silhouetted against the silver sea. There was an +inexplicable motion of arms, a word whispered and a word exchanged, and +then Don Perez wheeled round. + +In the moonlight and the glimmer from the lantern on the forecastle, +Johnnie saw that his face, which had been twitching with anxiety, was +now absolutely at rest. It was radiant even, excited, pleased--it wore +the aspect of one alone among enemies who had found a friend. + +"'Tis all right, Senor," Perez said. "I will go and fetch you the papers +of which I spoke. You may command me in any way now. You are not +yourself--by any chance...." + +John Hull shook his head violently, and the little Spaniard skipped away +with a chuckle. + +"What is this?" John Commendone asked. "How have you made quick friends +with the Don? What is't--art magic, or what?" + +"'Tis nothing, sir," Hull answered, with some embarrassment, "'tis but +the Craft." + +"The Craft?" Johnnie asked. "And what may that be?" + +"We're brethren, this man and I," Hull answered; "we're of the +Freemasons, and that is why, master." + +Johnnie nodded. He said no more. The whole thing was inexplicable to +him. He knew, of course, of the Freemasons, that such a society existed, +but no evidence of it had ever come to his knowledge before this night. +The persecution of Freemasonry which was to ensue in Queen Elizabeth's +reign was not yet, and the Brethren were a very hidden people in 1555. + +There was a patter of feet upon the ladder leading up to the +forecastle-deck. Perez appeared again with a bundle of papers in his +hand. + +"Now, then, Senor," he said, "you shall see if this of which I have told +you is a _system_ or is not. These are documents, forms, belonging to my +brother's business as Notary of the Holy Office. Thus thou wilt see." + +He handed a piece of parchment, printed parchment, to Commendone. + +Johnnie held it up under the light of the lantern, and read it, with a +chilling of the blood. + +It was "The Proper Form of Torture for Women," and it was one of many +forms left blank for convenience to record the various steps. + +As he glanced through it, his lips grew dry, his eyes, straining in the +half-sufficient light, seemed to burn. + +There was something peculiarly terrible in the very omission of a +special name, and the consequent thought of the number of wretches whose +vain words and torments had been recorded upon forms like this--and were +yet to be recorded--froze the young man into a still figure of horror +and of silence. + +And this is what he read: + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or orders would be given to + strip her. She said, etc. She was commanded to be stripped + naked._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or orders would be given to + cut off her hair. She said, etc._ + + "_Orders were given to cut of her hair; and when it was taken + off she was examined by the doctor and surgeon, who said there + was not any objection to her being put to the torture._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth or she would be commanded to + mount the rack. She said, etc._ + + "_She was commanded to mount, and she said, etc._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or her body would be bound. + She said, etc. She was ordered to be bound._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or, if not, they would order + her right foot to be made fast for the trampazo. She said, etc. + They commanded it to be made fast._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would command her + left foot to be made fast for the trampazo. She said, etc. They + commanded it to be made fast. She said, etc. It was ordered to + be done._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the + binding of the right arm to be stretched. She said, etc. It was + commanded to be done. And the same with the left arm. It was + ordered to be executed._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the + fleshy part of her right arm to be made fast for the garrote. + She said, etc. It was ordered to be made fast._ + + "_And by the said lord inquisitor, it was repeated to her many + times, that she should tell the truth, and not let herself be + brought into so great torment; and the physician and surgeon + were called in, who said, etc. And the criminal, etc. And + orders were given to make it fast._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the first + turn of mancuerda. She said, etc. It was commanded to be done._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would command the + garrote to be applied again to the right arm. She said, etc. It + was ordered to be done._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the + second turn of mancuerda. She said, etc. It was commanded to be + done._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the + garrote to be applied again to the left arm. She said, etc. It + was ordered to be done._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the third + turn of mancuerda. She said, etc. It was commanded to be done._ + + "_She was told to tell the truth, or they would order the + trampazo to be laid on the right foot. She said, etc. It was + commanded to be done._ + + "_For women you do not go beyond this._" + +Johnnie finished his reading. Then he tore it up into four pieces and +flung it out upon the starboard bow. + +The yellow parchment fluttered over Madame La Motte's head like great +moonlit moths. + +Then he turned and stared at Don Pedro, almost as if he would have +sprung at him. + +"'Tis nothing of mine, Senor," the little man said. "You asked me to +tell you, and that I have done. I am no enemy of yours, so look not at +me in that way. Here"--he put his hand out and touched John Hull--"here +I have a very worthy brother, eke a Master of mine, who will answer for +me in all that I do." + +The old Frenchwoman began to gather her vast bulk together to descend +into the cabin for sleep. + +Johnnie helped her to her feet, and as he did so a sweet tenor voice +shivered out beneath the bellying sails, and there was the thrid of a +lute accompanying it: + + "_I sail, I sail the Spanish seas, + Hey ho, in the sun and the cloud + To bring fair ladies + Wool to Cadiz, + To deck their bodies that are so proud, + In the ship of St. James a mariner I_".... + +Suddenly the voice of the singer ceased, shut off into silence. + +There was a half-frightened shout, a flapping of the sails as the +square-rigged ship fell out of the night wind for a moment, and then a +clamour of loud voices. + +"Over the side! Over the side! The man from Lisbon's gone." + +Johnnie had jumped to the port taffrail at the noise, and he saw what +had happened. He saw the whole of it quite distinctly. A long, lithe +figure had been balancing itself upon the bulwarks, giving its body to +the gentle motion of the ship. + +Suddenly it fell backwards, there was a resounding splash in the quiet +sea, and something black was struggling and threshing in a pool of +silver water. From the sea came a loud cry--"_Socorro! Socorro!_" + +From the time the splash was heard and the cry came up to the forecastle +the ship had slipped a hundred yards through the still waters. + +Johnnie jumped up upon the bulwarks, held his hands above his head for a +moment, judged his distance--ships were not high out of the water in +that day--and dived into the phosphorescent sea. + +He was lightly clad, and he swam strongly, with the long left-arm +overhand stroke--conquering an element with joy in the doing of it--glad +to be in wild and furious action, happy to throw off the oppression of +the dreadful things which the little Spaniard had droned upon the deck. +He got up to the man easily enough, circled round him, as he rose +splashing for the third time, and caught him under the arm-pits, lying +on his back with the other above him. + +The man began to struggle, trying to turn and grip. + +Johnnie raised his head a little from the water, sinking as he did so, +and pulling down the other also, and shouted a Spanish curse into his +ear. + +"Be quiet," he said; "lie still! If you don't I'll drown you!" + +Commendone was a good swimmer. He had swam and dived in the lake at +Commendone since he was a boy. He knew now exactly what to do, and his +voice, though half-strangled with the salt water, and his grip of the +drowning man's arm-pits had their effect. + +There was a half-choked, "_Si, Senor_," and in twenty to thirty seconds +Johnnie lay back in the warm water of the Atlantic, knowing that for a +few minutes, at any rate, he could support the man he had come to save. + +It was curious that at this moment he felt no fear or alarm whatever. +His whole mind was directed towards one thing--that the man he had dived +to rescue would keep still. His mouth and nose were just out of the +water, when suddenly there came into his mind the catch of an old song. + +He heard again the high, delicate notes of the Queen's lute--"_Time hath +to siluer turn'd_...." + +Hardly knowing what he did, he even laughed with pleasure at the memory. + +As that was heard, a strong, lusty voice came to him. + +"I'm here, master, I'm here! We shall not be long now. Ah--ah-h-h!" + +Hull, blowing like a grampus, had swam up to them. + +"I'll take him, master," he said; "do you rest for a moment. They'll +have us out of this 'fore long." + +There were no life-belts invented in those days, and to lower a boat +from the ship was long in doing. But the _St. Iago_ was brought up with +all sails standing, the boat at the stern was let down most gingerly +into the sea, and four mariners rowed towards the swimming men. It was +near twenty minutes before Hull and Commendone heard the chunk of the +oars in the rowlocks. But they heard it at last. The tub-like galley +shadowed them, there was a loud cry of welcome and relief, and then the +two men, still grasping the inert figure of him who had fallen +overboard, caught hold of the stern of the boat. Willing hands hauled +the half-drowned man into the boat. Johnnie and Hull clambered over the +broad stern, sat down amid-ships, and shook themselves. + +The moonlight was still extraordinarily powerful, and gave a fallen day +to this southern world. + +As Commendone shot the water out of his ears, he looked upon the limp, +prone figure of the man he had rescued. + +"_Dame!