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diff --git a/4596.txt b/4596.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d6fb1d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/4596.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18518 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Unknown to History, by Charlotte M. Yonge + +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: Unknown to History + A Story of the Captivity of Mary of Scotland + +Author: Charlotte M. Yonge + +Posting Date: July 19, 2009 [EBook #4596] +Release Date: October, 2003 +First Posted: February 13, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNKNOWN TO HISTORY *** + + + + +Produced by Sandra Laythorpe. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + +Unknown to History + +A Story of the Captivity of Mary of Scotland + + +By + +Charlotte M. Yonge + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In p. 58 of vol. ii. of the second edition of Miss Strickland's Life of +Mary Queen of Scots, or p. 100, vol. v. of Burton's History of +Scotland, will be found the report on which this tale is founded. + +If circumstances regarding the Queen's captivity and Babington's plot +have been found to be omitted, as well as many interesting personages +in the suite of the captive Queen, it must be remembered that the art +of the story-teller makes it needful to curtail some of the incidents +which would render the narrative too complicated to be interesting to +those who wish more for a view of noted characters in remarkable +situations, than for a minute and accurate sifting of facts and +evidence. + + C. M. YONGE. + +February 27, 1882. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. THE LITTLE WAIF + +CHAPTER II. EVIL TIDINGS + +CHAPTER III. THE CAPTIVE + +CHAPTER IV. THE OAK AND THE OAKEN HALL + +CHAPTER V. THE HUCKSTERING WOMAN + +CHAPTER VI. THE BEWITCHED WHISTLE + +CHAPTER VII. THE BLAST OF THE WHISTLE + +CHAPTER VIII. THE KEY OF THE CIPHER + +CHAPTER IX. UNQUIET + +CHAPTER X. THE LADY ARBELL + +CHAPTER XI. QUEEN MARY'S PRESENCE CHAMBER + +CHAPTER XII. A FURIOUS LETTER + +CHAPTER XIII. BEADS AND BRACELETS + +CHAPTER XIV. THE MONOGRAMS + +CHAPTER XV. MOTHER AND CHILD + +CHAPTER XVI. THE PEAK CAVERN + +CHAPTER XVII. THE EBBING WELL + +CHAPTER XVIII. CIS OR SISTER + +CHAPTER XIX. THE CLASH OF SWORDS + +CHAPTER XX. WINGFIELD MANOR + +CHAPTER XXI. A TANGLE + +CHAPTER XXII. TUTBURY + +CHAPTER XXIII. THE LOVE TOKEN + +CHAPTER XXIV. A LIONESS AT BAY + +CHAPTER XXV. PAUL'S WALK + +CHAPTER XXVI. IN THE WEB + +CHAPTER XXVII. THE CASTLE WELL + +CHAPTER XXVIII. HUNTING DOWN THE DEER + +CHAPTER XXIX. THE SEARCH + +CHAPTER XXX. TETE-A-TETE + +CHAPTER XXXI. EVIDENCE + +CHAPTER XXXII. WESTMINSTER HALL + +CHAPTER XXXIII. IN THE TOWER + +CHAPTER XXXIV. FOTHERINGHAY + +CHAPTER XXXV. BEFORE THE COMMISSIONERS + +CHAPTER XXXVI. A VENTURE + +CHAPTER XXXVII. MY LADY'S REMORSE + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. MASTER TALBOT AND HIS CHARGE + +CHAPTER XXXIX. THE FETTERLOCK COURT + +CHAPTER XL. THE SENTENCE + +CHAPTER XLI. HER ROYAL HIGHNESS + +CHAPTER XLII. THE SUPPLICATION + +CHAPTER XLIII. THE WARRANT + +CHAPTER XLIV. ON THE HUMBER + +CHAPTER XLV. TEN YEARS AFTER + + + + + +UNKNOWN TO HISTORY. + + + + + Poor scape-goat of crimes, where,--her part what it may, + So tortured, so hunted to die, + Foul age of deceit and of hate,--on her head + Least stains of gore-guiltiness lie; + To the hearts of the just her blood from the dust + Not in vain for mercy will cry. + + Poor scape-goat of nations and faiths in their strife + So cruel,--and thou so fair! + Poor girl!--so, best, in her misery named,-- + Discrown'd of two kingdoms, and bare; + Not first nor last on this one was cast + The burden that others should share. + Visions of England, by F. T. Palgrave + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE LITTLE WAIF. + + +On a spring day, in the year 1568, Mistress Talbot sat in her lodging +at Hull, an upper chamber, with a large latticed window, glazed with +the circle and diamond leading perpetuated in Dutch pictures, and +opening on a carved balcony, whence, had she been so minded, she could +have shaken hands with her opposite neighbour. There was a richly +carved mantel-piece, with a sea-coal fire burning in it, for though it +was May, the sea winds blew cold, and there was a fishy odour about the +town, such as it was well to counteract. The floor was of slippery +polished oak, the walls hung with leather, gilded in some places and +depending from cornices, whose ornaments proved to an initiated eye, +that this had once been the refectory of a small priory, or cell, +broken up at the Reformation. + +Of furniture there was not much, only an open cupboard, displaying two +silver cups and tankards, a sauce-pan of the same metal, a few tall, +slender, Venetian glasses, a little pewter, and some rare shells. A +few high-backed chairs were ranged against the wall; there was a tall +"armory," i.e. a linen-press of dark oak, guarded on each side by the +twisted weapons of the sea unicorn, and in the middle of the room stood +a large, solid-looking table, adorned with a brown earthenware +beau-pot, containing a stiff posy of roses, southernwood, gillyflowers, +pinks and pansies, of small dimensions. On hooks, against the wall, +hung a pair of spurs, a shield, a breastplate, and other pieces of +armour, with an open helmet bearing the dog, the well-known crest of +the Talbots of the Shrewsbury line. + +On the polished floor, near the window, were a child's cart, a little +boat, some whelks and limpets. Their owner, a stout boy of three years +old, in a tight, borderless, round cap, and home-spun, madder-dyed +frock, lay fast asleep in a big wooden cradle, scarcely large enough, +however, to contain him, as he lay curled up, sucking his thumb, and +hugging to his breast the soft fragment of a sea-bird's downy breast. +If he stirred, his mother's foot was on the rocker, as she sat +spinning, but her spindle danced languidly on the floor, as if "feeble +was her hand, and silly her thread;" while she listened anxiously, for +every sound in the street below. She wore a dark blue dress, with a +small lace ruff opening in front, deep cuffs to match, and a white +apron likewise edged with lace, and a coif, bent down in the centre, +over a sweet countenance, matronly, though youthful, and now full of +wistful expectancy; not untinged with anxiety and sorrow. + +Susan Hardwicke was a distant kinswoman of the famous Bess of +Hardwicke, and had formed one of the little court of gentlewomen with +whom great ladies were wont to surround themselves. There she met +Richard Talbot, the second son of a relative of the Earl of Shrewsbury, +a young man who, with the indifference of those days to service by land +or sea, had been at one time a gentleman pensioner of Queen Mary; at +another had sailed under some of the great mariners of the western +main. There he had acquired substance enough to make the offer of his +hand to the dowerless Susan no great imprudence; and as neither could +be a subject for ambitious plans, no obstacle was raised to their +wedding. + +He took his wife home to his old father's house in the precincts of +Sheffield Park, where she was kindly welcomed; but wealth did not so +abound in the family but that, when opportunity offered, he was +thankful to accept the command of the Mastiff, a vessel commissioned by +Queen Elizabeth, but built, manned, and maintained at the expense of +the Earl of Shrewsbury. It formed part of a small squadron which was +cruising on the eastern coast to watch over the intercourse between +France and Scotland, whether in the interest of the imprisoned Mary, or +of the Lords of the Congregation. He had obtained lodgings for +Mistress Susan at Hull, so that he might be with her when he put into +harbour, and she was expecting him for the first time since the loss of +their second child, a daughter whom he had scarcely seen during her +little life of a few months. + +Moreover, there had been a sharp storm a few days previously, and +experience had not hardened her to the anxieties of a sailor's wife. +She had been down once already to the quay, and learnt all that the old +sailors could tell her of chances and conjectures; and when her boy +began to fret from hunger and weariness, she had left her serving-man, +Gervas, to watch for further tidings. Yet, so does one trouble drive +out another, that whereas she had a few days ago dreaded the sorrow of +his return, she would now have given worlds to hear his step. + +Hark, what is that in the street? Oh, folly! If the Mastiff were in, +would not Gervas have long ago brought her the tidings? Should she +look over the balcony only to be disappointed again? Ah! she had been +prudent, for the sounds were dying away. Nay, there was a foot at the +door! Gervas with ill news! No, no, it bounded as never did Gervas's +step! It was coming up. She started from the chair, quivering with +eagerness, as the door opened and in hurried her suntanned sailor! She +was in his arms in a trance of joy. That was all she knew for a +moment, and then, it was as if something else were given back to her. +No, it was not a dream! It was substance. In her arms was a little +swaddled baby, in her ears its feeble wail, mingled with the glad shout +of little Humfrey, as he scrambled from the cradle to be uplifted in +his father's arms. + +"What is this?" she asked, gazing at the infant between terror and +tenderness, as its weak cry and exhausted state forcibly recalled the +last hours of her own child. + +"It is the only thing we could save from a wreck off the Spurn," said +her husband. "Scottish as I take it. The rogues seem to have taken to +their boats, leaving behind them a poor woman and her child. I trust +they met their deserts and were swamped. We saw the fluttering of her +coats as we made for the Humber, and I sent Goatley and Jaques in the +boat to see if anything lived. The poor wench was gone before they +could lift her up, but the little one cried lustily, though it has +waxen weaker since. We had no milk on board, and could only give it +bits of soft bread soaked in beer, and I misdoubt me whether it did not +all run out at the corners of its mouth." + +This was interspersed with little Humfrey's eager outcries that little +sister was come again, and Mrs. Talbot, the tears running down her +cheeks, hastened to summon her one woman-servant, Colet, to bring the +porringer of milk. + +Captain Talbot had only hurried ashore to bring the infant, and show +himself to his wife. He was forced instantly to return to the wharf, +but he promised to come back as soon as he should have taken order for +his men, and for the Mastiff, which had suffered considerably in the +storm, and would need to be refitted. + +Colet hastily put a manchet of fresh bread, a pasty, and a stoup of +wine into a basket, and sent it by her husband, Gervas, after their +master; and then eagerly assisted her mistress in coaxing the infant to +swallow food, and in removing the soaked swaddling clothes which the +captain and his crew had not dared to meddle with. + +When Captain Talbot returned, as the rays of the setting sun glanced +high on the roofs and chimneys, little Humfrey stood peeping through +the tracery of the balcony, watching for him, and shrieking with joy at +the first glimpse of the sea-bird's feather in his cap. The spotless +home-spun cloth and the trenchers were laid for supper, a festive capon +was prepared by the choicest skill of Mistress Susan, and the little +shipwrecked stranger lay fast asleep in the cradle. + +All was well with it now, Mrs. Talbot said. Nothing had ailed it but +cold and hunger, and when it had been fed, warmed, and dressed, it had +fallen sweetly asleep in her arms, appeasing her heartache for her own +little Sue, while Humfrey fully believed that father had brought his +little sister back again. + +The child was in truth a girl, apparently three or four months old. She +had been rolled up in Mrs. Talbot's baby's clothes, and her own long +swaddling bands hung over the back of a chair, where they had been +dried before the fire. They were of the finest woollen below, and +cambric above, and the outermost were edged with lace, whose quality +Mrs. Talbot estimated very highly. + +"See," she added, "what we found within. A Popish relic, is it not? +Colet and Mistress Gale were for making away with it at once, but it +seemed to me that it was a token whereby the poor babe's friends may +know her again, if she have any kindred not lost at sea." + +The token was a small gold cross, of peculiar workmanship, with a +crystal in the middle, through which might be seen some mysterious +object neither husband nor wife could make out, but which they agreed +must be carefully preserved for the identification of their little +waif. Mrs. Talbot also produced a strip of writing which she had found +sewn to the inmost band wrapped round the little body, but it had no +superscription, and she believed it to be either French, Latin, or High +Dutch, for she could make nothing of it. Indeed, the good lady's +education had only included reading, writing, needlework and cookery, +and she knew no language but her own. Her husband had been taught +Latin, but his acquaintance with modern tongues was of the nautical +order, and entirely oral and vernacular. However, it enabled him to +aver that the letter--if such it were--was neither Scottish, French, +Spanish, nor High or Low Dutch. He looked at it in all directions, and +shook his head over it. + +"Who can read it, for us?" asked Mrs. Talbot. "Shall we ask Master +Heatherthwayte? he is a scholar, and he said he would look in to see +how you fared." + +"At supper-time, I trow," said Richard, rather grimly, "the smell of +thy stew will bring him down in good time." + +"Nay, dear sir, I thought you would be fain to see the good man, and he +lives but poorly in his garret." + +"Scarce while he hath good wives like thee to boil his pot for him," +said Richard, smiling. "Tell me, hath he heard aught of this gear? +thou hast not laid this scroll before him?" + +"No, Colet brought it to me only now, having found it when washing the +swaddling-bands, stitched into one of them." + +"Then hark thee, good wife, not one word to him of the writing." + +"Might he not interpret it?" + +"Not he! I must know more about it ere I let it pass forth from mine +hands, or any strange eye fall upon it-- Ha, in good time! I hear his +step on the stair." + +The captain hastily rolled up the scroll and put it into his pouch, +while Mistress Susan felt as if she had made a mistake in her +hospitality, yet almost as if her husband were unjust towards the good +man who had been such a comfort to her in her sorrow; but there was no +lack of cordiality or courtesy in Richard's manner when, after a short, +quick knock, there entered a figure in hat, cassock, gown, and bands, +with a pleasant, though grave countenance, the complexion showing that +it had been tanned and sunburnt in early youth, although it wore later +traces of a sedentary student life, and, it might be, of less genial +living than had nourished the up-growth of that sturdily-built frame. + +Master Joseph Heatherthwayte was the greatly underpaid curate of a +small parish on the outskirts of Hull. He contrived to live on some +(pounds)10 per annum in the attic of the house where the Talbots +lodged,--and not only to live, but to be full of charitable deeds, +mostly at the expense of his own appetite. The square cut of his +bands, and the uncompromising roundness of the hat which he doffed on +his entrance, marked him as inclined to the Puritan party, which, being +that of apparent progress, attracted most of the ardent spirits of the +time. + +Captain Talbot's inclinations did not lie that way, but he respected +and liked his fellow-lodger, and his vexation had been merely the +momentary disinclination of a man to be interrupted, especially on his +first evening at home. He responded heartily to Master +Heatherthwayte's warm pressure of the hand and piously expressed +congratulation on his safety, mixed with condolence on the grief that +had befallen him. + +"And you have been a good friend to my poor wife in her sorrow," said +Richard, "for the which I thank you heartily, sir." + +"Truly, sir, I could have been her scholar, with such edifying +resignation did she submit to the dispensation," returned the +clergyman, uttering these long words in a broad northern accent which +had nothing incongruous in it to Richard's ears, and taking advantage +of the lady's absence on "hospitable tasks intent" to speak in her +praise. + +Little Humfrey, on his father's knee, comprehending that they were +speaking of the recent sorrow, put in his piece of information that +"father had brought little sister back from the sea." + +"Ah, child!" said Master Heatherthwayte, in the ponderous tone of one +unused to children, "thou hast yet to learn the words of the holy +David, 'I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.'" + +"Bring not that thought forward, Master Heatherthwayte," said Richard, +"I am well pleased that my poor wife and this little lad can take the +poor little one as a solace sent them by God, as she assuredly is." + +"Mean you, then, to adopt her into your family?" asked the minister. + +"We know not if she hath any kin," said Richard, and at that moment +Susan entered, followed by the man and maid, each bearing a portion of +the meal, which was consumed by the captain and the clergyman as +thoroughly hungry men eat; and there was silence till the capon's bones +were bare and two large tankards had been filled with Xeres sack, +captured in a Spanish ship, "the only good thing that ever came from +Spain," quoth the sailor. + +Then he began to tell how he had weathered the storm on the +Berwickshire coast; but he was interrupted by another knock, followed +by the entrance of a small, pale, spare man, with the lightest possible +hair, very short, and almost invisible eyebrows; he had a round ruff +round his neck, and a black, scholarly gown, belted round his waist +with a girdle, in which he carried writing tools. + +"Ha, Cuthbert Langston, art thou there?" said the captain, rising. +"Thou art kindly welcome. Sit down and crush a cup of sack with Master +Heatherthwayte and me." + +"Thanks, cousin," returned the visitor, "I heard that the Mastiff was +come in, and I came to see whether all was well." + +"It was kindly done, lad," said Richard, while the others did their +part of the welcome, though scarcely so willingly. Cuthbert Langston +was a distant relation on the mother's side of Richard, a young +scholar, who, after his education at Oxford, had gone abroad with a +nobleman's son as his pupil, and on his return, instead of taking Holy +Orders, as was expected, had obtained employment in a merchant's +counting-house at Hull, for which his knowledge of languages eminently +fitted him. Though he possessed none of the noble blood of the +Talbots, the employment was thought by Mistress Susan somewhat +derogatory to the family dignity, and there was a strong suspicion both +in her mind and that of Master Heatherthwayte that his change of +purpose was due to the change of religion in England, although he was a +perfectly regular church-goer. Captain Talbot, however, laughed at all +this, and, though he had not much in common with his kinsman, always +treated him in a cousinly fashion. He too had heard a rumour of the +foundling, and made inquiry for it, upon which Richard told his story +in greater detail, and his wife asked what the poor mother was like. + +"I saw her not," he answered, "but Goatley thought the poor woman to +whom she was bound more like to be nurse than mother, judging by her +years and her garments." + +"The mother may have been washed off before," said Susan, lifting the +little one from the cradle, and hushing it. "Weep not, poor babe, thou +hast found a mother here." + +"Saw you no sign of the crew?" asked Master Heatherthwayte. + +"None at all. The vessel I knew of old as the brig Bride of Dunbar, +one of the craft that ply between Dunbar and the French ports." + +"And how think you? Were none like to be saved?" + +"I mean to ride along the coast to-morrow, to see whether aught can be +heard of them, but even if their boats could live in such a sea, they +would have evil hap among the wreckers if they came ashore. I would +not desire to be a shipwrecked man in these parts, and if I had a +Scottish or a French tongue in my head so much the worse for me." + +"Ah, Master Heatherthwayte," said Susan, "should not a man give up the +sea when he is a husband and father?" + +"Tush, dame! With God's blessing the good ship Mastiff will ride out +many another such gale. Tell thy mother, little Numpy, that an English +sailor is worth a dozen French or Scottish lubbers." + +"Sir," said Master Heatherthwayte, "the pious trust of the former part +of your discourse is contradicted by the boast of the latter end." + +"Nay, Sir Minister, what doth a sailor put his trust in but his God +foremost, and then his good ship and his brave men?" + +It should be observed that all the three men wore their hats, and each +made a reverent gesture of touching them. The clergyman seemed +satisfied by the answer, and presently added that it would be well, if +Master and Mistress Talbot meant to adopt the child, that she should be +baptized. + +"How now?" said Richard, "we are not so near any coast of Turks or +Infidels that we should deem her sprung of heathen folk." + +"Assuredly not," said Cuthbert Langston, whose quick, light-coloured +eyes had spied the reliquary in Mistress Susan's work-basket, "if this +belongs to her. By your leave, kinswoman," and he lifted it in his +hand with evident veneration, and began examining it. + +"It is Babylonish gold, an accursed thing!" exclaimed Master +Heatherthwayte. "Beware, Master Talbot, and cast it from thee." + +"Nay," said Richard, "that shall I not do. It may lead to the +discovery of the child's kindred. Why, my master, what harm think you +it will do to us in my dame's casket? Or what right have we to make +away with the little one's property?" + +His common sense was equally far removed from the horror of the one +visitor as from the reverence of the other, and so it pleased neither. +Master Langston was the first to speak, observing that the relic made +it evident that the child must have been baptized. + +"A Popish baptism," said Master Heatherthwayte, "with chrism and taper +and words and gestures to destroy the pure simplicity of the sacrament." + +Controversy here seemed to be setting in, and the infant cause of it +here setting up a cry, Susan escaped under pretext of putting Humfrey +to bed in the next room, and carried off both the little ones. The +conversation then fell upon the voyage, and the captain described the +impregnable aspect of the castle of Dumbarton, which was held for Queen +Mary by her faithful partisan, Lord Flemyng. On this, Cuthbert +Langston asked whether he had heard any tidings of the imprisoned +Queen, and he answered that it was reported at Leith that she had +well-nigh escaped from Lochleven, in the disguise of a lavender or +washerwoman. She was actually in the boat, and about to cross the +lake, when a rude oarsman attempted to pull aside her muffler, and the +whiteness of the hand she raised in self-protection betrayed her, so +that she was carried back. "If she had reached Dumbarton," he said, +"she might have mocked at the Lords of the Congregation. Nay, she +might have been in that very brig, whose wreck I beheld." + +"And well would it have been for Scotland and England had it been the +will of Heaven that so it should fall out," observed the Puritan. + +"Or it may be," said the merchant, "that the poor lady's escape was +frustrated by Providence, that she might be saved from the rocks of the +Spurn." + +"The poor lady, truly! Say rather the murtheress," quoth +Heatherthwayte. + +"Say rather the victim and scapegoat of other men's plots," protested +Langston. + +"Come, come, sirs," says Talbot, "we'll have no high words here on what +Heaven only knoweth. Poor lady she is, in all sooth, if sackless; +poorer still if guilty; so I know not what matter there is for falling +out about. In any sort, I will not have it at my table." He spoke with +the authority of the captain of a ship, and the two visitors, scarce +knowing it, submitted to his decision of manner, but the harmony of the +evening seemed ended. Cuthbert Langston soon rose to bid good-night, +first asking his cousin at what hour he proposed to set forth for the +Spurn, to which Richard briefly replied that it depended on what had to +be done as to the repairs of the ship. + +The clergyman tarried behind him to say, "Master Talbot, I marvel that +so godly a man as you have ever been should be willing to harbour one +so popishly affected, and whom many suspect of being a seminary priest." + +"Master Heatherthwayte," returned the captain, "my kinsman is my +kinsman, and my house is my house. No offence, sir, but I brook not +meddling." + +The clergyman protested that no offence was intended, only caution, and +betook himself to his own bare chamber, high above. No sooner was he +gone than Captain Talbot again became absorbed in the endeavour to +spell out the mystery of the scroll, with his elbows on the table and +his hands over his ears, nor did he look up till he was touched by his +wife, when he uttered an impatient demand what she wanted now. + +She had the little waif in her arms undressed, and with only a woollen +coverlet loosely wrapped round her, and without speaking she pointed to +the little shoulder-blades, where two marks had been indelibly made--on +one side the crowned monogram of the Blessed Virgin, on the other a +device like the Labarum, only that the upright was surmounted by a +fleur-de-lis. + +Richard Talbot gave a sort of perplexed grunt of annoyance to +acknowledge that he saw them. + +"Poor little maid! how could they be so cruel? They have been branded +with a hot iron," said the lady. + +"They that parted from her meant to know her again," returned Talbot. + +"Surely they are Popish marks," added Mistress Susan. + +"Look you here, Dame Sue, I know you for a discreet woman. Keep this +gear to yourself, both the letter and the marks. Who hath seen them?" + +"I doubt me whether even Colet has seen this mark." + +"That is well. Keep all out of sight. Many a man has been brought +into trouble for a less matter swelled by prating tongues." + +"Have you made it out?" + +"Not I. It may be only the child's horoscope, or some old wife's charm +that is here sewn up, and these marks may be naught but some sailor's +freak; but, on the other hand, they may be concerned with perilous +matter, so the less said the better." + +"Should they not be shown to my lord, or to her Grace's Council?" + +"I'm not going to run my head into trouble for making a coil about what +may be naught. That's what befell honest Mark Walton. He thought he +had seized matter of State, and went up to Master Walsingham, swelling +like an Indian turkey-cock, with his secret letters, and behold they +turned out to be a Dutch fishwife's charm to bring the herrings. I can +tell you he has rued the work he made about it ever since. On the +other hand, let it get abroad through yonder prating fellow, +Heatherthwayte, or any other, that Master Richard Talbot had in his +house a child with, I know not what Popish tokens, and a scroll in an +unknown tongue, and I should be had up in gyves for suspicion of +treason, or may be harbouring the Prince of Scotland himself, when it +is only some poor Scottish archer's babe." + +"You would not have me part with the poor little one?" + +"Am I a Turk or a Pagan? No. Only hold thy peace, as I shall hold +mine, until such time as I can meet some one whom I can trust to read +this riddle. Tell me--what like is the child? Wouldst guess it to be +of gentle, or of clownish blood, if women can tell such things?" + +"Of gentle blood, assuredly," cried the lady, so that he smiled and +said, "I might have known that so thou wouldst answer." + +"Nay, but see her little hands and fingers, and the mould of her dainty +limbs. No Scottish fisher clown was her father, I dare be sworn. Her +skin is as fair and fine as my Humfrey's, and moreover she has always +been in hands that knew how a babe should be tended. Any woman can tell +you that!" + +"And what like is she in your woman's eyes? What complexion doth she +promise?" + +"Her hair, what she has of it, is dark; her eyes--bless them--are of a +deep blue, or purple, such as most babes have till they take their true +tint. There is no guessing. Humfrey's eyes were once like to be +brown, now are they as blue as thine own." + +"I understand all that," said Captain Talbot, smiling. "If she have +kindred, they will know her better by the sign manual on her tender +flesh than by her face." + +"And who are they?" + +"Who are they?" echoed the captain, rolling up the scroll in despair. +"Here, take it, Susan, and keep it safe from all eyes. Whatever it may +be, it may serve thereafter to prove her true name. And above all, not +a word or breath to Heatherthwayte, or any of thy gossips, wear they +coif or bands." + +"Ah, sir! that you will mistrust the good man." + +"I said not I mistrust any one; only that I will have no word of all +this go forth! Not one! Thou heedest me, wife?" + +"Verily I do, sir; I will be mute." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +EVIL TIDINGS. + + +After giving orders for the repairs of the Mastiff, and the disposal of +her crew, Master Richard Talbot purveyed himself of a horse at the +hostel, and set forth for Spurn Head to make inquiries along the coast +respecting the wreck of the Bride of Dunbar, and he was joined by +Cuthbert Langston, who said his house had had dealings with her owners, +and that he must ascertain the fate of her wares. His good lady +remained in charge of the mysterious little waif, over whom her tender +heart yearned more and more, while her little boy hovered about in +serene contemplation of the treasure he thought he had recovered. To +him the babe seemed really his little sister; to his mother, if she +sometimes awakened pangs of keen regret, yet she filled up much of the +dreary void of the last few weeks. + +Mrs. Talbot was a quiet, reserved woman, not prone to gadding abroad, +and she had made few acquaintances during her sojourn at Hull; but +every creature she knew, or might have known, seemed to her to drop in +that day, and bring at least two friends to inspect the orphan of the +wreck, and demand all particulars. + +The little girl was clad in the swaddling garments of Mrs. Talbot's own +children, and the mysterious marks were suspected by no one, far less +the letter which Susan, for security's sake, had locked up in her +nearly empty, steel-bound, money casket. The opinions of the gossips +varied, some thinking the babe might belong to some of the Queen of +Scotland's party fleeing to France, others fathering her on the +refugees from the persecutions in Flanders, a third party believing her +a mere fisherman's child, and one lean, lantern-jawed old crone, +Mistress Rotherford, observing, "Take my word, Mrs. Talbot, and keep +her not with you. They that are cast up by the sea never bring good +with them." + +The court of female inquiry was still sitting when a heavy tread was +heard, and Colet announced "a serving-man from Bridgefield had ridden +post haste to speak with madam," and the messenger, booted and spurred, +with the mastiff badge on his sleeve, and the hat he held in his hand, +followed closely. + +"What news, Nathanael?" she asked, as she responded to his greeting. + +"Ill enough news, mistress," was the answer. "Master Richard's ship be +in, they tell me." + +"Yes, but he is rid out to make inquiry for a wreck," said the lady. +"Is all well with my good father-in-law?" + +"He ails less in body than in mind, so please you. Being that Master +Humfrey was thrown by Blackfoot, the beast being scared by a flash of +lightning, and never spoke again." + +"Master Humfrey!" + +"Ay, mistress. Pitched on his head against the south gate-post. I saw +how it was with him when we took him up, and he never so much as lifted +an eyelid, but died at the turn of the night. Heaven rest his soul!' + +"Heaven rest his soul!" echoed Susan, and the ladies around chimed in. +They had come for one excitement, and here was another. + +"There! See but what I said!" quoth Mrs. Rotherford, uplifting a +skinny finger to emphasise that the poor little flotsome had already +brought evil. + +"Nay," said the portly wife of a merchant, "begging your pardon, this +may be a fat instead of a lean sorrow. Leaves the poor gentleman +heirs, Mrs. Talbot?" + +"Oh no!" said Susan, with tears in her eyes. "His wife died two years +back, and her chrisom babe with her. He loved her too well to turn his +mind to wed again, and now he is with her for aye." And she covered +her face and sobbed, regardless of the congratulations of the +merchant's wife, and exclaiming, "Oh! the poor old lady!" + +"In sooth, mistress," said Nathanael, who had stood all this time as if +he had by no means emptied his budget of ill news, "poor old madam fell +down all of a heap on the floor, and when the wenches lifted her, they +found she was stricken with the dead palsy, and she has not spoken, and +there's no one knows what to do, for the poor old squire is like one +distraught, sitting by her bed like an image on a monument, with the +tears flowing down his old cheeks. 'But,' says he to me, 'get you to +Hull, Nat, and take madam's palfrey and a couple of sumpter beasts, and +bring my good daughter Talbot back with you as fast as she and the +babes may brook.' I made bold to say, 'And Master Richard, your +worship?' then he groaned somewhat, and said, 'If my son's ship be come +in, he must do as her Grace's service permits, but meantime he must +spare us his wife, for she is sorely needed here.' And he looked at +the bed so as it would break your heart to see, for since old Nurse +Took hath been doited, there's not been a wench about the house that +can do a hand's turn for a sick body." + +Susan knew this was true, for her mother-in-law had been one of those +bustling, managing housewives, who prefer doing everything themselves +to training others, and she was appalled at the idea of the probable +desolation and helplessness of the bereaved household. + +It was far too late to start that day, even had her husband been at +home, for the horses sent for her had to rest. The visitors would fain +have extracted some more particulars about the old squire's age, his +kindred to the great Earl, and the amount of estate to which her +husband had become heir. There were those among them who could not +understand Susan's genuine grief, and there were others whose +consolations were no less distressing to one of her reserved character. +She made brief answer that the squire was threescore and fifteen years +old, his wife nigh about his age; that her husband was now their only +child; that he was descended from a son of the great Earl John, killed +at the Bridge of Chatillon, that he held the estate of Bridgefield in +fief on tenure of military service to the head of his family. She did +not know how much it was worth by the year, but she must pray the good +ladies to excuse her, as she had many preparations to make. Volunteers +to assist her in packing her mails were made, but she declined them +all, and rejoiced when left alone with Colet to arrange for what would +be probably her final departure from Hull. + +It was a blow to find that she must part from her servant-woman, who, +as well as her husband Gervas, was a native of Hull. Not only were +they both unwilling to leave, but the inland country was to their +imagination a wild unexplored desert. Indeed, Colet had only entered +Mrs. Talbot's service to supply the place of a maid who bad sickened +with fever and ague, and had to be sent back to her native Hallamshire. + +Ere long Mr. Heatherthwayte came down to offer his consolation, and +still more his advice, that the little foundling should be at once +baptized--conditionally, if the lady preferred it. + +The Reformed of imperfect theological training, and as such Joseph +Heatherthwayte must be classed, were apt to view the ceremonial of the +old baptismal form, symbolical and beautiful as it was, as almost +destroying the efficacy of the rite. Moreover, there was a further +impression that the Church by which the child was baptized, had a right +to bring it up, and thus the clergyman was urgent with the lady that +she should seize this opportunity for the little one's baptism. + +"Not without my husband's consent and knowledge," she said resolutely. + +"Master Talbot is a good man, but somewhat careless of sound doctrine, +as be the most of seafaring men." + +Susan had been a little nettled by her husband's implied belief that +she was influenced by the minister, so there was double resolution, as +well as some offence in her reply, that she knew her duty as a wife too +well to consent to such a thing without him. As to his being careless, +he was a true and God-fearing man, and Mr. Heatherthwayte should know +better than to speak thus of him to his wife. + +Mr. Heatherthwayte's real piety and goodness had made him a great +comfort to Susan in her lonely grief, but he had not the delicate tact +of gentle blood, and had not known where to stop, and as he stood half +apologising and half exhorting, she felt that her Richard was quite +right, and that he could be both meddling and presuming. He was +exceedingly in the way of her packing too, and she was at her wit's end +to get rid of him, when suddenly Humfrey managed to pinch his fingers +in a box, and set up such a yell, as, seconded by the frightened baby, +was more than any masculine ears could endure, and drove Master +Heatherthwayte to beat a retreat. + +Mistress Susan was well on in her work when her husband returned, and +as she expected, was greatly overcome by the tidings of his brother's +death. He closely questioned Nathanael on every detail, and could +think of nothing but the happy days he had shared with his brother, and +of the grief of his parents. He approved of all that his wife had +done; and as the damage sustained by the Mastiff could not be repaired +under a month, he had no doubt about leaving his crew in the charge of +his lieutenant while he took his family home. + +So busy were both, and so full of needful cares, the one in giving up +her lodging, the other in leaving his men, that it was impossible to +inquire into the result of his researches, for the captain was in that +mood of suppressed grief and vehement haste in which irrelevant inquiry +is perfectly unbearable. + +It was not till late in the evening that Richard told his wife of his +want of success in his investigations. He had found witnesses of the +destruction of the ship, but he did not give them full credit. "The +fellows say the ship drove on the rock, and that they saw her boats go +down with every soul on board, and that they would not lie to an +officer of her Grace. Heaven pardon me if I do them injustice in +believing they would lie to him sooner than to any one else. They are +rogues enough to take good care that no poor wretch should survive even +if he did chance to come to land." + +"Then if there be no one to claim her, we may bring up as our own the +sweet babe whom Heaven hath sent us." + +"Not so fast, dame. Thou wert wont to be more discreet. I said not +so, but for the nonce, till I can come by the rights of that scroll, +there's no need to make a coil. Let no one know of it, or of the +trinket--Thou hast them safe?" + +"Laid up with the Indian gold chain, thy wedding gift, dear sir." + +"'Tis well. My mother!--ah me," he added, catching himself up; "little +like is she to ask questions, poor soul." + +Then Susan diffidently told of Master Heatherthwayte's earnest wish to +christen the child, and, what certainly biased her a good deal, the +suggestion that this would secure her to their own religion. + +"There is something in that," said Richard, "specially after what +Cuthbert said as to the golden toy yonder. If times changed +again--which Heaven forfend--that fellow might give us trouble about +the matter." + +"You doubt him then, sir!" she asked. + +"I relished not his ways on our ride to-day," said Richard. "Sure I am +that he had some secret cause for being so curious about the wreck. I +suspect him of some secret commerce with the Queen of Scots' folk." + +"Yet you were on his side against Mr. Heatherthwayte," said Susan. + +"I would not have my kinsman browbeaten at mine own table by the +self-conceited son of a dalesman, even if he have got a round hat and +Geneva band! Ah, well! one good thing is we shall leave both of them +well behind us, though I would it were for another cause." + +Something in the remonstrance had, however, so worked on Richard +Talbot, that before morning be declared that, hap what hap, if he and +his wife were to bring up the child, she should be made a good +Protestant Christian before they left the house, and there should be no +more ado about it. + +It was altogether illogical and untheological; but Master +Heatherthwayte was delighted when in the very early morning his +devotions were interrupted, and he was summoned by the captain himself +to christen the child. + +Richard and his wife were sponsors, but the question of name had never +occurred to any one. However, in the pause of perplexity, when the +response lagged to "Name this child," little Humfrey, a delighted +spectator, broke out again with "Little Sis." + +And forthwith, "Cicely, if thou art not already baptized," was uttered +over the child, and Cicely became her name. It cost Susan a pang, as +it had been that of her own little daughter, but it was too late to +object, and she uttered no regret, but took the child to her heart, as +sent instead of her who had been taken from her. + +Master Heatherthwayte bade them good speed, and Master Langston stood +at the door of his office and waved them a farewell, both alike +unconscious of the rejoicing with which they were left behind. Mistress +Talbot rode on the palfrey sent for her use, with the little stranger +slung to her neck for security's sake. Her boy rode "a cock-horse" +before his father, but a resting-place was provided for him on a sort +of pannier on one of the sumpter beasts. What these animals could not +carry of the household stuff was left in Colet's charge to be +despatched by carriers; and the travellers jogged slowly on through +deep Yorkshire lanes, often halting to refresh the horses and supply +the wants of the little children at homely wayside inns, their entrance +usually garnished with an archway formed of the jawbones of whales, +which often served for gate-posts in that eastern part of Yorkshire. +And thus they journeyed, with frequent halts, until they came to the +Derbyshire borders. + +Bridgefield House stood on the top of a steep slope leading to the +river Dun, with a high arched bridge and a mill below it. From the +bridge proceeded one of the magnificent avenues of oak-trees which led +up to the lordly lodge, full four miles off, right across Sheffield +Park. + +The Bridgefield estate had been a younger son's portion, and its owners +had always been regarded as gentlemen retainers of the head of their +name, the Earl of Shrewsbury. Tudor jealousy had forbidden the +marshalling of such a meine as the old feudal lords had loved to +assemble, and each generation of the Bridgefield Talbots had become +more independent than the former one. The father had spent his younger +days as esquire to the late Earl, but had since become a justice of the +peace, and took rank with the substantial landowners of the country. +Humfrey, his eldest son, had been a gentleman pensioner of the Queen +till his marriage, and Richard, though beginning his career as page to +the present Earl's first wife, had likewise entered the service of her +Majesty, though still it was understood that the head of their name had +a claim to their immediate service, and had he been called to take up +arms, they would have been the first to follow his banner. Indeed, a +pair of spurs was all the annual rent they paid for their estate, which +they held on this tenure, as well as on paying the heriard horse on the +death of the head of the family, and other contributions to their +lord's splendour when he knighted his son or married his daughter. In +fact, they stood on the borderland of that feudal retainership which +was being rapidly extinguished. The estate, carved out of the great +Sheffield property, was sufficient to maintain the owner in the +dignities of an English gentleman, and to portion off the daughters, +provided that the superfluous sons shifted for themselves, as Richard +had hitherto done. The house had been ruined in the time of the Wars +of the Roses, and rebuilt in the later fashion, with a friendly-looking +front, containing two large windows, and a porch projecting between +them. The hall reached to the top of the house, and had a waggon +ceiling, with mastiffs alternating with roses on portcullises at the +intersections of the timbers. This was the family sitting and dining +room, and had a huge chimney never devoid of a wood fire. One end had +a buttery-hatch communicating with the kitchen and offices; at the +other was a small room, sacred to the master of the house, niched under +the broad staircase that led to the upper rooms, which opened on a +gallery running round three sides of the hall. + +Outside, on the southern side of the house, was a garden of potherbs, +with the green walks edged by a few bright flowers for beau-pots and +posies. This had stone walls separating it from the paddock, which +sloped down to the river, and was a good deal broken by ivy-covered +rocks. Adjoining the stables were farm buildings and barns, for there +were several fields for tillage along the river-side, and the mill and +two more farms were the property of the Bridgefield squire, so that the +inheritance was a very fair one, wedged in, as it were, between the +river and the great Chase of Sheffield, up whose stately avenue the +riding party looked as they crossed the bridge, Richard having become +more silent than ever as he came among the familiar rocks and trees of +his boyhood, and knew he should not meet that hearty welcome from his +brother which had never hitherto failed to greet his return. The house +had that strange air of forlornness which seems to proclaim sorrow +within. The great court doors stood open, and a big, rough deer-hound, +at the sound of the approaching hoofs, rose slowly up, and began a +series of long, deep-mouthed barks, with pauses between, sounding like +a knell. One or two men and maids ran out at the sound, and as the +travellers rode up to the horse-block, an old gray-bearded serving-man +came stumbling forth with "Oh! Master Diccon, woe worth the day!" + +"How does my mother?" asked Richard, as he sprang off and set his boy +on his feet. + +"No worse, sir, but she hath not yet spoken a word--back, Thunder--ah! +sir, the poor dog knows you." + +For the great hound had sprung up to Richard in eager greeting, but +then, as soon as he heard his voice, the creature drooped his ears and +tail, and instead of continuing his demonstrations of joy, stood +quietly by, only now and then poking his long, rough nose into +Richard's hand, knowing as well as possible that though not his dear +lost master, he was the next thing! + +Mistress Susan and the infant were lifted down--a hurried question and +answer assured them that the funeral was over yesterday. My Lady +Countess had come down and would have it so; my lord was at Court, and +Sir Gilbert and his brothers had been present, but the old servants +thought it hard that none nearer in blood should be there to lay their +young squire in his grave, nor to support his father, who, poor old +man, had tottered, and been so like to swoon as he passed the hall +door, that Sir Gilbert and old Diggory could but, help him back again, +fearing lest he, too, might have a stroke. + +It was a great grief to Richard, who had longed to look on his +brother's face again, but he could say nothing, only he gave one hand +to his wife and the other to his son, and led them into the hall, which +was in an indescribable state of confusion. The trestles which had +supported the coffin were still at one end of the room, the long tables +were still covered with cloths, trenchers, knives, cups, and the +remains of the funeral baked meats, and there were overthrown tankards +and stains of wine on the cloth, as though, whatever else were lacking, +the Talbot retainers had not missed their revel. + +One of the dishevelled rough-looking maidens began some hurried +muttering about being so distraught, and not looking for madam so +early, but Susan could not listen to her, and merely putting the babe +into her arms, came with her husband up the stairs, leaving little +Humfrey with Nathanael. + +Richard knocked at the bedroom door, and, receiving no answer, opened +it. There in the tapestry-hung chamber was the huge old bedstead with +its solid posts. In it lay something motionless, but the first thing +the husband and wife saw was the bent head which was lifted up by the +burly but broken figure in the chair beside it. + +The two knotted old hands clasped the arms of the chair, and the squire +prepared to rise, his lip trembling under his white beard, and emotion +working in his dejected features. They were beforehand with him. Ere +he could rise both were on their knees before him, while Richard in a +broken voice cried, "Father, O father!" + +"Thank God that thou art come, my son," said the old man, laying his +hands on his shoulders, with a gleam of joy, for as they afterwards +knew, he had sorely feared for Richard's ship in the storm that had +caused Humfrey's death. "I looked for thee, my daughter," he added, +stretching out one hand to Susan, who kissed it. "Now it may go better +with her! Speak to thy mother, Richard, she may know thy voice." + +Alas! no; the recently active, ready old lady was utterly stricken, and +as yet held in the deadly grasp of paralysis, unconscious of all that +passed around her. + +Susan found herself obliged at once to take up the reins, and become +head nurse and housekeeper. The old squire trusted implicitly to her, +and helplessly put the keys into her hands, and the serving-men and +maids, in some shame at the condition in which the hall had been found, +bestirred themselves to set it in order, so that there was a chance of +the ordinary appearance of things being restored by supper-time, when +Richard hoped to persuade his father to come down to his usual place. + +Long before this, however, a trampling had been heard in the court, and +a shrill voice, well known to Richard and Susan, was heard demanding, +"Come home, is she--Master Diccon too? More shame for you, you +sluttish queans and lazy lubbers, never to have let me know; but none +of you have any respect--" + +A visit from my Lady Countess was a greater favour to such a household +as that of Bridgefield than it would be to a cottage of the present +day; Richard was hurrying downstairs, and Susan only tarried to throw +off the housewifely apron in which she had been compounding a cooling +drink for the poor old lady, and to wash her hands, while Humfrey, +rushing up to her, exclaimed "Mother, mother, is it the Queen?" + +Queen Elizabeth herself was not inaptly represented by her namesake of +Hardwicke, the Queen of Hallamshire, sitting on her great white mule at +the door, sideways, with her feet on a board, as little children now +ride, and attended by a whole troop of gentlemen ushers, maidens, +prickers, and running footmen. She was a woman of the same type as the +Queen, which was of course enough to stamp her as a celebrated beauty, +and though she had reached middle age, her pale, clear complexion and +delicate features were well preserved. Her chin was too sharp, and +there was something too thin and keen about her nose and lips to +promise good temper. She was small of stature, but she made up for it +in dignity of presence, and as she sat there, with her rich embroidered +green satin farthingale spreading out over the mule, her tall ruff +standing up fanlike on her shoulders, her riding-rod in her hand, and +her master of the horse standing at her rein, while a gentleman usher +wielded an enormous, long-handled, green fan, to keep the sun from +incommoding her, she was, perhaps, even more magnificent than the +maiden queen herself might have been in her more private expeditions. +Indeed, she was new to her dignity as Countess, having been only a few +weeks married to the Earl, her fourth husband. Captain Talbot did not +feel it derogatory to his dignity as a gentleman to advance with his +hat in his hand to kiss her hand, and put a knee to the ground as he +invited her to alight, an invitation his wife heard with dismay as she +reached the door, for things were by no means yet as they should be in +the hall. She curtsied low, and advanced with her son holding her +hand, but shrinking behind her. + +"Ha, kinswoman, is it thou!" was her greeting, as she, too, kissed the +small, shapely, white, but exceedingly strong hand that was extended to +her; "So thou art come, and high time too. Thou shouldst never have +gone a-gadding to Hull, living in lodgings; awaiting thine husband, +forsooth. Thou art over young a matron for such gear, and so I told +Diccon Talbot long ago." + +"Yea, madam," said Richard, somewhat hotly, "and I made answer that my +Susan was to be trusted, and truly no harm has come thereof." + +"Ho! and you reckon it no harm that thy father and mother were left to +a set of feckless, brainless, idle serving-men and maids in their +trouble? Why, none would so much as have seen to thy brother's poor +body being laid in a decent grave had not I been at hand to take order +for it as became a distant kinsman of my lord. I tell thee, Richard, +there must be no more of these vagabond seafaring ways. Thou must serve +my lord, as a true retainer and kinsman is bound--Nay," in reply to a +gesture, "I will not come in, I know too well in what ill order the +house is like to be. I did but take my ride this way to ask how it +fared with the mistress, and try if I could shake the squire from his +lethargy, if Mrs. Susan had not had the grace yet to be here. How do +they?" Then in answer, "Thou must waken him, Diccon--rouse him, and +tell him that I and my lord expect it of him that he should bear his +loss as a true and honest Christian man, and not pule and moan, since +he has a son left--ay, and a grandson. You should breed your boy up to +know his manners, Susan Talbot," as Humfrey resisted an attempt to make +him do his reverence to my lady; "that stout knave of yours wants the +rod. Methought I heard you'd borne another, Susan! Ay! as I said it +would be," as her eye fell on the swaddled babe in a maid's arms. "No +lack of fools to eat up the poor old squire's substance. A maid, is +it? Beshrew me, if your voyages will find portions for all your +wenches! Has the leech let blood to thy good-mother, Susan? There! +not one amongst you all bears any brains. Knew you not how to send up +to the castle for Master Drewitt? Farewell! Thou wilt be at the lodge +to-morrow to let me know how it fares with thy mother, when her brain +is cleared by further blood-letting. And for the squire, let him know +that I expect it of him that he shall eat, and show himself a man!" + +So saying, the great lady departed, escorted as far as the avenue gate +by Richard Talbot, and leaving the family gratified by her +condescension, and not allowing to themselves how much their feelings +were chafed. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE CAPTIVE. + + +Death and sorrow seemed to have marked the house of Bridgefield, for +the old lady never rallied after the blood-letting enjoined by the +Countess's medical science, and her husband, though for some months +able to creep about the house, and even sometimes to visit the fields, +had lost his memory, and became more childish week by week. + +Richard Talbot was obliged to return to his ship at the end of the +month, but as soon as she was laid up for the winter he resigned his +command, and returned home, where he was needed to assume the part of +master. In truth he became actually master before the next spring, for +his father took to his bed with the first winter frosts, and in spite +of the duteous cares lavished upon him by his son and daughter-in-law, +passed from his bed to his grave at the Christmas feast. Richard Talbot +inherited house and lands, with the undefined sense of feudal +obligation to the head of his name, and ere long he was called upon to +fulfil those obligations by service to his lord. + +There had been another act in the great Scottish tragedy. Queen Mary +had effected her escape from Lochleven, but only to be at once +defeated, and then to cross the Solway and throw herself into the hands +of the English Queen. + +Bolton Castle had been proved to be too perilously near the Border to +serve as her residence, and the inquiry at York, and afterwards at +Westminster, having proved unsatisfactory, Elizabeth had decided on +detaining her in the kingdom, and committed her to the charge of the +Earl of Shrewsbury. + +To go into the history of that ill-managed investigation is not the +purpose of this tale. It is probable that Elizabeth believed her +cousin guilty, and wished to shield that guilt from being proclaimed, +while her councillors, in their dread of the captive, wished to enhance +the crime in Elizabeth's eyes, and were by no means scrupulous as to +the kind of evidence they adduced. However, this lies outside our +story; all that concerns it is that Lord Shrewsbury sent a summons to +his trusty and well-beloved cousin, Richard Talbot of Bridgefield, to +come and form part of the guard of honour which was to escort the Queen +of Scots to Tutbury Castle, and there attend upon her. + +All this time no hint had been given that the little Cicely was of +alien blood. The old squire and his lady had been in no state to hear +of the death of their own grandchild, or of the adoption of the orphan +and Susan was too reserved a woman to speak needlessly of her griefs to +one so unsympathising as the Countess or so flighty as the daughters at +the great house. The men who had brought the summons to Hull had not +been lodged in the house, but at an inn, where they either had heard +nothing of Master Richard's adventure or had drowned their memory in +ale, for they said nothing; and thus, without any formed intention of +secrecy, the child's parentage had never come into question. + +Indeed, though without doubt Mrs. Talbot was very loyal in heart to her +noble kinsfolk, it is not to be denied that she was a good deal more at +peace when they were not at the lodge. She tried devoutly to follow +out the directions of my Lady Countess, and thought herself in fault +when things went amiss, but she prospered far more when free from such +dictation. + +She had nothing to wish except that her husband could be more often at +home, but it was better to have him only a few hours' ride from her, at +Chatsworth or Tutbury, than to know him exposed to the perils of the +sea. He rode over as often as he could be spared, to see his family +and look after his property; but his attendance was close, and my Lord +and my Lady were exacting with one whom they could thoroughly trust, +and it was well that in her quiet way Mistress Susan proved capable of +ruling men and maids, farm and stable as well as house, servants and +children, to whom another boy was added in the course of the year after +her return to Bridgefield. + +In the autumn, notice was sent that the Queen of Scots was to be lodged +at Sheffield, and long trains of waggons and sumpter horses and mules +began to arrive, bringing her plenishing and household stuff in +advance. Servants without number were sent on, both by her and by the +Earl, to make preparations, and on a November day, tidings came that +the arrival might be expected in the afternoon. Commands were sent +that the inhabitants of the little town at the park gate should keep +within doors, and not come forth to give any show of welcome to their +lord and lady, lest it should be taken as homage to the captive queen; +but at the Manor-house there was a little family gathering to hail the +Earl and Countess. It chiefly consisted of ladies with their children, +the husbands of most being in the suite of the Earl acting as escort or +guard to the Queen. Susan Talbot, being akin to the family on both +sides, was there with the two elder children; Humfrey, both that he +might greet his father the sooner, and that he might be able to +remember the memorable arrival of the captive queen, and Cicely, +because he had clamoured loudly for her company. Lady Talbot, of the +Herbert blood, wife to the heir, was present with two young +sisters-in-law, Lady Grace, daughter to the Earl, and Mary, daughter to +the Countess, who had been respectively married to Sir Henry Cavendish +and Sir Gilbert Talbot, a few weeks before their respective parents +were wedded, when the brides were only twelve and fourteen years old. +There, too, was Mrs. Babington of Dethick, the recent widow of a +kinsman of Lord Shrewsbury, to whom had been granted the wardship of +her son, and the little party waiting in the hall also numbered +Elizabeth and William Cavendish, the Countess's youngest children, and +many dependants mustered in the background, ready for the reception. +Indeed, the castle and manor-house, with their offices, lodges, and +outbuildings, were an absolute little city in themselves. The castle +was still kept in perfect repair, for the battle of Bosworth was not +quite beyond the memory of living men's fathers; and besides, who could +tell whether any day England might not have to be contested inch by +inch with the Spaniard? So the gray walls stood on the tongue of land +in the valley, formed by the junction of the rivers Sheaf and Dun, with +towers at all the gateways, enclosing a space of no less than eight +acres, and with the actual fortress, crisp, strong, hard, and +unmouldered in the midst, its tallest square tower serving as a +look-out place for those who watched to give the first intimation of +the arrival. + +The castle had its population, but chiefly of grooms, warders, and +their families. The state-rooms high up in that square tower were so +exceedingly confined, so stern and grim, that the grandfather of the +present earl had built a manor-house for his family residence on the +sloping ground on the farther side of the Dun. + +This house, built of stone, timber, and brick, with two large courts, +two gardens, and three yards, covered nearly as much space as the +castle itself. A pleasant, smooth, grass lawn lay in front, and on it +converged the avenues of oaks and walnuts, stretching towards the gates +of the park, narrowing to the eye into single lines, then going +absolutely out of sight, and the sea of foliage presenting the utmost +variety of beautiful tints of orange, yellow, brown, and red. There +was a great gateway between two new octagon towers of red brick, with +battlements and dressings of stone, and from this porch a staircase led +upwards to the great stone-paved hall, with a huge fire burning on the +open hearth. Around it had gathered the ladies of the Talbot family +waiting for the reception. The warder on the tower had blown his horn +as a signal that the master and his royal guest were within the park, +and the banner of the Talbots had been raised to announce their coming, +but nearly half an hour must pass while the party came along the avenue +from the drawbridge over the Sheaf ere they could arrive at the lodge. + +So the ladies, in full state dresses, hovered over the fire, while the +children played in the window seat near at hand. + +Gilbert Talbot's wife, a thin, yellow-haired, young creature, promising +to be like her mother, the Countess, had a tongue which loved to run, +and with the precocity and importance of wifehood at sixteen, she +dilated to her companions on her mother's constant attendance on the +Queen, and the perpetual plots for that lady's escape. "She is as +shifty and active as any cat-a-mount; and at Chatsworth she had a +scheme for being off out of her bedchamber window to meet a traitor +fellow named Boll; but my husband smelt it out in good time, and had +the guard beneath my lady's window, and the fellows are in gyves, and +to see the lady the day it was found out! Not a wry face did she make. +Oh no! 'Twas all my good lord, and my sweet sir with her. I promise +you butter would not melt in her mouth, for my Lord Treasurer Cecil +hath been to see her, and he has promised to bring her to speech of her +Majesty. May I be there to see. I promise you 'twill be diamond cut +diamond between them." + +"How did she and my Lord Treasurer fare together?" asked Mrs. Babington. + +"Well, you know there's not a man of them all that is proof against her +blandishments. Her Majesty should have women warders for her. 'Twas +good sport to see the furrows in his old brow smoothing out against his +will as it were, while she plied him with her tongue. I never saw the +Queen herself win such a smile as came on his lips, but then he is +always a sort of master, or tutor, as it were, to the Queen. Ay," on +some exclamation from Lady Talbot, "she heeds him like no one else. +She may fling out, and run counter to him for the very pleasure of +feeling that she has the power, but she will come round at last, and +'tis his will that is done in the long run. If this lady could beguile +him indeed, she might be a free woman in the end." + +"And think you that she did?" + +"Not she! The Lord Treasurer is too long-headed, and has too strong a +hate to all Papistry, to be beguiled more than for the very moment he +was before her. He cannot help the being a man, you see, and they are +all alike when once in her presence--your lord and father, like the +rest of them, sister Grace. Mark me if there be not tempests brewing, +an we be not the sooner rid of this guest of ours. My mother is not +the woman to bear it long." + +Dame Mary's tongue was apt to run on too fast, and Lady Talbot +interrupted its career with an amused gesture towards the children. + +For the little Cis, babe as she was, had all the three boys at her +service. Humfrey, with a paternal air, was holding her on the +window-seat; Antony Babington was standing to receive the ball that was +being tossed to and fro between them, but as she never caught it, Will +Cavendish was content to pick it up every time and return it to her, +appearing amply rewarded by her laugh of delight. + +The two mothers could not but laugh, and Mrs. Babington said the brave +lads were learning their knightly courtesy early, while Mary Talbot +began observing on the want of likeness between Cis and either the +Talbot or Hardwicke race. The little girl was much darker in colouring +than any of the boys, and had a pair of black, dark, heavy brows, that +prevented her from being a pretty child. Her adopted mother shrank +from such observations, and was rejoiced that a winding of horns, and a +shout from the boys, announced that the expected arrival was about to +take place. The ladies darted to the window, and beholding the avenue +full of horsemen and horsewomen, their accoutrements and those of their +escort gleaming in the sun, each mother gathered her own chicks to +herself, smoothed the plumage somewhat ruffled by sport, and advanced +to the head of the stone steps, William Cavendish, the eldest of the +boys, being sent down to take his stepfather's rein and hold his +stirrup, page fashion. + +Clattering and jingling the troop arrived. The Earl, a stout, square +man, with a long narrow face, lengthened out farther by a +light-coloured, silky beard, which fell below his ruff, descended from +his steed, gave his hat to Richard Talbot, and handed from her horse a +hooded and veiled lady of slender proportions, who leant on his arm as +she ascended the steps. + +The ladies knelt, whether in respect to the heads of the family, or to +the royal guest, may be doubtful. + +The Queen came up the stairs with rheumatic steps, declaring, however, +as she did so, that she felt the better for her ride, and was less +fatigued than when she set forth. She had the soft, low, sweet +Scottish voice, and a thorough Scottish accent and language, tempered, +however, by French tones, and as, coming into the warmer air of the +hall, she withdrew her veil, her countenance was seen. Mary Stuart was +only thirty-one at this time, and her face was still youthful, though +worn and wearied, and bearing tokens of illness. The features were far +from being regularly beautiful; there was a decided cast in one of the +eyes, and in spite of all that Mary Talbot's detracting tongue had +said, Susan's first impression was disappointment. But, as the Queen +greeted the lady whom she already knew, and the Earl presented his +daughter, Lady Grace, his stepdaughter, Elizabeth Cavendish, and his +kinswoman, Mistress Susan Talbot, the extraordinary magic of her eye +and lip beamed on them, the queenly grace and dignity joined with a +wonderful sweetness impressed them all, and each in measure felt the +fascination. + +The Earl led the Queen to the fire to obtain a little warmth before +mounting the stairs to her own apartments, and likewise while Lady +Shrewsbury was dismounting, and being handed up the stairs by her +second stepson, Gilbert. The ladies likewise knelt on one knee to +greet this mighty dame, and the children should have done so too, but +little Cis, catching sight of Captain Richard, who had come up bearing +the Earl's hat, in immediate attendance on him, broke out with an +exulting cry of "Father! father! father!" trotted with outspread arms +right in front of the royal lady, embraced the booted leg in ecstasy, +and then stretching out, exclaimed "Up! up!" + +"How now, malapert poppet!" exclaimed the Countess, and though at some +distance, uplifted her riding-rod. Susan was ready to sink into the +earth with confusion at the great lady's displeasure, but Richard had +stooped and lifted the little maid in his arms, while Queen Mary +turned, her face lit up as by a sunbeam, and said, "Ah, bonnibell, art +thou fain to see thy father? Wilt thou give me one of thy kisses, +sweet bairnie?" and as Richard held her up to the kind face, "A goodly +child, brave sir. Thou must let me have her at times for a playfellow. +Wilt come and comfort a poor prisoner, little sweeting?" + +The child responded with "Poor poor," stroking the soft delicate cheek, +but the Countess interfered, still wrathful. "Master Richard, I marvel +that you should let her Grace be beset by a child, who, if she cannot +demean herself decorously, should have been left at home. Susan +Hardwicke, I thought I had schooled you better." + +"Nay, madam, may not a babe's gentle deed of pity be pardoned?" said +Mary. + +"Oh! if it pleasures you, madam, so be it," said Lady Shrewsbury, +deferentially; "but there be children here more worthy of your notice +than yonder little black-browed wench, who hath been allowed to thrust +herself forward, while others have been kept back from importuning your +Grace." + +"No child can importune a mother who is cut off from her own," said +Mary, eager to make up for the jealousy she had excited. "Is this +bonnie laddie yours, madam? Ah! I should have known it by the +resemblance." + +She held her white hand to receive the kisses of the boys: William +Cavendish, under his mother's eye, knelt obediently; Antony Babington, +a fair, pretty lad, of eight or nine, of a beautiful pink and white +complexion, pressed forward with an eager devotion which made the Queen +smile and press her delicate hand on his curled locks; as for Humfrey, +he retreated behind the shelter of his mother's farthingale, where his +presence was forgotten by every one else, and, after the rebuff just +administered to Cicely, there was no inclination to bring him to light, +or combat with his bashfulness. + +The introductions over, Mary gave her hand to the Earl to be conducted +from the hall up the broad staircase, and along the great western +gallery to the south front, where for many days her properties had been +in course of being arranged. + +Lady Shrewsbury followed as mistress of the house, and behind, in order +of precedence, came the Scottish Queen's household, in which the dark, +keen features of the French, and the rufous hues of the Scots, were +nearly equally divided. Lady Livingstone and Mistress Seaton, two of +the Queen's Maries of the same age with herself, came next, the one led +by Lord Talbot, the other by Lord Livingstone. There was also the +faithful French Marie de Courcelles, paired with Master Beatoun, +comptroller of the household, and Jean Kennedy, a stiff Scotswoman, +whose hard outlines did not do justice to her tenderness and fidelity, +and with her was a tall, active, keen-faced stripling, looked on with +special suspicion by the English, as Willie Douglas, the contriver of +the Queen's flight from Lochleven. Two secretaries, French and +Scottish, were shrewdly suspected of being priests, and there were +besides, a physician, surgeon, apothecary, with perfumers, cooks, +pantlers, scullions, lacqueys, to the number of thirty, besides their +wives and attendants, these last being "permitted of my lord's +benevolence." + +They were all eyed askance by the sturdy, north country English, who +naturally hated all strangers, above all French and Scotch, and viewed +the band of captives much like a caged herd of wild beasts. + +When on the way home Mistress Susan asked her little boy why he would +not make his obeisance to the pretty lady, he sturdily answered, "She +is no pretty lady of mine. She is an evil woman who slew her husband." + +"Poor lady! tongues have been busy with her," said his father. + +"How, sir?" asked Susan, amazed, "do you think her guiltless in the +matter?" + +"I cannot tell," returned Richard. "All I know is that many who have +no mercy on her would change their minds if they beheld her patient and +kindly demeanour to all." + +This was a sort of shock to Susan, as it seemed to her to prove the +truth of little Lady Talbot's words, that no one was proof against +Queen Mary's wiles; but she was happy in having her husband at home +once more, though, as he told her, he would be occupied most of each +alternate day at Sheffield, he and another relation having been +appointed "gentlemen porters," which meant that they were to wait in a +chamber at the foot of the stairs, and keep watch over whatever went in +or out of the apartments of the captive and her suite. + +"And," said Richard, "who think you came to see me at Wingfield? None +other than Cuthbert Langston." + +"Hath he left his merchandise at Hull?" + +"Ay, so he saith. He would fain have had my good word to my lord for a +post in the household, as comptroller of accounts, clerk, or the like. +It seemed as though there were no office he would not take so that he +might hang about the neighbourhood of this queen." + +"Then you would not grant him your recommendation?" + +"Nay, truly. I could not answer for him, and his very anxiety made me +the more bent on not bringing him hither. I'd fain serve in no ship +where I know not the honesty of all the crew, and Cuthbert hath ever +had a hankering after the old profession." + +"Verily then it were not well to bring him hither." + +"Moreover, he is a lover of mysteries and schemes," said Richard. "He +would never be content to let alone the question of our little wench's +birth, and would be fretting us for ever about the matter." + +"Did he speak of it?" + +"Yes. He would have me to wit that a nurse and babe had been put on +board at Dumbarton. Well, said I, and so they must have been, since on +board they were. Is that all thou hast to tell me? And mighty as was +the work he would have made of it, this was all he seemed to know. I +asked, in my turn, how he came to know thus much about a vessel sailing +from a port in arms against the Lords of the Congregation, the allies +of her Majesty?" + +"What said he?" + +"That his house had dealings with the owners of the Bride of Dunbar. I +like not such dealings, and so long as this lady and her train are near +us, I would by no means have him whispering here and there that she is +a Scottish orphan." + +"It would chafe my Lady Countess!" said Susan, to whom this was a +serious matter. "Yet doth it not behove us to endeavour to find out +her parentage?" + +"I tell you I proved to myself that he knew nothing, and all that we +have to do is to hinder him from making mischief out of that little," +returned Richard impatiently. + +The honest captain could scarcely have told the cause of his distrust +or of his secrecy, but he had a general feeling that to let an +intriguer like Cuthbert Langston rake up any tale that could be +connected with the party of the captive queen, could only lead to +danger and trouble. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE OAK AND THE OAKEN HALL. + + +The oaks of Sheffield Park were one of the greatest glories of the +place. Giants of the forest stretched their huge arms over the turf, +kept smooth and velvety by the creatures, wild and tame, that browsed +on it, and made their covert in the deep glades of fern and copse wood +that formed the background. + +There were not a few whose huge trunks, of such girth that two men +together could not encompass them with outstretched arms, rose to a +height of more than sixty feet before throwing out a horizontal branch, +and these branches, almost trees in themselves, spread forty-eight feet +on each side of the bole, lifting a mountain of rich verdure above +them, and casting a delicious shade upon the ground beneath them. +Beneath one of these noble trees, some years after the arrival of the +hapless Mary Stuart, a party of children were playing, much to the +amusement of an audience of which they were utterly unaware, namely, of +sundry members of a deer-hunting party; a lady and gentleman who, +having become separated from the rest, were standing in the deep +bracken, which rose nearly as high as their heads, and were further +sheltered by a rock, looking and listening. + +"Now then, Cis, bravely done! Show how she treats her ladies--" + +"Who will be her lady? Thou must, Humfrey!" + +"No, no, I'll never be a lady," said Humfrey gruffly. + +"Thou then, Diccon." + +"No, no," and the little fellow shrank back, "thou wilt hurt me, Cis." + +"Come then, do thou, Tony! I'll not strike too hard!" + +"As if a wench could strike too hard." + +"He might have turned that more chivalrously," whispered the lady to +her companion. "What are they about to represent? Mort de ma vie, the +profane little imps! I, believe it is my sacred cousin, the Majesty of +England herself! Truly the little maid hath a bearing that might serve +a queen, though she be all too black and beetle-browed for Queen +Elizabeth. Who is she, Master Gilbert?" + +"She is Cicely Talbot, daughter to the gentleman porter of your +Majesty's lodge." + +"See to her--mark her little dignity with her heather and bluebell +crown as she sits on the rock, as stately as jewels could make her! See +her gesture with her hands, to mark where the standing ruff ought to +be. She hath the true spirit of the Comedy--ah! and here cometh young +Antony with mincing pace, with a dock-leaf for a fan, and a mantle for +a farthingale! She speaks! now hark!" + +"Good morrow to you, my young mistress," began a voice pitched two +notes higher than its actual childlike key. "Thou hast a new +farthingale, I see! O Antony, that's not the way to curtsey--do it +like this. No no! thou clumsy fellow--back and knees together." + +"Never mind, Cis," interposed one of the boys--"we shall lose all our +play time if you try to make him do it with a grace. Curtsies are +women's work--go on." + +"Where was I? O--" (resuming her dignity after these asides) "Thou +hast a new farthingale, I see." + +"To do my poor honour to your Grace's birthday." + +"Oh ho! Is it so? Methought it had been to do honour to my fair +mistress's own taper waist. And pray how much an ell was yonder +broidered stuff?" + +"Two crowns, an't please your Grace," returned the supposed lady, +making a wild conjecture. + +"Two crowns! thou foolish Antony!" Then recollecting herself, "two +crowns! what, when mine costs but half! Thou presumptuous, lavish +varlet--no, no, wench! what right hast thou to wear gowns finer than +thy liege?--I'll teach you." Wherewith, erecting all her talons, and +clawing frightfully with them in the air, the supposed Queen Bess leapt +at the unfortunate maid of honour, appeared to tear the imaginary robe, +and drove her victim on the stage with a great air of violence, amid +peals of laughter from the other children, loud enough to drown those +of the elders, who could hardly restrain their merriment. + +Gilbert Talbot, however, had been looking about him anxiously all the +time, and would fain have moved away; but a sign from Queen Mary +withheld him, as one of the children cried, + +"Now! show us how she serves her lords." + +The play seemed well understood between them, for the mimic queen again +settled herself on her throne, while Will Cavendish, calling out, "Now +I'm Master Hatton," began to tread a stately measure on the grass, +while the queen exclaimed, "Who is this new star of my court? What +stalwart limbs, what graceful tread! Who art thou, sir?" + +"Madam, I am--I am. What is it? An ef--ef--" + +"A daddy-long-legs," mischievously suggested another of the group. + +"No, it's Latin. Is it Ephraim? No; it's a fly, something like a +gnat" (then at an impatient gesture from her Majesty) "disporting +itself in the beams of the noontide sun." + +"Blood-sucking," whispered the real Queen behind the fern. "He is not +so far out there. See! see! with what a grace the child holds out her +little hand for him to kiss. I doubt me if Elizabeth herself could be +more stately. But who comes here?" + +"I'm Sir Philip Sydney." + +"No, no," shouted Humfrey, "Sir Philip shall not come into this +fooling. My father says he's the best knight in England." + +"He is as bad as the rest in flattery to the Queen," returned young +Cavendish. + +"I'll not have it, I say. You may be Lord Leicester an you will! He's +but Robin Dudley." + +"Ah!" began the lad, now advancing and shading his eyes. "What +burnished splendour dazzles my weak sight? Is it a second Juno that I +behold, or lovely Venus herself? Nay, there is a wisdom in her that +can only belong to the great Minerva herself! So youthful too. Is it +Hebe descended to this earth?" + +Cis smirked, and held out a hand, saying in an affected tone, "Lord +Earl, are thy wits astray?" + +"Whose wits would not be perturbed at the mere sight of such exquisite +beauty?" + +"Come and sit at our feet, and we will try to restore them," said the +stage queen; but here little Diccon, the youngest of the party, eager +for more action, called out, "Show us how she treats her lords and +ladies together." + +On which young Babington, as the lady, and Humfrey, made demonstrations +of love-making and betrothal, upon which their sovereign lady descended +on them with furious tokens of indignation, abusing them right and +left, until in the midst the great castle bell pealed forth, and caused +a flight general, being, in fact, the summons to the school kept in one +of the castle chambers by one Master Snigg, or Sniggius, for the +children of the numerous colony who peopled the castle. Girls, as well +as boys, were taught there, and thus Cis accompanied Humfrey and +Diccon, and consorted with their companions. + +Queen Mary was allowed to hunt and take out-of-door exercise in the +park whenever she pleased, but Lord Shrewsbury, or one of his sons, +Gilbert and Francis, never was absent from her for a moment when she +went beyond the door of the lesser lodge, which the Earl had erected +for her, with a flat, leaded, and parapeted roof, where she could take +the air, and with only one entrance, where was stationed a "gentleman +porter," with two subordinates, whose business it was to keep a close +watch over every person or thing that went in or out. If she had any +purpose of losing herself in the thickets of fern, or copsewood, in the +park, or holding unperceived conference under shelter of the chase, +these plans were rendered impossible by the pertinacious presence of +one or other of the Talbots, who acted completely up to their name. + +Thus it was that the Queen, with Gilbert in close attendance, had found +herself an unseen spectator of the children's performance, which she +watched with the keen enjoyment that sometimes made her forget her +troubles for the moment. + +"How got the imps such knowledge?" mused Gilbert Talbot, as he led the +Queen out on the sward which had been the theatre of their mimicry. + +"Do _you_ ask that, Sir Gilbert?" said the Queen with emphasis, for +indeed it was his wife who had been the chief retailer of scandal about +Queen Elizabeth, to the not unwilling ears of herself and his mother; +and Antony Babington, as my lady's page, had but used his opportunities. + +"They are insolent varlets and deserve the rod," continued Gilbert. + +"You are too ready with the rod, you English," returned Mary. "You +flog all that is clever and spirited out of your poor children!" + +"That is the question, madam. Have the English been found so deficient +in spirit compared with other nations?" + +"Ah! we all know what you English can say for yourselves," returned the +Queen. "See what Master John Coke hath made of the herald's argument +before Dame Renown, in his translation. He hath twisted all the other +way." + +"Yea, madam, but the French herald had it all his own way before. So +it was but just we should have our turn." + +Here a cry from the other hunters greeted them, and they found Lord +Shrewsbury, some of the ladies, and a number of prickers, looking +anxiously for them. + +"Here we are, good my lord," said the Queen, who, when free from +rheumatism, was a most active walker. "We have only been stalking my +sister Queen's court in small, the prettiest and drollest pastime I +have seen for many a long day." + +Much had happened in the course of the past years. The intrigues with +Northumberland and Norfolk, and the secret efforts of the unfortunate +Queen to obtain friends, and stir up enemies against Elizabeth, had +resulted in her bonds being drawn closer and closer. The Rising of the +North had taken place, and Cuthbert Langston had been heard of as +taking a prominent part beneath the sacred banner, but he had been +wounded and not since heard of, and his kindred knew not whether he +were among the unnamed dead who loaded the trees in the rear of the +army of Sussex, or whether he had escaped beyond seas. Richard Talbot +still remained as one of the trusted kinsmen of Lord Shrewsbury, on +whom that nobleman depended for the execution of the charge which +yearly became more wearisome and onerous, as hope decayed and plots +thickened. + +Though resident in the new lodge with her train, it was greatly +diminished by the dismissal from time to time of persons who were +regarded as suspicious; Mary still continued on intimate terms with +Lady Shrewsbury and her daughters, specially distinguishing with her +favour Bessie Pierrepoint, the eldest grandchild of the Countess, who +slept with her, and was her plaything and her pupil in French and +needlework. The fiction of her being guest and not prisoner had not +entirely passed away; visitors were admitted, and she went in and out +of the lodge, walked or rode at will, only under pretext of courtesy. +She never was unaccompanied by the Earl or one of his sons, and they +endeavoured to make all private conversation with strangers, or persons +unauthorised from Court, impossible to her. + +The invitation given to little Cicely on the arrival had not been +followed up. The Countess wished to reserve to her own family all the +favours of one who might at any moment become the Queen of England, and +she kept Susan Talbot and her children in what she called their meet +place, in which that good lady thoroughly acquiesced, having her hands +much too full of household affairs to run after queens. + +There was a good deal of talk about this child's play, a thing which +had much better have been left where it was; but in a seclusion like +that of Sheffield subjects of conversation were not over numerous, and +every topic which occurred was apt to be worried to shreds. So Lady +Shrewsbury and her daughters heard the Queen's arch description of the +children's mimicry, and instantly conceived a desire to see the scene +repeated. The gentlemen did not like it at all: their loyalty was +offended at the insult to her gracious Majesty, and besides, what might +not happen if such sports ever came to her ears? However, the Countess +ruled Sheffield; and Mary Talbot and Bessie Cavendish ruled the +Countess, and they were bent on their own way. So the representation +was to take place in the great hall of the manor-house, and the actors +were to be dressed in character from my lady's stores. + +"They will ruin it, these clumsy English, after their own fashion," +said Queen Mary, among her ladies. "It was the unpremeditated grace +and innocent audacity of the little ones that gave the charm. Now it +will be a mere broad farce, worthy of Bess of Hardwicke. Mais que +voulez vous?" + +The performance was, however, laid under a great disadvantage by the +absolute refusal of Richard and Susan Talbot to allow their Cicely to +assume the part of Queen Elizabeth. They had been dismayed at her +doing so in child's play, and since she could read fluently, write +pretty well, and cipher a little, the good mother had decided to put a +stop to this free association with the boys at the castle, and to keep +her at home to study needlework and housewifery. As to her acting with +boys before the assembled households, the proposal seemed to them +absolutely insulting to any daughter of the Talbot line, and they had +by this time forgotten that she was no such thing. Bess Cavendish, the +special spoilt child of the house, even rode down, armed with her +mother's commands, but her feudal feeling did not here sway Mistress +Susan. + +Public acting was esteemed an indignity for women, and, though Cis was +a mere child, all Susan's womanhood awoke, and she made answer firmly +that she could not obey my lady Countess in this. + +Bess flounced out of the house, indignantly telling her she should rue +the day, and Cis herself cried passionately, longing after the fine +robes and jewels, and the presentation of herself as a queen before the +whole company of the castle. The harsh system of the time made the +good mother think it her duty to requite this rebellion with the rod, +and to set the child down to her seam in the corner, and there sat Cis, +pouting and brooding over what Antony Babington had told her of what he +had picked up when in his page's capacity, attending his lady, of Queen +Mary's admiration of the pretty ways and airs of the little mimic Queen +Bess, till she felt as if she were defrauded of her due. The captive +Queen was her dream, and to hear her commendations, perhaps be kissed +by her, would be supreme bliss. Nay, she still hoped that there would +be an interference of the higher powers on her behalf, which would give +her a triumph. + +No! Captain Talbot came home, saying, "So, Mistress Sue, thou art a +steadfast woman, to have resisted my lady's will!" + +"I knew, my good husband, that thou wouldst never see our Cis even in +sport a player!" + +"Assuredly not, and thou hadst the best of it, for when Mistress Bess +came in as full of wrath as a petard of powder, and made your refusal +known, my lord himself cried out, 'And she's in the right o't! What a +child may do in sport is not fit for a gentlewoman in earnest.'" + +"Then, hath not my lord put a stop to the whole?" + +"Fain would he do so, but the Countess and her daughters are set on +carrying out the sport. They have set Master Sniggius to indite the +speeches, and the boys of the school are to take the parts for their +autumn interlude." + +"Surely that is perilous, should it come to the knowledge of those at +Court." + +"Oh, I promise you, Sniggius hath a device for disguising all that +could give offence. The Queen will become Semiramis or Zenobia, I know +not which, and my Lord of Leicester, Master Hatton, and the others, +will be called Ninus or Longinus, or some such heathenish long-tailed +terms, and speak speeches of mighty length. Are they to be in Latin, +Humfrey?" + +"Oh no, sir," said Humfrey, with a shudder. "Master Sniggius would +have had them so, but the young ladies said they would have nothing to +do with the affair if there were one word of Latin uttered. It is bad +enough as it is. I am to be Philidaspes, an Assyrian knight, and have +some speeches to learn, at least one is twenty-five lines, and not one +is less than five!" + +"A right requital for thy presumptuous and treasonable game, my son," +said his father, teasing him. + +"And who is to be the Queen?" asked the mother. + +"Antony Babington," said Humfrey, "because he can amble and mince more +like a wench than any of us. The worse luck for him. He will have +more speeches than any one of us to learn." + +The report of the number of speeches to be learnt took off the sting of +Cis's disappointment, though she would not allow that it did so, +declaring with truth that she could learn by hearing faster than any of +the boys. Indeed, she did learn all Humfrey's speeches, and Antony's +to boot, and assisted both of them with all her might in committing +them to memory. + +As Captain Talbot had foretold, the boys' sport was quite sufficiently +punished by being made into earnest. Master Sniggius was far from +merciful as to length, and his satire was so extremely remote that +Queen Elizabeth herself could hardly have found out that Zenobia's fine +moral lecture on the vanities of too aspiring ruffs was founded on the +box on the ear which rewarded poor Lady Mary Howard's display of her +rich petticoat, nor would her cheeks have tingled when the Queen of the +East--by a bold adaptation--played the part of Lion in interrupting the +interview of our old friends Pyramus and Thisbe, who, by an awful +anachronism, were carried to Palmyra. It was no plagiarism from +"Midsummer Night's Dream," only drawn from the common stock of +playwrights. + +So, shorn of all that was perilous, and only understood by the +initiated, the play took place in the Castle Hall, the largest +available place, with Queen Mary seated upon the dais, with a canopy of +State over her head, Lady Shrewsbury on a chair nearly as high, the +Earl, the gentlemen and ladies of their suites drawn up in a circle, +the servants where they could, the Earl's musicians thundering with +drums, tooting with fifes, twanging on fiddles, overhead in a gallery. +Cis and Diccon, on either side of Susan Talbot, gazing on the stage, +where, much encumbered by hoop and farthingale, and arrayed in a yellow +curled wig, strutted forth Antony Babington, declaiming-- + + "Great Queen Zenobia am I, + The Roman Power I defy. + At my Palmyra, in the East, + I rule o'er every man and beast" + + +Here was an allusion couched in the Roman power, which Master Antony +had missed, or he would hardly have uttered it, since he was of a Roman +Catholic family, though, while in the Earl's household, he had to +conform outwardly. + +A slender, scholarly lad, with a pretty, innocent face, and a voice +that could "speak small, like a woman," came in and announced himself +thus-- + + "I'm Thisbe, an Assyrian maid, + My robe's with jewels overlaid." + + +The stiff colloquy between the two boys, encumbered with their dresses, +shy and awkward, and rehearsing their lines like a task, was no small +contrast to the merry impromptu under the oak, and the gay, free grace +of the children. + +Poor Philidaspes acquitted himself worst of all, for when done up in a +glittering suit of sham armour, with a sword and dagger of lath, his +entire speech, though well conned, deserted him, and he stood +red-faced, hesitating, and ready to cry, when suddenly from the midst +of the spectators there issued a childish voice, "Go on, Humfrey! + + + "Philidaspes am I, most valorous knight, + Ever ready for Church and Queen to fight. + + +"Go on, I say!" and she gave a little stamp of impatience, to the +extreme confusion of the mother and the great amusement of the +assembled company. Humfrey, once started, delivered himself of the +rest of his oration in a glum and droning voice, occasioning fits of +laughter, such as by no means added to his self-possession. + +The excellent Sniggius and his company of boys had certainly, whether +intentionally or not, deprived the performance of all its personal +sting, and most likewise of its interest. Such diversion as the +spectators derived was such as Hippolyta seems to have found in +listening to Wall, Lion, Moonshine and Co.; but, like Theseus, Lord +Shrewsbury was very courteous, and complimented both playwright and +actors, relieved and thankful, no doubt, that Queen Zenobia was so +unlike his royal mistress. + +There was nothing so much enforced by Queen Elizabeth as that strangers +should not have resort to Sheffield Castle. No spectators, except +those attached to the household, and actually forming part of the +colony within the park, were therefore supposed to be admitted, and all +of them were carefully kept at a distant part of the hall, where they +could have no access to the now much reduced train of the Scottish +Queen, with whom all intercourse was forbidden. + +Humfrey was therefore surprised when, just as he had come out of the +tiring-room, glad to divest himself of his encumbering and gaudy +equipments, a man touched him on the arm and humbly said, "Sir, I have +a humble entreaty to make of you. If you would convey my petition to +the Queen of Scots!" + +"I have nothing to do with the Queen of Scots," said the +ex-Philidaspes, glancing suspiciously at the man's sleeve, where, +however, he saw the silver dog, the family badge. + +"She is a charitable lady," continued the man, who looked like a groom, +"and if she only knew that my poor old aunt is lying famishing, she +would aid her. Pray you, good my lord, help me to let this scroll +reach to her." + +"I'm no lord, and I have naught to do with the Queen," repeated +Humfrey, while at the same moment Antony, who had been rather longer in +getting out of his female attire, presented himself; and Humfrey, +pitying the man's distress, said, "This young gentleman is the +Countess's page. He sometimes sees the Queen." + +The man eagerly told his story, how his aunt, the widow of a huckster, +had gone on with the trade till she had been cruelly robbed and beaten, +and now was utterly destitute, needing aid to set herself up again. +The Queen of Scots was noted for her beneficent almsgiving, and a few +silver pieces from her would be quite sufficient to replenish her +basket. + +Neither boy doubted a moment. Antony had the entree to the presence +chamber, where on this festival night the Earl and Countess were sure +to be with the Queen. He went straightway thither, and trained as he +was in the usages of the place, told his business to the Earl, who was +seated near the Queen. Lord Shrewsbury took the petition from him, +glanced it over, and asked, "Who knew the Guy Norman who sent it?" +Frank Talbot answered for him, that he was a yeoman pricker, and the +Earl permitted the paper to be carried to Mary, watching her carefully +as she read it, when Antony had presented it on one knee. + +"Poor woman!" she said, "it is a piteous case. Master Beatoun, hast +thou my purse? Here, Master Babington, wilt thou be the bearer of this +angel for me, since I know that the delight of being the bearer will be +a reward to thy kind heart." + +Antony gracefully kissed the fair hand, and ran off joyously with the +Queen's bounty. Little did any one guess what the career thus begun +would bring that fair boy. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE HUCKSTERING WOMAN. + + +The huckstering woman, Tibbott by name, was tended by Queen Mary's +apothecary, and in due time was sent off well provided, to the great +fair of York, whence she returned with a basket of needles, pins (such +as they were), bodkins, and the like articles, wherewith to circulate +about Hallamshire, but the gate-wards would not relax their rules so +far as to admit her into the park. She was permitted, however, to +bring her wares to the town of Sheffield, and to Bridgefield, but she +might come no farther. + +Thither Antony Babington came down to lay out the crown which had been +given to him on his birthday, and indeed half Master Sniggius's +scholars discovered needs, and came down either to spend, or to give +advice to the happy owners of groats and testers. So far so good; but +the huckster-woman soon made Bridgefield part of her regular rounds, +and took little commissions which she executed for the household of +Sheffield, who were, as the Cavendish sisters often said in their +spleen, almost as much prisoners as the Queen of Scots. Antony +Babington was always her special patron, and being Humfrey's great +companion and playfellow, he was allowed to come in and out of the +gates unquestioned, to play with him and with Cis, who no longer went +to school, but was trained at home in needlework and housewifery. + +Match-making began at so early an age, that when Mistress Susan had +twice found her and Antony Babington with their heads together over the +lamentable ballad of the cold fish that had been a lady, and which sang +its own history "forty thousand fathom above water," she began to +question whether the girl were the attraction. He was now an orphan, +and his wardship and marriage had been granted to the Earl, who, having +disposed of all his daughters and stepdaughters, except Bessie +Cavendish, might very fairly bestow on the daughter of his kinsman so +good a match as the young squire of Dethick. + +"Then should we have to consider of her parentage," said Richard, when +his wife had propounded her views. + +"I never can bear in mind that the dear wench is none of ours," said +Susan. "Thou didst say thou wouldst portion her as if she were our own +little maid, and I have nine webs ready for her household linen. Must +we speak of her as a stranger?" + +"It would scarce be just towards another family to let them deem her of +true Talbot blood, if she were to enter among them," said Richard; +"though I look on the little merry maid as if she were mine own child. +But there is no need yet to begin upon any such coil; and, indeed, I +would wager that my lady hath other views for young Babington." + +After all, parents often know very little of what passes in children's +minds, and Cis never hinted to her mother that the bond of union +between her and Antony was devotion to the captive Queen. Cis had only +had a glimpse or two of her, riding by when hunting or hawking, or +when, on festive occasions, all who were privileged to enter the park +were mustered together, among whom the Talbots ranked high as kindred +to both Earl and Countess; but those glimpses had been enough to fill +the young heart with romance, such as the matter-of-fact elders never +guessed at. Antony Babington, who was often actually in the gracious +presence, and received occasional smiles, and even greetings, was +immeasurably devoted to the Queen, and maintained Cicely's admiration +by his vivid descriptions of the kindness, the grace, the charms of the +royal captive, in contrast with the innate vulgarity of their own +Countess. + +Willie Douglas (the real Roland Graeme of the escape from Lochleven) +had long ago been dismissed from Mary's train, with all the other +servants who were deemed superfluous; but Antony had heard the details +of the story from Jean Kennedy (Mrs. Kennett, as the English were +pleased to call her), and Willie was the hero of his emulative +imagination. + +"What would I not do to be like him!" he fervently exclaimed when he +had narrated the story to Humfrey and Cis, as they lay on a nest in the +fern one fine autumn day, resting after an expedition to gather +blackberries for the mother's preserving. + +"I would not be him for anything," said Humfrey. + +"Fie, Humfrey," cried Cis; "would not you dare exile or anything else +in a good cause?" + +"For a good cause, ay," said Humfrey in his stolid way. + +"And what can be a better cause than that of the fairest of captive +queens?" exclaimed Antony, hotly. + +"I would not be a traitor," returned Humfrey, as he lay on his back, +looking up through the chequerwork of the branches of the trees towards +the sky. + +"Who dares link the word traitor with my name?" said Babington, feeling +for the imaginary handle of a sword. + +"Not I; but you'll get it linked if you go on in this sort." + +"For shame, Humfrey," again cried Cis, passionately. "Why, delivering +imprisoned princesses always was the work of a true knight." + +"Yea; but they first defied the giant openly," said Humfrey. + +"What of that?" said Antony. + +"They did not do it under trust," said Humfrey. + +"I am not under trust," said Antony. "Your father may be a sworn +servant of the Earl and, the Queen--Queen Elizabeth, I mean; but I have +taken no oaths--nobody asked me if I would come here." + +"No," said Humfrey, knitting his brows, "but you see we are all trusted +to go in and out as we please, on the understanding that we do nought +that can be unfaithful to the Earl; and I suppose it was thus with this +same Willie Douglas." + +"She was his own true and lawful Queen," cried Cis. "His first duty +was to her." + +Humfrey sat up and looked perplexed, but with a sudden thought +exclaimed, "No Scots are we, thanks be to Heaven! and what might be +loyalty in him would be rank treason in us." + +"How know you that?" said Antony. "I have heard those who say that our +lawful Queen is there," and he pointed towards the walls that rose in +the distance above the woods. + +Humfrey rose wrathful. "Then truly you are no better than a traitor, +and a Spaniard, and a Papist," and fists were clenched on both aides, +while Cis flew between, pulling down Humfrey's uplifted hand, and +crying, "No, no; he did not say he thought so, only he had heard it." + +"Let him say it again!" growled Antony, his arm bared. + +"No, don't, Humfrey!" as if she saw it between his clenched teeth. "You +know you only meant if Tony thought so, and he didn't. Now how can you +two be so foolish and unkind to me, to bring me out for a holiday to +eat blackberries and make heather crowns, and then go and spoil it all +with folly about Papists, and Spaniards, and grown-up people's nonsense +that nobody cares about!" + +Cis had a rare power over both her comrades, and her piteous appeal +actually disarmed them, since there was no one present to make them +ashamed of their own placability. Grown-up people's follies were +avoided by mutual consent through the rest of the walk, and the three +children parted amicably when Antony had to return to fulfil his page's +duties at my lord's supper, and Humfrey and Cis carried home their big +basket of blackberries. + +When they entered their own hall they found their mother engaged in +conversation with a tall, stout, and weather-beaten man, whom she +announced--"See here, my children, here is a good friend of your +father's, Master Goatley, who was his chief mate in all his voyages, +and hath now come over all the way from Hull to see him! He will be +here anon, sir, so soon as the guard is changed at the Queen's lodge. +Meantime, here are the elder children." + +Diccon, who had been kept at home by some temporary damage to his foot, +and little Edward were devouring the sailor with their eyes; and +Humfrey and Cis were equally delighted with the introduction, +especially as Master Goatley was just returned from the Western Main, +and from a curious grass-woven basket which he carried slung to his +side, produced sundry curiosities in the way of beads, shell-work, +feather-work, and a hatchet of stone, and even a curious armlet of +soft, dull gold, with pearls set in it. This he had, with great +difficulty, obtained on purpose for Mistress Talbot, who had once cured +him of a bad festering hurt received on board ship. + +The children clustered round in ecstasies of admiration and wonder as +they heard of the dark brown atives, the curious expedients by which +barter was carried on; also of cruel Spaniards, and of savage fishes, +with all the marvels of flying-fish, corals, palm-trees, humming +birds--all that is lesson work to our modern youth, but was the most +brilliant of living fairy tales at this Elizabethan period. Humfrey +and Diccon were ready to rush off to voyage that instant, and even +little Ned cried imitatively in his imperfect language that he would be +"a tailor." + +Then their father came home, and joyfully welcomed and clasped hands +with his faithful mate, declaring that the sight did him good; and they +sat down to supper and talked of voyages, till the boys' eyes glowed, +and they beat upon their own knees with the enthusiasm that their +strict manners bade them repress; while their mother kept back her +sighs as she saw them becoming infected with that sea fever so dreaded +by parents. Nay, she saw it in her husband himself. She knew him to +be grievously weary of a charge most monotonously dull, and only varied +by suspicions and petty detections; and that he was hungering and +thirsting for his good ship and to be facing winds and waves. She +could hear his longing in the very sound of the "Ays?" and brief +inquiries by which he encouraged Goatley to proceed in the story of +voyages and adventures, and she could not wonder when Goatley said, +"Your heart is in it still, sir. Not one of us all but says it is a +pity such a noble captain should be lost as a landsman, with nothing to +do but to lock the door on a lady." + +"Speak not of it, my good Goatley," said Richard, hastily, "or you will +set me dreaming and make me mad." + +"Then it is indeed so," returned Goatley. "Wherefore then come you +not, sir, where a crew is waiting for you of as good fellows as ever +stepped on a deck, and who, one and all, are longing after such a +captain as you are, sir? Wherefore hold back while still in your +prime?" + +"Ask the mistress, there," said Richard, as he saw his Susan's white +face and trembling fingers, though she kept her eyes on her work to +prevent them from betraying their tears and their wistfulness. + +"O sweet father," burst forth Humfrey, "do but go, and take me. I am +quite old enough." + +"Nay, Humfrey, 'tis no matter of liking," said his father, not wishing +to prolong his wife's suspense. "Look you here, boy, my Lord Earl is +captain of all of his name by right of birth, and so long as he needs +my services, I have no right to take them from him. Dost see, my boy?" + +Humfrey reluctantly did see. It was a great favour to be thus argued +with, and admitted of no reply. + +Mrs. Talbot's heart rejoiced, but she was not sorry that it was time +for her to carry off Diccon and Ned to their beds, away from the +fascinating narrative, and she would give no respite, though Diccon +pleaded hard. In fact, the danger might be the greatest to him, since +Humfrey, though born within the smell of the sea, might be retained by +the call of duty like his father. To Cis, at least, she thought the +sailor's conversation could do no harm, little foreboding the words +that presently ensued. "And, sir, what befell the babe we found in our +last voyage off the Spurn? It would methinks be about the age of this +pretty mistress." + +Richard Talbot endeavoured to telegraph a look both of assent and +warning, but though Master Goatley would have been sharp to detect the +least token of a Spanish galleon on the most distant horizon, the +signal fell utterly short. "Ay, sir. What, is it so? Bless me! The +very maiden! And you have bred her up for your own." + +"Sir! Father!" cried Cis, looking from one to the other, with eyes and +mouth wide open. + +"Soh!" cried the sailor, "what have I done? I beg your pardon, sir, if +I have overhauled what should have been let alone. But," continued the +honest, but tactless man, "who could have thought of the like of that, +and that the pretty maid never knew it? Ay, ay, dear heart. Never +fear but that the captain will be good father to you all the same." + +For Richard Talbot had held out his arm, and, as Cis ran up to him, he +had seated her on his knee, and held her close to him. Humfrey +likewise started up with an impulse to contradict, which was suddenly +cut short by a strange flash of memory, so all he did was to come up to +his father, and grasp one of the girl's hands as fast as he could. She +trembled and shivered, but there was something in the presence of this +strange man which choked back all inquiry, and the silence, the +vehement grasp, and the shuddering, alarmed the captain, lest she might +suddenly go off into a fit upon his hands. + +"This is gear for mother," said he, and taking her up like a baby, +carried her off, followed closely by Humfrey. He met Susan coming +down, asking anxiously, "Is she sick?" + +"I hope not, mother," he said, "but honest Goatley, thinking no harm, +hath blurted out that which we had never meant her to know, at least +not yet awhile, and it hath wrought strangely with her." + +"Then it is true, father?" said Humfrey, in rather an awe-stricken +voice, while Cis still buried her face on the captain's breast. + +"Yes," he said, "yea, my children, it is true that God sent us a +daughter from the sea and the wreck when He had taken our own little +maid to His rest. But we have ever loved our Cis as well, and hope +ever to do so while she is our good child. Take her, mother, and tell +the children how it befell; if I go not down, the fellow will spread it +all over the house, and happily none were present save Humfrey and the +little maiden." + +Susan put the child down on her own bed, and there, with Humfrey +standing by, told the history of the father carrying in the little +shipwrecked babe. They both listened with eyes devouring her, but they +were as yet too young to ask questions about evidences, and Susan did +not volunteer these, only when the girl asked, "Then, have I no name?" +she answered, "A godly minister, Master Heatherthwayte, gave thee the +name of Cicely when he christened thee." + +"I marvel who I am?" said Cis, gazing round her, as if the world were +all new to her. + +"It does not matter," said Humfrey, "you are just the same to us, is +she not, mother?" + +"She is our dear Heaven-sent child," said the mother tenderly. + +"But thou art not my true mother, nor Humfrey nor Diccon my brethren," +she said, stretching out her hands like one in the dark. + +"If I'm not your brother, Cis, I'll be your husband, and then you will +have a real right to be called Talbot. That's better than if you were +my sister, for then you would go away, I don't know where, and now you +will always be mine--mine--mine very own." + +And as he gave Cis a hug in assurance of his intentions, his father, +who was uneasy about the matter, looked in again, and as Susan, with +tears in her eyes, pointed to the children, the good man said, "By my +faith, the boy has found the way to cut the knot--or rather to tie it. +What say you, dame? If we do not get a portion for him, we do not have +to give one with her, so it is as broad as it is long, and she remains +our dear child. Only listen, children, you are both old enough to keep +a secret. Not one word of all this matter is to be breathed to any +soul till I bid you." + +"Not to Diccon," said Humfrey decidedly. + +"Nor to Antony?" asked Cis wistfully. + +"To Antony? No, indeed! What has he to do with it? Now, to your +beds, children, and forget all about this tale." + +"There, Humfrey," broke out Cis, as soon as they were alone together, +"Huckstress Tibbott _is_ a wise woman, whatever thou mayest say." + +"How?" said Humfrey. + +"Mindst thou not the day when I crossed her hand with the tester father +gave me?" + +"When mother whipped thee for listening to fortune-tellers and wasting +thy substance. Ay, I mind it well," said Humfrey, "and how thou didst +stand simpering at her pack of lies, ere mother made thee sing another +tune." + +"Nay, Humfrey, they were no lies, though I thought them so then. She +said I was not what I seemed, and that the Talbots' kennel would not +always hold one of the noble northern eagles. So Humfrey, sweet +Humfrey, thou must not make too sure of wedding me." + +"I'll wed thee though all the lying old gipsy-wives in England wore +their false throats out in screeching out that I shall not," cried +Humfrey. + +"But she must have known," said Cis, in an awestruck voice; "the +spirits must have spoken with her, and said that I am none of the +Talbots." + +"Hath mother heard this?" asked Humfrey, recoiling a little, but never +thinking of the more plausible explanation. + +"Oh no, no! tell her not, Humfrey, tell her not. She said she would +whip me again if ever I talked again of the follies that the +fortune-telling woman had gulled me with, for if they were not deceits, +they were worse. And, thou seest, they are worse, Humfrey!" + +With which awe-stricken conclusion the children went off to bed. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE BEWITCHED WHISTLE. + + +A child's point of view is so different from that of a grown person, +that the discovery did not make half so much difference to Cis as her +adopted parents expected. In fact it was like a dream to her. She +found her daily life and her surroundings the same, and her chief +interest was--at least apparently--how soon she could escape from +psalter and seam, to play with little Ned, and look out for the elder +boys returning, or watch for the Scottish Queen taking her daily ride. +Once, prompted by Antony, Cis had made a beautiful nosegay of lilies +and held it up to the Queen when she rode in at the gate on her return +from Buxton. She had been rewarded by the sweetest of smiles, but +Captain Talbot had said it must never happen again, or he should be +accused of letting billets pass in posies. The whole place was +pervaded, in fact, by an atmosphere of suspicion, and the vigilance, +which might have been endurable for a few months, was wearing the +spirits and temper of all concerned, now that it had already lasted for +seven or eight years, and there seemed no end to it. Moreover, in +spite of all care, it every now and then became apparent that Queen +Mary had some communication with the outer world which no one could +trace, though the effects endangered the life of Queen Elizabeth, the +peace of the kingdom, and the existence of the English Church. The +blame always fell upon Lord Shrewsbury; and who could wonder that he +was becoming captiously suspicious, and soured in temper, so that even +such faithful kinsmen as Richard Talbot could sometimes hardly bear +with him, and became punctiliously anxious that there should not be the +smallest loophole for censure of the conduct of himself and his family? + +The person on whom Master Goatley's visit had left the most impression +seemed to be Humfrey. On the one hand, his father's words had made him +enter into his situation of trust and loyalty, and perceive something +of the constant sacrifice of self to duty that it required, and, on the +other hand, he had assumed a position towards Cis of which he in some +degree felt the force. There was nothing in the opinions of the time +to render their semi-betrothal ridiculous. At the Manor house itself, +Gilbert Talbot and Mary Cavendish had been married when no older than +he was; half their contemporaries were already plighted, and the only +difference was that in the present harassing state of surveillance in +which every one lived, the parents thought that to avow the secret so +long kept might bring about inquiry and suspicion, and they therefore +wished it to be guarded till the marriage could be contracted. As Cis +developed, she had looks and tones which so curiously harmonised, now +with the Scotch, now with the French element in the royal captive's +suite, and which made Captain Richard believe that she must belong to +some of the families who seemed amphibious between the two courts; and +her identification as a Seaton, a Flemyng, a Beatoun, or as a member of +any of the families attached to the losing cause, would only involve +her in exile and disgrace. Besides, there was every reason to think +her an orphan, and a distant kinsman was scarcely likely to give her +such a home as she had at Bridgefield, where she had always been looked +on as a daughter, and was now regarded as doubly their own in right of +their son. So Humfrey was permitted to consider her as peculiarly his +own, and he exerted this right of property by a certain jealousy of +Antony Babington which amused his parents, and teased the young lady. +Nor was he wholly actuated by the jealousy of proprietorship, for he +knew the devotion with which Antony regarded Queen Mary, and did not +wholly trust him. His sense of honour and duty to his father's trust +was one thing, Antony's knight-errantry to the beautiful captive was +another; each boy thought himself strictly honourable, while they moved +in parallel lines and could not understand one another; yet, with the +reserve of childhood, all that passed between them was a secret, till +one afternoon when loud angry sounds and suppressed sobs attracted +Mistress Susan to the garden, where she found Cis crying bitterly, and +little Diccon staring eagerly, while a pitched battle was going on +between her eldest son and young Antony Babington, who were pommelling +each other too furiously to perceive her approach. + +"Boys! boys! fie for shame," she cried, with a hand on the shoulder of +each, and they stood apart at her touch, though still fiercely looking +at one another. + +"See what spectacles you have made of yourselves!" she continued. "Is +this your treatment of your guest, Humfrey? How is my Lord's page to +show himself at Chatsworth to-morrow with such an eye? What is it all +about?" + +Both combatants eyed each other in sullen silence. + +"Tell me, Cis. Tell me, Diccon. I will know, or you shall have the +rod as well as Humfrey." + +Diccon, who was still in the era of timidity, instead of secretiveness, +spoke out. "He," indicating his brother, "wanted the packet." + +"What packet?" exclaimed the mother, alarmed. + +"The packet that _he_ (another nod towards Antony) wanted Cis to give +that witch in case she came while he is at Chatsworth." + +"It was the dog-whistle," said Cis. "It hath no sound in it, and +Antony would have me change it for him, because Huckster Tibbott may +not come within the gates. I did not want to do so; I fear Tibbott, +and when Humfrey found me crying he fell on Antony. So blame him not, +mother." + +"If Humfrey is a jealous churl, and Cis a little fool, there's no help +for it," said Antony, disdainfully turning his back on his late +adversary. + +"Then let me take charge of this whistle," returned the lady, moved by +the universal habit of caution, but Antony sprang hastily to intercept +her as she was taking from the little girl a small paper packet tied +round with coloured yarn, but he was not in time, and could only +exclaim, "Nay, nay, madam, I will not trouble you. It is nothing." + +"Master Babington," said Susan firmly, "you know as well as I do that +no packet may pass out of the park unopened. If you wished to have the +whistle changed you should have brought it uncovered. I am sorry for +the discourtesy, and ask your pardon, but this parcel may not pass." + +"Then," said Antony, with difficulty repressing something much more +passionate and disrespectful, "let me have it again." + +"Nay, Master Babington, that would not suit with my duty." + +The boy altogether lost his temper. "Duty! duty!" he cried. "I am +sick of the word. All it means is a mere feigned excuse for prying and +spying, and besetting the most beautiful and unhappy princess in the +world for her true faith and true right!" + +"Master Antony Babington," said Susan gravely, "you had better take +care what you are about. If those words of yours had been spoken in my +Lord's hearing, they would bring you worse than the rod or bread and +water." + +"What care I what I suffer for such a Queen?" exclaimed Antony. + +"Suffering is a different matter from saying 'What care I,'" returned +the lady, "as I fear you will learn, Master Antony." + +"O mother! sweet mother," said Cis, "you will not tell of him!"--but +mother shook her head. + +"Prithee, dear mother," added Humfrey, seeing no relenting in her +countenance, "I did but mean to hinder Cis from being maltreated and a +go-between in this traffic with an old witch, not to bring Tony into +trouble." + +"His face is a tell-tale, Humfrey," said Susan. "I meant ere now to +have put a piece of beef on it. Come in, Antony, and let me wash it." + +"Thank you, madam, I need nothing here," said Antony, stalking proudly +off; while Humfrey, exclaiming "Don't be an ass, Tony!--Mother, no one +would care to ask what we had given one another black eyes for in a +friendly way," tried to hold him back, and he did linger when Cis added +her persuasions to him not to return the spectacle he was at present. + +"If this lady will promise not to betray an unfortunate Queen," he +said, as if permission to deal with his bruises were a great reward. + +"Oh! you foolish boy!" exclaimed Mistress Talbot, "you were never meant +for a plotter! you have yourself betrayed that you are her messenger." + +"And I am not ashamed of it," said Antony, holding his head high. +"Madam, madam, if you have surprised this from me, you are the more +bound not to betray her. Think, lady, if you were shut up from your +children and friends, would you not seek to send tidings to them?" + +"Child, child! Heaven knows I am not blaming the poor lady within +there. I am only thinking what is right." + +"Well," said Antony, somewhat hopefully, "if that be all, give me back +the packet, or tear it up, if you will, and there can be no harm done." + +"Oh, do so, sweet mother," entreated Cis, earnestly; "he will never bid +me go to Tibbott again." + +"Ay," said Humfrey, "then no tales will be told." + +For even he, with all his trustworthiness, or indeed because of it, +could not bear to bring a comrade to disgrace; but the dilemma was put +an end to by the sudden appearance on the scene of Captain Richard +himself, demanding the cause of the disturbance, and whether his sons +had been misbehaving to their guest. + +"Dear sir, sweet father, do not ask," entreated Cis, springing to him, +and taking his hand, as she was privileged to do; "mother has come, and +it is all made up and over now." + +Richard Talbot, however, had seen the packet which his wife was +holding, and her anxious, perplexed countenance, and the perilous +atmosphere of suspicion around him made it incumbent on him to turn to +her and say, "What means this, mother? Is it as Cis would have me +believe, a mere childish quarrel that I may pass over? or what is this +packet?" + +"Master Babington saith it is a dog-whistle which he was leaving in +charge with Cis to exchange for another with Huckstress Tibbott," she +answered. + +"Feel,--nay, open it, and see if it be not, sir," cried Antony. + +"I doubt not that so it is," said the captain; "but you know, Master +Babington, that it is the duty of all here in charge to let no packet +pass the gate which has not been viewed by my lord's officers." + +"Then, sir, I will take it back again," said Antony, with a vain +attempt at making his brow frank and clear. + +Instead of answering. Captain Talbot took the knife from his girdle, +and cut in twain the yarn that bound the packet. There was no doubt +about the whistle being there, nor was there anything written on the +wrapper; but perhaps the anxiety in Antony's eye, or even the old +association with boatswains, incited Mr. Talbot to put the whistle to +his lips. Not a sound would come forth. He looked in, and saw what +led him to blow with all his force, when a white roll of paper +protruded, and on another blast fell out into his hand. + +He held it up as he found it, and looked full at Antony, who exclaimed +in much agitation, "To keep out the dust. Only to keep out the dust. +It is all gibberish--from my old writing-books." + +"That will we see," said Richard very gravely. + +"Mistress, be pleased to give this young gentleman some water to wash +his face, and attend to his bruises, keeping him in the guest-chamber +without speech from any one until I return. Master Babington, I +counsel you to submit quietly. I wish, and my Lord will wish, to spare +his ward as much scandal as possible, and if this be what you say it +is, mere gibberish from your exercise-books, you will be quit for +chastisement for a forbidden act, which has brought you into suspicion. +If not, it must be as my Lord thinks good." + +Antony made no entreaties. Perhaps he trusted that what was +unintelligible to himself might pass for gibberish with others; perhaps +the headache caused by Humfrey's fists was assisting to produce a state +of sullen indifference after his burst of eager chivalry; at any rate +he let Mistress Talbot lead him away without resistance. The other +children would have followed, but their father detained them to hear +the particulars of the commission and the capture. Richard desired to +know from his son whether he had any reason for suspecting underhand +measures; and when Humfrey looked down and hesitated, added, "On your +obedience, boy; this is no slight matter." + +"You will not beat Cis, father?" said Humfrey. + +"Wherefore should I beat her, save for doing errands that yonder lad +should have known better than to thrust on her?" + +"Nay, sir, 'tis not for that; but my mother said she should be beaten +if ever she spake of the fortune yonder Tibbott told her, and we are +sure that she--Tibbott I mean--is a witch, and knows more than she +ought." + +"What mean'st thou? Tell me, children;" and Cis, nothing loath, since +she was secured from the beating, related the augury which had left so +deep an impression on her, Humfrey bearing witness that it was before +they knew themselves of Cicely's history. + +"But that is not all," added Cicely, seeing Mr. Talbot less impressed +than she expected by these supernatural powers of divination. "She can +change from a woman to a man!" + +"In sooth!" exclaimed Richard, startled enough by this information. + +"Yea, father," said Cicely, "Faithful Ekins, the carrier's boy, saw +her, in doublet and hose, and a tawny cloak, going along the road to +Chesterfield. He knew her by the halt in her left leg." + +"Ha!" said Richard, "and how long hast thou known this?" + +"Only yestermorn," said Cis; "it was that which made me so much afraid +to have any dealings with her." + +"She shall trouble thee no more, my little wench," said Richard in a +tone that made Humfrey cry out joyously, + +"O father! sweet father! wilt thou duck her for a witch? Sink or swim! +that will be rare!" + +"Hush, hush! foolish lad," said Richard, "and thou, Cicely, take good +heed that not a word of all this gets abroad. Go to thy mother, +child,--nay, I am not wroth with thee, little one. Thou hast not done +amiss, but bear in mind that nought is ever taken out of the park +without knowledge of me or of thy mother." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE BLAST OF THE WHISTLE. + + +Richard Talbot was of course convinced that witchcraft was not likely +to be the most serious part of the misdeeds of Tibbott the huckstress. +Committing Antony Babington to the custody of his wife, he sped on his +way back to the Manor-house, where Lord Shrewsbury was at present +residing, the Countess being gone to view her buildings at Chatsworth, +taking her daughter Bessie with her. He sent in a message desiring to +speak to my lord in his privy chamber. + +Francis Talbot came to him. "Is it matter of great moment, Dick?" he +said, "for my father is so fretted and chafed, I would fain not vex him +further to-night.--What! know you not? Here are tidings that my lady +hath married Bess--yes, Bess Cavendish, in secret to my young Lord +Lennox, the brother of this Queen's unlucky husband! How he is to +clear himself before her Grace of being concerned in it, I know not, +for though Heaven wots that he is as innocent as the child unborn, she +will suspect him!" + +"I knew she flew high for Mistress Bess," returned Richard. + +"High! nothing would serve her save royal blood! My poor father says +as sure as the lions and fleur-de-lis have come into a family, the +headsman's axe has come after them." + +"However it is not our family." + +"So I tell him, but it gives him small comfort," said Frank, "looking +as he doth on the Cavendish brood as his own, and knowing that there +will be a mighty coil at once with my lady and these two queens. He is +sore vexed to-night, and saith that never was Earl, not to say man, so +baited by woman as he, and he bade me see whether yours be a matter of +such moment that it may not wait till morning or be despatched by me." + +"That is for you to say, Master Francis. What think you of this for a +toy?" as he produced the parcel with the whistle and its contents. "I +went home betimes to-day, as you know, and found my boy Humfrey had +just made young Master Babington taste of his fists for trying to make +our little wench pass this packet to yonder huckster-woman who was +succoured some months back by the Queen of Scots." + +Francis Talbot silently took the whistle and unrolled the long narrow +strip of paper. "This is the cipher," said he, "the cipher used in +corresponding with her French kin; Phillipps the decipherer showed me +the trick of it when he was at Tutbury in the time of the Duke of +Norfolk's business. Soh! your son hath done good service, Richard. +That lad hath been tampered with then, I thought he was over thick with +the lady in the lodge. Where is he, the young traitor?" + +"At Bridgefield, under my wife's ward, having his bruises attended to. +I would not bring him up here till I knew what my Lord would have done +with him. He is but a child, and no doubt was wrought with by sweet +looks, and I trust my Lord will not be hard with him." + +"If my father had hearkened to me, he should never have been here," +said Francis. "His father was an honest man, but his mother was, I +find, a secret recusant, and when she died, young Antony was quite old +enough to have sucked in the poison. You did well to keep him, +Richard; he ought not to return hither again, either in ward or at +liberty." + +"If he were mine, I would send him to school," said Richard, "where the +masters and the lads would soon drive out of him all dreams about +captive princesses and seminary priests to boot. For, Cousin Francis, +I would have you to know that my children say there is a rumour that +this woman Tibbott the huckstress hath been seen in a doublet and hose +near Chesterfield." + +"The villain! When is she looked for here again?" + +"Anon, I should suppose, judging by the boy leaving this charge with +Cis in case she should come while he is gone to Chatsworth." + +"We will take order as to that," said Francis, compressing his lips; "I +know you will take heed, cousin, that she, or he, gets no breath of +warning. I should not wonder if it were Parsons himself!" and he +unfolded the scroll with the air of a man seeking to confirm his +triumph. + +"Can you make anything of it?" asked Richard, struck by its resemblance +to another scroll laid up among his wife's treasures. + +"I cannot tell, they are not matters to be read in an hour," said +Francis Talbot, "moreover, there is one in use for the English +traitors, her friends, and another for the French. This looks like the +French sort. Let me see, they are read by taking the third letter in +each second word." Francis Talbot, somewhat proud of his proficiency, +and perfectly certain of the trustworthiness of his cousin Richard, +went on puzzling out the ciphered letters, making Richard set each +letter down as he picked it out, and trying whether they would make +sense in French or English. Both understood French, having learned it +in their page days, and kept it up by intercourse with the French +suite. Francis, however, had to try two or three methods, which, being +a young man, perhaps he was pleased to display, and at last he hit upon +the right, which interpreted the apparent gibberish of the +scroll--excepting that the names of persons were concealed under +soubriquets which Francis Talbot could not always understand--but the +following sentence by and by became clear:--"Quand le matelot vient des +marais, un feu peut eclater dans la meute et dans la melee"--"When the +sailor lands from the fens, a fire might easily break out in the +dog-kennel, and in the confusion" (name could not be read) "could carry +off the tercel gentle." + +"La meute," said Francis, "that is their term for the home of us +Talbots, and the sailor in the fens is this Don John of Austria, who +means, after conquering the Dutchmen, to come and set free this tercel +gentle, as she calls herself, and play the inquisitor upon us. On my +honour, Dick, your boy has played the man in making this discovery. +Keep the young traitor fast, and take down a couple of yeomen to lay +hands on this same Tibbott as she calls herself." + +"If I remember right," said Richard, "she was said to be the sister or +aunt to one of the grooms or prickers." + +"So it was, Guy Norman, methinks. Belike he was the very fellow to set +fire to our kennel. Yea, we must secure him. I'll see to that, and +you shall lay this scroll before my father meantime, Dick. Why, to +fall on such a trail will restore his spirits, and win back her Grace +to believe in his honesty, if my lady's tricks should have made her +doubtful." + +Off went Francis with great alacrity, and ere long the Earl was present +with Richard. The long light beard was now tinged with gray, and there +were deep lines round the mouth and temples, betraying how the long +anxiety was telling on him, and rendering him suspicious and querulous. +"Soh! Richard Talbot," was his salutation, "what's the coil now? Can +a man never be left in peace in his own house, between queens and +ladies, plots and follies, but his own kinsfolk and retainers must come +to him on every petty broil among the lads! I should have thought your +boy and young Babington might fight out their quarrels alone without +vexing a man that is near driven distracted as it is." + +"I grieve to vex your lordship," said Richard, standing bareheaded, +"but Master Francis thought this scroll worthy of your attention. This +is the manner in which he deciphered it." + +"Scrolls, I am sick of scrolls," said the Earl testily. "What! is it +some order for saying mass,--or to get some new Popish image or a skein +of silk? I wear my eyes out reading such as that, and racking my +brains for some hidden meaning!" + +And falling on Francis's first attempt at copying, he was scornful of +the whole, and had nearly thrown the matter aside, but when he lit at +last on the sentence about burning the meute and carrying off the +tercel gentle, his brow grew dark indeed, and his inquiries came +thickly one upon the other, both as to Antony Babington and the +huckstering woman. + +In the midst, Frank Talbot returned with the tidings that the pricker +Guy Norman was nowhere to be found. He had last been seen by his +comrades about the time that Captain Richard had returned to the +Manor-house. Probably he had taken alarm on seeing him come back at +that unusual hour, and had gone to carry the warning to his supposed +aunt. This last intelligence made the Earl decide on going down at +once to Bridgefield to examine young Babington before there was time to +miss his presence at the lodge, or to hold any communication with him. +Frank caused horses to be brought round, and the Earl rode down with +Richard by a shaded alley in an ordinary cloak and hat. + +My Lord's appearance at Bridgefield was a rarer and more awful event +than was my Lady's, and if Mistress Susan had been warned beforehand, +there is no saying how at the head of her men and maids she would have +scrubbed and polished the floors, and brushed the hangings and +cushions. What then were her feelings when the rider, who dismounted +from his little hackney as unpretendingly as did her husband in the +twilight court, proved to have my Lord's long beard and narrow face! + +Curtseying her lowest and with a feeling of consternation and pity, as +she thought of the orphan boy, she accepted his greeting with duteous +welcome as he said, "Kinswoman, I am come to cumber you, whilst I +inquire into this matter. I give your son thanks for the honesty and +faithfulness he hath shown in the matter, as befitted his father's son. +I should wish myself to examine the springald." + +Humfrey was accordingly called, and, privately admonished by his father +that he must not allow any scruples about bringing his playmate into +trouble to lead him to withhold his evidence, or shrink from telling +the whole truth as he knew it, Humfrey accordingly stood before the +Earl and made his replies a little sullenly but quite +straightforwardly. He had prevented the whistle from being given to +his sister for the huckstress because the woman was a witch, who +frightened her, and moreover he knew it was against rules. Did he +suspect that the whistle came from the Queen of Scots? + +He looked startled, and asked if it were so indeed, and when again +commanded to say why he had thought it possible, he replied that he +knew Antony thought the Queen of Scots a fair and gracious lady. + +Did he believe that Antony ever had communication with her or her +people unheard by others? + +"Assuredly! Wherefore not, when he carried my Lady Countess's +messages?" + +Lord Shrewsbury bent his brow, but did not further pursue this branch +of the subject, but demanded of Humfrey a description of Tibbott, +huckster or witch, man or woman. + +"She wears a big black hood and muffler," said Humfrey, "and hath a +long hooked stick." + +"I asked thee not of her muffler, boy, but of her person." + +"She hath pouncet boxes and hawks' bells, and dog-whistles in her +basket," proceeded Humfrey, but as the Earl waxed impatient, and +demanded whether no one could give him a clearer account, Richard bade +Humfrey call his mother. + +She, however, could say nothing as to the woman's appearance. She had +gone to Norman's cottage to offer her services after the supposed +accident, but had been told that the potticary of the Queen of Scots +had undertaken her cure, and had only seen her huddled up in a heap of +rags, asleep. Since her recovery the woman had been several times at +Bridgefield, but it had struck the mistress of the house that there was +a certain avoidance of direct communication with her, and a preference +for the servants and children. This Susan had ascribed to fear that +she should be warned off for her fortune-telling propensities, or the +children's little bargains interfered with. All she could answer for +was that she had once seen a huge pair of grizzled eyebrows, with light +eyes under them, and that the woman, if woman she were, was tall, and +bent a good deal upon a hooked stick, which supported her limping +steps. Cicely could say little more, except that the witch had a deep +awesome voice, like a man, and a long nose terrible to look at. +Indeed, there seemed to have been a sort of awful fascination about her +to all the children, who feared her yet ran after her. + +Antony was then sent for. It was not easy to judge of the expression +of his disfigured countenance, but when thus brought to bay he threw +off all tokens of compunction, and stood boldly before the Earl. + +"So, Master Babington, I find you have been betraying the trust I +placed in you--" + +"What, trust, my Lord?" said Antony, his bright blue eyes looking back +into those of the nobleman. + +"The cockerel crows loud," said the Earl. "What trust, quotha! Is +there no trust implied in the coming and going of one of my household, +when such a charge is committed to me and mine?" + +"No one ever gave me any charge," said Antony. + +"Dost thou bandy words, thou froward imp?" said the Earl. "Thou hast +not the conscience to deny that there was no honesty in smuggling forth +a letter thus hidden. Deny it not. The treasonable cipher hath been +read!" + +"I knew nought of what was in it," said the boy. + +"I believe thee there, but thou didst know that it was foully disloyal +to me and to her Majesty to bear forth secret letters to disguised +traitors. I am willing to believe that the smooth tongue which hath +deluded many a better man than thou hath led thee astray, and I am +willing to deal as lightly with thee as may be, so thou wilt tell me +openly all thou knowest of this infamous plot." + +"I know of no plot, sir." + +"They would scarce commit the knowledge to the like of him," said +Richard Talbot. + +"May be not," said Lord Shrewsbury, looking at him with a glance that +Antony thought contemptuous, and which prompted him to exclaim, "And if +I did know of one, you may be assured I would never betray it were I +torn with wild horses." + +"Betray, sayest thou!" returned the Earl. "Thou hast betrayed my +confidence, Antony, and hast gone as far as in thee lies to betray thy +Queen." + +"My Queen is Mary, the lawful Queen of us all," replied Antony, boldly. + +"Ho! Sayest thou so? It is then as thou didst trow, cousin, the +foolish lad hath been tampered with by the honeyed tongue. I need not +ask thee from whom thou hadst this letter, boy. We have read it and +know the foul treason therein. Thou wilt never return to the castle +again, but for thy father's sake thou shalt be dealt with less sternly, +if thou wilt tell who this woman is, and how many of these toys thou +hast given to her, if thou knowest who she is." + +But Antony closed his lips resolutely. In fact, Richard suspected him +of being somewhat flattered by being the cause of such a commotion, and +actually accused of so grand and manly a crime as high treason. The +Earl could extract no word, and finally sentenced him to remain at +Bridgefield, shut up in his own chamber till he could be dealt with. +The lad walked away in a dignified manner, and the Earl, holding up his +hands, half amused, half vexed, said, "So the spell is on that poor lad +likewise. What shall I do with him? An orphan boy too, and mine old +friend's son." + +"With your favour, my Lord," said Richard, "I should say, send him to a +grammar school, where among lads of his own age, the dreams about +captive princesses might be driven from him by hard blows and merry +games." + +"That may scarce serve," said the Earl rather severely, for public +schools were then held beneath the dignity of both the nobility and +higher gentry. "I may, however, send him to study at Cambridge under +some trusty pedagogue. Back at the castle I cannot have him, so must I +cumber you with him, my good kinswoman, until his face have recovered +your son's lusty chastisement. Also it may be well to keep him here +till we can lay hands on this same huckster-woman, since there may be +need to confront him with her. It were best if you did scour the +country toward Chesterfield for her, while Frank went to York." + +Having thus issued his orders, the Earl took a gracious leave of the +lady, mounted his horse, and rode back to Sheffield, dispensing with +the attendance of his kinsman, who had indeed to prepare for an early +start the next morning, when he meant to take Humfrey with him, as not +unlikely to recognise the woman, though he could not describe her. + +"The boy merits well to go forth with me," said he. "He hath done +yeoman's service, and proved himself staunch and faithful." + +"Was there matter in that scroll?" asked Susan. + +"Only such slight matter as burning down the Talbots' kennel, while Don +John of Austria is landing on the coast." + +"God forgive them, and defend us!" sighed Susan, turning pale. "Was +that in the cipher?" + +"Ay, in sooth, but fear not, good wife. Much is purposed that ne'er +comes to pass. I doubt me if the ship be built that is to carry the +Don hither." + +"I trust that Antony knew not of the wickedness?" + +"Not he. His is only a dream out of the romances the lads love so +well, of beauteous princesses to be freed, and the like." + +"But the woman!" + +"Yea, that lies deeper. What didst thou say of her? Wherefore do the +children call her a witch? Is it only that she is grim and ugly?" + +"I trow there is more cause than that," said Susan. "It may be that I +should have taken more heed to their babble at first; but I have +questioned Cis while you were at the lodge, and I find that even before +Mate Goatley spake here, this Tibbott had told the child of her being +of lofty race in the north, alien to the Talbots' kennel, holding out +to her presages of some princely destiny." + +"That bodeth ill!" said Richard, thoughtfully. "Wife, my soul misgives +me that the hand of Cuthbert Langston is in this." + +Susan started. The idea chimed in with Tibbott's avoidance of her +scrutiny, and also with a certain vague sense she had had of having +seen those eyes before. So light-complexioned a man would be easily +disguised, and the halt was accounted for by a report that he had had a +bad fall when riding to join in the Rising in the North. Nor could +there now be any doubt that he was an ardent partisan of the imprisoned +Mary, while Richard had always known his inclination to intrigue. She +could only agree with her husband's opinion, and ask what he would do. + +"My duty must be done, kin or no kin," said Richard, "that is if I find +him; but I look not to do that, since Norman is no doubt off to warn +him." + +"I marvel whether he hath really learnt who our Cis can be?" + +"Belike not! The hint would only have been thrown out to gain power +over her." + +"Said you that you read the cipher?" + +"Master Frank did so." + +"Would it serve you to read our scroll?" + +"Ah, woman! woman! Why can thy kind never let well alone? I have +sufficient on my hands without reading of scrolls!" + +Humfrey's delight was extreme when he found that he was to ride forth +with his father, and half-a-dozen of the earl's yeomen, in search of +the supposed witch. They traced her as far as Chesterfield; but having +met the carrier's waggon on the way, they carefully examined Faithful +Ekins on his report, but all the youth was clear about was the halt and +the orange tawny cloak, and after entering Chesterfield, no one knew +anything of these tokens. There was a large village belonging to a +family of recusants, not far off, where the pursuers generally did lose +sight of suspicious persons; and, perhaps, Richard was relieved, though +his son was greatly chagrined. + +The good captain had a sufficient regard for his kinsman to be +unwilling to have to unmask him as a traitor, and to be glad that he +should have effected an escape, so that, at least, it should be others +who should detect him--if Langston indeed it were. + +His next charge was to escort young Babington to Cambridge, and deliver +him up to a tutor of his lordship's selection, who might draw the +Popish fancies out of him. + +Meantime, Antony had been kept close to the house and garden, and not +allowed any intercourse with any of the young people, save Humfrey, +except when the master or mistress of the house was present; but he did +not want for occupation, for Master Sniggius came down, and gave him a +long chapter of the Book of Proverbs--chiefly upon loyalty, in the +Septuagint, to learn by heart, and translate into Latin and English as +his Saturday's and Sunday's occupation, under pain of a flogging, which +was no light thing from the hands of that redoubted dominie. + +Young Babington was half-flattered and half-frightened at the commotion +he had excited. "Am I going to the Tower?" he asked, in a low voice, +awestricken, yet not without a certain ring of self-importance, when he +saw his mails brought down, and was bidden to put on his boots and his +travelling dress. + +And Captain Talbot had a cruel satisfaction in replying, "No, Master +Babington; the Tower is not for refractory boys. You are going to your +schoolmaster." + +But where the school was to be Richard kept an absolute secret by +special desire, in order that no communication should be kept up +through any of the household. He was to avoid Chatsworth, and to +return as soon as possible to endeavour to trace the supposed +huckster-woman at Chesterfield. + +When once away from home, he ceased to treat young Babington as a +criminal, but rode in a friendly manner with him through lanes and over +moors, till the young fellow began to thaw towards him, and even went +so far as to volunteer one day that he would not have brought Mistress +Cicely into the matter if there had been any other sure way of getting +the letter delivered in his absence. + +"Ah, boy!" returned Richard, "when once we swerve from the open and +direct paths, there is no saying into what tangles we may bring +ourselves and others." + +Antony winced a little, and said, "Whoever says I lied, lies in his +throat." + +"No one hath said thou wert false in word, but how as to thy deed?" + +"Sir," said Antony, "surely when a high emprise and great right is to +be done, there is no need to halt over such petty quibbles." + +"Master Babington, no great right was ever done through a little wrong. +Depend on it, if you cannot aid without a breach of trust, it is the +sure sign that it is not the will of God that you should be the one to +do it." + +Captain Talbot mused whether he should convince or only weary the lad +by an argument he had once heard in a sermon, that the force of Satan's +temptation to our blessed Lord, when showing Him all the kingdoms of +the world, must have been the absolute and immediate vanishing of all +kinds of evil, by a voluntary abdication on the part of the Prince of +this world, instead not only of the coming anguish of the strife, but +of the long, long, often losing, battle which has been waging ever +since. Yet for this great achievement He would not commit the moment's +sin. He was just about to begin when Antony broke in, "Then, sir, you +do deem it a great wrong?" + +"That I leave to wiser heads than mine," returned the sailor. "My duty +is to obey my Lord, his duty is to obey her Grace. That is all a plain +man needs to see." + +"But an if the true Queen be thus mewed up, sir?" asked Antony. Richard +was too wise a man to threaten the suggestion down as rank treason, +well knowing that thus he should never root it out. + +"Look you here, Antony," he said; "who ought to reign is a question of +birth, such as neither of us can understand nor judge. But we know +thus much, that her Grace, Queen Elizabeth, hath been crowned and +anointed and received oaths of fealty as her due, and that is quite +enough for any honest man." + +"Even when she keeps in durance the Queen, who came as her guest in +dire distress?" + +"Nay, Master Antony, you are not old enough to remember that the +durance began not until the Queen of Scots tried to form a party for +herself among the English liegemen. And didst thou know, thou simple +lad, what the letter bore, which thou didst carry, and what it would +bring on this peaceful land?" + +Antony looked a little startled when he heard of the burning of the +kennel, but he averred that Don John was a gallant prince. + +"I have seen more than one gallant Spaniard under whose power I should +grieve to see any friend of mine." + +All the rest of the way Richard Talbot entertained the young gentleman +with stories of his own voyages and adventures, into which he managed +to bring traits of Spanish cruelty and barbarity as shown in the Low +Countries, such as, without actually drawing the moral every time, +might show what was to be expected if Mary of Scotland and Don John of +Austria were to reign over England, armed with the Inquisition. + +Antony asked a good many questions, and when he found that the captain +had actually been an eye-witness of the state of a country harried by +the Spaniards, he seemed a good deal struck. + +"I think if I had the training of him I could make a loyal Englishman +of him yet," said Richard Talbot to his wife on his return. "But I +fear me there is that in his heart and his conscience which will only +grow, while yonder sour-faced doctor, with whom I had to leave him at +Cambridge, preaches to him of the perdition of Pope and Papists." + +"If his mother were indeed a concealed Papist," said Susan, "such +sermons will only revolt the poor child." + +"Yea, truly. If my Lord wanted to make a plotter and a Papist of the +boy he could scarce find a better means. I myself never could away +with yonder lady's blandishments. But when he thinks of her in +contrast to yonder divine, it would take a stronger head than his not +to be led away. The best chance for him is that the stir of the world +about him may put captive princesses out of his head." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE KEY OF THE CIPHER + + +Where is the man who does not persuade himself that when he gratifies +his own curiosity he does so for the sake of his womankind? So Richard +Talbot, having made his protest, waited two days, but when next he had +any leisure moments before him, on a Sunday evening, he said to his +wife, "Sue, what hast thou done with that scroll of Cissy's? I trow +thou wilt not rest till thou art convinced it is but some lying +horoscope or Popish charm." + +Susan had in truth been resting in perfect quietness, being extremely +busy over her spinning, so as to be ready for the weaver who came round +periodically to direct the more artistic portions of domestic work. +However, she joyfully produced the scroll from the depths of the casket +where she kept her chief treasures, and her spindle often paused in its +dance as she watched her husband over it, with his elbows on the table +and his hands in his hair, from whence he only removed them now and +then to set down a letter or two by way of experiment. She had to be +patient, for she heard nothing that night but that he believed it was +French, that the father of deceits himself might be puzzled with the +thing, and that she might as well ask him for his head at once as +propose his consulting Master Francis. + +The next night he unfolded it with many a groan, and would say nothing +at all; but he sat up late and waked in early dawn to pore over it +again, and on the third day of study he uttered a loud exclamation of +dismay, but he ordered Susan off to bed in the midst, and did not utter +anything but a perplexed groan or two when he followed her much later. + +It was not till the next night that she heard anything, and then, in +the darkness, he began, "Susan, thou art a good wife and a discreet +woman." + +Perhaps her heart leapt as she thought to herself, "At last it is +coming, I knew it would!" but she only made some innocent note of +attention. + +"Thou hast asked no questions, nor tried to pry into this unhappy +mystery," he went on. + +"I knew you would tell me what was fit for me to hear," she replied. + +"Fit! It is fit for no one to hear! Yet I needs must take counsel +with thee, and thou hast shown thou canst keep a close mouth so far." + +"Concerns it our Cissy, husband?" + +"Ay does it Our Cissy, indeed! What wouldst say, Sue, to hear she was +daughter to the lady yonder." + +"To the Queen of Scots?" + +"Hush! hush!" fairly grasping her to hinder the words from being +uttered above her breath. + +"And her father?" + +"That villain, Bothwell, of course. Poor lassie, she is ill fathered!" + +"You may say so. Is it in the scroll?" + +"Ay! so far as I can unravel it; but besides the cipher no doubt much +was left for the poor woman to tell that was lost in the wreck." + +And he went on to explain that the scroll was a letter to the Abbess of +Soissons, who was aunt to Queen Mary, as was well known, since an open +correspondence was kept up through the French ambassador. This letter +said that "our trusty Alison Hepburn" would tell how in secrecy and +distress Queen Mary had given birth to this poor child in Lochleven, +and how she had been conveyed across the lake while only a few hours +old, after being hastily baptized by the name of Bride, one of the +patron saints of Scotland. She had been nursed in a cottage for a few +weeks till the Queen had made her first vain attempt to escape, after +which Mary had decided on sending her with her nurse to Dumbarton +Castle, whence Lord Flemyng would despatch her to France. The Abbess +was implored to shelter her, in complete ignorance of her birth, until +such time as her mother should resume her liberty and her throne. "Or +if," the poor Queen said, "I perish in the hands of my enemies, you +will deal with her as my uncles of Guise and Lorraine think fit, since, +should her unhappy little brother die in the rude hands of yonder +traitors, she may bring the true faith back to both realms." + +"Ah!" cried Susan, with a sudden gasp of dismay, as she bethought her +that the child was indeed heiress to both realms after the young King +of Scots. "But has there been no quest after her? Do they deem her +lost?" + +"No doubt they do. Either all hands were lost in the Bride of Dunbar, +or if any of the crew escaped, they would report the loss of nurse and +child. The few who know that the little one was born believe her to +have perished. None will ever ask for her. They deem that she has +been at the bottom of the sea these twelve years or more." + +"And you would still keep the knowledge to ourselves?" asked his wife, +in a tone of relief. + +"I would I knew it not myself!" sighed Richard. "Would that I could +blot it out of my mind." + +"It were far happier for the poor maid herself to remain no one's child +but ours," said Susan. + +"In sooth it is! A drop of royal blood is in these days a mere drop of +poison to them that have the ill luck to inherit it. As my lord said +the other day, it brings the headsman's axe after it." + +"And our boy Humfrey calls himself contracted to her!" + +"So long as we let the secret die with us that can do her no ill. +Happily the wench favours not her mother, save sometimes in a certain +lordly carriage of the head and shoulders. She is like enough to some +of the Scots retinue to make me think she must take her face from her +father, the villain, who, someone told me, was beetle-browed and +swarthy." + +"Lives he still?" + +"So 'tis thought, but somewhere in prison in the north. There have +been no tidings of his death; but my Lady Queen, you'll remember, +treats the marriage as nought, and has made offer of herself for the +misfortune of the Duke of Norfolk, ay, and of this Don John, and I know +not whom besides." + +"She would not have done that had she known that our Cis was alive." + +"Mayhap she would, mayhap not. I believe myself she would do anything +short of disowning her Popery to get out of prison; but as matters +stand I doubt me whether Cis--" + +"The Lady Bride Hepburn," suggested Susan. + +"Pshaw, poor child, I misdoubt me whether they would own her claim even +to that name." + +"And they might put her in prison if they did," said Susan. + +"They would be sure to do so, sooner or later. Here has my lord been +recounting in his trouble about my lady's fine match for her Bess, all +that hath come of mating with royal blood, the very least disaster +being poor Lady Mary Grey's! Kept in ward for life! It is a cruel +matter. I would that I had known the cipher at first. Then she might +either have been disposed of at the Queen's will, or have been sent +safe to this nunnery at Soissons." + +"To be bred a Papist! Oh fie, husband!" + +"And to breed dissension in the kingdoms!" added her husband. "It is +best so far for the poor maiden herself to have thy tender hand over +her than that of any queen or abbess of them all." + +"Shall we then keep all things as they are, and lock this knowledge in +our own hearts?" asked Susan hopefully. + +"To that am I mightily inclined," said Richard. "Were it blazed abroad +at once, thou and I might be made out guilty of I know not what for +concealing it; and as to the maiden, she would either be put in close +ward with her mother, or, what would be more likely, had up to court to +be watched, and flouted, and spied upon, as were the two poor +ladies--sisters to the Lady Jane--ere they made their lot hopeless by +marrying. Nay, I have seen those who told me that poor Lady Katherine +was scarce worse bested in the Tower than she was while at court." + +"My poor Cis! No, no! The only cause for which I could bear to yield +her up would be the thought that she would bring comfort to the heart +of the poor captive mother who hath the best right to her." + +"Forsooth! I suspect her poor captive mother would scarce be pleased +to find this witness to her ill-advised marriage in existence." + +"Nor would she be permitted to be with her." + +"Assuredly not. Moreover, what could she do with the poor child?" + +"Rear her in Popery," exclaimed Susan, to whom the word was terrible. + +"Yea, and make her hand secure as the bait to some foreign prince or +some English traitor, who would fain overthrow Queen and Church." + +Susan shuddered. "Oh yes! let us keep the poor child to ourselves. I +_could_ not give her up to such a lot as that. And it might imperil +you too, my husband. I should like to get up instantly and burn the +scroll." + +"I doubt me whether that were expedient," said Richard. "Suppose it +were in the course of providence that the young King of Scots should +not live, then would this maid be the means of uniting the two kingdoms +in the true and Reformed faith! Heaven forefend that he should be cut +off, but meseemeth that we have no right to destroy the evidence that +may one day be a precious thing to the kingdom at large." + +"No chance eye could read it even were it discovered?" said Susan. + +"No, indeed. Thou knowest how I strove in vain to read it at first, +and even now, when Frank Talbot unwittingly gave me the key, it was +days before I could fully read it. It will tell no tales, sweet wife, +that can prejudice any one, so we will let it be, even with the baby +clouts. So now to sleep, with no more thoughts on the matter." + +That was easy to say, but Susan lay awake long, pondering over the +wonder, and only slept to dream strange dreams of queens and +princesses, ay, and worse, for she finally awoke with a scream, +thinking her husband was on the scaffold, and that Humfrey and Cis were +walking up the ladder, hand in hand with their necks bared, to follow +him! + +There was no need to bid her hold her tongue. She regarded the secret +with dread and horror, and a sense of something amiss which she could +not quite define, though she told herself she was only acting in +obedience to her husband, and indeed her judgment went along with his. + +Often she looked at the unconscious Cis, studying whether the child's +parentage could be detected in her features. But she gave promise of +being of larger frame than her mother, who had the fine limbs and +contour of her Lorraine ancestry, whereas Cis did, as Richard said, +seem to have the sturdy outlines of the Borderer race from whom her +father came. She was round-faced too, and sunburnt, with deep gray +eyes under black straight brows, capable of frowning heavily. She did +not look likely ever to be the fascinating beauty which all declared +her mother to be--though those who saw the captive at Sheffield, +believed the charm to be more in indefinable grace than in actual +features,--in a certain wonderful smile and sparkle, a mixed pathos and +archness which seldom failed of its momentary effect, even upon those +who most rebelled against it. Poor little Cis, a sturdy girl of twelve +or thirteen, playing at ball with little Ned on the terrace, and coming +with tardy steps to her daily task of spinning, had little of the +princess about her; and yet when she sat down, and the management of +distaff and thread threw her shoulders back, there was something in the +poise of her small head and the gesture of her hand that forcibly +recalled the Queen. Moreover, all the boys around were at her beck and +call, not only Humfrey and poor Antony Babington, but Cavendishes, +Pierrepoints, all the young pages and grandsons who dwelt at castle or +lodge, and attended Master Sniggius's school. Nay, the dominie +himself, though owning that Mistress Cicely promoted idleness and +inattention among his pupils, had actually volunteered to come down to +Bridgefield twice a week himself to prevent her from forgetting her +Lilly's grammar and her Caesar's Commentaries, an attention with which +this young lady would willingly have dispensed. + +Stewart, Lorraine, Hepburn, the blood of all combined was a perilous +inheritance, and good Susan Talbot's instinct was that the young girl +whom she loved truly like her own daughter would need all the more +careful and tender watchfulness and training to overcome any tendencies +that might descend to her. Pity increased her affection, and even +while in ordinary household life it was easy to forget who and what the +girl really was, yet Cis was conscious that she was admitted to the +intimacy and privileges of an elder daughter, and made a companion and +friend, while her contemporaries at the Manor-house were treated as +children, and rated roundly, their fingers tapped with fans, their +shoulders even whipped, whenever they transgressed. Cis did indeed +live under equal restraint, but it was the wise and gentle restraint of +firm influence and constant watchfulness, which took from her the wish +to resist. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +UNQUIET. + + +Bridgefield was a peaceable household, and the castle and manor beyond +might envy its calm. + +From the time of the marriage of Elizabeth Cavendish with the young +Earl of Lennox all the shreds of comfort which had remained to the +unfortunate Earl had vanished. First he had to clear himself before +Queen Elizabeth from having been a consenting party, and then he found +his wife furious with him at his displeasure at her daughter's +aggrandisement. Moreover, whereas she had formerly been on terms of +friendly gossiphood with the Scottish Queen, she now went over to the +Lennox side because her favourite daughter had married among them; and +it was evident that from that moment all amity between her and the +prisoner was at an end. + +She was enraged that her husband would not at once change his whole +treatment of the Queen, and treat her as such guilt deserved; and with +the illogical dulness of a passionate woman, she utterly scouted and +failed to comprehend the argument that the unhappy Mary was, to say the +least of it, no more guilty now than when she came into their keeping, +and that to alter their demeanour towards her would be unjust and +unreasonable. + +"My Lady is altogether beyond reason," said Captain Talbot, returning +one evening to his wife; "neither my Lord nor her daughter can do ought +with her; so puffed up is she with this marriage! Moreover, she is +hotly angered that young Babington should have been sent away from her +retinue without notice to her, and demands our Humfrey in his stead as +a page." + +"He is surely too old for a page!" said his mother, thinking of her +tall well-grown son of fifteen. + +"So said I," returned Richard. "I had sooner it were Diccon, and so I +told his lordship." + +Before Richard could speak for them, the two boys came in, eager and +breathless. "Father!" cried Humfrey, "who think you is at Hull? Why, +none other than your old friend and shipmate, Captain Frobisher!" + +"Ha! Martin Frobisher! Who told thee, Humfrey?" + +"Faithful Ekins, sir, who had it from the Doncaster carrier, who saw +Captain Frobisher himself, and was asked by him if you, sir, were not +somewhere in Yorkshire, and if so, to let you know that he will be in +Hull till May-day, getting men together for a voyage to the northwards, +where there is gold to be had for the picking--and if you had a likely +son or two, now was the time to make their fortunes, and show them the +world. He said, any way you might ride to see an old comrade." + +"A long message for two carriers," said Richard Talbot, smiling, "but +Martin never was a scribe!" + +"But, sir, you will let me go," cried Humfrey, eagerly. "I mean, I +pray you to let me go. Dear mother, say nought against it," entreated +the youth. "Cis, think of my bringing thee home a gold bracelet like +mother's." + +"What," said his father, "when my Lady has just craved thee for a page." + +"A page!" said Humfrey, with infinite contempt--"to hear all their +tales and bickerings, hold skeins of silk, amble mincingly along +galleries, be begged to bear messages that may have more in them than +one knows, and be noted for a bear if one refuses." + +The father and Cis laughed, the mother looked unhappy. + +"So Martin is at Hull, is he?" said Richard, musingly. "If my Lord can +give me leave for a week or fortnight, methinks I must ride to see the +stout old knave." + +"And oh, sweet father! prithee take me with you," entreated Humfrey, +"if it be only to come back again. I have not seen the sea since we +came here, and yet the sound is in my ears as I fall asleep. I entreat +of you to let me come, good my father." + +"And, good father, let me come," exclaimed Diccon; "I have never even +seen the sea!" + +"And dear, sweet father, take me," entreated little Ned. + +"Nay," cried Cis, "what should I do? Here is Antony Babington borne +off to Cambridge, and you all wanting to leave me." + +"I'll come home better worth than he!" muttered Humfrey, who thought he +saw consent on his father's brow, and drew her aside into the deep +window. + +"You'll come back a rude sailor, smelling of pitch and tar, and Antony +will be a well-bred, point-device scholar, who will know how to give a +lady his hand," said the teasing girl. + +"And so the playful war was carried on, while the father, having +silenced and dismissed the two younger lads, expressed his intention of +obtaining leave of absence, if possible, from the Earl." + +"Yea," he added to his wife, "I shall even let Humfrey go with me. It +is time he looked beyond the walls of this place, which is little +better than a prison." + +"And will you let him go on this strange voyage?" she asked wistfully, +"he, our first-born, and our heir." + +"For that, dame, remember his namesake, my poor brother, was the one +who stayed at home, I the one to go forth, and here am I now! The +lad's words may have set before thee weightier perils in yonder park +than he is like to meet among seals and bears under honest old Martin." + +"Yet here he has your guidance," said Susan. + +"Who knows how they might play on his honour as to talebearing? Nay, +good wife, when thou hast thought it over, thou wilt see that far +fouler shoals and straits lie up yonder, than in the free open sea that +God Almighty made. Martin is a devout and godly man, who hath matins +and evensong on board each day when the weather is not too foul, and +looks well that there be no ill-doings in his ship; and if he have a +berth for thy lad, it will be a better school for him than where +two-thirds of the household are raging against one another, and the +third ever striving to corrupt and outwit the rest. I am weary of it +all! Would that I could once get into blue water again, and leave it +all behind!" + +"You will not! Oh! you will not!" implored Susan. "Remember, my dear, +good lord, how you said all your duties lay at home." + +"I remember, my good housewife. Thou needst not fear for me. But +there is little time to spare. If I am to see mine old friend, I must +get speech of my Lord to-night, so as to be on horseback to-morrow. +Saddle me Brown Dumpling, boys." + +And as the boys went off, persuading Cis, who went coyly protesting +that the paddock was damp, yet still following after them, he added, +"Yea, Sue, considering all, it is better those two were apart for a +year or so, till we see better what is this strange nestling that we +have reared. Ay, thou art like the mother sparrow that hath bred up a +cuckoo and doteth on it, yet it mateth not with her brood." + +"It casteth them out," said Susan, "as thou art doing now, by your +leave, husband." + +"Only for a flight, gentle mother," he answered, "only for a flight, to +prove meanwhile whether there be the making of a simple household bird, +or of a hawk that might tear her mate to pieces, in yonder nestling." + +Susan was too dutiful a wife to say more, though her motherly heart was +wrung almost as much at the implied distrust of her adopted daughter as +by the sudden parting with her first-born to the dangers of the +northern seas. She could better enter into her husband's fears of the +temptations of page life at Sheffield, and being altogether a wife, +"bonner and boughsome," as her marriage vow held it, she applied +herself and Cis to the choosing of the shirts and the crimping of the +ruffs that were to appear in Hull, if, for there was this hope at the +bottom of her heart, my Lord might refuse leave of absence to his +"gentleman porter." + +The hope was fallacious; Richard reported that my Lord was so much +relieved to find that he had detected no fresh conspiracy, as to be +willing to grant him a fortnight's leave, and even had said with a sigh +that he was in the right on't about his son, for Sheffield was more of +a school for plotting than for chivalry. + +It was a point of honour with every good housewife to have a store of +linen equal to any emergency, and, indeed, as there were no washing +days in the winter, the stock of personal body-linen was at all times +nearly a sufficient outfit; so the main of Humfrey's shirts were to be +despatched by a carrier, in the trust that they would reach him before +the expedition should sail. + +There was then little to delay the father and son, after the mother, +with fast-gathering tears resolutely forced back, had packed and +strapped their mails, with Cis's help, Humfrey standing by, booted and +spurred, and talking fast of the wonders he should see, and the gold +and ivory he should bring home, to hide the qualms of home-sickness, +and mother-sickness, he was already beginning to feel; and maybe to get +Cis to pronounce that then she should think more of him than of Antony +Babington with his airs and graces. Wistfully did the lad watch for +some such tender assurance, but Cis seemed all provoking brilliancy and +teasing. "She knew he would be back over soon. Oh no, _he_ would +never go to sea! She feared not. Mr. Frobisher would have none of +such awkward lubbers. More's the pity. There would be some peace to +get to do her broidery, and leave to play on the virginals when he was +gone." + +But when the horsemen had disappeared down the avenue, Cis hid herself +in a corner and cried as if her heart would break. + +She cried again behind the back of the tall settle when the father came +back alone, full of praises of Captain Frobisher, his ship, and his +company, and his assurances that he would watch over Humfrey like his +own son. + +Meantime the domestic storms at the park were such that Master Richard +and his wife were not sorry that the boy was not growing up in the +midst of them, though the Countess rated Susan severely for her +ingratitude. + +Queen Elizabeth was of course much angered at the Lennox match, and the +Earl had to write letter after letter to clear himself from any +participation in bringing it about. Queen Mary also wrote to clear +herself of it, and to show that she absolutely regretted it, as she had +small esteem for Bess Cavendish. Moreover, though Lady Shrewsbury's +friendship might not be a very pleasant thing, it was at least better +than her hostility. However, she was not much at Sheffield. Not only +was she very angry with her husband, but Queen Elizabeth had strictly +forbidden the young Lord Lennox from coming under the same roof with +his royal sister-in-law. He was a weakly youth, and his wife's health +failed immediately after her marriage, so that Lady Shrewsbury remained +almost constantly at Chatsworth with her darling. + +Gilbert Talbot, who was the chief peacemaker of the family, went to and +fro, wrote letters and did his best, which would have been more +effective but for Mary, his wife, who, no doubt, detailed all the +gossip of Sheffield at Chatsworth, as she certainly amused Sheffield +with stories of her sister Bess as a royal countess full of airs and +humours, and her mother treating her, if not as a queen, at least on +the high road to become one, and how the haughty dame of Shrewsbury ran +willingly to pick up her daughter's kerchief, and stood over the fire +stirring the posset, rather than let it fail to tempt the appetite +which became more dainty by being cossetted. + +The difference made between Lady Lennox and her elder sisters was not a +little nettling to Dame Mary Talbot, who held that some consideration +was her due, as the proud mother of the only grandson of the house of +Shrewsbury, little George, who was just able to be put on horseback in +the court, and say he was riding to see "Lady Danmode," and to drink +the health of "Lady Danmode" at his meals. + +Alas! the little hope of the Talbots suddenly faded. One evening after +supper a message came down in haste to beg for the aid of Mistress +Susan, who, though much left to the seclusion of Bridgefield in +prosperous days, was always a resource in trouble or difficulty. Little +George, then two and a half years old, had been taken suddenly ill +after a supper on marchpane and plum broth, washed down by Christmas +ale. Convulsions had come on, and the skill of Queen Mary's apothecary +had only gone so far as to bleed him. Susan arrived only just in time +to see the child breathe his last sigh, and to have his mother, wild +with tumultuous clamorous grief, put into her hands for such soothing +and comforting as might be possible, and the good and tender woman did +her best to turn the mother's thoughts to something higher and better +than the bewailing at one moment "her pretty boy," with a sort of +animal sense of bereavement, and the next with lamentations over the +honours to which he would have succeeded. It was of little use to speak +to her of the eternal glories of which he was now secure, for Mary +Talbot's sorrow was chiefly selfish, and was connected with the loss of +her pre-eminence as parent to the heir-male. + +However, the grief of those times was apt to expend itself quickly, and +when little George's coffin, smothered under heraldic devices and +funeral escutcheons, had been bestowed in the family vault, Dame Mary +soon revived enough to take a warm interest in the lords who were next +afterwards sent down to hold conferences with the captive; and her +criticism of the fashion of their ruffs and doublets was as animated as +ever. Another grief, however, soon fell upon the family. Lady Lennox's +ailments proved to be no such trifles as her sisters and sisters-in-law +had been pleased to suppose, and before the year was out, she had +passed away from all her ambitious hopes, leaving a little daughter. +The Earl took a brief leave of absence to visit his lady in her +affliction at Chatsworth, and to stand godfather to the motherless +infant. + +"She will soon be fatherless, too," said Richard Talbot on his return +to Bridgefield, after attending his lord on this expedition. "My young +Lord Lennox, poor youth, is far gone in the wasting sickness, as well +as distraught with grief, and he could scarcely stand to receive my +Lord." + +"Our poor lady!" said Susan, "it pities me to think what hopes she had +fixed upon that young couple whom she had mated together." + +"I doubt me whether her hopes be ended now," quoth Richard. "What +think you she hath fixed on as the name of the poor puling babe yonder? +They have called her Arbel or Arabella." + +"Arabella, say you? I never heard such a name. It is scarce +Christian. Is it out of a romaunt?" + +"Better that it were. It is out of a pedigree. They have got the +whole genealogy of the house of Lennox blazoned fair, with crowns and +coronets and coats of arms hung up in the hall at Chatsworth, going up +on the one hand through Sir AEneas of Troy, and on the other hand +through Woden to Adam and Eve! Pass for all before the Stewart line +became Kings of Scots! Well, it seems that these Lennox Stewarts +sprang from one Walter, who was son to King Robert II., and that the +mother of this same Walter was called Anhild, or as the Scots here call +it Annaple, but the scholars have made it into Arabella, and so my +young lady is to be called. They say it was a special fancy of the +young Countess's." + +"So I should guess. My lady would fill her head with such thoughts, +and of this poor youth being next of kin to the young Scottish king, +and to our own Queen." + +"He is not next heir to Scotland even, barring a little one we wot of, +Dame Sue. The Hamiltons stand between, being descended from a daughter +of King James I." + +"So methought I had heard. Are they not Papists?" + +"Yea! Ah ha, sweetheart, there is another of the house of Hardwicke as +fain to dreams of greatness for her child as ever was the Countess, +though she may be more discreet in the telling of them." + +"Ah me, dear sir, I dreamt not of greatness for splendour's +sake--'twere scarce for the dear child's happiness. I only thought of +what you once said, that she may be the instrument of preserving the +true religion." + +"And if so, it can only be at a mighty cost!" said her husband. + +"Verily," said Susan, "glad am I that you sent our Humfrey from her. +Would that nought had ever passed between the children!" + +"They were but children," said Richard; "and there was no contract +between them." + +"I fear me there was what Humfrey will hold to, or know good reason +why," said his mother. + +"And were the young King of Scots married and father to a goodly heir, +there is no reason he should not hold to it," rejoined Richard. + +However Richard was still anxious to keep his son engaged at a distance +from Sheffield. There was great rejoicing and thankfulness when one of +the many messengers constantly passing between London and Sheffield +brought a packet from Humfrey, whose ship had put into the Thames +instead of the Humber. + +The packet contained one of the black stones which the science of the +time expected to transmute into gold, also some Esquimaux trinkets made +of bone, and a few shells. These were for the mother and Cis, and +there were also the tusks of a sea-elephant which Humfrey would lay up +at my Lord's London lodgings till his father sent tidings what should +be done with them, and whether he should come home at once by sea to +Hull, or if, as he much desired to do, he might join an expedition +which was fitting out for the Spanish Main, where he was assured that +much more both of gold and honour was to be acquired than in the cold +northern seas, where nothing was to be seen for the fog at most times, +and when it cleared only pigmies, with their dogs, white bears, and +seals, also mountains of ice bigger than any church, blue as my lady's +best sapphires, green as her emeralds, sparkling as her diamonds, but +ready to be the destruction of the ships. + +"One there was," wrote Humfrey, "that I could have thought was no other +than the City that the blessed St. John saw descending from Heaven, so +fair was it to look on, but they cried out that it was rather a City of +Destruction, and when we had got out of the current where it was +bearing down on us, our noble captain piped all hands up to prayers, +and gave thanks for our happy deliverance therefrom." + +Susan breathed a thanksgiving as her husband read, and he forbore to +tell her of the sharks, the tornadoes, and the fevers which might make +the tropical seas more perilous than the Arctic. No Elizabethan +mariner had any scruples respecting piracy, and so long as the captain +was a godly man who kept up strict discipline on board, Master Richard +held the quarterdeck to be a much more wholesome place than the +Manor-house, and much preferred the humours of the ship to those of any +other feminine creature; for, as to his Susan, he always declared that +she was the only woman who had none. + +So she accepted his decision, and saw the wisdom of it, though her +tender heart deeply felt the disappointment. Tenderly she packed up +the shirts which she and Cis had finished, and bestrewed them with +lavender, which, as she said, while a tear dropped with the gray +blossoms, would bring the scent of home to the boy. + +Cis affected to be indifferent and offended. Master Humfrey might do +as he chose. She did not care if he did prefer pitch and tar, and +whale blubber and grease, to hawks and hounds, and lords and ladies. +She was sure she wanted no more great lubberly lads--with a sly cut at +Diccon--to tangle her silk, and torment her to bait their hooks. She +was well quit of any one of them. + +When Diccon proposed that she should write a letter to Humfrey, she +declared that she should do no such thing, since he had never attempted +to write to her. In truth Diccon may have made the proposal in order +to obtain a companion in misfortune, since Master Sniggius, emulous of +the success of other tutors, insisted on his writing to his brother in +Latin, and the unfortunate epistle of Ricardus to Onofredus was revised +and corrected to the last extremity, and as it was allowed to contain +no word unknown to Virgilius Maro, it could not have afforded much +delectation to the recipient. + +But when Mrs. Susan had bestowed all the shirts as neatly as possible, +on returning to settle them for the last time before wrapping them up +for the messenger, she felt something hard among them. It was a tiny +parcel wrapped in a piece of a fine kerchief, tied round with a tress +of dark hair, and within, Susan knew by the feeling, a certain chess +rook which had been won by Cis when shooting at the butts a week or two +before. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE LADY ARBELL. + + +After several weary months of languishing, Charles Stewart was saved +from the miseries which seemed the natural inheritance of his name by +sinking into his grave. His funeral was conducted with the utmost +magnificence, though the Earl of Shrewsbury declined to be present at +it, and shortly after, the Countess intimated her purpose of returning +to Sheffield, bringing with her the little orphan, Lady Arabella +Stewart. Orders came that the best presence chamber in the Manor-house +should be prepared, the same indeed where Queen Mary had been quartered +before the lodge had been built for her use. The Earl was greatly +perturbed. "Whom can she intend to bring?" he went about asking. "If +it were the Lady Margaret, it were be much as my head were worth to +admit her within the same grounds as this Queen." + +"There is no love lost between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law," +observed his son Gilbert in a consolatory tone. + +"Little good would that do to me, if once it came to the ears of her +Grace and the Lord Treasurer that both had been my guests! And if I +had to close the gates--though in no other way could I save my life and +honour--your mother would never forget it. It would be cast up to me +for ever. What think you, daughter Talbot?" + +"Mayhap," said Dame Mary, "my lady mother has had a hint to make ready +for her Majesty herself, who hath so often spoken of seeing the Queen +of Scots, and might think well to take her unawares." + +This was a formidable suggestion. "Say you so," cried the poor Earl, +with an alarm his eye would never have betrayed had Parma himself been +within a march of Sheffield, "then were we fairly spent. I am an +impoverished man, eaten out of house and lands as it is, and were the +Queen herself to come, I might take at once to the beggar's bowl." + +"But think of the honour, good my lord," cried Mary. "Think of all +Hallamshire coming to do her homage. Oh, how I should laugh to hear +the Mayor stumbling over his address." + +"Laugh, ay," growled the Earl; "and how will you laugh when there is +not a deer left in the park, nor an ox in the stalls?" + +"Nay, my Lord," interposed Gilbert, "there is no fear of her Majesty's +coming. That post from M. de la Mauvissiere reported her at Greenwich +only five days back, and it would take her Majesty a far longer time to +make her progress than yonder fellow, who will tell you himself that +she had no thoughts of moving." + +"That might only be a feint to be the more sudden with us," said his +wife, actuated in part by the diversion of alarming her father-in-law, +and in part really fired by the hope of such an effectual enlivenment +of the dulness of Sheffield. + +They were all in full family conclave drawn up in the hall for the +reception, and Mistress Susan, who could not bear to see the Earl so +perplexed and anxious, ventured to say that she was quite sure that my +Lady Countess would have sent warning forward if indeed she were +bringing home such a guest, and at that moment the blare of trumpets +announced that the cavalcade was approaching. The start which the Earl +gave showed how much his nerves had become affected by his years of +custody. Up the long avenue they came, with all the state with which +the Earl had conducted Queen Mary to the lodge before she was +absolutely termed a prisoner. Halberdiers led the procession, horse +and foot seemed to form it. The home party stood on the top of the +steps watching with much anxiety. There was a closed litter visible, +beside which Lady Shrewsbury, in a mourning dress and hood, could be +seen riding her favourite bay palfrey. No doubt it contained the Lady +Margaret, Countess of Lennox; and the unfortunate Earl, forgetting all +his stately dignity, stood uneasily moving from leg to leg, and pulling +his long beard, torn between the instincts of hospitality and of loyal +obedience, between fear of his wife and fear of the Queen. + +The litter halted at the foot of the steps, the Earl descended. All he +saw was the round face of an infant in its nurse's arms, and he turned +to help his wife from the saddle, but she waved him aside. "My son +Gilbert will aid me, my Lord," said she, "your devoir is to the +princess." + +Poor Lord Shrewsbury, his apologies on his tongue, looked into the +litter, where he saw the well-known and withered countenance of the +family nurse. He also beheld a buxom young female, whose dress marked +her as a peasant, but before he had time to seek further for the +princess, the tightly rolled chrysalis of a child was thrust into his +astonished arms, while the round face puckered up instantly with terror +at sight of his bearded countenance, and he was greeted with a loud +yell. He looked helplessly round, and his lady was ready at once to +relieve him. "My precious! My sweetheart! My jewel! Did he look +sour at her and frighten her with his ugsome beard?" and the like +endearments common to grandmothers in all ages. + +"But where is the princess?" + +"Where? Where should she be but here? Her grandame's own precious, +royal, queenly little darling!" and as a fresh cry broke out, "Yes, +yes; she shall to her presence chamber. Usher her, Gilbert." + +"Bess's brat!" muttered Dame Mary, in ineffable disappointment. + +Curiosity and the habit of obedience to the Countess carried the entire +troop on to the grand apartments on the south side, where Queen Mary +had been lodged while the fiction of her guestship had been kept up. +Lady Shrewsbury was all the time trying to hush the child, who was +quite old enough to be terrified by new faces and new scenes, and who +was besides tired and restless in her swaddling bands, for which she +was so nearly too old that she had only been kept in them for greater +security upon the rough and dangerous roads. Great was my lady's +indignation on reaching the state rooms on finding that no nursery +preparations had been made, and her daughter Mary, with a giggle hardly +repressed by awe of her mother, stood forth and said, "Why, verily, my +lady, we expected some great dame, my Lady Margaret or my Lady Hunsdon +at the very least, when you spoke of a princess." + +"And who should it be but one who has both the royal blood of England +and Scotland in her veins? You have not saluted the child to whom you +have the honour to be akin, Mary! On your knee, minion; I tell you she +hath as good or a better chance of wearing a crown as any woman in +England." + +"She hath a far better chance of a prison," muttered the Earl, "if all +this foolery goes on." + +"What! What is that? What are you calling these honours to my orphan +princess?" cried the lady, but the princess herself here broke in with +the lustiest of squalls, and Susan, who was sorry for the child, +contrived to insert an entreaty that my lady would permit her to be +taken at once to the nursery chamber that had been made ready for her, +and let her there be fed, warmed, and undressed at once. + +There was something in the quality of Susan's voice to which people +listened, and the present necessity overcame the Countess's desire to +assert the dignity of her granddaughter, so she marched out of the room +attended by the women, while the Earl and his sons were only too glad +to slink away--there is no other word for it, their relief as to the +expected visitor having been exchanged for consternation of another +description. + +There was a blazing fire ready, and all the baby comforts of the time +provided, and poor little Lady Arbell was relieved from her swathing +bands, and allowed to stretch her little limbs on her nurse's lap, the +one rest really precious to babes of all periods and conditions--but +the troubles were not yet over, for the grandmother, glancing round, +demanded, "Where is the cradle inlaid with pearl? Why was it not +provided? Bring it here." + +Now this cradle, carved in cedar wood and inlaid with mother-of-pearl, +had been a sponsor's gift to poor little George, the first male heir of +the Talbots, and it was regarded as a special treasure by his mother, +who was both wounded and resentful at the demand, and stood pouting and +saying, "It was my son's. It is mine." + +"It belongs to the family. You," to two of the servants, "fetch it +here instantly!" + +The ladies of Hardwicke race were not guarded in temper or language, +and Mary burst into passionate tears and exclamations that Bess's brat +should not have her lost George's cradle, and flounced away to get +before the servants and lock it up. Lady Shrewsbury would have sprung +after her, and have made no scruple of using her fists and nails even +on her married daughter, but that she was impeded by a heavy table, and +this gave time for Susan to throw herself before her, and entreat her +to pause. + +"You, you, Susan Talbot! You should know better than to take the part +of an undutiful, foul-tongued vixen like that. Out of my way, I say!" +and as Susan, still on her knees, held the riding-dress, she received a +stinging box on the ear. But in her maiden days she had known the +weight of my lady's hand, and without relaxing her hold, she only +entreated: "Hear me, hear me for a little space, my lady. Did you but +know how sore her heart is, and how she loved little Master George!" + +"That is no reason she should flout and miscall her dead sister, of +whom she was always jealous!" + +"O madam, she wept with all her heart for poor Lady Lennox. It is not +any evil, but she sets such store by that cradle in which her child +died--she keeps it by her bed even now, and her woman told me how, for +all she seems gay and blithe by day, she weeps over it at night, as if +her heart would break." + +Lady Shrewsbury was a little softened. "The child died in it?" she +asked. + +"Yea, madam. He had been on his father's knee, and had seemed a little +easier, and as if he might sleep, so Sir Gilbert laid him down, and he +did but stretch himself out, shiver all over, draw a long breath, and +the pretty lamb was gone to Paradise!" + +"You saw him, Susan?" + +"Yea, madam. Dame Mary sent for me, but none could be of any aid where +it was the will of Heaven to take him." + +"If I had been there," said the Countess, "I who have brought up eight +children and lost none, I should have saved him! So he died in yonder +cedar cradle! Well, e'en let Mary keep it. It may be that there is +infection in the smell of the cedar wood, and that the child will sleep +better out of it. It is too late to do aught this evening, but +to-morrow the child shall be lodged as befits her birth, in the +presence chamber." + +"Ah, madam!" said Susan, "would it be well for the sweet babe if her +Majesty's messengers, who be so often at the castle, were to report her +so lodged?" + +"I have a right to lodge my grandchild where and how I please in my own +house." + +"Yea, madam, that is most true, but you wot how the Queen treats all +who may have any claim to the throne in future times; and were it +reported by any of the spies that are ever about us, how royal honours +were paid to the little Lady Arbell, might she not be taken from your +ladyship's wardship, and bestowed with those who would not show her +such loving care?" + +The Countess would not show whether this had any effect on her, or else +some sound made by the child attracted her. It was a puny little +thing, and she had a true grandmother's affection for it, apart from +her absurd pride and ambition, so that she was glad to hold counsel +over it with Susan, who had done such justice to her training as to be, +in her eyes, a mother who had sense enough not to let her children +waste and die; a rare merit in those days, and one that Susan could not +disclaim, though she knew that it did not properly belong to her. + +Cis had stood by all the time like a little statue, for no one, not +even young Lady Talbot, durst sit down uninvited in the presence of +Earl or Countess; but her black brows were bent, her gray eyes intent. + +"Mother," she said, as they went home on their quiet mules, "are great +ladies always so rudely spoken to one another?" + +"I have not seen many great ladies, Cis, and my Lady Countess has +always been good to me." + +"Antony said that the Scots Queen and her ladies never storm at one +another like my lady and her daughters." + +"Open words do not always go deep, Cis," said the mother. "I had +rather know and hear the worst at once." And then her heart smote her +as she recollected that she might be implying censure of the girl's +true mother, as well as defending wrath and passion, and she added, "Be +that as it may, it is a happy thing to learn to refrain the tongue." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +QUEEN MARY'S PRESENCE CHAMBER. + + +The storm that followed on the instalment of the Lady Arbell at +Sheffield was the precursor of many more. Her grandmother did +sufficiently awake to the danger of alarming the jealousy of Queen +Elizabeth to submit to leave her in the ordinary chambers of the +children of the house, and to exact no extraordinary marks of respect +towards the unconscious infant; but there was no abatement in the +Countess's firm belief that an English-born, English-bred child, would +have more right to the crown than any "foreign princes," as she +contemptuously termed the Scottish Queen and her son. + +Moreover, in her two years' intercourse with the elder Countess of +Lennox, who was a gentle-tempered but commonplace woman, she had +adopted to the full that unfortunate princess's entire belief in the +guilt of Queen Mary, and entertained no doubt that she had been the +murderer of Darnley. Old Lady Lennox had seen no real evidence, and +merely believed what she was told by her lord, whose impeachment of +Bothwell had been baffled by the Queen in a most suspicious manner. +Conversations with this lady had entirely changed Lady Shrewsbury from +the friendly hostess of her illustrious captive, to be her enemy and +persecutor, partly as being convinced of her guilt, partly as regarding +her as an obstacle in the path of little Arbell to the throne. So she +not only refused to pay her respects as usual to "that murtheress," but +she insisted that her husband should tighten the bonds of restraint, +and cut off all indulgences. + +The Countess was one of the women to whom argument and reason are +impossible, and who was entirely swayed by her predilections, as well +as of so imperious a nature as to brook no opposition, and to be almost +always able to sweep every one along with her. + +Her own sons always were of her mind, and her daughters might fret and +chafe, but were sure to take part with her against every one else +outside the Cavendish family. The idea of being kinsfolk to the future +Queen excited them all, and even Mary forgot her offence about the +cradle, and her jealousy of Bess, and ranked herself against her +stepfather, influencing her husband, Gilbert, on whom the unfortunate +Earl had hitherto leant. On his refusal to persecute his unfortunate +captive beyond the orders from the Court, Bess of Hardwicke, emboldened +by the support she had gathered from her children, passionately +declared that it could only be because he was himself in love with the +murtheress. Lord Shrewsbury could not help laughing a little at the +absurdity of the idea, whereupon my lady rose up in virtuous +indignation, calling her sons and daughters to follow her. + +All that night, lights might have been seen flitting about at the +Manor-house, and early in the morning bugles sounded to horse. A huge +procession, consisting of the Countess herself, and all her sons and +daughters then at Sheffield, little Lady Arbell, and the whole of their +attendants, swept out of the gates of the park on the way to Hardwicke. +When Richard Talbot went up to fulfil his duties as gentleman porter at +the lodge the courts seemed well-nigh deserted, and a messenger +summoned him at once to the Earl, whom he found in his bed-chamber in +his morning gown terribly perturbed. + +"For Heaven's sake send for your wife, Richard Talbot!" he said. "It is +her Majesty's charge that some of mine household, or I myself, see this +unhappy Queen of Scots each day for not less than two hours, as you +well know. My lady has broken away, and all her daughters, on this +accursed fancy--yea, and Gilbert too, Gilbert whom I always looked to +to stand by me; I have no one to send. If I go and attend upon her +alone, as I have done a thousand times to my sorrow, it will but give +colour to the monstrous tale; but if your good wife, an honourable lady +of the Hardwicke kin, against whom none ever breathed a word, will go +and give the daily attendance, then can not the Queen herself find +fault, and my wife's heated fancy can coin nothing suspicious. You +must all come up, and lodge here in the Manor-house till this tempest +be overpast. Oh, Richard, Richard! will it last out my life? My very +children are turned against me. Go you down and fetch your good Susan, +and take order for bringing up your children and gear. Benthall shall +take your turn at the lodge. What are you tarrying for? Do you doubt +whether your wife have rank enough to wait on the Queen? She should +have been a knight's lady long ago, but that I deemed you would be glad +to be quit of herald's fees; your service and estate have merited it, +and I will crave license by to-day's courier from her Majesty to lay +knighthood on your shoulder." + +"That was not what I thought of, my Lord, though I humbly thank you, +and would be whatever was best for your Lordship's service, though, if +it would serve you as well, I would rather be squire than knight; but I +was bethinking me how we should bestow our small family. We have a +young damsel at an age not to be left to herself." + +"The black-browed maid--I recollect her. Let her e'en follow her +mother. Queen Mary likes a young face, and is kindly disposed to +little maids. She taught Bess Pierrepoint to speak French and work +with her needle, and I cannot see that she did the lass any harm, nay, +she is the only one of them all that can rule her tongue to give a soft +answer if things go not after her will, and a maid might learn worse +things. Besides, your wife will be there to look after the maiden, so +you need have no fears. And for your sons, they will be at school, and +can eat with us." + +Richard's doubts being thus silenced he could not but bring his wife to +his lord's rescue, though he well knew that Susan would be greatly +disturbed on all accounts, and indeed he found her deep in the ironing +that followed the great spring wash, and her housewifely mind was as +much exercised as to the effects of her desertion, as was her maternal +prudence at the plunge which her unconscious adopted child was about to +make. However, there was no denying the request, backed as it was by +her husband, looking at her proudly, and declaring she was by general +consent the only discreet woman in Sheffield. She was very sorry for +the Earl's perplexity, and had a loyal pity for the Countess's vexation +and folly, and she was consoled by the assurance that she would have a +free time between dinner and supper to go home and attend to her wash, +and finish her preparations. Cis, who had been left in a state of +great curiosity, to continue compounding pickle while the mother was +called away, was summoned, to don her holiday kirtle, for she was to +join in attendance on the Queen of Scots while Lady Shrewsbury and her +daughters were absent. + +It was unmixed delight to the girl, and she was not long in +fresh-binding up her hair--black with a little rust-coloured +tinge--under her stiff little cap, smoothing down the front, which was +alone visible, putting on the well-stiffened ruff with the dainty +little lace edge and close-fitting tucker, and then the gray home-spun +kirtle, with the puffs at the top of the tight sleeves, and the slashes +into which she had persuaded mother to insert some old pink satin, for +was not she sixteen now, and almost a woman? There was a pink +breast-knot to match, and Humfrey's owch just above it, gray stockings, +home-spun and worked with elaborate pink clocks, but knitted by Cis +herself; and a pair of shoes with pink roses to match were put into a +bag, to be assumed when she arrived at the lodge. Out of this simple +finery beamed a face, bright in spite of the straight, almost bushy, +black brows. There was a light of youth, joy, and intelligence, about +her gray eyes which made them sparkle all the more under their dark +setting, and though her complexion had no brilliancy, only the +clearness of health, and her features would not endure criticism, there +was a wonderful lively sweetness about her fresh, innocent young mouth; +and she had a tall lithe figure, surpassing that of her stepmother. +She would have been a sonsie Border lass in appearance but for the +remarkable carriage of her small head and shoulders, which was +assuredly derived from her royal ancestry, and indeed her air and +manner of walking were such that Diccon had more than once accused her +of sailing about ambling like the Queen of Scots, an accusation which +she hotly denied. Her hands bad likewise a slender form and fine +texture, such as none of the ladies of the houses of Talbot or +Hardwicke could rival, but she was on the whole viewed as far from +being a beauty. The taste of the day was altogether for light, +sandy-haired, small-featured women, like Queen Elizabeth or her +namesake of Hardwicke, so that Cis was looked on as a sort of crow, and +her supposed parents were pitied for having so ill-favoured a daughter, +so unlike all their families, except one black-a-vised Talbot +grandmother, whose portrait had been discovered on a pedigree. + +Much did Susan marvel what impression the daughter would make on the +true mother as they jogged up on their sober ponies through the long +avenues, whose branches were beginning to wear the purple shades of +coming spring. + +Lord Shrewsbury himself met them in front of the lodge, where, in spite +of all his dignity, he had evidently been impatiently awaiting them. +He thanked Susan for coming, as if he had not had a right to order, +gave her his ungloved hand when she had dismounted, then at the single +doorway of the lodge caused his gentleman to go through the form of +requesting admission for himself and Mistress Talbot, his dear +kinswoman, to the presence of the Queen. It was a ceremony daily +observed as an acknowledgment of Mary's royalty, and the Earl was far +too courteous ever to omit it. + +Queen Mary's willingness to admit him was notified by Sir Andrew +Melville, a tall, worn man, with the typical Scottish countenance and a +keen steadfast gray eye. He marshalled the trio up a circular +staircase, made as easy as possible, but necessarily narrow, since it +wound up through a brick turret at the corner, to the third and +uppermost story of the lodge. + +There, however, was a very handsome anteroom, with tapestry hangings, a +richly moulded ceiling, and wide carved stone chimneypiece, where a +bright fire was burning, around which sat several Scottish and French +gentlemen, who rose at the Earl's entrance. Another wide doorway with +a tapestry curtain over the folding leaves led to the presence chamber, +and Sir Andrew announced in as full style as if he had been marshalling +an English ambassador to the Court of Holyrood, the most high and +mighty Earl of Shrewsbury. The room was full of March sunshine, and a +great wood fire blazed on the hearth. Part of the floor was carpeted, +and overhung with a canopy, proceeding from the tapestried wall, and +here was a cross-legged velvet chair on which sat Queen Mary. This was +all that Cis saw at first, while the Earl advanced, knelt on one step +of the dais, with bared head, exchanging greetings with the Queen. He +then added, that his wife, the Countess, and her daughter, having been +called away from Sheffield, he would entreat her Grace to accept for a +few days in their stead the attendance of his good kinswoman, Mrs. +Talbot, and her daughter, Mistress Cicely. + +Mary graciously intimated her consent, and extended her hand for each +to kiss as they knelt in turn on the step; Susan either fancied, or +really saw a wonderful likeness in that taper hand to the little one +whose stitches she had so often guided. Cis, on her part, felt the +thrill of girlhood in the actual touch of the subject of her dreams. +She stood, scarcely hearing what passed, but taking in, from under her +black brows, all the surroundings, and recognising the persons from her +former glimpses, and from Antony Babington's descriptions. The presence +chamber was ample for the suite of the Queen, which had been reduced on +every fresh suspicion. There was in it, besides the Queen's four +ladies, an elderly one, with a close black silk hood--Jean Kennedy, or +Mrs. Kennett as the English called her; another, a thin slight figure, +with a worn face, as if a great sorrow had passed over her, making her +look older than her mistress, was the Queen's last remaining Mary, +otherwise Mrs. Seaton. The gossip of Sheffield had not failed to tell +how the chamberlain, Beatoun, had been her suitor, and she had half +consented to accept him when he was sent on a mission to France, and +there died. The dark-complexioned bright-eyed little lady, on a +smaller scale than the rest, was Marie de Courcelles, who, like the two +others, had been the Queen's companion in all her adventures; and the +fourth, younger and prettier than the rest, was already known to Cis +and her mother, since she was the Barbara Mowbray who was affianced to +Gilbert Curll, the Queen's Scottish secretary, recently taken into her +service. Both these were Protestants, and, like the Bridgefield +family, attended service in the castle chapel. They were all at work, +as was likewise their royal lady, to whom the girl, with the youthful +coyness that halts in the fulfilment of its dreams, did not at first +raise her eyes, having first taken in all the ladies, the several +portions of one great coverlet which they were all embroidering in +separate pieces, and the gentleman who was reading aloud to them from a +large book placed on a desk at which he was standing. + +When she did look up, as the Queen was graciously requesting her mother +to be seated, and the Earl excusing himself from remaining longer, her +first impression was one of disappointment. Either the Queen of Scots +was less lovely seen leisurely close at hand than Antony Babington and +Cis's own fancy had painted her, or the last two or three years had +lessened her charms, as well they might, for she had struggled and +suffered much in the interval, had undergone many bitter +disappointments, and had besides endured much from rheumatism every +winter, indeed, even now she could not ride, and could only go out in a +carriage in the park on the finest days, looking forward to her annual +visit to Buxton to set her up for the summer. Her face was longer and +more pointed than in former days, her complexion had faded, or perhaps +in these private moments it had not been worth while to enhance it; +though there was no carelessness in the general attire, the black +velvet gown, and delicate lace of the cap, and open ruff always +characteristic of her. The small curls of hair at her temples had +their auburn tint softened by far more white than suited one who was +only just over forty, but the delicate pencilling of the eyebrows was +as marked as ever; and the eyes, on whose colour no one ever agreed, +melted and sparkled as of old. Cis had heard debates as to their hue, +and furtively tried to form her own opinion, but could not decide on +anything but that they had a dark effect, and a wonderful power of +expression, seeming to look at every one at once, and to rebuke, +encourage, plead, or smile, from moment to moment. The slight cast in +one of them really added to their force of expression rather than +detracted from their beauty, and the delicate lips were ready to second +the glances with wondrous smiles. Cis had not felt the magic of her +mere presence five minutes without being convinced that Antony +Babington was right; the Lord Treasurer and all the rest utterly wrong, +and that she beheld the most innocent and persecuted of princesses. + +Meantime, all due formalities having been gone through, Lord Shrewsbury +bowed himself out backwards with a dexterity that Cis breathlessly +admired in one so stately and so stiff, forgetting that he had daily +practice in the art. Then Queen Mary courteously entreated her +visitors to be seated, near herself, asking with a smile if this were +not the little maiden who had queened it so prettily in the brake some +few years since. Cis blushed and drew back her head with a pretty +gesture of dignified shyness as Susan made answer for her that she was +the same. + +"I should have known it," said the Queen, smiling, "by the port of her +head alone. 'Tis strange," she said, musing, "that maiden hath the +bearing of head and neck that I have never seen save in my own mother, +the saints rest her soul, and in her sisters, and which we always held +to be their inheritance from the blood of Charlemagne." + +"Your grace does her too much honour," Susan contrived to say, thankful +that no less remote resemblance had been detected. + +"It was a sad farce when they tried to repeat your pretty comedy with +the chief performer omitted," proceeded the Queen, directing her words +to the girl, but the mother replied for her. + +"Your Grace will pardon me, I could not permit her to play in public, +before all the menie of the castle." + +"Madame is a discreet and prudent mother," said the Queen. "The +mistake was in repeating the representation at all, not in abstaining +from appearing in it. I should be very sorry that this young lady +should have been concerned in a spectacle a la comtesse." + +There was something in the intonation of "this young lady" that won +Cis's heart on the spot, something in the concluding words that hurt +Susan's faithful loyalty towards her kinswoman, in spite of the +compliment to herself. However Mary did not pursue the subject, +perceiving with ready tact that it was distasteful, and proceeded to +ask Dame Susan's opinion of her work, which was intended as a gift to +her good aunt, the Abbess of Soissons. How strangely the name fell +upon Susan's ear. It was a pale blue satin coverlet, worked in large +separate squares, innumerable shields and heraldic devices of Lorraine, +Bourbon, France, Scotland, etc., round the border, and beautiful +meandering patterns of branches, with natural flowers and leaves +growing from them covering the whole with a fascinating regular +irregularity. Cis could not repress an exclamation of delight, which +brought the most charming glance of the winning eyes upon her. There +was stitchery here that she did not understand, but when she looked at +some of the flowers, she could not help uttering the sentiment that the +eyes of the daisies were not as mother could make them. + +So, as a great favour, Queen Mary entreated to be shown Mrs. Talbot's +mode of dealing with the eyes of the daisies. No, her good Seaton +would not learn so well as she should; Madame must come and sit by her +and show her. Meantime here was her poor little Bijou whimpering to be +taken on her lap. Would not he find a comforter in sweet Mistress--ah, +what was her name? + +"We named her Cicely, so please your Grace," said Susan, unable to help +blushing. + +"Cecile, a fair name. Ah! so the poor Antoine called her. I see my +Bijou has found a friend in you, Mistress Cecile"--as the girl's idle +hands were only too happy to caress the pretty little shivering Italian +greyhound rather than to be busy with a needle. "Do you ever hear of +that young Babington, your playfellow?" she added. + +"No, madam," said Cis, looking up, "he hath never been here!" + +"I thought not," said Queen Mary, sighing. "Take heed to manifest no +pity for me, maiden, if you should ever chance to be inspired with it +for a poor worn-out old prisoner. It is the sure sentence of +misfortune and banishment." + +"In his sex, madam," here put in Marie de Courcelles. "If it were so +in ours, woe to some of us." + +"That is true, my dear friends," said Mary, her eyes glistening with +dew. "It is the women who are the most fearless, the most faithful, +and whom the saints therefore shield." + +"Alas, there are some who are faithful but who are not shielded!" + +It was merely a soft low murmur, but the tender-hearted Queen had +caught it, and rising impulsively, crossed the room and gathered Mary +Seaton's hands into hers, no longer the queen but the loving friend of +equal years, soothing her in a low fond voice, and presently sending +her to the inner chamber to compose herself. Then as the Queen +returned slowly to her seat it would be seen how lame she was from +rheumatism. Mrs. Kennedy hurried to assist her, with a nurse-like word +of remonstrance, to which she replied with a bewitching look of +sweetness that she could not but forget her aches and pains when she +saw her dear Mary Seaton in trouble. + +Most politely she then asked whether her visitors would object to +listening to the conclusion of her day's portion of reading. There was +no refusing, of course, though, as Susan glanced at the reader and knew +him to be strongly suspected of being in Holy Orders conferred abroad, +she had her fears for her child's Protestant principles. The book, +however, proved to be a translation of St. Austin on the Psalms, and, +of course, she could detect nothing that she disapproved, even if Cis +had not been far too much absorbed by the little dog and its mistress +to have any comprehending ears for theology. Queen Mary confidentially +observed as much to her after the reading, having, no doubt, detected +her uneasy glance. + +"You need not fear for your child, madam," she said; "St. Augustine is +respected by your own Queen and her Bishops. At the readings with +which my good Mr. Belton favours me, I take care to have nothing you +Protestants dispute when I know it." She added, smiling, "Heaven knows +that I have endeavoured to understand your faith, and many a minister +has argued with me. I have done my best to comprehend them, but they +agreed in nothing but in their abuse of the Pope. At least so it +seemed to my poor weak mind. But you are satisfied, madam, I see it in +your calm eyes and gentle voice. If I see much of you, I shall learn +to think well of your religion." + +Susan made an obeisance without answering. She had heard Sir Gilbert +Talbot say, "If she tries to persuade you that you can convert her, be +sure that she means mischief," but she could not bear to believe it +anything but a libel while the sweet sad face was gazing into hers. + +Queen Mary changed the subject by asking a few questions about the +Countess's sudden departure. There was a sort of guarded irony +suppressed in her tone--she was evidently feeling her way with the +stranger, and when she found that Susan would only own to causes Lord +Shrewsbury had adduced on the spur of the moment, she was much too wary +to continue the examination, though Susan could not help thinking that +she knew full well the disturbance which had taken place. + +A short walk on the roof above followed. The sun was shining +brilliantly, and lame as she was, the Queen's strong craving for free +air led her to climb her stairs and creep to and fro on Sir Andrew +Melville's arm, gazing out over the noble prospect of the park close +below, divided by the winding vales of the three rivers, which could be +traced up into the woods and the moors beyond, purple with spring +freshness and glory. Mary made her visitors point out Bridgefield, and +asked questions about all that could be seen of the house and +pleasance, which, in truth, was little enough, but she contrived to set +Cis off into a girl's chatter about her home occupations, and would not +let her be hushed. + +"You little know the good it does a captive to take part, only in +fancy, in a free harmless life," returned Mary, with the wistful look +that made her eyes so pathetic. "There is no refreshment to me like a +child's prattle." + +Susan's heart smote her as she thought of the true relations in which +these two stood to one another, and she forbore from further +interference; but she greatly rejoiced when the great bell of the +castle gave notice of noon, and of her own release. When Queen Mary's +dinner was served, the Talbot ladies in attendance left her and +repaired to the general family meal in the hall. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A FURIOUS LETTER. + + +A period now began of daily penance to Mrs. Talbot, of daily excitement +and delight to Cis. Two hours or more had to be spent in attendance on +Queen Mary. Even on Sundays there was no exemption, the visit only +took place later in the day, so as not to interfere with going to +church. + +Nothing could be more courteous or more friendly than the manner in +which the elder lady was always received. She was always made welcome +by the Queen herself, who generally entered into conversation with her +almost as with an equal. Or when Mary herself was engaged in her privy +chamber in dictating to her secretaries, the ladies of the suite showed +themselves equally friendly, and told her of their mistress's +satisfaction in having a companion free from all the rude and +unaccountable humours and caprices of my Lady Countess and her +daughters. And if Susan was favoured, Cis was petted. Queen Mary +always liked to have young girls about her. Their fresh, spontaneous, +enthusiastic homage was pleasant to one who loved above all to attract, +and it was a pleasure to a prisoner to have a fresh face about her. + +Was it only this, or was it the maternal instinct that made her face +light up when the young girl entered the room and return the shy +reverential kiss of the hand with a tender kiss on the forehead, that +made her encourage the chatter, give little touches to the deportment, +and present little keepsakes, which increased in value till Sir Richard +began to look grave, and to say there must be no more jewels of price +brought from the lodge? And as his wife uttered a word that sounded +like remonstrance, he added, "Not while she passes for my daughter." + +Cis, who had begun by putting on a pouting face, burst into tears. Her +adopted parents had always been more tolerant and indulgent to her than +if she had been a child over whom they felt entire rights, and instead +of rewarding her petulance with such a blow as would have fallen to the +lot of a veritable Talbot, Richard shrugged his shoulders and left the +room--the chamber which had been allotted to Dame Susan at the +Manor-house, while Susan endeavoured to cheer the girl by telling her +not to grieve, for her father was not angry with her. + +"Why--why may not the dear good Queen give me her dainty gifts?" sobbed +Cis. + +"See, dear child," said Susan, "while she only gave thee an orange +stuck with cloves, or an embroidery needle, or even a puppy dog, it is +all very well; but when it comes to Spanish gloves and coral clasps, +the next time there is an outcry about a plot, some evil-disposed +person would be sure to say that Master Richard Talbot had been taking +bribes through his daughter." + +"It would be vilely false!" cried Cis with flashing eyes. + +"It would not be the less believed," said Susan. "My Lord would say we +had betrayed our trust, and there never has been one stain on my +husband's honour." + +"You are wroth with me too, mother!" said Cis. + +"Not if you are a good child, and guard the honour of the name you +bear." + +"I will, I will!" said Cis. "Never will I take another gift from the +Queen if only you and he will call me your child, and be--good to me--" +The rest was lost in tears and in the tender caresses that Susan +lavished on her; all the more as she caught the broken words, "Humfrey, +too, he would never forgive me." + +Susan told her husband what had passed, adding, "She will keep her +word." + +"She must, or she shall go no more to the lodge," he said. + +"You would not have doubted had you seen her eye flash at the thought +of bringing your honour into question. There spoke her kingly blood." + +"Well, we shall see," sighed Richard, "if it be blood that makes the +nature. I fear me hers is but that of a Scottish thief! Scorn not +warning, mother, but watch thy stranger nestling well." + +"Nay, mine husband. While we own her as our child, she will do +anything to be one with us. It is when we seem to put her from us that +we wound her so that I know not what she might do, fondled as she +is--by--by her who--has the best right to the dear child." + +Richard uttered a certain exclamation of disgust which silenced his +discreet wife. + +Neither of them had quite anticipated the result, namely, that the next +morning, Cis, after kissing the Queen's hand as usual, remained +kneeling, her bosom heaving, and a little stammering on her tongue, +while tears rose to her eyes. + +"What is it, mignonne," said Mary, kindly; "is the whelp dead? or is +the clasp broken?" + +"No, madam; but--but I pray you give me no more gifts. My father says +it touches his honour, and I have promised him--Oh, madam, be not +displeased with me, but let me give you back your last beauteous gift." + +Mary was standing by the fire. She took the ivory and coral trinket +from the hand of the kneeling girl, and dashed it into the hottest +glow. There was passion in the action, and in the kindling eye, but it +was but for a moment. Before Cis could speak or Susan begin her +excuses, the delicate hand was laid on the girl's head, and a calm +voice said, "Fear not, child. Queens take not back their gifts. I +ought to have borne in mind that I am balked of the pleasure of +giving--the beat of all the joys they have robbed me of. But tremble +not, sweetheart, I am not chafed with thee. I will vex thy father no +more. Better thou shouldst go without a trinket or two than deprive me +of the light of that silly little face of thine so long as they will +leave me that sunbeam." + +She stooped and kissed the drooping brow, and Susan could not but feel +as if the voice of nature were indeed speaking. + +A few words of apology in her character of mother for the maiden's +abrupt proceeding were met by the Queen most graciously. "Spare thy +words, good madam. We understand and reverence Mr. Talbot's point of +honour. Would that all who approached us had held his scruples!" + +Perhaps Mary was after this more distant and dignified towards the +matron, but especially tender and caressing towards the maiden, as if +to make up by kindness for the absence of little gifts. + +Storms, however, were brewing without. Lady Shrewsbury made open +complaints of her husband having become one of Mary's many victims, +representing herself as an injured wife driven out of her house. She +actually in her rage carried the complaint to Queen Elizabeth, who sent +down two commissioners to inquire into the matter. They sat in the +castle hall, and examined all the attendants, including Richard and his +wife. The investigation was extremely painful and distressing, but it +was proved that nothing could have been more correct and guarded than +the whole intercourse between the Earl and his prisoner. If he had +erred, it had been on the side of caution and severity, though he had +always preserved the courteous demeanour of a gentleman, and had been +rejoiced to permit whatever indulgences could be granted. If there had +been any transgressions of the strict rules, they had been made by the +Countess herself and her daughters in the days of their intimacy with +the Queen; and the aspersions on the unfortunate Earl were, it was soon +evident, merely due to the violent and unscrupulous tongues of the +Countess and her daughter Mary. No wonder that Lord Shrewsbury wrote +letters in which he termed the lady "his wicked and malicious wife," +and expressed his conviction that his son Gilbert's mind had been +perverted by her daughter. + +The indignation of the captive Queen was fully equal to his, as one +after another of her little court returned and was made to detail the +points on which he or she had been interrogated. Susan found her +pacing up and down the floor like a caged tigress, her cap and veil +thrown back, so that her hair--far whiter than what was usually +displayed--was hanging dishevelled, her ruff torn open, as if it choked +back the swelling passion in her throat. + +"Never, never content with persecuting me, they must insult me! Is it +not enough that I am stripped of my crown, deprived of my friends; that +I cannot take a step beyond this chamber, queen as I am, without my +warder? Must they attaint me as a woman? Oh, why, why did the doom +spare me that took my little brothers? Why did I live to be the most +wretched, not of sovereigns alone, but of women?" + +"Madam," entreated Marie de Courcelles, "dearest madam, take courage. +All these horrible charges refute themselves." + +"Ah, Marie! you have said so ten thousand times, and what charge has +ever been dropped?" + +"This one is dropped!" exclaimed Susan, coming forward. "Yes, your +Grace, indeed it is! The Commissioner himself told my husband that no +one believed it for a moment." + +"Then why should these men have been sent but to sting and gall me, and +make me feel that I am in their power?" cried the Queen. + +"They came," said the Secretary Curll, "because thus alone could the +Countess be silenced." + +"The Countess!" exclaimed Mary. "So my cousin hath listened to her +tongue!" + +"Backed by her daughter's," added Jean Kennedy. + +"It were well that she knew what those two dames can say of her Majesty +herself, when it serves them," added Marie de Courcelles. + +"That shall she!" exclaimed Mary. "She shall have it from mine own +hand! Ha! ha! Elizabeth shall know the choice tales wherewith Mary +Talbot hath regaled us, and then shall she judge how far anything that +comes from my young lady is worth heeding for a moment. Remember you +all the tales of the nips and the pinches? Ay, and of all the +endearments to Leicester and to Hatton? She shall have it all, and try +how she likes the dish of scandal of Mary Talbot's cookery, sauced by +Bess of Hardwicke. Here, nurse, come and set this head-gear of mine in +order, and do you, my good Curll, have pen, ink, and paper in readiness +for me." + +The Queen did little but write that morning. The next day, on coming +out from morning prayers, which the Protestants of her suite attended, +with the rest of the Shrewsbury household, Barbara Mowbray contrived to +draw Mrs. Talbot apart as they went towards the lodge. + +"Madam," she said, "they all talk of your power to persuade. Now is +the time you could do what would be no small service to this poor +Queen, ay, and it may be to your own children." + +"I may not meddle in any matters of the Queen's," returned Susan, +rather stiffly. + +"Nay, but hear me, madam. It is only to hinder the sending of a +letter." + +"That letter which her Grace was about to write yesterday?" + +"Even so. 'Tis no secret, for she read fragments of it aloud, and all +her women applauded it with all their might, and laughed over the +stings that it would give, but Mr. Curll, who bad to copy it, saith +that there is a bitterness in it that can do nothing but make her +Majesty of England the more inflamed, not only against my Lady +Shrewsbury, but against her who writ the letter, and all concerned. +Why, she hath even brought in the comedy that your children acted in +the woodland, and that was afterwards repeated in the hall!" + +"You say not so, Mistress Barbara?" + +"Indeed I do. Mr. Curll and Sir Andrew Melville are both of them sore +vexed, and would fain have her withdraw it; but Master Nau and all the +French part of the household know not how to rejoice enough at such an +exposure of my Lady, which gives a hard fling at Queen Elizabeth at the +same time! Nay, I cannot but tell you that there are things in it that +Dame Mary Talbot might indeed say, but I know not how Queen Mary could +bring herself to set down--" + +Barbara Mowbray ventured no more, and Susan felt hopeless of her task, +since how was she by any means to betray knowledge of the contents of +the letter? Yet much that she had heard made her feel very uneasy on +all accounts. She had too much strong family regard for the Countess +and for Gilbert Talbot and his wife to hear willingly of what might +imperil them, and though royal indignation would probably fly over the +heads of the children, no one was too obscure in those Tudor times to +stand in danger from a sovereign who might think herself insulted. Yet +as a Hardwicke, and the wife of a Talbot, it was most unlikely that she +would have any opening for remonstrance given to her. + +However, it was possible that Curll wished to give her an opening, for +no sooner were the ladies settled at work than he bowed himself forward +and offered his mistress his copy of the letter. + +"Is it fair engrossed, good Curll?" asked Mary. + +"Thanks. Then will we keep your copy, and you shall fold and prepare +our own for our sealing." + +"Will not your Majesty hear it read over ere it pass out of your +hands?" asked Curll. + +"Even so," returned Mary, who really was delighted with the pungency of +her own composition. "Mayhap we may have a point or two to add." + +After what Mistress Barbara had said, Susan was on thorns that Cis +should hear the letter; but that good young lady, hating the +expressions therein herself, and hating it still more for the girl, +bethought her of asking permission to take Mistress Cicely to her own +chamber, there to assist her in the folding of some of her laces, and +Mary consented. It was well, for there was much that made the +English-bred Susan's cheeks glow and her ears tingle. + +But, at least, it gave her a great opportunity. When the letter was +finished, she advanced and knelt on the step of the canopied chair, +saying, "Madam, pardon me, if in the name of my unfortunate children, I +entreat you not to accuse them to the Queen." + +"Your children, lady! How have I included them in what I have told her +Majesty of our sweet Countess?" + +"Your Grace will remember that the foremost parts in yonder farce were +allotted to my son Humfrey and to young Master Babington. Nay, that +the whole arose from the woodland sport of little Cis, which your Grace +was pleased to admire." + +"Sooth enough, my good gossip, but none could suspect the poor children +of the malice my Lady Countess contrived to put into the matter." + +"Ah, madam! these are times when it is convenient to shift the blame on +one who can be securely punished." + +"Certes," said Mary, thoughtfully, "the Countess is capable of making +her escape by denouncing some one else, especially those within her own +reach." + +"Your Grace, who can speak such truth of my poor Lady," said Susan, +"will also remember that though my Lord did yield to the persuasions of +the young ladies, he so heedfully caused Master Sniggins to omit all +perilous matter, that no one not informed would have guessed at the +import of the piece, as it was played in the hall." + +"Most assuredly not," said Mary, laughing a little at the recollection. +"It might have been played in Westminster Hall without putting my +gracious cousin, ay, or Leicester and Hatton themselves, to the blush." + +"Thus, if the Queen should take the matter up and trace it home, it +could not but be brought to my poor innocent children! Humfrey is for +the nonce out of reach, but the maiden--I wis verily that your Highness +would be loath to do her any hurt!" + +"Thou art a good pleader, madam," said the queen. "Verily I should not +like to bring the bonnie lassie into trouble. It will give Master +Curll a little more toil, ay and myself likewise, for the matter must +stand in mine own hand; but we will leave out yonder unlucky farce." + +"Your Highness is very good," said Susan earnestly. + +"Yet you look not yet content, my good lady. What more would you have +of me?" + +"What your Majesty will scarce grant," said Susan. + +"Ha! thou art of the same house thyself. I had forgotten it; thou art +so unlike to them. I wager that it is not to send this same letter at +all." + +"Your Highness hath guessed my mind. Nay, madam, though assuredly I do +desire it because the Countess bath been ever my good lady, and bred me +up ever since I was an orphan, it is not solely for her sake that I +would fain pray you, but fully as much for your Majesty's own." + +"Madame Talbot sees the matter as I do," said Sir Andrew Melville. "The +English Queen is as like to be irate with the reporter of the scandal +as with the author of it, even as the wolf bites the barb that pierces +him when he cannot reach the archer." + +"She is welcome to read the letter," said Mary, smiling; "thy semblance +falleth short, my good friend." + +"Nay, madam, that was not the whole of my purport," said Susan, +standing with folded hands, looking from one to another. "Pardon me. +My thought was that to take part in all this repeating of thoughtless, +idle words, spoken foolishly indeed, but scarce so much in malice as to +amuse your Grace with Court news, and treasured up so long, your +Majesty descends from being the patient and suffering princess, meek, +generous, and uncomplaining, to be--to be--" + +"No better than one of them, wouldst thou add?" asked Mary, somewhat +sharply, as Susan paused. + +"Your Highness has said it," answered Susan; then, as there was a +moment's pause, she looked up, and with clasped hands added, "Oh, +madam! would it not be more worthy, more noble, more queenly, more +Christian, to refrain from stinging with this repetition of these vain +and foolish slanders?" + +"Most Christian treatment have I met with," returned Mary; but after a +pause she turned to her almoner. Master Belton, saying, "What say you, +sir?" + +"I say that Mrs. Talbot speaks more Christian words than are often +heard in these parts," returned he. "The thankworthiness of suffering +is lost by those who return the revilings upon those who utter them." + +"Then be it so," returned the Queen. "Elizabeth shall be spared the +knowledge that some ladies' tongues can be as busy with her as with her +poor cousin." + +With her own hands Mary tore up her own letter, but Curll's copy +unfortunately escaped destruction, to be discovered in after times. +Lord and Lady Shrewsbury never knew the service Susan had rendered them +by causing it to be suppressed. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +BEADS AND BRACELETS. + + +The Countess was by no means pacified by the investigation, and both +she and her family remained at Court, maligning her husband and his +captive. As the season advanced, bringing the time for the Queen's +annual resort to the waters of Buxton, Lord Shrewsbury was obliged to +entreat Mrs. Talbot again to be her companion, declaring that he had +never known so much peace as with that lady in the Queen's chambers. + +The journey to Buxton was always the great holiday of the imprisoned +Court. The place was part of the Shrewsbury property, and the Earl had +a great house there, but there were no conveniences for exercising so +strict a watch as at Sheffield, and there was altogether a relaxation +of discipline. Exercise was considered an essential part of the +treatment, and recreations were there provided. + +Cis had heard so much of the charms of the expedition, that she was +enraptured to hear that she was to share it, together with Mrs. Talbot. +The only drawback was that Humfrey had promised to come home after this +present voyage, to see whether his little Cis were ready for him; and +his father was much disposed to remain at home, receive him first, and +communicate to him the obstacles in the way of wedding the young lady. +However, my Lord refused to dispense with the attendance of his most +trustworthy kinsman, and leaving Ned at school under charge of the +learned Sniggius, the elder and the younger Richard Talbot rode forth +with the retinue of the Queen and her warder. + +Neither Cicely nor Diccon had ever left home before, and they were in +raptures which would have made any journey delightful to them, far more +a ride through some of the wildest and loveliest glades that England +can display. Nay, it may be that they would better have enjoyed +something less like Sheffield Park than the rocks, glens, and woods, +through which they rode. Their real delight was in the towns and +villages at which there was a halt, and every traveller they saw was +such a wonder to them, that at the end of the first day they were +almost as full of exultation in their experiences, as if, with Humfrey, +they had been far on the way to America. + +The delight of sleeping at Tideswell was in their eyes extreme, though +the hostel was so crowded that Cis had to share a mattress with Mrs. +Talbot, and Diccon had to sleep in his cloak on the floor, which he +persuaded himself was high preferment. He woke, however, much sooner +than was his wont, and finding it useless to try to fall asleep again, +he made his way out among the sleeping figures on the floor and hall, +and finding the fountain in the midst of the court, produced his soap +and comb from his pocket, and made his morning toilet in the open air +with considerable satisfaction at his own alertness. Presently there +was a tap at the window above, and he saw Cicely making signals to him +to wait for her, and in a few minutes she skipped out from the door +into the sunlight of the early summer morning. + +"No one is awake yet," she said. "Even the guard before the Queen's +door is fast asleep. I only heard a wench or two stirring. We can +have a run in the fields and gather May dew before any one is afoot." + +"'Tis not May, 'tis June," said matter-of-fact Diccon. "But yonder is +a guard at the yard gate; will he let us past?" + +"See, here's a little wicket into a garden of pot-herbs," said Cis. "No +doubt we can get out that way, and it will bring us the sooner into the +fields. I have a cake in my wallet that mother gave me for the +journey, so we shall not fast. How sweet the herbs smell in the +dew--and see how silvery it lies on the strawberry leaves. Ah! thou +naughty lad, think not whether the fruit be ripe. Mayhap we shall find +some wild ones beyond." + +The gate of the garden was likewise guarded, but by a yeoman who well +knew the young Talbots, and made no difficulty about letting them out +into the broken ground beyond the garden, sloping up into a little +hill. Up bounded the boy and girl, like young mountaineers, through +gorse and fern, and presently had gained a sufficient height to look +over the country, marking the valleys whence still were rising +"fragrant clouds of dewy steam" under the influence of the sunbeams, +gazing up at the purple heights of the Peak, where a few lines of snow +still lingered in the crevices, trying to track their past journey from +their own Sheffield, and with still more interest to guess which wooded +valley before them contained Buxton. + +"Have you lost your way, my pretty mistress?" said a voice close to +them, and turning round hastily they saw a peasant woman with a large +basket on her arm. + +"No," said Cicely courteously, "we have only come out to take the air +before breakfast." + +"I crave pardon," said the woman, curtseying, "the pretty lady belongs +to the great folk down yonder. Would she look at my poor wares? Here +are beads and trinkets of the goodly stones, pins and collars, +bracelets and eardrops, white, yellow, and purple," she said, +uncovering her basket, where were arranged various ornaments made of +Derbyshire spar. + +"We have no money, good woman," said Cicely, rising to return, vaguely +uncomfortable at the woman's eye, which awoke some remembrance of +Tibbott the huckster, and the troubles connected with her. + +"Yea, but if my young mistress would only bring me in to the Great Lady +there, I know she would buy of me my beads and bracelets, of give me an +alms for my poor children. I have five of them, good young lady, and +they lie naked and hungry till I can sell my few poor wares, and the +yeomen are so rough and hard. They would break and trample every poor +bead I have in pieces rather than even let my Lord hear of them. But +if even my basket could be carried in and shown, and if the good Earl +heard my sad tale, I am sure he would give license." + +"He never does!" said Diccon, roughly; "hold off, woman, do not hang on +us, or I'll get thee branded for a vagabond." + +The woman put her knuckles into her eyes, and wailed out that it was +all for her poor children, and Cicely reproved him for his roughness, +and as the woman kept close behind them, wailing, moaning, and +persuading, the boy and girl were wrought upon at last to give her +leave to wait outside the gate of the inn garden, while they saw +whether it was possible to admit her or her basket. + +But before they reached the gate, they saw a figure beyond it, scanning +the hill eagerly. They knew him for their father even before he +shouted to them, and, as they approached, his voice was displeased: +"How now, children; what manners are these?" + +"We have only been on the hillside, sweet father," said Cis, "Diccon +and I together. We thought no harm." + +"This is not Sheffield Chase, Cis, and thou art no more a child, but a +maiden who needs to be discreet, above all in these times. Whom did I +see following you?" + +"A poor woman, whom--Ha, where is she?" exclaimed Cis, suddenly +perceiving that the woman seemed to have vanished. + +"A troublesome begging woman who beset us with her wares," said Diccon, +"and would give us no peace, praying that we would get them carried in +to the Queen and her ladies, whining about her children till she made +Cis soft-hearted. Where can she have hidden herself?" + +The man who was stationed as sentry at the gate said he had seen the +woman come over the brow of the hill with Master Diccon and Mistress +Cicely, but that as they ran forward to meet Captain Talbot she had +disappeared amid the rocks and brushwood. + +"Poor woman, she was afraid of our father," said Cicely; "I would we +could see her again." + +"So would not I," said Richard. "It looks not well, and heed me well, +children, there must be no more of these pranks, nor of wandering out +of bounds, or babbling with strangers. Go thou in to thy mother, Cis, +she hath been in much trouble for thee." + +Mistress Susan was unusually severe with the girl on the indiscretion +of gadding in strange places with no better escort than Diccon, and of +entering into conversation with unknown persons. Moreover, Cicely's +hair, her shoes, and camlet riding skirt were all so dank with dew that +she was with difficulty made presentable by the time the horses were +brought round. + +The Queen, who had not seen the girl that morning, made her come and +ride near her, asking questions on the escapade, and giving one of her +bewitching pathetic smiles as she said how she envied the power of thus +dancing out on the greensward, and breathing the free and fresh morning +air. "My Scottish blood loves the mountains, and bounds the more +freely in the fresh breeze," she said, gazing towards the Peak. "I +love the scent of the dew. Didst get into trouble, child? Methought I +heard sounds of chiding?" + +"It was no fault of mine," said Cis, inclined to complain when she +found sympathy, "the woman would speak to us." + +"What woman?" asked the Queen. + +"A poor woman with a basket of wares, who prayed hard to be allowed to +show them to your Grace or some of the ladies. She said she had five +sorely hungered children, and that she heard your Grace was a +compassionate lady." + +"Woe is me, compassion is full all that I am permitted to give," said +the Queen, sadly; "she brought trinkets to sell. What were her wares, +saidst thou?" + +"I had no time to see many," said Cis, "something pure and white like a +new-laid egg, I saw, and a necklet, clouded with beauteous purple." + +"Ay, beads and bracelets, no doubt," said the Queen. + +"Yes, beads and bracelets," returned Cicely, the soft chime of the +Queen's Scottish accent bringing back to her that the woman had twice +pressed on her beads and bracelets. + +"She dwelt on them," said the Queen lightly. "Ay, I know the chant of +the poor folk who ever hover about our outskirts in hopes to sell their +country gewgaws, beads and bracelets, collars and pins, little guessing +that she whom they seek is poorer than themselves. Mayhap, our +Argus-eyed lord may yet let the poor dame within his fence, and we may +be able to gratify thy longing for those same purple and white beads +and bracelets." + +Meantime the party were riding on, intending to dine at Buxton, which +meant to reach it by noonday. The tall roof of the great hall erected +by the Earl over the baths was already coming in sight, and by and by +they would look into the valley. The Wye, after coming down one of +those lovely deep ravines to be found in all mountainous countries, +here flowed through a more open space, part of which had been +artificially levelled, but which was covered with buildings, rising out +amongst the rocks and trees. + +Most conspicuous among them was a large freshly-built erection in Tudor +architecture, with a wide portal arch, and five separate gables +starting from one central building, which bore a large clock-tower, and +was decorated at every corner with the Talbots' stout and sturdy form. +This was the great hall, built by the present Earl George, and +containing five baths, intended to serve separately for each sex, +gentle and simple, with one special bath reserved for the sole use of +the more distinguished visitors. Besides this, at no great distance, +was the Earl's own mansion, "a very goodly house, four square, four +stories high," with stables, offices, and all the requisites of a +nobleman's establishment, and this was to be the lodging of the +Scottish Queen. + +Farther off was another house, which had been built by permission of +the Earl, under the auspices of Dr. Jones, probably one of the first of +the long series of physicians who have made it their business to +enhance the fame of the watering-places where they have set up their +staff. This was the great hostel or lodging-house for the patients of +condition who resorted to the healing springs, and nestled here and +there among the rocks were cottages which accommodated, after a +fashion, the poorer sort, who might drag themselves to the spot in the +hope of washing away their rheumatic pains and other infirmities. In a +distant and magnificent way, like some of the lesser German potentates, +the mighty Lord of Shrewsbury took toll from the visitors to his baths, +and this contributed to repair the ravages to his fortune caused by the +maintenance of his royal captive. + +Arriving just at noontide, the Queen and her escort beheld a motley +crowd dispersed about the sward on the banks of the river, some playing +at ball, others resting on benches or walking up and down in groups, +exercise being recommended as part of the cure. All thronged together +to watch the Earl and his captive ride in with their suite, the +household turning out to meet them, while foremost stood a dapper +little figure with a short black cloak, a stiff round ruff, and a +square barrett cap, with a gold-headed cane in one hand and a paper in +the other. + +"Prepare thy patience, Cis," whispered Barbara Mowbray, "now shall we +not be allowed to alight from our palfreys till we have heard his full +welcome to my Lord, and all his plans for this place, how--it is to be +made a sanctuary for the sick during their abode there, for all causes +saving sacrilege, treason, murder, burglary, and highway robbery, with +a license to eat flesh on a Friday, as long as they are drinking the +waters!" + +It was as Mistress Mowbray said. Dr. Jones's harangue on the progress +of Buxton and its prospects had always to be endured before any one was +allowed to dismount; but royalty and nobility were inured to listening +with a good grace, and Mary, though wearied and aching, sat patiently +in the hot sunshine, and was ready to declare that Buxton put her in +good humour. In fact the grandees and their immediate attendants +endured with all the grace of good breeding; but the farther from the +scene of action, the less was the patience, and the more restless and +confused the movements of the retinue. + +Diccon Talbot, hungry and eager, had let his equally restless pony +convey him, he scarce knew where, from his father's side, when he saw, +making her way among the horses, the very woman with the basket whom he +had encountered at Tideswell in the early morning. How could she have +gone such a distance in the time? thought the boy, and he presently +caught the words addressed to one of the grooms of the Scottish Queen's +suite. "Let me show my poor beads and bracelets." The Scotsman +instantly made way for her, and she advanced to a wizened thin old +Frenchman, Maitre Gorion, the Queen's surgeon, who jumped down from his +horse, and was soon bending over her basket exchanging whispers in the +lowest possible tones; but a surge among those in the rear drove Diccon +up so near that he was absolutely certain that they were speaking +French, as indeed he well knew that M. Gorion never could succeed in +making himself understood in English. + +The boy, bred up in the perpetual caution and suspicion of Sheffield, +was eager to denounce one who he was sure was a conspirator; but he was +hemmed in among horses and men, so that he could not make his way out +or see what was passing, till suddenly there was a scattering to the +right and left, and a simultaneous shriek from the ladies in front. + +When Diccon could see anything, his father was pressing forward to a +group round some one prostrate on the ground before the house, and +there were exclamations, "The poor young lady! The chirurgeon! To the +front, the Queen is asking for you, sir," and Cicely's horse with loose +bridle passed before his eyes. + +"Let me through! let me through!" cried the boy; "it is my sister." + +He threw his bridle to a groom, and, squeezing between horses and under +elbows, succeeded in seeing Cis lying on the ground with her eyes shut +and her head in his mother's lap, and the French surgeon bending over +her. She gave a cry when he touched her arm, and he said something in +his mixture of French and English, which Diccon could not hear. The +Queen stood close by, a good deal agitated, anxiously asking questions, +and throwing out her hands in her French fashion. Diccon, much +frightened, struggled on, but only reached the party just as his father +had gathered Cicely up in his arms to carry her upstairs. Diccon +followed as closely as he could, but blindly in the crowd in the +strange house, until he found himself in a long gallery, shut out, +among various others of both sexes. "Come, my masters and mistresses +all," said the voice of the seneschal, "you had best to your chambers, +there is naught for you to do here." + +However, he allowed Diccon to remain leaning against the balustrade of +the stairs which led up outside the house, and in another minute his +father came out. "Ha, Diccon, that is well," said he. "No, thou canst +not enter. They are about to undress poor little Cis. Nay, it seemed +not to me that she was more hurt than thy mother could well have dealt +with, but the French surgeon would thrust in, and the Queen would have +it so. We will walk here in the court till we hear what he saith of +her. How befell it, dost thou ask? Truly I can hardly tell, but I +believe one of the Frenchmen's horses got restless either with a fly or +with standing so long to hear yonder leech's discourse. He must needs +cut the beast with his rod, and so managed to hit White Posy, who +starts aside, and Cis, sitting unheedfully on that new-fangled French +saddle, was thrown in an instant." + +"I shall laugh at her well for letting herself be thrown by a Frenchman +with his switch," said Diccon. + +"I hope the damage hath not been great," said his father, anxiously +looking up the stair. "Where wast thou, Dick? I had lost sight of +thee." + +"I was seeking you, sir, for I had seen a strange sight," said Dick. +"That woman who spoke with us at Tideswell was here again; yea, and she +talked with the little old Frenchman that they call Gorion, the same +that is with Cis now." + +"She did! Folly, boy! The fellow can hardly comprehend five words of +plain English together, long as he hath been here! One of the Queen's +women is gone in even now to interpret for him." + +"That do I wot, sir. Therefore did I marvel, and sought to tell you." + +"What like was the woman?" demanded Richard. + +Diccon's description was lame, and his father bade him hasten out of +the court, and fetch the woman if he could find her displaying her +trinkets to the water-drinkers, instructing him not to alarm her by +peremptory commands, but to give her hopes of a purchaser for her +spars. Proud of the commission entrusted to him, the boy sallied +forth, but though he wandered through all the groups on the sward, and +encountered two tumblers and one puppet show, besides a bear and +monkey, he utterly failed in finding the vendor of the beads and +bracelets. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE MONOGRAMS. + + +When Cicely had been carried into a chamber by Master Talbot, and laid +half-conscious and moaning on the grand carved bed, Mrs. Talbot by word +and gesture expelled all superfluous spectators. She would have +preferred examining alone into the injury sustained by the maiden, +which she did not think beyond her own management; but there was no +refusing the services of Maitre Gorion, or of Mrs. Kennedy, who indeed +treated her authoritatively, assuming the direction of the sick-room. +She found herself acting under their orders as she undid the boddice, +while Mrs. Kennedy ripped up the tight sleeve of the riding dress, and +laid bare the arm and shoulder, which had been severely bruised and +twisted, but neither broken nor dislocated, as Mrs. Kennedy informed +her, after a few rapid words from the Frenchman, unintelligible to the +English lady, who felt somewhat impatient of this invasion of her +privileges, and was ready to say she had never supposed any such thing. + +The chirurgeon skipped to the door, and for a moment she hoped that she +was rid of him, but he had only gone to bring in a neat case with which +his groom was in waiting outside, whence he extracted a lotion and +sponge, speaking rapidly as he did so. + +"Now, madam," said Jean Kennedy, "lift the lassie, there, turn back her +boddice, and we will bathe her shouther. So! By my halidome!" + +"Ah! Mort de ma vie!" + +The two exclamations darted simultaneously from the lips of the +Scottish nurse and the French doctor. Susan beheld what she had at the +moment forgotten, the curious mark branded on her nursling's shoulder, +which indeed she had not seen since Cicely had been of an age to have +the care of her own person, and which was out of the girl's own sight. +No more was said at the moment, for Cis was reviving fast, and was so +much bewildered and frightened that she required all the attention and +soothing that the two women could give, but when they removed the rest +of her clothing, so that she might be laid down comfortably to rest, +Mrs. Kennedy by another dexterous movement uncovered enough of the +other shoulder to obtain a glimpse of the monogram upon it. + +Nothing was spoken. Those two had not been so many years attendants on +a suspected and imprisoned queen without being prudent and cautious; +but when they quitted the apartment after administering a febrifuge, +Susan felt a pang of wonder, whether they were about to communicate +their discovery to their mistress. For the next quarter of an hour, +the patient needed all her attention, and there was no possibility of +obeying the summons of a great clanging bell which announced dinner. +When, however, Cis had fallen asleep it became possible to think over +the situation. She foresaw an inquiry, and would have given much for a +few words with her husband; but reflection showed her that the one +point essential to his safety was not to betray that he and she had any +previous knowledge of the rank of their nursling. The existence of the +scroll might have to be acknowledged, but to show that Richard had +deciphered it would put him in danger on all hands. + +She had just made up her mind on this point when there was a knock at +the door, and Mrs. Kennedy bore in a salver with a cup of wine, and +took from an attendant, who remained outside, a tray with some more +solid food, which she placed on the broad edge of the deep-set window, +and coming to the bedside, invited Mrs. Talbot to eat, while she +watched the girl. Susan complied, though with little appetite, and +Mrs. Kennedy, after standing for a few minutes in contemplation, came +to the window. She was a tall woman, her yellow hair softened by an +admixture of gray, her eyes keen and shrewd, yet capable of great +tenderness at times, her features certainly not youthful, but not a +whit more aged than they had been when Susan had first seen her +fourteen years ago. It was a quiet mouth, and one that gave a sense of +trust both in its firmness, secrecy, and kindness. + +"Madam," said she, in her soft Scotch voice, lowered considerably, but +not whispering, and with her keen eyes fixed on Susan--"Madam, what +garred ye gie your bit lassie yonder marks? Ye need not fear, that +draught of Maister Gorion's will keep her sleeping fast for a good hour +or two longer, and it behoves me to ken how she cam by yonder brands." + +"She had them when she came to us," said Susan. + +"Ye'll no persuade me that they are birth marks," returned Mistress +Jean. "Such a thing would be a miracle in a loyal Scottish Catholic's +wean, let alone an English heretic's." + +"No," said Susan, who had in fact only made the answer to give herself +time to think whether it were possible to summon her husband. "They +never seemed to me birth marks." + +"Woman," said Jean Kennedy, laying a strong, though soft hand, on her +wrist, "this is not gear for trifling. Is the lass your ain bairn? Ha! +I always thought she had mair of the kindly Scot than of the Southron +about her. Hech! so they made the puir wean captive! Wha gave her +till you to keep? Your lord, I trow." + +"The Lord of heaven and earth," replied Susan. "My husband took her, +the only living thing left on a wreck off the Spurn Head." + +"Hech, sirs!" exclaimed Mrs. Kennedy, evidently much struck, but still +exercising great self-command. "And when fell this out?" + +"Two days after Low Sunday, in the year of grace 1568," returned Susan. + +"My halidome!" again ejaculated Jean, in a low voice, crossing herself. +"And what became of honest Ailie--I mean," catching herself up, "what +befell those that went with her?" + +"Not one lived," said Susan, gravely. "The mate of my husband's ship +took the little one from the arms of her nurse, who seemed to have been +left alone with her by the crew, lashed to the wreck, and to have had +her life freshly beaten out by the winds and waves, for she was still +warm. I was then lying at Hull, and they brought the babe to me, while +there was still time to save her life, with God's blessing." + +"And the vessel?" asked Jean. + +"My husband held it to be the Bride of Dunbar, plying between that port +and Harfleur." + +"Ay! ay! Blessed St. Bride!" muttered Jean Kennedy, with an +awe-stricken look; then, collecting herself, she added, "Were there no +tokens, save these, about the little one, by which she could be known?" + +"There was a gold chain with a cross, and what you call a reliquary +about her little neck, and a scroll written in cipher among her +swaddling bands; but they are laid up at home, at Bridgefield." + +It was a perplexing situation for this simple-hearted and truthful +woman, and, on the other hand, Jean Kennedy was no less devoted and +loyal in her own line, a good and conscientious woman, but shrewder, +and, by nature and breeding, far less scrupulous as to absolute truth. + +The one idea that Susan, in her confusion, could keep hold of was that +any admission of knowledge as to who her Cis really was, would be a +betrayal of her husband's secret; and on the other hand she saw that +Mrs. Kennedy, though most keen to discover everything, and no doubt +convinced that the maiden was her Queen's child, was bent on not +disclosing that fact to the foster-mother. + +She asked anxiously whether Mistress Cicely knew of her being only an +adopted child, and Susan replied that they had intended that she never +should learn that she was of alien birth; but that it had been revealed +by the old sailor who had brought her on board the Mastiff, though no +one had heard him save young Humfrey and the girl herself, and they had +been, so far as she knew, perfectly reserved on the subject. + +Jean Kennedy then inquired how the name of Cicely had been given, and +whether the child had been so baptized by Protestant rites. + +"Wot you who the maid may be, madam?" Susan took courage to ask; but +the Scotswoman would not be disconcerted, and replied, + +"How suld I ken without a sight of the tokens? Gin I had them, maybe I +might give a guess, but there was mony a leal Scot sairly bestead, wife +and wean and all, in her Majesty's cause that wearie spring." + +Here Cis stirred in her sleep, and both women were at her side in a +moment, but she did not wake. + +Jean Kennedy stood gazing at the girl with eagerness that she did not +attempt to conceal, studying each feature in detail; but Cis showed in +her sleep very little of her royal lineage, which betrayed itself far +more in her gait and bearing than in her features. Susan could not +help demanding of the nurse whether she saw any resemblance that could +show the maiden's parentage. + +The old lady gave a kind of Scotch guttural sound expressive of +disappointment, and said, "I'll no say but I've seen the like +beetle-broo. But we'll waken the bairn with our clavers. I'll away +the noo. Maister Gorion will see her again ere night, but it were ill +to break her sleep, the puir lassie!" + +Nevertheless, she could not resist bending over and kissing the +sleeper, so gently that there was no movement. Then she left the room, +and Susan stood with clasped hands. + +"My child! my child! Oh, is it coming on thee? Wilt thou be taken +from me! Oh, and to what a fate! And to what hands! They will never +never love thee as we have done! O God, protect her, and be her +Father." + +And Susan knelt by the bed in such a paroxysm of grief that her +husband, coming in unshod that he might not disturb the girl, +apprehended that she had become seriously worse. + +However, his entrance awoke her, and she found herself much better, and +was inclined to talk, so he sat down on a chest by the bed, and related +what Diccon had told him of the reappearance of the woman with the +basket of spar trinkets. + +"Beads and bracelets," said Cicely. + +"Ay?" said he. "What knowest thou of them?" + +"Only that she spake the words so often; and the Queen, just ere that +doctor began his speech, asked of me whether she did not sell beads and +bracelets." + +"'Tis a password, no doubt, and we must be on our guard," said Richard, +while his wife demanded with whom Diccon had seen her speaking. + +"With Gorion," returned he. "That was what made the lad suspect +something, knowing that the chirurgeon can barely speak three sentences +in any tongue but his own, and those are in their barbarous Scotch. I +took the boy with me and inquired here, there, and everywhere this +afternoon, but could find no one who had ever seen or heard of any one +like her." + +"Tell me, Cis," exclaimed Susan, with a sudden conviction, "was she +like in any fashion to Tibbott the huckster-woman who brought young +Babington into trouble three years agone?" + +"Women's heads all run on one notion," said Richard. "Can there be no +secret agents save poor Cuthbert, whom I believe to be beyond seas?" + +"Nay, but hear what saith the child?" asked Susan. + +"This woman was not nearly so old as Tibbott," said Cis, "nor did she +walk with a staff, nor had she those grizzled black brows that were +wont to frighten me." + +"But was she tall?" asked Susan. + +"Oh yes, mother. She was very tall--she came after Diccon and me with +long strides--yet it could never have been Tibbott!" + +Susan had reasons for thinking otherwise, but she could not pursue the +subject at that time, as she had to go down to supper with her husband, +and privacy was impossible. Even at night, nobody enjoyed extensive +quarters, and but for Cicely's accident she would have slept with Dyot, +the tirewoman, who had arrived with the baggage, which included a +pallet bed for them. However, the young lady had been carried to a +chamber intended for one of Queen Mary's suite; and there it was +decreed that she should remain for the night, the mother sleeping with +her, while the father and son betook themselves to the room previously +allotted to the family. Only on the excuse of going to take out her +husband's gear from the mails was Susan able to secure a few words with +him, and then by ordering out Diccon, Dyot, and the serving-man. Then +she could succeed in saying, "Mine husband, all will soon out--Mistress +Kennedy and Master Gorion have seen the brands on the child's +shoulders. It is my belief that she of the 'beads and bracelets' bade +the chirurgeon look for them. Else, why should he have thrust himself +in for a hurt that women-folk had far better have tended? Now, that +kinsman of yours knew that poor Cis was none of ours, and gave her a +hint of it long ago--that is, if Tibbott were he, and not something +worse." + +Richard shook his head. "Give a woman a hint of a seminary priest in +disguise, and she would take a new-born baby for one. I tell thee I +heard that Cuthbert was safe in Paris. But, be that as it may, I trust +thou hast been discreet." + +"So I strove to be," said Susan. "Mrs. Kennedy questioned me, and I +told her." + +"What?" sharply demanded her husband. + +"Nought but truth," she answered, "save that I showed no knowledge who +the maid really is, nor let her guess that you had read the scroll." + +"That is well. Frank Talbot was scarce within his duty when he gave me +the key, and it were as much as my head were worth to be known to have +been aware of the matter." To this Susan could only assent, as they +were interrupted by the serving-man coming to ask directions about the +bestowal of the goods. + +She was relieved by this short colloquy, but it was a sad and wakeful +night for her as Cicely slept by her side. Her love was too truly +motherly not to be deeply troubled at the claim of one of differing +religion and nation, and who had so uncertain and perilous a lot in +which to place her child. There was also the sense that all her +dearest, including her eldest son, were involved in the web of intrigue +with persons far mightier and more unscrupulous than themselves; and +that, however they might strive to preserve their integrity, it would +be very hard to avoid suspicion and danger. + +In this temporary abode, the household of the Queen and of the Earl ate +together, in the great hall, and thus while breaking their fast in the +morning Jean Kennedy found opportunity to examine Richard Talbot on all +the circumstances of the wreck of the Bride of Dunbar, and the finding +of the babe. She was much more on her guard than the day before, and +said that she had a shrewd suspicion as to who the babe's parents might +be, but that she could not be certain without seeing the reliquary and +the scroll. Richard replied that they were at home, but made no offer +of sending for them. "Nor will I do so," said he to his wife, "unless +I am dealt plainly with, and the lady herself asks for them. Then +should I have no right to detain them." + +M. Gorion would not allow his patient to leave her room that day, and +she had to remain there while Susan was in attendance on the Queen, who +did not appear to her yet to have heard of the discovery, and who was +entering with zest into the routine of the place, where Dr. Jones might +be regarded as the supreme legislator. + +Each division of the great bath hall was fitted with drying and +dressing room, arranged commodiously according to the degree of those +who were to use them. Royalty, of course, enjoyed a monopoly, and +after the hot bath, which the Queen took immediately after rising, she +breakfasted in her own apartments, and then came forth, according to +the regimen of the place, by playing at Trowle Madame. A board with +arches cut in, just big enough to permit the entrance of the balls used +in playing at bowls was placed on the turf at a convenient distance +from the player. Each arch was numbered, from one to thirteen, but the +numbers were irregularly arranged, and the game consisted in rolling +bowls into the holes in succession, each player taking a single turn, +and the winner reaching the highest number first,--being, in fact, a +sort of lawn bagatelle. Dr. Jones recommended it as good to stretch +the rheumatic joints of his patients, and Queen Mary, an adept at all +out-of-door games, delighted in it, though she had refused an offer to +have the lawn arranged for it at Sheffield, saying that it would only +spoil a Buxton delight. She was still too stiff to play herself, but +found infinite amusement in teaching the new-comers the game, and poor +Susan, with her thoughts far away, was scarcely so apt a pupil as +befitted a royal mistress, especially as she missed Mrs. Kennedy. + +When she came back, she found that the dame had been sitting with the +patient, and had made herself very agreeable to the girl by drawing out +from her all she knew of her own story from beginning to end, having +first shown that she knew of the wreck of the Bride of Dunbar. + +"And, mother," said Cis, "she says she is nearly certain that she knows +who my true parents were, and that she could be certain if she saw the +swaddling clothes and tokens you had with me. Have you, mother? I +never knew of them." + +"Yes, child, I have. We did not wish to trouble and perturb your mind, +little one, while you were content to be our daughter." + +"Ah, mother, I would fain be yours and father's still. They must not +take me from you. But suppose I was some great and noble lord's +daughter, and had a great inheritance and lordship to give Humfrey!" + +"Alas, child! Scottish inheritances are wont to bring more strife than +wealth." + +Nevertheless, Cis went on supposing and building castles that were pain +and grief to her foreboding auditor. That evening, however, Richard +called his wife. It was late, but the northern sunset was only just +over, and Susan could wander out with him on the greensward in front of +the Earl's house. + +"So this is the tale we are to be put off with," he said, "from the +Queen herself, ay, herself, and told with such an air of truth that it +would almost make me discredit the scroll. She told me with one of her +sweetest smiles how a favourite kinswoman of hers wedded in secret with +a faithful follower of hers, of the clan Hepburn. Oh, I assure you it +might have been a ballad sung by a harper for its sadness. Well, this +fellow ventured too far in her service, and had to flee to France to +become an archer of the guard, while the wife remained and died at +Lochleven Castle, having given birth to our Cis, whom the Queen in due +time despatched to her father, he being minded to have her bred up in a +French nunnery, sending her to Dunbar to be there embarked in the Bride +of Dunbar." + +"And the father?" + +"Oh, forsooth, the father! It cost her as little to dispose of him as +of the mother. He was killed in some brawl with the Huguenots; so that +the poor child is altogether an orphan, beholden to our care, for which +she thanked me with tears in her eyes, that were more true than mayhap +the poor woman could help." + +"Poor lady," said Susan. "Yet can it not be sooth indeed?" + +"Nay, dame, that may not be. The cipher is not one that would be used +in simply sending a letter to the father." + +"Might not the occasion have been used for corresponding in secret with +French friends?" + +"I tell thee, wife, if I read one word of that letter, I read that the +child was her own, and confided to the Abbess of Soissons! I will read +it to thee once more ere I yield it up, that is if I ever do. +Wherefore cannot the woman speak truth to me? I would be true and +faithful were I trusted, but to be thus put off with lies makes a man +ready at once to ride off with the whole to the Queen in council." + +"Think, but think, dear sir," pleaded Susan, "how the poor lady is +pressed, and how much she has to fear on all sides." + +"Ay, because lies have been meat and drink to her, till she cannot +speak a soothfast word nor know an honest man when she sees him." + +"What would she have?" + +"That Cis should remain with us as before, and still pass for our +daughter, till such time as these negotiations are over, and she +recover her kingdom. That is--so far as I see--like not to be till +latter Lammas--but meantime what sayest thou, Susan? Ah! I knew, +anything to keep the child with thee! Well, be it so--though if I had +known the web we were to be wound into, I'd have sailed for the Indies +with Humfrey long ago!