_" he cried; "it is the torturer that we've been overboard for. +Pity we didn't let him drown." + +John Hull had turned the figure of the Spaniard upon its stomach and was +working vigorously at the arms, using them like pump-handles, as the +sailors got their oars into the rowlocks again, and pulled back towards +the shivering, silver ship near quarter of a mile away. + +"I'll bring the life back to him, master," said John Hull. "He's warm +now--there! He's vomited a pint or more of sea-water as I speak." + +"I doubt he was worth saving," Johnnie said in a low voice to his +servant's ear. "Still, he is saved, and I suppose a man like this hath a +soul?" + +Hull looked at Commendone in surprise. He knew nothing about the man +they had rescued; he could not understand why his master spoke in this +way. + +But with his usual dog-like fidelity he nodded an assent, though he did +not cease the pumping motion of the half-drowned man's arms. + +"Perhaps he hath no soul, master," Hull said, "you know better than I. +At any rate, we have got him out of this here sea, and so praise God Who +hath given us the sturdiness to do it." + +Commendone looked at his henchman and then at the slowly reviving +Spaniard. + +"Amen," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SILENT MEN IN BLACK + + +"Sing to us, Johnnie." + +"_Mais oui, chantez, Monsieur_," said Madame La Motte. + +Johnnie took up a chitarrone, the archlute, a large, double-necked +Spanish instrument, which lay upon a marble table by his side in the +courtyard. + +He looked up into the sky, the painted sunset sky of Spain, as if to +find some inspiration there. + +The hum of Seville came to them in an almost organ-like harmony. Bells +were tolling from the cathedral and the innumerable churches; pigeons +were wheeling round the domes and spires; occasionally a faint burst of +music reached them where they sat. + +The young man looked gravely at the two women. His face at this moment +was singularly tranquil and refined. He was dressed with scrupulous +care--the long journey over, his natural habits resumed. He had all the +air and grace of a gallant in a Court. + +He bowed to Madame La Motte and to his sweetheart, smiling gently at +them. + +"By your patience, ladies," he said, "I will make endeavour to improvise +for you upon a theme. We have spent this day in seeing beauties such as +sure I never thought to see with my mortal eyes. We are in the land of +colour, of sweet odours; the balmy smells of nard and cassia are flung +about the cedarn alleys where we walk. We have sucked the liquid air in +a veritable garden of the Hesperides, and, indeed, I looked to see the +three fair daughters of Hesperus along those crisped shades and bowers. +And we have seen also"--his voice was almost dreaming as he spoke--"the +greatest church e'er built to God's glory by the hand of man. 'Tis +indeed a mountain scooped out, a valley turned upsides. The towers of +the Abbey Church at Westminster might walk erect in the middle nave; +there are pillars with the girth of towers, and which appear so slender +that they make one shudder as they rise from out the ground or depend +them from the gloomy roof like stalactites in the cave of a giant." + +Madame La Motte nodded, purred, and murmured to herself. The whimsical +and studied Court language did not now fall upon her ears for the first +time. In the fashion of that age all men of culture and position learnt +to talk in this fashion upon occasion, with classic allusion and in +graceful prose. + +But to sweet Elizabeth it was all new and beautiful, and as she gazed at +her lover her eyes were liquid with caressing wonder, her lips curved +into a bow of pride at such dear eloquence. + +Johnnie plucked the strings of the chitarrone once or twice, and then, +his eyes half closed, began a simple improvisation in a minor key, the +while he lifted his voice and began to sing his ballad of evening +colours: + + See! limner Phoebus paints the sky + Vermilion and gold + And doth with purple tapestry + The waning day enfold. + --The royal, lucent, Tyrian dye + King Philip wore in Thessaly. + + The Lord of Morning now doth keep + Herald for Lady Night, + Whose robes of black and silver sweep + Before his tabard bright. + --All silver-soft and sable-deep, + As when she brought Endymion sleep! + + Now honey-coloured Luna she + Hath lit her lamp on high; + And paleth in her Majestie + The twin Dioscuri. + --Set in gold-powdered samite, she-- + Queen of the Night! Queen of the Sea! + +His voice faded away into silence; the mellow tenor ceasing in an +imperceptible diminuendo of sound. + +There was a silence, and then Lizzie's hand stole out and touched her +lover's. "Oh, Johnnie," she said, "how gracious! And did those lovely +words come into thy head as thou sangst them?" + +"In truth they did, fairest lady of evening," he answered, bending low +over her hand. "And sure 'twas thy dear presence that sent them to me, +the musick of thy voice hath breathed a soul into this lute." + +... They had arrived safely in Seville the night before, spending three +days upon the journey from Cadiz, but travelling in very pleasant and +easy fashion. + +Mr. Mew, the mate of the _St. Iago_, had business in the city, and while +the vessel was discharging its cargo at Cadiz he went up to Seville and +took the four travellers with him on board an _alijador_--a long barge +with quarters for passengers, and a hold for cargo, which was propelled +partly by oars in the narrower reaches of the river, but principally by +a large lug sail. + +Don Perez had remained in Cadiz, but the tall and sinister young fellow +whom Hull and Johnnie had rescued from the Atlantic came in the barge +also. The fugitives from England had little to say to him, knowing what +he was. Alonso--which was the man's name--had been profuse in his +gratitude. His profuseness, however, had been mingled with a continuous +astonishment, a brutish wonder which was quite inexplicable to +Elizabeth. + +"He seemeth," she said once to her esquire, "to think as if such a deed +of daring as thou didst in thy kindness for a fellow-creature in peril +hath never been known in the world before!" + +Madame La Motte and Commendone, however, had said nothing. They knew +very well why this poor wretch, who gained his food by such a hideous +calling, was amazed at his rescue. They said nothing to the girl, +however, dreading that she should ever have an inkling of what the man +was. + +On the voyage to Seville, a happy, lazy time under the bright sun, +Johnnie could not quite understand an obvious friendship and liking +which seemed to have sprung up between Alonso and Mr. Mew, who spoke +Spanish very adequately. + +"I cannot understand," he said upon one occasion to the sturdy man from +the Isle of Wight, "I cannot understand, sir, how you that are an +English mariner can talk and consort with this tool of hell." + +Mr. Mew looked at him with a dry smile. "And yet, master," he said in +the true Hampshire idiom and drawl, "bless your heart, you jumped +overboard for this same man!" + +"The case is different," Johnnie said; "'twas a fellow-creature, and I +did as behoved me. But that is no reason to be friendly with such a +wretch." + +"Look you, Master Commendone," said Mr. Mew, "every man to his trade. I +would burn both hands, myself, before I'd live by sworn torturing. But, +then, 'tis not my trade. This man's father and his brother have been +doing of it almost since birth, and they do it--and sure, a good +Catholic like yourself," here he smiled dryly, "cannot but remember that +'tis done under the shield and order of Holy Church! The damned old Pope +hath ordered it." + +Johnnie crossed himself. "The sovereign Pontiff," he said, "hath +established the Holy Office for punishment of heretics. But the +punishment is light and without harshness in the states of His +Holiness. In Spain 'tis a matter very different. It was under the Holy +Father Innocent IV that this tribunal was created, and the Holy Office +in Spain differed in no wise from the comparatively innocuous----" + +"What is that, master? That word?" + +"It meaneth 'harmless,' Master Mew. What was I saying? Oh, that it +differed nothing at all in Spain from the harmless Council which was to +detect heresy and reprove it. But during the reign of our good King +Edward IV the Holy Office was changed in Spain. The Ebrews were +plotting, or said to be plotting, against the realm, and they had come +to much wealth and power. Pope Sixtus made many protests, but the right +of appointing inquisitors and directing the operation of the Holy Office +in Spain was reserved to the Spanish Crown. And from this date, Master +Mew, Holy Church at any rate hath disclaimed to be responsible for it. +That was then and is now the true feeling of Rome. 'Tis true that in +Spain the Church tolerates the Inquisition, but its blood-stained acts +are from the Crown and such priests as are ministers of the Crown." + +Father Chilches had taught Johnnie his history, truly enough. But it +seemed to make very little impression upon the mate. + +"Art a gentleman," he said, "and know doubtless more than I, but such +peddling with words and splicing of facts are not to my mind. The +damned old Pope say I, and always shall, when it's safe to speak! But +the pith of our talk, Master Commendone, was that you would not have me +give comradeship with this Alonso. I see not your point of view. He is +of his time and must do his duty." + +The mate snapped a tarry thumb and finger with a tolerant smile. "You've +saved him, so that he may go on with his torturin'," he said, "and I +like to talk with him because I find him a good fellow, and that is all +about it, Master Commendone." + +Johnnie had not got much small change from his conference with the mate, +but when they arrived at Seville, he saw him and the man called Alonso +no more, and his mind was directed upon very other things. + +They arrived at the city late at night, and their mails were taken to +the great inn of Seville known as the Posada de las Munecas, or house of +puppets, so called from the fact that in days gone by, at the great +annual Seville fair, a famous performance of marionettes had taken place +in front of it. + +The Posada was an old Moorish palace, as beautiful under the sunlight as +an Oriental song, and when they rose in the morning and Johnnie had +despatched a serving-man to find if Don Jose Senebria was in residence, +he and his companions wakened to the realisation of a loveliness of +which they had never dreamed. + +The sky was like a great hollow turquoise; the sun beat down upon the +Pearl of Andalusia with limpid glory, and played perpetually upon the +white and painted walls. The orange trees, only introduced into Spain +some five-and-twenty years before from Asia, were globed with their +golden fruit among the dark, jade-like leaves of polished green; +feathery palms with their mailed trunks rose up to cut the blue, and on +every side buildings which glowed like immense jewels were set to greet +the unaccustomed northern eye. The Posada was a blaze of colour, half +Moorish, half Gothic, fantastic and alluring as a rare dream. + +Johnnie heard early in the morning that Don Jose would be away for two +days, having travelled to his vineyards beyond the old Roman village of +Sancios. The day therefore, and the morrow also, was left to them for +sight-seeing. Both he and Elizabeth had in part forgotten the cloud of +distress under which they had left their native land. The child often +talked to him of her father, making many half-shy confidences about her +happy life at Hadley, telling him constantly of that brave and stalwart +gentleman. But she now accepted all that had happened with the perfect +innocence and trustfulness of youth. Upon her white and stainless mind +what she had undergone had left but little trace. Even now she only half +realised her ravishment to the house with the red door, and that Madame +La Motte was not a pattern of kindness, discretion, and fine feeling +would never have entered Lizzie's simple mind. She was going to be +married to Johnnie!--it was to be arranged almost at once--and then she +knew that there need be no more trouble, no weariness, no further +searchings of heart. She and Johnnie would be together for ever and +ever, and that was all that mattered! + +Indeed, under these bright skies, among the gay, good-humoured, and +heedless people of Seville, it would have been very difficult for much +older and more world-weary people than this young man and maid to be sad +or apprehensive. + +It had all been a feast, a never-ending feast for eye and ear. They had +stood before pictures which were world-famous--they had seen that +marvellous allegory in pigment, where "a hand holds a pair of scales, in +which the sins of the world--set forth by bats, peacocks, serpents, and +other emblems--are weighed against the emblems of the Passion of Christ +our Lord; and eke in the same frame, which is thought to be the finer +composition, Death, with a coffin under one arm, is about to extinguish +a taper, which lighteth a table besprent with crowns, jewels, and all +the gewgaws of this earthly pomp. 'In Ictu Oculi' are the words which +circle the taper's gleaming light, while set upon the ground resteth a +coffin open, the corpse within being dimly revealed." + +They had walked through the long colonnade in the palace of the Alcazar, +to the baths of Maria de Padilla, the lovely mistress of Pedro the +Cruel, "at the Court of whom it was esteemed a mark of gallantry and +loyalty to drink the waters of the bath after that Maria had performed +her ablutions. Upon a day observing that one of his knights refrained +from this act of homage, the King questioned him, and elicited the +reply, 'I dare not drink of the water, Sire, lest, having tasted the +sauce, I should covet the partridge.'" + +All these things they had done together in their love and youth, +forgetting all else but the incomparable beauties of art and nature +which surrounded them, the music and splendour of Love within their +hearts. + +... A serving-man came through the patio. + +"_Puedo cenar?_" Johnnie asked. "_A que hora es el cenar?_" + +The man told him that supper was ready then, and together with the +ladies Johnnie left the courtyard and entered the long _comedor_, or +dining-hall, a narrow room with good tapestries upon the walls, and a +ceiling decorated with heads of warriors and ladies in carved and +painted stucco. + +It was lit by candle, and supper was spread for the three in the middle +of one great table, an oasis of fruit, lights, and flowers. + +"_Este es un vino bueno_," said the waiter who stood there. + +"It is all good wine in Spain," Johnnie answered, with a smile, as the +man poured out _borgona_, and another brought them a dish of grilled +salmon. + +They lifted their glasses to each other, and fell to with a good +appetite. Suddenly Johnnie stopped eating. "Where is John Hull?" he +said. "God forgive me, I have not thought of him for hours." + +"He will be safe enough," Madame La Motte answered, her mouth full of +_salmon asado_. "_Mon Dieu!_ but this fish is good! Fear not, Monsieur, +thy serving-man can very well take care of himself." + +"I suppose so," Johnnie replied, though with a little uneasiness. + +"But, Johnnie," Elizabeth said, "Hull told me that he was to be with +Master Mew, the mate of our late ship, to see the town with him, so all +will be well." + +Johnnie lifted his goblet of wine; he had never felt more free, +careless, and happy in his life. + +"Here," he said, "is to this sweet and hospitable land of Spain, whither +we have come through long toils and dangers. 'Tis our Latium, for as the +grandest of all poets, Vergil yclept, hath it, '_Per varios casus, per +tot discrimina rerum, tendimus in Latium, sedes ubi fata quietas +ostendunt_.'" + +"And what may that mean, Monsieur?" asked Madame La Motte, pulling the +_botella_ towards her. "My Credo, my Paternoster, and my Ave are all my +Latin." + +"It means, Madame," Johnnie answered, "that we have gone through many +troubles and trials, through all sorts of changes in affairs, but we +approach towards Latium, which the poet meaneth for Imperial Rome, where +the fates will let us live in peace." + +"In peace!" Elizabeth whispered. + +"Aye, sweetheart mine," the young man answered; "we have won to peace +at last. Thou and I together!" + +For a moment or two they were all silent, and then the door of the +_comedor_ was suddenly opened, not quietly, as for the entrance of a +serving-man, but flung open widely and with noise. + +They all turned and looked towards the archway of the door. + +In a moment more six or seven people pressed into the room--people +dressed in black, people whose feet made no noise upon the floor. + +Ere ever any of them at the table realised what was happening, they +found themselves gripped by strong, firm hands, though there was never a +word spoken. + +Before he could reach the dagger in his belt--for he was not wearing his +sword--Johnnie's arms were bound to his side, and he was held fast. + +It was all done with strange deftness and silence, Elizabeth and the +Frenchwoman being held also, each by two men, though their arms were not +bound. + +Johnnie burst out in indignant English, then, remembering where he was, +changed to Spanish. "In God's name," he cried, "what means this outrage +upon peaceable and quiet folk?" + +His voice was loud and angry, but there was fear in it as he cried out. +The answer came from a tall figure which came noiselessly through the +door, a figure in a cassock, with a large gold cross hung upon its +breast, and followed by two others in the dress of priests. + +"Ah, Mr. Commendone, we meet again," came in excellent English, as the +man removed his broad-brimmed felt hat. + +"You have come a long way from England, Mr. Commendone, you and +your--friends. But the arm of the King, the hand of the Church, which +are as the arm of God Himself, can stretch swiftly and very far." + +Johnnie's face grew dead white as he heard the well-remembered voice of +Father Diego Deza. In a flash he remembered that King Philip's confessor +and confidential adviser had told him that he was to leave England for +Spain on the morning of the very day when he had rescued Elizabeth from +shame. + +His voice rattled in his throat and came hoarsely through parched lips. +He made one effort, though he felt that it was hopeless. + +"Don Diego," he said, "I am very glad to see you in Spain"--the other +gave a nasty little laugh. "Don Diego," Johnnie continued, "I have +offended nothing against the laws of England. What means this capture +and durance of myself and my companions?" + +"You are not in England now, Mr. Commendone," the priest replied; "but +you are in the dominion of His Most Catholic Majesty; you are not +accused of any crime against the civil law of England or of this +country, but I, in my authority as Grand Inquisitor of the Holy Office +in Seville--to do which duty I have now come to Spain--arrest you and +your companions on charges which will be afterwards disclosed to you. + +"Take them away," he said in Spanish to his officers. + +There was a horrid wail, echoing and re-echoing through the long room +and beating upon the ear-drums of all who were there.... + +Madame La Motte had heard all that the priest had said in English. She +shrieked and shrieked again. + +"Ah-h-h! _C'est vrai alors! L'inquisition! qui lance la mort!