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +MOTHER AND CHILD. + + +Cicely was well enough the next day to leave her room and come out on +the summer's evening to enjoy the novel spectacle of Trowle Madame, in +which she burned to participate, so soon as her shoulder should be +well. It was with a foreboding heart that her adopted mother fell with +her into the rear of the suite who were attending Queen Mary, as she +went downstairs to walk on the lawn, and sit under a canopy whence she +could watch either that game, or the shooting at the butts which was +being carried on a little farther off. + +"So, our bonnie maiden," said Mary, brightening as she caught sight of +the young girl, "thou art come forth once more to rejoice mine eyes, a +sight for sair een, as they say in Scotland," and she kissed the fresh +cheeks with a tenderness that gave Susan a strange pang. Then she asked +kindly after the hurt, and bade Cis sit at her feet, while she watched +a match in archery between some of the younger attendants, now and then +laying a caressing hand upon the slender figure. + +"Little one," she said, "I would fain have thee to share my pillow. I +have had no young bed-fellow since Bess Pierrepoint left us. Wilt thou +stoop to come and cheer the poor old caged bird?" + +"Oh, madam, how gladly will I do so if I may!" cried Cicely, delighted. + +"We will take good care of her, Mistress Talbot," said Mary, "and +deliver her up to you whole and sain in the morning," and there was a +quivering playfulness in her voice. + +"Your Grace is the mistress," answered Susan, with a sadness not quite +controlled. + +"Ah! you mock me, madam. Would that I were!" returned the Queen. "It +is my Lord's consent that we must ask. How say you, my Lord, may I +have this maiden for my warder at night?" + +Lord Shrewsbury was far from seeing any objection, and the promise was +given that Cis should repair to the Queen's chamber for at least that +night. She was full of excitement at the prospect. + +"Why look you so sadly at me, sweet mother?" she cried, as Susan made +ready her hair, and assisted her in all the arrangements for which her +shoulder was still too stiff; "you do not fear that they will hurt my +arm?" + +"No, truly, my child. They have tender and skilful hands." + +"May be they will tell me the story of my parents," said Cis; "but you +need never doubt me, mother. Though I were to prove to be ever so +great a lady, no one could ever be mine own mother like you!" + +"Scarcely in love, my child," said Susan, as she wrapped the little +figure in a loose gown, and gave her such a kiss as parents seldom +permitted themselves, in the fear of "cockering" their children, which +was considered to be a most reprehensible practice. Nor could she +refrain from closely pressing Cicely's hand as they passed through the +corridor to the Queen's apartments, gave the word to the two yeomen who +were on guard for the night at the head of the stairs, and tapped at +the outmost door of the royal suite of rooms. It was opened by a +French valet; but Mrs. Kennedy instantly advanced, took the maiden by +the hand, and with a significant smile said: "Gramercy, madam, we will +take unco gude tent of the lassie. A fair gude nicht to ye." And Mrs. +Talbot felt, as she put the little hand into that of the nurse, and saw +the door shut on them, as if she had virtually given up her daughter, +and, oh! was it for her good? + +Cis was led into the bedchamber, bright with wax tapers, though the sky +was not yet dark. She heard a sound as of closing and locking double +doors, while some one drew back a crimson, gold-edged velvet curtain, +which she had seen several times, and which it was whispered concealed +the shrine where Queen Mary performed her devotions. She had just +risen from before it, at the sound of Cis's entrance, and two of her +ladies, Mary Seaton and Marie de Courcelles, seemed to have been +kneeling with her. She was made ready for bed, with a dark-blue velvet +gown corded round her, and her hair, now very gray, braided beneath a +little round cap, but a square of soft cambric drapery had been thrown +over her head, so as to form a perfectly graceful veil, and shelter the +features that were aging. Indeed, when Queen Mary wore the exquisite +smile that now lit up her face as she held out her arms, no one ever +paused to think what those lineaments really were. She held out her +arms as Cis advanced bashfully, and said: "Welcome, my sweet +bed-fellow, my little Scot--one more loyal subject come to me in my +bondage." + +Cis's impulse was to put a knee to the ground and kiss the hands that +received her. "Thou art our patient," continued Mary. "I will see +thee in bed ere I settle myself there." The bed was a tall, large, +carved erection, with sweeping green and silver curtains, and a huge +bank of lace-bordered pillows. A flight of low steps facilitated the +ascent; and Cis, passive in this new scene, was made to throw off her +dressing-gown and climb up. + +"And now," said the Queen, "let me see the poor little shoulder that +hath suffered so much." + +"My arm is still bound, madam," said Cis. But she was not listened to; +and Mrs. Kennedy, much to her discomfiture, turned back her +under-garment. The marks were, in fact, so placed as to be entirely +out of her own view, and Mrs. Susan had kept them from the knowledge or +remark of any one. They were also high enough up to be quite clear +from the bandages, and thus she was amazed to hear the exclamation, +"There! sooth enough." + +"Monsieur Gorion could swear to them instantly." + +"What is it? Oh, what is it, madam?" cried Cis, affrighted; "is there +anything on my back? No plague spot, I hope;" and her eyes grew round +with terror. + +The Queen laughed. "No plague spot, sweet one, save, perhaps, in the +eyes of you Protestants, but to me they are a gladsome sight--a token I +never hoped to see." + +And the bewildered girl felt a pair of soft lips kiss each mark in +turn, and then the covering was quickly and caressingly restored, and +Mary added, "Lie down, my child, and now to bed, to bed, my maids. +Patent the lights." Then, making the sign of the cross, as Cis had +seen poor Antony Babington do, the Queen, just as all the lights save +one were extinguished, was divested of her wrapper and veil, and took +her place beside Cis on the pillows. The two Maries left the chamber, +and Jean Kennedy disposed herself on a pallet at the foot of the bed. + +"And so," said the Queen, in a low voice, tender, but with a sort of +banter, "she thought she had the plague spot on her little white +shoulders. Didst thou really not know what marks thou bearest, little +one?" + +"No, madam," said Cis. "Is it what I have felt with my fingers?" + +"Listen, child," said Mary. "Art thou at thine ease; thy poor shoulder +resting well? There, then, give me thine hand, and I will tell thee a +tale. There was a lonely castle in a lake, grim, cold, and northerly; +and thither there was brought by angry men a captive woman. They had +dealt with her strangely and subtilly; they had laid on her the guilt +of the crimes themselves had wrought; and when she clung to the one man +whom at least she thought honest, they had forced and driven her into +wedding him, only that all the world might cry out upon her, forsake +her, and deliver her up into those cruel hands." + +There was something irresistibly pathetic in Mary's voice, and the +maiden lay gazing at her with swimming eyes. + +"Thou dost pity that poor lady, sweet one? There was little pity for +her then! She had looked her last on her lad--bairn; ay, and they had +said she had striven to poison him, and they were breeding him up to +loathe the very name of his mother; yea, and to hate and persecute the +Church of his father and his mother both. And so it was, that the lady +vowed that if another babe was granted to her, sprung of that last +strange miserable wedlock, these foes of hers should have no part in +it, nor knowledge of its very existence, but that it should be bred up +beyond their ken--safe out of their reach. Ah! child; good Nurse +Kennedy can best tell thee how the jealous eyes and ears were +disconcerted, and in secrecy and sorrow that birth took place." + +Cis's heart was beating too fast for speech, but there was a tight +close pressure of the hand that Mary had placed within hers. + +"The poor mother," went on the Queen in a low trembling voice, "durst +have scarce one hour's joy of her first and only daughter, ere the +trusty Gorion took the little one from her, to be nursed in a hut on +the other side of the lake. There," continued Mary, forgetting the +third person, "I hoped to have joined her, so soon as I was afoot +again. The faithful lavender lent me her garments, and I was already +in the boat, but the men-at-arms were rude and would have pulled down +my muffler; I raised my hand to protect myself, and it was all too +white. They had not let me stain it, because the dye would not befit a +washerwoman. So there was I dragged back to ward again, and all our +plans overthrown. And it seemed safer and meeter to put my little one +out of reach of all my foes, even if it were far away from her mother's +aching heart. Not one more embrace could I be granted, but my good +chaplain Ross--whom the saints rest--baptized her in secret, and Gorion +had set two marks on the soft flesh, which he said could never be +blotted out in after years, and then her father's clanswoman, Alison +Hepburn, undertook to carry her to France, with a letter of mine bound +up in her swathing clothes, committing her to the charge of my good +aunt, the Abbess of Soissons, in utter secrecy, until better days +should come. Alas! I thought them not so far off. I deemed that were I +once beyond the clutches of Morton, Ruthven, and the rest, the loyal +would rally once more round my standard, and my crown would be mine +own, mine enemies and those of my Church beneath my feet. Little did I +guess that my escape would only be to see them slain and routed, and +that when I threw myself on the hospitality of my cousin, her tender +mercies would prove such as I have found them. 'Libera me, Dominie, +libera me.'" + +Cis began dimly to understand, but she was still too much awed to make +any demonstration, save a convulsive pressure of the Queen's hand, and +the murmuring of the Latin prayer distressed her. + +Presently Mary resumed. "Long, long did I hope my little one was +safely sheltered from all my troubles in the dear old cloisters of +Soissons, and that it was caution in my good aunt the abbess that +prevented my hearing of her; but through my faithful servants, my Lord +Flemyng, who had been charged to speed her from Scotland, at length let +me know that the ship in which she sailed, the Bride of Dunbar, had +been never heard of more, and was thought to have been cast away in a +tempest that raged two days after she quitted Dunbar. And I--I shed +some tears, but I could well believe that the innocent babe had been +safely welcomed among the saints, and I could not grieve that she was, +as I thought, spared from the doom that rests upon the race of Stewart. +Till one week back, I gave thanks for that child of sorrow as cradled +in Paradise." + +Then followed a pause, and then Cis said in a low trembling voice, "And +it was from the wreck of the Bride of Dunbar that I was taken?" + +"Thou hast said it, child! My bairn, my bonnie bairn!" and the girl +was absorbed in a passionate embrace and strained convulsively to a +bosom which heaved with the sobs of tempestuous emotion, and the +caresses were redoubled upon her again and again with increasing +fervour that almost frightened her. + +"Speak to me! Speak to me! Let me hear my child's voice." + +"Oh, madam--" + +"Call me mother! Never have I heard that sound from my child's lips. I +have borne two children, two living children, only to be stripped of +both. Speak, child--let me hear thee." + +Cis contrived to say "Mother, my mother," but scarcely with effusion. +It was all so strange, and she could not help feeling as if Susan were +the mother she knew and was at ease with. All this was much too like a +dream, from which she longed to awake. And there was Mrs. Kennedy too, +rising up and crying quite indignantly--"Mother indeed! Is that all +thou hast to say, as though it were a task under the rod, when thou art +owned for her own bairn by the fairest and most ill-used queen in +Christendom? Out on thee! Have the Southron loons chilled thine heart +and made thee no leal to thine ain mother that hath hungered for thee?" + +The angry tones, and her sense of her own shortcomings, could only make +Cis burst into tears. + +"Hush, hush, nurse! thou shalt not chide my new-found bairn. She will +learn to ken us better in time if they will leave her with us," said +Mary. "There, there; greet not so sair, mine ain. I ask thee not to +share my sorrows and my woes. That Heaven forefend. I ask thee but to +come from time to time and cheer my nights, and lie on my weary bosom +to still its ache and yearning, and let me feel that I have indeed a +child." + +"Oh, mother, mother!" Cis cried again in a stifled voice, as one who +could not utter her feelings, but not in the cold dry tone that had +called forth Mrs. Kennedy's wrath. "Pardon me, I know not--I cannot +say what I would. But oh! I would do anything for--for your Grace." + +"All that I would ask of thee is to hold thy peace and keep our +counsel. Be Cicely Talbot by day as ever. Only at night be mine--my +child, my Bride, for so wast thou named after our Scottish patroness. +It was a relic of her sandals that was hung about thy neck, and her +ship in which thou didst sail; and lo, she heard and guarded thee, and +not merely saved thee from death, but provided thee a happy joyous home +and well-nurtured childhood. We must render her our thanks, my child. +Beata Brigitta, ora pro nobis." + +"It was the good God Almighty who saved me, madam," said Cis bluntly. + +"Alack! I forgot that yonder good lady could not fail to rear thee in +the outer darkness of her heresy; but thou wilt come back to us, my ain +wee thing! Heaven forbid that I should deny Whose Hand it was that +saved thee, but it was at the blessed Bride's intercession. No doubt +she reserved for me, who had turned to her in my distress, this +precious consolation! But I will not vex thy little heart with debate +this first night. To be mother and child is enough for us. What art +thou pondering?" + +"Only, madam, who was it that told your Grace that I was a stranger?" + +"The marks, bairnie, the marks," said Mary. "They told their own tale +to good Nurse Jeanie; ay, and to Gorion, whom we blamed for his cruelty +in branding my poor little lammie." + +"Ah! but," said Cicely, "did not yonder woman with the beads and +bracelets bid him look?" + +If it had been lighter, Cicely would have seen that the Queen was not +pleased at the inquiry, but she only heard the answer from Jean's bed, +"Hout no, I wad she knew nought of thae brands. How should she?" + +"Nay," said Cicely, "she--no, it was Tibbott the huckster-woman told me +long ago that I was not what I seemed, and that I came from the +north--I cannot understand! Were they the same?" + +"The bairn kens too much," said Jean. "Dinna ye deave her Grace with +your speirings, my lammie. Ye'll have to learn to keep a quiet sough, +and to see mickle ye canna understand here." + +"Silence her not, good nurse," said the Queen, "it imports us to know +this matter. What saidst thou of Tibbott?" + +"She was the woman who got Antony Babington into trouble," explained +Cicely. "I deemed her a witch, for she would hint strange things +concerning me, but my father always believed she was a kinsman of his, +who was concerned in the Rising of the North, and who, he said, had +seen me brought in to Hull from the wreck." + +"Ay?" said the Queen, as a sign to her to continue. + +"And meseemed," added Cicely timidly, "that the strange woman at +Tideswell who talked of beads and bracelets minded me of Tibbott, +though she was younger, and had not her grizzled brows; but father says +that cannot be, for Master Cuthbert Langston is beyond seas at Paris." + +"Soh! that is well," returned Mary, in a tone of relief. "See, child. +That Langston of whom you speak was a true friend of mine. He has done +much for me under many disguises, and at the time of thy birth he lived +as a merchant at Hull, trading with Scotland. Thus it may have become +known to him that the babe he had seen rescued from the wreck was one +who had been embarked at Dunbar. But no more doth he know. The secret +of thy birth, my poor bairn, was entrusted to none save a few of those +about me, and all of those who are still living thou hast already seen. +Lord Flemyng, who put thee on board, believed thee the child of James +Hepburn of Lillieburn, the archer, and of my poor Mary Stewart, a +kinswoman of mine ain; and it was in that belief doubtless that he, or +Tibbott, as thou call'st him, would have spoken with thee." + +"But the woman at Tideswell," said Cis, who was getting +bewildered--"Diccon said that she spake to Master Gorion." + +"That did she, and pointed thee out to him. It is true. She is +another faithful friend of mine, and no doubt she had the secret from +him. But no more questions, child. Enough that we sleep in each +other's arms." + +It was a strange night. Cis was more conscious of wonder, excitement, +and a certain exultation, than of actual affection. She had not been +bred up so as to hunger and crave for love. Indeed she had been +treated with more tenderness and indulgence than was usual with +people's own daughters, and her adopted parents had absorbed her +undoubting love and respect. + +Queen Mary's fervent caresses were at least as embarrassing as they +were gratifying, because she did not know what response to make, and +the novelty and wonder of the situation were absolutely distressing. + +They would have been more so but for the Queen's tact. She soon saw +that she was overwhelming the girl, and that time must be given for her +to become accustomed to the idea. So, saying tenderly something about +rest, she lay quietly, leaving Cis, as she supposed, to sleep. This, +however, was impossible to the girl, except in snatches which made her +have to prove to herself again and again that it was not all a dream. +The last of these wakenings was by daylight, as full as the heavy +curtains would admit, and she looked up into a face that was watching +her with such tender wistfulness that it drew from her perforce the +word "Mother." + +"Ah! that is the tone with the true ring in it. I thank thee and I +bless thee, my bairn," said Mary, making over her the sign of the +cross, at which the maiden winced as at an incantation. Then she +added, "My little maid, we must be up and stirring. Mind, no word of +all this. Thou art Cicely Talbot by day, as ever, and only my child, +my Bride, mine ain wee thing, my princess by night. Canst keep +counsel?" + +"Surely, madam," said Cis, "I have known for five years that I was a +foundling on the wreck, and I never uttered a word." + +Mary smiled. "This is either a very simple child or a very canny one," +she said to Jean Kennedy. "Either she sees no boast in being of royal +blood, or she deems that to have the mother she has found is worse than +the being the nameless foundling." + +"Oh! madam, mother, not so! I meant but that I had held my tongue when +I had something to tell!" + +"Let thy secrecy stand thee in good stead, child," said the Queen. +"Remember that did the bruit once get abroad, thou wouldest assuredly +be torn from me, to be mewed up where the English Queen could hinder +thee from ever wedding living man. Ay, and it might bring the head of +thy foster-father to the block, if he were thought to have concealed +the matter. I fear me thou art too young for such a weighty secret." + +"I am seventeen years old, madam," returned Cis, with dignity; "I have +kept the other secret since I was twelve." + +"Then thou wilt, I trust, have the wisdom not to take the princess on +thee, nor to give any suspicion that we are more to one another than +the caged bird and the bright linnet that comes to sing on the bars of +her cage. Only, child, thou must get from Master Talbot these tokens +that I hear of. Hast seen them?" + +"Never, madam; indeed I knew not of them." + +"I need them not to know thee for mine own, but it is not well that +they should be in stranger hands. Thou canst say--But hush, we must be +mum for the present." + +For it became necessary to admit the Queen's morning draught of spiced +milk, borne in by one of her suite who had to remain uninitiated; and +from that moment no more confidences could be exchanged, until the time +that Cis had to leave the Queen's chamber to join the rest of the +household in the daily prayers offered in the chapel. Her dress and +hair had, according to promise, been carefully attended to, but she was +only finished and completed just in time to join her adopted parents on +the way down the stairs. She knelt in the hall for their blessing--an +action as regular and as mechanical as the morning kiss and greeting +now are between parent and child; but there was something in her face +that made Susan say to herself, "She knows all." + +They could not speak to one another till not only matins but breakfast +were ended, and then--after the somewhat solid meal--the ladies had to +put on their out-of-door gear to attend Queen Mary in her daily +exercise. The dress was not much, high summer as it was, only a loose +veil over the stiff cap, and a fan in the gloved hand to act as +parasol. However the retirement gave Cicely an interval in which to +say, "O mother, she has told me," and as Susan sat holding out her +arms, the adopted child threw herself on her knees, hiding her face on +that bosom where she had found comfort all her life, and where, her +emotion at last finding full outlet, she sobbed without knowing why for +some moments, till she started nervously at the entrance of Richard, +saying, "The Queen is asking for you both. But how now? Is all told?" + +"Ay," whispered his wife. + +"So! And why these tears? Tell me, my maid, was not she good to thee? +Doth she seek to take thee into her own keeping?" + +"Oh no, sir, no," said Cis, still kneeling against the motherly knee +and struggling with her sobs. "No one is to guess. I am to be Cicely +Talbot all the same, till better days come to her." + +"The safer and the happier for thee, child. Here are two honest hearts +that will not cast thee off, even if, as I suspect, yonder lady would +fain be quit of thee." + +"Oh no!" burst from Cicely, then, shocked at having committed the +offence of interrupting him, she added, "Dear sir, I crave your pardon, +but, indeed, she is all fondness and love." + +"Then what means this passion?" he asked, looking from one to the other. + +"It means only that the child's senses and spirits are overcome," said +Susan, "and that she scarce knows how to take this discovery. Is it not +so, sweetheart?" + +"Oh, sweet mother, yes in sooth. You will ever be mother to me indeed!" + +"Well said, little maid!" said Richard. "Thou mightest search the +world over and never hap upon such another." + +"But she oweth duty to the true mother," said Susan, with her hand on +the girl's neck. + +"We wot well of that," answered her husband, "and I trow the first is +to be secret." + +"Yea, sir," said Cis, recovering herself, "none save the very few who +tended her, the Queen at Lochleven, know who I verily am. Such as were +aware of the babe being put on board ship at Dunbar, thought me the +daughter of a Scottish archer, a Hepburn, and she, the Queen my mother, +would, have me pass as such to those who needs must know I am not +myself." + +"Trust her for making a double web when a single one would do," +muttered Richard, but so that the girl could not hear. + +"There is no need for any to know at present," said Susan hastily, +moved perhaps by the same dislike to deception; "but ah, there's that +fortune-telling woman." + +Cis, proud of her secret information, here explained that Tibbott was +indeed Cuthbert Langston, but not the person whose password was "beads +and bracelets," and that both alike could know no more than the story +of the Scottish archer and his young wife, but they were here +interrupted by the appearance of Diccon, who had been sent by my Lord +himself to hasten them at the instance of the Queen. Master Richard +sent the boy on with his mother, saying he would wait and bring Cis, as +she had still to compose her hair and coif, which had become somewhat +disordered. + +"My maiden," he said, gravely, "I have somewhat to say unto thee. Thou +art in a stranger case than any woman of thy years between the four +seas; nay, it may be in Christendom. It is woeful hard for thee not to +be a traitor through mere lapse of tongue to thine own mother, or else +to thy Queen. So I tell thee this once for all. See as little, hear +as little, and, above all, say as little as thou canst." + +"Not to mother?" asked Cis. + +"No, not to her, above all not to me, and, my girl, pray God daily to +keep thee true and loyal, and guard thee and the rest of us from +snares. Now have with thee. We may tarry no longer!" + +All went as usual for the rest of the day, so that the last night was +like a dream, until it became plain that Cicely was again to share the +royal apartment. + +"Ah, I have thirsted for this hour!" said Mary, holding out her arms +and drawing her daughter to her bosom. "Thou art a canny lassie, mine +ain wee thing. None could have guessed from thy bearing that there was +aught betwixt us." + +"In sooth, madam," said the girl, "it seems that I am two maidens in +one--Cis Talbot by day, and Bride of Scotland by night." + +"That is well! Be all Cis Talbot by day. When there is need to +dissemble, believe in thine own feigning. 'Tis for want of that art +that these clumsy Southrons make themselves but a laughing-stock +whenever they have a secret." + +Cis did not understand the maxim, and submitted in silence to some +caresses before she said, "My father will give your Grace the tokens +when we return." + +"Thy father, child?" + +"I crave your pardon, madam, it comes too trippingly to my tongue thus +to term Master Talbot." + +"So much the better. Thy tongue must not lose the trick. I did but +feel a moment's fear lest thou hadst not been guarded enough with +yonder sailor man, and had let him infer over much." + +"O, surely, madam, you never meant me to withhold the truth from father +and mother," cried Cis, in astonishment and dismay. + +"Tush! silly maid!" said the Queen, really angered. "Father and +mother, forsooth! Now shall we have a fresh coil! I should have known +better than to have trusted thy word." + +"Never would I have given my word to deceive them," cried Cis, hotly. + +"Lassie!" exclaimed Jean Kennedy, "ye forget to whom ye speak." + +"Nay," said Mary, recovering herself, or rather seeing how best to +punish, "'tis the poor bairn who will be the sufferer. Our state +cannot be worse than it is already, save that I shall lose her +presence, but it pities me to think of her." + +"The secret is safe with them," repeated Cis. "O madam, none are to be +trusted like them." + +"Tell me not," said the Queen. "The sailor's blundering loyalty will +not suffer him to hold his tongue. I would lay my two lost crowns that +he is down on his honest knees before my Lord craving pardon for having +unwittingly fostered one of the viper brood. Then, via! off goes a +post--boots and spurs are no doubt already on--and by and by comes +Knollys, or Garey, or Walsingham, to bear off the perilous maiden to +walk in Queen Bess's train, and have her ears boxed when her Majesty is +out of humour, or when she gets weary of dressing St. Katherine's hair, +and weds the man of her choice, she begins to taste of prison walls, +and is a captive for the rest of her days." + +Cis was reduced to tears, and assurances that if the Queen would only +broach the subject to Master Richard, she would perceive that he +regarded as sacred, secrets that were not his own; and to show that he +meant no betrayal, she repeated his advice as to seeing, hearing, and +saying as little as possible. + +"Wholesome counsel!" said Mary. "Cheer thee, lassie mine, I will +credit whatever thou wilt of this foster-father of thine until I see it +disproved; and for the good lady his wife, she hath more inward, if +less outward, grace than any dame of the mastiff brood which guards our +prison court! I should have warned thee that they were not excepted +from those who may deem thee my poor Mary's child." + +Cicely did not bethink herself that, in point of fact, she had not +communicated her royal birth to her adopted parents, but that it had +been assumed between them, as, indeed, they had not mentioned their +previous knowledge. Mary presently proceeded--"After all, we may not +have to lay too heavy a burden on their discretion. Better days are +coming. One day shall our faithful lieges open the way to freedom and +royalty, and thou shalt have whatever boon thou wouldst ask, even were +it pardon for my Lady Shrewsbury." + +"There is one question I would fain ask, Madam mother: Doth my real +father yet live? The Earl of--" + +Jean Kennedy made a sound of indignant warning and consternation, +cutting her short in dismay; but the Queen gripped her hand tightly for +some moments, and then said: "'Tis not a thing to speir of me, child, +of me, the most woefully deceived and forlorn of ladies. Never have I +seen nor heard from him since the parting at Carbery Hill, when he left +me to bear the brunt! Folk say that he took ship for the north. +Believe him dead, child. So were it best for us both; but never name +him to me more." + +Jean Kennedy knew, though the girl did not, what these words conveyed. +If Bothwell no longer lived, there would be no need to declare the +marriage null and void, and thus sacrifice his daughter's position; but +supposing him to be in existence, Mary had already shown herself +resolved to cancel the very irregular bonds which had united them,--a +most easy matter for a member of her Church, since they had been +married by a Reformed minister, and Bothwell had a living wife at the +time. Of all this Cicely was absolutely ignorant, and was soon eagerly +listening as the Queen spoke of her hopes of speedy deliverance. "My +son, my Jamie, is working for me!" she said. "Nay, dost not ken what is +in view for me?" + +"No, madam, my good father, Master Richard, I mean, never tells aught +that he hears in my Lord's closet." + +"That is to assure me of his discretion, I trow! but this is no secret! +No treason against our well-beloved cousin Bess! Oh no! But thy +brother, mine ain lad-bairn, hath come to years of manhood, and hath +shaken himself free of the fetters of Knox and Morton and Buchanan, and +all their clamjamfrie. The Stewart lion hath been too strong for them. +The puir laddie hath true men about him, at last,--the Master of Gray, +as they call him, and Esme Stewart of Aubigny, a Scot polished as the +French know how to brighten Scottish steel. Nor will the lad bide that +his mother should pine longer in durance. He yearns for her, and hath +writ to her and to Elizabeth offering her a share in his throne. Poor +laddie, what would be outrecuidance in another is but duteousness in +him. What will he say when we bring him a sister as well as a mother? +They tell me that he is an unco scholar, but uncouth in his speech and +manners, and how should it be otherwise with no woman near him save my +old Lady Mar? We shall have to take him in hand to teach him fair +courtesy." + +"Sure he will be an old pupil!" said Cis, "if he be more than two years +my elder." + +"Never fear, if we can find a winsome young bride for him, trust +mother, wife, and sister for moulding him to kingly bearing. We will +make our home in Stirling or Linlithgow, we two, and leave Holyrood to +him. I have seen too much there ever to thole the sight of those +chambers, far less of the High Street of Edinburgh; but Stirling, +bonnie Stirling, ay, I would fain ride a hawking there once more. +Methinks a Highland breeze would put life and youth into me again. +There's a little chamber opening into mine, where I will bestow thee, +my Lady Bride of Scotland, for so long as I may keep thee. Ah! it will +not be for long. They will be seeking thee, my brave courtly faithful +kindred of Lorraine, and Scottish nobles and English lords will vie for +this little hand of thine, where courses the royal blood of both +realms." + +"So please you, madam, my mother--" + +"Eh? What is it? Who is it? I deemed that yonder honourable dame had +kept thee from all the frolics and foibles of the poor old profession. +Fear not to tell me, little one. Remember thine own mother hath a +heart for such matters. I guess already. C'etait un beau garcon, ce +pauvre Antoine." + +"Oh no, madam," exclaimed Cicely. "When the sailor Goatley disclosed +that I was no child of my father's, of Master Richard I mean, and was a +nameless creature belonging to no one, Humfrey Talbot stood forth and +pledged himself to wed me so soon as we were old enough." + +"And what said the squire and dame?" + +"That I should then be indeed their daughter." + +"And hath the contract gone no farther?" + +"No, madam. He hath been to the North with Captain Frobisher, and +since that to the Western Main, and we look for his return even now." + +"How long is it since this pledge, as thou callest it, was given?" + +"Five years next Lammas tide, madam." + +"Was it by ring or token?" + +"No, madam. Our mother said we were too young, but Humfrey meant it +with all his heart." + +"Humfrey! That was the urchin who must needs traverse the +correspondence through the seeming Tibbott, and so got Antony removed +from about us. A stout lubberly Yorkshire lad, fed on beef and +pudding, a true Talbot, a mere English bull-dog who will have lost all +the little breeding he had, while committing spulzie and piracy at sea +on his Catholic Majesty's ships. Bah, mon enfant, I am glad of it. +Had he been a graceful young courtly page like the poor Antony, it +might have been a little difficult, but a great English carle like +that, whom thou hast not seen for five years--" She made a gesture with +her graceful hands as if casting away a piece of thistledown. + +"Humfrey is my very good--my very good brother, madam," cried Cicely, +casting about for words to defend him, and not seizing the most +appropriate. + +"Brother, quotha? Yea, and as good brother he shall be to thee, and +welcome, so long as thou art Cis Talbot by day--but no more, child. +Princesses mate not with Yorkshire esquires. When the Lady Bride takes +her place in the halls of her forefathers, she will be the property of +Scotland, and her hand will be sought by princes. Ah, lassie! let it +not grieve thee. One thing thy mother can tell thee from her own +experience. There is more bliss in mating with our equals, by the +choice of others, than in following our own wild will. Thou gazest at +me in wonder, but verily my happy days were with my gentle young +king--and so will thine be, I pray the saints happier and more enduring +than ever were mine. Nothing has ever lasted with me but captivity, O +libera me." + +And in the murmured repetition the mother fell asleep, and the +daughter, who had slumbered little the night before, could not but +likewise drop into the world of soothing oblivion, though with a dull +feeling of aching and yearning towards the friendly kindly Humfrey, yet +with a certain exultation in the fate that seemed to be carrying her on +inevitably beyond his reach. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE PEAK CAVERN. + + +It was quite true that at this period Queen Mary had good hope of +liberation in the most satisfactory manner possible--short of being +hailed as English Queen. Negotiations were actually on foot with James +VI. and Elizabeth for her release. James had written to her with his +own hand, and she had for the first time consented to give him the +title of King of Scotland. The project of her reigning jointly with +him had been mooted, and each party was showing how enormous a +condescension it would be in his or her eyes! Thus there was no great +unlikelihood that there would be a recognition of the Lady Bride, and +that she would take her position as the daughter of a queen. +Therefore, when Mary contrived to speak to Master Richard Talbot and +his wife in private, she was able to thank them with gracious +condescension for the care they had bestowed in rearing her daughter, +much as if she had voluntarily entrusted the maiden to them, saying she +trusted to be in condition to reward them. + +Mistress Susan's heart swelled high with pain, as though she had been +thanked for her care of Humfrey or Diccon, and her husband answered. +"We seek no reward, madam. The damsel herself, while she was ours, was +reward enough." + +"And I must still entreat, that of your goodness you will let her +remain yours for a little longer," said Mary, with a touch of imperious +grace, "until this treaty is over, and I am free, it is better that she +continues to pass for your daughter. The child herself has sworn to me +by her great gods," said Mary, smiling with complimentary grace, "that +you will preserve her secret--nay, she becomes a little fury when I +express my fears lest you should have scruples." + +"No, madam, this is no state secret; such as I might not with honour +conceal," returned Richard. + +"There is true English sense!" exclaimed Mary. "I may then count on +your giving my daughter the protection of your name and your home until +I can reclaim her and place her in her true position. Yea, and if your +concealment should give offence, and bring you under any displeasure of +my good sister, those who have so saved and tended my daughter will +have the first claim to whatever I can give when restored to my +kingdom." + +"We are much beholden for your Grace's favour," said Richard, somewhat +stiffly, "but I trust never to serve any land save mine own." + +"Ah! there is your fierete," cried Mary. "Happy is my sister to have +subjects with such a point of honour. Happy is my child to have been +bred up by such parents!" + +Richard bowed. It was all a man could do at such a speech, and Mary +further added, "She has told me to what bounds went your goodness to +her. It is well that you acted so prudently that the children's hearts +were not engaged; for, as we all know but too well royal blood should +have no heart." + +"I am quite aware of it, madam," returned Richard, and there for the +time the conversation ended. The Queen had been most charming, full of +gratitude, and perfectly reasonable in her requests, and yet there was +some flaw in the gratification of both, even while neither thought the +disappointment would go very hard with their son. Richard could never +divest himself of the instinctive prejudice with which soft words +inspire men of his nature, and Susan's maternal heart was all in revolt +against the inevitable, not merely grieving over the wrench to her +affections, but full of forebodings and misgivings as to the future +welfare of her adopted child. Even if the brightest hopes should be +fulfilled; the destiny of a Scottish princess did not seem to Southern +eyes very brilliant at the best, and whether poor Bride Hepburn might +be owned as a princess at all was a doubtful matter, since, if her +father lived (and he had certainly been living in 1577 in Norway), both +the Queen and the Scottish people would be agreed in repudiating the +marriage. Any way, Susan saw every reason to fear for the happiness +and the religion alike of the child to whom she had given a mother's +love. Under her grave, self-contained placid demeanour, perhaps Dame +Susan was the most dejected of those at Buxton. The captive Queen had +her hopes of freedom and her newly found daughter, who was as yet only +a pleasure, and not an encumbrance to her, the Earl had been assured +that his wife's slanders had been forgotten. He was secure of his +sovereign's favour, and permitted to see the term of his weary +jailorship, and thus there was an unusual liveliness and cheerfulness +about the whole sojourn at Buxton, where, indeed, there was always more +or less of a holiday time. + +To Cis herself, her nights were like a perpetual fairy tale, and so +indeed were all times when she was alone with the initiated, who were +indeed all those original members of her mother's suite who had known +of her birth at Lochleven, people who had kept too many perilous +secrets not to be safely entrusted with this one, and whose finished +habits of caution, in a moment, on the approach of a stranger, would +change their manner from the deferential courtesy due to their +princess, to the good-natured civility of court ladies to little Cicely +Talbot. + +Dame Susan had been gratified at first by the young girl's sincere +assurances of unchanging affection and allegiance, and, in truth, Cis +had clung the most to her with the confidence of a whole life's +danghterhood, but as the days went on, and every caress and token of +affection imaginable was lavished upon the maiden, every splendid +augury held out to her of the future, and every story of the past +detailed the charms of Mary's court life in France, seen through the +vista of nearly twenty sadly contrasted years, it was in the very +nature of things that Cis should regard the time spent perforce with +Mistress Talbot much as a petted child views its return to the strict +nurse or governess from the delights of the drawing-room. She liked to +dazzle the homely housewife with the wonderful tales of French +gaieties, or the splendid castles in the air she had heard in the +Queen's rooms, but she resented the doubt and disapproval they +sometimes excited; she was petulant and fractious at any exercise of +authority from her foster-mother, and once or twice went near to betray +herself by lapsing into a tone towards her which would have brought +down severe personal chastisement on any real daughter even of +seventeen. It was well that the Countess and her sharp-eyed daughter +Mary were out of sight, as the sight of such "cockering of a malapert +maiden" would have led to interference that might have brought matters +to extremity. Yet, with all the forbearance thus exercised, Susan +could not but feel that the girl's love was being weaned from her; and, +after all, how could she complain, since it was by the true mother? If +only she could have hoped it was for the dear child's good, it would +not have been so hard! But the trial was a bitter one, and not even +her husband guessed how bitter it was. + +The Queen meantime improved daily in health and vigour in the splendid +summer weather. The rheumatism had quitted her, and she daily rode and +played at Trowle Madame for hours after supper in the long bright July +evenings. Cis, whose shoulder was quite well, played with great +delight on the greensward, where one evening she made acquaintance with +a young esquire and his sisters from the neighbourhood, who had come +with their father to pay their respects to my Lord Earl, as the head of +all Hallamshire. The Earl, though it was not quite according to the +recent stricter rules, ventured to invite them to stay to sup with the +household, and afterwards they came out with the rest upon the lawn. + +Cis was walking between the young lad and his sister, laughing and +talking with much animation, for she had not for some time enjoyed the +pleasure of free intercourse with any of her fellow-denizens in the +happy land of youth. + +Dame Susan watched her with some uneasiness, and presently saw her +taking them where she herself was privileged to go, but strangers were +never permitted to approach, on the Trowle Madame sward reserved for +the Queen, on which she was even now entering. + +"Cicely!" she called, but the young lady either did not or would not +hear, and she was obliged to walk hastily forward, meet the party, and +with courteous excuses turn them back from the forbidden ground. They +submitted at once, apologising, but Cis, with a red spot on her cheek, +cried, "The Queen would take no offence." + +"That is not the matter in point, Cicely," said Dame Susan gravely. +"Master and Mistress Eyre understand that we are bound to obedience to +the Earl." + +Master Eyre, a well-bred young gentleman, made reply that he well knew +that no discourtesy was intended, but Cis pouted and muttered, +evidently to the extreme amazement of Mistress Alice Eyre; and Dame +Susan, to divert her attention, began to ask about the length of their +ride, and the way to their home. + +Cis's ill humour never lasted long, and she suddenly broke in, "O +mother, Master Eyre saith there is a marvellous cavern near his +father's house, all full of pendants from the roof like a minster, and +great sheeted tables and statues standing up, all grand and ghostly on +the floor, far better than in this Pool's Hole. He says his father +will have it lighted up if we will ride over and see it." + +"We are much beholden to Master Eyre," said Susan, but Cis read refusal +in her tone, and began to urge her to consent. + +"It must be as my husband wills," was the grave answer, and at the same +time, courteously, but very decidedly, she bade the strangers farewell, +and made her daughter do the same, though Cis was inclined to +resistance, and in a somewhat defiant tone added, "I shall not forget +your promise, sir. I long to see the cave." + +"Child, child," entreated Susan, as soon as they were out of hearing, +"be on thy guard. Thou wilt betray thyself by such conduct towards me." + +"But, mother, they did so long to see the Queen, and there would have +been no harm in it. They are well affected, and the young gentleman is +a friend of poor Master Babington." + +"Nay, Cis, that is further cause that I should not let them pass +onward. I marvel not at thee, my maid, but thou and thy mother queen +must bear in mind that while thou passest for our daughter, and hast +trust placed in thee, thou must do nothing to forfeit it or bring thy +fa--, Master Richard I mean, into trouble." + +"I meant no harm," said Cis; rather crossly. + +"Thou didst not, but harm may be done by such as mean it the least." + +"Only, mother, sweet mother," cried the girl, childlike, set upon her +pleasure, "I will be as good as can be. I will transgress in nought if +only thou wilt get my father to take me to see Master Eyre's cavern." + +She was altogether the home daughter again in her eagerness, entreating +and promising by turns with the eager curiosity of a young girl bent on +an expedition, but Richard was not to be prevailed on. He had little or +no acquaintance with the Eyre family, and to let them go to the cost +and trouble of lighting up the cavern for the young lady's amusement +would be like the encouragement of a possible suit, which would have +been a most inconvenient matter. Richard did not believe the young +gentleman had warrant from his father in giving this invitation, and if +he had, that was the more reason for declining it. The Eyres, then +holding the royal castle of the Peak, were suspected of being secretly +Roman Catholics, and though the Earl could not avoid hospitably bidding +them to supper, the less any Talbot had to do with them the better, and +for the present Cis must be contented to be reckoned as one. + +So she had to put up with her disappointment, and she did not do so +with as good a grace as she would have shown a year ago. Nay, she +carried it to Queen Mary, who at night heard her gorgeous description +of the wonders of the cavern, which grew in her estimation in +proportion to the difficulty of seeing them, and sympathised with her +disappointment at the denial. + +"Nay, thou shalt not be balked," said Mary, with the old queenly habit +of having her own way. "Prisoner as I am, I will accomplish this. My +daughter shall have her wish." + +So on the ensuing morning, when the Earl came to pay his respects, Mary +assailed him with, "There is a marvellous cavern in these parts, my +Lord, of which I hear great wonders." + +"Does your grace mean Pool's Hole?" + +"Nay, nay, my Lord. Have I not been conducted through it by Dr. Jones, +and there writ my name for his delectation? This is, I hear, as a +palace compared therewith." + +"The Peak Cavern, Madam!" said Lord Shrewsbury, with the distaste of +middle age for underground expeditions, "is four leagues hence, and a +dark, damp, doleful den, most noxious for your Grace's rheumatism." + +"Have you ever seen it, my Lord?" + +"No, verily," returned his lordship with a shudder. + +"Then you will be edified yourself, my Lord, if you will do me the +grace to escort me thither," said Mary, with the imperious suavity she +well knew how to adopt. + +"Madam, madam," cried the unfortunate Earl, "do but consult your +physicians. They will tell you that all the benefits of the Buxton +waters will be annulled by an hour in yonder subterranean hole." + +"I have heard of it from several of my suite," replied Mary, "and they +tell me that the work of nature on the lime-droppings is so marvellous +that I shall not rest without a sight of it. Many have been instant +with me to go and behold the wondrous place." + +This was not untrue, but she had never thought of gratifying them in +her many previous visits to Buxton. The Earl found himself obliged +either to utter a harsh and unreasonable refusal, or to organise an +expedition which he personally disliked extremely, and moreover +distrusted, for he did not in the least believe that Queen Mary would +be so set upon gratifying her curiosity about stalactites without some +ulterior motive. He tried to set on Dr. Jones to persuade Messieurs +Gorion and Bourgoin, her medical attendants, that the cave would be +fatal to her rheumatism, but it so happened that the Peak Cavern was +Dr. Jones's favourite lion, the very pride of his heart. Pool's Hole +was dear to him, but the Peak Cave was far more precious, and the very +idea of the Queen of Scots honouring it with her presence, and leaving +behind her the flavour of her name, was so exhilarating to the little +man that if the place had been ten times more damp he would have +vouched for its salubrity. Moreover, he undertook that fumigations of +fragrant woods should remove all peril of noxious exhalations, so that +the Earl was obliged to give his orders that Mr. Eyre should be +requested to light up the cave, and heartily did he grumble and pour +forth his suspicions and annoyance to his cousin Richard. + +"And I," said the good sailor, "felt it hard not to be able to tell him +that all was for the freak of a silly damsel." + +Mistress Cicely laughed a little triumphantly. It was something like +being a Queen's daughter to have been the cause of making my Lord +himself bestir himself against his will. She had her own way, and +might well be good-humoured. "Come, dear sir father," she said, coming +up to him in a coaxing, patronising way, which once would have been +quite alien to them both, "be not angered. You know nobody means +treason! And, after all, 'tis not I but you that are the cause of all +the turmoil. If you would but have ridden soberly out with your poor +little Cis, there would have been no coil, but my Lord might have paced +stately and slow up and down the terrace-walk undisturbed." + +"Ah, child, child!" said Susan, vexed, though her husband could not +help smiling at the arch drollery of the girl's tone and manner, "do +not thou learn light mockery of all that should be honoured." + +"I am not bound to honour the Earl," said Cis, proudly. + +"Hush, hush!" said Richard. "I have allowed thee unchecked too long, +maiden. Wert thou ten times what thou art, it would not give thee the +right to mock at the gray-haired, highly-trusted noble, the head of the +name thou dost bear." + +"And the torment of her whom I am most bound to love," broke from +Cicely petulantly. + +Richard's response to this sally was to rise up, make the young lady +the lowest possible reverence, with extreme and displeased gravity, and +then to quit the room. It brought the girl to her bearings at once. +"Oh, mother, mother, how have I displeased him?" + +"I trow thou canst not help it, child," said Susan, sadly; "but it is +hard that thou shouldst bring home to us how thine heart and thine +obedience are parted from us." + +The maiden was in a passion of tears at once, vowing that she meant no +such thing, that she loved and obeyed them as much as ever, and that if +only her father would forgive her she would never wish to go near the +cavern. She would beg the Queen to give up the plan at once, if only +Sir Richard would be her good father as before. + +Susan looked at her sadly and tenderly, but smiled, and said that what +had been lightly begun could not now be dropped, and that she trusted +Cis would be happy in the day's enjoyment, and remember to behave +herself as a discreet maiden. "For truly," said she, "so far from +discretion being to be despised by Queen's daughters, the higher the +estate the greater the need thereof." + +This little breeze did not prevent Cicely from setting off in high +spirits, as she rode near the Queen, who declared that she wanted to +enjoy _through_ the merry maiden, and who was herself in a gay and +joyous mood, believing that the term of her captivity was in sight, +delighted with her daughter, exhilarated by the fresh breezes and rapid +motion, and so mirthful that she could not help teasing and bantering +the Earl a little, though all in the way of good-humoured grace. + +The ride was long, about eight miles; but though the Peak Castle was a +royal one, the Earl preferred not to enter it, but, according to +previous arrangement, caused the company to dismount in the valley, or +rather ravine, which terminates in the cavern, where a repast was +spread on the grass. It was a wonderful place, cool and refreshing, +for the huge rocks on either side cast a deep shadow, seldom pierced by +the rays of the sun. Lofty, solemn, and rich in dark reds and purples, +rose the walls of rock, here and there softened by tapestry of ivy or +projecting bushes of sycamore, mountain ash, or with fruit already +assuming its brilliant tints, and jackdaws flying in and out of their +holes above. Deep beds of rich ferns clothed the lower slopes, and +sheets of that delicate flower, the enchanter's nightshade, reared its +white blossoms down to the bank of a little clear stream that came +flowing from out of the mighty yawning arch of the cavern, while above +the precipice rose sheer the keep of Peak Castle. + +The banquet was gracefully arranged to suit the scene, and comprised, +besides more solid viands, large bowls of milk, with strawberries or +cranberries floating in them. Mr. Eyre, the keeper of the castle, and +his daughter did the honours, while his son superintended the lighting +and fumigation of the cavern, assisted, if not directed by Dr. Jones, +whose short black cloak and gold-headed cane were to be seen almost +everywhere at once. + +Presently clouds of smoke began to issue from the vast archway that +closed the ravine. "Beware, my maidens," said the Queen, merrily, "we +have roused the dragon in his den, and we shall see him come forth +anon, curling his tail and belching flame." + +"With a marvellous stomach for a dainty maiden or two," added Gilbert +Curll, falling into her humour. + +"Hark! Good lack!" cried the Queen, with an affectation of terror, as +a most extraordinary noise proceeded from the bowels of the cavern, +making Cis start and Marie de Courcelles give a genuine shriek. + +"Your Majesty is pleased to be merry," said the Earl, ponderously. "The +sound is only the coughing of the torchbearers from the damp whereof I +warned your Majesty." + +"By my faith," said Mary, "I believe my Lord Earl himself fears the +monster of the cavern, to whom he gives the name of Damp. Dread +nothing, my Lord; the valorous knight Sir Jones is even now in conflict +with the foul worm, as those cries assure me, being in fact caused by +his fumigations." + +The jest was duly received, and in the midst of the laughter, young +Eyre came forward, bowing low, and holding his jewelled hat in his +hand, while his eyes betrayed that he had recently been sneezing +violently. + +"So please your Majesty," he said, "the odour hath rolled away, and all +is ready if you will vouchsafe to accept my poor guidance." + +"How say you, my Lord?" said Mary. "Will you dare the lair of the +conquered foe, or fear you to be pinched with aches and pains by his +lurking hobgoblins? If so, we dispense with your attendance." + +"Your Majesty knows that where she goes thither I am bound to attend +her," said the rueful Earl. + +"Even into the abyss!" said Mary. "Valiantly spoken, for have not +Ariosto and his fellows sung of captive princesses for whom every cave +held an enchanter who could spirit them away into vapour thin as air, +and leave their guardians questing in vain for them?" + +"Your Majesty jests with edged tools," sighed the Earl. + +Old Mr. Eyre was too feeble to act as exhibitor of the cave, and his +son was deputed to lead the Queen forward. This was, of course, Lord +Shrewsbury's privilege, but he was in truth beholden to her fingers for +aid, as she walked eagerly forward, now and then accepting a little +help from John Eyre, but in general sure-footed and exploring eagerly +by the light of the numerous torches held by yeomen in the Eyre livery, +one of whom was stationed wherever there was a dangerous pass or a +freak of nature worth studying. + +The magnificent vaulted roof grew lower, and presently it became +necessary to descend a staircase, which led to a deep hollow chamber, +shaped like a bell, and echoing like one. A pool of intensely black +water filled it, reflecting the lights on its surface, that only +enhanced its darkness, while there moved on a mysterious flat-bottomed +boat, breaking them into shimmering sparks, and John Eyre intimated +that the visitors must lie down flat in it to be ferried one by one +over a space of about fourteen yards. + +"Your Majesty will surely not attempt it," said the Earl, with a +shudder. + +"Wherefore not? It is but a foretaste of Charon's boat!" said Mary, +who was one of those people whose spirit of enterprise rises with the +occasion, and she murmured to Mary Seaton the line of Dante-- + + "Quando noi fermerem li nostri passi + Su la triate riviera a' Acheronte." + + +"Will your Majesty enter?" asked John Eyre. "Dr. Jones and some +gentlemen wait on the other side to receive you." + +"Some gentlemen?" repeated Mary. "You are sure they are not Minos and +Rhadamanthus, sir? My obolus is ready; shall I put it in my mouth?" + +"Nay, madam, pardon me," said the Earl, spurred by a miserable sense of +his duties; "since you will thus venture, far be it from me to let you +pass over until I have reached the other aide to see that it is fit for +your Majesty!" + +"Even as you will, most devoted cavalier," said Mary, drawing back; "we +will be content to play the part of the pale ghosts of the unburied +dead a little longer. See, Mary, the boat sinks down with him and his +mortal flesh! We shall have Charon complaining of him anon." + +"Your Highness gars my flesh grue," was the answer of her faithful Mary. + +"Ah, ma mie! we have not left all hope behind. We can afford to smile +at the doleful knight, ferried o'er on his back, in duteous and loyal +submission to his task mistress. Child, Cicely, where art thou? Art +afraid to dare the black river?" + +"No, madam, not with you on the other side, and my father to follow me." + +"Well said. Let the maiden follow next after me. Or mayhap Master +Eyre should come next, then the young lady. For you, my ladies, and +you, good sirs, you are free to follow or not, as the fancy strikes +you. So--here is Charon once more--must I lie down?" + +"Ay, madam," said Eyre, "if you would not strike your head against +yonder projecting rock." + +Mary lay down, her cloak drawn about her, and saying, "Now then, for +Acheron. Ah! would that it were Lethe!" + +"Her Grace saith well," muttered faithful Jean Kennedy, unversed in +classic lore, "would that we were once more at bonnie Leith. Soft +there now, 'tis you that follow her next, my fair mistress." + +Cicely, not without trepidation, obeyed, laid herself flat, and was +soon midway, feeling the passage so grim and awful, that she could +think of nothing but the dark passages of the grave, and was shuddering +all over, when she was helped out on the other side by the Queen's own +hand. + +Some of those in the rear did not seem to be similarly affected, or +else braved their feelings of awe by shouts and songs, which echoed +fearfully through the subterranean vaults. Indeed Diccon, following +the example of one or two young pages and grooms of the Earl's, began +to get so daring and wild in the strange scene, that his father became +anxious, and tarried for him on the other side, in the dread of his +wandering away and getting lost, or falling into some of the fearful +dark rivers that could be heard--not seen--rushing along. By this +means, Master Richard was entirely separated from Cicely, to whom, +before crossing the water, he had been watchfully attending, but he +knew her to be with the Queen and her ladies, and considered her +natural timidity the best safeguard against the chief peril of the +cave, namely, wandering away. + +Cicely did, however, miss his care, for the Queen could not but be +engrossed by her various cicerones and attendants, and it was no one's +especial business to look after the young girl over the rough descent +to the dripping well called Roger Rain's House, and the grand +cathedral-like gallery, with splendid pillars of stalagmite, and +pendants above. By the time the steps beyond were reached, a toilsome +descent, the Queen had had enough of the expedition, and declined to go +any farther, but she good-naturedly yielded to the wish of Master John +Eyre and Dr. Jones, that she would inscribe her name on the farthest +column that she had reached. + +There was a little confusion while this was being done, as some of the +more enterprising wished to penetrate as far as possible into the +recesses of the cave, and these were allowed to pass forward--Diccon +and his father among them. In the passing and repassing, Cicely +entirely lost sight of all who had any special care of her, and went +stumbling on alone, weary, frightened, and repenting of the wilfulness +with which she had urged on the expedition. Each of the other ladies +had some cavalier to help her, but none had fallen to Cicely's lot, and +though, to an active girl, there was no real danger where the +torchbearers lined the way, still there was so much difficulty that she +was a laggard in reaching the likeness of Acheron, and could see no +father near as she laid herself down in Charon's dismal boat, dimly +rejoicing that this time it was to return to the realms of day, and yet +feeling as if she should never reach them. A hand was given to assist +her from the boat by one of the torchbearers, a voice strangely +familiar was in her ears, saying, "Mistress Cicely!" and she knew the +eager eyes, and exclaimed under her breath, "Antony, you here? In +hiding? What have you done?" + +"Nothing," he answered, smiling, and holding her hand, as he helped her +forward. "I only put on this garb that I might gaze once more on the +most divine and persecuted of queens, and with some hope likewise that +I might win a word with her who deigned once to be my playmate. Lady, I +know the truth respecting you." + +"Do you in very deed?" demanded Cicely, considerably startled. + +"I know your true name, and that you are none of the mastiff race," +said Antony. + +"Did--did Tibbott tell you, sir?" asked Cicely. + +"You are one of us," said Antony; "bound by natural allegiance in the +land of your birth to this lady." + +"Even so," said Cis, here becoming secure of what she had before +doubted, that Babington only knew half the truth he referred to. + +"And you see and speak with her privily," he added. + +"As Bess Pierrepoint did," said she. + +These words passed during the ascent, and were much interrupted by the +difficulties of the way, in which Antony rendered such aid that she was +each moment more impelled to trust to him, and relieved to find herself +in such familiar hands. On reaching the summit the light of day could +be seen glimmering in the extreme distance, and the maiden's heart +bounded at the sight of it; but she found herself led somewhat aside, +where in a sort of side aisle of the great bell chamber were standing +together four more of the torch-bearers. + +One of them, a slight man, made a step forward and said, "The Queen +hath dropped her kerchief. Mayhap the young gentlewoman will restore +it?" + +"She will do more than that!" said Antony, drawing her into the midst +of them. "Dost not know her, Langston? She is her sacred Majesty's +own born, true, and faithful subject, the Lady--" + +"Hush, my friend; thou art ever over outspoken with thy names," +returned the other, evidently annoyed at Babington's imprudence. + +"I tell thee, she is one of us," replied Antony impatiently. "How is +the Queen to know of her friends if we name them not to her?" + +"Are these her friends?" asked Cicely, looking round on the five +figures in the leathern coats and yeomen's heavy buskins and shoes, and +especially at the narrow face and keen pale eyes of Langston. + +"Ay, verily," said one, whom Cicely could see even under his disguise +to be a slender, graceful youth. "By John Eyre's favour have we come +together here to gaze on the true and lawful mistress of our hearts, +the champion of our faith, in her martyrdom." Then taking the kerchief +from Langston's hand, Babington kissed it reverently, and tore it into +five pieces, which he divided among himself and his fellows, saying, +"This fair mistress shall bear witness to her sacred Majesty that +we--Antony Babington, Chidiock Tichborne, Cuthbert Langston, John +Charnock, John Savage--regard her as the sole and lawful Queen of +England and Scotland, and that as we have gone for her sake into the +likeness of the valley of the shadow of death, so will we meet death +itself and stain this linen with our best heart's blood rather than not +bring her again to freedom and the throne!" + +Then with the most solemn oath each enthusiastically kissed the white +token, and put it in his breast, but Langston looked with some alarm at +the girl, and said to Babington, "Doth this young lady understand that +you have put our lives into her hands?" + +"She knows! she knows! I answer for her with my life," said Antony. + +"Let her then swear to utter no word of what she has seen save to the +Queen," said Langston, and Cicely detected a glitter in that pale eye, +and with a horrified leap of thought, recollected how easy it would be +to drag her away into one of those black pools, beyond all ken. + +"Oh save me, Antony!" she cried clinging to his arm. + +"No one shall touch you. I will guard you with my life!" exclaimed the +impulsive young man, feeling for the sword that was not there. + +"Who spoke of hurting the foolish wench?" growled Savage; but Tichborne +said, "No one would hurt you, madam; but it is due to us all that you +should give us your word of honour not to disclose what has passed, +save to our only true mistress." + +"Oh yes! yes!" cried Cicely hastily, scarcely knowing what passed her +lips, and only anxious to escape from that gleaming eye of Langston, +which had twice before filled her with a nameless sense of the +necessity of terrified obedience. "Oh! let me go. I hear my father's +voice." + +She sprang forward with a cry between joy and terror, and darted up to +Richard Talbot, while Savage, the man who looked most entirely unlike a +disguised gentleman, stepped forward, and in a rough, north country +dialect, averred that the young gentlewoman had lost her way. + +"Poor maid," said kind Richard, gathering the two trembling little +hands into one of his own broad ones. "How was it? Thanks, good +fellow," and he dropped a broad piece into Savage's palm; "thou hast +done good service. What, Cis, child, art quaking?" + +"Hast seen any hobgoblins, Cis?" said Diccon, at her other side. "I'm +sure I heard them laugh." + +"Whist, Dick," said his father, putting a strong arm round the girl's +waist. "See, my wench, yonder is the goodly light of day. We shall +soon be there." + +With all his fatherly kindness, he helped the agitated girl up the +remaining ascent, as the lovely piece of blue sky between the +retreating rocks grew wider, and the archway higher above them. Cis +felt that infinite repose and reliance that none else could give, yet +the repose was disturbed by the pang of recollection that the secret +laid on her was their first severance. It was unjust to his kindness; +strange, doubtful, nay grisly, to her foreboding mind, and she shivered +alike from that and the chill of the damp cavern, and then he drew her +cloak more closely about her, and halted to ask for the flask of wine +which one of the adventurous spirits had brought, that Queen +Elizabeth's health might be drunk by her true subjects in the bowels of +the earth. The wine was, of course, exhausted; but Dr. Jones bustled +forward with some cordial waters which he had provided in case of +anyone being struck with the chill of the cave, and Cicely was made to +swallow some. + +By this time she had been missed, and the little party were met by some +servants sent by the Earl at the instance of the much-alarmed Queen to +inquire for her. A little farther on came Mistress Talbot, in much +anxiety and distress, though as Diccon ran forward to meet her, and she +saw Cicely on her husband's arm, she resumed her calm and staid +demeanour, and when assured that the maiden had suffered no damage, she +made no special demonstrations of joy or affection. Indeed, such would +have been deemed unbecoming in the presence of strangers, and +disrespectful to the Queen and the Earl, who were not far off. + +Mary, on the other hand, started up, held out her arms, received the +truant with such vehement kisses, as might almost have betrayed their +real relationship, and then reproached her, with all sorts of endearing +terms, for having so terrified them all; nor would she let the girl go +from her side, and kept her hand in her own, Diccon meanwhile had +succeeded in securing his father's attention, which had been wholly +given to Cicely till she was placed in the women's hands. "Father," he +said, "I wish that one of the knaves with the torches who found our Cis +was the woman with the beads and bracelets, ay, and Tibbott, too." + +"Belike, belike, my son," said Richard. "There are folk who can take +as many forms as a barnacle goose. Keep thou a sharp eye as the +fellows pass out, and pull me by the cloak if thou seest him." + +Of course he was not seen, and Richard, who was growing more and more +cautious about bringing vague or half-proved suspicions before his +Lord, decided to be silent and to watch, though he sighed to his wife +that the poor child would soon be in the web. + +Cis had not failed to recognise that same identity, and to feel a +half-realised conviction that the Queen had not chosen to confide to +her that the two female disguises both belonged to Langston. Yet the +contrast between Mary's endearments and the restrained manner of Susan +so impelled her towards the veritable mother, that the compunction as +to the concealment she had at first experienced passed away, and her +heart felt that its obligations were towards her veritable and most +loving parent. She told the Queen the whole story at night, to Mary's +great delight. She said she was sure her little one had something on +her mind, she had so little to say of her adventure, and the next day a +little privy council was contrived, in which Cicely was summoned again +to tell her tale. The ladies declared they had always hoped much from +their darling page, in whom they had kept up the true faith, but Sir +Andrew Melville shook his head and said: "I'd misdoot ony plot where +the little finger of him was. What garred the silly loon call in the +young leddy ere he kenned whether she wad keep counsel?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE EBBING WELL. + + +Cicely's thirst for adventures had received a check, but the Queen, +being particularly well and in good spirits, and trusting that this +would be her last visit to Buxton, was inclined to enterprise, and +there were long rides and hawking expeditions on the moors. + +The last of these, ere leaving Buxton, brought the party to the hamlet +of Barton Clough, where a loose horseshoe of the Earl's caused a halt +at a little wayside smithy. Mary, always friendly and free-spoken, +asked for a draught of water, and entered into conversation with the +smith's rosy-cheeked wife who brought it to her, and said it was sure +to be good and pure for the stream came from the Ebbing and Flowing +Well, and she pointed up a steep path. Then, on a further question, +she proceeded, "Has her ladyship never heard of the Ebbing Well that +shows whether true love is soothfast?" + +"How so?" asked the Queen. "How precious such a test might be. It +would save many a maiden a broken heart, only that the poor fools would +ne'er trust it." + +"I have heard of it," said the Earl, "and Dr. Jones would demonstrate +to your Grace that it is but a superstition of the vulgar regarding a +natural phenomenon." + +"Yea, my Lord," said the smith, looking up from the horse's foot; "'tis +the trade of yonder philosophers to gainsay whatever honest folk +believed before them. They'll deny next that hens lay eggs, or blight +rots wheat. My good wife speaks but plain truth, and we have seen it +o'er and o'er again." + +"What have you seen, good man?" asked Mary eagerly, and ready answer +was made by the couple, who had acquired some cultivation of speech and +manners by their wayside occupation, and likewise as cicerones to the +spring. + +"Seen, quoth the lady?" said the smith. "Why, he that is a true man +and hath a true maid can quaff a draught as deep as his gullet can +hold--or she that is true and hath a true love--but let one who hath a +flaw in the metal, on the one side or t'other, stoop to drink, and the +water shrinks away so as there's not the moistening of a lip." + +"Ay: the ladies may laugh," added his wife, "but 'tis soothfast for all +that." + +"Hast proved it, good dame?" asked the Queen archly, for the pair were +still young and well-looking enough to be jested with. + +"Ay! have we not, madam?" said the dame. "Was not my man yonder, Rob, +the tinker's son, whom my father and brethren, the smiths down yonder +at Buxton, thought but scorn of, but we'd taken a sup together at the +Ebbing Well, and it played neither of us false, so we held out against +'em all, and when they saw there was no help for it, they gave Bob the +second best anvil and bellows for my portion, and here we be." + +"Living witnesses to the Well," said the Queen merrily. "How say you, +my Lord? I would fain see this marvel. Master Curll, will you try the +venture?" + +"I fear it not, madam," said the secretary, looking at the blushing +Barbara. + +Objections did not fail to arise from the Earl as to the difficulties +of the path and the lateness of the hour but Bob Smith, perhaps +wilfully, discovered another of my Lord's horseshoes to be in a +perilous state, and his good wife, Dame Emmott, offered to conduct the +ladies by so good a path that they might think themselves on the +Queen's Walk at Buxton itself. + +Lord Shrewsbury, finding himself a prisoner, was obliged to yield +compliance, and leaving Sir Andrew Melville, with the grooms and +falconers, in charge of the horses, the Queen, the Earl, Cicely, Mary +Seaton, Barbara Mowbray, the two secretaries, and Richard Talbot and +young Diccon, started on the walk, together with Dr. Bourgoin, her +physician, who was eager to investigate the curiosity, and make it a +subject of debate with Dr. Jones. + +The path was a beautiful one, through rocks and brushwood, mountain ash +bushes showing their coral berries amid their feathery leaves, golden +and white stars of stonecrop studding every coign of vantage, and in +more level spots the waxy bell-heather beginning to come into blossom. +Still it was rather over praise to call it as smooth as the +carefully-levelled and much-trodden Queen's path at Buxton, considering +that it ascended steeply all the way, and made the solemn, +much-enduring Earl pant for breath; but the Queen, her rheumatics for +the time entirely in abeyance, bounded on with the mountain step +learned in early childhood, and closely followed the brisk Emmott. The +last ascent was a steep pull, taking away the disposition to speak, and +at its summit Mary stood still holding out one hand, with a finger of +the other on her lips as a sign of silence to the rest of the suite and +to Emmott, who stood flushed and angered; for what she esteemed her +lawful province seemed to have been invaded from the other side of the +country. + +They were on the side of the descent from the moorlands connected with +the Peak, on a small esplanade in the midst of which lay a deep clear +pool, with nine small springs or fountains discharging themselves, +under fern and wild rose or honeysuckle, into its basin. Steps bad been +cut in the rock leading to the verge of the pool, and on the lowest of +these, with his back to the new-comers, was kneeling a young man, his +brown head bare, his short cloak laid aside, so that his well-knit form +could be seen; the sword and spurs that clanked against the rock, as +well as the whole fashion and texture of his riding-dress, showing him +to be a gentleman. + +"We shall see the venture made," whispered Mary to her daughter, who, +in virtue of youth and lightness of foot, had kept close behind her. +Grasping the girl's arm and smiling, she heard the young man's voice +cry aloud to the echoes of the rock, "Cis!" then stoop forward and +plunge face and head into the clear translucent water. + +"Good luck to a true lover!" smiled the Queen. "What! starting, silly +maid? Cisses are plenty in these parts as rowan berries." + +"Nay, but--" gasped Cicely, for at that moment the young man, rising +from his knees, his face still shining with the water, looked up at his +unsuspected spectators. An expression of astonishment and ecstasy +lighted up his honest sunburnt countenance as Master Richard, who had +just succeeded in dragging the portly Earl up the steep path, met his +gaze. He threw up his arms, made apparently but one bound, and was +kneeling at the captain's feet, embracing his knees. + +"My son! Humfrey! Thyself!" cried Richard. "See! see what presence +we are in." + +"Your blessing, father, first," cried Humfrey, "ere I can see aught +else." + +And as Richard quickly and thankfully laid his hand on the brow, so +much fairer than the face, and then held his son for one moment in a +close embrace, with an exchange of the kiss that was not then only a +foreign fashion. Queen and Earl said to one another with a sigh, that +happy was the household where the son had no eyes for any save his +father. + +Mary, however, must have found it hard to continue her smiles when, +after due but hurried obeisance to her and to his feudal chief, Humfrey +turned to the little figure beside her, all smiling with startled +shyness, and in one moment seemed to swallow it up in a huge +overpowering embrace, fraternal in the eyes of almost all the +spectators, but not by any means so to those of Mary, especially after +the name she had heard. Diccon's greeting was the next, and was not +quite so visibly rapturous on the part of the elder brother, who +explained that he had arrived at Sheffield yesterday, and finding no +one to welcome him but little Edward, had set forth for Buxton almost +with daylight, and having found himself obliged to rest his horse, he +had turned aside to---. And here he recollected just in time that Cis +was in every one's eyes save his father's, his own sister, and lamely +concluded "to take a draught of water," blushing under his brown skin +as he spoke. Poor fellow! the Queen, even while she wished him in the +farthest West Indian isle, could not help understanding that strange +doubt and dread that come over the mind at the last moment before a +longed-for meeting, and which had made even the bold young sailor glad +to rally his hopes by this divination. Fortunately she thought only +herself and one or two of the foremost had heard the name he gave, as +was proved by the Earl's good-humoured laugh, as he said, + +"A draught, quotha? We understand that, young sir. And who may this +your true love be?" + +"That I hope soon to make known to your Lordship," returned Humfrey, +with a readiness which he certainly did not possess before his voyage. + +The ceremony was still to be fulfilled, and the smith's wife called +them to order by saying, "Good luck to the young gentleman. He is a +stranger here, or he would have known he should have come up by our +path! Will you try the well, your Grace?" + +"Nay, nay, good woman, my time for such toys is over!" said the Queen +smiling, "but moved by such an example, here are others to make the +venture, Master Curll is burning for it, I see." + +"I fear no such trial, an't please your Grace," said Curll, bowing, +with a bright defiance of the water, and exchanging a confident smile +with the blushing Mistress Barbara--then kneeling by the well, and +uttering her name aloud ere stooping to drink. He too succeeded in +obtaining a full draught, and came up triumphantly. + +"The water is a flatterer!" said the Earl. "It favours all." + +The French secretary, Monsieur Nau, here came forward and took his +place on the steps. No one heard, but every one knew the word he spoke +was "Bessie," for Elizabeth Pierrepoint had long been the object of his +affections. No doubt he hoped that he should obtain some encouragement +from the water, even while he gave a little laugh of affected +incredulity as though only complying with a form to amuse the Queen. +Down he went on his knees, bending over the pool, when behold he could +not reach it! The streams that fed it were no longer issuing from the +rock, the water was subsiding rapidly. The farther he stooped, the +more it retreated, till he had almost fallen over, and the guide +screamed out a note of warning, "Have a care, sir! If the water flees +you, flee it will, and ye'll not mend matters by drowning yourself." + +How he was to be drowned by water that fled from him was not clear, but +with a muttered malediction he arose and glanced round as if he thought +the mortification a trick on the part of the higher powers, since the +Earl did not think him a match for the Countess's grandchild, and the +Queen had made it known to him that she considered Bess Pierrepoint to +have too much of her grandmother's conditions to be likely to be a good +wife. There was a laugh too, scarce controlled by some of the less +well-mannered of the suite, especially as the Earl, wishing to punish +his presumption, loudly set the example. + +There was a pause, as the discomfited secretary came back, and the +guide exclaimed, "Come, my masters, be not daunted! Will none of you +come on? Hath none of you faith in your love? Oh, fie!" + +"We are married men, good women," said Richard, hoping to put an end to +the scene, "and thus can laugh at your well." + +"But will not these pretty ladies try it? It speaks as sooth to lass +as to lad." + +"I am ready," said Barbara Mowbray, as Curll gave her his hand to bound +lightly down the steps. And to the general amazement, no sooner had +"Gilbert" echoed from her lips than the fountains again burst forth, +the water rose, and she had no difficulty in reaching it, while no one +could help bursting forth in applause. Her Gilbert fervently kissed +the hand she gave him to aid her steps up the slope, and Dame Emmott, +in triumphant congratulation, scanned them over and exclaimed, "Ay, +trust the well for knowing true sweetheart and true maid. Come you +next, fair mistress?" Poor Mary Seaton shook her head, with a look +that the kindly woman understood, and she turned towards Cicely, who +had a girl's unthinking impulse of curiosity, and had already put her +hand into Humfrey's, when his father exclaimed, "Nay, nay, the maid is +yet too young!" and the Queen added, "Come back, thou silly little one, +these tests be not for babes like thee." + +She was forced to be obedient, but she pouted a little as she was +absolutely held fast by Richard Talbot's strong hand. Humfrey was +disappointed too; but all was bright with him just then, and as the +party turned to make the descent, he said to her, "It matters not, +little Cis! I'm sure of thee with the water or without, and after all, +thou couldst but have whispered my name, till my father lets us speak +all out!" + +They were too much hemmed in by other people for a private word, and a +little mischievous banter was going on with Sir Andrew Melville, who +was supposed to have a grave elderly courtship with Mistress Kennedy. +Humfrey was left in the absolute bliss of ignorance, while the old +habit and instinct of joy and gladness in his presence reasserted +itself in Cis, so that, as he handed her down the rocks, she answered +in the old tone all his inquiries about his mother, and all else that +concerned them at home, Diccon meantime risking his limbs by scrambling +outside the path, to keep abreast of his brother, and to put in his +word whenever he could. + +On reaching the smithy, Humfrey had to go round another way to fetch +his horse, and could hardly hope to come up with the rest before they +reached Buxton. His brother was spared to go with him, but his father +was too important a part of the escort to be spared. So Cicely rode +near the Queen, and heard no more except the Earl's version of Dr. +Jones's explanation of the intermitting spring. They reached home only +just in time to prepare for supper, and the two youths appeared almost +simultaneously, so that Mistress Talbot, sitting at her needle on the +broad terrace in front of the Earl's lodge, beheld to her amazement and +delight the figure that, grown and altered as it was, she recognised in +an instant. In another second Humfrey had sprung from his horse, +rushed up the steps, he knew not how, and the Queen, with tears +trembling in her eyes was saying, "Ah, Melville! see how sons meet +their mothers!" + +The great clock was striking seven, a preposterously late hour for +supper, and etiquette was stronger than sentiment or perplexity. Every +one hastened to assume an evening toilette, for a riding-dress would +have been an insult to the Earl, and the bell soon clanged to call them +down to their places in the hall. Even Humfrey had brought in his +cloak-bag wherewithal to make himself presentable, and soon appeared, a +well-knit and active figure, in a plain dark blue jerkin, with white +slashes, and long hose knitted by his mother's dainty fingers, and +well-preserved shoes with blue rosettes, and a flat blue velvet cap, +with an exquisite black and sapphire feather in it fastened by a +curious brooch. His hair was so short that its naturally strong curl +could hardly be seen, his ruddy sunburnt face could hardly be called +handsome, but it was full of frankness and intelligence, and beaming +with honest joy, and close to him moved little Diccon, hardly able to +repress his ecstasy within company bounds, and letting it find vent in +odd little gestures, wriggling with his body, playing tunes on his +knee, or making dancing-steps with his feet. + +Lord Shrewsbury welcomed his young kinsman as one who had grown from a +mere boy into a sturdy and effective supporter. He made the new-comer +sit near him, and asked many questions, so that Humfrey was the chief +speaker all supper time, with here and there a note from his father, +the only person who had made the same voyage. All heard with eager +interest of the voyage, the weeds in the Gulf Stream, the strange birds +and fishes, of Walter Raleigh's Virginian colony and its ill success, +of the half-starved men whom Sir Richard Grenville had found only too +ready to leave Roanoake, of dark-skinned Indians, of chases of Spanish +ships, of the Peak of Teneriffe rising white from the waves, of +phosphorescent seas, of storms, and of shark-catching. + +Supper over, the audience again gathered round the young traveller, a +perfect fountain of various and wonderful information to those who had +for the most part never seen a book of travels. He narrated simply and +well, without his boyish shy embarrassment and awkwardness, and +likewise, as his father alone could judge, without boasting, though, if +to no one else, to Diccon and Cis, listening with wide open eyes, he +seemed a hero of heroes. In the midst of his narration a message came +that the Queen of Scots requested the presence of Mistress Cicely. +Humfrey stared in discomfiture, and asked when she would return. + +"Not to-night," faltered the girl, and the mother added, for the +benefit of the bystanders, "For lack of other ladies of the household, +much service hath of late fallen to Cicely and myself, and she shares +the Queen's chamber." + +Humfrey had to submit to exchange good-nights with Cicely, and she made +her way less willingly than usual to the apartments of the Queen, who +was being made ready for her bed. "Here comes our truant," she +exclaimed as the maiden entered. "I sent to rescue thee from the +western seafarer who had clawed thee in his tarry clutch. Thou didst +act the sister's part passing well. I hear my Lord and all his meine +have been sitting, open-mouthed, hearkening to his tales of savages and +cannibals." + +"O madam, he told us of such lovely isles," said Cis. "The sea, he +said, is blue, bluer than we can conceive, with white waves of dazzling +surf, breaking on islands fringed with white shells and coral, and with +palms, their tops like the biggest ferns in the brake, and laden with +red golden fruit as big as goose eggs. And the birds! O madam, my +mother, the birds! They are small, small as our butterflies and +beetles, and they hang hovering and quivering over a flower so that +Humfrey thought they were moths, for he saw nothing but a whizzing and +a whirring till he smote the pretty thing dead, and then he said that I +should have wept for pity, for it was a little bird with a long bill, +and a breast that shines red in one light, purple in another, and +flame-coloured in a third. He has brought home the little skin and +feathers of it for me." + +"Thou hast supped full of travellers' tales, my simple child." + +"Yea, madam, but my Lord listened, and made Humfrey sit beside him, and +made much of him--my Lord himself! I would fain bring him to you, +madam. It is so wondrous to hear him tell of the Red Men with crowns +of feathers and belts of beads. Such gentle savages they be, and their +chiefs as courteous and stately as any of our princes, and yet those +cruel Spaniards make them slaves and force them to dig in mines, so +that they die and perish under their hands." + +"And better so than that they should not come to the knowledge of the +faith," said Mary. + +"I forgot that your Grace loves the Spaniards," said Cis, much in the +tone in which she might have spoken of a taste in her Grace for +spiders, adders, or any other noxious animal. + +"One day my child will grow out of her little heretic prejudices, and +learn to love her mother's staunch friends, the champions of Holy +Church, and the representatives of true knighthood in these degenerate +days. Ah, child! couldst thou but see a true Spanish caballero, or +again, could I but show thee my noble cousin of Guise, then wouldst +thou know how to rate these gross clownish English mastiffs who now +turn thy silly little brain. Ah, that thou couldst once meet a true +prince!" + +"The well," murmured Cicely. + +"Tush, child," said the Queen, amused. "What of that? Thy name is not +Cis, is it? 'Tis only the slough that serves thee for the nonce. The +good youth will find himself linked to some homely, housewifely Cis in +due time, when the Princess Bride is queening it in France or Austria, +and will own that the well was wiser than he." + +Poor Cis! If her inmost heart declared Humfrey Talbot to be prince +enough for her, she durst not entertain the sentiment, not knowing +whether it were unworthy, and while Marie de Courcelles read aloud a +French legend of a saint to soothe the Queen to sleep, she lay longing +after the more sympathetic mother, and wondering what was passing in +the hall. + +Richard Talbot had communed with his wife's eyes, and made up his mind +that Humfrey should know the full truth before the Queen should enjoin +his being put off with the story of the parentage she had invented for +Bride Hepburn; and while some of the gentlemen followed their habit of +sitting late over the wine cup, he craved their leave to have his son +to himself a little while, and took him out in the summer twilight on +the greensward, going through the guards, for whom he, as the gentleman +warder, had the password of the night. In compliment to the expedition +of the day it had been made "True love and the Flowing Well." It +sounded agreeable in Humfrey's ears; he repeated it again, and then +added "Little Cis! she hath come to woman's estate, and she hath caught +some of the captive lady's pretty tricks of the head and hands. How +long hath she been so thick with her?" + +"Since this journey. I have to speak with thee, my son." + +"I wait your pleasure, sir," said Humfrey, and as his father paused a +moment ere communicating his strange tidings, he rendered the matter +less easy by saying, "I guess your purpose. If I may at once wed my +little Cis I will send word to Sir John Norreys that I am not for this +expedition to the Low Countries, though there is good and manly work to +be done there, and I have the offer of a command, but I gave not my +word till I knew your will, and whether we might wed at once." + +"Thou hast much to hear, my son." + +"Nay, surely no one has come between!" exclaimed Humfrey. "Methought +she was less frank and more coy than of old. If that sneaking traitor +Babington hath been making up to her I will slit his false gullet for +him." + +"Hush, hush, Humfrey! thy seafaring boasts skill not here. No _man_ +hath come between thee and yonder poor maid." + +"Poor! You mean not that she is sickly. Were she so, I would so tend +her that she should be well for mere tenderness. But no, she was the +very image of health. No man, said you, father? Then it is a woman. +Ah! my Lady Countess is it, bent on making her match her own way? Sir, +you are too good and upright to let a tyrannous dame like that sever +between us, though she be near of kin to us. My mother might scruple +to cross her, but you have seen the world, sir." + +"My lad, you are right in that it is a woman who stands between you and +Cis, but it is not the Countess. None would have the right to do so, +save the maiden's own mother." + +"Her mother! You have discovered her lineage! Can she have ought +against me?