_" + +With extraordinary and sudden strength she twisted herself away from the +two sombre figures which held her. She bent forward over the table, +snatched up a long knife, gripped the handle firmly with two fat white +hands, and plunged it into her breast to the hilt. + +For quite three seconds she stood upright. Her face of horror changed +into a wonder, as if she was surprised at what she had done. Then she +smiled foolishly, like a child who realises that it has made a silly +mistake, coughed loudly like a man, and fell in heavy death upon the +floor. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN THE BOX + + "Devant l'Inquisition, quand on vient a jube, + Si l'on ne soit roti, l'on soit au moins flambe." + + +It was not light that pressed upon the retina of the eye. There was no +vibration to the sensitive lenses. It was a sudden vision not of the +eye, but in the memory-cells of the brain which now and then filled the +dreadful blackness with a fierce radiance, filled it for an +infinitesimal fraction of a second. + +And then all was dark again. + +It was not dark with the darkness that ordinary men know. At no time, in +all probability, has any man or woman escaped a long sleepless night in +a darkened room. The candle is out; the silence begins to nibble at the +nerves; there is no sound but the uneasy tossing upon the bed. It seems, +one would rather say, that there is no sound save only that made by the +sufferer. At such hours comes a dread weariness of life, a restlessness +which is but the physical embroidery upon despair. The body itself is at +the lowest pitch of its vitality. Through the haunted chambers of the +mind fantastic thoughts chase each other, and evil things--evil +_personalities_ it almost seems--uncoil themselves and erect their +heads. + +But it is not really darkness, not really despair, as people know when +the night has gone and dawn begins. Nor is it really _silence_. The ear +becomes attuned to its environment; a little wind moans round the house. +There is the soft patter of falling rain--the distant moaning of the +sea. + +Furniture creaks as the temperature changes; there are rustlings, +whispers, unexplained noises--the night is indeed full of sound. + +Nor is it really _darkness_, as the mind discovers towards the end of +the sick and restless vigil. The eye also is attuned to that which +limits and surrounds its potentialities. The blinds are drawn, but still +some faint mysterious greyness creeps between them and the window. The +room, then, is a real room still! Over there is the long mirror which +will presently begin to stir and reflect the birth-pangs of light. That +squat, black monster, which crouches in the corner of the dark, will +grow larger, and become only the wardrobe after all. And soon the air of +the chamber will take on a subtle and indefinable change. It will have a +new savour, it will tell that far down in the under world the sun is +moaning and muttering in the last throes of sleep. The blackness will +go. Dim, inchoate nothingness will change to wan dove-coloured light, +and with the first chirpings of half-awakened birds the casement will +show "a slowly glimmering square," and the tortured brain will sink to +rest. + +Day has come! There is no longer any need for fear. The nervous pain, +more terrible than all, has gone. The heart is calmed, the brain is +soothed, utter prostration and despair appears, mercifully, a thing of +long ago. + +Some such experience as this all modern men have endured. To John +Commendone, in the prison of the Inquisition where he had been put, no +such alleviation came. + +For him there was no blessed morning; for him the darkness was that +awful negation of light--of physical light--and of hope, which is +without remedy. + +He did not know how long it had been since he was caught up suddenly out +of the rich room where he was dining with his love--dining among the +scent of flowers, with the echo of music in his ears, his whole heart +suffused with thankfulness and peace. + +He did not know how long it had been; he only remembered the hurried +progress in a closed carriage from the hotel to the fortress of the +Triana in the suburbs, which was the prison and assize of the Holy +Office. + +In all Europe in this era prisons were dark, damp holes. They were real +graves, full of mould, animal filth, the pest-breeding smells. It was +the boast of the Inquisition, and even Llorente speaks of it, that the +prisons were "well-arched, light and dry rooms where the prisoners could +make some movement." + +This was generally true, and Commendone had heard of it from Don Perez. + +It was not true in his case. He had been taken hurriedly into the prison +as night fell, marched silently through interminable courtyards and +passage-ways--corridors which slanted downwards, ever downwards--until +in a dark stone passage, illuminated only by the torches which were +carried by those who conducted him, he had come to a low door, heavily +studded with iron. + +This had been opened with a key. The wards of the lock had shot back +with a well-oiled and gentle click. He had bent his head a little as +they pushed him into the living tomb--a box of stone five feet square +exactly. He was nearly six feet in height; he could not stand erect; he +could not stretch himself at full length. The thing was a refinement of +the dreadful "little-ease" of the Tower of London and many other secular +prisons where wretches were tortured for a week before their execution. +He had heard of places like them, but he realised that it was not the +design of those who had him fast to kill him yet. He knew that he must +undergo an infinity of mental and bodily torture ere ever the scarred +and trembling soul would be allowed to wing its way from the still, +broken body. + +He was in absolute, complete darkness, buried in a box of stone. + +The rayless gloom was without any relief whatever; it was the enclosing +sable of death itself; a pitchy oblivion that lay upon him like a solid +weight, a thing obscene and hopeless. And the silence was a real +silence, an utter stillness such as no modern man ever knows--save only +the few demoniac prisoners in the _cachot noir_ of the French convict +prisons of Noumea. + +Once every two days--if there indeed were such things as days and hours +in this still hell--the door of the cell was noiselessly opened. There +was a dim red glow in the stone corridor without, a pitcher of water, +some black bread, and every now and then a few ripe figs, were pushed +into the box. + +Then a clang, the oily swish of the bolts, and another eternity of +silence. + +The man's brain did not go. It was too soon for that. He lay a +fortnight--ten thousand years it seemed to him--in this box of horror. + +He was not to die yet. He was not even to lose his mind; of that he was +perfectly aware. He was no ordinary prisoner. No usual fate was in store +for him; that also he knew. A charge of heresy in his case was absurd. +No witnesses could be brought who, speaking truth, could condemn him for +heresy. But what Don Perez had told him was now easily understood. He +was in a place where there was no appeal, a situation with no egress. + +There was not the slightest doubt in his mind that a dreadful vengeance +was to be taken upon him for his treatment of the King of Spain. The +Holy Office was a royal court provided with ecclesiastical weapons. Its +familiars had got him in their grip; he was to die the death. + +As he lay motionless day after day, night after night, in the +silence--the hideous silence without light--the walls so close, pressing +on him, forbidding him free movement, at every moment seeming as if they +would rush together and crush him in this night of Erebus, he began to +have visitors. + +Sometimes a sulphurous radiance would fill the place. He would see the +bowing, mocking figure of King Philip, the long yellow face looking down +upon him with a malign smile. He would hear a great hoarse voice, and a +little woman with a shrivelled face and covered with jewels, would +squeak and gibber at him. Then, with a clank of armour, and a sudden +fresh smell of the fields, Sir Henry Commendone would stand there, with +a "How like you this life of the pit, Johnnie?" ... "How like you this +blackness, my son?" + +Then he would put up his hands and press these grisly phantoms out of +the dark. He would press them away with one great effort of the will. + +They would go, and he remained trembling in the chill, damp negation of +light, which was so far more than darkness. He would grope for the +pieces of his miserable food, and search the earthen pitcher for water. + +And all this, these tortures beyond belief, beyond understanding of the +ordinary man, were but as soft couches to one who is weary, food to one +hungered, water to lips parched in a desert--compared with the deepest, +unutterable descent of all. + +The cold and stinking blackness which held him tight as a fossil in a +bed of clay was not the worst. His eyes that saw nothing, his limbs that +were shot with cramping pain, his nostrils and stomach that could not +endure this uncleaned cage, were a torture beyond thinking. + +Many a time he thought of the mercy of Bishop Bonner and Queen Mary--the +mercy that let a gentleman ride under the pleasant skies of England to a +twenty minutes' death--God! these were pleasant tortures! His own +present hopelessness, all that he endured in body--why, dear God! these +were but pleasant tortures too, things to bite upon and endure, compared +with the Satanic horror, the icy dread, the bitter, hopeless tears, when +he thought of Elizabeth. + +He had long since ceased praying for himself. It mattered little or +nothing what happened to him. That he should be taken out to torture +would be a relief, a happiness. He would lie in the rack laughing. They +could fill his belly with water, or strain the greasy hempen ropes into +his flesh, and still he would laugh and forgive them--Dr. Taylor had +forgiven less than they would do to him, he would forgive more than all +for the sake of Christ and His Maid-Mother. How easy that would be! To +be given something to endure, to prove himself a man and a Christian! + +But to forgive them for what they might be doing, they might have done, +to his dear lady--how could he forgive _that_ to these blood-stained +men? + +Through all the icy hours he thought of one thing, until his own pains +vanished to nothingness. + +Perchance, and the dreadful uncertainty in his utter impotence and +silence swung like a bell in his brain, and cut through his soul like +the swinging pendola which they said the familiars of the Holy Office +used, Elizabeth had already suffered unspeakable things. + +He saw again a pair of hands--cruel hands--hands with thick thumbs. Had +hands like these grasped and twisted the white limbs of the girl he +loved? Divorced from him, helpless, away from any comfort, any kind +voice, was it not true--_was_ it true?--that already his sweetheart had +been tortured to her death? + +He had tried over and over again to pray for Elizabeth, to call to the +seat where God was, that He might save the dear child from these +torments unspeakable. + +But there was always the silence, the dead physical blackness and +silence. He beat his hands upon the stone wall; he bruised his head upon +the roof of darkness which would not let him stand upright, and he +knew--as it is appointed to some chosen men to know--that unutterable, +unthinkable despair of travail which made Our Lord Himself call out in +the last hour of His passion, [Greek: Eli, Eli lama sabachthani] + +There was no response to his prayers. Into his heart came no answering +message of hope. + +And then the mind of this man, which had borne so much, and suffered so +greatly, began to become powerless to feel. A bottle can only hold a +certain amount of water, the strings of an instrument be plucked to a +certain measure of sound, the brain of a man can endure up to a certain +strain, and then it snaps entirely, or is drowsed with misery. + +Physically, the young man was in perfect health when they had taken him +to his prison. He had lived always a cleanly and athletic life. No +sensual ease had ever dimmed his faculties. And therefore, though he +knew it not, the frightful mental agony he had undergone had but drawn +upon the reserve of his physical forces, and had hardly injured his body +at all. The food they gave him, at any rate for the time of his +disappearance from the world of sentient beings, was enough to support +life. And while he lay in dreadful hopelessness, while his limbs were +racked with pain, and it seemed to him that he stood upon the very +threshold of death, he was in reality physically competent, and a few +hours of relief would bring his body back to its pristine strength. + +There came a time when he lay upon his stone floor perfectly motionless. +The merciful anodyne that comes to all tortured people when either the +brain or body can bear no more, had come to him now. + +It seemed but a short moment--in reality it was several hours--since his +jailors, those masked still-moving figures, had brought him a renewal of +his food. He could not eat the bread, but two figs upon the platter +were grateful and cooling to his throat, though he was unconscious of +any physical gratification. He knew, sometime after, that sustenance had +been brought to him, and that he had a great thirst. He stretched out +his hand mechanically for the pitcher, rising from the floor and +pressing the brim to his lips. + +He drank deeply, and as he drank became suddenly aware that this was not +the lukewarm water of the past darkness, but something that ran through +his veins, that swiftly ran through them, and as the blood mounted to +his brain gave him courage, awoke him, fed the starved nerves. It was +wine he was drinking! wine that perhaps would be red in the light; wine +that once more filled him with endeavour, and a desperate desire which +was not hope but the last protest against his fate. + +He lay back once more, by no means the same man he had been some little +time agone, and as he reclined in a happy physical stupor--the while his +brain was alive again and began to work--he said many times to himself +the name of Jesus. + +"Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!"--it was all he could say; it was all he could +think of, it was his last prayer. Just the name alone. + +And very speedily the prayer was answered. Out of the depths he +cried--"_De profundis clamavit_"--and the door opened, as it opened to +the Apostle Paul, and the place where he was was filled with red light. + +For a moment he was unable to realise it. He passed one wasted and +dirty hand before his eyes. "Jesus!" he said again, in a dreamy, +wondering voice. + +He felt himself lifted up from where he lay. Two strong hands were under +his arms; he was taken out of the stinking _oubliette_ into the corridor +beyond. + +He stood upright. He stretched out his arms. He breathed another air. It +was a damp, foetid, underground air, but it seemed to him that it came +from the gardens of the Hesperides. + +Then he became conscious of a voice speaking quietly, quickly, and with +great insistence. + +The voice in his ear! + +... "Senor, we have had to wait. You have had to lie in this dungeon, +and I could do nothing for you--for you that saved my life. It hath +taken many days to think out a plan to save you and the Senorita. But +'tis done now, 'tis cut and dried, and neither you nor she shall go to +the death designed for you both. It hath been designed by the Assessor +and the Procurator Fiscal, acting under orders of the Grand Inquisitor, +that you shall be tortured to death, or near to it, and that to the +Senorita shall be done the same. Then you are to be taken to the +Quemadero--that great altar of stone supported by figures of the Holy +Apostles--and there burnt to death at the forthcoming _auto da fe_." + +"Then what,"--Johnnie's voice came from him in a hollow whisper. + +"Hush, hush," the other voice answered him; "'tis all arranged. 'Tis all +settled, but still it dependeth upon you, Senor. Will you save your lady +love, and go free with her from here, and with your servant also, or +will you die and let her die too?" + +"Then she hath not been tortured?" + +"Not yet; it is for to-night. You come afterwards. But you do not know +me, Senor; you do not realise who I am." + +At this Johnnie looked into the face of the man who supported him. + +"Ah," he said, in a dreamy voice, "Alonso!--I took you from the sea, did +not I?" + +Everything was circling round him, he wanted to fall, to lie down and +sleep in this new air.... + +The torturer saw it--he had a dreadful knowledge of those who were about +to faint. He caught hold of Johnnie somewhere at the back of the neck. +There was a sudden scientific pressure of the flat thumb upon a nerve, +and the sinking senses of the captive came back to him in a flood of +painful consciousness. + +"Ah!" he cried, "but I feel better now! Go on, go on, tell me, what is +all this?..." + +One big thumb was pressed gently at the back of Johnnie's head. "It is +this," said the voice, "and now, Senor, listen to me as if you had never +listened to any other voice in this whole world. In the first place, you +have much money; you have much money to be employed for you, in the +hands of your servant, and from him I hear that you are noble and +wealthy in England. I myself am a young man, but lately introduced to do +the work I do. I am in debt, Senor, and neither my father nor my brother +will help me. There is a family feud between us. Now my father is the +head sworn-torturer of the Holy Office; my brother is his assistant, and +I am the assistant to my brother. The three of us do rack and put to +pain those who come before us. But I myself am tired of this business, +and would away to a country where I can earn a more honest and kindly +living. Therefore if thou wilt help me to do this, all will be well. +There is a carrack sailing for the port of Rome this very night, and we +can all be aboard of it, and save ourselves, if thou wilt do what we +have made a plan of." + +"And what is that?" Johnnie asked. + +"'Tis a dangerous and deadly thing. We may win a way to safety and joy, +or it may be that we perish. I'll put it upon the throw of the die, and +so must you, Senor." + +Johnnie clutched Alonso by the arm. "Man! man!" he said, "there is some +doubt in your voice. What is it? what is it? I would do anything but +lose my immortal soul to save the Senorita from what is to be done to +her to-night." + +"'Tis well," the other answered briefly. "Then now I will tell you what +you must do. 