--I, your son, sir, of the Talbot blood, and not ill +endowed?" + +"Alack, son, the Talbot may be a good dog but the lioness will scarce +esteem him her mate. Riddles apart, it is proved beyond question that +our little maid is of birth as high as it is unhappy. Thou canst be +secret, I know, Humfrey, and thou must be silent as the grave, for it +touches my honour and the poor child's liberty." + +"Who is she, then?" demanded Humfrey sharply. + +His father pointed to the Queen's window. Humfrey stared at him, and +muttered an ejaculation, then exclaimed, "How and when was this known?" + +Richard went over the facts, giving as few names as possible, while his +son stood looking down and drawing lines with the point of his sword. + +"I hoped," ended the father, "that these five years' absence might have +made thee forget thy childish inclination;" and as Humfrey, without +raising his face, emphatically shook his head, he went on to add-- "So, +my dear son, meseemeth that there is no remedy, but that, for her peace +and thine own, thou shouldest accept this offer of brave Norreys, and +by the time the campaign is ended, they may be both safe in Scotland, +out of reach of vexing thy heart, my poor boy." + +"Is it so sure that her royal lineage will be owned?" muttered Humfrey. +"Out on me for saying so! But sure this lady hath made light enough of +her wedlock with yonder villain." + +"Even so, but that was when she deemed its offspring safe beneath the +waves. I fear me that, however our poor damsel be regarded, she will +be treated as a mere bait and tool. If not bestowed on some foreign +prince (and there hath been talk of dukes and archdukes), she may serve +to tickle the pride of some Scottish thief, such as was her father." + +"Sir! sir! how can you speak patiently of such profanation and cruelty? +Papist butchers and Scottish thieves, for the child of your hearth! +Were it not better that I stole her safely away and wedded her in +secret, so that at least she might have an honest husband?" + +"Nay, his honesty would scarce be thus manifest," said Richard, "even +if the maid would consent, which I think she would not. Her head is +too full of her new greatness to have room for thee, my poor lad. Best +that thou shouldest face the truth. And, verily, what is it but her +duty to obey her mother, her true and veritable mother, Humfrey? It is +but making her ease harder, and adding to her griefs, to strive to +awaken any inclination she may have had for thee; and therefore it is +that I counsel thee, nay, I might command thee, to absent thyself while +it is still needful that she remain with us, passing for our daughter." + +Humfrey still traced lines with his sword in the dust. He had always +been a strong-willed though an obedient and honourable boy, and his +father felt that these five years had made a man of him, whom, in spite +of mediaeval obedience, it was not easy to dispose of arbitrarily. + +"There's no haste," he muttered. "Norreys will not go till my Lord of +Leicester's commission be made out. It is five years since I was at +home." + +"My son, thou knowest that I would not send thee from me willingly. I +had not done so ere now, but that it was well for thee to know the +world and men, and Sheffield is a mere nest of intrigue and falsehood, +where even if one keeps one's integrity, it is hard to be believed. +But for my Lord, thy mother, and my poor folk, I would gladly go with +thee to strike honest downright blows at a foe I could see and feel, +rather than be nothing better than a warder, and be driven distracted +with women's tongues. Why, they have even set division between my Lord +and his son Gilbert, who was ever the dearest to him. Young as he is, +methinks Diccon would be better away with thee than where the very air +smells of plots and lies." + +"I trow the Queen of Scots will not be here much longer," said Humfrey. +"Men say in London that Sir Ralf Sadler is even now setting forth to +take charge of her, and send my Lord to London." + +"We have had such hopes too often, my son," said Richard. "Nay, she +hath left us more than once, but always to fall back upon Sheffield +like a weight to the ground. But she is full of hope in her son, now +that he is come of age, and hath put to death her great foe, the Earl +of Morton." + +"The poor lady might as well put her faith in--in a jelly-fish," said +Humfrey, falling on a comparison perfectly appreciated by the old +sailor. + +"Heh? She will get naught but stings. How knowest thou?" + +"Why, do none know here that King James is in the hands of him they +call the Master of Gray?" + +"Queen Mary puts in him her chief hope." + +"Then she hath indeed grasped a jelly-fish. Know you not, father, +those proud and gay ones, with rose-coloured bladders and long blue +beards--blue as the azure of a herald's coat?" + +"Ay, marry I do. I remember when I was a lad, in my first voyage, +laying hold on one. I warrant you I danced about till I was nearly +overboard, and my arm was as big as two for three days later. Is the +fellow of that sort? The false Scot." + +"Look you, father, I met in London that same Johnstone who was one of +this lady's gentlemen at one time. You remember him. He breakfasted +at Bridgefield once or twice ere the watch became more strict." + +"Yea, I remember him. He was an honest fellow for a Scot." + +"When he made out that I was the little lad he remembered, he was very +courteous, and desired his commendations to you and to my mother. He +had been in Scotland, and had come south in the train of this rogue, +Gray. I took him to see the old Pelican, and we had a breakfast aboard +there. He asked much after his poor Queen, whom he loves as much as +ever, and when he saw I was a man he could trust, your true son, he +said that he saw less hope for her than ever in Scotland--her friends +have been slain or exiled, and the young generation that has grown up +have learned to dread her like an incarnation of the scarlet one of +Babylon. Their preachers would hail her as Satan loosed on them, and +the nobles dread nothing so much as being made to disgorge the lands of +the Crown and the Church, on which they are battening. As to her son, +he was fain enough to break forth from one set of tutors, and the +messages of France and Spain tickled his fancy--but he is nought. He +is crammed with scholarship, and not without a shrewd apprehension; +but, with respect be it spoken, more the stuff that court fools are +made of than kings. It may be, as a learned man told Johnstone, that +the shock the Queen suffered when the brutes put Davy to death before +her eyes, three months ere his birth, hath damaged his constitution, +for he is at the mercy of whosoever chooses to lead him, and hath no +will of his own. This Master of Gray was at first inclined to the +Queen's party, thinking more might be got by a reversal of all things, +but now he finds the king's men so strong in the saddle, and the +Queen's French kindred like to be too busy at home to aid her, what +doth he do, but list to our Queen's offers, and this ambassage of his, +which hath a colour of being for Queen Mary's release, is verily to +make terms with my Lord Treasurer and Sir Francis Walsingham for the +pension he is to have for keeping his king in the same mind." + +"Turning a son against a mother! I marvel that honourable counsellors +can bring themselves to the like." + +"Policy, sir, policy," said Humfrey. "And this Gray maketh a fine show +of chivalry and honour, insomuch that Sir Philip Sidney himself hath +desired his friendship; but, you see, the poor lady is as far from +freedom as she was when first she came to Sheffield." + +"She is very far from believing it, poor dame. I am sorry for her, +Humfrey, more sorry than I ever thought I could be, now I have seen +more of her. My Lord himself says he never knew her break a promise. +How gracious she is there is no telling." + +"That we always knew," said Humfrey, looking somewhat amazed, that his +honoured father should have fallen under the spell of the "siren +between the cold earth and moon." + +"Yes, gracious, and of a wondrous constancy of mind, and evenness of +temper," said Richard. "Now that thy mother and I have watched her +more closely, we can testify that, weary, worn, and sick of body and of +heart as she is, she never letteth a bitter or a chiding word pass her +lips towards her servants. She hath nothing to lose by it. Their +fidelity is proven. They would stand by her to the last, use them as +she would, but assuredly their love must be doubly bound up in her when +they see how she regardeth them before herself. Let what will be said +of her, son Humfrey, I shall always maintain that I never saw woman, +save thine own good mother, of such evenness of condition, and +sweetness of consideration for all about her, ay, and patience in +adversity, such as, Heaven forbid, thy mother should ever know." + +"Amen, and verily amen," said Humfrey. "Deem you then that she hath +not worked her own woe?" + +"Nay, lad, what saith the Scripture, 'Judge not, and ye shall not be +judged'? How should I know what hath passed seventeen years back in +Scotland?" + +"Ay, but for present plots and intrigues, judge you her a true woman?" + +"Humfrey, thou hadst once a fox in a cage. When it found it vain to +dash against the bars, rememberest thou how it scratched away the earth +in the rear, and then sat over the hole it had made, lest we should see +it?" + +"The fox, say you, sir? Then you cannot call her ought but false." + +"They tell me," said Sir Richard, "that ever since an Italian named +Machiavel wrote his Book of the Prince, statecraft hath been craft +indeed, and princes suck in deceit with the very air they breathe. Ay, +boy, it is what chiefly vexes me in the whole. I cannot doubt that she +is never so happy as when there is a plot or scheme toward, not merely +for her own freedom, but the utter overthrow of our own gracious +Sovereign, who, if she hath kept this lady in durance, hath shielded +her from her own bloodthirsty subjects. And for dissembling, I never +saw her equal. Yet she, as thy mother tells me, is a pious and devout +woman, who bears her troubles thus cheerfully and patiently, because +she deems them a martyrdom for her religion. Ay, all women are riddles, +they say, but this one the most of all!" + +"Thinkest thou that she hath tampered with--with that poor maiden's +faith?" asked Humfrey huskily. + +"I trow not yet, my son," replied Richard; "Cis is as open as ever to +thy mother, for I cannot believe she hath yet learnt to dissemble, and +I greatly suspect that the Queen, hoping to return to Scotland, may be +willing to keep her a Protestant, the better to win favour with her +brother and the lords of his council; but if he be such a cur as thou +sayest, all hope of honourable release is at an end. So thou seest, +Humfrey, how it lies, and how, in my judgment, to remain here is but to +wring thine own heart, and bring the wench and thyself to sore straits. +I lay not my commands on thee, a man grown, but such is my opinion on +the matter." + +"I will not disobey you, father," said Humfrey, "but suffer me to +consider the matter." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +CIS OR SISTER. + + + Buxtona, quae calidae celebraris nomine lymphae + Forte mihi post hac non adeunda, Vale. + + (Buxton of whose warm waters men tell, + Perchance I ne'er shall see thee more, Farewell.) + + +Thus wrote Queen Mary with a diamond upon her window pane, smiling as +she said, "There, we will leave a memento over which the admirable Dr. +Jones will gloat his philosophical soul. Never may I see thee more, +Buxton, yet never thought I to be so happy as I have here been." + +She spoke with the tenderness of farewell to the spot which had always +been the pleasantest abode of the various places of durance which had +been hers in England. Each year she had hoped would be her last of +such visits, but on this occasion everything seemed to point to a close +to the present state of things, since not only were the negotiations +with Scotland apparently prosperous, but Lord Shrewsbury had obtained +an absolute promise from Elizabeth that she would at all events relieve +him from his onerous and expensive charge. Thus there was general +cheerfulness, as the baggage was bestowed in carts and on beasts of +burthen, and Mary, as she stood finishing her inscription on the +window, smiled sweetly and graciously on Mistress Talbot, and gave her +joy of the arrival of her towardly and hopeful son, adding, "We +surprised him at the well! May his Cis, who is yet to be found, I +trow, reward his lealty!" + +That was all the notice Mary deigned to take of the former relations +between her daughter and young Talbot. She did not choose again to beg +for secrecy when she was sure to hear that she had been forestalled, +and she was too consummate a judge of character not to have learnt +that, though she might despise the dogged, simple straightforwardness +of Richard and Susan Talbot, their honour was perfectly trustworthy. +She was able for the present to keep her daughter almost entirely to +herself, since, on the return to Sheffield, the former state of things +was resumed. The Bridgefield family was still quartered in the +Manor-house, and Mistress Talbot continued to be, as it were, Lady +Warder to the captive in the place of the Countess, who obstinately +refused to return while Mary was still in her husband's keeping. +Cicely, as Mary's acknowledged favourite, was almost always in her +apartments, except at the meals of the whole company of Shrewsbury +kinsfolk and retainers, when her place was always far removed from that +of Humfrey. In truth, if ever an effort might have obtained a few +seconds of private conversation, a strong sense of embarrassment and +perplexity made the two young people fly apart rather than come +together. They knew not what they wished. Humfrey might in his secret +soul long for a token that Cis remembered his faithful affection, and +yet he knew that to elicit one might do her life-long injury. So, +however he might crave for word or look when out of sight of her, an +honourable reluctance always withheld him from seeking any such sign in +the short intervals when he could have tried to go beneath the surface. +On the other hand, this apparent indifference piqued her pride, and +made her stiff, cold, and almost disdainful whenever there was any +approach between them. Her vanity might be flattered by the knowledge +that she was beyond his reach; but it would have been still more +gratified could she have discovered any symptoms of pining and +languishing after her. She might peep at him from under her eyelashes +in chapel and in hall; but in the former place his gaze always seemed +to be on the minister, in the latter he showed no signs of flagging as +a trencher companion. Both mothers thought her marvellously discreet; +but neither beheld the strange tumult in her heart, where were surging +pride, vanity, ambition, and wounded affection. + +In a few days, Sir Ralf Sadler and his son-in-law Mr. Somer arrived at +Sheffield in order to take the charge of the prisoner whilst Shrewsbury +went to London. The conferences and consultations were endless, and +harassing, and it was finally decided that the Earl should escort her +to Wingfield, and, leaving her there under charge of Sadler, should +proceed to London. She made formal application for Mistress Cicely +Talbot to accompany her as one of her suite, and her supposed parents +could not but give their consent, but six gentlewomen had been already +enumerated, and the authorities would not consent to her taking any +more ladies with her, and decreed that Mistress Cicely must remain at +home. + +"This unkindness has made the parting from this place less joyous than +I looked for," said Mary, "but courage, ma mignonne. Soon shall I send +for thee to Scotland, and there shalt thou burst thine husk, and show +thyself in thy true colours;" and turning to Susan, "Madam, I must +commit my treasure to her who has so long watched over her." + +"Your Grace knows that she is no less my treasure," said Susan. + +"I should have known it well," returned the Queen, "from the innocence +and guilelessness of the damsel. None save such a mother as Mistress +Talbot could have made her what she is. Credit me, madam, I have +looked well into her heart, and found nought to undo there. You have +bred her up better than her poor mother could have done, and I gladly +entrust her once more to your care, assured that your well-tried honour +will keep her in mind of what she is, and to what she may be called." + +"She shall remember it, madam," said Susan. + +"When I am a Queen once more," said Mary, "all I can give will seem too +poor a meed for what you have been to my child. Even as Queen of +Scotland or England itself, my power would be small in comparison with +my will. My gratitude, however, no bounds can limit out to me." + +And with tears of tenderness and thankfulness she kissed the cheeks and +lips of good Mistress Talbot, who could not but likewise weep for the +mother thus compelled to part with her child. + +The night was partly spent in caresses and promises of the brilliant +reception preparing in Scotland, with auguries of the splendid marriage +in store, with a Prince of Lorraine, or even with an Archduke. + +Cis was still young enough to dream of such a lot as an opening to a +fairy land of princely glories. If her mother knew better, she still +looked tenderly back on her beau pays de France with that halo of +brightness which is formed only in childhood and youth. Moreover, it +might be desirable to enhance such aspiration as might best secure the +young princess from anything derogatory to her real rank, while she was +strongly warned against betraying it, and especially against any +assumption of dignity should she ever hear of her mother's release, +reception, and recognition in Scotland. For whatever might be the +maternal longings, it would be needful to feel the way and prepare the +ground for the acknowledgment of Bothwell's daughter in Scotland, while +the knowledge of her existence in England would almost surely lead to +her being detained as a hostage. She likewise warned the maiden never +to regard any letter or billet from her as fully read till it had been +held--without witnesses--to the fire. + +Of Humfrey Talbot, Queen Mary scorned to say anything, or to utter a +syllable that she thought a daughter of Scotland needed a warning +against a petty English sailor. Indeed, she had confidence that the +youth's parents would view the attachment as quite as undesirable for +him as for the young princess, and would guard against it for his sake +as much as for hers. + +The true parting took place ere the household was astir. Afterwards, +Mary, fully equipped for travelling, in a dark cloth riding-dress and +hood, came across to the great hall of the Manor-house, and there sat +while each one of the attendants filed in procession, as it were, +before her. To each lady she presented some small token wrought by her +own hands. To each gentleman she also gave some trinket, such as the +elaborate dress of the time permitted, and to each serving man or maid +a piece of money. Of each one she gravely but gently besought pardon +for all the displeasures or offences she might have caused them, and as +they replied, kissing her hand, many of them with tears, she returned a +kiss on the brow to each woman and an entreaty to be remembered in +their prayers, and a like request, with a pressure of the hand, to each +man or boy. + +It must have been a tedious ceremony, and yet to every one it seemed as +if Mary put her whole heart into it, and to any to whom she owed +special thanks they were freely paid. + +The whole was only over by an hour before noon. Then she partook of a +manchet and a cup of wine, drinking, with liquid eyes, to the health +and prosperity of her good host, and to the restoration of his family +peace, which she had so sorely, though unwittingly, disturbed. + +Then she let him hand her out, once more kissing Susan Talbot and Cis, +who was weeping bitterly, and whispering to the latter, "Not over much +grief, ma petite; not more than may befit, ma mignonne." + +Lord Shrewsbury lifted her on her horse, and, with him on one side and +Sir Ralf Sadler on the other, she rode down the long avenue on her way +to Wingfield. + +The Bridgefield family had already made their arrangements, and their +horses were waiting for them amid the jubilations of Diccon and Ned. +The Queen had given each of them a fair jewel, with special thanks to +them for being good brothers to her dear Cis. "As if one wanted thanks +for being good to one's own sister," said Ned, thrusting the delicate +little ruby brooch on his mother to be taken care of till his days of +foppery should set in, and he would need it for cap and plume. + +"Come, Cis, we are going home at last," said Diccon. "What! thou art +not breaking thine heart over yonder Scottish lady--when we are going +home, home, I say, and have got rid of watch and ward for ever? +Hurrah!" and he threw up his cap, and was joined in the shout by more +than one of the youngsters around, for Richard and most of the elders +were escorting the Queen out of the park, and Mistress Susan had been +summoned on some question of household stuff. Cis, however, stood +leaning against the balustrade, over which she had leant for the last +glance exchanged with her mother, her face hidden in her hands and +kerchief, weeping bitterly, feeling as if all the glory and excitement +of the last few weeks had vanished as a dream and left her to the +dreary dulness of common life, as little insignificant Cis Talbot again. + +It was Humfrey who first came near, almost timidly touched her hand, +and said, "Cheer up. It is but for a little while, mayhap. She will +send for thee. Come, here is thine old palfrey--poor old Dapple. Let +me put thee on him, and for this brief time let us feign that all is as +it was, and thou art my little sister once more." + +"I know not which is truth and which is dreaming," said Cis, waking up +through her tears, but resigning her hand to him, and letting him lift +her to her seat on the old pony which had been the playfellow of both. +If it had been an effort to Humfrey to prolong the word Cis into +sister, he was rewarded for it. It gave the key-note to their +intercourse, and set her at ease with him; and the idea that her +present rustication was but a comedy instead of a reality was consoling +in her present frame of mind. Mistress Susan, surrounded with +importunate inquirers as to household matters, and unable to escape +from them, could only see that Humfrey had taken charge of the maiden, +and trusted to his honour and his tact. This was, however, only the +beginning of a weary and perplexing time. Nothing could restore Cis to +her old place in the Bridgefield household, or make her look upon its +tasks, cares, and joys as she had done only a few short months ago. +Her share in them could only be acting, and she was too artless and +simple to play a part. Most frequently she was listless, dull, and +pining, so much inclined to despise and neglect the ordinary household +occupations which befitted the daughter of the family, that her adopted +mother was forced, for the sake of her incognito, to rouse, and often +to scold her when any witnesses were present who would have thought +Mrs. Talbot's toleration of such conduct in a daughter suspicious and +unnatural. + +Such reproofs were dangerous in another way, for Humfrey could not bear +to hear them, and was driven nearly to the verge of disrespect and +perilous approaches to implying that Cis was no ordinary person to be +sharply reproved when she sat musing and sighing instead of sewing +Diccon's shirts. + +Even the father himself could not well brook to hear the girl blamed, +and both he and Humfrey could not help treating her with a kind of +deference that made the younger brothers gape and wonder what had come +to Humfrey on his travels "to make him treat our Cis as a born +princess." + +"You irreverent varlets," said Humfrey, "you have yet to learn that +every woman ought to be treated as a born princess." + +"By cock and pie," said spoilt Ned, "that beats all! One's own sister!" + +Whereupon Humfrey had the opportunity of venting a little of his +vexation by thrashing his brother for his oath, while sharp Diccon +innocently asked if men never swore by anything when at sea, and +thereby nearly got another castigation for irreverent mocking of his +elder brother's discipline. + +At other times the girl's natural activity and high spirits gained the +upper hand, and she would abandon herself without reserve to the old +homely delights of Bridgefield. At the apple gathering, she was +running about, screaming with joy, and pelting the boys with apples, +more as she had done at thirteen than at seventeen, and when called to +order she inconsistently pleaded, "Ah, mother! it is for the last time. +Do but let me have my swing!" putting on a wistful and caressing look, +which Susan did not withstand when the only companions were the three +brothers, since Humfrey had much of her own unselfishness and +self-command, resulting in a discretion that was seldom at fault. + +And that discretion made him decide at a fortnight's end that his +father had been right, and that it would be better for him to absent +himself from where he could do no good, but only added to the general +perplexity, and involved himself in the temptation of betraying the +affection he knew to be hopeless. + +Before, however, it was possible to fit out either Diccon or the four +men who were anxious to go under the leadership of Master Humfrey of +Bridgefield, the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury were returning fully +reconciled. Queen Elizabeth had made the Cavendishes ask pardon on +their knees of the Earl for their slanders; and he, in his joy, had +freely forgiven all. Gilbert Talbot and his wife had shared in the +general reconciliation. His elder brother's death had made him the +heir apparent, and all were coming home again, including the little +Lady Arbell, once more to fill the Castle and the Manor-house, and to +renew the free hospitable life of a great feudal chief, or of the +Queen's old courtier, with doors wide open, and no ward or suspicion. + +Richard rejoiced that his sons, before going abroad, should witness the +return to the old times which had been at an end before they could +remember Sheffield distinctly. The whole family were drawn up as usual +to receive them, when the Earl and Countess arrived first of all at the +Manor-house. + +The Countess looked smaller, thinner, older, perhaps a trifle more +shrewish, but she had evidently suffered much, and was very glad to +have recovered her husband and her home. + +"So, Susan Talbot," was her salutation, "you have thriven, it seems. +You have been playing the part of hostess, I hear." + +"Only so far as might serve his Lordship, madam." + +"And the wench, there, what call you her? Ay, Cicely. I hear the +Scottish Queen hath been cockering her up and making her her bedfellow, +till she hath spoilt her for a reasonable maiden. Is it so? She looks +it." + +"I trust not, madam," said Susan. + +"She grows a strapping wench, and we must find her a good husband to +curb her pride. I have a young man already in my eye for her." + +"So please your Ladyship, we do not think of marrying her as yet," +returned Susan, in consternation. + +"Tilly vally, Susan Talbot, tell me not such folly as that. Why, the +maid is over seventeen at the very least! Save for all the coil this +Scottish woman and her crew have made, I should have seen her well +mated a year ago." + +Here was a satisfactory prospect for Mistress Susan, bred as she had +been to unquestioning submission to the Countess. There was no more to +be said on that occasion, as the great lady passed on to bestow her +notice on others of her little court. + +Humfrey meantime had been warmly greeted by the younger men of the +suite, and one of them handed him a letter which filled him with +eagerness. It was from an old shipmate, who wrote, not without +sanction, to inform him that Sir Francis Drake was fitting out an +expedition, with the full consent of the Queen, to make a descent upon +the Spaniards, and that there was no doubt that if he presented himself +at Plymouth, he would obtain either the command, or at any rate the +lieutenancy, of one of the numerous ships which were to be +commissioned. Humfrey was before all else a sailor. He had made no +engagement to Sir John Norreys, and many of the persons engaged on this +expedition were already known to him. It was believed that the attack +was to be upon Spain itself, and the notion filled him with ardour and +excitement that almost drove Cicely out of his mind, as he laid the +proposal before his father. + +Richard was scarcely less excited. "You young lads are in luck," he +said. "I sailed for years and never had more than a chance brush with +the Don; never the chance of bearding him on his own shores!" + +"Come with us, then, father," entreated Humfrey. "Sir Francis would be +overjoyed to see you. You would get the choicest ship to your share." + +"Nay, nay, my boy, tempt me not; I cannot leave your mother to meet all +the coils that may fall in her way! No; I'm too old. I've lost my sea +legs. I leave thee to win the fame, son Humfrey!" + +The decision was thus made, and Humfrey and Diccon were to start +together for London first, and then for Plymouth, the second day after +a great festival for the wedding of the little Alethea, daughter of +Gilbert, Lord Talbot--still of very tender age--to the young heir of +Arundel. The Talbot family had been precluded from holding festival +for full fourteen years, or indeed from entertaining any guests, save +the Commissioners sent down to confer from time to time with the +captive Queen, so that it was no wonder that they were in the highest +possible spirits at their release, and determined to take the first +opportunity of exercising the gorgeous hospitality of the Tudor times. + +Posts went out, riding round all the neighbourhood with invitations. +The halls were swept and adorned with the best suit of hangings. All +the gentlemen, young and old, all the keepers and verdurers, were put +in requisition to slaughter all the game, quadruped and biped, that +fell in their way, the village women and children were turned loose on +the blackberries, cranberries, and bilberries, and all the ladies and +serving-women were called on to concoct pasties of many stories high, +subtilties of wonderful curiosity, sweetmeats and comfits, cakes and +marchpanes worthy of Camacho's wedding, or to deck the halls with green +boughs, and weave garlands of heather and red berries. + +Cis absolutely insisted, so that the heads of the household gave way, +on riding out with Richard and Humfrey when they had a buck to mark +down in Rivelin Chase. And she set her heart on going out to gather +cranberries in the park, flinging herself about with petulant +irritation when Dame Susan showed herself unwilling to permit a +proceeding which was thought scarcely becoming in any well-born damsel +of the period. "Ah, child, child! thou wilt have to bear worse +restraints than these," she said, "if ever thou comest to thy +greatness." + +Cis made no answer, but threw herself into a chair and pouted. + +The next morning she did not present herself at the usual hour; but +just as the good mother was about to go in quest of her to her chamber, +a clear voice came singing up the valley-- + + + "Berries to sell! berries to sell! + Berries fresh from moorland fell!" + + +And there stood a girl in peasant dress, with short petticoats, stout +shoes soaked in dew, a round face under black brows, and cheeks glowing +in morning freshness; and a boy swung the other handle of the basket +overflowing with purple berries. + +It was but a shallow disguise betrayed by the two roguish faces, and +the good mother was so pleased to see Cis smile merrily again, that she +did not scold over the escapade. + +Yet the inconsistent girl hotly refused to go up to the castle and help +to make pastry for her mother's bitter and malicious foe, and Sir +Richard shook his head and said she was in the right on't, and should +not be compelled. So Susan found herself making lame excuses, which +did not avert a sharp lecture from the Countess on the cockering of her +daughter. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE CLASH OF SWORDS. + + +Festivals in the middle ages were conducted by day rather than by +night, and it was a bright noonday sun that shone upon the great hall +at Sheffield, bedecked with rich tapestry around the dais, where the +floor was further spread with Eastern carpets. Below, the garniture of +the walls was of green boughs, interspersed between stag's antlers, and +the floor was strewn, in ancient fashion, with the fragrant rush. + +All the tables, however, were spread with pure white napery, the +difference being only in texture, but the higher table rejoiced in the +wonderful extravagance of silver plates, while the lower had only +trenchers. As to knives, each guest brought his or her own, and forks +were not yet, but bread, in long fingers of crust, was provided to a +large amount to supply the want. Splendid salt-cellars, towering as +landmarks to the various degrees of guests, tankards, gilt and parcel +gilt or shining with silver, perfectly swarmed along the board, and the +meanest of the guests present drank from silver-rimmed cups of horn, +while for the very greatest were reserved the tall, slender, opal +Venice glasses, recently purchased by the Countess in London. + +The pies, the glory of Yorkshire, surpassed themselves. The young +bride and bridegroom had the felicity of contemplating one whose crust +was elevated into the altar of Hymen, with their own selves united +thereat, attended by numerous Cupids, made chiefly in paste and sugar, +and with little wings from the feathers of the many slaughtered fowl +within. As to the jellies, the devices and the subtilties, the pen +refuses to describe them! It will be enough to say that the wedding +itself was the least part of the entertainment. It was gone through +with very few spectators in the early morning, and the guests only +assembled afterwards to this mighty dinner at a somewhat earlier hour +than they would now to a wedding breakfast. The sewer marshalled all +the guests in pairs according to their rank, having gone through the +roll with his mistress, just as the lady of the house or her +aide-de-camp pairs the guests and puts cards in their plates in modern +times. Every one was there who had any connection with the Earl; and +Cis, though flashes of recollection of her true claims would come +across her now and then, was unable to keep from being eager about her +first gaiety. Perhaps the strange life she had led at Buxton, as it +receded in the distance, became more and more unreal and shadowy, and +she was growing back into the simple Cicely she had always believed +herself. It was with perfectly girlish natural pleasure that she +donned the delicate sky-blue farthingale, embroidered with white lilies +by the skilful hands of the captive Queen, and the daintily-fashioned +little cap of Flanders lace, and practised the pretty dancing steps +which the Queen had amused herself with teaching her long ere they knew +they were mother and daughter. + +As Talbots, the Bridgefield family were spectators of the wedding, +after which, one by one, the seneschal paired them off. Richard was +called away first, then a huge old Yorkshire knight came and bore away +Mrs. Susan, and after an interval, during which the young people +entertained hopes of keeping together in enviable obscurity, the +following summons to the board was heard in a loud voice-- + +"Master Antony Babington, Esquire, of Dethick; Mistress Cicely Talbot, +of Bridgefield." + +Humfrey's brow grew dark with disappointment, but cleared into a +friendly greeting, as there advanced a tall, slender gentleman, of the +well-known fair, pink and white colouring, and yellow hair, apparelled +point device in dark green velvet, with a full delicately crimped ruff, +bowing low as he extended his hand to take that of the young lady, +exchanging at the same time a friendly greeting with his old comrade, +before leading Cis to her place. + +On the whole, she was pleased. Tete-a-tetes with Humfrey were +dreadfully embarrassing, and she felt life so flat without her +nocturnal romance that she was very glad to have some one who would +care to talk to her of the Queen. In point of fact, such conversation +was prohibited. In the former days, when there had been much more +intercourse between the Earl's household and the neighbourhood, regular +cautions had been given to every member of it not to discuss the +prisoner or make any communication about her habits. The younger +generation who had grown up in the time of the closer captivity had +never been instructed in these laws, for the simple reason that they +hardly saw any one. Antony and Cicely were likewise most comfortably +isolated, for she was flanked by a young esquire, who had no eyes nor +ears save for the fair widow of sixteen whom he had just led in, and +Antony, by a fat and deaf lady, whose only interest was in tasting as +many varieties of good cheer as she could, and trying to discover how +and of what they were compounded. Knowing Mistress Cicely to be a +member of the family, she once or twice referred the question to her +across Antony, but getting very little satisfaction, she gave up the +young lady as a bad specimen of housewifery, and was forced to be +content with her own inductions. + +There was plenty of time for Antony to begin with, "Are there as many +conies as ever in the chase?" and to begin on a discussion of all the +memories connected with the free days of childhood, the blackberry and +bilberry gatherings, the hide-and-seek in the rocks and heather, the +consternation when little Dick was lost, the audacious comedy with the +unsuspected spectators, and all the hundred and one recollections, less +memorable perhaps, but no less delightful to both. It was only thus +gradually that they approached their recent encounter in the Castleton +Cavern, and Antony explained how he had burnt to see his dear Queen and +mistress once again, and that his friends, Tichborne and the rest, were +ready to kiss every footstep she had taken, and almost worshipped him +and John Eyre for contriving this mode of letting them behold the +hitherto unknown object of their veneration. + +All that passionate, chivalrous devotion, which in Sidney, Spenser, and +many more attached itself to then-great Gloriana, had in these young +men, all either secretly or openly reconciled to Rome, found its object +in that rival in whom Edmund Spenser only beheld his false Duessa or +snowy Florimel. And, indeed, romance had in her a congenial heroine, +who needed little self-blinding so to appear. Her beauty needed no +illusion to be credited. Even at her age, now over forty, the glimpse +they had had in the fitful torchlight of the cavern had been ravishing, +and had confirmed all they had ever heard of her witching loveliness; +nor did they recollect how that very obscurity might have assisted it. + +To their convictions, she was the only legitimate sovereign in the +island, a confessor for their beloved Church, a captive princess and +beauty driven from her throne, and kept in durance by a usurper. Thus +every generous feeling was enlisted in her cause, with nothing to +counterbalance them save the English hatred of the Spaniard, with whom +her cause was inextricably linked; a dread of what might be inflicted +on the country in the triumph of her party; and in some, a strange +inconsistent personal loyalty to Elizabeth; but all these they were +instructed to believe mere temptations and delusions that ought to be +brushed aside as cobwebs. + +Antony's Puritan tutor at Cambridge had, as Richard Talbot had +foreboded, done little but add to his detestation of the Reformation, +and he had since fallen in with several of the seminary priests who +were circulating in England. Some were devoted and pious men, who at +the utmost risk went from house to house to confirm the faith and +constancy of the old families of their own communion. The saintly +martyr spirit of one of these, whom Antony met in the house of a +kinsman of his mother, had so wrought on him as to bring him heart and +soul back to his mother's profession, in which he had been secretly +nurtured in early childhood, and which had received additional +confirmation at Sheffield, where Queen Mary and her ladies had always +shown that they regarded him as one of themselves, sure to return to +them when he was his own master. It was not, however, of this that he +spoke to Cis, but whatever she ventured to tell him of the Queen was +listened to with delight as an extreme favour, which set her tongue off +with all the eager pleasure of a girl, telling what she alone can tell. + +All through the banquet they talked, for Babington had much to ask of +all the members of the household whom he had known. And after the +feast was over and the hall was cleared for dancing, Antony was still, +by etiquette, her partner for the evening. The young bride and +bridegroom had first to perform a stately pavise before the whole +assembly in the centre of the floor, in which, poor young things, they +acquitted themselves much as if they were in the dancing-master's +hands. Then her father led out his mother, and vice verse. The +bridegroom had no grandparents, but the stately Earl handed forth his +little active wiry Countess, bowing over her with a grand stiff +devotion as genuine and earnest as at their wedding twenty years +previously, for the reconciliation had been complete, and had restored +all her ascendency over him. Theirs, as Mistress Susan exultingly +agreed with a Hardwicke kinsman not seen for many years, was the +grandest and most featly of all the performances. All the time each +pair were performing, the others were awaiting their turn, the ladies +in rows on benches or settles, the gentlemen sometimes standing before +them, sometimes sitting on cushions or steps at their feet, sometimes +handing them comfits of sugar or dried fruits. + +The number of gentlemen was greatly in excess, so that Humfrey had no +such agreeable occupation, but had to stand in a herd among other young +men, watching with no gratified eye Antony Babington, in a graceful +attitude at Cicely's feet, while she conversed with him with untiring +animation. + +Humfrey was not the only one to remark them. Lady Shrewsbury nodded +once or twice to herself as one who had discovered what she sought, and +the next morning a mandate arrived at Bridgefield that Master Richard +and his wife should come to speak with my Lady Countess. + +Richard and his son were out of reach, having joined a party of the +guests who had gone out hunting. Susan had to go alone, for she wished +to keep Cicely as much as possible out of her Ladyship's sight, so she +left the girl in charge of her keys, so that if father brought home any +of the hunters to the midday meal, tankards and glasses might not be +lacking. + +The Countess's summons was to her own bower, a sort of dressing-room, +within her great state bed-room, and with a small glazed window looking +down into the great hall where her ladies sat at work, whence she could +on occasion call down orders or directions or reproofs. Susan had known +what it was to stand in dread of such a window at Chatsworth or +Hardwicke, whence shrill shrieks of objurgation, followed sometimes by +such missiles as pincushions, shoes, or combs. However the window was +now closed, and my Lady sat in her arm-chair, as on a throne, a stool +being set, to which she motioned her kinswoman. + +"So! Susan Talbot," she said, "I have sent for you to do you a good +turn, for you are mine own kinswoman of the Hardwicke blood, and have +ever been reasonably humble and dutiful towards me and my Lord." + +Mrs. Talbot did not by any means view this speech as the insult it +would in these days appear to a lady of her birth and position, but +accepted it as the compliment it was intended to be. + +"Thus," continued Lady Shrewsbury, "I have always cast about how to +marry that daughter of yours fitly. It would have been done ere now, +had not that Scottish woman's tongue made mischief between me and my +Lord, but I am come home to rule my own house now, and mine own blood +have the first claim on me." + +The alarm always excited by a summons to speak with my Lady Countess +began to acquire definite form, and Susan made answer, "Your Ladyship +is very good, but I doubt me whether my husband desires to bestow +Cicely in marriage as yet." + +"He hath surely received no marriage proposals for her without my +knowledge or my Lord's," said Bess of Hardwicke, who was prepared to +strain all feudal claims to the uttermost. + +"No, madam, but--" + +"Tell me not that you or he have the presumption to think that my son +William Cavendish or even Edward Talbot will ever cast an eye on a mere +portionless country maid, not comely, nor even like the Hardwickes or +the Talbots. If I thought so for a moment, never shouldst thou darken +these doors again, thou ungrateful, treacherous woman." + +"Neither of us ever had the thought, far less the wish," said Susan +most sincerely. + +"Well, thou wast ever a simple woman, Susan Talbot," said the great +lady, thereby meaning truthful, "so I will e'en take thy word for it, +the more readily that I made contracts for both the lads when I was at +court. As to Dick Talbot not being fain to bestow her, I trow that is +because ye have spent too much on your long-legged sons to be able to +lay down a portion for her, though she be your only daughter. Anan?" + +For though this was quite true, Susan feeling that it was not the whole +truth, made but faint response. However, the Countess went on, +expecting to overpower her with gratitude. "The gentleman I mean is +willing to take her in her smock, and moreover his wardship and +marriage were granted to my Lord by her Majesty. Thou knowest whom I +mean." + +She wanted to hear a guess, and Susan actually foreboded the truth, but +was too full of dismay and perplexity to do anything but shake her head +as one puzzled. + +"What think'st thou of Mr. Babington?" triumphantly exclaimed the +Countess. + +"Mr. Babington!" returned Susan. "But he is no longer a ward!" + +"No. We had granted his marriage to a little niece of my Lord +Treasurer's, but she died ere coming to age. Then Tom Ratcliffe's wife +would have him for her daughter, a mere babe. But for that thou and +thine husband have done good service while evil tongues kept me absent, +and because the wench comes of our own blood, we are willing to bestow +her upon him, he showing himself willing and content, as bents a lad +bred in our own household." + +"Madam, we are much beholden to you and my Lord, but sure Mr. Babington +is more inclined to the old faith." + +"Tush, woman, what of that? Thou mayst say the same of half our +Northern youth! They think it grand to dabble with seminary priests in +hiding, and talk big about their conscience and the like, but when +they've seen a neighbour or two pay down a heavy fine for recusancy, +they think better of it, and a good wife settles their brains to jog to +church to hear the parson with the rest of them." + +"I fear me Cis is over young to settle any one's mind," said Susan. + +"She is seventeen if she is a day," said my Lady, "and I was a wedded +wife ere I saw my teens. Moreover, I will say for thee, Susan, that +thou hast bred the girl as becomes one trained in my household, and +unless she have been spoiled by resort to the Scottish woman, she is +like to make the lad a moderately good wife, having seen nought of the +unthrifty modes of the fine court dames, who queen it with standing +ruffs a foot high, and coloured with turmeric, so please you, but who +know no more how to bake a marchpane, or roll puff paste, than yonder +messan dog!" + +"She is a good girl," said Susan, "but--" + +"What has the foolish wife to object now?" said the Countess. "I tell +you I marked them both last eve, and though I seldom turn my mind to +such follies, I saw the plain tokens of love in every look and gesture +of the young springald. Nay, 'twas his countenance that put it into my +mind, for I am even too good-natured--over good-natured, Susan Talbot. +How now," at some sound below, springing to the little window and +flinging it back, "you lazy idle wenches--what are you doing there? Is +my work to stand still while you are toying with yon vile whelp? He is +tangling the yarn, don't you see, thou purblind Jane Dacre, with no +eyes but for ogling. There! there! Round the leg of the chair, don't +you see!" and down flew a shoe, which made the poor dog howl, and his +mistress catch him up. "Put him down! put him down this instant! +Thomas! Davy! Here, hang him up, I say," cried this over good-natured +lady, interspersing her commands with a volley of sixteenth century +Billingsgate, and ending by declaring that nothing fared well without +her, and hurrying off to pounce down on the luckless damsels who had +let their dog play with the embroidery yarn destined to emblazon the +tapestry of Chatsworth with the achievements of Juno. The good nature +was so far veritable that when she found little harm done, and had +vented her wrath in strong language and boxes on the ear, she would +forget her sentence upon the poor little greyhound, which Mrs. Jane +Dacre had hastily conveyed out of sight during her transit downstairs. +Susan was thus, to her great relief, released for the present, for +guests came in before my Lady had fully completed her objurgations on +her ladies, the hour of noon was nigh at hand, sounds in the court +betokened the return of the huntsmen, and Susan effected her escape to +her own sober old palfrey--glad that she would at least be able to take +counsel with her husband on this most inconvenient proposition. + +He came out to meet her at the court door, having just dismounted, and +she knew by his face that she had not to give him the first +intelligence of the difficulty in which they stood. + +My Lord had himself spoken to him, like my Lady expecting him to be +enchanted at the prospect of so good a match for his +slenderly-portioned daughter, for Dethick was a fair estate, and the +Babington family, though not ennobled, fully equal to a younger branch +of the Talbots. However, Richard had had a less uncomfortable task +than his wife, since the Earl was many degrees more reasonable than the +Countess. He had shown himself somewhat offended at not meeting more +alacrity in the acceptance of his proposal, when Richard had objected +on account of the young gentleman's Popish proclivities; but boldly +declared that he was quite certain that the stripling had been entirely +cured. + +This point of the narrative had just been reached when it was +interrupted by a scream, and Cicely came flying into the hall, crying, +"O father, father, stop them! Humfrey and Mr. Babington! They are +killing one another." + +"Where?" exclaimed Richard, catching up his sword. + +"In the Pleasance, father! Oh, stop them! They will slay one another! +They had their swords!" and as the father was already gone, she threw +herself into the mother's arms, hid her face and sobbed with fright as +scarce became a princess for whom swords were for the first time +crossed. "Fear not! Father will stop them," said the mother, with +confidence she could only keep up outwardly by the inward cry, "God +protect my boy. Father will come ere they can hurt one another." + +"But how came it about?" she added, as with an arm round the trembling +girl, she moved anxiously forward to know the issue. + +"Oh! I know not. 'Twas Humfrey fell on him. Hark!" + +"'Tis father's voice," said Susan. "Thank God! I know by the sound no +harm is done! But how was it, child?" + +Cis told with more coherence now, but the tears in her eyes and colour +deepening: "I was taking in Humfrey's kerchiefs from the bleaching on +the grass, when Master Babington--he had brought me a plume of +pheasant's feathers from the hunting, and he began. O mother, is it +sooth? He said my Lord had sent him." + +"That is true, my child, but you know we have no choice but to refuse +thee." + +"Ay, mother, and Antony knows." + +"Not thy true birth, child?" + +"Not that, but the other story. So he began to say that if I were +favourable--Mother, do men always do like that?" Hiding her face +against the trusty breast, "And when I drew back, and said I could not +and would not hearken to such folly--" + +"That was well, dear child." + +"He would have it that I should have to hear him, and he went down on +his knee, and snatched at my hand. And therewith came a great howl of +rage like an angry lion, and Humfrey bounded right over the sweetbrier +fence, and cried out, 'Off, fellow! No Papist traitor knave shall +meddle with her.' And then Antony gave him back the lie for calling +him traitor, and they drew their swords, and I ran away to call father, +but oh! mother, I heard them clash!" and she shuddered again. + +"See," said Susan, as they had reached the corner of a thick screen of +yew-trees, "all is safe. There they stand, and father between them +speaking to them. No, we will not go nearer, since we know that it is +well with them. Men deal with each other better out of women's +earshot. Ah, see, there they are giving one another their hands. All +is over now." + +"Humfrey stands tall, grave, and stiff! He is only doing it because +father bids him," said Cicely. "Antony is much more willing." + +"Poor Humfrey! he knows better than Antony how vain any hope must be of +my silly little princess," said Susan, with a sigh for her boy. "Come +in, child, and set these locks in order. The hour of noon hath long +been over, and father hath not yet dined." + +So they flitted out of sight as Richard and his son turned from the +place of encounter, the former saying, "Son Humfrey, I had deemed thee +a wiser man." + +"Sir, how could a man brook seeing that fellow on his knee to her? Is +it not enough to be debarred from my sweet princess myself, but I must +see her beset by a Papist and traitor, fostered and encouraged too?" + +"And thou couldst not rest secure in the utter impossibility of her +being given to him? He is as much out of reach of her as thou art." + +"He has secured my Lord and my Lady on his side!" growled Humfrey. + +"My Lord is not an Amurath, nor my Lady either," said Richard, shortly. +"As long as I pass for her father I have power to dispose of her, and I +am not going to give another woman's daughter away without her consent." + +"Yet the fellow may have her ear," said Humfrey. "I know him to be +popishly inclined, and there is a web of those Romish priests all over +the island, whereof this Queen holds the strands in her fingers, +captive though she be. I should not wonder if she had devised this +fellow's suit." + +"This is the very madness of jealousy, Humfrey," said his father. "The +whole matter was, as thy mother and thy Lord have both told me, simply +a device of my Lady Countess's own brain." + +"Babington took to it wondrous naturally," muttered Humfrey. + +"That may be; but as for the lady at Wingfield, her talk to our poor +maid hath been all of archdukes and dukes. She is far too haughty to +think for a moment of giving her daughter to a mere Derbyshire esquire, +not even of noble blood. You may trust her for that." + +This pacified Humfrey for a little while, especially as the bell was +clanging for the meal which had been unusually deferred, and he had to +hurry away to remove certain marks, which were happily the result of +the sweetbrier weapons instead of that of Babington. + +That a little blood had been shed was shown by the state of his sword +point, but Antony had disclaimed being hurt when the master of the +house came up, and in the heat of the rebuke the father and son had +hardly noticed that he had thrown a kerchief round his left hand ere he +moved away. + +Before dinner was over, word was brought in from the door that Master +Will Cavendish wanted to speak to Master Humfrey. The ladies' hearts +were in their mouths, as it were, lest it should be to deliver a +cartel, and they looked to the father to interfere, but he sat still, +contenting himself with saying, as his son craved license to quit the +board, "Use discretion as well as honour." + +They were glad that the next minute Humfrey came back to call his +father to the door, where Will Cavendish sat on horseback. He had come +by desire of Babington, who had fully intended that the encounter +should be kept secret, but some servant must have been aware of it +either from the garden or the park, and the Countess had got wind of +it. She had summoned Babington to her presence, before the castle +barber had finished dealing with the cut in his hand, and the messenger +reported that "my Lady was in one of her raging fits," and talked of +throwing young Humfrey into a dungeon, if not having him hung for his +insolence. + +Babington, who had talked to his friends of a slip with his +hunting-knife while disembowelling a deer, was forced to tell the fact +in haste to Cavendish, the nearest at hand, begging him to hurry down +and advise Humfrey to set forth at once if he did not wish his journey +to be unpleasantly delayed. + +"My Lord is unwilling to cross my mother at the present," said young +Cavendish with half a smile; "and though it be not likely that much +harm should come of the matter, yet if she laid hands on Humfrey at the +present moment, there might be hindrance and vexation, so it may be +well for him to set forth, in case Tony be unable to persuade my Lady +that it is nought." + +Will Cavendish had been a friendly comrade of both Humfrey and Antony +in their boyish days, and his warning was fully to be trusted. + +"I know not why I should creep off as though I had done aught that was +evil," said Humfrey, drawing himself up. + +"Well," said Will, "my Lord is always wroth at brawling with swords +amongst us, and he might--my mother egging him on--lay you by the heels +in the strong room for a week or so. Nay, for my part, methinks 'twas +a strange requital of poor Babington's suit to your sister! Had she +been your love instead of your sister there might have been plainer +excuse, but sure you wot not of aught against Tony to warrant such +heat." + +"He was importuning her when she would have none of him," said Humfrey, +feeling the perplexity he had drawn on himself. + +"Will says well," added the father, feeling that it by all means +behoved them all to avert inquiry into the cause of Humfrey's passion, +since neither Cicely's birth nor Antony's perilous inclinations could +be pleaded. "To be detained a week or two might hinder thy voyage. So +we will speed thee on thy way instantly." + +"Tell me not where he halts for the night," said Cavendish +significantly. "Fare thee well, Humfrey. I would return ere I am +missed. I trust thou wilt have made the Spaniard's ships smoke, and +weighted thy pouch with his dollars, before we see thee again." + +"Fare thee well, Will, and thank thee kindly," returned Humfrey, as +they wrung each other's hands. "And tell Antony that I thank him +heartily for his thought, and owe him a good turn." + +"That is well, my son," said Richard, as Cavendish rode out of the +court. "Babington is both hot and weak-headed, and I fear me is in the +toils of the Scottish lady; but he would never do aught that he held as +disloyal by a comrade. I wish I could say the same of him anent the +Queen." + +"And you will guard her from him, sir?" earnestly said Humfrey. + +"As I would from--I would have said Frenchman or Spaniard, but, poor +maid, that may only be her hap, if her mother should come to her throne +again;" and as Humfrey shrugged his shoulders at the improbability, +"But we must see thee off, my boy. Poor mother! this hurries the +parting for her. So best, mayhap." + +It was hastily arranged that Humfrey should ride off at once, and try +to overtake a squire who had been at the festival, and had invited him +to turn a little out of his road and spend a day or two at his house +when leaving home. Humfrey had then declined, but hospitality in those +days was elastic, and he had no doubt of a welcome. His father would +bring Diccon and his baggage to join him there the next day. + +Thus there were only a very few minutes for adieux, and, as Richard had +felt, this was best for all, even the anxious mother. Cicely ran about +with the rest in the stress of preparation, until Humfrey, hurrying +upstairs, met her coming down with a packet of his lace cuffs in her +hands. + +He caught the hand on the balusters, and cried, "My princess, my +princess, and art thou doing this for me?" + +"Thou hast learnt fine compliments, Humfrey," said Cis, trying to do +her part with quivering lips. + +"Ah, Cis! thou knowest but too well what hath taught me no fine words +but plain truth. Fear me not, I know what is due to thee. Cis, we +never used to believe the tales and ballads that told of knights +worshipping princesses beyond their reach, without a hope of more than +a look--not even daring to wish for more; Cis, it is very truth. Be +thou where thou wilt, with whom thou wilt, there will be one ready to +serve thee to the uttermost, and never ask aught--aught but such +remembrance as may befit the brother of thy childhood--" + +"Mistress Cis," screamed one of the maids, "madam is waiting for those +cuffs." + +Cis ran down, but the squeeze and kiss on the hand remained, as it +were, imprinted on it, far more than the last kiss of all, which he +gave, as both knew and felt, to support his character as a brother +before the assembled household. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +WINGFIELD MANOR. + + +The drawing of swords was not regarded as a heinous offence in +Elizabethan days. It was not likely, under ordinary circumstances, to +result in murder, and was looked on much as boxing is, or was recently, +in public schools, as an evidence of high spirit, and a means of +working off ill-blood. + +Lady Shrewsbury was, however, much incensed at such a presumptuous +reception of the suitor whom she had backed with her would-be despotic +influence; and in spite of Babington's making extremely light of it, +and declaring that he had himself been too forward in his suit, and the +young lady's apparent fright had made her brother interfere over +hastily for her protection, four yeomen were despatched by her Ladyship +with orders instantly to bring back Master Humfrey Talbot to answer for +himself. + +They were met by Mr. Talbot with the sober reply that Master Humfrey +was already set forth on his journey. The men, having no orders, never +thought of pursuing him, and after a short interval Richard thought it +expedient to proceed to the Manor-house to explain matters. + +The Countess swooped upon him in one of her ungovernable furies--one of +those of which even Gilbert Talbot avoided writing the particulars to +his father--abusing his whole household in general, and his son in +particular, in the most outrageous manner, for thus receiving the +favour she had done to their beggarly, ill-favoured, ill-nurtured +daughter. Richard stood still and grave, his hat in his hand, as +unmoved and tranquil as if he had been breasting a stiff breeze on the +deck of his ship, with good sea-room and confidence in all his tackle, +never even attempting to open his lips, but looking at the Countess +with a steady gaze which somehow disconcerted her, for she demanded +wherefore he stared at her like one of his clumsy hinds. + +"Because her Ladyship does not know what she is saying," he replied. + +"Darest thou! Thou traitor, thou viper, thou unhanged rascal, thou +mire under my feet, thou blot on the house! Darest thou beard me--me?" +screamed my Lady. "Darest thou--I say--" + +If the sailor had looked one whit less calm and resolute, my Lady would +have had her clenched fist on his ear, or her talons in his beard, but +he was like a rock against which the billows expended themselves, and +after more of the tempest than need stain these pages, she deigned to +demand what he meant or had to say for his son. + +"Solely this, madam, that my son had never even heard of Babington's +suit, far less that he had your Ladyship's good-will. He found him +kneeling to Cicely in the garden, and the girl, distressed and dismayed +at his importunity. There were hot words and drawn blades. That was +the whole. I parted them and saw them join hands." + +"So saith Master Babington. He is willing to overlook the insult, so +will I and my Lord, if you will atone for it by instantly consenting to +this espousal." + +"That, madam, I cannot do." + +She let him say no more, and the storm had begun to rage again, when +Babington took advantage of an interval to take breath, and said, "I +thank you, madam, and pray you peace. If a little space be vouchsafed +me, I trust to show this worthy gentleman cause wherefore he should no +longer withhold his fair damsel from me." + +"Indeed!" said the Countess. "Art thou so confident? I marvel what +better backer thou wouldst have than me! So conceited of themselves +are young men now-a-days, they think, forsooth, their own merits and +graces should go farther in mating them than the word and will of their +betters. There, you may go! I wash my hands of the matter. One is as +ingrate as the other." + +Both gentlemen accepted this amiable dismissal, each hoping that the +Countess might indeed have washed her hands of their affairs. On his +departure Richard was summoned into the closet of the Earl, who had +carefully kept out of the way during the uproar, only trusting not to +be appealed to. "My good cousin," he asked, "what means this broil +between the lads? Hath Babington spoken sooth?" + +"He hath spoken well and more generously than, mayhap, I thought he +would have done," said Richard. + +"Ay; you have judged the poor youth somewhat hardly, as if the folly of +pagedom never were outgrown," said the Earl. "I put him under +governorship such as to drive out of his silly pate all the wiles that +he was fed upon here. You will see him prove himself an honest +Protestant and good subject yet, and be glad enough to give him your +daughter. So he was too hot a lover for Master Humfrey's notions, eh?" +said my Lord, laughing a little. "The varlet! He was over prompt to +protect his sister, yet 'twas a fault on the right side, and I am sorry +there was such a noise about it that he should have gone without +leave-takings." + +"He will be glad to hear of your Lordship's goodness. I shall go after +him to-morrow and take his mails and little Diccon to him." + +"That is well," said the Earl. "And give him this, with his kinsman's +good wishes that he may win ten times more from the Don," pushing +towards Richard a packet of twenty broad gold pieces, stamped with +Queen Bess in all her glory; and then, after receiving due thanks for +the gift, which was meant half as friendly feudal patronage from the +head of the family, half as a contribution to the royal service, the +Earl added, "I would crave of thee, Richard, to extend thy journey to +Wingfield. Here are some accounts of which I could not sooner get the +items, to be discharged between me and the lady there--and I would fain +send thee as the man whom I can most entirely trust. I will give thee +a pass, and a letter to Sadler, bidding him admit thee to her presence, +since there are matters here which can sooner be discharged by one word +of mouth than by many weary lines of writing." + +Good Master Richard's conscience had little occasion to wince, yet he +could not but feel somewhat guilty when this opportune commission was +given to him, since the Earl gave it unaware of his secret +understanding with the captive. He accepted it, however, without +hesitation, since he was certainly not going to make a mischievous use +of it, and bent all his mind to understand the complicated accounts +that he was to lay before the Queen or her comptroller of the household. + +He had still another interview to undergo with Antony Babington, who +overtook him on his way home through the crackling leaves that strewed +the avenue, as the October twilight fell. His recent conduct towards +Humfrey gave him a certain right to friendly attention, though, as the +frank-hearted mariner said to himself, it was hard that a plain man, +who never told a lie, nor willingly had a concealment of his own, +should be involved in a many-sided secret like this, a sort of web, +where there was no knowing whether straining the wrong strand might not +amount to a betrayal, all because he had rescued an infant, and not at +once proclaimed her an alien. + +"Sir," said Antony, "if my impatience to accost the maiden we wot of, +when I saw her alone, had not misled me, I should have sought you first +to tell you that no man knows better than I that my Lady Countess's +good will is not what is wanting to forward my suit." + +"Knowing then that it is not in my power or right to dispose of her, +thine ardent wooing was out of place," said Richard. + +"I own it, sir, though had I but had time I should have let the maiden +know that I sought her subject to other approval, which I trust to +obtain so as to satisfy you." + +"Young man," said Richard, "listen to friendly counsel, and meddle not +in perilous matters. I ask thee not whether Dethick hath any commerce +with Wingfield; but I warn thee earnestly to eschew beginning again +that which caused the trouble of thy childhood. Thou mayst do it +innocently, seeking the consent of the lady to this courtship of thine; +but I tell thee, as one who knows more of the matter than thou canst, +that thou wilt only meet with disappointment." + +"Hath the Queen other schemes for her?" asked Babington, anxiously; and +Richard, thinking of the vista of possible archdukes, replied that she +had; but that he was not free to speak, though he replied to +Babington's half-uttered question that his son Humfrey was by no means +intended. + +"Ah!" cried Antony, "you give me hope, sir. I will do her such service +that she shall refuse me nothing! Sir! do you mock me!" he added, with +a fierce change of note. + +"My poor lad, I could not but laugh to think what a simple plotter you +are, and what fine service you will render if thou utterest thy vows to +the very last person who should hear them! Credit me, thou wast never +made for privy schemes and conspiracies, and a Queen who can only be +served by such, is no mistress for thee. Thou wilt but run thine own +neck into the noose, and belike that of others." + +"That will I never do," quoth Antony. "I may peril myself, but no +others." + +"Then the more you keep out of secrets the better. Thou art too +open-hearted and unguarded for them! So speaks thy well-wisher, +Antony, whose friendship thou hast won by thine honourable conduct +towards my rash boy; though I tell thee plainly, the maiden is not for +thee, whether as Scottish or English, Cis or Bride." + +So they parted at the gate of the park, the younger man full of hope +and confidence, the elder full of pitying misgiving. + +He was too kind-hearted not to let Cicely know that he should see her +mother, or to refuse to take a billet for her,--a little formal note +necessarily silent on the matter at issue, since it had to be laid +before the Earl, who smiled at the scrupulous precaution, and let it +pass. + +Thus the good father parted with Humfrey and Diccon, rejoicing in his +heart that they would fight with open foes, instead of struggling with +the meshes of perplexity, which beset all concerned with Queen Mary, +and then he turned his horse's head towards Wingfield Manor, a grand +old castellated mansion of the Talbots, considered by some to excel +even Sheffield. It stood high, on ground falling very steeply from the +walls on three sides, and on the south well fortified, court within +court, and each with a deep-arched and portcullised gateway, with +loopholed turrets on either side, a porter's lodge, and yeomen guards. + +Mr. Talbot had to give his name and quality, and show his pass, at each +of these gates, though they were still guarded by Shrewsbury retainers, +with the talbot on their sleeves. He was, however, received with the +respect and courtesy due to a trusted kinsman of their lord; and Sir +Ralf Sadler, a thin, elderly, careworn statesman, came to greet him at +the door of the hall, and would only have been glad could he have +remained a week, instead of for the single night he wished to spend at +Wingfield. + +Sadler was one of Mary's most gentle and courteous warders, and he +spoke of her with much kindness, regretting that her health had again +begun to suffer from the approach of winter, and far more from +disappointment. + +The negotiation with Scotland on her behalf was now known to have been +abortive. James had fallen into the hands of the faction most hostile +to her, and though his mother still clung with desperate hope to the +trust that he, at least, was labouring on her behalf, no one else +believed that he cared for anything but his own security, and even she +had been forced to perceive that her liberation was again adjourned. + +"And what think you was her thought when she found that road closed +up?" said Sir Ralf. "Why, for her people! Her gentlewoman, Mrs. +Mowbray, hath, it seems, been long betrothed." + +"Ay, to Gilbert Curll, the long-backed Scotch Secretary. They were to +be wed at Stirling so soon as she arrived there again." + +"Yea; but when she read the letter that overthrew her hopes, what did +she say but that 'her servants must not grow gray-headed with waiting +till she was set free'! So she would have me make the case known to +Sir Parson, and we had them married in the parish church two days +since, they being both good Protestants." + +"There is no doubt that her kindness of heart is true," said Richard. +"The poor folk at Sheffield and Ecclesfield will miss her plentiful +almsgiving." + +"Some say it ought to be hindered, for that it is but a purchasing of +friends to her cause," said Sadler; "but I have not the heart to check +it, and what could these of the meaner sort do to our Queen's +prejudice? I take care that nothing goes among them that could hide a +billet, and that none of her people have private speech with them, so +no harm can ensue from her bounty." + +A message here came that the Queen was ready to admit Mr. Talbot, and +Richard found himself in her presence chamber, a larger and finer room +than that in the lodge at Sheffield, and with splendid tapestry +hangings and plenishings; but the windows all looked into the inner +quadrangle, instead of on the expanse of park, and thus, as Mary said, +she felt more entirely the prisoner. This, however, was not +perceptible at the time, for the autumn evening had closed in; there +were two large fires burning, one at each end of the room, and tall +tapestry-covered screens and high-backed settles were arranged so as to +exclude the draughts around the hearth, where Mary reclined on a +couch-like chair. She looked ill, and though she brightened with her +sweet smile to welcome her guest, there were dark circles round her +eyes, and an air of dejection in her whole appearance. She held out +her hand graciously, as Richard approached, closely followed by his +host; he put his knee to the ground and kissed it, as she said, "You +must pardon me, Mr. Talbot, for discourtesy, if I am less agile than +when we were at Buxton. You see my old foe lies in wait to plague me +with aches and pains so soon as the year declines." + +"I am sorry to see your Grace thus," returned Richard, standing on the +step. + +"The while I am glad to see you thus well, sir. And how does the good +lady, your wife, and my sweet playfellow, your daughter?" + +"Well, madam, I thank your Grace, and Cicely has presumed to send a +billet by mine hand." + +"Ah! the dear bairnie," and all the Queen's consummate art could not +repress the smile of gladness and the movement of eager joy with which +she held out her hand for it, so that Richard regretted its extreme +brevity and unsatisfying nature, and Mary, recollecting herself in a +second, added, smiling at Sadler, "Mr. Talbot knows how a poor prisoner +must love the pretty playfellows that are lent to her for a time." + +Sir Ralf's presence hindered any more intimate conversation, and +Richard had certainly committed a solecism in giving Cicely's letter +the precedence over the Earl's. The Queen, however, had recalled her +caution, and inquired for the health of the Lord and Lady, and, with a +certain sarcasm on her lips, trusted that the peace of the family was +complete, and that they were once more setting Hallamshire the example +of living together as household doves. + +Her hazel eyes meantime archly scanned the face of Richard, who could +not quite forget the very undovelike treatment he had received, though +he could and did sturdily aver that "my Lord and my Lady were perfectly +reconciled, and seemed most happy in their reunion." + +"Well-a-day, let us trust that there will be no further disturbances to +their harmony," said Mary, "a prayer I may utter most sincerely. Is the +little Arbell come back with them?" + +"Yea, madam." + +"And is she installed in my former rooms, with the canopy over her +cradle to befit her strain of royalty?" + +"I think not, madam. Meseems that my Lady Countess hath seen reason to +be heedful on that score. My young lady hath come back with a grave +gouvernante, who makes her read her primer and sew her seam, and save +that she sat next my Lady at the wedding feast there is little +difference made between her and the other grandchildren." + +The Queen then inquired into the circumstances of the wedding +festivities with the interest of one to whom most of the parties were +more or less known, and who seldom had the treat of a little feminine +gossip. She asked who had been "her little Cis's partner," and when +she heard of Babington, she said, "Ah ha, then, the poor youth has made +his peace with my Lord?" + +"Certes, madam, he is regarded with high favour by both my Lord and my +Lady," said Richard, heartily wishing himself rid of his host. + +"I rejoice to hear it," said Mary; "I was afraid that his childish +knight-errantry towards the captive dame had damaged the poor +stripling's prospects for ever. He is our neighbour here, and I +believe Sir Ralf regards him as somewhat perilous." + +"Nay, madam, if my Lord of Shrewsbury be satisfied with him, so surely +ought I to be," said Sir Ralf. + +Nothing more of importance passed that night. The packet of accounts +was handed over to Sir Andrew Melville, and the two gentlemen dismissed +with gracious good-nights. + +Richard Talbot was entirely trusted, and when the next morning after +prayers, breakfast, and a turn among the stables, it was intimated that +the Queen was ready to see him anent my Lord's business, Sir Ralf +Sadler, who had his week's report to write to the Council, requested +that his presence might be dispensed with, and thus Mr. Talbot was +ushered into the Queen's closet without any witnesses to their +interview save Sir Andrew Melville and Marie de Courcelles. The Queen +was seated in a large chair, leaning against cushions, and evidently in +a good deal of pain, but, as Richard made his obeisance, her eyes shone +as she quoted two lines from an old Scotch ballad-- + + "'Madame, how does my gay goss hawk? + Madame, how does my doo?' + +Now can I hear what I hunger for!" + +"My gay gosshawk, madam, is flown to join Sir Francis Drake at +Plymouth, and taken his little brother with him. I come now from +speeding them as far as Derby." + +"Ah! you must not ask me to pray for success to them, my good +sir,--only that there may be a time when nations may be no more +divided, and I fear me we shall not live to see it. And my doo--my +little Cis, did she weep as became a sister for the bold laddies?" + +"She wept many tears, madam, but we are sore perplexed by a matter that +I must lay before your Grace. My Lady Countess is hotly bent on a +match between the maiden and young Babington." + +"Babington!" exclaimed the Queen, with the lioness sparkle in her eye. +"You refused the fellow of course?" + +"Flatly, madam, but your Grace knows that it is ill making the Countess +accept a denial of her will." + +Mary laughed "Ah ha! methought, sir, you looked somewhat as if you had +had a recent taste of my Lord of Shrewsbury's dove. But you are a man +to hold your own sturdy will, Master Richard, let Lord or Lady say what +they choose." + +"I trust so, madam, I am master of mine own house, and, as I should +certainly not give mine own daughter to Babington, so shall I guard +your Grace's." + +"You would not give the child to him if she were your own?" + +"No, madam." + +"And wherefore not? Because he is too much inclined to the poor +prisoner and her faith? Is it so, sir?" + +"Your Grace speaks the truth in part," said Richard, and then with +effort added, "and likewise, madam, with your pardon, I would say that +though I verily believe it is nobleness of heart and spirit that +inclines poor Antony to espouse your Grace's cause, there is to my mind +a shallowness and indiscretion about his nature, even when most in +earnest, such as would make me loath to commit any woman, or any +secret, to his charge." + +"You are an honest man, Mr. Talbot," said Mary; "I am glad my poor maid +is in your charge. Tell me, is this suit on his part made to your +daughter or to the Scottish orphan?" + +"To the Scottish orphan, madam. Thus much he knows, though by what +means I cannot tell, unless it be through that kinsman of mine, who, as +I told your Grace, saw the babe the night I brought her in." + +"Doubtless," responded Mary. "Take care he neither knows more, nor +hints what he doth know to the Countess." + +"So far as I can, I will, madam," said Richard, "but his tongue is not +easy to silence; I marvel that he hath not let the secret ooze out +already." + +"Proving him to have more discretion than you gave him credit for, my +good sir," said the Queen, smiling. "Refuse him, however, staunchly, +grounding your refusal, if it so please you, on the very causes for +which I should accept him, were the lassie verily what he deems her, my +ward and kinswoman. Nor do you accede to him, whatever word or token +he may declare that he brings from me, unless it bear this mark," and +she hastily traced a peculiar-twisted form of M. "You know it?" she +asked. + +"I have seen it, madam," said Richard, gravely, for he knew it as the +letter which had been traced on the child's shoulders. + +"Ah, good Master Richard," she said, with a sweet and wistful +expression, looking up to his face in pleading, and changing to the +familiar pronoun, "thou likest not my charge, and I know that it is +hard on an upright man like thee to have all this dissembling thrust on +thee, but what can a poor captive mother do but strive to save her +child from an unworthy lot, or from captivity like her own? I ask thee +to say nought, that is all, and to shelter the maid, who hath been as +thine own daughter, yet a little longer. Thou wilt not deny me, for +her sake." + +"Madam, I deny nothing that a Christian man and my Queen's faithful +servant may in honour do. Your Grace has the right to choose your own +daughter's lot, and with her I will deal as you direct me. But, madam, +were it not well to bethink yourself whether it be not a perilous and a +cruel policy to hold out a bait to nourish hope in order to bind to +your service a foolish though a generous youth, whose devotion may, +after all, work you and himself more ill than good?" + +Mary looked a good deal struck, and waved back her two attendants, who +were both startled and offended at what Marie de Courcelles described +as the Englishman's brutal boldness. + +"Silence, dear friends," said she. "Would that I had always had +counsellors who would deal with me with such honour and +disinterestedness. Then should I not be here." + +However, she then turned her attention to the accounts, where Sir +Andrew Melville was ready to question and debate every item set down by +Shrewsbury's steward; while his mistress showed herself liberal and +open-handed. Indeed she had considerable command of money from her +French dowry, the proceeds of which were, in spite of the troubles of +the League, regularly paid to her, and no doubt served her well in +maintaining the correspondence which, throughout her captivity, eluded +the vigilance of her keepers. On taking leave of her, which Richard +Talbot did before joining his host at the mid-day meal, she reiterated +her thanks for his care of her daughter, and her charges to let no +persuasion induce him to consent to Babington's overtures, adding that +she hoped soon to obtain permission to have the maiden amongst her +authorised attendants. She gave him a billet, loosely tied with black +floss silk and unsealed, so that if needful, Sadler and Shrewsbury +might both inspect the tender, playful, messages she wrote to her +"mignonne," and which she took care should not outrun those which she +had often addressed to Bessie Pierrepoint. + +Cicely was a little disappointed when she first opened the letter, but +ere long she bethought herself of the directions she had received to +hold such notes to the fire, and accordingly she watched, waiting even +till the next day before she could have free and solitary access to +either of the two fires in the house, those in the hall and in the +kitchen. + +At last, while the master was out farming, Ned at school, and the +mistress and all her maids engaged in the unsavoury occupation of +making candles, by repeated dipping of rushes into a caldron of melted +fat, after the winter's salting, she escaped under pretext of attending +to the hall fire, and kneeling beside the glowing embers, she held the +paper over it, and soon saw pale yellow characters appear and deepen +into a sort of brown or green, in which she read, "My little jewel must +share the ring with none less precious. Yet be not amazed if +commendations as from me be brought thee. Jewels are sometimes useful +to dazzle the eyes of those who shall never possess them. Therefore +seem not cold nor over coy, so as to take away all hope. It may be +much for my service. Thou art discreet, and thy good guardians will +hinder all from going too far. It might be well that he should deem +thee and me inclined to what they oppose. Be secret. Keep thine own +counsel, and let them not even guess what thou hast here read. So fare +thee well, with my longing, yearning blessing." + +Cicely hastily hid the letter in the large housewifely pocket attached +to her girdle, feeling excited and important at having a real secret +unguessed by any one, and yet experiencing some of the reluctance +natural to the pupil of Susan Talbot at the notion of acting a part +towards Babington. She really liked him, and her heart warmed to him +as a true friend of her much-injured mother, so that it seemed the more +cruel to delude him with false hopes. Yet here was she asked to do a +real service to her mother! + +Poor Cis, she knelt gazing perplexed into the embers, now and then +touching a stick to make them glow, till Nat, the chief of "the old +blue bottles of serving-men," came in to lay the cloth for dinner, +exclaiming, "So, Mistress Cis! Madam doth cocker thee truly, letting +thee dream over the coals, till thy face be as red as my Lady's new +farthingale, while she is toiling away like a very scullion." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +A TANGLE. + + +It was a rainy November afternoon. Dinner was over, the great wood +fire had been made up, and Mistress Talbot was presiding over the +womenfolk of her household and their tasks with needle and distaff. She +had laid hands on her unwilling son Edward to show his father how well +he could read the piece de resistance of the family, Fabyan's +Chronicle; and the boy, with an elbow firmly planted on either side of +the great folio, was floundering through the miseries of King Stephen's +time; while Mr. Talbot, after smoothing the head of his largest hound +for some minutes, had leant back in his chair and dropped asleep. +Cicely's hand tardily drew out her thread, her spindle scarcely +balanced itself on the floor, and her maiden meditation was in an +inactive sort of way occupied with the sense of dulness after the +summer excitements, and wonder whether her greatness were all a dream, +and anything would happen to recall her once more to be a princess. +The kitten at her feet took the spindle for a lazily moving creature, +and thought herself fascinating it, so she stared hard, with only an +occasional whisk of the end of her striped tail; and Mistress Susan was +only kept awake by her anxiety to adapt Diccon's last year's jerkin to +Ned's use. + +Suddenly the dogs outside bayed, the dogs inside pricked their ears, +Ned joyfully halted, his father uttered the unconscious falsehood, "I'm +not asleep, lad, go on," then woke up as horses' feet were heard; Ned +dashed out into the porch, and was in time to hold the horse of one of +the two gentlemen, who, with cloaks over their heads, had ridden up to +the door. He helped them off with their cloaks in the porch, +exchanging greetings with William Cavendish and Antony Babington. + +"Will Mrs. Talbot pardon our riding-boots?" said the former. "We have +only come down from the Manor-house, and we rode mostly on the grass." + +Their excuses were accepted, though Susan had rather Master William had +brought any other companion. However, on such an afternoon, almost any +variety was welcome, especially to the younger folk, and room was made +for them in the circle, and according to the hospitality of the time, a +cup of canary fetched for each to warm him after the ride, while +another was brought to the master of the house to pledge them in--a +relic of the barbarous ages, when such a security was needed that the +beverage was not poisoned. + +Will Cavendish then explained that a post had come that morning to his +stepfather from Wingfield, having been joined on the way by Babington +(people always preferred travelling in companies for security's sake), +and that, as there was a packet from Sir Ralf Sadler for Master +Richard, he had brought it down, accompanied by his friend, who was +anxious to pay his devoirs to the ladies, and though Will spoke to the +mother, he smiled and nodded comprehension at the daughter, who blushed +furiously, and set her spindle to twirl and leap so violently, as to +make the kitten believe the creature had taken fright, and was going to +escape. On she dashed with a sudden spring, involving herself and it +in the flax. The old watch-dog roused himself with a growl to keep +order. Cicely flung herself on the cat, Antony hurried to the rescue +to help her disentangle it, and received a fierce scratch for his +pains, which made him start back, while Mrs. Talbot put in her word. +"Ah, Master Babington, it is ill meddling with a cat in the toils, +specially for men folk! Here, Cis, hold her fast and I will soon have +her free. Still, Tib!" + +Cicely's cheeks were of a still deeper colour as she held fast the +mischievous favourite, while the good mother untwisted the flax from +its little claws and supple limbs, while it winked, twisted its head +about sentimentally, purred, and altogether wore an air of injured +innocence and forgiveness. + +"I am afraid, air, you receive nothing but damage at our house," said +Mrs. Talbot politely. "Hast drawn blood? Oh fie! thou ill-mannered +Tib! Will you have a tuft from a beaver to stop the blood?" + +"Thanks, madam, no, it is a small scratch. I would, I would that I +could face truer perils for this lady's sake!" + +"That I hope you will not, sir," said Richard, in a serious tone, which +conveyed a meaning to the ears of the initiated, though Will Cavendish +only laughed, and said, + +"Our kinsman takes it gravely! It was in the days of our grandfathers +that ladies could throw a glove among the lions, and bid a knight fetch +it out for her love." + +"It has not needed a lion to defeat Mr. Babington," observed Ned, +looking up from his book with a sober twinkle in his eye, which set +them all laughing, though his father declared that he ought to have his +ears boxed for a malapert varlet. + +Will Cavendish declared that the least the fair damsel could do for her +knight-errant was to bind up his wounds, but Cis was too shy to show +any disposition so to do, and it was Mrs. Talbot who salved the scratch +for him. She had a feeling for the motherless youth, upon whom she +foreboded that a fatal game might be played. + +When quiet was restored, Mr. Talbot craved license from his guests, and +opened the packet. There was a letter for Mistress Cicely Talbot in +Queen Mary's well-known beautiful hand, which Antony followed with +eager eyes, and a low gasp of "Ah! favoured maiden," making the good +mother, who overheard it, say to herself, "Methinks his love is chiefly +for the maid as something appertaining to the Queen, though he wots not +how nearly. His heart is most for the Queen herself, poor lad." + +The maiden did not show any great haste to open the letter, being aware +that the true gist of it could only be discovered in private, and her +father was studying his own likewise in silence. It was from Sir Ralf +Sadler to request that Mistress Cicely might be permitted to become a +regular member of the household. There was now a vacancy since, though +Mrs. Curll was nearly as much about the Queen as ever, it was as the +secretary's wife, not as one of the maiden attendants; and Sir Ralf +wrote that he wished the more to profit by the opportunity, as he might +soon be displaced by some one not of a temper greatly to consider the +prisoner's wishes. Moreover, he said the poor lady was ill at ease, +and much dejected at the tenor of her late letters from Scotland, and +that she had said repeatedly that nothing would do her good but the +presence of her pretty playfellow. Sir Ralf added assurances that he +would watch over the maiden like his own daughter, and would take the +utmost care of the faith and good order of all within his household. +Curll also wrote by order of his mistress a formal application for the +young lady, to which Mary had added in her own hand, "I thank the good +Master Richard and Mrs. Susan beforehand, for I know they will not deny +me." + +Refusal was, of course, impossible to a mother who had every right to +claim her own child; and there was nothing to be done but to fix the +time for setting off: and Cicely, who had by this time read her own +letter, or at least all that was on the surface, looked up tremulous, +with a strange frightened gladness, and said, "Mother, she needs me." + +"I shall shortly be returning home," said Antony, "and shall much +rejoice if I may be one of the party who will escort this fair maiden." + +"I shall take my daughter myself on a pillion, sir," said Richard, +shortly. + +"Then, sir, I may tell my Lord that you purpose to grant this request," +said Will Cavendish, who had expected at least some time to be asked +for deliberation, and knew his mother would expect her permission to be +requested. + +"I may not choose but do so," replied Richard; and then, thinking he +might have said too much, he added, "It were sheer cruelty to deny any +solace to the poor lady." + +"Sick and in prison, and balked by her only son," added Susan, "one's +heart cannot but ache for her." + +"Let not Mr. Secretary Walsingham hear you say so, good madam," said +Cavendish, smiling. "In London they think of her solely as a kind of +malicious fury shut up in a cage, and there were those who looked +askance at me when I declared that she was a gentlewoman of great +sweetness and kindness of demeanour. I believe myself they will not +rest till they have her blood!" + +Cis and Susan cried out with horror, and Babington with stammering +wrath demanded whether she was to be assassinated in the Spanish +fashion, or on what pretext a charge could be brought against her. +"Well," Cavendish answered, "as the saying is, give her rope enough, +and she will hang herself. Indeed, there's no doubt but that she +tampered enough with Throckmorton's plot to have been convicted of +misprision of treason, and so she would have been, but that her most +sacred Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, would have no charge made against her. + +"Treason from one sovereign to another, that is new law!" said +Babington. + +"So to speak," said Richard; "but if she claim to be heiress to the +crown, she must also be a subject. Heaven forefend that she should +come to the throne!" + +To which all except Cis and Babington uttered a hearty amen, while a +picture arose before the girl of herself standing beside her royal +mother robed in velvet and ermine on the throne, and of the faces of +Lady Shrewsbury and her daughter as they recognised her, and were +pardoned. + +Cavendish presently took his leave, and carried the unwilling Babington +off with him, rightly divining that the family would wish to make their +arrangements alone. To Richard's relief, Babington had brought him no +private message, and to Cicely's disappointment, there was no addition +in sympathetic ink to her letter, though she scorched the paper brown +in trying to bring one out. The Scottish Queen was much too wary to +waste and risk her secret expedients without necessity. + +To Richard and Susan this was the real resignation of their +foster-child into the hands of her own parent. It was true that she +would still bear their name, and pass for their daughter, but that +would be only so long as it might suit her mother's convenience; and +instead of seeing her every day, and enjoying her full confidence (so +far as they knew), she would be out of reach, and given up to +influences, both moral and religious, which they deeply distrusted; +also to a fate looming in the future with all the dark uncertainty that +brooded over all connected with Tudor or Stewart royalty. + +How much good Susan wept and prayed that night, only her pillow knew, +not even her husband; and there was no particular comfort when my Lady +Countess descended on her in the first interval of fine weather, full +of wrath at not having been consulted, and discharging it in all sorts +of predictions as to Cis's future. No honest and loyal husband would +have her, after being turned loose in such company; she would be +corrupted in morals and manners, and a disgrace to the Talbots; she +would be perverted in faith, become a Papist, and die in a nunnery +beyond sea; or she would be led into plots and have her head cut off; +or pressed to death by the peine forte et dure. + +Susan had nothing to say to all this, but that her husband thought it +right, and then had a little vigorous advice on her own score against +tamely submitting to any man, a weakness which certainly could not be +laid to the charge of the termagant of Hardwicke. + +Cicely herself was glad to go. She loved her mother with a romantic +enthusiastic affection, missed her engaging caresses, and felt her +Bridgefield home eminently dull, flat, and even severe, especially +since she had lost the excitement of Humfrey's presence, and likewise +her companion Diccon. So she made her preparations with a joyful +alacrity, which secretly pained her good foster-parents, and made Susan +almost ready to reproach her with ingratitude. + +They lectured her, after the fashion of the time, on the need of never +forgetting her duty to her God in her affection to her mother, Susan +trusting that she would never let herself be led away to the Romish +faith, and Richard warning her strongly against untruth and falsehood, +though she must be exposed to cruel perplexities as to the right-- "But +if thou be true to man, thou wilt be true to God," he said. "If thou +be false to man, thou wilt soon be false to thy God likewise." + +"We will pray for thee, child," said Susan. "Do thou pray earnestly +for thyself that thou mayest ever see the right." + +"My queen mother is a right pious woman. She is ever praying and +reading holy books," said Cis. "Mother Susan, I marvel you, who know +her, can speak thus." + +"Nay, child, I would not lessen thy love and duty to her, poor soul, +but it is not even piety in a mother that can keep a maiden from +temptation. I blame not her in warning thee." + +Richard himself escorted the damsel to her new home. There was no +preventing their being joined by Babington, who, being well acquainted +with the road, and being also known as a gentleman of good estate, was +able to do much to make their journey easy to them, and secure good +accommodation for them at the inns, though Mr. Talbot entirely baffled +his attempts to make them his guests, and insisted on bearing a full +share of the reckoning. Neither did Cicely fulfil her mother's +commission to show herself inclined to accept his attentions. If she +had been under contrary orders, there would have been some excitement +in going as far as she durst, but the only effect on her was +embarrassment, and she treated Antony with the same shy stiffness she +had shown to Humfrey, during the earlier part of his residence at home. +Besides, she clung more and more to her adopted father, who, now that +they were away from home and he was about to part with her, treated her +with a tender, chivalrous deference, most winning in itself, and making +her feel herself no longer a child. + +Arriving at last at Wingfield, Sir Ralf Sadler had hardly greeted them +before a messenger was sent to summon the young lady to the presence of +the Queen of Scots. Her welcome amounted to ecstasy. The Queen rose +from her cushioned invalid chair as the bright young face appeared at +the door, held out her arms, gathered her into them, and, covering her +with kisses, called her by all sorts of tender names in French and +Scottish. + +"O ma mie, my lassie, ma fille, mine ain wee thing, how sweet to have +one bairn who is mine, mine ain, whom they have not robbed me of, for +thy brother, ah, thy brother, he hath forsaken me! He is made of the +false Darnley stuff, and compacted by Knox and Buchanan and the rest, +and he will not stand a blast of Queen Elizabeth's wrath for the poor +mother that bore him. Ay, he hath betrayed me, and deluded me, my +child; he hath sold me once more to the English loons! I am set faster +in prison than ever, the iron entereth into my soul. Thou art but +daughter to a captive queen, who looks to thee to be her one bairn, one +comfort and solace." + +Cicely responded by caresses, and indeed felt herself more than ever +before the actual daughter, as she heard with indignation of James's +desertion of his mother's cause; but Mary, whatever she said herself, +would not brook to hear her speak severely of him. "The poor laddie," +she said, "he was no better than a prisoner among those dour Scots +lords," and she described in graphic terms some of her own experiences +of royalty in Scotland. + +The other ladies all welcomed the newcomer as the best medicine both to +the spirit and body of their Queen. She was regularly enrolled among +the Queen's maidens, and shared their meals. Mary dined and supped +alone, sixteen dishes being served to her, both on "fish and flesh +days," and the reversion of these as well as a provision of their own +came to the higher table of her attendants, where Cicely ranked with +the two Maries, Jean Kennedy, and Sir Andrew Melville. There was a +second table, at which ate the two secretaries, Mrs. Curll, and +Elizabeth Curll, Gilbert's sister, a most faithful attendant on the +Queen. As before, she shared the Queen's chamber, and there it was +that Mary asked her, "Well, mignonne, and how fares it with thine +ardent suitor? Didst say that he rode with thee?" + +"As far as the Manor gates, madam." + +"And what said he? Was he very pressing?" + +"Nay, madam, I was ever with my father--Mr. Talbot." + +"And he keeps the poor youth at arm's length. Thine other swain, the +sailor, his son, is gone off once more to rob the Spaniards, is he +not?--so there is the more open field." + +"Ay! but not till he had taught Antony a lesson." + +The Queen made Cis tell the story of the encounter, at which she was +much amused. "So my princess, even unknown, can make hearts beat and +swords ring for her. Well done! thou art worthy to be one of the maids +in Perceforest or Amadis de Gaul, who are bred in obscurity, and set +all the knights a sparring together. Tourneys are gone out since my +poor gude-father perished by mischance at one, or we would set thee +aloft to be contended for." + +"O madame mere, it made me greatly afraid, and poor Humfrey had to go +off without leave-taking, my Lady Countess was so wrathful." + +"So my Lady Countess is playing our game, is she! Backing Babington +and banishing Talbot? Ha, ha," and Mary again laughed with a merriment +that rejoiced the faithful ears of Jean Kennedy, under her bedclothes, +but somewhat vexed Cicely. "Indeed, madam mother," she said, "if I +must wed under my degree, I had rather it were Humfrey than Antony +Babington." + +"I tell thee, simple child, thou shall wed neither. A woman does not +wed every man to whom she gives a smile and a nod. So long as thou +bear'st the name of this Talbot, he is a good watch-dog to hinder +Babington from winning thee: but if my Lady Countess choose to send the +swain here, favoured by her to pay his court to thee, why then, she +gives us the best chance we have had for many a long day of holding +intercourse with our friends without, and a hope of thee will bind him +the more closely." + +"He is all yours, heart and soul, already, madam." + +"I know it, child, but men are men, and no chains are so strong as can +be forged by a lady's lip and eye, if she do it cunningly. So said my +belle mere in France, and well do I believe it. Why, if one of the +sour-visaged reformers who haunt this place chanced to have a daughter +with sweetness enough to temper the acidity, the youth might be +throwing up his cap the next hour for Queen Bess and the Reformation, +unless we can tie him down with a silken cable while he is in the mind." + +"Yea, madam, you who are beautiful and winsome, you can do such things, +I am homely and awkward." + +"Mort de ma vie, child! the beauty of the best of us is in the man's +eyes who looks at us. 'Tis true, thou hast more of the Border lassie +than the princess. The likeness of some ewe-milking, cheese-making +sonsie Hepburn hath descended to thee, and hath been fostered by +country breeding. But thou hast by nature the turn of the neck, and +the tread that belong to our Lorraine blood, the blood of Charlemagne, +and now that I have thee altogether, see if I train thee not so as to +bring out the princess that is in thee; and so, good-night, my bairnie, +my sweet child; I shall sleep to-night, now that I have thy warm fresh +young cheek beside mine. Thou art life to me, my little one." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +TUTBURY + + +James VI. again cruelly tore his mother's heart and dashed her hopes by +an unfeeling letter, in which he declared her incapable of being +treated with, since she was a prisoner and deposed. The not +unreasonable expectation, that his manhood might reverse the +proceedings wrought in his name in his infancy, was frustrated. Mary +could no longer believe that he was constrained by a faction, but +perceived clearly that he merely considered her as a rival, whose +liberation would endanger his throne, and that whatever scruples he +might once have entertained had given way to English gold and Scottish +intimidation. + +"The more simple was I to look for any other in the son of Darnley and +the pupil of Buchanan," said she, "but a mother's heart is slow to give +up her trust." + +"And is there now no hope?" asked Cicely. + +"Hope, child? Dum spiro, spero. The hope of coming forth honourably +to him and to Elizabeth is at an end. There is another mode of coming +forth," she added with a glittering eye, "a mode which shall make them +rue that they have driven patience to extremity." + +"By force of arms? Oh, madam!" cried Cicely. + +"And wherefore not? My noble kinsman, Guise, is the paramount ruler in +France, and will soon have crushed the heretics there; Parma is +triumphant in the Low Countries, and has only to tread out the last +remnants of faction with his iron boot. They wait only the call, which +my motherly weakness has delayed, to bring their hosts to avenge my +wrongs, and restore this island to the true faith. Then thou, child, +wilt be my heiress. We will give thee to one who will worthily bear +the sceptre, and make thee blessed at home. The Austrians make good +husbands, I am told. Matthias or Albert would be a noble mate for +thee; only thou must be trained to more princely bearing, my little +home-bred lassie." + +In spite--nay, perhaps, in consequence--of these anticipations, an +entire change began for Cicely. It was as if all the romance of her +princely station had died out and the reality had set in. Her freedom +was at an end. As one of the suite of the Queen of Scots, she was as +much a prisoner as the rest; whereas before, both at Buxton and +Sheffield, she had been like a dog or kitten admitted to be petted and +played with, but living another life elsewhere, while now there was +nothing to relieve the weariness and monotony of the restraint. + +Nor was the petting what it was at first. Mary was far from being in +the almost frolicsome mood which had possessed her at Buxton; her hopes +and spirits had sunk to the lowest pitch, and though she had an +admirably sweet and considerate temper, and was scarcely ever fretful +or unreasonable with her attendants, still depression, illness, and +anxiety could not but tell on her mode of dealing with her +surroundings. Sometimes she gave way entirely, and declared she should +waste away and perish in her captivity, and that she only brought +misery and destruction on all who tried to befriend her; or, again, +that she knew that Burghley and Walsingham were determined to have her +blood. + +It was in these moments that Cicely loved her most warmly, for caresses +and endearments soothed her, and the grateful affection which received +them would be very sweet. Or in a higher tone, she would trust that, +if she were to perish, she might be a martyr and confessor for her +Church, though, as she owned, the sacrifice would be stained by many a +sin; and she betook herself to the devotions which then touched her +daughter more than in any other respect. + +More often, however, her indomitable spirit resorted to fresh schemes, +and chafed fiercely and hotly at thought of her wrongs; and this made +her the more critical of all that displeased her in Cicely. + +Much that had been treated as charming and amusing when Cicely was her +plaything and her visitor was now treated as unbecoming English +rusticity. The Princess Bride must speak French and Italian, perhaps +Latin; and the girl, whose literary education had stopped short when +she ceased to attend Master Sniggius's school, was made to study her +Cicero once more with the almoner, who was now a French priest named De +Preaux, while Queen Mary herself heard her read French, and, though +always good-natured, was excruciated by her pronunciation. + +Moreover, Mary was too admirable a needlewoman not to wish to make her +daughter the same; whereas Cicely's turn had always been for the +department of housewifery, and she could make a castle in pastry far +better than in tapestry; but where Queen Mary had a whole service of +cooks and pantlers of her own, this accomplishment was uncalled for, +and was in fact considered undignified. She had to sit still and learn +all the embroidery stitches and lace-making arts brought by Mary from +the Court of France, till her eyes grew weary, her heart faint, and her +young limbs ached for the freedom of Bridgefield Pleasaunce and +Sheffield Park. + +Her mother sometimes saw her weariness, and would try to enliven her by +setting her to dance, but here poor Cicely's untaught movements were +sure to incur reproof; and even if they had been far more satisfactory +to the beholders, what refreshment were they in comparison with +gathering cranberries in the park, or holding a basket for Ned in the +apple-tree? Mrs. Kennedy made no scruple of scolding her roundly for +fretting in a month over what the Queen had borne for full eighteen +years. + +"Ah!" said poor Cicely, "but she had always been a queen, and was used +to being mewed up close!" + +And if this was the case at Wingfield, how much more was it so at +Tutbury, whither Mary was removed in January. The space was far +smaller, and the rooms were cold and damp; there was much less outlet, +the atmosphere was unwholesome, and the furniture insufficient. Mary +was in bed with rheumatism almost from the time of her arrival, but she +seemed thus to become the more vigilant over her daughter, and +distressed by her shortcomings. If the Queen did not take exercise, +the suite were not supposed to require any, and indeed it was never +desired by her elder ladies, but to the country maiden it was absolute +punishment to be thus shut up day after day. Neither Sir Ralf Sadler +nor his colleague, Mr. Somer, had brought a wife to share the charge, +so that there was none of the neutral ground afforded by intercourse +with the ladies of the Talbot family, and at first the only variety +Cicely ever had was the attendance at chapel on the other side of the +court. + +It was remarkable that Mary discouraged all proselytising towards the +Protestants of her train, and even forbore to make any open attempt on +her daughter's faith. "Cela viendra," she said to Marie de Courcelles. +"The sermons of M. le Pasteur will do more to convert her to our side +than a hundred controversial arguments of our excellent Abbe; and when +the good time comes, one High Mass will be enough to win her over." + +"Alas! when shall we ever again assist at the Holy Sacrifice in all its +glory!" sighed the lady. + +"Ah, my good Courcelles! of what have you not deprived yourself for me! +Sacrifice, ah! truly you share it! But for the child, it would give +needless offence and difficulty were she to embrace our holy faith at +present. She is simple and impetuous, and has not yet sufficiently +outgrown the rude straightforward breeding of the good housewife, Madam +Susan, not to rush into open confession of her faith, and then! oh the +fracas! The wicked wolves would have stolen a precious lamb from M. le +Pasteur's fold! Master Richard would be sent for! Our restraint would +be the closer! Moreover, even when the moment of freedom strikes, who +knows that to find her of their own religion may not win us favour with +the English?" + +So, from whatever motive, Cis remained unmolested in her religion, save +by the weariness of the controversial sermons, during which the young +lady contrived to abstract her mind pretty completely. If in good +spirits she would construct airy castles for her Archduke; if +dispirited, she yearned with a homesick feeling for Bridgefield and +Mrs. Talbot. There was something in the firm sober wisdom and steady +kindness of that good lady which inspired a sense of confidence, for +which no caresses nor brilliant auguries could compensate. + +Weary and cramped she was to the point of having a feverish attack, and +on one slightly delirious night she fretted piteously after "mother," +and shook off the Queen's hand, entreating that "mother, real mother," +would come. Mary was much pained, and declared that if the child were +not better the next day she should have a messenger sent to summon Mrs. +Talbot. However, she was better in the morning; and the Queen, who had +been making strong representations of the unhealthiness and other +inconveniences of Tutbury, received a promise that she should change +her abode as soon as Chartley, a house belonging to the young Earl of +Essex, could be prepared for her. + +The giving away large alms had always been one of her great +solaces--not that she was often permitted any personal contact with the +poor: only to sit at a window watching them as they flocked into the +court, to be relieved by her servants under supervision from some +officer of her warders, so as to hinder any surreptitious communication +from passing between them. Sometimes, however, the poor would accost +her or her suite as she rode out; and she had a great compassion for +them, deprived, as she said, of the alms of the religious houses, and +flogged or branded if hunger forced them into beggary. On a fine +spring day Sir Ralf Sadler invited the ladies out to a hawking party on +the banks of the Dove, with the little sparrow hawks, whose prey was +specially larks. Pity for the beautiful soaring songster, or for the +young ones that might be starved in their nests, if the parent birds +were killed, had not then been thought of. A gallop on the moors, +though they were strangely dull, gray, and stony, was always the best +remedy for the Queen's ailments; and the party got into the saddle +gaily, and joyously followed the chase, thinking only of the dexterity +and beauty of the flight of pursuer and pursued, instead of the deadly +terror and cruel death to which they condemned the created creature, +the very proverb for joyousness. + +It was during the halt which followed the slaughter of one of the +larks, and the reclaiming of the hawk, that Cicely strayed a little +away from the rest of the party to gather some golden willow catkins +and sprays of white sloe thorn wherewith to adorn a beaupot that might +cheer the dull rooms at Tutbury. + +She had jumped down from her pony for the purpose, and was culling the +branch, when from the copsewood that clothed the gorge of the river a +ragged woman, with a hood tied over her head, came forward with +outstretched hand asking for alms. + +"Yon may have something from the Queen anon, Goody, when I can get back +to her," said Cis, not much liking the looks or the voice of the woman. + +"And have you nothing to cross the poor woman's hand with, fair +mistress?" returned the beggar. "She brought you fair fortune once; +how know you but she can bring you more?" + +And Cicely recognised the person who had haunted her at Sheffield, +Tideswell, and Buxton, and whom she had heard pronounced to be no woman +at all. + +"I need no fortune of your bringing," she said proudly, and trying to +get nearer the rest of the party, heartily wishing she was on, not off, +her little rough pony. + +"My young lady is proud," said her tormentor, fixing on her the little +pale eyes she so much disliked. "She is not one of the maidens who +would thank one who can make or mar her life, and cast spells that can +help her to a princely husband or leave her to a prison." + +"Let go," said Cicely, as she saw a retaining hand laid on her pony's +bridle; "I will not be beset thus." + +"And this is your gratitude to her who helped you to lie in a queen's +bosom; ay, and who could aid you to rise higher or fall lower?" + +"I owe nothing to you," said Cicely, too angry to think of prudence. +"Let me go!" + +There was a laugh, and not a woman's laugh. "You owe nothing, quoth my +mistress? Not to one who saw you, a drenched babe, brought in from the +wreck, and who gave the sign which has raised you to your present +honours? Beware!" + +By this time, however, the conversation had attracted notice, and +several riders were coming towards them. + +There was an immediate change of voice from the threatening tone to the +beggar's whine; but the words were--"I must have my reward ere I speak +out." + +"What is this? A masterful beggar wife besetting Mistress Talbot," +said Mr. Somer, who came first. + +"I had naught to give her," said Cicely. + +"She should have the lash for thus frightening you," said Somer. +"Yonder lady is too good to such vagabonds, and they come about us in +swarms. Stand back, woman, or it may be the worse for you. Let me +help you to your horse, Mistress Cicely." + +Instead of obeying, the seeming woman, to gain time perhaps, began a +story of woe; and Mr. Somer, being anxious to remount the young lady, +did not immediately stop it, so that before Cis was in her saddle the +Queen had ridden up, with Sir Ralf Sadler a little behind her. There +were thus a few seconds free, in which the stranger sprang to the +Queen's bridle and said a few hasty words almost inaudibly, and as Cis +thought, in French; but they were answered aloud in English--"My good +woman, I know all that you can tell me, and more, of this young lady's +fortune. Here are such alms as are mine to give; but hold your peace, +and quit us now." + +Sir Ralf Sadler and his son-in-law both looked suspicious at this +interview, and bade one of the grooms ride after the woman and see what +became of her, but the fellow soon lost right of her in the broken +ground by the river-side. + +When the party reached home, there was an anxious consultation of the +inner circle of confidantes over Cicely's story. Neither she nor the +Queen had the least doubt that the stranger was Cuthbert Langston, who +had been employed as an agent of hers for many years past; his +insignificant stature and colourless features eminently fitting him for +it. No concealment was made now that he was the messenger with the +beads and bracelets, which were explained to refer to some ivory beads +which had been once placed among some spare purchased by the Queen, and +which Jean had recognised as part of a rosary belonging to poor Alison +Hepburn, the nurse who had carried the babe from Lochleven. This had +opened the way to the recovery of her daughter. Mary and Sir Andrew +Melville had always held him to be devotedly faithful, but there had +certainly been something of greed, and something of menace in his +language which excited anxiety. Cicely was sure that his expressions +conveyed that he really knew her royal birth, and meant to threaten her +with the consequences, but the few who had known it were absolutely +persuaded that this was impossible, and believed that he could only +surmise that she was of more importance than an archer's daughter. + +He had told the Queen in French that he was in great need, and expected +a reward for his discretion respecting what he had brought her. And +when he perceived the danger of being overheard, he had changed it into +a pleading, "I did but tell the fair young lady that I could cast a +spell that would bring her some good fortune. Would her Grace hear it?" + +"So," said Mary, "I could but answer him as I did, Sadler and Somer +being both nigh. I gave him my purse, with all there was therein. How +much was it, Andrew?" + +"Five golden pieces, besides groats and testers, madam," replied Sir +Andrew. + +"If he come again, he must have more, if it can be contrived without +suspicion," said the Queen. "I fear me he may become troublesome if he +guess somewhat, and have to be paid to hold his tongue." + +"I dread worse than that," said Melville, apart to Jean Kennedy; "there +was a scunner in his een that I mislikit, as though her Grace had +offended him. And if the lust of the penny-fee hath possessed him, +'tis but who can bid the highest, to have him fast body and soul. +Those lads! those lads! I've seen a mony of them. They'll begin for +pure love of the Queen and of Holy Church, but ye see, 'tis lying and +falsehood and disguise that is needed, and one way or other they get so +in love with it, that they come at last to lie to us as well as to the +other side, and then none kens where to have them! Cuthbert has been +over to that weary Paris, and once a man goes there, he leaves his +truth and honour behind him, and ye kenna whether he be serving you, or +Queen Elizabeth, or the deil himsel'. I wish I could stop that loon's +thrapple, or else wot how much he kens anent our Lady Bride." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE LOVE TOKEN. + + +"Yonder woman came to tell this young lady's fortune," said Sir Ralf, a +few days later. "Did she guess what I, an old man, have to bode for +her!" and he smiled at the Queen. "Here is a token I was entreated by +a young gentleman to deliver to this young lady, with his humble suit +that he may pay his devoirs to her to-morrow, your Grace permitting." + +"I knew not," said Mary, "that my women had license to receive +visitors." + +"Assuredly not, as a rule, but this young gentleman, Mr. Babington of +Dethick, has my Lord and Lady of Shrewsbury's special commendation." + +"I knew the young man," said Mary, with perfectly acted heedlessness. +"He was my Lady Shrewsbury's page in his boyhood. I should have no +objection to receive him." + +"That, madam, may not be," returned Sadler. "I am sorry to say it is +contrary to the orders of the council, but if Mr. and Mrs. Curll, and +the fair Mistress Cicely, will do me the honour to dine with me +to-morrow in the hall, we may bring about the auspicious meeting my +Lady desires." + +Cicely's first impulse had been to pout and say she wanted none of Mr. +Babington's tokens, nor his company; but her mother's eye held her +back, and besides any sort of change of scene, or any new face, could +not but be delightful, so there was a certain leap of the young heart +when the invitation was accepted for her; and she let Sir Ralf put the +token into her hand, and a choice one it was. Everybody pressed to +look at it, while she stood blushing, coy and unwilling to display the +small egg-shaped watch of the kind recently invented at Nuremberg. Sir +Ralf observed that the young lady showed a comely shamefast +maidenliness, and therewith bowed himself out of the room. + +Cicely laughed with impatient scorn. "Well spoken, reverend seignior," +she said, as she found herself alone with the Queen. "I wish my Lady +Countess would leave me alone. I am none of hers." + +"Nay, mademoiselle, be not thus disdainful," said the Queen, in a gay +tone of banter; "give me here this poor token that thou dost so +despise, when many a maiden would be distraught with delight and +gratitude. Let me see it, I say." + +And as Cicely, restraining with difficulty an impatient, uncourtly +gesture, placed the watch in her hand, her delicate deft fingers opened +the case, disregarding both the face and the place for inserting the +key; but dealing with a spring, which revealed that the case was +double, and that between the two thin plates of silver which formed it, +was inserted a tiny piece of the thinnest paper, written from corner to +corner with the smallest characters in cipher. Mary laughed joyously +and triumphantly as she held it up. "There, mignonne! What sayest +thou to thy token now? This is the first secret news I have had from +the outer world since we came to this weary Tutbury. And oh! the +exquisite jest that my Lady and Sir Ralf Sadler should be the bearers! +I always knew some good would come of that suitor of thine! Thou must +not flout him, my fair lady, nor scowl at him so with thy beetle brows." + +"It seems but hard to lure him on with false hopes," said Cicely, +gravely. + +"Hoots, lassie," as Dame Jean would say, "'tis but joy and delight to +men to be thus tickled. 'Tis the greatest kindness we can do them thus +to amuse them," said Mary, drawing up her head with the conscious +fascination of the serpent of old Nile, and toying the while with the +ciphered letter, in eagerness, and yet dread, of what it might contain. + +Such things were not easy to make out, even to those who had the key, +and Mary, unwilling to trust it out of her own hands, leant over it, +spelling it out for many minutes, but at last broke forth into a clear +ringing burst of girlish laughter and clasped her hands together, +"Mignonne, mignonne, it is too rare a jest to hold back. Deem not that +your Highness stands first here! Oh no! 'Tis a letter from Bernardo +de Mendoza with a proposition for whose hand thinkest thou? For this +poor old captive hand! For mine, maiden. Ay, and from whom? From his +Excellency, the Prince of Parma, Lieutenant of the Netherlands. Anon +will he be here with 30,000 picked men and the Spanish fleet; and then +I shall ride once again at the head of my brave men, hear trumpets +bray, and see banners fly! We will begin to work our banner at once, +child, and let Sir Ralf think it is a bed-quilt for her sacred Majesty, +Elizabeth. Thou look'st dismayed, little maiden." + +"Spanish ships and men, madam, ah! and how would it be with my +father--Mr. and Mrs. Talbot, I mean?" + +"Not a hair of their heads shall be touched, child. We will send down +a chosen troop to protect them, with Babington at its head if thou +wilt. But," added the Queen, recollecting herself, and perceiving that +she had startled and even shocked her daughter, "it is not to be +to-morrow, nor for many a weary month. All that is here demanded is +whether, all being well, he might look for my hand as his guerdon. +Shall I propose thine instead?" + +"O madam, he is an old man and full of gout!" + +"Well! we will not pull caps for him just yet. And see, thou must be +secret as the grave, child, or thou wilt ruin thy mother. I ought not +to have told thee, but the surprise was too much for me, and thou canst +keep a secret. Leave me now, child, and send me Monsieur Nau." + +The next time any converse was held between mother and daughter, Queen +Mary said, "Will it grieve thee much, my lassie, to return this +bauble, on the plea of thy duty to the good couple at Bridgefield?" + +After all Cicely had become so fond of the curious and ingenious egg +that she was rather sorry to part with it, and there was a little +dismal resignation in her answer, "I will do your bidding, madam." + +"Thou shalt have a better. I will write to Chateauneuf for the +choicest that Paris can furnish," said Mary, "but seest thou, none +other mode is so safe for conveying an answer to this suitor of mine! +Nay, little one, do not fear. He is not at hand, and if he be so +gout-ridden and stern as I have heard, we will find some way to content +him and make him do the service without giving thee a stepfather, even +though he be grandson to an emperor." + +There was something perplexing and distressing to Cis in this sudden +mood of exultation at such a suitor. However, Parma's proposal might +mean liberty and a recovered throne, and who could wonder at the joy +that even the faintest gleam of light afforded to one whose captivity +had lasted longer than Cicely's young life?--and then once more there +was an alternation of feeling at the last moment, when Cicely, dressed +in her best, came to receive instructions. + +"I ken not, I ken not," said Mary, speaking the Scottish tongue, to +which she recurred in her moments of deepest feeling, "I ought not to +let it go. I ought to tell the noble Prince to have naught to do with +a being like me. 'Tis not only the jettatura wherewith the Queen +Mother used to reproach me. Men need but bear me good will, and misery +overtakes them. Death is the best that befalls them! The gentle +husband of my girlhood--then the frantic Chastelar, my poor, poor good +Davie, Darnley, Bothwell, Geordie Douglas, young Willie, and again +Norfolk, and the noble and knightly Don John! One spark of love and +devotion to the wretched Mary, and all is over with them! Give me back +that paper, child, and warn Babington against ever dreaming of aid to a +wretch like me. I will perish alone! It is enough! I will drag down +no more generous spirits in the whirlpool around me." + +"Madam! madam!" exclaimed De Preaux the almoner, who was standing, +"this is not like your noble self. Have you endured so much to be +fainthearted when the end is near, and you are made a smooth and +polished instrument, welded in the fire, for the triumph of the Church +over her enemies?" + +"Ah, Father!" said the Queen, "how should not my heart fail me when I +think of the many high spirits who have fallen for my sake? Ay, and +when I look out on yonder peaceful vales and happy homesteads, and +think of them ravaged by those furious Spaniards and Italians, whom my +brother of Anjou himself called very fiends!" + +"Fiends are the tools of Divine wrath," returned Preaux. "Look at the +profaned sanctuaries and outraged convents on which these proud English +have waxen fat, and say whether a heavy retribution be not due to them." + +"Ah, father! I may be weak, but I never loved persecution. King +Francis and I were dragged to behold the executions at Amboise. That +was enough for us. His gentle spirit never recovered it, and I--I see +their contorted visages and forms still in my restless nights; and if +the Spanish dogs should deal with England as with Haarlem or Antwerp, +and all through me!--Oh! I should be happier dying within these walls!" + +"Nay, madam, as Queen you would have the reins in your own hand: you +could exercise what wholesome severity or well-tempered leniency you +chose," urged the almoner; "it were ill requiting the favour of the +saints who have opened this door to you at last to turn aside now in +terror at the phantasy that long weariness of spirit hath conjured up +before you." + +So Mary rallied herself, and in five minutes more was as eager in +giving her directions to Cicely and to the Curlls as though her heart +had not recently failed her. + +Cis was to go forth with her chaperons, not by any means enjoying the +message to Babington, and yet unable to help being very glad to escape +for ever so short a time from the dull prison apartments. There might +be no great faith in her powers of diplomacy, but as it was probable +that Babington would have more opportunity of conversing with her than +with the Curlls, she was charged to attend heedfully to whatever he +might say. + +Sir Ralf's son-in-law, Mr. Somer, was sent to escort the trio to the +hall at the hour of noon; and there, pacing the ample chamber, while +the board at the upper end was being laid, were Sir Ralf Sadler and his +guest Mr. Babington. Antony was dressed in green velvet slashed with +primrose satin, setting off his good mien to the greatest advantage, +and he came up with suppressed but rapturous eagerness, bowing low to +Mrs. Curll and the secretary, but falling on his knee to kiss the hand +of the dark-browed girl. Her recent courtly training made her much +less rustically awkward than she would have been a few months before, +but she was extremely stiff, and held her head as though her ruff were +buckram, as she began her lesson. "Sir, I am greatly beholden to you +for this token, but if it be not sent with the knowledge and consent of +my honoured father and mother I may not accept of it." + +"Alas! that you will say so, fair mistress," said Antony, but he was +probably prepared for this rejection, for he did not seem utterly +overwhelmed by it. + +"The young lady exercises a wise discretion," said Sir Ralf Sadler to +Mrs. Curll. "If I had known that mine old friend Mr. Talbot of +Bridgefield was unfavourable to the suit, I would not have harboured +the young spark, but when he brought my Lady Countess's commendation, I +thought all was well." + +Barbara Curll had her cue, namely, to occupy Sir Ralf so as to leave +the young people to themselves, so she drew him off to tell him in +confidence a long and not particularly veracious story of the +objections of the Talbots to Antony Babington; whilst her husband +engaged the attention of Mr. Somer, and there was a space in which, as +Antony took back the watch, he was able to inquire "Was the egg-shell +opened?" + +"Ay," said Cis, blushing furiously and against her will, "the egg was +sucked and replenished." + +"Take consolation," said Antony, and as some one came near them, "Duty +and discretion shall, I trust, both be satisfied when I next sun myself +in the light of those lovely eyes." Then, as the coast became more +clear, "You are about shortly to move. Chartley is preparing for you." + +"So we are told." + +"There are others preparing," said Antony, bending over her, holding +her hand, and apparently making love to her with all his might. "Tell +me, lady, who hath charge of the Queen's buttery? Is it faithful old +Halbert as at Sheffield?" + +"It is," replied Cis. + +"Then let him look well at the bottom of each barrel of beer supplied +for the use of her household. There is an honest man, a brewer, at +Burton, whom Paulett will employ, who will provide that letters be sent +to and fro. Gifford and Langston, who are both of these parts, know +him well." Cis started at the name. "Do you trust Langston then?" she +asked. + +"Wholly! Why, he is the keenest and ablest of all. Have you not seen +him and had speech with him in many strange shapes? He can change his +voice, and whine like any beggar wife." + +"Yea," said Cis, "but the Queen and Sir Andrew doubted a little if he +meant not threats last time we met." + +"All put on--excellent dissembling to beguile the keepers. He told me +all," said Antony, "and how he had to scare thee and change tone +suddenly. Why, he it is who laid this same egg, and will receive it. +There is a sworn band, as you know already, who will let her know our +plans, and be at her commands through that means. Then, when we have +done service approaching to be worthy of her, then it may be that I +shall have earned at least a look or sign." + +"Alas! sir," said Cicely, "how can I give you false hopes?" For her +honest heart burnt to tell the poor fellow that she would in case of +his success be farther removed from him than ever. + +"What would be false now shall be true then. I will wring love from +thee by my deeds for her whom we both alike love, and then wilt thou be +mine own, my true Bride!" + +By this time other guests had arrived, and the dinner was ready. +Babington was, in deference to the Countess, allowed to sit next to his +lady-love. She found he had been at Sheffield, and had visited +Bridgefield, vainly endeavouring to obtain sanction to his addresses +from her adopted parents. He saw how her eyes brightened and heard how +her voice quivered with eagerness to hear of what still seemed home to +her, and he was pleased to feel himself gratifying her by telling her +how Mrs. Talbot looked, and how Brown Dumpling had been turned out in +the Park, and Mr. Talbot had taken a new horse, which Ned had insisted +on calling "Fulvius," from its colour, for Ned was such a scholar that +he was to be sent to study at Cambridge. Then he would have wandered +off to little Lady Arbell's being put under Master Sniggius's tuition, +but Cicely would bring him back to Bridgefield, and to Ned's brothers. + +No, the boasted expedition to Spain had not begun yet. Sir Francis +Drake was lingering about Plymouth, digging a ditch, it was said, to +bring water from Dartmoor. He would never get license to attack King +Philip on his own shores. The Queen knew better than to give it. +Humfrey and Diccon would get no better sport than robbing a ship or two +on the way to the Netherlands. Antony, for his part, could not see +that piracy on the high seas was fit work for a gentleman. + +"A gentleman loves to serve his queen and country in all places," said +Cicely. + +"Ah!" said Antony, with a long breath, as though making a discovery, +"sits the wind in that quarter?" + +"Antony," exclaimed she, in her eagerness calling him by the familiar +name of childhood, "you are in error. I declare most solemnly that it +is quite another matter that stands in your way." + +"And you will not tell me wherefore you are thus cruel?" + +"I cannot, sir. You will understand in time that what you call cruelty +is true kindness." + +This was the gist of the interview. All the rest only repeated it in +one form or another; and when Cis returned, it was with a saddened +heart, for she could not but perceive that Antony was well-nigh crazed, +not so much with love of her, as with the contemplation of the wrongs +of the Church and the Queen, whom he regarded with equally passionate +devotion, and with burning zeal and indignation to avenge their +sufferings, and restore them to their pristine glory. He did, indeed, +love her, as he professed to have done from infancy, but as if she were +to be his own personal portion of the reward. Indeed there was +magnanimity enough in the youth almost to lose the individual hope in +the dazzle of the great victory for which he was willing to devote his +own life and happiness in the true spirit of a crusader. Cicely did +not fully or consciously realise all this, but she had such a glimpse +of it as to give her a guilty feeling in concealing from him the whole +truth, which would have shown how fallacious were the hopes that her +mother did not scruple, for her own purposes, to encourage. Poor +Cicely! she had not had royal training enough to look on all subjects +as simply pawns on the monarch's chess-board; and she was so evidently +unhappy over Babington's courtship, and so little disposed to enjoy her +first feminine triumph, that the Queen declared that Nature had +designed her for the convent she had so narrowly missed; and, valuable +as was the intelligence she had brought, she was never trusted with the +contents of the correspondence. On the removal of Mary to Chartley the +barrel with the false bottom came into use, but the secretaries Nau and +Curll alone knew in full what was there conveyed. Little more was said +to Cicely of Babington. + +However, it was a relief when, before the end of this summer, Cicely +heard of his marriage to a young lady selected by the Earl. She hoped +it would make him forget his dangerous inclination to herself; but yet +there was a little lurking vanity which believed that it had been +rather a marriage for property's than for love's sake. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +A LIONESS AT BAY. + + +It was in the middle of the summer of 1586 that Humfrey and his young +brother Richard, in broad grass hats and long feathers, found +themselves again in London, Diccon looking considerably taller and +leaner than when he went away. For when, after many months' delay, the +naval expedition had taken place, he had been laid low with fever +during the attack on Florida by Sir Francis Drake's little fleet; and +the return to England had been only just in time to save his life. +Though Humfrey had set forth merely as a lieutenant, he had returned in +command of a vessel, and stood in high repute for good discipline, +readiness of resource, and personal exploits. His ship had, however, +suffered so severely as to be scarcely seaworthy when the fleet arrived +in Plymouth harbour; and Sir Francis, finding it necessary to put her +into dock and dismiss her crew, had chosen the young Captain Talbot to +ride to London with his despatches to her Majesty. + +The commission might well delight the brothers, who were burning to +hear of home, and to know how it fared with Cicely, having been +absolutely without intelligence ever since they had sailed from +Plymouth in January, since which they had plundered the Spaniard both +at home and in the West Indies, but had had no letters. + +They rode post into London, taking their last change of horses at +Kensington, on a fine June evening, when the sun was mounting high upon +the steeple of St. Paul's, and speeding through the fields in hopes of +being able to reach the Strand in time for supper at Lord Shrewsbury's +mansion, which, even in the absence of my Lord, was always a harbour +for all of the name of Talbot. Nor, indeed, was it safe to be out +after dark, for the neighbourhood of the city was full of roisterers of +all sorts, if not of highwaymen and cutpurses, who might come in +numbers too large even for the two young gentlemen and the two +servants, who remained out of the four volunteers from Bridgefield. + +They were just passing Westminster where the Abbey, Hall, and St. +Stephen's Chapel, and their precincts, stood up in their venerable but +unstained beauty among the fields and fine trees, and some of the +Westminster boys, flat-capped, gowned, and yellow-stockinged, ran out +with the cry that always flattered Diccon, not to say Humfrey, though +he tried to be superior to it, "Mariners! mariners from the Western +Main! Hurrah for gallant Drake! Down with the Don!" For the tokens +of the sea, in the form of clothes and weapons, were well known and +highly esteemed. + +Two or three gentlemen who were walking along the road turned and +looked up, and the young sailors recognised in a moment a home face. +There was an exclamation on either side of "Antony Babington!" and +"Humfrey Talbot!" and a ready clasp of the hand in right of old +companionship. + +"Welcome home!" exclaimed Antony. "Is all well with you?" + +"Royally well," returned Humfrey. "Know'st thou aught of our father +and mother?" + +"All was well with them when last I heard," said Antony. + +"And Cis--my sister I mean?" said Diccon, putting, in his +unconsciousness, the very question Humfrey was burning to ask. + +"She is still with the Queen of Scots, at Chartley," replied Babington. + +"Chartley, where is that? It is a new place for her captivity." + +"'Tis a house of my Lord of Essex, not far from Lichfield," returned +Antony. "They sent her thither this spring, after they had well-nigh +slain her with the damp and wretched lodgings they provided at Tutbury." + +"Who? Not our Cis?" asked Diccon. + +"Nay," said Antony, "it hurt not her vigorous youth--but I meant the +long-suffering princess." + +"Hath Sir Ralf Sadler still the charge of her?" inquired Humfrey. + +"No, indeed. He was too gentle a jailer for the Council. They have +given her Sir Amias Paulett, a mere Puritan and Leicestrian, who is as +hard as the nether millstone, and well-nigh as dull," said Babington, +with a little significant chuckle, which perhaps alarmed one of his +companions, a small slight man with a slight halt, clad in black like a +lawyer. "Mr. Babington," he said, "pardon me for interrupting you, but +we shall make Mr. Gage tarry supper for us." + +"Nay, Mr. Langston," said Babington, who was in high spirits, "these +are kinsmen of your own, sons of Mr. Richard Talbot of Bridgefield, to +whom you have often told me you were akin." + +Mr. Langston was thus compelled to come forward, shake hands with the +young travellers, welcome them home, and desire to be commended to +their worthy parents; and Babington, in the exuberance of his welcome, +named his other two companions--Mr. Tichborne, a fine, handsome, +graceful, and somewhat melancholy young man; Captain Fortescue, a +bearded moustached bravo, in the height of the fashion, a long plume in +his Spanish hat, and his short gray cloak glittering with silver lace. +Humfrey returned their salute, but was as glad as they evidently were +when they got Babington away with them, and left the brothers to pursue +their way, after inviting them to come and see him at his lodgings as +early as possible. + +"It is before supper," said Diccon, sagely, "or I should say Master +Antony had been acquainted with some good canary." + +"More likely he is uplifted with some fancy of his own. It may be only +with the meeting of me after our encounter," said Humfrey. "He is a +brave fellow and kindly, but never did craft so want ballast as does +that pate of his!" + +"Humfrey," said his brother, riding nearer to him, "did he not call +that fellow in black, Langston?" + +"Ay, Cuthbert Langston. I have heard of him. No good comrade for his +weak brain." + +"Humfrey, it is so, though father would not credit me. I knew his halt +and his eye--just like the venomous little snake that was the death, of +poor Foster. He is the same with the witch woman Tibbott, ay, and with +her with the beads and bracelets, who beset Cis and me at Buxton." + +Young Diccon had proved himself on the voyage to have an unerring eye +for recognition, and his brother gave a low whistle. "I fear me then +Master Antony may be running himself into trouble." + +"See, they turn in mounting the steps to the upper fence of yonder +house with the deep carved balcony. Another has joined them! I like +not his looks. He is like one of those hardened cavaliers from the +Netherlands." + +"Ay! who seem to have left pity and conscience behind them there," said +Humfrey, looking anxiously up at the fine old gabled house with its +projecting timbered front, and doubting inwardly whether it would be +wise to act on his old playfellow's invitation, yet with an almost sick +longing to know on what terms the youth stood with Cicely. + +In another quarter of an hour they were at the gateway of Shrewsbury +House, where the porter proved to be one of the Sheffield retainers, +and admitted them joyfully. My Lord Earl was in Yorkshire, he said, +but my Lord and Lady Talbot were at home, and would be fain to see +them, and there too was Master William Cavendish. + +They were handed on into the courtyard, where servants ran to take +their horses, and as the news ran that Master Richard's sons had +arrived from the Indies, Will Cavendish came running down the hall +steps to embrace them in his glee, while Lord Talbot came to the door +of the hall to welcome them. These great London houses, which had not +quite lost their names of hostels or inns, did really serve as free +lodgings to all members of the family who might visit town, and above +all such travellers as these, bringing news of grand national +achievements. + +Very soon after Gilbert's accession to the heirship, quarrels had begun +between his wife and her mother the Countess. + +Lord Talbot had much of his father's stately grace, and his wife was a +finished lady. They heartily welcomed the two lads who had grown from +boys to men. My lady smilingly excused the riding-gear, and as soon as +the dust of travel had been removed they were seated at the board, and +called on to tell of the gallant deeds in which they had taken part, +whilst they heard in exchange of Lord Leicester's doings in the +Netherlands, and the splendid exploits of the Stanleys at Zutphen. + +Lord Talbot promised to take Humfrey to Richmond the next day, to be +presented to her Majesty, so soon as he should be equipped, so as not +to lose his character of mariner, but still not to affront her +sensibilities by aught of uncourtly or unstudied in his apparel. + +They confirmed what Babington had said of the Queen of Scots' changes +of residence and of keepers. As to Cicely, they had been lately so +little at Sheffield that they had almost forgotten her, but they +thought that if she were still at Chartley, there could be no objection +to her brothers having an interview with her on their way home, if they +chose to go out of their road for it. + +Humfrey mentioned his meeting with Babington in Westminster, and Lord +Talbot made some inquiries as to his companions, adding that there were +strange stories and suspicions afloat, and that he feared that the +young man was disaffected and was consorting with Popish recusants. +Diccon's tongue was on the alert with his observation, but at a sign +from his brother, who did not wish to get Babington into trouble, he +was silent. Cavendish, however, laughed and said he was for ever in +Mr. Secretary's house, and even had a room there. + +Very early the next morning the body servant of his Lordship was in +attendance with a barber and the fashionable tailor of the Court, and +in good time Humfrey and Diccon were arrayed in such garments as were +judged to suit the Queen's taste, and to become the character of young +mariners from the West. Humfrey had a dainty jewel of shell-work from +the spoils of Carthagena, entrusted to him by Drake to present to the +Queen as a foretaste of what was to come. Lady Talbot greatly admired +its novelty and beauty, and thought the Queen would be enchanted with +it, giving him a pretty little perfumed box to present it in. + +Lord Talbot, well pleased to introduce his spirited young cousins, took +them in his boat to Richmond, which they reached just as the evening +coolness came on. They were told that her Majesty was walking in the +Park, and thither, so soon as the ruffs had been adjusted and the fresh +Spanish gloves drawn on, they resorted. + +The Queen walked freely there without guards--without even swords being +worn by the gentlemen in attendance--loving as she did to display her +confidence in her people. No precautions were taken, but they were +allowed to gather together on the greensward to watch her, as among the +beautiful shady trees she paced along. + +The eyes of the two youths were eagerly directed towards her, as they +followed Lord Talbot. Was she not indeed the cynosure of all the +realm? Did she not hold the heart of every loyal Englishman by an +invisible rein? Was not her favour their dream and their reward? She +was a little in advance of her suite. Her hair, of that light sandy +tint which is slow to whiten, was built up in curls under a rich stiff +coif, covered with silver lace, and lifted high at the temples. From +this a light gauze veil hung round her shoulders and over her splendid +standing ruff, which stood up like the erected neck ornaments of some +birds, opening in front, and showing the lesser ruff or frill +encircling her throat, and terminating a lace tucker within her low-cut +boddice. Rich necklaces, the jewel of the Garter, and a whole +constellation of brilliants, decorated her bosom, and the boddice of +her blue satin dress and its sleeves were laced with seed pearls. The +waist, a very slender one, was encircled with a gold cord and heavy +tassels, the farthingale spread out its magnificent proportions, and a +richly embroidered white satin petticoat showed itself in front, but +did not conceal the active, well-shaped feet. There was something +extraordinarily majestic in her whole bearing, especially the poise of +her head, which made the spectator never perceive how small her stature +actually was. Her face and complexion, too, were of the cast on which +time is slow to make an impression, being always pale and fair, with +keen and delicately-cut features; so that her admirers had quite as +much reason to be dazzled as when she was half her present age; nay, +perhaps more, for the habit of command had added to the regality which +really was her principal beauty. Sir Christopher Hatton, with a +handsome but very small face at the top of a very tall and portly +frame, dressed in the extreme of foppery, came behind her, and then a +bevy of ladies and gentlemen. + +As the Talbots approached, she was moving slowly on, unusually erect +even for her, and her face composed to severe majesty, like that of a +judge, the tawny eyes with a strange gleam in them fixed on some one in +the throng on the grass near at hand. Lord Talbot advanced with a bow +so low that he swept the ground with his plume, and while the two +youths followed his example, Diccon's quick eye noted that she glanced +for one rapid second at their weapons, then continued her steady gaze, +never withdrawing it even to receive Lord Talbot's salutation as he +knelt before her, though she said, "We greet you well, my good lord. +Are not we well guarded, not having one man with a sword near me?" + +"Here are three good swords, madam," returned he, "mine own, and those +of my two young kinsmen, whom I venture to present to your Majesty, as +they bear greetings from your trusty servant, Sir Francis Drake." + +While he spoke there had been a by-play unperceived by him, or by the +somewhat slow and tardy Hatton. A touch from Diccon had made Humfrey +follow the direction of the Queen's eye, and they saw it was fixed on a +figure in a loose cloak strangely resembling that which they had seen +on the stair of the house Babington had entered. They also saw a +certain quailing and cowering of the form, and a scowl on the shaggy +red eyebrows, and Irish features, and Humfrey at once edged himself so +as to come between the fellow and the Queen, though he was ready to +expect a pistol shot in his back, but better thus, was his thought, +than that it should strike her,--and both laid their hands on their +swords. + +"How now!" said Hatton, "young men, you are over prompt. Her Majesty +needs no swords. You are out of rank. Fall in and do your obeisance." + +Something in the Queen's relaxed gaze told Humfrey that the peril was +over, and that he might kneel as Talbot named him, explaining his +lineage as Elizabeth always wished to have done. A sort of tremor +passed over her, but she instantly recalled her attention. "From +Drake!" she said, in her clear, somewhat shrill voice. "So, young +gentleman, you have been with the pirate who outruns our orders, and +fills our brother of Spain with malice such that he would have our life +by fair or foul means." + +"That shall he never do while your Grace has English watch-dogs to +guard you," returned Talbot. + +"The Talbot is a trusty hound by water or by land," said Elizabeth, +surveying the goodly proportion of the elder brother. "Whelps of a +good litter, though yonder lad be somewhat long and lean. Well, and +how fares Sir Francis? Let him make his will, for the Spaniards one +day will have his blood." + +"I have letters and a token from him for your Grace," said Humfrey. + +"Come then in," said the Queen. "We will see it in the bower, and hear +what thou wouldst say." + +A bower, or small summer-house, stood at the end of the path, and here +she took her way, seating herself on a kind of rustic throne evidently +intended for her, and there receiving from Humfrey the letter and the +gift, and asking some questions about the voyage; but she seemed +preoccupied and anxious, and did not show the enthusiastic approbation +of her sailors' exploits which the young men expected. After glancing +over it, she bade them carry the letter to Mr. Secretary Walsingham the +next day; nor did she bid the party remain to supper; but as soon as +half a dozen of her gentlemen pensioners, who had been summoned by her +orders, came up, she rose to return to the palace. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +PAUL'S WALK. + + +Will Cavendish, who was in training for a statesman, and acted as a +secretary to Sir Francis Walsingham, advised that the letters should be +carried to him at once that same evening, as he would be in attendance +on the Queen the next morning, and she would inquire for them. + +The great man's house was not far off, and he walked thither with +Humfrey, who told him what he had seen, and asked whether it ought not +at once to be reported to Walsingham. + +Will whistled. "They are driving it very close," he said. "Humfrey; +old comrade, thy brains were always more of the order fit to face a +tough breeze than to meddle with Court plots. Credit me, there is +cause for what amazed thee. The Queen and her Council know what they +are about. Risk a little, and put an end to all the plottings for +ever! That's the word." + +"Risk even the Queen's life?" + +Will Cavendish looked sapient, and replied, "We of the Council Board +know many a thing that looks passing strange." + +Mr. Secretary Walsingham's town house was, like Lord Talbot's, built +round a court, across which Cavendish led the way, with the assured air +of one used to the service, and at home there. The hall was thronged +with people waiting, but Cavendish passed it, opened a little wicket, +and admitted his friends into a small anteroom, where he bade them +remain, while he announced them to Sir Francis. + +He disappeared, shutting a door behind him, and after a moment's +interval another person, with a brown cloak round him, came hastily and +stealthily across to the door. He had let down the cloak which muffled +his chin, not expecting the presence of any one, and there was a +moment's start as he was conscious of the young men standing there. He +passed through the door instantly, but not before Humfrey had had time +to recognise in him no other than Cuthbert Langston, almost the last +person he would have looked for at Sir Francis Walsingham's. Directly +afterwards Cavendish returned. + +"Sir Francis could not see Captain Talbot, and prayed him to excuse +him, and send in the letter." + +"It can't be helped," said Cavendish, with his youthful airs of +patronage. "He would gladly have spoken with you when I told him of +you, but that Maude is just come on business that may not tarry. So +you must e'en entrust your packet to me." + +"Maude," repeated Humfrey, "Was that man's name Maude? I should have +dared be sworn that he was my father's kinsman, Cuthbert Langston." + +"Very like," said Will, "I would dare be sworn to nothing concerning +him, but that he is one of the greatest and most useful villains +unhung." + +So saying, Will Cavendish disappeared with the letters. He probably +had had a caution administered to him, for when he returned he was +evidently swelling with the consciousness of a State secret, which he +would not on any account betray, yet of the existence of which he +desired to make his old comrade aware. + +Humfrey asked whether he had told Mr. Secretary of the man in Richmond +Park. + +"Never fear! he knows it," returned the budding statesman. "Why, look +you, a man like Sir Francis has ten thousand means of intelligence that +a simple mariner like you would never guess at. I thought it strange +myself when I came first into business of State, but he hath eyes and +ears everywhere, like the Queen's gown in her picture. Men of the +Privy Council, you see, must despise none, for the lewdest and meanest +rogues oft prove those who can do the best service, just as the +bandy-legged cur will turn the spit, or unearth the fox when your +gallant hound can do nought but bay outside." + +"Is this Maude, or Langston, such a cur?" + +Cavendish gave his head a shake that expressed unutterable things, +saying: "Your kinsman, said you? I trust not on the Talbot side of the +house?" + +"No. On his mother's side. I wondered the more to see him here as he +got that halt in the Rising of the North, and on the wrong side, and +hath ever been reckoned a concealed Papist." + +"Ay, ay. Dost not see, mine honest Humfrey, that's the very point that +fits him for our purpose?" + +"You mean that he is a double traitor and informer." + +"We do not use such hard words in the Privy Council Board as you do on +deck, my good friend," said Cavendish. "We have our secret +intelligencers, you see, all in the Queen's service. Foul and dirty +work, but you can't dig out a fox without soiling of fingers, and if +there be those that take kindly to the work, why, e'en let them do it." + +"Then there is a plot?" + +"Content you, Humfrey! You'll hear enough of it anon. A most foul, +bloody, and horrible plot, quite enough to hang every soul that has +meddled in it, and yet safe to do no harm--like poor Hal's blunderbuss, +which would never go off, except when it burst, and blew him to pieces." + +Will felt that he had said quite enough to impress Humfrey with a sense +of his statecraft and importance, and was not sorry for an interruption +before he should have said anything dangerous. It was from Frank +Pierrepoint, who had been Diccon's schoolmate, and was enchanted to see +him. Humfrey was to stay one day longer in town in case Walsingham +should wish to see him, and to show Diccon something of London, which +they had missed on their way to Plymouth. + +St. Paul's Cathedral was even then the sight that all Englishmen were +expected to have seen, and the brothers took their way thither, +accompanied by Frank Pierrepoint, who took their guidance on his hands. +Had the lads seen the place at the opening of the century they would +have thought it a piteous spectacle, for desecration and sacrilege had +rioted there unchecked, the magnificent peal of bells had been gambled +away at a single throw of the dice, the library had been utterly +destroyed, the magnificent plate melted up, and what covetous +fanaticism had spared had been further ravaged by a terrible fire. At +this time Bishop Bancroft had done his utmost towards reparation, and +the old spire had been replaced by a wooden one; but there was much of +ruin and decay visible all around, where stood the famous octagon +building called Paul's Cross, where outdoor sermons were preached to +listeners of all ranks. This was of wood, and was kept in moderately +good repair. Beyond, the nave of the Cathedral stretched its length, +the greatest in England. Two sets of doors immediately opposite to one +another on the north and south sides had rendered it a thoroughfare in +very early times, in spite of the endeavours of the clergy; and at this +time "Duke Humfrey's Walk," from the tomb of Duke Humfrey Stafford, as +the twelve grand Norman bays of this unrivalled nave were called, was +the prime place for the humours of London; and it may be feared that +this, rather than the architecture, was the chief idea in the minds of +the youths, as a babel of strange sounds fell on their ears, "a still +roar like a humming of bees," as it was described by a contemporary, +or, as Humfrey said, like the sea in a great hollow cave. A cluster of +choir-boys were watching at the door to fall on any one entering with +spurs on, to levy their spur money, and one gentleman, whom they had +thus attacked, was endeavouring to save his purse by calling on the +youngest boy to sing his gamut. + +Near at hand was a pillar, round which stood a set of men, some rough, +some knavish-looking, with the blue coats, badges, short swords, and +bucklers carried by serving-men. They were waiting to be hired, as if +in a statute fair, and two or three loud-voiced bargains were going on. +In the middle aisle, gentlemen in all the glory of plumed hats, +jewelled ears, ruffed necks, Spanish cloaks, silken jerkins, velvet +hose, and be-rosed shoes, were marching up and down, some +attitudinising to show their graces, some discussing the news of the +day, for "Paul's Walk" was the Bond Street, the Row, the Tattersall's, +the Club of London. Twelve scriveners had their tables to act as +letter-writers, and sometimes as legal advisers, and great amusement +might be had by those who chose to stand listening to the blundering +directions of their clients. In the side aisles, horse-dealing, +merchants' exchanges, everything imaginable in the way of traffic was +going on. Disreputable-looking men, who there were in sanctuary from +their creditors, there lurked around Humfrey Stafford's tomb; and young +Pierrepoint's warning to guard their purses was evidently not wasted, +for a country fellow, who had just lost his, was loudly demanding +justice, and getting jeered at for his simplicity in expecting to +recover it. + +"Seest thou this?" said a voice close to Humfrey, and he found a hand +on his arm, and Babington, in the handsome equipment of one of the +loungers, close to him. + +"A sorry sight, that would grieve my good mother," returned Humfrey. + +"My Mother, the Church, is grieved," responded Antony. "This is what +you have brought us to, for your so-called religion," he added, +ignorant or oblivious that these desecrations had been quite as +shocking before the Reformation. "All will soon be changed, however," +he added. + +"Sir Thomas Gresham's New Exchange has cleared off some of the traffic, +they say," returned Humfrey. + +"Pshaw!" said Antony; "I meant no such folly. That were cleansing one +stone while the whole house is foul with shame. No. There shall be a +swift vengeance on these desecrators. The purifier shall come again, +and the glory and the beauty of the true Faith shall be here as of old, +when our fathers bowed before the Holy Rood, instead of tearing it +down." His eye glanced with an enthusiasm which Humfrey thought +somewhat wild, and he said, "Whist! these are not things to be thus +spoken of." + +"All is safe," said Babington, drawing him within shelter of the +chantry of Sir John Beauchamp's tomb. "Never heed Diccon--Pierrepoint +can guide him," and Humfrey saw their figures, apparently absorbed in +listening to the bidding for a horse. "I have things of moment to say +to thee, Humfrey Talbot. We have been old comrades, and had that +childish emulation which turns to love in manhood in the face of +perils." + +Humfrey, recollecting how they had parted, held out his hand in +recognition of the friendliness. + +"I would fain save thee," said Babington. "Heretic and rival as thou +art, I cannot but love thee, and I would have thee die, if die thou +must, in honourable fight by sea or land, rather than be overtaken by +the doom that will fall on all who are persecuting our true and lawful +confessor and sovereign." + +"Gramercy for thy good will, Tony," said Humfrey, looking anxiously to +see whether his old companion was in his right mind, yet remembering +what had been said of plots. + +"Thou deem'st me raving," said Antony, smiling at the perplexed +countenance before him, "but thou wilt see too late that I speak sooth, +when the armies of the Church avenge the Name that has been profaned +among you!" + +"The Spaniards, I suppose you mean," said Humfrey coolly. "You must be +far gone indeed to hope to see those fiends turned loose on this +peaceful land, but by God's blessing we have kept them aloof before, I +trust we may again." + +"You talk of God's blessing. Look at His House," said Babington. + +"He is more like to bless honest men who fight for their Queen, their +homes and hearths, than traitors who would bring in slaughterers and +butchers to work their will!" + +"His glory is worked through judgment, and thus must it begin!" +returned the young man. "But I would save thee, Humfrey," he added. +"Go thou back to Plymouth, and be warned to hold aloof from that prison +where the keepers will meet their fit doom! and the captive will be set +free. Thou dost not believe," he added. "See here," and drawing into +the most sheltered part of the chantry, he produced from his bosom a +picture in the miniature style of the period, containing six heads, +among which his own was plainly to be recognised, and likewise a face +which Humfrey felt as if he should never forget, that which he had seen +in Richmond Park, quailing beneath the Queen's eye. Round the picture +was the motto-- + + "Hi mihi sunt comites quos ipsa pericula jungunt." + + +"I tell thee, Humfrey, thou wilt hear--if thou dost live to hear--of +these six as having wrought the greatest deed of our times!" + +"May it only be a deed an honest man need not be ashamed of," said +Humfrey, not at all convinced of his friend's sanity. + +"Ashamed of!" exclaimed Babington. "It is blest, I tell thee, blest by +holy men, blest by the noble and suffering woman who will thus be +delivered from her martyrdom." + +"Babington, if thou talkest thus, it will be my duty to have thee put +in ward," said Humfrey. + +Antony laughed, and there was a triumphant ring very like insanity in +his laughter. Humfrey, with a moment's idea that to hint that the +conspiracy was known would blast it at once, if it were real, said, "I +see not Cuthbert Langston among your six. Know you, I saw him only +yestereven going into Secretary Walsingham's privy chamber." + +"Was he so?" answered Babington. "Ha! ha! he holds them all in play +till the great stroke be struck! Why! am not I myself in Walsingham's +confidence? He thinketh that he is about to send me to France to watch +the League. Ha! ha!" + +Here Humfrey's other companions turned back in search of him; Babington +vanished in the crowd, he hardly knew how, and he was left in +perplexity and extreme difficulty as to what was his duty as friend or +as subject. If Babington were sane, there must be a conspiracy for +killing the Queen, bringing in the Spaniards and liberating Mary, and +he had expressly spoken of having had the latter lady's sanction, while +the sight of the fellow in Richmond Park gave a colour of probability +to the guess. Yet the imprudence and absurdity of having portraits +taken of six assassins before the blow was struck seemed to contradict +all the rest. On the other hand, Cavendish had spoken of having all +the meshes of the web in the hands of the Council; and Langston or +Maude seemed to be trusted by both parties. + +Humfrey decided to feel his way with Will Cavendish, and that evening +spoke of having met Babington and having serious doubts whether he were +in his right mind. Cavendish laughed, "Poor wretch! I could pity +him," he said, "though his plans be wicked enough to merit no +compassion. Nay, never fear, Humfrey. All were overthrown, did I +speak openly. Nay, to utter one word would ruin me for ever. 'Tis +quite sufficient to say that he and his fellows are only at large till +Mr. Secretary sees fit, that so his grip may be the more sure." + +Humfrey saw he was to be treated with no confidence, and this made him +the more free to act. There were many recusant gentlemen in the +neighbourhood of Chartley, and an assault and fight there were not +improbable, if, as Cavendish hinted, there was a purpose of letting the +traitors implicate themselves in the largest numbers and as fatally as +possible. On the other hand, Babington's hot head might only fancy he +had authority from the Queen for his projects. If, through Cicely, he +could convey the information to Mary, it might save her from even +appearing to be cognisant of these wild schemes, whatever they might +be, and to hint that they were known was the surest way to prevent +their taking effect. Any way, Humfrey's heart was at Chartley, and +every warning he had received made him doubly anxious to be there in +person, to be Cicely's guardian in case of whatever danger might +threaten her. He blessed the fiction which still represented him as +her brother, and which must open a way for him to see her, but he +resolved not to take Diccon thither, and parted with him when the roads +diverged towards Lichfield, sending to his father a letter which Diccon +was to deliver only into his own hand, with full details of all he had +seen and heard, and his motives for repairing to Chartley. + +"Shall I see my little Cis?" thought he. "And even if she play the +princess to me, how will she meet me? She scorned me even when she was +at home. How will it be now when she has been for well-nigh a year in +this Queen's training? Ah! she will be taught to despise me! Heigh ho! +At least she may be in need of a true heart and strong arm to guard +her, and they shall not fail her." + +Will Cavendish, in the plenitude of the official importance with which +he liked to dazzle his old playfellow, had offered him a pass to +facilitate his entrance, and he found reason to be glad that he had +accepted it, for there was a guard at the gate of Chartley Park, and he +was detained there while his letter was sent up for inspection to Sir +Amias Paulett, who had for the last few months acted as warder to the +Queen. + +However, a friendly message came back, inviting him to ride up. The +house--though called a castle--had been rebuilt in hospitable domestic +style, and looked much less like a prison than Sheffield Lodge, but at +every enclosure stood yeomen who challenged the passers-by, as though +this were a time of alarm. However, at the hall-door itself stood Sir +Amias Paulett, a thin, narrow-browed, anxious-looking man, with the +stiffest of ruffs, over which hung a scanty yellow beard. + +"Welcome, sir," he said, with a nervous anxious distressed manner. +"Welcome, most welcome. You will pardon any discourtesy, sir, but +these are evil times. The son, I think, of good Master Richard Talbot +of Bridgefield? Ay, I would not for worlds have shown any lack of +hospitality to one of his family. It is no want of respect, sir. No; +nor of my Lord's house; but these are ill days, and with my charge, +sir--if Heaven itself keep not the house--who knows what may chance or +what may be laid on me?" + +"I understand," said Humfrey, smiling. "I was bred close to Sheffield, +and hardly knew what 'twas to live beyond watch and ward." + +"Yea!" said Paulett, shaking his head. "You come of a loyal house, +sir; but even the good Earl was less exercised than I am in the charge +of this same lady. But I am glad, glad to see you, sir. And you would +see your sister, sir? A modest young lady, and not indevout, though I +have sometimes seen her sleep at sermon. It is well that the poor +maiden should see some one well affected, for she sitteth in the very +gate of Babylon; and with respect, sir, I marvel that a woman, so godly +as Mistress Talbot of Bridgefield is reported to be, should suffer it. +However, I do my poor best, under Heaven, to hinder the faithful of the +household from being tainted. I have removed Preaux, who is well known +to be a Popish priest in disguise, and thus he can spread no more of +his errors. Moreover, my chaplain, Master Blunden, with other godly +men, preaches three times a week against Romish errors, and all are +enforced to attend. May their ears be opened to the truth! I am about +to attend this lady on a ride in the Park, sir. It might--if she be +willing--be arranged that your sister, Mistress Talbot, should spend +the time in your company, and methinks the lady will thereto agree, for +she is ever ready to show a certain carnal and worldly complaisance to +the wishes of her attendants, and I have observed that she greatly +affects the damsel, more, I fear, than may be for the eternal welfare +of the maiden's soul." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +IN THE WEB. + + +It was a beautiful bright summer day, and Queen Mary and some of her +train were preparing for their ride. The Queen was in high spirits, +and that wonderful and changeful countenance of hers was beaming with +anticipation and hope, while her demeanour was altogether delightful to +every one who approached her. She was adding some last instructions to +Nau, who was writing a letter for her to the French ambassador, and +Cicely stood by her, holding her little dog in a leash, and looking +somewhat anxious and wistful. There was more going on round the girl +than she was allowed to understand, and it made her anxious and uneasy. +She knew that the correspondence through the brewer was actively +carried on, but she was not informed of what passed. Only she was +aware that some crisis must be expected, for her mother was ceaselessly +restless and full of expectation. She had put all her jewels and +valuables into as small a compass as possible, and talked more than +ever of her plans for giving her daughter either to the Archduke +Matthias, or to some great noble, as if the English crown were already +within her grasp. Anxious, curious, and feeling injured by the want of +confidence, yet not daring to complain, Cicely felt almost fretful at +her mother's buoyancy, but she had been taught a good many lessons in +the past year, and one of them was that she might indeed be caressed, +but that she must show neither humour nor will of her own, and the +least presumption in inquiry or criticism was promptly quashed. + +There was a knock at the door, and the usher announced that Sir Amias +Paulett prayed to speak with her Grace. Her eye glanced round with the +rapid emotion of one doubtful whether it were for weal or woe, yet with +undaunted spirit to meet either, and as she granted her permission, Cis +heard her whisper to Nau, "A rider came up even now! 'Tis the tidings! +Are the Catholics of Derby in the saddle? Are the ships on the coast?" + +In came the tall old man with a stiff reverence: "Madam, your Grace's +horses attend you, and I have tidings"--(Mary started +forward)--"tidings for this young lady, Mistress Cicely Talbot. Her +brother is arrived from the Spanish Main, and requests permission to +see and speak with her." + +Radiance flashed out on Cicely's countenance as excitement faded on +that of her mother: "Humfrey! O madam! let me go to him!" she +entreated, with a spring of joy and clasped hands. + +Mary was far too kind-hearted to refuse, besides to have done so would +have excited suspicion at a perilous moment, and the arrangement Sir +Amias proposed was quickly made. Mary Seaton was to attend the Queen +in Cicely's stead, and she was allowed to hurry downstairs, and only +one warning was possible: + +"Go then, poor child, take thine holiday, only bear in mind what and +who thou art." + +Yet the words had scarce died on her ears before she was oblivious of +all save that it was a familial home figure who stood at the bottom of +the stairs, one of the faces she trusted most in all the world which +beamed out upon her, the hands which she knew would guard her through +everything were stretched out to her, the lips with veritable love in +them kissed the cheeks she did not withhold. Sir Amias stood by and +gave the kindest smile she had seen from him, quite changing his +pinched features, and he proposed to the two young people to go and +walk in the garden together, letting them out into the square walled +garden, very formal, but very bright and gay, and with a pleached alley +to shelter them from the sun. + +"Good old gentleman!" exclaimed Humfrey, holding the maiden's hand in +his. "It is a shame to win such pleasure by feigning." + +"As for that," sighed Cis, "I never know what is sooth here, and what +am I save a living lie myself? O Humfrey! I am so weary of it all." + +"Ah I would that I could bear thee home with me," he said, little +prepared for this reception. + +"Would that thou couldst! O that I were indeed thy sister, or that the +writing in my swaddling bands had been washed out!--Nay," catching back +her words, "I meant not that! I would not but belong to the dear Lady +here. She says I comfort her more than any of them, and oh! she +is--she is, there is no telling how sweet and how noble. It was only +that the sight of thee awoke the yearning to be at home with mother and +with father. Forget my folly, Humfrey." + +"I cannot soon forget that Bridgefield seems to thee thy true home," he +said, putting strong restraint on himself to say and do no more, while +his heart throbbed with a violence unawakened by storm or Spaniard. + +"Tell me of them all," she said. "I have heard naught of them since we +left Tutbury, where at least we were in my Lord's house, and the dear +old silver dog was on every sleeve. Ah! there he is, the trusty rogue." + +And snatching up Humfrey's hat, which was fastened with a brooch of his +crest in the fashion of the day, she kissed the familiar token. Then, +however, she blushed and drew herself up, remembering the caution not +to forget who she was, and with an assumption of more formal dignity, +she said, "And how fares it with the good Mrs. Talbot?" + +"Well, when I last heard," said Humfrey, "but I have not been at home. +I only know what Will Cavendish and my Lord Talbot told me. I sent +Diccon on to Bridgefield, and came out of the way to see you, lady," he +concluded, with the same regard to actual circumstances that she had +shown. + +"Oh, that was good!" she whispered, and they both seemed to feel a +certain safety in avoiding personal subjects. Humfrey had the history +of his voyage to narrate--to tell of little Diccon's gallant doings, +and to exalt Sir Francis Drake's skill and bravery, and at last to let +it ooze out, under Cis's eager questioning, that when his captain had +died of fever on the Hispaniola coast, and they had been overtaken by a +tornado, Sir Francis had declared that it was Humfrey's skill and +steadfastness which had saved the ship and crew. + +"And it was that tornado," he said, "which stemmed the fever, and saved +little Diccon's life. Oh! when he lay moaning below, then was the time +to long for my mother." + +Time sped on till the great hall clock made Cicely look up and say she +feared that the riders would soon return, and then Humfrey knew that he +must make sure to speak the words of warning he came to utter. He +told, in haste, of his message to Queen Elizabeth, and of his being +sent on to Secretary Walsingham, adding, "But I saw not the great man, +for he was closeted--with whom think you? No other than Cuthbert +Langston, whom Cavendish called by another name. It amazed me the +more, because I had two days before met him in Westminster with Antony +Babington, who presented him to me by his own name." + +"Saw you Antony Babington?" asked Cis, raising her eyes to his face, +but looking uneasy. + +"Twice, at Westminster, and again in Paul's Walk. Had you seen him +since you have been here?" + +"Not here, but at Tutbury. He came once, and I was invited to dine in +the hall, because he brought recommendations from the Countess." There +was a pause, and then, as if she had begun to take in the import of +Humfrey's words, she added, "What said you? That Mr. Langston was +going between him and Mr. Secretary?" + +"Not exactly that," and Humfrey repeated with more detail what he had +seen of Langston, forbearing to ask any questions which Cicely might +not be able to answer with honour; but they had been too much together +in childhood not to catch one another's meaning with half a hint, and +she said, "I see why you came here, Humfrey. It was good and true and +kind, befitting you. I will tell the Queen. If Langston be in it, +there is sure to be treachery. But, indeed, I know nothing or +well-nigh nothing." + +"I am glad of it," fervently exclaimed Humfrey. + +"No; I only know that she has high hopes, and thinks that the term of +her captivity is well-nigh over. But it is Madame de Courcelles whom +she trusts, not me," said Cicely, a little hurt. + +"So is it much better for thee to know as little as possible," said +Humfrey, growing intimate in tone again in spite of himself. "She hath +not changed thee much, Cis, only thou art more grave and womanly, ay, +and thou art taller, yea, and thinner, and paler, as I fear me thou +mayest well be." + +"Ah, Humfrey, 'tis a poor joy to be a princess in prison! And yet I +shame me that I long to be away. Oh no, I would not. Mistress Seaton +and Mrs. Curll and the rest might be free, yet they have borne this +durance patiently all these years--and I think--I think she loves me a +little, and oh! she is hardly used. Humfrey, what think'st thou that +Mr. Langston meant? I wot now for certain that it was he who twice +came to beset us, as Tibbott the huckster, and with the beads and +bracelets! They all deem him a true friend to my Queen." + +"So doth Babington," said Humfrey, curtly. + +"Ah!" she said, with a little terrified sound of conviction, then +added, "What thought you of Master Babington?" + +"That he is half-crazed," said Humfrey. + +"We may say no more," said Cis, seeing a servant advancing from the +house to tell her that the riders were returning. "Shall I see you +again, Humfrey?" + +"If Sir Amias should invite me to lie here to-night, and remain +to-morrow, since it will be Sunday." + +"At least I shall see you in the morning, ere you depart," she said, as +with unwilling yet prompt steps she returned to the house, Humfrey +feeling that she was indeed his little Cis, yet that some change had +come over her, not so much altering her, as developing the capabilities +he had always seen. + +For herself, poor child, her feelings were in a strange turmoil, more +than usually conscious of that dual existence which had tormented her +ever since she had been made aware of her true birth. Moreover, she +had a sense of impending danger and evil, and, by force of contrast, +the frank, open-hearted manner of Humfrey made her the more sensible of +being kept in the dark as to serious matters, while outwardly made a +pet and plaything by her mother, "just like Bijou," as she said to +herself. + +"So, little one," said Queen Mary, as she returned, "thou hast been +revelling once more in tidings of Sheffield! How long will it take me +to polish away the dulness of thy clownish contact?" + +"Humphrey does not come from home, madam, but from London. Madam, let +me tell you in your ear--" + +Mary's eye instantly took the terrified alert expression which had come +from many a shock and alarm. "What is it, child?" she asked, however, +in a voice of affected merriment. "I wager it is that he has found his +true Cis. Nay, whisper it to me, if it touch thy silly little heart so +deeply." + +Cicely knelt down, the Queen bending over her, while she murmured in +her ear, "He saw Cuthbert Langston, by a feigned name, admitted to Mr. +Secretary Walsingham's privy chamber." + +She felt the violent start this information caused, but the command of +voice and countenance was perfect. + +"What of that, mignonne?" she said. "What knoweth he of this Langston, +as thou callest him?" + +"He is my--no--his father's kinsman, madam, and is known to be but a +plotter. Oh, surely, he is not in your secrets, madam, my mother, +after that day at Tutbury?" + +"Alack, my lassie, Gifford or Babington answered for him," said the +Queen, "and he kens more than I could desire. But this Humfrey of +thine! How came he to blunder out such tidings to thee?" + +"It was no blunder, madam. He came here of purpose." + +"Sure," exclaimed Mary, "it were too good to hope that he hath become +well affected. He--a sailor of Drake's, a son of Master Richard! Hath +Babington won him over; or is it for thy sake, child? For I bestowed +no pains to cast smiles to him at Sheffield, even had he come in my +way." + +"I think, madam," said Cicely, "that he is too loyal-hearted to bear +the sight of treachery without a word of warning." + +"Is he so? Then he is the first of his nation who hath been of such a +mind! Nay, mignonne, deny not thy conquest. This is thy work." + +"I deny not that--that I am beloved by Humfrey," said Cicely, "for I +have known it all my life; but that goes for naught in what he deems it +right to do." + +"There spoke so truly Mistress Susan's scholar that thou makest me +laugh in spite of myself and all the rest. Hold him fast, my maiden; +think what thou wilt of his service, and leave me now, and send +Melville and Curll to me." + +Cicely went away full of that undefined discomfort experienced by +generous young spirits when their elders, more worldly-wise (or +foolish), fail even to comprehend the purity or loftiness of motive +which they themselves thoroughly believe. Yet, though she had +infinitely more faith in Humfrey's affection than she had in that of +Babington, she had not by any means the same dread of being used to +bait the hook for him, partly because she knew his integrity too well +to expect to shake it, and partly because he was perfectly aware of her +real birth, and could not be gulled with such delusive hopes as poor +Antony might once have been. + +Humfrey meantime was made very welcome by Sir Amias Paulett, who +insisted on his spending the next day, Sunday, at Chartley, and made +him understand that he was absolutely welcome, as having a strong arm, +stout heart, and clear brain used to command. "Trusty aid do I need," +said poor Sir Amias, "if ever man lacked an arm of flesh. The Council +is putting more on me than ever man had to bear, in an open place like +this, hard to be defended, and they will not increase the guard lest +they should give the alarm, forsooth!" + +"What is it that you apprehend?" inquired Humfrey. + +"There's enough to apprehend when all the hot-headed Papists of +Stafford and Derbyshire are waiting the signal to fire the outhouses +and carry off this lady under cover of the confusion. Mr. Secretary +swears they will not stir till the signal be given, and that it never +will; but such sort of fellows are like enough to mistake the sign, and +the stress may come through their dillydallying to make all sure as +they say, and then, if there be any mischance, I shall be the one to +bear the blame. Ay, if it be their own work!" he added, speaking to +himself, "Murder under trust! That would serve as an answer to foreign +princes, and my head would have to pay for it, however welcome it might +be! So, good Mr. Talbot, supposing any alarm should arise, keep you +close to the person of this lady, for there be those who would make the +fray a colour for taking her life, under pretext of hindering her from +being carried off." + +It was no wonder that a warder in such circumstances looked harassed +and perplexed, and showed himself glad of being joined by any ally whom +he could trust. In truth, harsh and narrow as he was, Paulett was too +good and religious a man for the task that had been thrust on him, +where loyal obedience, sense of expediency, and even religious +fanaticism, were all in opposition to the primary principles of truth, +mercy, and honour. He was, besides, in constant anxiety, living as he +did between plot and counterplot, and with the certainty that +emissaries of the Council surrounded him who would have no scruple in +taking Mary's life, and leaving him to bear the blame, when Elizabeth +would have to explain the deed to the other sovereigns of Europe. He +disclosed almost all this to Humfrey, whose frank, trustworthy +expression seemed to move him to unusual confidence. + +At supper-time another person appeared, whom Humfrey thought he had +once seen at Sheffield--a thin, yellow-haired and bearded man, much +marked with smallpox, in the black dress of a lawyer, who sat above the +household servants, though below the salt. Paulett once drank to him +with a certain air of patronage, calling him Master Phillipps, a name +that came as a revelation to Humfrey. Phillipps was the decipherer who +had, he knew, been employed to interpret Queen Mary's letters after the +Norfolk plot. Were there, then, fresh letters of that unfortunate lady +in his hands, or were any to be searched for and captured? + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +THE CASTLE WELL. + + + "What vantage or what thing + Gett'st thou thus for to sting, + Thou false and flatt'ring liar? + Thy tongue doth hurt, it's seen + No less than arrows keen + Or hot consuming fire." + + +So sang the congregation in the chapel at Chartley, in the strains of +Sternhold and Hopkins, while Humfrey Talbot could not forbear from a +misgiving whether these falsehoods were entirely on the side to which +they were thus liberally attributed. Opposite to him stood Cicely, in +her dainty Sunday farthingale of white, embroidered with violet buds, +and a green and violet boddice to match, holding herself with that +unconscious royal bearing which had always distinguished her, but with +an expression of care and anxiety drawing her dark brows nearer +together as she bent over her book. + +She knew that her mother had left her bed with the earliest peep of +summer dawn, and had met the two secretaries in her cabinet. There +they were busy for hours, and she had only returned to her bed just as +the household began to bestir itself. + +"My child," she said to Cicely, "I am about to put my life into thy +keeping and that of this Talbot lad. If what he saith of this Langston +be sooth, I am again betrayed, fool that I was to expect aught else. +My life is spent in being betrayed. The fellow hath been a go-between +in all that hath passed between Babington and me. If he hath uttered it +to Walsingham, all is over with our hopes, and the window in whose +sunlight I have been basking is closed for ever! But something may yet +be saved. Something? What do I say?