'Tis now the hour of sunset. In two hours more the Senorita +will be brought to the rooms of the Question. Thy servant is of the +height and build of my father. Thou art the same as regards my brother. +If you consent to what I shall tell you, you and your servant will take +the place of my brother and father. No one will know you from them, +because we wear black linen garments and a hood which covereth our +faces. I will go away, and I will put something in their wine which will +send my father and my brother to sleep for long hours--sometimes we put +it in the water we give to drink to those who come to us for torture, +and who are able, or their relatives indeed, to pay well for such +service. My people will know nothing, and you, with Juan thy servant, +will take their places. Nor will the Inquisitor know. It hath been well +thought out, Senor. I shall give you your directions, and understanding +Spanish you will follow them out as if you were indeed my blood-brother. +As for the man Juan, it will be your part to whisper to him what he has +to do, for I cannot otherwise make him understand." + +Suddenly a dreadful thought flashed into Johnnie's mind. This man +understood no word of English. How, then, had he plotted this scheme of +rescue and escape with John Hull? Was this not one of those dreadful +traps--themselves part of a devilish scheme of torture--of which he had +heard in England, and of which Don Perez had more than hinted? + +"And how dost _thou_ understand my man John," he said, "seeing that thou +knowest no word of his language?" + +The other made an impatient movement of his hands. "Senor," he said, "I +marked that you did not seem to trust me. I am here to adventure my +life, in recompense for that you did so for me. I am here also to get +away from Spain with the aid of thy money--to get away to Rome, where +the Holy Office will reach none of us. In doing this, I am risking my +life, as I have said. And for me I am risking far more than life. I, +that have done so many grievous things to others, am a great coward, and +go in horrid fear of pain. I could not stand the least of the tortures, +and if I am caught in this enterprise, I shall endure the worst of all. +In any case, thou hast nothing to lose, for if I am indeed endeavouring +to entrap you, you will gain nothing. The worst is reserved for you--as +we have previous orders--for it is whispered that yours is not so much a +matter of heresy, but that you did things against King Philip's Majesty +in England." + +Johnnie nodded. "'Tis true," he said; "but still, tell me for a further +sign and token of thy fidelity how thou camest to be in communication +with John Hull." + +"Did I not tell thee?" the man answered, in amazement. "Why, 'twas +through the second captain of the _St. Iago_, I cannot say his name, who +hath been with Juan these many days, and speakest Spanish near as well +as you." + +Johnnie realised the truth at once, surprised that it had not come to +him before. It was Mr. Mew, whom he had tackled for his friendship with +Alonso! "Then what am I to do?" he said. + +Alonso began to speak slowly and with some hesitation. + +"The work to do to-night," he said, "is to put a Carthusian monk, Luis +Mercader, to the torture of the _trampezo_. After that, the Senorita +will be brought in, interrogated, and is to be scourged as the first of +her tortures." + +The man started away--Johnnie had growled in his throat like a dog.... + +"It will not be, it will not be, Senor," Alonso said. "When Luis is +finished with, he will be taken away by the surgeon and afterwards by +the jailors. Then they will bring the Senorita and retire. There will be +none in the room of the Question but thou, Juan, and myself, wearing our +linen hoods, and Father Deza, that is the Grand Inquisitor newly come +from England, his notary, and the physician. The doors leading to the +prisons will be locked, for none must see the torture save only the +officials concerned therein--as hath long been the law. It will be easy +for us three to overpower the Inquisitor, the surgeon, and the notary. +Then we can escape through the private rooms of us torturers, which lead +to the back entrance of the fortress. The _caballeros_ will not be +discovered, if bound--or killed, indeed--for some hours, for none are +allowed to approach the room of Question from the prisons until they are +summoned by a bell. I shall have everything ready, and mules waiting, +so that we may go straight to the _muelle_--the wharf to which the +carrack is tied. The captain thereof is the Italian mariner Pozzi, who +hath no love towards Spain, and we shall be upon the high seas before +even our absence is discovered." + +"Good," Johnnie answered, his voice unconsciously assuming the note of +command it was wont to use, the wine having reanimated him, his whole +body and brain tense with excitement, ready for the daring deed that +awaited him. + +"My friend," he said, "I will not only take you away from all this +wickedness and horror, but you shall have money enough to live like a +gentleman in Italy. I have--now I understand it--plenty of money in the +hands of my servant to bring us well to Rome. Once in Rome, I can send +letters to my friends in England, and be rich in a few short months. I +shall not forget you; I shall see to your guerdon." + +The man spat upon his hands and rubbed them together--those large +prehensile hands. "I knew it," he said, half to himself, "I pay a debt +for my life, as is but right and just, and I win a fortune too! I knew +it!" + +"Tell me exactly what is to happen," Johnnie said. + +In the flickering light of the torch, once more Alonso looked curiously +at Commendone. He hesitated for a moment, and then he spoke. + +"There is just the business of the heretic Luis," he said. "He must be +tortured before ever the Senorita is brought in. And you and Juan must +help in the torture to sustain your parts." + +Johnnie started. Until this very moment he had not realised that hideous +necessity. He understood Alonso's hesitation now. + +There was a dead silence for a moment or two. Alonso broke it. + +"I shall do the principal part, Senor," he said hurriedly. "It is +nothing to me. I have done so much of it! But there are certain things +that thou must do and thy servant also, or at least must seem to do. +There is no other way." + +Johnnie put his poor soiled hands to his face. "I cannot do it," he +said, in a low voice, from which hope, which had rung in it before, had +now departed. "I cannot do it. I will not stain my honour thus." + +"So said Juan to me at first," the other answered. "They have been +hunting high and low for Juan, but he hath escaped the Familiars, in +that I have hid him. For himself, Juan said he would do nothing of the +sort, but for you he finally said he would do it. 'For, look you,' Juan +said to me, 'I love the gentleman that is my master, and I love my +little mistress better, so that I will even help to torture this +Spaniard, and let no word escape me in the doing of it that may betray +our design.' That was what thy servant said, Senor. And now, what sayest +thou?" + +"She would not wish it," Commendone half said, half sobbed. "If she +knew, she would die a thousand deaths rather than that I should do it." + +"That may be very sure, Senor, but she will never know it if we win to +safety. And as for this Luis Mercader, he must die, anyhow. There is no +hope for him. He _must_ be tortured, if not by you, Juan, and I, then by +myself, my father, and my brother. It is remediless." + +"I cannot do evil that good may come," Johnnie replied, in a whisper. + +Alonso stamped upon the ground in his impatience. He could not +understand the prisoner's attitude, though he had realised some +possibility of it from his conferences with John Hull. He had half +known, when he came to Commendone, that there would be something of this +sort. If the rough man of his own rank turned in horror and dislike from +the only opportunity presented for saving the Senorita, how much more +would the master do so? + +For himself, he could not understand it. He did his hideous work with +the regularity of a machine, and with as little pity. Outside in his +private life, he was much as other men. He could be tender to a woman he +loved, kindly and generous to his friends. But business was business, +and he was hardly human at his work. + +Habit makes slaves of us all, and this mental attitude of the sworn +torturer--horrible as it may seem at first glance--is very easily +understood by the psychologist, though hardly by the sentimentalist, +who is always a thoroughly illogical person. Alonso tortured human +beings. In doing this he had the sanction and the order of his social +superiors and his ecclesiastical directors. In 1910 one has not heard, +for example, that a pretty and gentle girl refuses to marry a butcher +because he plunges his knife into the neck of the sheep tied down upon +the stool, twists his little cord around the snout of some shrieking pig +and cuts its throat with his keen blade.... + +Alonso could not understand the man whom he hoped to save, but he +recognised and was prepared for his point of view. + +"Senor," he said, in a thick, hurried voice, "I will do it all myself. +You will have to help in the binding, and to stand by. That is all. +Think of the little Senorita whom you love. That French lady drove a +table-knife into her heart, rather than endure the torments. Think of +the Senorita! You will not let her die thus? For you, it is different; I +well know that you would endure all that is in store, if it were but a +question of saving your own life. But you must think of her, and you +must remember always that the man Luis is most certainly doomed, and +that no action of yours can stay that doom. You will have to look on, +that is all--to _seem_ as if you approved and were helping." + +He had said enough. His cause was won. Johnnie had seen Dr. Rowland +Taylor die in pious agony, and had neither lifted voice nor drawn sword +to prevent it. + +"I thank you, I thank you, Alonso," he said. "I must endure it for the +sake of the Senorita. And more than all I thank you that you will not +require me to agonise this unhappy wretch myself." + +"Good; that is understood," Alonso answered. "We have already been +talking too long. Get you back, Senor, into your prison, for an hour or +more. Then I will come to you. Indeed, more depends upon this than upon +any other detail of what we purpose. We who are sworn to torture are +distinct and separate from the prison jailors. We are paid a larger +salary, but we have no jurisdiction or power within the prisons +themselves, save only what we make by interest. But the man who bringeth +you your food is a friend of my family, and hath cast an eye upon my +sister, though she as yet has responded little to his overtures. I have +made private cause with Isabella, and she hath given him a meeting this +very night outside the church of Santa Ana. He could not meet with her +this night, were it not for my intervention. He came to me in great +perplexity, longing before anything to meet Isabella. I told him, though +I was difficult to be approached on the point, that I would myself look +after the prisoners in this ward, and that he must give me his keys. +This he hath done, and I am free of this part of the prison. So that, +Senor, in an hour or two I shall come to you again with your dress of a +tormentor. I shall take you through devious ways out of the prison +proper, and into our room on the other side of the Chamber, so all will +be well." + +Johnnie took the huge splay hand in his, and stumbled back into the +stone box. There was a clang as the door closed upon him, and he sank +down upon the floor. + +He sank down upon the floor no longer in absolute despair. The darkness +was as thick and horrible as ever, but Hope was there. + +Then he knelt, placed his hands together, recited a Paternoster, and +began to pray. He prayed first of all for the soul of the man--the +unknown man--whose semi-final torture he was to witness, and perchance +help in. Then he prayed to Our Lord that there might be a happy issue +out of these present afflictions, that if it pleased Jesus he, +Elizabeth, the stout John Hull might yet sail away over the tossing seas +towards safety. + +Then he made a prayer for the soul of Madame La Motte--she who had +traded upon virtue, she who had taken her own life, but in whom was yet +some germ of good, a well and fountain of kindliness and sympathy +withal. + +After that he pulled himself together, felt his muscle, stretched +himself to see that his great and supple strength had not deserted him, +and remained with a placid mind, waiting for the opening of his prison +door again. + +The anguish of his thoughts about Elizabeth was absolutely gone. A cool +certainty came to him that he would save her. + +He was waiting now, alert and aware. Every nerve was ready for the +enterprise. With a scrutiny of his own consciousness--for he perfectly +realised that death might still be very near--he asked himself if he had +performed all his religious duties. If he were to die in the next hour +or so, he would have no sacramental absolution. That he knew. Therefore, +he was endeavouring to make his _private_ peace with God, and as he +looked upon his thoughts with the higher super-brain, it did not seem to +him that there was anything lacking in his pious resignation to what +should come. + +He was going to make a bold and desperate bid for Lizzie's freedom, his +own, and their mutual happiness. + +As well as he was able, he had put his house in order, and was waiting. + +But for Don Diego Deza he did not pray at all. He was but human. That he +lacked power to do, and in so far fell away from the Example. + +But as he thought of It, and the words so sacrosanct, he remembered that +the torturers of Christ knew not what they did. They were even as this +man Alonso. + +But Don Diego, cultured, highly sensitive, a brilliant man, knew what he +did very well. + +Even the young man's wholly contrite and more than half-broken heart +could send no message to the Throne for the Grand Inquisitor of +Seville. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +"TENDIMUS IN LATIUM" + + +It was very hot. + +Commendone stood in the ante-chamber of the torturers. + +He wore the garment of black linen, the hood of the same, with the two +circular orifices for his eyes. + +John Hull kept touching him with an almost caressing movement--John +Hull, a grotesque and terrible figure also in his torturer's dress. + +Alonso moved about the place hurriedly, putting this and that to rights, +looking after his instruments, but with a flitting, bird-like movement, +showing how deeply he was excited. + +The room was a long, low place. The ceiling but just above their heads. +A glowing fire was at one end, and shelves all round the room. At one +side of the fire was a portable brazier of iron, glowing with coals, and +on the top of it a shape of white-hot metal was lying. + +Alonso came up to Commendone, a dreadful black figure, a silently moving +figure, with nothing humanly alive about him save only the two slits +through which his eyes might be seen. + +"Courage, Senor," he whispered, "it will not be long now." + +Johnnie, unaware that he himself was an equally hideous and sinister +figure, nodded, and swallowed something in his throat. + +John Hull, short, broad, and dreadful in this black disguise, sidled up +to him. + +"Master," he whispered, "it will soon be over, and we shall win away. We +have been in a very evil case before, and that went well. Now that we +are dressed in these grave-clothes and must do bitter business, we must +make up our minds to do it. 'Tis for the sake of Mistress Elizabeth, +whom we love--Jesus! what is that hell-hound doing?" + +The broad figure shuddered, and into the kindly English voice came a +note of horror. + +Johnnie turned also, and saw that the torturer was tumbling several +long-handled pincers into a wooden tray. Then the torturer took one of +them up, and turned the glowing _something_ in the brazier, quietly, +professionally, though the red glow that fell upon his horrible black +costume gave him indeed the aspect of a devil from the pit--the bloody +pantomime which was designed! + +The two Englishmen stood shoulder to shoulder and shuddered, as they saw +this figure moving about the glowing coals. + +Johnnie took a half-step forward, when Hull pressed him back. + +"God's death, master," Hull said. "_We_ look like that; we are even as +he is in aspect; we have to do our work--now!" + +A door to the right suddenly swung open. Two steps led up to it, and a +face peeped round. It was the face of a bearded man, with heavy eyebrows +and very white cheeks. Upon the head was a biretta of black velvet. + +The head nodded. "We are ready," came the voice from it. The door fell +to again. + +Then Alonso came up to Johnnie. "The work begins," he said, in a gruff +voice, from which all respect had gone with design. "You and Juan will +carry in that brazier of coals." + +He went to the door, mounted the two stone steps, and held it open. +Johnnie and Hull bore in the brazier up the steps, and into a large room +lit, but not very brightly, with candles set in sconces upon the walls. + +Following the directions of Alonso, they placed the brazier in a far +corner, and stood by it, waiting in silence. + +They were in a big, arched dungeon, far under ground, as it seemed. At +one end of it there was an alcove, brilliantly lit. In the alcove was a +dais, or platform. On the platform was a long table draped with black, +and set with silver candlesticks. On the wall behind was a great +crucifix of white and black--the figure of the Christ made of plaster, +or white painted wood, the cross of ebony. In the centre of the long +table sat Don Diego Deza. On one side of him was a man in a robe of +velvet and a flat cap. On the other, the person who had peeped through +the door into the room of the torturers. + +There came a beating, a heavy, muffled knock, upon a door to the left of +the alcove. + +Alonso left the others and hurried to the door. With some effort he +pulled back a lever which controlled several massive bolts. The door +swung open, there was a red glare of torches, and two dark figures, +piloted by the torturer, half-led, half-carried the bound figure of a +man into the room. + +They placed this figure upon an oak stool with a high back, a yard or +two away from the dais, and then quietly retired. + +As the door leading to the prison closed, Alonso shot the bolts into +their place, and, returning, stood by the stool on which was the figure. + +The notary came down from the platform, followed by the physician. In +his hand was a parchment and a pen; while a long ink-horn depended from +his belt. Father Deza was left alone at the table above. + +"I have read thy depositions," the Inquisitor said, speaking down to the +man, "wherein thou hast not refuted in detail the terrible blasphemies +of Servetus, and therefore, Luis Mercader, I thank the Son of God, Who +deputeth to me the power to sentence thee at the end of this thy +struggle between Holy Church and thine own obstinate blasphemies. In +accordance with justice of my brother inquisitors, I now sign thy +warrant for death, which is indeed our right and duty to execute a +blasphemous person after a regular examination. Thou art to be burnt +anon at the forthcoming Act of Faith. Thou art to be delivered to the +secular arm to suffer this last penalty. Thy blood shall not be upon our +heads, for the Holy Office is ever merciful. But before thou goest, in +our kindness we have ordained that thou shalt learn something of the +sufferings to come. For so only, between this night and the day of thy +death, shalt thou have opportunity to reason with thyself, perchance +recant thy errors, and make thy peace with God." + +He had said this in a rapid mutter, a monotone of vengeance. As he +concluded he nodded to the black figure by the prisoner's chair. + +Alonso turned round. With shaking footsteps, Hull and Johnnie came up to +him, carrying ropes. + +There was a quick whisper. + +"Tie him up--_thus_--_yes, the hands behind the back of the stool_; the +left leg bound fast--it is the right foot upon which we put the +_trampezo_." + +They did it deftly and quietly. Under the long linen garments which +concealed them, their hearts were beating like drums, their throats were +parched and dry, their eyes burnt as they looked out upon this dreadful +scene. + +The notary went back to the dais, and sat beside Father Deza. The +surgeon took Alonso aside. Johnnie heard what he said.... + +"It will be all right; he can bear it; he will not die; in any case the +_auto da fe_ will be in three days; he _must_ endure it; have the water +ready to bring him back if he fainteth." + +The chirurgeon went back to the alcove and sat on the other side of the +Inquisitor. + +"Bring up the brazier," Alonso said to Commendone. + +Together Johnnie and Hull carried it to the chair. + +"Now send Juan for the pincers...." + +There came a long, low wail of despair from the broken, motionless +figure on the stool. The long pincers, like those with which a +blacksmith pulls out a shoe from the charcoal, were produced.... + +The torturer took the glowing _thing_ on the top of the brazier, and +pulled it off, scattering the coals as he did so. + +Close to the foot of the bound figure he placed the glowing shoe. Then +he motioned to Hull to take up the other side of it with his pincers, +and put it in place so that the foot of the victim should be clamped to +it and burnt away. + +John Hull took up the long pincers, and caught hold of one side of the +shoe. + +Johnnie turned his head away; he looked straight through his black hood +at the three people on the dais. + +The notary was quietly writing. The surgeon was looking on with cool +professional eye; but Don Deza was watching the imminent horror below +him with a white face which dripped with sweat, with eyes dilated to two +rims, gazing, gazing, _drinking the sight in_. Every now and again the +Inquisitor licked his pallid lips with his tongue. And in that moment of +watching, Johnnie knew that Cruelty, for the sake of Cruelty, the mad +pleasure of watching suffering in its most hideous forms, was the hidden +vice, the true nature, of this priest of Courts. + +At the moment, and doubtless at many other moments in the past, Father +Deza was compensating, and had compensated, for a life of abstinence +from sensual indulgence. He was giving scope to the deadlier vices of +the heart, pride, bigotry, intolerance, and horrid cruelty--those vices +far more opposed to the hope of salvation, and far more extensively +mischievous to society, than anything the sensualist can do. + +The bitterness of it; the horror of it--this was the wine the brilliant +priest was drinking, had drunk, and would ever drink. Into him had come +a devil which had killed his soul, and looked out from his narrow +twitching eyes, rejoicing that it saw these things with the symbol of +God's pain high above it, with the cloak of God's Church upon his +shoulders. + +As Johnnie watched, fascinated with an unnameable horror, he heard a +loud shout close to his ear. He saw a black-hooded, thick figure pass +him and rush towards the dais. + +In the hands of this figure was a long pair of blacksmith's pincers, and +at the end of the pincers was a shoe of white-hot metal. + +There was another loud shout, a broad band of white light, as the mass +of glowing metal shot through the air in a hissing arc, and then the +face of the Inquisitor disappeared and was no more. + +At that moment both Commendone and the sworn torturer realised what had +happened. They leapt nimbly on to the dais. From under his robe Alonso +took a stiletto and plunged it into the throat of the notary; while +Johnnie, in a mad fury, caught the physician by the neck, placed his +open hand upon the man's chin, and bent his head back, slowly, steadily, +and with terrible pressure, until there was a faint click, and the +black-robed figure sank down. + +The _trampezo_ was burning into the wooden floor of the dais. Alonso ran +back into the room, caught up a pail of water, and poured it upon the +gathering flames. There was a hiss, and a column of steam rose up into +the alcove. + +He turned his head and looked at the motionless form of the Inquisitor. +The face was all black and red, and rising into white blisters. + +He turned to Commendone. "He's dead, or dying," he said, "and now, thou +hast indeed cast the die, and all is over. Thy man hath spoilt it all, +and nothing remains for us but death." + +"Silence!" Johnnie answered, captain of himself now, and of all of them +there. "How is the next prisoner to be summoned?" + +The torturer understood him. "Why," he said, "we may yet save +ourselves!--that bell there"--he pointed to a hanging cord. "That +summons the jailors. They are waiting to bring the Senorita for +judgment. Don Luis, there, who was to undergo the _trampezo_, would not +have been taken back into the prison at once, but into our room, where +the surgeon would have attended him. Therefore, we will ring for the +Senorita. She will be pushed into this place very gently. The door will +not be opened wide. Doors are never widely opened in the Holy Office. +The jailors will see us taking charge of her, and all will be well. If +not, get your poignard ready, Senor, and you, too, Juan, for 'twill be +better to die a fighting death in this cellar than to wait for what +would come hereafter." + +He stretched out his hand and pulled down the bell-cord. + +They stood waiting in absolute silence, Alonso and John Hull, in their +dreadful disguise, standing close to the door. + +There was not a sound in the brilliantly lit room. The victim that was +to be had fainted away, and lay as dead as the three corpses upon the +dais. There was a smell of hot coal, of burning wood, and still there +came a little sizzling noise from the half-quenched glowing iron upon +the platform. + +Thud! + +A quiet answering knock from Alonso. Another thud--the heave of the +lever, the slither of the bolts, the door opening a little, murmured +voices, and a low, shuddering cry of horror, as a tall girl, in a long +woollen garment, a coarse garment of wool dyed yellow, was pushed into +the embrace of the black-hooded figures who stood waiting for her. + +Clang--the bolts were shot back. + +Then a tearing, ripping noise, as Hull pulled the black hood from his +face and shoulders. + +"My dear, my dear," he cried, "Miss Lizzie. 'Tis over now. Fear nothing! +I and thy true love have brought thee to safety." + +The girl gave a great cry. "Johnnie! Johnnie!" + +He rushed up to her, and held her in his arms. He was still clothed in +the dreadful disguise of a torturer. It had not come into his mind to +take it off. But she was not frightened. She knew his arms, she heard +his voice, she sank fainting upon his shoulder. + + * * * * * + +Once more it was John Hull speaking in English who brought the lovers to +realisation. His strong and anxious voice was seconded by the Spanish of +Alonso. + +"Quick! quick!" both the men said. "All hath gone well. We have a start +of many hours, but we must be gone from here at once." + +Johnnie released Elizabeth from his arms, and then he also doffed the +terror-inspiring costume which he wore. + +"Sweetheart," he said, "go you with John Hull and this Alonso into the +room beyond, where they will give you robes to wear. I will join you in +less than a minute." + +They passed away with quick, frightened footsteps. + +But as for Commendone, he went to the centre of the alcove, and knelt +down just below the long black table. + +The three bodies of the men they had slain he could not see. He could +only see the black form of the tablecloth, and above it the great white +Crucifix. + +He prayed that nothing he had done upon this night should stain his +soul, that Jesus--as indeed he believed--had been looking on him and all +that he did, with help and favour. + +And once more he renewed his vow to live for Jesus and for the girl he +loved. + +Crossing himself, he rose, and clapped his hands to his right side. Once +more he found he was without a sword. He bowed again to the cross. "It +will come back to me," he said, in a quiet voice. + +He turned to go, he had no concern with those who lay dead above him; +but as he went towards the door leading to the place of the torturers, +his eye fell upon the oak stool in the middle of the room--the oak chair +by which the brazier still glowed, and in which a silent, doll-like +figure was bound. + +He stepped up to the chair, and immediately he saw that Don Luis was +dead. + +The shock had killed him. He lay back there with patches of grey marked +in his hair, as if fingers had been placed upon it--a young face, now +prematurely old, and writhed into horror, but with a little quiet smile +of satisfaction upon it after all.... + + * * * * * + +And so they sailed away to the Court of Rome, to take a high part in +what went forward in the palace of the Vatican. They were to be fused +into that wonderful revival of Learning and the Arts known as the +Renaissance. + +God willing, and still seeing fit to give strength to the hand and mind +of the present chronicler, what they did in Rome, all that befell them +there, and of Johnnie's friendship and adventures with Messer Benvenuto +Cellini will be duly set out in another volume during the year of Grace +to come. + + _Et veniam pro laude peto: laudatus abunde + Non fastiditus si tibi, lector, ero._ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSE OF TORMENT*** + + +******* This file should be named 36721.txt or 36721.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/7/2/36721 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions 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. 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