--The letters I hold here would +give colour for taking my life, ay, and Babington's and Curll's, and +many more. I trusted to have burnt them, but in this summer time there +is no coming by fire or candle without suspicion, and if I tore them +they might be pieced together, nay, and with addition. They must be +carried forth and made away with beyond the ken of Paulett and his +spies. Now, this lad hath some bowels of compassion and generous +indignation. Thou wilt see him again, alone and unsuspected, ere he +departs. Thou must deal with him to bear this packet away, and when he +is far out of reach to drop it into the most glowing fire, or the +deepest pool he can find. Tell him it may concern thy life and liberty, +and he will do it, but be not simple enough to say ought of Babington." + +"He would be as like to do it for Babington as for any other," said Cis. + +The Queen smiled and said, "Nineteen years old, and know thus little of +men." + +"I know Humfrey at least," said Cis. + +"Then deal with him after thy best knowledge, to make him convey away +this perilous matter ere a search come upon us. Do it we must, maiden, +not for thy poor mother's sake alone, but for that of many a faithful +spirit outside, and above all of poor Curll. Think of our Barbara! +Would that I could have sent her out of reach of our alarms and shocks, +but Paulett is bent on penning us together like silly birds in the net. +Still proofs will be wanting if thou canst get this youth to destroy +this packet unseen. Tell him that I know his parents' son too well to +offer him any meed save the prayers and blessings of a poor captive, or +to fear that he would yield it for the largest reward Elizabeth's +coffers could yield." + +"It shall be done, madam," said Cicely. But there was a strong purpose +in her mind that Humfrey should not be implicated in the matter. + +When after dinner Sir Amias Paulett made his daily visit of inspection +to the Queen, she begged that the young Talbots might be permitted +another walk in the garden; and when he replied that he did not approve +of worldly pastime on the Sabbath, she pleaded the celebrated example +of John Knox finding Calvin playing at bowls on a Sunday afternoon at +Geneva, and thus absolutely prevailed on him to let them take a short +walk together in brotherly love, while the rest of the household was +collected in the hall to be catechised by the chaplain. + +So out they went together, but to Humfrey's surprise, Cicely walked on +hardly speaking to him, so that he fancied at first that she must have +had a lecture on her demeanour to him. She took him along the broad +terrace beside the bowling-green, through some yew-tree walks to a +stone wall, and a gate which proved to be locked. She looked much +disappointed, but scanning the wall with her eye, said, "We have scaled +walls together before now, and higher than this. Humfrey, I cannot +tell you why, but I must go over here." + +The wall was overgrown with stout branches of ivy, and though the +Sunday farthingale was not very appropriate for climbing, Cicely's +active feet and Humfrey's strong arm carried her safely to where she +could jump down on the other side, into a sort of wilderness where +thorn and apple trees grew among green mounds, heaps of stones and +broken walls, the ruins of some old outbuilding of the former castle. +There was only a certain trembling eagerness about her, none of the +mirthful exultation that the recurrence of such an escapade with her +old companion would naturally have excited, and all she said was, +"Stand here, Humfrey; an you love me, follow me not. I will return +anon." + +With stealthy stop she disappeared behind a mound covered by a thicket +of brambles, but Humfrey was much too anxious for her safety not to +move quietly onwards. He saw her kneeling by one of those black +yawning holes, often to be found in ruins, intent upon fastening a +small packet to a stone; he understood all in a moment, and drew back +far enough to secure that no one molested her. There was something in +this reticence of hers that touched him greatly; it showed so entirely +that she had learnt the lesson of loyalty which his father's influence +had impressed, and likewise one of self-dependence. What was right for +her to do for her mother and Queen might not be right for him, as an +Englishman, to aid and abet; and small as the deed seemed in itself, +her thus silently taking it on herself rather than perplex him with it, +added a certain esteem and respect to the affection he had always had +for her. + +She came back to him with bounding steps, as if with a lightened heart, +and as he asked her what this strange place was, she explained that +here were said to be the ruins of the former castle, and that beyond +lay the ground where sometimes the party shot at the butts. A little +dog of Mary Seaton's had been lost the last time of their archery, and +it was feared that he had fallen down the old well to which Cis now +conducted Humfrey. There was a sound--long, hollow, reverberating, +when Humfrey threw a stone down, and when Cecily asked him, in an +awestruck voice, whether he thought anything thrown there would ever be +heard of more, he could well say that he believed not. + +She breathed freely, but they were out of bounds, and had to scramble +back, which they did undetected, and with much more mirth than the +first time. Cicely was young enough to be glad to throw off her +anxieties and forget them. She did not want to talk over the plots she +only guessed at; which were not to her exciting mysteries, but gloomy +terrors into which she feared to look. Nor was she free to say much to +Humfrey of what she knew. Indeed the rebound, and the satisfaction of +having fulfilled her commission, had raised Cicely's spirits, so that +she was altogether the bright childish companion Humfrey had known her +before he went to sea, or royalty had revealed itself to her; and Sir +Amias Paulett would hardly have thought them solemn and serious enough +for an edifying Sunday talk could he have heard them laughing over +Humfrey's adventures on board ship, or her troubles in learning to +dance in a high and disposed manner. She came in so glowing and happy +that the Queen smiled and sighed, and called her her little milkmaid, +commending her highly, however, for having disposed of the dangerous +parcel unknown (as she believed) to her companion. "The fewer who have +to keep counsel, the sickerer it is," she said. + +Humfrey meantime joined the rest of the household, and comported +himself at the evening sermon with such exemplary discretion as +entirely to win the heart of Sir Amias Paulett, who thought him +listening to Mr. Blunden's oft-divided headings, while he was in fact +revolving on what pretext he could remain to protect Cicely. The +Knight gave him that pretext, when he spoke of departing early on +Monday morning, offering him, or rather praying him to accept, the +command of the guards, whose former captain had been dismissed as +untrustworthy. Sir Amias undertook that a special messenger should be +sent to take a letter to Bridgefield, explaining Humfrey's delay, and +asking permission from his parents to undertake the charge, since it +was at this very crisis that he was especially in need of God-fearing +men of full integrity. Then moved to confidence, the old gentleman +disclosed that not only was he in fear of an attack on the house from +the Roman Catholic gentry in the neighbourhood, which was to take place +as soon as Parma's ships were seen on the coast, but that he dreaded +his own servants being tampered with by some whom he would not mention +to take the life of the prisoner secretly. + +"It hath been mooted to me," he said, lowering his voice to a whisper, +"that to take such a deed on me would be good service to the Queen and +to religion, but I cast the thought from me. It can be nought but a +deadly sin--accursed of God--and were I to consent, I should be the +first to be accused." + +"It would be no better than the King of Spain himself," exclaimed +Humfrey. + +"Even so, young man, and right glad am I to find one who thinks with +me. For the other practices, they are none of mine, and is it not +written 'In the same pit which they laid privily is their foot taken'?" + +"Then there are other practices?" + +"Ask me no questions, Mr. Talbot. All will be known soon enough. Be +content that I will lay nothing on you inconsistent with the honour of +a Christian man, knowing that you will serve the Queen faithfully." + +Humfrey gave his word, resolving that he would warn Cicely to reckon +henceforth on nothing on his part that did not befit a man in charge. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +HUNTING DOWN THE DEER + + +Humfrey had been sworn in of the service of the Queen, and had been put +in charge of the guard mustered at Chartley for about ten days, during +which he seldom saw Cicely, and wondered much not to have heard from +home: when a stag-hunt was arranged to take place at the neighbouring +park of Tickhill or Tixall, belonging to Sir Walter Ashton. + +The chase always invigorated Queen Mary, and she came down in cheerful +spirits, with Cicely and Mary Seaton as her attendants, and with the +two secretaries, Nau and Curll, heading the other attendants. + +"Now," she said to Cicely, "shall I see this swain, or this brother of +thine, who hath done us such good service, and I promise you there will +be more in my greeting than will meet Sir Amias's ear." + +But to Cicely's disappointment Humfrey was not among the horsemen +mustered at the door to attend and guard the Queen. + +"My little maid's eye is seeking for her brother," said Mary, as Sir +Amias advanced to assist her to her horse. + +"He hath another charge which will keep him at home," replied Paulett, +somewhat gruffly, and they rode on. + +It was a beautiful day in early August, the trees in full foliage, the +fields seen here and there through them assuming their amber harvest +tints, the twin spires of Lichfield rising in the distance, the park +and forest ground through which the little hunting-party rode rich with +purple heather, illuminated here and there with a bright yellow spike +or star, and the rapid motion of her brisk palfrey animated the Queen. +She began to hope that Humfrey had after all brought a false alarm, and +that either he had been mistaken or that Langston was deceiving the +Council itself, and though Sir Amias Paulett's close proximity held her +silent, those who knew her best saw that her indomitably buoyant +spirits were rising, and she hummed to herself the refrain of a gay +French hunting-song, with the more zest perhaps that her warder held +himself trebly upright, stiff and solemn under it, as one who thought +such lively times equally unbefitting a lady, a queen, and a captive. +So at least Cis imagined as she watched them, little guessing that +there might be deeper reasons of compassion and something like +compunction to add to the gravity of the old knight's face. + +As they came in sight of the gate of Tickhill Park, they became aware +of a company whose steel caps and shouldered arquebuses did not look +like those of huntsmen. Mary bounded in her saddle, she looked round +at her little suite with a glance of exultation in her eye, which said +as plainly as words, "My brave friends, the hour has come!" and she +quickened her steed, expecting, no doubt, that she might have to +outride Sir Amias in order to join them. + +One gentleman came forward from the rest. He held a parchment in his +hand, and as soon as he was alongside of the Queen thus read:-- + +"Mary, late Queen of Scots and Queen Dowager of France, I, Thomas +Gorges, attaint thee of high treason and of compassing the life of our +most Gracious Majesty Queen Elizabeth, in company with Antony +Babington, John Ballard, Chidiock Tichborne, Robert Barnwell, and +others." + +Mary held up her hands, and raised her eyes to Heaven, and a protest +was on her lips, but Gorges cut it short with, "It skills not denying +it, madam. The proofs are in our hands. I have orders to conduct you +to Tickhill, while seals are put on your effects." + +"That there may be proofs of your own making," said the Queen, with +dignity. "I have experience of that mode of judgment. So, Sir Amias +Paulett, the chase you lured me to was truly of a poor hunted doe whom +you think you have run down at last. A worthy chase indeed, and of +long continuance!" + +"I do but obey my orders, madam," said Paulett, gloomily. + +"Oh ay, and so does the sleuth-hound," said Mary. + +"Your Grace must be pleased to ride on with me," said Mr. Gorges, +laying his hand on her bridle. + +"What are you doing with those gentlemen?" cried Mary, sharply reining +in her horse, as she saw Nau and Curll surrounded by the armed men. + +"They will be dealt with after her Majesty's pleasure," returned +Paulett. + +Mary dropped her rein and threw up her hands with a gesture of despair, +but as Gorges was leading her away, she turned on her saddle, and +raised her voice to call out, "Farewell, my true and faithful servants! +Betide what may, your mistress will remember you in her prayers. +Curll, we will take care of your wife." + +And she waved her hand to them as they were made, with a strong guard, +to ride off in the direction of Lichfield. All the way to Tickhill, +whither she was conducted with Gorges and Paulett on either side of her +horse, Cis could hear her pleading for consideration for poor Barbara +Curll, for whose sake she forgot her own dignity and became a suppliant. + +Sir Walter Ashton, a dull heavy-looking country gentleman of burly form +and ruddy countenance, stood at his door, and somewhat clownishly +offered his services to hand her from her horse. + +She submitted passively till she had reached the upper chamber which +had been prepared for her, and there, turning on the three gentlemen, +demanded the meaning of this treatment. + +"You will soon know, madam," said Paulett. "I am sorry that thus it +should be." + +"Thus!" repeated Mary, scornfully. "What means this?" + +"It means, madam," said Gorges, a ruder man of less feeling even than +Paulett, "that your practices with recusants and seminary priests have +been detected. The traitors are in the Counter, and will shortly be +brought to judgment for the evil purposes which have been frustrated by +the mercy of Heaven." + +"It is well if treason against my good sister's person have been +detected and frustrated," said Mary; "but how doth that concern me?" + +"That, madam, the papers at Chartley will show," returned Gorges. +"Meantime you will remain here, till her Majesty's pleasure be known." + +"Where, then, are my women and my servants?" inquired the Queen. + +"Your Grace will be attended by the servants of Sir Walter Ashton." + +"Gentlemen, this is not seemly," said Mary, the colour coming hotly +into her face. "I know it is not the will of my cousin, the Queen of +England, that I should remain here without any woman to attend me, nor +any change of garments. You are exceeding your commission, and she +shall hear of it." + +Sir Amias Paulett here laid his hand on Gorges' arm, and after +exchanging a few words with him, said-- + +"Madam, this young lady, Mistress Talbot, being simple, and of a loyal +house, may remain with you for the present. For the rest, seals are +put on all your effects at Chartley, and nothing can be removed from +thence, but what is needful will be supplied by my Lady Ashton. I bid +your Grace farewell, craving your pardon for what may have been hasty +in this." + +Mary stood in the centre of the floor, full of her own peculiar injured +dignity, not answering, but making a low ironical reverence. Mary +Seaton fell on her knees, clung to the Queen's dress, and declared that +while she lived, she would not leave her mistress. + +"Endure this also, ma mie," said the Queen, in French. "Give them no +excuse for using violence. They would not scruple--" and as a +demonstration to hinder French-speaking was made by the gentlemen, +"Fear not for me, I shall not be alone." + +"I understand your Grace and obey," said Mary Seaton, rising, with a +certain bitterness in her tone, which made Mary say-- "Ah! why must +jealousy mar the fondest affection? Remember, it is their choice, not +mine, my Seaton, friend of my youth. Bear my loving greetings to all. +And take care of poor Barbara!" + +"Madam, there must be no private messages," said Paulett. + +"I send no messages save what you yourself may hear, sir," replied the +Queen. "My greetings to my faithful servants, and my entreaty that all +care and tenderness may be shown to Mrs. Curll." + +"I will bear them, madam," said the knight, "and so I commend you to +God's keeping, praying that He may send you repentance. Believe me, +madam, I am sorry that this has been put upon me." + +To this Mary only replied by a gesture of dismissal. The three +gentlemen drew back, a key grated in the lock, and the mother and +daughter were left alone. + +To Cicely it was a terrible hopeless sound, and even to her mother it +was a lower depth of wretchedness. She had been practically a captive +for nearly twenty years. She had been insulted, watched, guarded, +coerced, but never in this manner locked up before. + +She clasped her hands together, dropped on her knees at the table that +stood by her, and hid her face. So she continued till she was roused +by the sound of Cicely's sobs. Frightened and oppressed, and new to +all terror and sorrow, the girl had followed her example in kneeling, +but the very attempt to pray brought on a fit of weeping, and the +endeavour to restrain what might disturb the Queen only rendered the +sobs more choking and strangling, till at last Mary heard, and coming +towards her, sat down on the floor, gathered her into her arms, and +kissing her forehead, said, "Poor bairnie, and did she weep for her +mother? Have the sorrows of her house come on her?" + +"O mother, I could not help it! I meant to have comforted you," said +Cicely, between her sobs. + +"And so thou dost, my child. Unwittingly they have left me that which +was most precious to me." + +There was consolation in the fondness of the loving embrace, at least +to such sorrows as those of the maiden; and Queen Mary had an +inalienable power of charming the will and affections of those in +contact with her, so that insensibly there came into Cicely's heart a +sense that, so far from weeping, she should rejoice at being the one +creature left to console her mother. + +"And," she said by and by, looking up with a smile, "they must go to +the bottom of the old well to find anything." + +"Hush, lassie. Never speak above thy breath in a prison till thou +know'st whether walls have ears. And, apropos, let us examine what +sort of a prison they have given us this time." + +So saying Mary rose, and leaning on her daughter's arm, proceeded to +explore her new abode. Like her apartment at the Lodge, it was at the +top of the house, a fashion not uncommon when it was desirable to make +the lower regions defensible; but, whereas she had always hitherto been +placed in the castles of the highest nobility, she was now in that of a +country knight of no great wealth or refinement, and, moreover, taken +by surprise. + +So the plenishing was of the simplest. The walls were covered with +tapestry so faded that the pattern could hardly be detected. The +hearth yawned dark and dull, and by it stood one chair with a +moth-eaten cushion. A heavy oaken table and two forms were in the +middle of the room, and there was the dreary, fusty smell of want of +habitation. The Queen, whose instincts for fresh air were always a +distress to her ladies, sprang to the mullioned window, but the heavy +lattice defied all her efforts. + +"Let us see the rest of our dominions," she said, turning to a door, +which led to a still more gloomy bedroom, where the only articles of +furniture were a great carved bed, with curtains of some undefined dark +colour, and an oaken chest. The window was a mere slit, and even more +impracticable than that of the outer room. However, this did not seem +to horrify Mary so much as it did her daughter. "They cannot mean to +keep us here long," she said; "perhaps only for the day, while they +make their search--their unsuccessful search--thanks to--we know whom, +little one." + +"I hope so! How could we sleep there?" said Cicely, looking with a +shudder at the bed. + +"Tush! I have seen worse in Scotland, mignonne, ay and when I was +welcomed as liege lady, not as a captive. I have slept in a box like a +coffin with one side open, and I have likewise slept on a plaidie on +the braw purple blossoms of freshly pulled heather! Nay, the very +thought makes this chamber doubly mouldy and stifling! Let the old +knight beware. If he open not his window I shall break it! Soft. Here +he comes." + +Sir Walter Ashton appeared, louting low, looking half-dogged, +half-sheepish, and escorting two heavy-footed, blue-coated serving-men, +who proceeded to lay the cloth, which at least had the merit of being +perfectly clean and white. Two more brought in covered silver dishes, +one of which contained a Yorkshire pudding, the other a piece of +roast-beef, apparently calculated to satisfy five hungry men. A flagon +of sack, a tankard of ale, a dish of apples, and a large loaf of bread, +completed the meal; at which the Queen and Cicely, accustomed daily to +a first table of sixteen dishes and a second of nine, compounded by her +Grace's own French cooks and pantlers, looked with a certain amused +dismay, as Sir Walter, standing by the table, produced a dagger from a +sheath at his belt, and took up with it first a mouthful of the +pudding, then cut off a corner of the beef, finished off some of the +bread, and having swallowed these, as well as a draught of each of the +liquors, said, "Good and sound meats, not tampered with, as I hereby +testify. You take us suddenly, madam; but I thank Heaven, none ever +found us unprovided. Will it please you to fall to? Your woman can +eat after you." + +Mary's courtesy was unfailing, and though she felt all a Frenchwoman's +disgust at the roast-beef of old England, she said, "We are too close +companions not to eat together, and I fear she will be the best +trencher comrade, for, sir, I am a woman sick and sorrowful, and have +little stomach for meat." + +As Sir Walter carved a huge red piece from the ribs, she could not help +shrinking back from it, so that he said with some affront, "You need +not be queasy, madam, it was cut from a home-fed bullock, only killed +three days since, and as prime a beast as any in Stafford." + +"Ah! yea, sir. It is not the fault of the beef, but of my feebleness. +Mistress Talbot will do it reason. But I, methinks I could eat better +were the windows opened." + +But Sir Walter replied that these windows were not of the new-fangled +sort, made to open, that honest men might get rheums, and foolish maids +prate therefrom. So there was no hope in that direction. He really +seemed to be less ungracious than utterly clownish, dull, and untaught, +and extremely shy and embarrassed with his prisoner. + +Cicely poured out some wine, and persuaded her to dip some bread in, +which, with an apple, was all she could taste. However, the fare, +though less nicely served than by good Mrs. Susan, was not so alien to +Cicely, and she was of an age and constitution to be made hungry by +anxiety and trouble, so that--encouraged by the Queen whenever she +would have desisted--she ended by demolishing a reasonable amount. + +Sir Walter stood all the time, looking on moodily and stolidly, with +his cap in his hand. The Queen tried to talk to him, and make +inquiries of him, but he had probably steeled himself to her +blandishments, for nothing but gruff monosyllables could be extracted +from him, except when he finally asked what she would be pleased to +have for supper. + +"Mine own cook and pantler have hitherto provided for me. They would +save your household the charge, sir," said Mary, "and I would be at +charges for them." + +"Madam, I can bear the charge in the Queen's service. Your black guard +are under ward. And if not, no French jackanapes shall ever brew his +messes in my kitchen! Command honest English fare, madam, and if it +be within my compass, you shall have it. No one shall be stinted in +Walter Ashton's house; but I'll not away with any of your outlandish +kickshaws. Come, what say you to eggs and bacon, madam?" + +"As you will, sir," replied Mary, listlessly. And Sir Walter, opening +the door, shouted to his serving-man, who speedily removed the meal, he +going last and making his clumsy reverence at the door, which he locked +behind him. + +"So," said Mary, "I descend! I have had the statesman, the earl, the +courtly knight, the pedantic Huguenot, for my warders. Now am I come +to the clown. Soon will it be the dungeon and the headsman." + +"O dear madam mother, speak not thus," cried Cicely. "Remember they +can find nothing against you." + +"They can make what they cannot find, my poor child. If they thirst +for my blood, it will cost them little to forge a plea. Ah, lassie! +there have been times when nothing but my cousin Elizabeth's +conscience, or her pity, stood between me and doom. If she be brought +to think that I have compassed her death, why then there is naught for +it but to lay my head on the same pillow as Norfolk and More and holy +Fisher, and many another beside. Well, be it so! I shall die a martyr +for the Holy Church, and thus may I atone by God's mercy for my many +sins! Yea, I offer myself a sacrifice," she said, folding her hands +and looking upward with a light on her face. "O do Thou accept it, and +let my sufferings purge away my many misdeeds, and render it a pure and +acceptable offering unto Thee. Child, child," she added, turning to +Cicely, "would that thou wert of my faith, then couldst thou pray for +me." + +"O mother, mother, I can do that. I do pray for thee." + +And hand in hand with tears often rising, they knelt while Mary +repeated in broken voice the Miserere. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE SEARCH. + + +Humfrey had been much disappointed, when, instead of joining the hunt, +Sir Amias Paulett bade him undertake the instruction of half a dozen +extremely awkward peasants, who had been called in to increase the +guard, but who did not know how to shoulder, load, or fire an arquebus, +had no command of their own limbs, and, if put to stand sentry, would +quite innocently loll in the nearest corner, and go to sleep. However, +he reflected that if he were resident in the same house as Cicely he +could not expect opportunities to be daily made for their meeting, and +he addressed himself with all his might to the endeavour to teach his +awkward squad to stand upright for five minutes together. Sturdy +fellows as they were, he had not been able to hinder them from lopping +over in all directions, when horses were heard approaching. Every man +of them, regardless of discipline, lumbered off to stare, and Humfrey, +after shouting at them in vain, and wishing he had them all on board +ship, gave up the endeavour to recall them, and followed their example, +repairing to the hall-door, when he found Sir Amias Paulett +dismounting, together with a clerkly-looking personage, attended by +Will Cavendish. Mary Seaton was being assisted from her horse, +evidently in great grief; and others of the personal attendants of Mary +were there, but neither herself, Cicely, nor the Secretaries. + +Before he had time to ask questions, his old companion came up to him. +"You here still, Humfrey? Well. You have come in for the outburst of +the train you scented out when you were with us in London, though I +could not then speak explicitly." + +"What mean you? Where is Cicely? Where is the Queen of Scots?" asked +Humfrey anxiously. + +Sir Amias Paulett heard him, and replied, "Your sister is safe, Master +Talbot, and with the Queen of Scots at Tixall Castle. We permitted her +attendance, as being young, simple, and loyal; she is less like to +serve for plots than her elders in that lady's service." + +Sir Annas strode on, conducting with him his guest, whom Cavendish +explained to be Mr. Wade, sworn by her Majesty's Council to take +possession of Queen Mary's effects, and there make search for evidence +of the conspiracy. Cavendish followed, and Humfrey took leave to do +the same. + +The doors of the Queen's apartment were opened at the summons of Sir +Amias Paulett, and Sir Andrew Melville, Mistress Kennedy, Marie de +Courcelles, and the rest, stood anxiously demanding what was become of +their Queen. They were briefly and harshly told that her foul and +abominable plots and conspiracies against the life of the Queen, and +the peace of the Kingdom, had been brought to light, and that she was +under secure ward. + +Jean Kennedy demanded to be taken to her at once, but Paulett replied, +"That must not be, madam. We have strict commands to keep her secluded +from all." + +Marie de Courcelles screamed aloud and wrung her hands, crying, "If ye +have slain her, only tell us quickly!" Sir Andrew Melville gravely +protested against such a barbarous insult to a Queen of Scotland and +France, and was answered, "No queen, sir, but a State criminal, as we +shall presently show." + +Here Barbara Curll pressed forward, asking wildly for her husband; and +Wade replying, with brutal brevity, that he was taken to London to be +examined for his practices before the Council, the poor lady, well +knowing that examination often meant torture, fell back in a swoon. + +"We shall do nothing with all these women crying and standing about," +said Wade impatiently; "have them all away, while we put seals on the +effects." + +"Nay, sirs," said Jean Kennedy. "Suffer me first to send her Grace +some changes of garments." + +"I tell thee, woman," said Wade, "our orders are precise! Not so much +as a kerchief is to be taken from these chambers till search hath been +made. We know what practices may lurk in the smallest rag." + +"It is barbarous! It is atrocious! The King of France shall hear of +it," shrieked Marie de Courcelles. + +"The King of France has enough to do to take care of himself, my good +lady," returned Wade, with a sneer. + +"Sir," said Jean Kennedy, with more dignity, turning to Sir Amias +Paulett, "I cannot believe that it can be by the orders of the Queen of +England, herself a woman, that my mistress, her cousin, should be +deprived of all attendance, and even of a change of linen. Such +unseemly commands can never have been issued from herself." + +"She is not without attendance," replied the knight, "the little Talbot +wench is with her, and for the rest, Sir Walter and Lady Ashton have +orders to supply her needs during her stay among them. She is treated +with all honour, and is lodged in the best chambers," he added, +consolingly. + +"We must dally no longer," called out Wade. "Have away all this throng +into ward, Sir Amias. We can do nothing with them here." + +There was no help for it. Sir Andrew Melville did indeed pause to +enter his protest, but that, of course, went for nothing with the +Commissioners, and Humfrey was ordered to conduct them to the upper +gallery, there to await further orders. It was a long passage, in the +highly pointed roof, with small chambers on either side which could be +used when there was a press of guests. There was a steep stair, as the +only access, and it could be easily guarded, so Sir Amias directed +Humfrey to post a couple of men at the foot, and to visit and relieve +them from time to time. + +It was a sad procession that climbed up those narrow stairs, of those +faithful followers who were separated from their Queen for the first +time. The servants of lower rank were merely watched in their kitchen, +and not allowed to go beyond its courtyard, but were permitted to cook +for and wait on the others, and bring them such needful furniture as +was required. + +Humfrey was very sorry for them, having had some acquaintance with them +all his life, and he was dismayed to find himself, instead of watching +over Cicely, separated from her and made a jailer against his will. +And when he returned to the Queen's apartments, he found Cavendish +holding a taper, while Paulett and Wade were vigorously affixing cords, +fastened at each end by huge red seals bearing the royal arms, to every +receptacle, and rudely plucking back the curtains that veiled the ivory +crucifix. Sir Amias's zeal would have "plucked down the idol," as he +said, but Wade restrained him by reminding him that all injury or +damage was forbidden. + +Not till all was sealed, and a guard had been stationed at the doors, +would the Commissioners taste any dinner, and then their conversation +was brief and guarded, so that Humfrey could discover little. He did, +indeed, catch the name of Babington in connection with the "Counter +prison," and a glance of inquiry to Cavendish, with a nod in return, +showed him that his suspicions were correct, but he learnt little or +nothing more till the two, together with Phillipps, drew together in +the deep window, with wine, apples, and pears on the ledge before them, +for a private discussion. Humfrey went away to see that the sentries +at the staircase were relieved, and to secure that a sufficient meal +for the unfortunate captives in the upper stories had been allowed to +pass. Will Cavendish went with him. He had known these ladies and +gentlemen far more intimately than Humfrey had done, and allowed that +it was harsh measure that they suffered for their fidelity to their +native sovereign. + +"No harm will come to them in the end," he said, "but what can we do? +That very faithfulness would lead them to traverse our purposes did we +not shut them up closely out of reach of meddling, and there is no +other place where it can be done." + +"And what are these same purposes?" asked Humfrey, as, having fulfilled +his commission, the two young men strolled out into the garden and +threw themselves on the grass, close to a large mulberry-tree, whose +luscious fruit dropped round, and hung within easy reach. + +"To trace out all the coils of as villainous and bloodthirsty a plot as +ever was hatched in a traitor's brain," said Will; "but they little +knew that we overlooked their designs the whole time. Thou wast +mystified in London, honest Humfrey, I saw it plainly; but I might not +then speak out," he added, with all his official self-importance. + +"And poor Tony hath brought himself within compass of the law?" + +"Verily you may say so. But Tony Babington always was a fool, and a +wrong-headed fool, who was sure to ruin himself sooner or later. You +remember the decoy for the wild-fowl? Well, never was silly duck or +goose so ready to swim into the nets as was he!" + +"He always loved this Queen, yea, and the old faith." + +"He sucked in the poison with his mother's milk, you may say. Mrs. +Babington was naught but a concealed Papist, and, coming from her, it +cost nothing to this Queen to beguile him when he was a mere lad, and +make him do her errands, as you know full well. Then what must my Lord +Earl do but send him to that bitter Puritan at Cambridge, who turned +him all the more that way, out of very contradiction. My Lord thought +him cured of his Popish inclinations, and never guessed they had only +led him among those who taught him to dissemble." + +"And that not over well," said Humfrey. "My father never trusted him." + +"And would not give him your sister. Yea, but the counterfeit was good +enough for my Lord who sees nothing but what is before his nose, and +for my mother who sees nothing but what she _will_ see. Well, he had +fallen in with those who deem this same Mary our only lawful Queen, and +would fain set her on the throne to bring back fire and faggot by the +Spanish sword among us." + +"I deemed him well-nigh demented with brooding over her troubles and +those of his church." + +"Demented in verity. His folly was surpassing. He put his faith in a +recusant priest--one John Ballard--who goes ruffling about as Captain +Fortescue in velvet hose and a silver-laced cloak." + +"Ha!" + +"Hast seen him?" + +"Ay, in company with Babington, on the day I came to London, passing +through Westminster." + +"Very like. Their chief place of meeting was at a house at Westminster +belonging to a fellow named Gage. We took some of them there. Well, +this Ballard teaches poor Antony, by way of gospel truth, that 'tis the +mere duty of a good Catholic to slay the enemies of the church, and +that he who kills our gracious Queen, whom God defend, will do the +holiest deed; just as they gulled the fellow, who murdered the Prince +of Orange, and then died in torments, deeming himself a holy martyr." + +"But it was not Babington whom I saw at Richmond." + +"Hold, I am coming to that. Let me tell you the Queen bore it in mind, +and asked after you. Well, Babington has a number of friends, as +hot-brained and fanatical as himself, and when once he had swallowed +the notion of privily murdering the Queen, he got so enamoured of it, +that he swore in five more to aid him in the enterprise, and then what +must they do but have all their portraits taken in one picture with a +Latin motto around them. What! Thou hast seen it?" + +"He showed it to me in Paul's Walk, and said I should hear of them, and +I thought one of them marvellously like the fellow I had seen in +Richmond Park." + +"So thought her Majesty. But more of that anon. On the self-same day +as the Queen was to be slain by these sacrilegious wretches, another +band was to fall on this place, free the lady and proclaim her, while +the Prince of Parma landed from the Netherlands and brought fire and +sword with him." + +"And Antony would have brought this upon us?" said Humfrey, still slow +to believe it of his old comrade. + +"All for the true religion's sake," said Cavendish. "They were ringing +bells and giving thanks, for the discovery and baffling thereof, when +we came down from London." + +"As well they might," said Humfrey. "But how was it detected and +overthrown? Was it through Langston?" + +"Ah, ha! we had had the strings in our hands all along. Why, Langston, +as thou namest him, though we call him Maude, and a master spy called +Gifford, have kept us warned thoroughly of every stage in the business. +Maude even contrived to borrow the picture under colour of getting it +blessed by the Pope's agent, and lent it to Mr. Secretary Walsingham, +by whom it was privily shown to the Queen. Thereby she recognised the +rogue Barnwell, an Irishman it seems, when she was walking in the Park +at Richmond with only her women and Sir Christopher Hatton, who is +better at dancing than at fighting. Not a sign did she give, but she +kept him in check with her royal eye, so that he durst not so much as +draw his pistol from his cloak; but she owned afterwards to my Lady +Norris that she could have kissed you when you came between, and all +the more, when you caught her meaning and followed her bidding +silently. You will hear of it again, Humps." + +"However that may be, it is a noble thing to have seen such courage in +a woman and a queen. But how could they let it go so near? I could +shudder now to think of the risk to her person!" + +"There goes more to policy than you yet wot of," said Will, in his +patronising tone. "In truth, Barnwell had started off unknown to his +comrades, hoping to have the glory of the achievement all to himself by +forestalling them, or else Mr. Secretary would have been warned in time +to secure the Queen." + +"But wherefore leave these traitors at large to work mischief?" + +"See you not, you simple Humfrey, that, as I said methinks some time +since, it is well sometimes to give a rogue rope enough and he will +hang himself? Close the trap too soon, and you miss the biggest rat of +all. So we waited until the prey seemed shy and about to escape. +Babington had, it seems, suspected Maude or Langston, or whatever you +call him, and had ridden out of town, hiding in St. John's Wood with +some of his fellows, till they were starved out, and trying to creep +into some outbuildings at Harrow, were there taken, and brought into +London the morning we came away. Ballard, the blackest villain of all, +is likewise in ward, and here we are to complete our evidence." + +"Nay, throughout all you have said, I have heard nothing to explain +this morning's work." + +Will laughed outright. "And so you think all this would have been done +without a word from their liege lady, the princess they all wanted to +deliver from captivity! No, no, sir! 'Twas thus. There's an honest +man at Burton, a brewer, who sends beer week by week for this house, +and very good ale it is, as I can testify. I wish I had a tankard of +it here to qualify these mulberries. This same brewer is instructed by +Gifford, whose uncle lives in these parts, to fit a false bottom to one +of his barrels, wherein is a box fitted for the receipt of letters and +parcels. Then by some means, through Langston I believe, Babington and +Gifford made known to the Queen of Scots and the French ambassador that +here was a sure way of sending and receiving letters. The Queen's +butler, old Hannibal, was to look in the bottom of the barrel with the +yellow hoop, and one Barnes, a familiar of Gifford and Babington, +undertook the freight at the other end. The ambassador, M. de +Chateauneuf, seemed to doubt at first, and sent a single letter by way +of experiment, and that having been duly delivered and answered, the +bait was swallowed, and not a week has gone by but letters have come +and gone from hence, all being first opened, copied, and deciphered by +worthy Mr. Phillipps, and every word of them laid before the Council." + +"Hum! We should not have reckoned that fair play when we went to +Master Sniggius's," observed Humfrey, as he heard his companion's tone +of exultation. + +"Fair play is a jewel that will not pass current in statecraft," +responded Cavendish. "Moreover, that the plotter should be plotted +against is surely only his desert. But thou art a mere sailor, my +Talbot, and these subtilties of policy are not for thee." + +"For the which Heaven be praised!" said Humfrey. "Yet having, as you +say, read all these letters by the way, I see not wherefore ye are come +down to seek for more." + +Will here imitated the Lord Treasurer's nod as well as in him lay, not +perhaps himself knowing the darker recesses of this same plot. He did +know so much as that every stage in it had been revealed to Walsingham +and Burghley as it proceeded. He did not know that the entire scheme +had been hatched, not by a blind and fanatical partisan of Mary's, +doing evil that what he supposed to be good, might come, but by Gifford +and Morgan, Walsingham's agents, for the express purpose of causing +Mary totally to ruin herself, and to compel Elizabeth to put her to +death, and that the unhappy Babington and his friends were thus +recklessly sacrificed. The assassin had even been permitted to appear +in Elizabeth's presence in order to terrify her into the conviction +that her life could only be secured by Mary's death. They, too, did +evil that good might come, thinking Mary's death alone could ensure +them from Pope and Spaniard; but surely they descended into a lower +depth of iniquity than did their victims. + +Will himself was not certain what was wanted among the Queen's papers, +unless it might be the actual letters, from Babington, copies of which +had been given by Phillips to the Council, so he only looked sagacious; +and Humfrey thought of the Castle Well, and felt the satisfaction there +is in seeing a hunted creature escape. He asked, however, about +Cuthbert Langston, saying, "He is--worse luck, as you may have +heard--akin to my father, who always pitied him as misguided, but +thought him as sincere in his folly as ever was this unlucky Babington." + +"So he seems to have been till of late. He hovered about in sundry +disguises, as you know, much to the torment of us all; but finally he +seems to have taken some umbrage at the lady, thinking she flouted his +services, or did not pay him high enough for them, and Gifford bought +him over easily enough; but he goes with us by the name of Maude, and +the best of it is that the poor fools thought he was hoodwinking us all +the time. They never dreamt that we saw through them like glass. +Babington was himself with Mr. Secretary only last week, offering to go +to France on business for him--the traitor! Hark! there are more sounds +of horse hoofs. Who comes now, I marvel!" + +This was soon answered by a serving-man, who hurried out to tell +Humfrey that his father was arrived, and in a few moments the young man +was blessed and embraced by the good Richard, while Diccon stood by, +considerably repaired in flesh and colour by his brief stay under his +mother's care. + +Mr. Richard Talbot was heartily welcomed by Sir Amias Paulett, who +regretted that his daughter was out of reach, but did not make any +offer of facilitating their meeting. + +Richard explained that he was on his way to London on behalf of the +Earl. Reports and letters, not very clear, had reached Sheffield of +young Babington being engaged in a most horrible conspiracy against the +Queen and country, and my Lord and my Lady, who still preserved a great +kindness for their former ward, could hardly believe it, and had sent +their useful and trustworthy kinsman to learn the truth, and to find +out whether any amount of fine or forfeiture would avail to save his +life. + +Sir Amias thought it would be a fruitless errand, and so did Richard +himself, when he had heard as much of the history as it suited Paulett +and Wade to tell, and though they esteemed and trusted him, they did +not care to go beneath that outer surface of the plot which was filling +all London with fury. + +When, having finished their after-dinner repose, they repaired to make +farther search, taking Cavendish to assist, they somewhat reluctantly +thought it due to Mr. Talbot to invite his presence, but he declined. +He and his son had much to say to one another, he observed, and not +long to say it in. + +"Besides," he added, when he found himself alone with Humfrey, having +despatched Diccon on some errand to the stables, "'tis a sorry sight to +see all the poor Lady's dainty hoards turned out by strangers. If it +must be, it must, but it would irk me to be an idle gazer thereon." + +"I would only," said Humfrey, "be assured that they would not light on +the proofs of Cicely's birth." + +"Thou mayst be at rest on that score, my son. The Lady saw them, owned +them, and bade thy mother keep them, saying ours were safer hands than +hers. Thy mother was sore grieved, Humfrey, when she saw thee not; but +she sends thee her blessing, and saith thou dost right to stay and +watch over poor little Cis." + +"It were well if I were watching over her," said Humfrey, "but she is +mewed up at Tixall, and I am only keeping guard over poor Mistress +Seaton and the rest." + +"Thou hast seen her?" + +"Yea, and she was far more our own sweet maid than when she came back +to us at Bridgefield." + +And Humfrey told his father all he had to tell of what he had seen and +heard since he had been at Chartley. His adventures in London had +already been made known by Diccon. Mr. Talbot was aghast, perhaps most +of all at finding that his cousin Cuthbert was a double traitor. From +the Roman Catholic point of view, there had been no treason in his +former machinations on behalf of Mary, if she were in his eyes his +rightful sovereign, but the betrayal of confidence reposed in him was +so horrible that the good Master Richard refused to believe it, till he +had heard the proofs again and again, and then he exclaimed, + +"That such a Judas should ever call cousin with us!" + +There could be little hope, as both agreed, of saving the unfortunate +victims; but Richard was all the more bent on fulfilling Lord +Shrewsbury's orders, and doing his utmost for Babington. As to +Humfrey, it would be better that he should remain where he was, so that +Cicely might have some protector near her in case of any sudden +dispersion of Mary's suite. + +"Poor maiden!" said her foster-father, "she is in a manner ours, and we +cannot but watch over her; but after all, I doubt me whether it had not +been better for her and for us, if the waves had beaten the little life +out of her ere I carried her home." + +"She hath been the joy of my life," said Humfrey, low and hoarsely. + +"And I fear me she will be the sorrow of it. Not by her fault, poor +wench, but what hope canst thou have, my son?" + +"None, sir," said Humfrey, "except of giving up all if I can so defend +her from aught." He spoke in a quiet matter-of-fact way that made his +father look with some inquiry at his grave settled face, quite calm, as +if saying nothing new, but expressing a long-formed quiet purpose. + +Nor, though Humfrey was his eldest son and heir, did Richard Talbot try +to cross it. + +He asked whether he might see Cicely before going on to London, but Sir +Amias said that in that case she would not be allowed to return to the +Queen, and that to have had any intercourse with the prisoners might +overthrow all his designs in London, and he therefore only left with +Humfrey his commendations to her, with a pot of fresh honey and a +lavender-scented set of kerchiefs from Mistress Susan. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +TETE-A-TETE. + + +During that close imprisonment at Tixall Cicely learnt to know her +mother both in her strength and weakness. They were quite alone; +except that Sir Walter Ashton daily came to perform the office of +taster and carver at their meals, and on the first evening his wife +dragged herself upstairs to superintend the arrangement of their +bedroom, and to supply them with toilette requisites according to her +own very limited notions and possessions. The Dame was a very homely, +hard-featured lady, deaf, and extremely fat and heavy, one of the old +uncultivated rustic gentry who had lagged far behind the general +civilisation of the country, and regarded all refinements as effeminate +French vanities. She believed, likewise, all that was said against +Queen Mary, whom she looked on as barely restrained from plunging a +dagger into Elizabeth's heart, and letting Parma's hell-hounds loose +upon Tixall. To have such a guest imposed on her was no small +grievance, and nothing but her husband's absolute mandate could have +induced her to come up with the maids who brought sheets for the bed, +pillows, and the like needments. Mary tried to make her requests as +moderate as necessity would permit; but when they had been shouted into +her ears by one of the maids, she shook her head at most of them, as +articles unknown to her. Nor did she ever appear again. The +arrangement of the bed-chamber was performed by two maidservants, the +Knight himself meanwhile standing a grim sentinel over the two ladies +in the outer apartment to hinder their holding any communication +through the servants. All requests had to be made to him, and on the +first morning Mary made a most urgent one for writing materials, books, +and either needlework or spinning. + +Pen and ink had been expressly forbidden, the only book in the house +was a thumbed and torn primer, but Dame Joan, after much grumbling at +fine ladies' whims, vouchsafed to send up a distaff, some wool, a piece +of unbleached linen, and a skein of white thread. + +Queen Mary executed therewith an exquisite piece of embroidery, which +having escaped Dame Joan's first impulse to burn it on the spot, +remained for many years the show and the wonder of Tixall. Save for +this employment, she said she should have gone mad in her utter +uncertainty about her own fate, or that of those involved with her. To +ask questions of Ashton was like asking them of a post. He would give +her no notion whether her servants were at Chartley or not, whether +they were at large or in confinement, far less as to who was accused of +the plot, and what had been discovered. All that could be said for him +was that his churlishness was passive and according to his ideas of +duty. He was a very reluctant and uncomfortable jailer, but he never +insulted, nor wilfully ill-used his unfortunate captive. + +Thus Mary was left to dwell on the little she knew, namely, that +Babington and his fellows were arrested, and that she was supposed to +be implicated; but there her knowledge ceased, except that Humfrey's +warning convinced her that Cuthbert Langston had been at least one of +the traitors. He had no doubt been offended and disappointed at that +meeting during the hawking at Tutbury. + +"Yet I need scarcely seek the why or the wherefore," she said. "I have +spent my life in a world of treachery. No sooner do I take a step on +ground that seems ever so firm, than it proves a quicksand. They will +swallow me at last." + +Daily--more than daily--did she and Cicely go over together that +hurried conversation on the moor, and try to guess whether Langston +intended to hint at Cicely's real birth. He had certainly not +disclosed her secret as yet, or Paulett would never have selected her +as sprung of a loyal house, but he might guess at the truth, and be +waiting for an opportunity to sell it dearly to those who would regard +her as possessed of dangerous pretensions. + +And far more anxiously did the Queen recur to examining Cicely on what +she had gathered from Humfrey. This was in fact nothing, for he had +been on his guard against either telling or hearing anything +inconsistent with loyalty to the English Queen, and thus had avoided +conversation on these subjects. + +Nor did the Queen communicate much. Cicely never understood clearly +what she dreaded, what she expected to be found among her papers, or +what had been in the packet thrown into the well. The girl did not +dare to ask direct questions, and the Queen always turned off indirect +inquiries, or else assured her that she was still a simple happy child, +and that it was better for her own sake that she should know nothing, +then caressed her, and fondly pitied her for not being admitted to her +mother's confidence, but said piteously that she knew not what the +secrets of Queens and captives were, not like those of Mistress Susan +about the goose to be dressed, or the crimson hose to be knitted for a +surprise to her good husband. + +But Cicely could see that she expected the worst, and believed in a set +purpose to shed her blood, and she spent much time in devotion, though +sorely distressed by the absence of all those appliances which her +Church had taught her to rest upon. And these prayers, which often +began with floods of tears, so that Cicely drew away into the window +with her distaff in order not to seem to watch them, ended with +rendering her serene and calm, with a look of high resignation, as +having offered herself as a sacrifice and martyr for her Church. + +And yet was it wholly as a Roman Catholic that she had been hated, +intrigued against, and deposed in her own kingdom? Was it simply as a +Roman Catholic that she was, as she said, the subject of a more cruel +plot than that of which she was accused? + +Mysterious woman that she was, she was never more mysterious than to +her daughter in those seventeen days that they were shut up together! +It did not so much strike Cicely at the time, when she was carried +along with all her mother's impulses and emotions, without reflecting +on them, but when in after times she thought over all that then had +passed, she felt how little she had understood. + +They suffered a good deal from the heat and closeness of the rooms, for +Mary was like a modern Englishwoman in her craving for free air, and +these were the dog-days. They had contrived by the help of a diamond +that the Queen carried about with her, after the fashion of the time, +to extract a pane or two from the lattices so ingeniously that the +master of the house never found it out. And as their two apartments +looked out different ways, they avoided the full sunshine, for they had +neither curtains nor blinds to their windows, by moving from one to the +other; but still the closeness was very oppressive, and in the heat of +the day, just after dinner, they could do nothing but lie on the table, +while the Queen told stories of her old life in France, till sometimes +they both went to sleep. Most of her dainty needlework was done in the +long light mornings, for she hardly slept at all in the hot nights. +Cis scarcely saw her in bed, for she prayed long after the maiden had +fallen asleep, and was up with the light and embroidering by the window. + +She only now began to urge Cicely to believe as she did, and to join +her Church, taking blame to herself for never having attempted it more +seriously. She told of the oneness and the glory of Roman Catholicism +as she had seen it in France, held out its promises and professions, +and dwelt on the comfort of the intercession of the Blessed Virgin and +the Saints; assuring Cicely that there was nothing but sacrilege, +confusion, and cruelty on the other side. + +Sometimes the maiden was much moved by the tender manner and persuasive +words, and she really had so much affection and admiration for her +mother as to be willing to do all that she wished, and to believe her +the ablest and most clear-sighted of human beings; but whenever Mary +was not actually talking to her, there was a curious swaying back of +the pendulum in her mind to the conviction that what Master Richard and +Mistress Susan believed must be the right thing, that led to +trustworthy goodness. She had an enthusiastic love for the Queen, but +her faith and trust were in them and in Humfrey, and she could see +religious matters from their point of view better than from that of her +mother. + +So, though the Queen often felt herself carrying her daughter along, +she always found that there had been a slipping back to the old +standpoint every time she began again. She was considering with some +anxiety of the young maiden's future. + +"Could I but send thee to my good sister, the Duchess of Lorraine, she +would see thee well and royally married," she said. "Then couldst thou +be known by thine own name, and rank as Princess of Scotland. If I can +only see my Courcelles again, she would take thee safely and prove +all--and thy hand will be precious to many. It may yet bring back the +true faith to England, when my brave cousin of Guise has put down the +Bearnese, and when the poor stumbling-block here is taken away." + +"Oh speak not of that, dear madam, my mother." + +"I must speak, child. I must think how it will be with thee, so +marvellously saved, and restored to be my comfort. I must provide for +thy safety and honour. Happily the saints guarded me from ever +mentioning thee in my letters, so that there is no fear that Elizabeth +should lay hands on thee, unless Langston should have spoken--the which +can hardly be. But if all be broken up here, I must find thee a +dwelling with my kindred worthy of thy birth." + +"Mr. and Mrs. Talbot would take me home," murmured Cicely. + +"Girl! After all the training I have bestowed on thee, is it possible +that thou wouldst fain go back to make cheeses and brew small beer with +those Yorkshire boors, rather than reign a princess? I thought thy +heart was nobler." + +Cicely hung her head ashamed. "I was very happy there," she said in +excuse. + +"Happy--ay, with the milkmaid's bliss. There may be fewer sorrows in +such a life as that--just as those comely kine of Ashton's that I see +grazing in the park have fewer sorrows than human creatures. But what +know they of our joys, or what know the commonalty of the joy of +ruling, calling brave men one's own, riding before one's men in the +field, wielding counsels of State, winning the love of thousands? Nay, +nay, I will not believe it of my child, unless 'tis the base Border +blood that is in her which speaks." + +Cicely was somewhat overborne by being thus accused of meanness of +tastes, when she had heard the Queen talk enviously of that same homely +life which now she despised so heartily. She faltered in excuse, +"Methought, madam, you would be glad to think there was one loving +shelter ever open to me." + +"Loving! Ah! I see what it is," said the Queen, in a tone of disgust. +"It is the sailor loon that has overthrown it all. A couple of walks +in the garden with him, and the silly maid is ready to throw over all +nobler thoughts." + +"Madam, he spoke no such word to me." + +"'Twas the infection, child--only the infection." + +"Madam, I pray you--" + +"Whist, child. Thou wilt be a perilous bride for any commoner, and let +that thought, if no other, keep thee from lowering thine eyes to such +as he. Were I and thy brother taken out of the way, none would stand +between thee and both thrones! What would English or Scots say to find +thee a household Joan, wedded to one of Drake's rude pirate fellows? I +tell thee it would be the worse for him. They have made it treason to +wed royal blood without Elizabeth's consent. No, no, for his sake, as +well as thine own, thou must promise me never thus to debase thy royal +lineage." + +"Mother; neither he nor I have thought or spoken of such a matter since +we knew how it was with me. + +"And you give me your word?" + +"Yea, madam," said Cicely, who had really never entertained the idea of +marrying Humfrey, implicit as was her trust in him as a brother and +protector. + +"That is well. And so soon as I am restored to my poor servants, if I +ever am, I will take measures for sending the French remnant to their +own land; nor shall my Courcelles quit thee till she hath seen thee +safe in the keeping of Madame de Lorraine or of Queen Louise, who is +herself a kinswoman of ours, and, they say, is piety and gentleness +itself." + +"As you will, madam," said Cicely, her heart sinking at the thought of +the strange new world before her, but perceiving that she must not be +the means of bringing Humfrey into trouble and danger. + +Perhaps she felt this the more from seeing how acutely her mother +suffered at times from sorrow for those involved in her disaster. She +gave Babington and his companions, as well as Nau and Curll, up for +lost, as the natural consequence of having befriended her; and she +blamed herself remorsefully, after the long experience of the fatal +consequences of meddling in her affairs, for having entered into +correspondence with the bright enthusiastic boy whom she remembered, +and having lured him without doubt to his death. + +"Alack! alack!" she said, "and yet such is liberty, that I should +forget all I have gone through, and do the like again, if the door +seemed opened to me. At least there is this comfort, cruel child, thy +little heart was not set on him, gracious and handsome though he +were--and thy mother's most devoted knight! Ah! poor youth, it wrings +my soul to think of him. But at least he is a Catholic, his soul will +be safe, and I will have hundreds of masses sung for him. Oh that I +knew how it goes with them! This torture of silent suspense is the +most cruel of all." + +Mary paced the room with impatient misery, and in such a round the +weary hours dragged by, only mitigated by one welcome thunderstorm, for +seventeen days, whose summer length made them seem the more endless. +Cicely, who had never before in her life been shut up in the house so +many hours, was pale, listless, and even fretful towards the Queen, who +bore with her petulance so tenderly as more than once to make her weep +bitterly for very shame. After one of these fits of tears, Mary +pleaded earnestly with Sir Walter Ashton for permission for the maiden +to take a turn in the garden every day, but though the good gentleman's +complexion bore testimony that he lived in the fresh air, he did not +believe in its efficacy; he said he had no orders, and could do nothing +without warrant. But that evening at supper, the serving-maid brought +up a large brew of herbs, dark and nauseous, which Dame Ashton had sent +as good for the young lady's megrim. + +"Will you taste it, sir?" asked the Queen of Sir Walter, with a revival +of her lively humour. + +"The foul fiend have me if a drop comes within my lips," muttered the +knight. "I am not bound to taste for a tirewoman!" he added, leaving +it in doubt whether his objection arose from distaste to his lady's +messes, or from pride; and he presently said, perhaps half-ashamed of +himself, and willing to cast the blame on the other side, + +"It was kindly meant of my good dame, and if you choose to flout at, +rather than benefit by it, that is no affair of mine." + +He left the potion, and Cicely disposed of it by small instalments at +the windows; and a laugh over the evident horror it excited in the +master, did the captives at least as much good as the camomile, +centaury, wormwood, and other ingredients of the bowl. + +Happily it was only two days later that Sir Walter announced that his +custody of the Queen was over, and Sir Amias Paulett was come for her. +There was little preparation to make, for the two ladies had worn their +riding-dresses all the time; but on reaching the great door, where Sir +Amias, attended by Humfrey, was awaiting them, they were astonished to +see a whole troop on horseback, all armed with head-pieces, swords and +pistols, to the number of a hundred and forty. + +"Wherefore is this little army raised?" she asked. + +"It is by order of the Queen," replied Ashton, with his accustomed +surly manner, "and need enough in the time of such treasons!" + +The Queen turned to him with tears on her cheeks. "Good gentlemen," +she said, "I am not witting of anything against the Queen. Am I to be +taken to the Tower?" + +"No, madam, back to Chartley," replied Sir Amias. + +"I knew they would never let me see my cousin," sighed the Queen. +"Sir," as Paulett placed her on her horse, "of your pity tell me +whether I shall find all my poor servants there." + +"Yea, madam, save Mr. Nau and Mr. Curll, who are answering for +themselves and for you. Moreover, Curll's wife was delivered two days +since." + +This intelligence filled Mary with more anxiety than she chose to +manifest to her unsympathising surroundings; Cis meanwhile had been +assisted to mount by Humfrey, who told her that Mrs. Curll was thought +to be doing well, but that there were fears for the babe. It was +impossible to exchange many words, for they were immediately behind the +Queen and her two warders, and Humfrey could only tell her that his +father had been at Chartley, and had gone on to London; but there was +inexpressible relief in hearing the sound of his voice, and knowing she +had some one to think for her and protect her. The promise she had +made to the Queen only seemed to make him more entirely her brother by +putting that other love out of the question. + +There was a sad sight at the gate,--a whole multitude of +wretched-looking beggars, and poor of all ages and degrees of misery, +who all held out their hands and raised one cry of "Alms, alms, +gracious Lady, alms, for the love of heaven!" + +Mary looked round on them with tearful eyes, and exclaimed, "Alack, +good folk, I have nothing to give you! I am as much a beggar as +yourselves!" + +The escort dispersed them roughly, Paulett assuring her that they were +nothing but "a sort of idle folk," who were only encouraged in laziness +by her bounty, which was very possibly true of a certain proportion of +them, but it had been a sore grief to her that since Cuthbert +Langston's last approach in disguise she had been prevented from giving +alms. + +In due time Chartley was reached, and the first thing the Queen did on +dismounting was to hurry to visit poor Barbara Curll, who had--on her +increasing illness--been removed to one of the guest-chambers, where +the Queen now found her, still in much distress about her husband, who +was in close imprisonment in Walsingham's house, and had not been +allowed to send her any kind of message; and in still more immediate +anxiety about her new-born infant, who did not look at all as if its +little life would last many hours. + +She lifted up her languid eyelids, and scarcely smiled when the Queen +declared, "See, Barbara, I am come back again to you, to nurse you and +my god-daughter into health to receive your husband again. Nay, have +no fears for him. They cannot hurt him. He has done nothing, and is a +Scottish subject beside. My son shall write to claim him," she +declared with such an assumed air of confidence that a shade of hope +crossed the pale face, and the fear for her child became the more +pressing of the two griefs. + +"We will christen her at once," said Mary, turning to the nearest +attendant. "Bear a request from me to Sir Amias that his chaplain may +come at once and baptize my god-child." + +Sir Amias was waiting in the gallery in very ill-humour at the Queen's +delay, which kept his supper waiting. Moreover, his party had a strong +dislike to private baptism, holding that the important point was the +public covenant made by responsible persons, and the notion of the +sponsorship of a Roman Catholic likewise shocked him. So he made +ungracious answer that he would have no baptism save in church before +the congregation, with true Protestant gossips. + +"So saith he?" exclaimed Mary, when the reply was reported to her. +"Nay, my poor little one, thou shalt not be shut out of the Kingdom of +Heaven for his churlishness." And taking the infant on her knee, she +dipped her hand in the bowl of water that had been prepared for the +chaplain, and baptized it by her own name of Mary. + +The existing Prayer-book had been made expressly to forbid lay baptism +and baptism by women, at the special desire of the reformers, and Sir +Amias was proportionately horrified, and told her it was an offence for +the Archbishop's court. + +"Very like," said Mary. "Your Protestant courts love to slay both body +and soul. Will it please you to open my own chambers to me, sir?" + +Sir Amias handed the key to one of her servants but she motioned him +aside. + +"Those who put me forth must admit me," she said. + +The door was opened by one of the gentlemen of the household, and they +entered. Every repository had been ransacked, every cabinet stood open +and empty, every drawer had been pulled out. Wearing apparel and the +like remained, but even this showed signs of having been tossed over +and roughly rearranged by masculine fingers. + +Mary stood in the midst of the room, which had a strange air of +desolation, an angry light in her eyes, and her hands clasped tightly +one into the other. Paulett attempted some expression of regret for +the disarray, pleading his orders. + +"It needs not excuse, sir," said Mary, "I understand to whom I owe this +insult. There are two things that your Queen can never take from +me--royal blood and the Catholic faith. One day some of you will be +sorry for what you have now put upon me! I would be alone, sir," and +she proudly motioned him to the door, with a haughty gesture, showing +her still fully Queen in her own apartments. Paulett obeyed, and when +he was gone, the Queen seemed to abandon the command over herself she +had preserved all this time. She threw herself into Jean Kennedy's +arms, and wept freely and piteously, while the good lady, rejoicing at +heart to have recovered "her bairn," fondled and soothed her with soft +Scottish epithets, as though the worn woman had been a child again. +"Yea, nurse, mine own nurse, I am come back to thee; for a little +while--only a little while, nurse, for they will have my blood, and oh! +I would it were ended, for I am aweary of it all." + +Jean and Elizabeth Curll tried to cheer and console her, alarmed at +this unwonted depression, but she only said, "Get me to bed, nurse, I +am sair forfaughten." + +She was altogether broken down by the long suspense, the hardships and +the imprisonment she had undergone, and she kept her bed for several +days, hardly speaking, but apparently reposing in the relief afforded +by the recovered care and companionship of her much-loved attendants. + +There she was when Paulett came to demand the keys of the caskets where +her treasure was kept. Melville had refused to yield them, and all the +Queen said was, "Robbery is to be added to the rest," a sentence which +greatly stung the knight, but he actually seized all the coin that he +found, including what belonged to Nau and Curll, and, only retaining +enough for present expenses, sent the rest off to London. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +EVIDENCE. + + +In the meantime the two Richard Talbots, father and son, had safely +arrived in London, and had been made welcome at the house of their +noble kinsman. + +Nau and Curll, they heard, were in Walsingham's house, subjected to +close examination; Babington and all his comrades were in the Tower. +The Council was continually sitting to deliberate over the fate of the +latter unhappy men, of whose guilt there was no doubt; and neither Lord +Talbot nor Will Cavendish thought there was any possibility of Master +Richard gaining permission to plead how the unfortunate Babington had +been worked on and deceived. After the sentence should be pronounced, +Cavendish thought that the request of the Earl of Shrewsbury might +prevail to obtain permission for an interview between the prisoner and +one commissioned by his former guardian. Will was daily attending Sir +Francis Walsingham as his clerk, and was not by any means unwilling to +relate anything he had been able to learn. + +Queen Elizabeth was, it seemed, greatly agitated and distressed. The +shock to her nerves on the day when she had so bravely overawed +Barnwell with the power of her eye had been such as not to be easily +surmounted. She was restless and full of anxiety, continually starting +at every sound, and beginning letters to the Queen of Scots which were +never finished. She had more than once inquired after the brave sailor +youths who had come so opportunely to her rescue; and Lord Talbot +thought it would be well to present Diccon and his father to her, and +accordingly took them with him to Greenwich Palace, where they had the +benefit of looking on as loyal subjects, while her Majesty, in royal +fashion, dined in public, to the sound of drums, trumpets, fifes, and +stringed instruments. But though dressed with her usual elaborate +care, she looked older, paler, thinner, and more haggard than when +Diccon had seen her three weeks previously, and neither her eye nor +mouth had the same steadiness. She did not eat with relish, but almost +as if she were forcing herself, lest any lack of appetite might be +observed and commented upon, and her looks continually wandered as +though in search of some lurking enemy; for in truth no woman, nor man +either, could easily forget the suggestion which had recently been +brought to her knowledge, that an assassin might "lurk in her gallery +and stab her with his dagger, or if she should walk in her garden, he +might shoot her with his dagg, or if she should walk abroad to take the +air, he might assault her with his arming sword and make sure work." +Even though the enemies were safe in prison, she knew not but that +dagger, dagg, or arming sword might still be ready for her, and she +believed that any fatal charge openly made against Mary at the trial +might drive her friends to desperation and lead to the use of dagg or +dagger. She was more unhinged than ever before, and commanded herself +with difficulty when going through all the scenes of her public life as +usual. + +The Talbots soon felt her keen eye on them, and a look of recognition +passed over her face as she saw Diccon. As soon as the meal was over, +and the table of trestles removed, she sent a page to command Lord +Talbot to present them to her. + +"So, sir," she said, as Richard the elder knelt before her, "you are +the father of two brave sons, whom you have bred up to do good service; +but I only see one of them here. Where is the elder?" + +"So please your Majesty, Sir Amias Paulett desired to retain him at +Chartley to assist in guarding the Queen of Scots." + +"It is well. Paulett knows a trusty lad when he sees him. And so do +I. I would have the youths both for my gentlemen pensioners--the elder +when he can be spared from his charge, this stripling at once." + +"We are much beholden to your Majesty," said Richard, bending his head +the lower as he knelt on one knee; for such an appointment gave both +training and recommendation to young country gentlemen, and was much +sought after. + +"Methinks," said Elizabeth, who had the royal faculty of remembering +faces, "you have yourself so served us, Mr. Talbot?" + +"I was for three years in the band of your Majesty's sister, Queen +Mary," said Richard, "but I quitted it on her death to serve at sea, +and I have since been in charge at Sheffield, under my Lord of +Shrewsbury." + +"We have heard that he hath found you a faithful servant," said the +Queen, "yea, so well affected as even to have refused your daughter in +marriage to this same Babington. Is this true?" + +"It is, so please your Majesty." + +"And it was because you already perceived his villainy?" + +"There were many causes, Madam," said Richard, catching at the chance +of saying a word for the unhappy lad, "but it was not so much villainy +that I perceived in him as a nature that might be easily practised upon +by worse men than himself." + +"Not so much a villain ready made as the stuff villains are made of," +said the Queen, satisfied with her own repartee. + +"So please your Majesty, the metal that in good hands becomes a brave +sword, in evil ones becomes a treacherous dagger." + +"Well said, Master Captain, and therefore, we must destroy alike the +dagger and the hands that perverted it." + +"Yet," ventured Richard, "the dagger attempered by your Majesty's +clemency might yet do noble service." + +Elizabeth, however, broke out fiercely with one of her wonted oaths. + +"How now? Thou wouldst not plead for the rascal! I would have you to +know that to crave pardon for such a fellow is well-nigh treason in +itself. You have license to leave us, sir." + +"I should scarce have brought you, Richard," said Lord Talbot, as soon +as they had left the presence chamber, "had I known you would venture +on such folly. Know you not how incensed she is? Naught but your +proved loyalty and my father's could have borne you off this time, and +it would be small marvel to me if the lad's appointment were forgotten." + +"I could not choose but run the risk," said Richard. "What else came I +to London for?" + +"Well," said his cousin, "you are a brave man, Richard Talbot. I know +those who had rather scale a Spanish fortress than face Queen Elizabeth +in her wrath. Her tongue is sharper than even my stepdame's, though it +doth not run on so long." + +Lord Talbot was not quite easy when that evening a gentleman, clad in +rich scarlet and gold, and armed to the teeth, presented himself at +Shrewsbury House and inquired for Mr. Talbot of Bridgefield. However, +it proved to be the officer of the troop of gentlemen pensioners come +to enroll Diccon, tell him the requirements, and arrange when he should +join in a capacity something like that of an esquire to one of the +seniors of the troop. Humfrey was likewise inquired for, but it was +thought better on all accounts that he should continue in his present +situation, since it was especially needful to have trustworthy persons +at Chartley in the existing crisis. Master Richard was well satisfied +to find that his son's immediate superior would be a gentleman of a +good Yorkshire family, whose father was known to him, and who promised +to have a care of Master Richard the younger, and preserve him, as far +as possible, from the perils of dicing, drinking, and running into bad +company. + +Launching a son in this manner and equipping him for service was an +anxious task for a father, while day after day the trial was deferred, +the examinations being secretly carried on before the Council till, as +Cavendish explained, what was important should be disclosed. + +Of course this implied what should be fatal to Queen Mary. The priest +Ballard was racked, but he was a man of great determination, and +nothing was elicited from him. The other prisoners, and Nau and Curll, +were questioned again and again under threats and promises before the +Council, and the letters that had been copied on their transit through +the beer barrels were read and made the subject of +cross-examination--still all in private, for, as Cavendish said, +"perilous stuff to the Queen's Majesty might come out." + +He allowed, however, day after day, that though there was quite enough +to be fatal to Ballard, Babington, Savage, and Barnwell, whatever else +was wanting was not forthcoming. At last, however, Cavendish returned +full of a certain exultation: "We have it," he said,--"a most undoubted +treasonable letter, which will catch her between the shoulders and the +head." + +He spoke to Lord Talbot and Richard, who were standing together in a +window, and who knew only too well who was referred to, and what the +expression signified. On a further query from his step-brother, +Cavendish explained that it was a long letter, dated July 16, arranging +in detail the plan for "the Lady's" own rescue from Chartley at the +moment of the landing of the Spaniards, and likewise showing her privy +to the design of the six gentlemen against the life of the Queen, and +desiring to know their names. Nau had, he said, verified the cipher as +one used in the correspondence, and Babington, when it was shown to +him, had declared that it had been given to him in the street by a +stranger serving-man in a blue coat, and that it had removed all doubt +from his mind, as it was an answer to a letter of his, a copy of which +had been produced, but not the letter itself. + +"Which we have not found," said Cavendish. + +"Not for all that search of yours at Chartley?" said Richard. +"Methought it was thorough enough!" + +"The Lady must have been marvellously prudent as to the keeping of +letters," said Will, "or else she must have received some warning; for +there is absolutely naught to be found in her repositories that will +serve our purpose." + +"Our purpose!" repeated Richard, as he recollected many little +kindnesses that William Cavendish when a boy had received from the +prisoner at Sheffield. + +"Yea, Master Richard," he returned, unabashed. "It is absolutely +needful that we should openly prove this woman to be what we know her +to be in secret. Her Majesty's life will never be safe for a moment +while she lives; and what would become of us all did she overlive the +Queen!" + +"Well, Will, for all your mighty word _we_, you are but the pen in Mr. +Secretary's hand, so there is no need to argue the matter with you," +said Richard. + +The speech considerably nettled Master William, especially as it made +Lord Talbot laugh. + +"Father!" said Diccon afterwards, "Humfrey tried to warn Mr. Babington +that we had seen this Langston, who hath as many metamorphoses as there +be in Ovidius Naso, coming privily forth from Sir Francis Walsingham's +closet, but he would not listen, and declared that Langston was holding +Mr. Secretary in play." + +"Deceiving and being deceived," sighed his father. "That is ever the +way, my son! Remember that if thou playest false, other men will play +falser with thee and bring thee to thy ruin. I would not leave thee +here save that the gentlemen pensioners are a more honest and manly +sort of folk than yonder gentlemen with their state craft, wherein they +throw over all truth and honour as well as mercy." + +This conversation took place as the father and son were making their +way to a house in Westminster, where Antony Babington's wife was with +her mother, Lady Ratcliffe. It had been a match made by Lady +Shrewsbury, and it was part of Richard's commission to see and confer +with the family. It was not a satisfactory interview. The wife was a +dull childish little thing, not yet sixteen; and though she cried, she +had plainly never lived in any real sympathy or companionship with her +husband, who had left her with her parents, while leading the life of +mingled amusement and intrigue which had brought him to his present +state; and the mother, a hard-featured woman, evidently thought herself +cheated and ill used. She railed at Babington and at my Lady Countess +by turns; at the one for his ruinous courses and neglect of her +daughter, at the other for having cozened her into giving her poor +child to a treacherous Papist, who would be attainted in blood, and +thus bring her poor daughter and grandchild to poverty. The old lady +really seemed to have lost all pity for her son-in-law in indignation +on her daughter's account, and to care infinitely less for the saving +of his life than for the saving of his estate. Nor did the young wife +herself appear to possess much real affection for poor Antony, of whom +she had seen very little. There must have been great faults on his +side; yet certainly Richard felt that there was some excuse for him in +the mother-in-law, and that if the unfortunate young man could have +married Cicely his lot might have been different. Yet the good Captain +felt all the more that if Cis had been his own he still would never +have given her to Babington. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +WESTMINSTER HALL. + + +Beneath the noble roof of Westminster Hall, with the morning sun +streaming in high aloft, at seven in the morning of the 14th of +September, the Court met for the trial of Antony Babington and his +confederates. The Talbot name and recommendation obtained ready +admission, and Lord Talbot, Richard, and his son formed one small party +together with William Cavendish, who had his tablets, on which to take +notes for the use of his superior, Walsingham, who was, however, one of +the Commissioners. + +There they sat, those supreme judges, the three Chief-Justices in their +scarlet robes of office forming the centre of the group, which also +numbered Lords Cobham and Buckhurst, Sir Francis Knollys, Sir +Christopher Hatton, and most of the chief law officers of the Crown. + +"Is Mr. Secretary Walsingham one of the judges here?" asked Diccon. +"Methought he had been in the place of the accuser." + +"Peace, boy, and listen," said his father; "these things pass my +comprehension." + +Nevertheless Richard had determined that if the course of the trial +should offer the least opportunity, he would come forward and plead his +former knowledge of young Babington as a rash and weak-headed youth, +easily played upon by designing persons, but likely to take to heart +such a lesson as this, and become a true and loyal subject. If he +could obtain any sort of mitigation for the poor youth, it would be +worth the risk. + +The seven conspirators were brought in, and Richard could hardly keep a +rush of tears from his eyes at the sight of those fine, high-spirited +young men, especially Antony Babington, the playfellow of his own +children. + +Antony was carefully dressed in his favourite colour, dark green, his +hair and beard trimmed, and his demeanour calm and resigned. The fire +was gone from his blue eye, and his bright complexion had faded, but +there was an air of dignity about him such as he had never worn before. +His eyes, as he took his place, wandered round the vast assembly, and +rested at length on Mr. Talbot, as though deriving encouragement and +support from the look that met his. Next to him was another young man +with the same look of birth and breeding, namely Chidiock Tichborne; +but John Savage, an older man, had the reckless bearing of the +brutalised soldiery of the Netherlandish wars. Robert Barnwell, with +his red, shaggy brows and Irish physiognomy, was at once recognised by +Diccon. Donne and Salisbury followed; and the seventh conspirator, +John Ballard, was carried in a chair. Even Diccon's quick eye could +hardly have detected the ruffling, swaggering, richly-clad Captain +Fortescue in this tonsured man in priestly garb, deadly pale, and +unable to stand, from the effects of torture, yet with undaunted, +penetrating eyes, all unsubdued. + +After the proclamation, Oyez, Oyez, and the command to keep silence, +Sandys, the Clerk of the Crown, began the proceedings. "John Ballard, +Antony Babington, John Savage, Robert Barnwell, Chidiock Tichborne, +Henry Donne, Thomas Salisbury, hold up your hands and answer." The +indictment was then read at great length, charging them with conspiring +to slay the Queen, to deliver Mary, Queen of Scots, from custody, to +stir up rebellion, to bring the Spaniards to invade England, and to +change the religion of the country. The question was first put to +Ballard, Was he guilty of these treasons or not guilty? + +Ballard's reply was, "That I procured the delivery of the Queen of +Scots, I am guilty; and that I went about to alter the religion, I am +guilty; but that I intended to slay her Majesty, I am not guilty." + +"Not with his own hand," muttered Cavendish, "but for the rest--" + +"Pity that what is so bravely spoken should be false," thought Richard, +"yet it may be to leave the way open to defence." + +Sandys, however, insisted that he must plead to the whole indictment, +and Anderson, the Chief-Justice of Common Pleas, declared that he must +deny the whole generally, or confess it generally; while Hatton put in, +"Ballard, under thine own hand are all things confessed, therefore now +it is much vanity to stand vaingloriously in denying it." + +"Then, sir, I confess I am guilty," he said, with great calmness, +though it was the resignation of all hope. + +The same question was then put to Babington. He, with "a mild +countenance, sober gesture," and all his natural grace, stood up and +spoke, saying "that the time for concealment was past, and that he was +ready to avow how from his earliest infancy he had believed England to +have fallen from the true religion, and had trusted to see it restored +thereto. Moreover, he had ever a deep love and compassion for the +Queen of Scots. Some," he said, "who are yet at large, and who are yet +as deep in the matter as I--" + +"Gifford, Morgan, and another," whispered Cavendish significantly. + +"Have they escaped?" asked Diccon. + +"So 'tis said." + +"The decoy ducks," thought Richard. + +Babington was explaining that these men had proposed to him a great +enterprise for the rescue and restoration of the Queen of Scots, and +the re-establishment of the Catholic religion in England by the sword +of the Prince of Parma. A body of gentlemen were to attack Chartley, +free Mary, and proclaim her Queen, and at the same time Queen Elizabeth +was to be put to death by some speedy and skilful method. + +"My Lords," he said, "I swear that all that was in me cried out against +the wickedness of thus privily slaying her Majesty." + +Some muttered, "The villain! he lies," but the kindly Richard sighed +inaudibly, "True, poor lad! Thou must have given thy conscience over +to strange keepers to be thus led astray." + +And Babington went on to say that they had brought this gentleman, +Father Ballard, who had wrought with him to prove that his scruples +were weak, carnal, and ungodly, and that it would be a meritorious deed +in the sight of Heaven thus to remove the heretic usurper. + +Here the judges sternly bade him not to blaspheme, and he replied, with +that "soberness and good grace" which seems to have struck all the +beholders, that he craved patience and pardon, meaning only to explain +how he had been led to the madness which he now repented, understanding +himself to have been in grievous error, though not for the sake of any +temporal reward; but being blinded to the guilt, and assured that the +deed was both lawful and meritorious. He thus had been brought to +destruction through the persuasions of this Ballard. + +"A very fit author for so bad a fact," responded Hatton. + +"Very true, sir," said Babington; "for from so bad a ground never +proceed any better fruits. He it was who persuaded me to kill the +Queen, and to commit the other treasons, whereof I confess myself +guilty." + +Savage pleaded guilty at once, with the reckless hardihood of a soldier +accustomed to look on death as the fortune of war. + +Barnwell denied any intention of killing the Queen (much to Diccon's +surprise), but pleaded guilty to the rest. Donne said that on being +told of the plot he had prayed that whatever was most to the honour and +glory of Heaven might be done, and being pushed hard by Hatton, turned +this into a confession of being guilty. Salisbury declared that he had +always protested against killing the Queen, and that he would not have +done so for a kingdom, but of the rest he was guilty. Tichborne showed +that but for an accidental lameness he would have been at his home in +Hampshire, but he could not deny his knowledge of the treason. + +All having pleaded guilty, no trial was permitted, such as would have +brought out the different degrees of guilt, which varied in all the +seven. + +A long speech was, however, made by the counsel for the Crown, +detailing the plot as it had been arranged for the public knowledge, +and reading aloud a letter from Babington to Queen Mary, describing his +plans both for her rescue and the assassination, saying, "he had +appointed six noble gentlemen for the despatch of the wicked +competitor." + +Richard caught a look of astonishment on the unhappy young man's face, +but it passed into hopeless despondency, and the speech went on to +describe the picture of the conspirators and its strange motto, +concluding with an accusation that they meant to sack London, burn the +ships, and "cloy the ordnance." + +A shudder of horror went through the assembly, and perhaps few except +Richard Talbot felt that the examination of the prisoners ought to have +been public. The form, however, was gone through of asking whether +they had cause to render wherefore they should not be condemned to die. + +The first to speak was Ballard. His eyes glanced round with an +indomitable expression of scorn and indignation, which, as Diccon +whispered, he could have felt to his very backbone. It was like that +of a trapped and maimed lion, as the man sat in his chair with crushed +and racked limbs, but with a spirit untamed in its defiance. + +"Cause, my Lords?" he replied. "The cause I have to render will not +avail here, but it may avail before another Judgment-seat, where the +question will be, who used the weapons of treason, not merely against +whom they were employed. Inquiry hath not been made here who suborned +the priest, Dr. Gifford, to fetch me over from Paris, that we might +together overcome the scruples of these young men, and lead them +forward in a scheme for the promotion of the true religion and the +right and lawful succession. No question hath here been put in open +court, who framed the conspiracy, nor for what purpose. No, my Lords; +it would baffle the end you would bring about, yea, and blot the +reputation of some who stand in high places, if it came to light that +the plot was devised, not by the Catholics who were to be the +instruments thereof, nor by the Lady in whose favour all was to be +done,--not by these, the mere victims, but by him who by a triumph of +policy thus sent forth his tempters to enclose them all within his +net--above all the persecuted Lady whom all true Catholics own as the +only lawful sovereign within these realms. Such schemes, when they +succeed, are termed policy. My Lords, I confess that by the justice of +England we have been guilty of treason against Queen Elizabeth; but by +the eternal law of the justice of God, we have suffered treachery far +exceeding that for which we are about to die." + +"I marvel that they let the fellow speak so far," was Cavendish's +comment. + +"Nay, but is it so?" asked Diccon with startled eyes. + +"Hush! you have yet to learn statecraft," returned his friend. + +His father's monitory hand only just saved the boy from bursting out +with something that would have rather astonished Westminster Hall, and +caused him to be taken out by the ushers. It is not wonderful that no +report of the priest's speech has been preserved. + +The name of Antony Babington was then called. Probably he had been too +much absorbed in the misery of his position to pay attention to the +preceding speech, for his reply was quite independent of it. He prayed +the Lords to believe, and to represent to her Majesty, that he had +received with horror the suggestion of compassing her death, and had +only been brought to believe it a terrible necessity by the persuasions +of this Ballard. + +On this Hatton broke forth in indignant compassion,--"O Ballard! +Ballard! what hast thou done? A sort of brave youth, otherwise endowed +with good gifts, by thy inducement hast thou brought to their utter +destruction and confusion!" + +This apparently gave some hope to Babington, for he answered--"Yes, I +protest that, before I met this Ballard, I never meant nor intended for +to kill the Queen; but by his persuasions I was induced to believe that +she being excommunicate it was lawful to murder her." + +For the first time Ballard betrayed any pain. "Yes, Mr. Babington," he +said, "lay all the blame upon me; but I wish the shedding of my blood +might be the saving of your life. Howbeit, say what you will, I will +say no more." + +"He is the bravest of them all!" was Diccon's comment. + +"Wot you that he was once our spy?" returned Cavendish with a sneer; +while Sir Christopher, with the satisfaction of a little nature in +uttering reproaches, returned--"Nay, Ballard, you must say more and +shall say more, for you must not commit treasons and then huddle them +up. Is this your Religio Catholica? Nay, rather it is Diabolica." + +Ballard scorned to answer this, and the Clerk passed on to Savage, who +retained his soldierly fatalism, and only shook his head. Barnwell +again denied any purpose of injuring the Queen, and when Hatton spoke +of his appearance in Richmond Park, he said all had been for conscience +sake. So said Henry Donne, but with far more piety and dignity, +adding, "fiat voluntas Dei;" and Thomas Salisbury was the only one who +made any entreaty for pardon. + +Speeches followed from the Attorney-General, and from Sir Christopher +Hatton, and then the Lord Chief Justice Anderson pronounced the +terrible sentence. + +Richard Talbot sat with his head bowed between his hands. His son had +begun listening with wide-stretched eyes and mouth, as boyhood hearkens +to the dreadful, and with the hardness of an unmerciful time, too apt +to confound pity with weakness; but when his eye fell on the man he had +followed about as an elder playmate, and realised all it conveyed, his +cheek blanched, his jaw fell, and he hardly knew how his father got him +out of the court. + +There was clearly no hope. The form of the trial was such as to leave +no chance of escape from the utmost penalty. No witnesses had been +examined, no degrees of guilt acknowledged, no palliations admitted. +Perhaps men who would have brought the Spanish havoc on their native +country, and have murdered their sovereign, were beyond the pale of +compassion. All London clearly thought so; and yet, as Richard Talbot +dwelt on their tones and looks, and remembered how they had been +deluded and tempted, and made to believe their deed meritorious, he +could not but feel exceeding pity for the four younger men. Ballard, +Savage, and Barnwell might be justly doomed; even Babington had, by his +own admission, entertained a fearfully evil design; but the other three +had evidently dipped far less deeply into the plot, and Tichborne had +only concealed it out of friendship. Yet the ruthless judgment +condemned all alike! And why? To justify a yet more cruel blow! No +wonder honest Richard Talbot felt sick at heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +IN THE TOWER. + + +"Here is a letter from Mr. Secretary to the Lieutenant of the Tower, +Master Richard, bidding him admit you to speech of Babington," said +Will Cavendish. "He was loath to give it, and nothing but my Lord +Shrewsbury's interest would have done it, on my oath that you are a +prudent and discreet man, who hath been conversant in these matters for +many years." + +"Yea, and that long before you were, Master Will," said Richard, always +a little entertained by the young gentleman's airs of patronage. +"However, I am beholden to you." + +"That you may be, for you are the only person who hath obtained +admission to the prisoners." + +"Not even their wives?" + +"Mrs. Tichborne is in the country--so best for her--and Mrs. Babington +hath never demanded it. I trow there is not love enough between them +to make them seek such a meeting. It was one of my mother's matches. +Mistress Cicely would have cleaved to him more closely, though I am +glad you saw through the fellow too well to give her to him. She would +be a landless widow, whereas this Ratcliffe wife has a fair portion for +her child." + +"Then Dethick will be forfeited?" + +"Ay. They say the Queen hath promised it to Raleigh." + +"And there is no hope of mercy?" + +"Not a tittle for any man of them! Nay, so far from it, her Majesty +asked if there were no worse nor more extraordinary mode of death for +them." + +"I should not have thought it of her." + +"Her Majesty hath been affrighted, Master Richard, sorely affrighted, +though she put so bold a face upon it, and there is nothing a woman, +who prides herself on her courage, can so little pardon." + +So Richard, sad at heart, took boat and ascended the Thames for his +melancholy visit. The gateway was guarded by a stalwart yeoman, +halbert in hand, who detained him while the officer of the guard was +called. On showing the letter from Sir Francis Walsingham, Mr. Talbot +was conducted by this personage across the first paved court to the +lodgings of the Lieutenant under so close a guard that he felt as if he +were about to be incarcerated himself, and was there kept waiting in a +sort of guard-room while the letter was delivered. + +Presently the Lieutenant, Sir Owen Hopton, a well-bred courteous +knight, appeared and saluted him with apologies for his detention and +all these precautions, saying that the orders were to keep a close +guard and to hinder all communication from without, so that nothing +short of this letter would have obtained entrance for the bearer, whom +he further required to set down his name and designation in full. +Then, after asking how long the visitor wished to remain with the +prisoners--for Tichborne and Babington were quartered together--he +called a warder and committed Mr. Talbot to his guidance, to remain for +two hours locked up in the cell. + +"Sir," added Sir Owen, "it is superfluous to tell you that on coming +out, you must either give me your word of honour that you convey +nothing from the prisoners, or else submit to be searched." + +Richard smiled, and observed that men were wont to trust his word of +honour, to which the knight heartily replied that he was sure of it, +and he then followed the warder up stone stairs and along vaulted +passages, where the clang of their footsteps made his heart sink. The +prisoners were in the White Tower, the central body of the grim +building, and the warder, after unlocking the door, announced, with no +unnecessary rudeness, but rather as if he were glad of any comfort to +his charges, "Here, sirs, is a gentleman to visit you." + +They had both risen at the sound of the key turning in the lock, and +Antony Babington's face lighted up as he exclaimed, "Mr. Talbot! I +knew you would come if it were possible." + +"I come by my Lord's desire," replied Richard, the close wringing of +his hand expressing feeling to which he durst not give way in words. + +He took in at the moment that the room, though stern and strong, was +not squalid. It was lighted fully by a window, iron-barred, but not +small, and according to custom, the prisoners had been permitted to +furnish, at their own expense, sufficient garniture for comfort, and as +both were wealthy men, they were fairly provided, and they were not +fettered. Both looked paler than when Richard had seen them in +Westminster Hall two days previously. Antony was as usual neatly +arrayed, with well-trimmed hair and beard, but Tichborne's hung +neglected, and there was a hollow, haggard look about his eyes, as if +of dismay at his approaching fate. Neither was, however, forgetful of +courtesy, and as Babington presented Mr. Talbot to his friend, the +greeting and welcome would have befitted the halls of Dethick or +Tichborne. + +"Sirs," said the young man, with a sad smile irradiating for a moment +the restless despair of his countenance, "it is not by choice that I am +an intruder on your privacy; I will abstract myself so far as is +possible." + +"I have no secrets from my Chidiock," cried Babington. + +"But Mr. Talbot may," replied his friend, "therefore I will only first +inquire whether he can tell us aught of the royal lady for whose sake +we suffer. They have asked us many questions, but answered none." + +Richard was able to reply that after the seclusion at Tixall she had +been brought back to Chartley, and there was no difference in the +manner of her custody, moreover, that she had recovered from her attack +of illness, tidings he had just received in a letter from Humfrey. He +did not feel it needful to inflict a pang on the men who were to die in +two days' time by letting them know that she was to be immediately +brought to trial on the evidence extracted from them. On hearing that +her captivity was not straitened, both looked relieved, and Tichborne, +thanking him, lay down on his own bed, turned his face to the wall, and +drew the covering over his head. + +"Ah!" sighed Babington, "is there no hope for him--he who has done +naught but guard too faithfully my unhappy secret? Is he to die for +his faith and honour?" + +"Alas, Antony! I am forbidden to give thee hope for any. Of that we +must not speak. The time is short enough for what needs to be spoken." + +"I knew that there was none for myself," said Antony, "but for those +whom--" There was a gesture from Tichborne as if he could not bear +this, and he went on, "Yea, there is a matter on which I must needs +speak to you, sir. The young lady--where is she?"--he spoke earnestly, +and lowering his voice as he bent his head. + +"She is still at Chartley." + +"That is well. But, sir, she must be guarded. I fear me there is one +who is aware of her parentage." + +"The Scottish archer?" + +"No, the truth." + +"You knew it?" + +"Not when I made my suit to her, or I should never have dared to lift +my eyes so far." + +"I suppose your knowledge came from Langston," said Richard, more +perturbed than amazed at the disclosure. + +"Even so. Yet I am not certain whether he knows or only guesses; but +at any rate be on your guard for her sake. He has proved himself so +unspeakable a villain that none can guess what he will do next. He--he +it is above all--yea, above even Gifford and Ballard, who has brought +us to this pass." + +He was becoming fiercely agitated, but putting a force upon himself +said, "Have patience, good Mr. Talbot, of your kindness, and I will +tell you all, that you may understand the coilings of the serpent who +led me hither, and if possible save her from them." + +Antony then explained that so soon as he had become his own master he +had followed the inclinations which led him to the church of his mother +and of Queen Mary, the two beings he had always regarded with the most +fervent affection and love. His mother's kindred had brought him in +contact with the Roman Catholic priests who circulated in England, at +the utmost peril of their lives, to keep up the faith of the gentry, +and in many cases to intrigue for Queen Mary. Among these plotters he +fell in with Cuthbert Langston, a Jesuit of the third order, though not +a priest, and one of the most active agents in corresponding with Queen +Mary. His small stature, colourless complexion, and insignificant +features, rendered him almost a blank block, capable of assuming any +variety of disguise. He also knew several languages, could imitate +different dialects, and counterfeit male and female voices so that very +few could detect him. He had soon made himself known to Babington as +the huckster Tibbott of days gone by, and had then disclosed to him +that Cicely was certainly not the daughter of her supposed parents, +telling of her rescue from the wreck, and hinting that her rank was +exalted, and that he knew secrets respecting her which he was about to +make known to the Queen of Scots. With this purpose among others, +Langston had adopted the disguise of the woman selling spars with the +password "Beads and Bracelets," and being well known as an agent of +correspondence to the suite of the captive Queen, he had been able to +direct Gorion's attention to the maiden, and to let him know that she +was the same with the infant who had been put on board the Bride of +Dunbar at Dunbar. + +How much more did Langston guess? He had told Babington the story +current among the outer circle of Mary's followers of the maiden being +the daughter of the Scotch archer, and had taught him her true name, +encouraging too, his aspirations towards her during the time of his +courtship. Babington believed Langston to have been at that time still +a sincere partizan of Queen Mary, but all along to have entertained a +suspicion that there was a closer relationship between Bride Hepburn +and the Queen than was avowed, though to Babington himself he had only +given mysterious hints. + +But towards the end of the captivity at Tutbury, he had made some +further discovery, which confirmed his suspicions, and had led to +another attempt to accost Cicely, and to make the Queen aware of his +knowledge, perhaps in order to verify it, or it might be to gain power +over her, a reward for the introduction, or to extort bribes to +secrecy. For looking back, Antony could now perceive that by this time +a certain greed of lucre had set in upon the man, who had obtained +large sums of secret service money from himself; and avarice, together +with the rebuff he had received from the Queen, had doubtless rendered +him accessible to the temptations of the arch-plotters Gifford and +Morgan. Richard could believe this, for the knowledge had been forced +on him that there were an incredible number of intriguers at that time, +spies and conspirators, often in the pay of both parties, impartially +betraying the one to the other, and sometimes, through miscalculation, +meeting the fate they richly deserved. Many a man who had begun +enthusiastically to work in underground ways for what he thought the +righteous cause, became so enamoured of the undermining process, and +the gold there to be picked up, that from a wrong-headed partizan he +became a traitor--often a double-faced one--and would work secretly in +the interest of whichever cause would pay him best. + +Poor Babington had been far too youthfully simple to guess what he now +perceived, that he had been made the mere tool and instrument of these +traitors. He had been instructed in Gifford's arrangement with the +Burton brewer for conveying letters to Mary at Chartley, and had been +made the means of informing her of it by means of his interview with +Cicely, when he had brought the letter in the watch. The letter had +been conveyed to him by Langston, the watch had been his own device. +It was after this meeting, of which Richard now heard for the first +time, that Langston had fully told his belief respecting the true birth +of Bride Hepburn, and assured Babington that there was no hope of his +wedding her, though the Queen might allow him to delude himself with +the idea of her favour in order to bind him to her service. + +It was then that Babington consented to Lady Shrewsbury's new match +with the well-endowed Eleanor Ratcliffe. If he could not have Cicely, +he cared not whom he had. He had been leading a wild and extravagant +life about town, when (as poor Tichborne afterwards said on the +scaffold) the flourishing estate of Babington and Tichborne was the +talk of Fleet Street and the Strand, and he had also many calls for +secret service money, so that all his thought was to have more to spend +in the service of Queen Mary and her daughter. + +"Oh, sir! I have been as one distraught all this past year," he said. +"How often since I have been shut up here, and I have seen how I have +been duped and gulled, have your words come back to me, that to enter +on crooked ways was the way to destruction for myself and others, and +that I might only be serving worse men than myself! And yet they were +priests who misled me!" + +"Even in your own religion there are many priests who would withhold +you from such crimes," said Richard. + +"There are! I know it! I have spoken with them. They say no priest +can put aside the eternal laws of God's justice. So these others, +Chidiock here, Donne and Salisbury, always cried out against the +slaying of the Queen, though--wretch that I was--and gulled by Ballard +and Savage, I deemed the exploit so noble and praiseworthy that I even +joined Tichborne with me in that accursed portraiture! Yea, you may +well deem me mad, but it was Gifford who encouraged me in having it +made, no doubt to assure our ruin. Oh, Mr. Talbot! was ever man so +cruelly deceived as me?" + +"It is only too true, Antony. My heart is full of rage and indignation +when I think thereof. And yet, my poor lad, what concerns thee most is +to lay aside all such thoughts as may not tend to repentance before +God." + +"I know it, I know it, sir. All the more that we shall die without the +last sacraments. Commend us to the prayers of our Queen, sir, and of +her. But to proceed with what imports you to know for her sake, while +I have space to speak." + +He proceeded to tell how, between dissipation and intrigue, he had +lived in a perpetual state of excitement, going backwards and forwards +between London and Lichfield to attend to the correspondence with Queen +Mary and the Spanish ambassador in France, and to arrange the details +of the plot; always being worked up to the highest pitch by Gifford and +Ballard, while Langston continued to be the great assistant in all the +correspondence. All the time Sir Francis Walsingham, who was really +aware of all, if not the prime mover in the intrigue, appeared +perfectly unsuspicious; often received Babington at his house, and +discussed a plan of sending him on a commission to France, while in +point of fact every letter that travelled in the Burton barrels was +deciphered by Phillipps, and laid before the Secretary before being +read by the proper owners. In none of these, however, as Babington +could assure Mr. Talbot, had Cicely been mentioned,--the only danger to +her was through Langston. + +Things had come to a climax in July, when Babington had been urged to +obtain from Mary such definite approbation of his plans as might +satisfy his confederates, and had in consequence written the letter and +obtained the answer, copies of which had been read to him at his +private examination, and which certainly contained fatal matter to both +him and the Queen. + +They had no doubt been called forth with that intent, and a doubt had +begun to arise in the victim's mind whether the last reply had been +really the Queen's own. It had been delivered to him in the street, +not by the usual channel, but by a blue-coated serving-man. Two or +three days later Humfrey had told him of Langston's interview with +Walsingham, which he had at the time laughed to scorn, thinking himself +able to penetrate any disguise of that Proteus, and likewise believing +that he was blinding Walsingham. + +He first took alarm a few days after Humfrey's departure, and wrote to +Queen Mary to warn her, convinced that the traitor must be Langston. +Ballard became himself suspected, and after lurking about in various +disguises was arrested in Babington's own lodgings. To disarm +suspicion, Antony went to Walsingham to talk about the French Mission, +and tried to resume his usual habits, but in a tavern, he became aware +that Langston, under some fresh shape, was watching him, and hastily +throwing down the reckoning, he fled without his cloak or sword to +Gage's house at Westminster, where he took horse, hid himself in St. +John's Wood, and finally was taken, half starved, in an outhouse at +Harrow, belonging to a farmer, whose mercy involved him in the like +doom. + +This was the substance of the story told by the unfortunate young man +to Richard Talbot, whom he owned as the best and wisest friend he had +ever had--going back to the warnings twice given, that no cause is +served by departing from the right; no kingdom safely won by +worshipping the devil: "And sure I did worship him when I let myself be +led by Gifford," he said. + +His chief anxiety was not for his wife and her child, who he said would +be well taken care of by the Ratcliffe family, and who, alas! had never +won his heart. In fact he was relieved that he was not permitted to +see the young thing, even had she wished it; it could do no good to +either of them, though he had written a letter, which she was to +deliver, for the Queen, commending her to her Majesty's mercy. + +His love had been for Cicely, and even that had never been, as Richard +saw, such purifying, restraining, self-sacrificing affection as was +Humfrey's. It was half romance, half a sort of offshoot from his one +great and absorbing passion of devotion to the Queen of Scots, which +was still as strong as ever. He entrusted Richard with his humblest +commendations to her, and strove to rest in the belief that as many a +conspirator before--such as Norfolk, Throckmorton, Parry--had perished +on her behalf while she remained untouched, that so it might again be, +since surely, if she were to be tried, he would have been kept alive as +a witness. The peculiar custom of the time in State prosecutions of +hanging the witnesses before the trial had not occurred to him. + +But how would it be with Cicely? "Is what this fellow guessed the very +truth?" he asked. + +Richard made a sign of affirmation, saying, "Is it only a guess on his +part?" + +Babington believed the man stopped short of absolute certainty, though +he had declared himself to have reason to believe that a child must +have been born to the captive queen at Lochleven; and if so, where else +could she be? Was he waiting for clear proof to make the secret known +to the Council? Did he intend to make profit of it and obtain in the +poor girl a subject for further intrigue? Was he withheld by +consideration for Richard Talbot, for whom Babington declared that if +such a villain could be believed in any respect, he had much family +regard and deep gratitude, since Richard had stood his friend when all +his family had cast him off in much resentment at his change of purpose +and opinion. + +At any rate he had in his power Cicely's welfare and liberty, if not +the lives of her adopted parents, since in the present juncture of +affairs, and of universal suspicion, the concealment of the existence +of one who stood so near the throne might easily be represented as high +treason. Where was he? + +No one knew. For appearance sake, Gifford had fled beyond seas, +happily only to fall into a prison of the Duke of Guise: and they must +hope that Langston might have followed the same course. Meantime, +Richard could but go on as before, Cicely being now in her own mother's +hands. The avowal of her identity must remain for the present as might +be determined by her who had the right to decide. + +"I would I could feel hope for any I leave behind me," said poor +Antony. "I trow you will not bear the maiden my message, for you will +deem it a sin that I have loved her, and only her, to the last, though +I have been false to that love as to all else beside. Tell Humfrey how +I long that I had been like him, though he too must love on without +hope." + +He sent warm greetings to good Mistress Susan Talbot and craved her +prayers. He had one other care, namely to commend to Mr. Talbot an old +body servant, Harry Gillingham by name, who had attended on him in his +boyhood at Sheffield, and had been with him all his life, being +admitted even now, under supervision from the warders, to wait on him +when dressing and at his meals. The poor man was broken-hearted, and +so near desperation that his master wished much to get him out of +London before the execution. So, as Mr. Talbot meant to sail for Hull +by the next day's tide in the Mastiff, he promised to take the poor +fellow with him back to Bridgefield. + +All this had taken much time. Antony did not seem disposed to go +farther into his own feelings in the brief space that remained, but he +took up a paper from the table, and indicating Tichborne, who still +affected sleep, he asked whether it was fit that a man, who could write +thus, should die for a plot against which he had always protested. +Richard read these touching lines:-- + + My prime of youth is but a frost of care, + My feast of joy is but a dish of pain, + My crop of corn is but a field of tares, + And all my goods is but vain hope of gain. + The day is fled, and yet I saw no sun; + And now I live, and now my life is done. + + My spring is past, and yet it hath not sprung; + The fruit is dead, and yet the leaves are green; + My youth is past, and yet I am but young; + I saw the world, and yet I was not seen. + My thread is cut, and yet it is not spun; + And now I live, and now my life is done. + + I sought for death, and found it in the wombe; + I lookt for life, and yet it was a shade; + I trode the ground, and knew it was my tombe, + And now I dye, and now I am but made. + The glass is full, and yet my glass is run; + And now I live, and now my life is done. + +Little used to poetry, these lines made the good man's eyes fill with +tears as he looked at the two goodly young men about to be cut off so +early--one indeed guilty, but the victim of an iniquitous act of +deliberate treachery. + +He asked if Mr. Tichborne wished to entrust to him aught that could be +done by word of mouth, and a few commissions were given to him. Then +Antony bethought him of thanks to Lord and Lady Shrewsbury for all they +had done for him, and above all for sending Mr. Talbot; and a message +to ask pardon for having so belied the loyal education they had given +him. The divided religion of the country had been his bane: his +mother's charge secretly to follow her faith had been the beginning, +and then had followed the charms of stratagem on behalf of Queen Mary. + +Perhaps, after all, his death, as a repentant man still single minded, +saved him from lapsing into the double vileness of the veteran +intriguers whose prey he had been. + +"I commend me to the Mercy Master Who sees my heart," he said. + +Herewith the warder returned, and at his request summoned Gillingham, a +sturdy grizzled fellow, looking grim with grief. Babington told him of +the arrangement made, and that he was to leave London early in the +morning with Mr. Talbot, but the man immediately dropped on his knees +and swore a solemn oath that nothing should induce him to leave the +place while his master breathed. + +"Thou foolish knave," said Antony, "thou canst do me no good, and wilt +but make thyself a more piteous wretch than thou art already. Why, 'tis +for love of thee that I would have thee spared the sight." + +"Am I a babe to be spared?" growled the man. And all that he could be +induced to promise was that he would repair to Bridgefield as soon as +all was over--"Unless," said he, "I meet one of those accursed rogues, +and then a halter would be sweet, if I had first had my will of them." + +"Hush, Harry, or Master Warder will be locking thee up next," said +Antony. + +And then came the farewell. It was at last a long, speechless, +sorrowful embrace; and then Antony, slipping from it to his knees, +said--"Bless me! Oh bless me: thou who hast been mine only true +friend. Bless me as a father!" + +"May God in Heaven bless thee!" said Richard, solemnly laying his hand +on his head. "May He, Who knoweth how thou hast been led astray, +pardon thee! May He, Who hath felt the agonies and shame of the Cross, +redeem thee, and suffer thee not for any pains of death to fall from +Him!" + +He was glad to hear afterwards, when broken-hearted Gillingham joined +him, that the last words heard from Antony Babington's lips +were--"Parce mihi, Domine JESU!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +FOTHERINGHAY. + + +"Is this my last journey?" said Queen Mary, with a strange, sad smile, +as she took her seat in the heavy lumbering coach which had been +appointed for her conveyance from Chartley, her rheumatism having set +in too severely to permit her to ride. + +"Say not so; your Grace has weathered many a storm before," said Marie +de Courcelles. "This one will also pass over." + +"Ah, my good Marie, never before have I felt this foreboding and +sinking of the heart. I have always hoped before, but I have exhausted +the casket of Pandora. Even hope is flown!" + +Jean Kennedy tried to say something of "Darkest before dawn." + +"The dawn, it may be, of the eternal day," said the Queen. "Nay, my +friends, the most welcome tidings that could greet me would be that my +weary bondage was over for ever, and that I should wreck no more +gallant hearts. What, mignonne, art thou weeping? There will be +freedom again for thee when that day comes." + +"O madam, I want not freedom at such a price!" And yet Cicely had +never recovered her looks since those seventeen days at Tickhill. She +still looked white and thin, and her dark eyebrows lay in a heavy line, +seldom lifted by the merry looks and smiles that used to flash over her +face. Life had begun to press its weight upon her, and day after day, +as Humfrey watched her across the chapel, and exchanged a word or two +with her while crossing the yard, had he grieved at her altered mien; +and vexed himself with wondering whether she had after all loved +Babington, and were mourning for him. + +Truly, even without the passion of love, there had been much to shock +and appal a young heart in the fate of the playfellow of her childhood, +the suitor of her youth. It was the first death among those she had +known intimately, and even her small knowledge of the cause made her +feel miserable and almost guilty, for had not poor Antony plotted for +her mother, and had not she been held out to him as a delusive +inducement? Moreover, she felt the burden of a deep, pitying love and +admiration not wholly joined with perfect trust and reliance. She had +been from the first startled by untruths and concealments. There was +mystery all round her, and the future was dark. There were terrible +forebodings for her mother; and if she looked beyond for herself, only +uncertainty and fear of being commanded to follow Marie de Courcelles +to a foreign court, perhaps to a convent; while she yearned with an +almost sick longing for home and kind Mrs. Talbot's motherly tenderness +and trustworthiness, and the very renunciation of Humfrey that she had +spoken so easily, had made her aware of his full worth, and wakened in +her a longing for the right to rest on his stout arm and faithful +heart. To look across at him and know him near often seemed her best +support, and was she to be cut off from him for ever? The devotions of +the Queen, though she had been deprived of her almoner had been much +increased of late as one preparing for death; and with them were +associated all her household of the Roman Catholic faith, leaving out +Cicely and the two Mrs. Curlls. The long oft-repeated Latin orisons, +such as the penitential Psalms, would certainly have been wearisome to +the girl, but it gave her a pang to be pointedly excluded as one who +had no part nor lot with her mother. Perhaps this was done by +calculation, in order to incline her to embrace her mother's faith; and +the time was not spent very pleasantly, as she had nothing but +needlework to occupy her, and no society save that of the sisters +Curll. Barbara's spirits were greatly depressed by the loss of her +infant and anxiety for her husband. His evidence might be life or +death to the Queen, and his betrayal of her confidence, or his being +tortured for his fidelity, were terrible alternatives for his wife's +imagination. It was hard to say whether she were more sorry or glad +when, on leaving Chartley, she was forbidden to continue her attendance +on the Queen, and set free to follow him to London. The poor lady knew +nothing, and dreaded everything. She could not help discussing her +anxieties when alone with Cicely, thus rendering perceptible more and +more of the ramifications of plot and intrigue--past and present--at +which she herself only guessed a part. Assuredly the finding herself a +princess, and sharing the captivity of a queen, had not proved so like +a chapter of the Morte d'Arthur as it had seemed to Cicely at Buxton. + +It was as unlike as was riding a white palfrey through a forest, guided +by knights in armour, to the being packed with all the ladies into a +heavy jolting conveyance, guarded before and behind by armed servants +and yeomen, among whom Humfrey's form could only now and then be +detected. + +The Queen had chosen her seat where she could best look out from the +scant amount of window. She gazed at the harvest-fields full of +sheaves, the orchards laden with ruddy apples, the trees assuming their +autumn tints, with lingering eyes, as of one who foreboded that these +sights of earth were passing from her. + +Two nights were spent on the road, one at Leicester; and on the fourth +day, the captain in charge of the castle for the governor Sir William +Fitzwilliam, who had come to escort and receive her, came to the +carriage window and bade her look up. "This is Periho Lane," he said, +"whence your Grace may have the first sight of the poor house which is +to have the honour of receiving you." + +"Perio! I perish," repeated Mary; "an ominous road." + +The place showed itself to be of immense strength. The hollow sound +caused by rolling over a drawbridge was twice heard, and the carriage +crossed two courts before stopping at the foot of a broad flight of +stone steps, where stood Sir William Fitzwilliam and Sir Amias Paulett +ready to hand out the Queen. + +A few stone steps were mounted, then an enormous hall had to be +traversed. The little procession had formed in pairs, and Humfrey was +able to give his hand to Cicely and walk with her along the vast space, +on which many windows emblazoned with coats of arms shed their +light--the western ones full of the bright September sunshine. One of +these, emblazoned with the royal shield in crimson mantlings, cast a +blood-red stain on the white stone pavement. Mary, who was walking +first, holding by the arm of Sir Andrew Melville, paused, shuddered, +pointed, and said, "See, Andrew, there will my blood be shed." + +"Madam, madam! speak not thus. By the help of the saints you will yet +win through your troubles." + +"Ay, Andrew, but only by one fate;" and she looked upwards. + +Her faithful followers could not but notice that there was no eager +assurance that no ill was intended her, such as they had often heard +from Shrewsbury and Sadler. + +Cicely looked at Humfrey with widely-opened eyes, and the half-breathed +question, "What does it mean?" + +He shook his head gravely and said, "I cannot tell," but he could not +keep his manner from betraying that he expected the worst. + +Meanwhile Mary was conducted on to her apartments, up a stair as usual, +and forming another side of the inner court at right angles to the +Hall. There was no reason to complain of these, Mary's furniture +having as usual been sent forward with her inferior servants, and +arranged by them. She was weary, and sat down at once on her chair, +and as soon as Paulett had gone through his usual formalities with even +more than his wonted stiffness, and had left her, she said, "I see what +we are come here for. It is that yonder hall may be the place of my +death." + +Cheering assurances and deprecations of evil augury were poured on her, +but she put them aside, saying, "Nay, my friends, trow you not that I +rejoice in the close of my weary captivity?" + +She resumed her usual habits very calmly, as far as her increased +rheumatism would permit, and showed anxiety that a large piece of +embroidery should be completed, and thus about a fortnight passed. Then +came the first token of the future. Sir Amias Paulett, Sir Walter +Mildmay, and a notary, sought her presence and presented her with a +letter from Queen Elizabeth, informing her that there were heavy +accusations against her, and that as she was residing under the +protection of the laws of England, she must be tried by those laws, and +must make answer to the commissioners appointed for the purpose. Mary +put on all her queenly dignity, and declared that she would never +condescend to answer as a subject of the Queen of England, but would +only consent to refer their differences to a tribunal of foreign +princes. As to her being under the protection of English law, she had +come to England of her own free will, and had been kept there a +prisoner ever since, so that she did not consider herself protected by +the law of England. + +Meanwhile fresh noblemen commissioned to sit on the trial arrived day +by day. There was trampling of horses and jingling of equipments, and +the captive suite daily heard reports of fresh arrivals, and saw +glimpses of new colours and badges flitting across the court, while +conferences were held with Mary in the hope of inducing her to submit +to the English jurisdiction. She was sorely perplexed, seeing as she +did that to persist in her absolute refusal to be bound by English law +would be prejudicial to her claim to the English crown, and being also +assured by Burghley that if she refused to plead the trial would still +take place, and she would be sentenced in her absence. Her spirit rose +at this threat, and she answered disdainfully, but it worked with her +none the less when the treasurer had left her. + +"Oh," she cried that night, "would but Elizabeth be content to let me +resign my rights to my son, making them secure to him, and then let me +retire to some convent in Lorraine, or in Germany, or wherever she +would, so would I never trouble her more!" + +"Will you not write this to her?" asked Cicely. + +"What would be the use of it, child? They would tamper with the +letter, pledging me to what I never would undertake. I know how they +can cut and garble, add and take away! Never have they let me see or +speak to her as woman to woman. All I have said or done has been +coloured." + +"Mother, I would that I could go to her; Humfrey has seen and spoken to +her, why should not I?" + +"Thou, poor silly maid! They would drive Cis Talbot away with scorn, +and as to Bride Hepburn, why, she would but run into all her mother's +dangers." + +"It might be done, and if so I will do it," said Cicely, clasping her +hands together. + +"No, child, say no more. My worn-out old life is not worth the risk of +thy young freedom. But I love thee for it, mine ain bairnie, mon +enfant a moi. If thy brother had thy spirit, child--" + +"I hate the thought of him! Call him not my brother!" cried Cicely +hotly. "If he were worth one brass farthing he would have unfurled the +Scottish lion long ago, and ridden across the Border to deliver his +mother." + +"And how many do you think would have followed that same lion?" said +Mary, sadly. + +"Then he should have come alone with his good horse and his good sword!" + +"To lose both crowns, if not life! No, no, lassie; he is a pawky +chiel, as they say in the north, and cares not to risk aught for the +mother he hath never seen, and of whom he hath been taught to believe +strange tales." + +The more the Queen said in excuse for the indifference of her son, the +stronger was the purpose that grew up in the heart of the daughter, +while fresh commissioners arrived every day, and further conversations +were held with the Queen. Lord Shrewsbury was known to be summoned, +and Cicely spent half her time in watching for some well-known face, in +the hope that he might bring her good foster-father in his train. More +than once she declared that she saw a cap or sleeve with the +well-beloved silver dog, when it turned out to be a wyvern or the royal +lion himself. Queen Mary even laughed at her for thinking her mastiff +had gone on his hind legs when she once even imagined him in the +Warwick Bear and ragged staff. + +At last, however, all unexpectedly, while the Queen was in conference +with Hatton, there came a message by the steward of the household, that +Master Richard Talbot had arrived, and that permission had been granted +by Sir Amias for him to speak with Mistress Cicely. She sprang up +joyously, but Mrs. Kennedy demurred. + +"Set him up!" quoth she. "My certie, things are come to a pretty pass +that any one's permission save her Majesty's should be speired for one +of her women, and I wonder that you, my mistress, should be the last to +think of her honour!" + +"O Mrs. Kennedy, dear Mrs. Jean," entreated Cicely, "hinder me not. If +I wait till I can ask her, I may lose my sole hope of speaking with +him. I know she would not be displeased, and it imports, indeed it +imports." + +"Come, Mrs. Kennett," said the steward, who by no means shared his +master's sourness, "if it were a young gallant that craved to see thy +fair mistress, I could see why you should doubt, but being her father +and brother, there can surely be no objection." + +"The young lady knows what I mean," said the old gentlewoman with great +dignity, "but if she will answer it to the Queen--" + +"I will, I will," cried Cicely, whose colour had risen with eagerness, +and she was immediately marshalled by the steward beyond the door that +closed in the royal captive's suite of apartments to a gallery. At the +door of communication three yeomen were always placed under an officer. +Humfrey was one of those who took turns to command this guard, but he +was not now on duty. He was, however, standing beside his father +awaiting Cicely's coming. + +Eagerly she moved up to Master Richard, bent her knee for his blessing, +and raised her face for his paternal kiss with the same fond gladness +as if she had been his daughter in truth. He took one hand, and +Humfrey the other, and they followed the steward, who had promised to +procure them a private interview, so difficult a matter, in the fulness +of the castle, that he had no place to offer them save the deep +embrasure of a great oriel window at the end of the gallery. They would +be seen there, but there was no fear of their being heard without their +own consent, and till the chapel bell rang for evening prayers and +sermon there would be no interruption. And as Cicely found herself +seated between Master Richard and the window, with Humfrey opposite, +she was sensible of a repose and bien etre she had not felt since she +quitted Bridgefield. She had already heard on the way that all was +well there, and that my Lord was not come, though named in the +commission as being Earl Marshal of England, sending his kinsman of +Bridgefield in his stead with letters of excuse. + +"In sooth he cannot bear to come and sit in judgment on one he hath +known so long and closely," said Richard; "but he hath bidden me to +come hither and remain so as to bring him a full report of all." + +"How doth my Lady Countess take that?" asked Humfrey. + +"I question whether the Countess would let him go if he wished it. She +is altogether changed in mind, and come round to her first love for +this Lady, declaring that it is all her Lord's fault that the custody +was taken from them, and that she could and would have hindered all +this." + +"That may be so," said Humfrey. "If all be true that is whispered, +there have been dealings which would not have been possible at +Sheffield." + +"So it may be. In any wise my Lady is bitterly grieved, and they send +for thy mother every second day to pacify her." + +"Dear mother!" murmured Cis; "when shall I see her again?" + +"I would that she had thee for a little space, my wench," said Richard; +"thou hast lost thy round ruddy cheeks. Hast been sick?" + +"Nay, sir, save as we all are--sick at heart! But all seems well now +you are here. Tell me of little Ned. Is he as good scholar as ever?" + +"Verily he is. We intend by God's blessing to bring him up for the +ministry. I hope in another year to take him to Cambridge. Thy mother +is knitting his hosen of gray and black already." + +Other questions and answers followed about Bridgefield tidings, which +still evidently touched Cicely as closely as if she had been a born +Talbot. There was a kind of rest in dwelling on these before coming to +the sadder, more pressing concern of her other life. It was not till +the slow striking of the Castle clock warned them that they had less +than an hour to spend together that they came to closer matters, and +Richard transferred to Cicely those last sad messages to her Queen, +which he had undertaken for Babington and Tichborne. + +"The Queen hath shed many tears for them," she said, "and hath writ to +the French and Spanish ambassadors to have masses said for them. Poor +Antony! Did he send no word to me, dear father?" + +The man being dead, Mr. Talbot saw no objection to telling her how he +had said he had never loved any other, though he had been false to that +love. + +"Ah, poor Antony!" said Cis, with her grave simplicity. "But it would +not have been right for me to be a hindrance to the marriage of one who +could never have me." + +"While he loved you it would," said Humfrey hastily. "Yea," as she +lifted up her eyes to him, "it would so, as my father will tell you, +because he could not truly love that other woman." + +Richard smiled sadly, and could not but assent to his son's honest +truth and faith. + +"Then," said Cis, with the same straightforwardness, sprung of their +old fraternal intercourse, "you must quit all love for me save a +brother's, Humfrey; for my Queen mother made me give her my word on my +duty never to wed you." + +"I know," returned Humfrey calmly. "I have known all that these two +years; but what has that to do with my love?" + +"Come, come, children," said Richard, hardening himself though his eyes +were moist; "I did not come here to hear you two discourse like the +folks in a pastoral! We may not waste time. Tell me, child, if thou +be not forbidden, hath she any purpose for thee?" + +"O sir, I fear that what she would most desire is to bestow me abroad +with some of her kindred of Lorraine. But I mean to strive hard +against it, and pray her earnestly. And, father, I have one great +purpose. She saith that these cruel statesmen, who are all below in +this castle, have hindered Queen Elizabeth from ever truly hearing and +knowing all, and from speaking with her as woman to woman. Father, I +will go to London, I will make my way to the Queen, and when she hears +who I am--of her own blood and kindred--she must listen to me; and I +will tell her what my mother Queen really is, and how cruelly she has +been played upon, and entreat of her to see her face to face and talk +with her, and judge whether she can have done all she is accused of." + +"Thou art a brave maiden, Cis," exclaimed Humfrey with deep feeling. + +"Will you take me, sir?" said Cicely, looking up to Master Richard. + +"Child, I cannot say at once. It is a perilous purpose, and requires +much to be thought over." + +"But you will aid me?" she said earnestly. + +"If it be thy duty, woe be to me if I gainsay thee," said Richard; "but +there is no need to decide as yet. We must await the issue of this +trial, if the trial ever take place." + +"Will Cavendish saith," put in Humfrey, "that a trial there will be of +some sort, whether the Lady consent to plead or not." + +"Until that is ended we can do nothing," said his father. "Meantime, +Cicely child, we shall be here at hand, and be sure that I will not be +slack to aid thee in what may be thy duty as a daughter. So rest thee +in that, my wench, and pray that we may be led to know the right." + +And Richard spoke as a man of high moral courage in making this +promise, well knowing that it might involve himself in great danger. +The worst that could befall Cicely might be imprisonment, and a life of +constraint, jealously watched; but his own long concealment of her +birth might easily be construed into treason, and the horrible +consequences of such an accusation were only too fresh in his memory. +Yet, as he said afterwards to his son, "There was no forbidding the +maiden to do her utmost for her own mother, neither was there any +letting her run the risk alone." + +To which Humfrey heartily responded. + +"The Queen may forbid her, or the purpose may pass away," added +Richard, "or it may be clearly useless and impossible to make the +attempt; but I cannot as a Christian man strive to dissuade her from +doing what she can. And as thou saidst, Humfrey, she is changed. She +hath borne her modestly and discreetly, ay and truly, through all. The +childishness is gone out of her, and I mark no lightness of purpose in +her." + +On that afternoon Queen Mary announced that she had yielded to Hatton's +representations so far as to consent to appear before the +Commissioners, provided her protest against the proceedings were put on +record. + +"Nay, blame me not, good Melville," she said. "I am wearied out with +their arguments. What matters it how they do the deed on which they +are bent? It was an ill thing when King Harry the Eighth brought in +this fashion of forcing the law to give a colour to his will! In the +good old times, the blow came without being first baited by one and +another, and made a spectacle to all men, in the name of justice, +forsooth!" + +Mary Seaton faltered something of her Majesty's innocence shining out +like the light of day. + +"Flatter not thyself so far, ma mie," said Mary. "Were mine innocence +clearer than the sun they would blacken it. All that can come of this +same trial is that I may speak to posterity, if they stifle my voice +here, and so be known to have died a martyr to my faith. Get we to our +prayers, girls, rather than feed on vain hopes. De profundis clamavi." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +BEFORE THE COMMISSIONERS. + + +Who would be permitted to witness the trial? As small matters at hand +eclipse great matters farther off, this formed the immediate excitement +in Queen Mary's little household, when it was disclosed that she was to +appear only attended by Sir Andrew Melville and her two Maries before +her judges. + +The vast hall had space enough on the ground for numerous spectators, +and a small gallery intended for musicians was granted, with some +reluctance, to the ladies and gentlemen of the suite, who, as Sir Amias +Paulett observed, could do no hurt, if secluded there. Thither then +they proceeded, and to Cicely's no small delight, found Humfrey +awaiting them there, partly as a guard, partly as a master of the +ceremonies, ready to explain the arrangements, and tell the names of +the personages who appeared in sight. + +"There," said he, "close below us, where you cannot see it, is the +chair with a cloth of state over it." + +"For our Queen?" asked Jean Kennedy. + +"No, madam. It is there to represent the Majesty of Queen Elizabeth. +That other chair, half-way down the hall, with the canopy from the beam +over it, is for the Queen of Scots." + +Jean Kennedy sniffed the air a little at this, but her attention was +directed to the gentlemen who began to fill the seats on either side. +Some of them had before had interviews with Queen Mary, and thus were +known by sight to her own attendants; some had been seen by Humfrey +during his visit to London; and even now at a great distance, and a +different table, he had been taking his meals with them at the present +juncture. + +The seats were long benches against the wall, for the Earls on one +side, the Barons on the other. The Lord Chancellor Bromley, in his red +and white gown, and Burghley, the Lord Treasurer, with long white beard +and hard impenetrable face, sat with them. + +"That a man should have such a beard, and yet dare to speak to the +Queen as he did two days ago," whispered Cis. + +"See," said Mrs. Kennedy, "who is that burly figure with the black eyes +and grizzled beard?" + +"That, madam," said Humfrey, "is the Earl of Warwick." + +"The brother of the minion Leicester?" said Jean Kennedy. "He hath +scant show of his comeliness." + +"Nay; they say he is become the best favoured," said Humfrey; "my Lord +of Leicester being grown heavy and red-faced. He is away in the +Netherlands, or you might judge of him." + +"And who," asked the lady, "may be yon, with the strangely-plumed hat +and long, yellow hair, like a half-tamed Borderer?" + +"He?" said Humfrey. "He is my Lord of Cumberland. I marvelled to see +him back so soon. He is here, there, and everywhere; and when I was in +London was commanding a fleet bearing victuals to relieve the Dutch in +Helvoetsluys. Had I not other work in hand, I would gladly sail with +him, though there be something fantastic in his humour. But here come +the Knights of the Privy Council, who are to my mind more noteworthy +than the Earls." + +The seats of these knights were placed a little below and beyond those +of the noblemen. The courteous Sir Ralf Sadler looked up and saluted +the ladies in the gallery as he entered. "He was always kindly," said +Jean Kennedy, as she returned the bow. "I am glad to see him here." + +"But oh, Humfrey!" cried Cicely, "who is yonder, with the short cloak +standing on end with pearls, and the quilted satin waistcoat, jewelled +ears, and frizzed head? He looks fitter to lead off a dance than a +trial." + +"He is Sir Christopher Hatton, her Majesty's Vice-Chamberlain," replied +Humfrey. + +"Who, if rumour saith true, made his fortune by a galliard," said Dr. +Bourgoin. + +"Here is a contrast to him," said Jean Kennedy. "See that figure, as +puritanical as Sir Amias himself, with the long face, scant beard, +black skull-cap, and plain crimped ruff. His visage is pulled into so +solemn a length that were we at home in Edinburgh, I should expect to +see him ascend a pulpit, and deliver a screed to us all on the +iniquities of dancing and playing on the lute!" + +"That, madam," said Humfrey, "is Mr. Secretary, Sir Francis Walsingham." + +Here Elizabeth Curll leant forward, looked, and shivered a little. "Ah, +Master Humfrey, is it in that man's power that my poor brother lies?" + +"'Tis true, madam," said Humfrey, "but indeed you need not fear. I +heard from Will Cavendish last night that Mr. Curll is well. They have +not touched either of the Secretaries to hurt them, and if aught have +been avowed, it was by Monsieur Nau, and that on the mere threat. Do +you see old Will yonder, Cicely, just within Mr. Secretary's call--with +the poke of papers and the tablet?" + +"Is that Will Cavendish? How precise and stiff he hath grown, and why +doth he not look up and greet us? He knoweth us far better than doth +Sir Ralf Sadler; doth he not know we are here?" + +"Ay, Mistress Cicely," said Dr. Bourgoin from behind, "but the young +gentleman has his fortune to make, and knows better than to look on the +seamy side of Court favour." + +"Ah! see those scarlet robes," here exclaimed Cis. "Are they the +judges, Humfrey?" + +"Ay, the two Chief-Justices and the Chief Baron of the Exchequer. There +they sit in front of the Earls, and three more judges in front of the +Barons." + +"And there are more red robes at that little table in front, besides +the black ones." + +"Those are Doctors of Law, and those in black with coifs are the +Attorney and Solicitor General. The rest are clerks and writers and +the like." + +"It is a mighty and fearful array," said Cicely with a long breath. + +"A mighty comedy wherewith to mock at justice," said Jean. + +"Prudence, madam, and caution," suggested Dr. Bourgoin. "And hush!" + +A crier here shouted aloud, "Oyez, oyez, oyez! Mary, Queen of Scotland +and Dowager of France, come into the Court!" + +Then from a door in the centre, leaning on Sir Andrew Melville's arm, +came forward the Queen, in a black velvet dress, her long transparent +veil hanging over it from her cap, and followed by the two Maries, one +carrying a crimson velvet folding-chair, and the other a footstool. +She turned at first towards the throne, but she was motioned aside, and +made to perceive that her place was not there. She drew her slender +figure up with offended dignity. "I am a queen," she said; "I married +a king of France, and my seat ought to be there." + +However, with this protest she passed on to her appointed place, +looking sadly round at the assembled judges and lawyers. + +"Alas!" she said, "so many counsellors, and not one for me." + +Were there any Englishmen there besides Richard Talbot and his son who +felt the pathos of this appeal? One defenceless woman against an array +of the legal force of the whole kingdom. It may be feared that the +feelings of most were as if they had at last secured some wild, +noxious, and incomprehensible animal in their net, on whose struggles +they looked with the unpitying eye of the hunter. + +The Lord Chancellor began by declaring that the Queen of England +convened the Court as a duty in one who might not bear the sword in +vain, to examine into the practices against her own life, giving the +Queen of Scots the opportunity of clearing herself. + +At the desire of Burghley, the commission was read by the Clerk of the +Court, and Mary then made her public protest against its legality, or +power over her. + +It was a wonderful thing, as those spectators in the gallery felt, to +see how brave and how acute was the defence of that solitary lady, +seated there with all those learned men against her; her papers gone, +nothing left to her but her brain and her tongue. No loss of dignity +nor of gentleness was shown in her replies; they were always simple and +direct. The difficulty for her was all the greater that she had not +been allowed to know the form of the accusation, before it was hurled +against her in full force by Mr. Serjeant Gawdy, who detailed the whole +of the conspiracy of Ballard and Babington in all its branches, and +declared her to have known and approved of it, and to have suggested +the manner of executing it. + +Breathlessly did Cicely listen as the Queen rose up. Humfrey watched +her almost more closely than the royal prisoner. When there was a +denial of all knowledge or intercourse with Ballard or Babington, Jean +Kennedy's hard-lined face never faltered; but Cicely's brows came +together in concern at the mention of the last name, and did not clear +as the Queen explained that though many Catholics might indeed write to +her with offers of service, she could have no knowledge of anything +they might attempt. To confute this, extracts from their confessions +were read, and likewise that letter of Babington's which he had written +to her detailing his plans, and that lengthy answer, brought by the +blue-coated serving-man, in which the mode of carrying her off from +Chartley was suggested, and which had the postscript desiring to know +the names of the six who were to remove the usurping competitor. + +The Queen denied this letter flatly, declaring that it might have been +written with her alphabet of ciphers, but was certainly none of hers. +"There may have been designs against the Queen and for procuring my +liberty," she said, "but I, shut up in close prison, was not aware of +them, and how can I be made to answer for them? Only lately did I +receive a letter asking my pardon if schemes were made on my behalf +without my privity, nor can anything be easier than to counterfeit a +cipher, as was lately proved by a young man in France. Verily, I +greatly fear that if these same letters were traced to their deviser, +it would prove to be the one who is sitting here. Think you," she +added, turning to Walsingham, "think you, Mr. Secretary, that I am +ignorant of your devices used so craftily against me? Your spies +surrounded me on every side, but you know not, perhaps, that some of +your spies have been false and brought intelligence to me. And if such +have been his dealings, my Lords," she said, appealing to the judges +and peers, "how can I be assured that he hath not counterfeited my +ciphers to bring me to my death? Hath he not already practised against +my life and that of my son?" + +Walsingham rose in his place, and lifting up his hands and eyes +declared, "I call God to record that as a private person I have done +nothing unbeseeming an honest man, nor as a public person have I done +anything to dishonour my place." + +Somewhat ironically Mary admitted this disavowal, and after some +unimportant discussion, the Court adjourned until the next day, it +being already late, according to the early habits of the time. + +Cicely had been entirely carried along by her mother's pleading. Tears +had started as Queen Mary wept her indignant tears, and a glow had +risen in her cheeks at the accusation of Walsingham. Ever and anon she +looked to Humfrey's face for sympathy, but he sat gravely listening, +his two hands clasped over the hilt of his sword, and his chin resting +on them, as if to prevent a muscle of his face from moving. When they +rose up to leave the galleries, and there was the power to say a word, +she turned to him earnestly. + +"A piteous sight," he said, "and a right gallant defence." + +He did not mean it, but the words struck like lead on Cicely's heart, +for they did not amount to an acquittal before the tribunal of his +secret conviction, any more than did Walsingham's disavowal, for who +could tell what Mr. Secretary's conscience did think unbecoming to his +office? + +Cicely found her mother on her couch giving a free course to her tears, +in the reaction after the strain and effort of her defence. Melville +and the Maries were assuring her that she had most bravely confuted her +enemies, and that she had only to hold on with equal courage to the +end. Mrs. Kennedy and Dr. Bourgoin came in to join in the same +encouragements, and the commendation evidently soothed her. "However it +may end," she said, "Mary of Scotland shall not go down to future ages +as a craven spirit. But let us not discuss it further, my dear +friends, my head aches, and I can bear no farther word at present." + +Dr. Bourgoin made her take some food and then lie down to rest, while +in an outer room a lute was played and a low soft song was sung. She +had not slept all the previous night, but she fell asleep, holding the +hand of Cicely, who was on a cushion by her side. The girl, having +been likewise much disturbed, slept too, and only gradually awoke as +her mother was sitting up on her couch discussing the next day's +defence with Melville and Bourgoin. + +"I fear me, madam, there is no holding to the profession of entire +ignorance," said Melville. + +"They have no letters from Babington to me to show," said the Queen. "I +took care of _that_ by the help of this good bairn. I can defy them to +produce the originals out of all my ransacked cabinets." + +"They have the copies both of them and of your Majesty's replies, and +Nan and Curll to verify them." + +"What are copies worth, or what are dead and tortured men's confessions +worth?" said Mary. + +"Were your Majesty a private person they would never be accepted as +evidence," said Melville; "but--" + +"But because I am a Queen and a Catholic there is no justice for me," +said Mary. "Well, what is the defence you would have me confine myself +to, my sole privy counsellors?" + +Here Cis, to show she was awake, pressed her mother's hand and looked +up in her face, but Mary, though returning the glance and the pressure, +did not send her away, while Melville recommended strongly that the +Queen should continue to insist on the imperfection of the evidence +adduced against her, which he said might so touch some of the lawyers, +or the nobles, that Burghley and Walsingham might be afraid to proceed. +If this failed her, she must allow her knowledge of the plot for her +own escape and the Spanish invasion, but strenuously deny the part +which concerned Elizabeth's life. + +"That it is which they above all desire to fix on me," said the Queen. + +Cicely's brain was in confusion. Surely she had heard those letters +read in the hall. Were they false or genuine? The Queen had utterly +denied them there. Now she seemed to think the only point was to prove +that these were not the originals. Dr. Bourgoin seemed to feel the +same difficulty. + +"Madame will pardon me," he said; "I have not been of her secret +councils, but can she not, if rightly dealt with, prove those two +letters that were read to have been forged by her enemies?" + +"What I could do is this, my good Bourgoin," said Mary; "were I only +confronted with Nau and Curll, I could prove that the letter I received +from Babington bore nothing about the destroying the usurping +competitor. The poor faithful lad was a fool, but not so great a fool +as to tell me such things. And, on the other hand, hath either of you, +my friends, ever seen in me such symptoms of midsummer madness as that +I should be asking the names of the six who were to do the deed? What +cared I for their names? I--who only wished to know as little of the +matter as possible!" + +"Can your Majesty prove that you knew nothing?" asked Melville. + +Mary paused. "They cannot prove by fair means that I knew anything," +said she, "for I did not. Of course I was aware that Elizabeth must be +taken out of the way, or the heretics would be rallying round her; but +there is no lack of folk who delight in work of that sort, and why +should I meddle with the knowledge? With the Prince of Parma in +London, she, if she hath the high courage she boasteth of, would soon +cause the Spanish pikes to use small ceremony with her! Why should I +concern myself about poor Antony and his five gentlemen? But it is the +same as it was twenty years ago. What I know will have to be, and yet +choose not to hear of, is made the head and front of mine offending, +that the real actors may go free! And because I have writ naught that +they can bring against me, they take my letters and add to and garble +them, till none knows where to have them. Would that we were in +France! There it was a good sword-cut or pistol-shot at once, and one +took one's chance of a return, without all this hypocrisy of law and +justice to weary one out and make men double traitors." + +"Methought Walsingham winced when your Majesty went to the point with +him," said Bourgoin. + +"And you put up with his explanation?" said Melville. + +"Truly I longed to demand of what practices Mr. Secretary in his +office,--not as a private person--would be ashamed; but it seemed to me +that they might call it womanish spite, and to that the Queen of Scots +will never descend!" + +"Pity but that we had Babington's letter! Then might we put him to +confusion by proving the additions," said Melville. + +"It is not possible, my good friend. The letter is at the bottom of +the Castle well; is it not, mignonne? Mourn for it not, Andrew. It +would have been of little avail, and it carried with it stuff that Mr. +Secretary would give almost his precious place to possess, and that +might be fatal to more of us. I hoped that there might have been +safety for poor Babington in the destruction of that packet, never +guessing at the villainy of yon Burton brewer, nor of those who set him +on. Come, it serves not to fret ourselves any more. I must answer as +occasion serves me; speaking not so much to Elizabeth's Commission, who +have foredoomed me, as to all Christendom, and to the Scots and English +of all ages, who will be my judges." + +Her judges? Ay! but how? With the same enthusiastic pity and +indignation, mixed with the same misgiving as her own daughter felt. +Not wholly innocent, not wholly guilty, yet far less guilty than those +who had laid their own crimes on her in Scotland, or who plotted to +involve her in meshes partly woven by herself in England. The evil done +to her was frightful, but it would have been powerless had she been +wholly blameless. Alas! is it not so with all of us? + +The second day's trial came on. Mary Seaton was so overpowered with +the strain she had gone through that the Queen would not take her into +the hall, but let Cicely sit at her feet instead. On this day none of +the Crown lawyers took part in the proceedings; for, as Cavendish +whispered to Humfrey, there had been high words between them and my +Lord Treasurer and Mr. Secretary; and they had declared themselves +incapable of conducting a prosecution so inconsistent with the forms of +law to which they were accustomed. The pedantic fellows wanted more +direct evidence, he said, and Humfrey honoured them. + +Lord Burghley then conducted the proceedings, and they had thus a more +personal character. The Queen, however, acted on Melville's advice, +and no longer denied all knowledge of the conspiracy, but insisted that +she was ignorant of the proposed murder of Elizabeth, and argued most +pertinently that a copy of a deciphered cipher, without the original, +was no proof at all, desiring further that Nau and Curll should be +examined in her presence. She reminded the Commissioners how their +Queen herself had been called in question for Wyatt's rebellion, in +spite of her innocence. "Heaven is my witness," she added, "that much +as I desire the safety and glory of the Catholic religion, I would not +purchase it at the price of blood. I would rather play Esther than +Judith." + +Her defence was completed by her taking off the ring which Elizabeth +had sent to her at Lochleven. "This," she said, holding it up, "your +Queen sent to me in token of amity and protection. You best know how +that pledge has been redeemed." Therewith she claimed another day's +hearing, with an advocate granted to her, or else that, being a +Princess, she might be believed on the word of a Princess. + +This completed her defence, except so far that when Burghley responded +in a speech of great length, she interrupted, and battled point by +point, always keeping in view the strong point of the insufficient +evidence and her own deprivation of the chances of confuting what was +adduced against her. + +It was late in the afternoon when he concluded. There was a pause, as +though for a verdict by the Commissioners. Instead of this, Mary rose +and repeated her appeal to be tried before the Parliament of England at +Westminster. No reply was made, and the Court broke up. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +A VENTURE. + + +"Mother, dear mother, do but listen to me." + +"I must listen, child, when thou callest me so from your heart; but it +is of no use, my poor little one. They have referred the matter to the +Star Chamber, that they may settle it there with closed doors and no +forms of law. Thou couldst do nothing! And could I trust thee to go +wandering to London, like a maiden in a ballad, all alone?" + +"Nay, madam, I should not go alone. My father, I mean Mr. Talbot, +would take me." + +"Come, bairnie, that is presuming overmuch on the good man's kindness." + +"I do not speak without warrant, madam. I told him what I longed to +do, and he said it might be my duty, and if it were so, he would not +gainsay me; but that he could not let me go alone, and would go with +me. And he can get access for me to the Queen. He has seen her +himself, and so has Humfrey; and Diccon is a gentleman pensioner." + +"There have been ventures enough for me already," said Mary. "I will +bring no more faithful heads into peril." + +"Then will you not consent, mother? He will quit the castle to-morrow, +and I am to see him in the morning and give him an answer. If you would +let me go, he would crave license to take me home, saying that I look +paler than my wont." + +"And so thou dost, child. If I could be sure of ever seeing thee +again, I should have proposed thy going home to good Mistress Susan's +tendance for a little space. But it is not to be thought of. I could +not risk thee, or any honest loving heart, on so desperate a stake as +mine! I love thee, mine ain, true, leal lassie, all the more, and I +honour him; but it may not be! Ask me no more." + +Mary was here interrupted by a request from Sir Christopher Hatton for +one of the many harassing interviews that beset her during the days +following the trial, when judgment was withheld, according to the +express command of the vacillating Elizabeth, and the case remitted to +the Star Chamber. Lord Burghley considered this hesitation to be the +effect of judicial blindness--so utterly had hatred and fear of the +future shut his eyes to all sense of justice and fair play. + +Cicely felt all youth's disappointment in the rejection of its grand +schemes. But to her surprise at night Mary addressed her again, "My +daughter, did that true-hearted foster-father of thine speak in sooth?" + +"He never doth otherwise," returned Cicely. + +"For," said her mother, "I have thought of a way of gaining thee access +to the Queen, far less perilous to him, and less likely to fail. I +will give thee letters to M. De Chateauneuf, the French Ambassador, +whom I have known in old times, with full credentials. It might be well +to have with thee those that I left with Mistress Talbot. Then he will +gain thee admittance, and work for thee as one sent from France, and +protected by the rights of the Embassy. Thus, Master Richard need +never appear in the matter at all, and at any rate thou wouldst be +secure. Chateauneuf would find means of sending thee abroad if +needful." + +"Oh! I would return to you, madam my mother, or wait for you in London." + +"That must be as the wills above decree," said Mary sadly. "It is +folly in me, but I cannot help grasping at the one hope held out to me. +There is that within me that will hope and strive to the end, though I +am using my one precious jewel to weight the line I am casting across +the gulf. At least they cannot do thee great harm, my good child." + +The Queen sat up half the night writing letters, one to Elizabeth, one +to Chateauneuf, and another to the Duchess of Lorraine, which Cis was +to deliver in case of her being sent over to the Continent. But the +Queen committed the conduct of the whole affair to M. De Chateauneuf, +since she could completely trust his discretion and regard for her; +and, moreover, it was possible that the face of affairs might undergo +some great alteration before Cicely could reach London. Mr. Talbot +must necessarily go home first, being bound to do so by his commission +to the Earl. "And, hark thee," said the Queen, "what becomes of the +young gallant?" + +"I have not heard, madam," said Cicely, not liking the tone. + +"If my desires still have any effect," said Mary, "he will stay here. I +will not have my damosel errant squired by a youth under +five-and-twenty." + +"I promised you, madam, and he wots it," said Cicely, with spirit. + +"He wots it, doth he?" said the Queen, in rather a provoking voice. +"No, no, mignonne; with all respect to their honour and discretion, we +do not put flint and steel together, when we do not wish to kindle a +fire. Nay, little one, I meant not to vex thee, when thou art doing +one of the noblest deeds daughter ever did for mother, and for a mother +who sent thee away from her, and whom thou hast scarce known for more +than two years!" + +Cicely was sure to see her foster-father after morning prayers on the +way from the chapel across the inner court. Here she was able to tell +him of the Queen's consent, over which he looked grave, having secretly +persuaded himself that Mary would think the venture too great, and not +hopeful enough to be made. He could not, however, wonder that the +unfortunate lady should catch at the least hope of preserving her life; +and she had dragged too many down in the whirlpool to leave room for +wonder that she should consent to peril her own daughter therein. +Moreover, he would have the present pleasure of taking her home with +him to his Susan, and who could say what would happen in the meantime? + +"Thou hast counted the cost?" he said. + +"Yea, sir," Cis answered, as the young always do; adding, "the Queen +saith that if we commit all to the French Ambassador, M. De +Chateauneuf, who is her very good friend, he will save you from any +peril." + +"Hm! I had rather be beholden to no Frenchman," muttered Richard, "but +we will see, we will see. I must now to Paulett to obtain consent to +take thee with me. Thou art pale and changed enough indeed to need a +blast of Hallamshire air, my poor maid." + +So Master Richard betook him to the knight, a man of many charges, and +made known that finding his daughter somewhat puling and sickly, he +wished having, as she told him, the consent of the Queen of Scots, to +take her home with him for a time. + +"You do well, Mr. Talbot," said Sir Amias. "In sooth, I have only +marvelled that a pious and godly man like you should have consented to +let her abide so long, at her tender age, among these papistical, +idolatrous, and bloodthirsty women." + +"I think not that she hath taken harm," said Richard. + +"I have done my poor best; I have removed the priest of Baal," said the +knight; "I have caused godly ministers constantly to preach sound +doctrine in the ears of all who would hearken; and I have uplifted my +testimony whensoever it was possible. But it is not well to expose the +young to touching the accursed thing, and this lady hath shown herself +greatly affected to your daughter, so that she might easily be seduced +from the truth. Yet, sir, bethink you is it well to remove the maiden +from witnessing that which will be a warning for ever of the judgment +that falleth on conspiracy and idolatry?" + +"You deem the matter so certain?" said Richard. + +"Beyond a doubt, sir. This lady will never leave these walls alive. +There can be no peace for England nor safety for our blessed and +gracious Queen while she lives. Her guilt is certain; and as Mr. +Secretary said to me last night, he and the Lord Treasurer are +determined that for no legal quibbles, nor scruples of mercy from our +ever-pitiful Queen, shall she now escape. Her Majesty, however her +womanish heart may doubt now, will rejoice when the deed is done. +Methinks I showed you the letter she did me the honour to write, +thanking me for the part I took in conveying the lady suddenly to +Tixall." + +Richard had already read that letter three times, so he avowed his +knowledge of it. + +"You will not remove your son likewise?" added Sir Amias. "He hath an +acquaintance with this lady's people, which is useful in one so +thoroughly to be trusted; and moreover, he will not be tampered with. +For, sir, I am never without dread of some attempt being made to deal +with this lady privily, in which case I should be the one to bear all +the blame. Wherefore I have made request to have another honourable +gentleman joined with me in this painful wardship." + +Richard had no desire to remove his son. He shared Queen Mary's +feelings on the inexpediency of Humfrey forming part of the escort of +the young lady, and thought it was better for both to see as little of +one another as possible. + +Sir Amias accordingly, on his morning visit of inspection, intimated to +the Queen that Mr. Talbot wished his daughter to return home with him +for the recovery of her health. He spoke as if the whole suite were at +his own disposal, and Mary resented it in her dignified manner. + +"The young lady hath already requested license from us," she said, "and +we have granted it. She will return when her health is fully restored." + +Sir Amias had forbearance enough not to hint that unless the return +were speedy, she would scarcely find the Queen there, and the matter +was settled. Master Richard would not depart until after dinner, when +other gentlemen were going, and this would enable Cicely to make up her +mails, and there would still be time to ride a stage before dark. Her +own horse was in the stables, and her goods would be bestowed in cloak +bags on the saddles of the grooms who had accompanied Mr. Talbot; for, +small as was the estate of Bridgefield, for safety's sake he could not +have gone on so long an expedition without a sufficient guard. + +The intervening time was spent by the Queen in instructing her daughter +how to act in various contingencies. If it were possible to the French +Ambassador to present her as freshly come from the Soissons convent, +where she was to have been reared, it would save Mr. Talbot from all +risk; but the Queen doubted whether she could support the character, so +English was her air, though there were Scottish and English nuns at +Soissons, and still more at Louvaine and Douay, who _might_ have +brought her up. + +"I cannot feign, madam," said Cicely, alarmed. "Oh, I hope I need only +speak truth!" and her tone sounded much more like a confession of +incapacity than a moral objection, and so it was received: "Poor child, +I know thou canst not act a part, and thy return to the honest mastiffs +will not further thee in it; but I have bidden Chateauneuf to do what +he can for thee--and after all the eyes will not be very critical." + +If there still was time, Cicely was to endeavour first of all to obtain +of Elizabeth that Mary might be brought to London to see her, and be +judged before Parliament with full means of defence. If this were no +longer possible, Cicely might attempt to expose Walsingham's +contrivance; but this would probably be too dangerous. Chateauneuf +must judge. Or, as another alternative, Queen Mary gave Cicely the +ring already shown at the trial, and with that as her pledge, a solemn +offer was to be made on her behalf to retire into a convent in Austria, +or in one of the Roman Catholic cantons of Switzerland, out of the +reach of Spain and France, and there take the veil, resigning all her +rights to her son. All her money had been taken away, but she told +Cicely she had given orders to Chateauneuf to supply from her French +dowry all that might be needed for the expenses that must be incurred. + +Now that the matter was becoming so real, Cicely's heart quailed a +little. Castles in the air that look heroic at the first glance would +not so remain did not they show themselves terrible at a nearer +approach, and the maiden wondered, whether Queen Elizabeth would be +much more formidable than my Lady Countess in a rage! + +And what would become of herself? Would she be detained in the bondage +in which the poor sisters of the Grey blood had been kept? Or would her +mother carry her off to these strange lands?.... It was all strange, +and the very boldness of her offer, since it had been thus accepted, +made her feel helpless and passive in the grasp of the powers that her +simple wish had set moving. + +The letters were sewn up in the most ingenious manner in her dress by +Mary Seaton, in case any search should be made; but the only woman Sir +Amias would be able to employ in such a matter was purblind and +helpless, and they trusted much to his implicit faith in the Talbots. + +There was only just time to complete her preparations before she was +summoned; and with an almost convulsive embrace from her mother, and +whispered benedictions from Jean Kennedy, she left the dreary walls of +Fotheringhay. + +Humfrey rode with them through the Chase. Both he and Cicely were very +silent. When the time came for parting, Cicely said, as she laid her +hand in his, "Dear brother, for my sake do all thou canst for her with +honour." + +"That will I," said Humfrey. "Would that I were going with thee, +Cicely!" + +"So would not I," she returned; "for then there would be one true heart +the less to watch over her." + +"Come, daughter!" said Richard, who had engaged one of the gentlemen in +conversation so as to leave them to themselves. "We must be jogging. +Fare thee well, my son, till such time as thy duties permit thee to +follow us." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +MY LADY'S REMORSE. + + +"And have you brought her back again! O my lass! my lass!" cried +Mistress Susan, surprised and delighted out of her usual staid +composure, as, going out to greet her husband, an unexpected figure was +seen by his side, and Cicely sprang into her arms as if they were truly +a haven of rest. + +Susan looked over her head, even in the midst of the embrace, with the +eyes of one hungering for her first-born son, but her husband shook his +head. "No, mother, we have not brought thee the boy. Thou must +content thyself with her thou hast here for a little space." + +"I hope it bodes not ill," said Susan. + +"It bodes," said Richard, "that I have brought thee back a good +daughter with a pair of pale cheeks, which must be speedily coloured +anew in our northern breezes." + +"Ah, how sweet to be here at home," cried Cicely, turning round in +rapturous greeting to all the serving men and women, and all the dogs. +"We want only the boys! Where is Ned?" + +Their arrival having been unannounced, Ned was with Master Sniggius, +whose foremost scholar he now was, and who kept him much later than the +other lads to prepare him for Cambridge; but it was the return to this +tender foster-mother that seemed such extreme bliss to Cicely. All was +most unlike her reluctant return two years previously, when nothing but +her inbred courtesy and natural sweetness of disposition had prevented +her from being contemptuous of the country home. Now every stone, +every leaf, seemed precious to her, and she showed herself, even as she +ascended the steps to the hall, determined not to be the guest but the +daughter. There was a little movement on the parents' part, as if they +bore in mind that she came as a princess; but she flew to draw up +Master Richard's chair, and put his wife's beside it, nor would she +sit, till they had prayed her to do so; and it was all done with such a +graceful bearing, the noble carriage of her head had become so much +more remarkable, and a sweet readiness and responsiveness of manner had +so grown upon her, that Susan looked at her in wondering admiration, as +something more her own and yet less her own than ever, tracing in her +for the first time some of the charms of the Queen of Scots. + +All the household hovered about in delight, and confidences could not +be exchanged just then: the travellers had to eat and drink, and they +were only just beginning to do so when Ned came home. He was of +slighter make than his brothers, and had a more scholarly aspect: but +his voice made itself heard before him. "Is it true? Is it true that +my father is come? And our Cis too? Ha!" and he rushed in, hardly +giving himself time for the respectful greeting to his father, before +he fell upon Cis with undoubting brotherly delight. + +"Is Humfrey come?" he asked as soon as he could take breath. "No? I +thought 'twas too good to be all true." + +"How did you hear?" + +"Hob the hunter brought up word that the Queen's head was off. What?" +as Cicely gave a start and little scream. "Is it not so?" + +"No, indeed, boy," said his father. "What put that folly into his +head?" + +"Because he saw, or thought he saw, Humfrey and Cis riding home with +you, sir, and so thought all was over with the Queen of Scots. My +Lady, they say, had one of her shrieking fits, and my Lord sent down to +ask whether I knew aught; and when he found that I did not, would have +me go home at once to bid you come up immediately to the Manor; and +before I had gotten out Dapple, there comes another message to say +that, in as brief space as it will take to saddle them, there will be +beasts here to bring up you and my mother and Cis, to tell my Lady +Countess all that has befallen." + +Cis's countenance so changed that kind Susan said, "I will make thine +excuses to my Lady. Thou art weary and ill at ease, and I cannot have +thee set forth at once again." + +"The Queen would never have sent such sudden and hasty orders," said +Cicely. "Mother, can you not stay with me?--I have so much to say to +you, and my time is short." + +The Talbots were, however, too much accustomed to obedience to the +peremptory commands of their feudal chiefs to venture on such +disobedience. Susan's proposal had been a great piece of audacity, on +which she would hardly have ventured but for her consciousness that the +maiden was no Talbot at all. + +Yet to Cis the dear company of her mother Susan, even in the Countess's +society, seemed too precious to be resigned, and she had likewise been +told that Lady Shrewsbury's mind had greatly changed towards Mary, and +that since the irritation of the captive's presence had been removed, +she remembered only the happier and kindlier portion of their past +intercourse. There had been plenty of quarrels with her husband, but +none so desperate as before, and at this present time the Earl and +Countess were united against the surviving sons, who, with Gilbert at +their head, were making large demands on them. Cicely felt grateful to +the Earl for his absence from Fotheringhay, and, though disappointed of +her peaceful home evening, declared she would come up to the Lodge +rather than lose sight of "mother." The stable people, more +considerate than their Lord and Lady, proved to have sent a horse +litter for the conveyance of the ladies called out on the wet dark +October evening, and here it was that Cis could enjoy her first +precious moment of privacy with one for whom she had so long yearned. +Susan rejoiced in the heavy lumbering conveyance as a luxury, sparing +the maiden's fatigue, and she was commencing some inquiries into the +indisposition which had procured this holiday, when Cicely broke in, "O +mother, nothing aileth me. It is not for that cause--but oh! mother, I +am to go to see Queen Elizabeth, and strive with her for her--for my +mother's life and freedom." + +"Thou! poor little maid. Doth thy father--what am I saying? Doth my +husband know?" + +"Oh yes. He will take me. He saith it is my duty." + +"Then it must be well," said Susan in an altered voice on hearing this. +"From whom came the proposal?" + +"I made it," said Cicely in a low, feeble voice on the verge of tears. +"Oh, dear mother, thou wilt not tell any one how faint of heart I am? +I did mean it in sooth, but I never guessed how dreadful it would grow +now I am pledged to it." + +"Thou art pledged, then, and canst not falter?" + +"Never," said Cicely; "I would not that any should know it, not even my +father; but mother, mother, I could not help telling you. You will let +no one guess? I know it is unworthy, but--" + +"Not unworthy to fear, my poor child, so long as thou dost not waver." + +"It is, it is unworthy of my lineage. My mother queen would say so," +cried Cis, drawing herself up. + +"Giving way would be unworthy," said Susan, "but turn thou to thy God, +my child, and He will give thee strength to carry through whatever is +the duty of a faithful daughter towards this poor lady; and my husband, +thou sayest, holds that so it is?" + +"Yea, madam; he craved license to take me home, since I have truly +often been ailing since those dreadful days at Tixall, and he hath +promised to go to London with me." + +"And is this to be done in thine own true name?" asked Susan, trembling +somewhat at the risk to her husband, as well as to the maiden. + +"I trow that it is," said Cis, "but the matter is to be put into the +hands of M. de Chateauneuf, the French Ambassador. I have a letter +here," laying her hand on her bosom, "which, the Queen declares, will +thoroughly prove to him who I am, and if I go as under his protection, +none can do my father any harm." + +Susan hoped so, but she trusted to understand all better from her +husband, though her heart failed her as much as, or even perhaps more +than, did that of poor little Cis. Master Richard had sped on before +their tardy conveyance, and had had time to give the heads of his +intelligence before they reached the Manor house, and when they were +conducted to my Lady's chamber, they saw him, by the light of a large +fire, standing before the Earl and Countess, cap in hand, much as a +groom or gamekeeper would now stand before his master and mistress. + +The Earl, however, rose to receive the ladies; but the Countess, no +great observer of ceremony towards other people, whatever she might +exact from them towards herself, cried out, "Come hither, come hither, +Cicely Talbot, and tell me how it fares with the poor lady," and as the +maiden came forward in the dim light-- "Ha! What! Is't she?" she +cried, with a sudden start. "On my faith, what has she done to thee? +Thou art as like her as the foal to the mare." + +This exclamation disconcerted the visitors, but luckily for them the +Earl laughed and declared that he could see no resemblance in Mistress +Cicely's dark brows to the arched ones of the Queen of Scots, to which +his wife replied testily, "Who said there was? The maid need not be +uplifted, for there's nothing alike between them, only she hath caught +the trick of her bearing so as to startle me in the dark, my head +running on the poor lady. I could have sworn 'twas she coming in, as +she was when she first came to our care fifteen years agone. Pray +Heaven she may not haunt the place! How fareth she in health, wench?" + +"Well, madam, save when the rheumatic pains take her," said Cicely. + +"And still of good courage?" + +"That, madam, nothing can daunt." + +Seats, though only joint stools, were given to the ladies, but Susan +found herself no longer trembling at the effects of the Countess's +insolence upon Cicely, who seemed to accept it all as a matter of +course, and almost of indifference, though replying readily and with a +gentle grace, most unlike her childish petulance. + +Many close inquiries from the Earl and Countess were answered by +Richard and the young lady, until they had a tolerably clear idea of +the situation. The Countess wept bitterly, and to Cicely's great +amazement began bemoaning herself that she was not still the poor +lady's keeper. It was a shame to put her where there were no women to +feel for her. Lady Shrewsbury had apparently forgotten that no one had +been so virulent against the Queen as herself. + +And when it was impossible to deny that things looked extremely ill, +and that Burghley and Walsingham seemed resolved not to let slip this +opportunity of ridding themselves of the prisoner, my Lady burst out +with, "Ah! there it is! She will die, and my promise is broken, and +she will haunt me to my dying day, all along of that venomous toad and +spiteful viper, Mary Talbot." + +A passionate fit of weeping succeeded, mingled with vituperations of +her daughter Mary, far more than of herself, and amid it all, during +Susan's endeavours at soothing, Cicely gathered that the cause of the +Countess's despair was that in the time of her friendship and amity, +she had uttered an assurance that the Queen need not fear death, as she +would contrive means of safety. And on her own ground, in her own +Castle or Lodge, there could be little doubt that she would have been +able to have done so. The Earl, indeed, shook his head, but repented, +for she laughed at him half angrily, half hysterically, for thinking he +could have prevented anything that she was set upon. + +And now she said and fully believed that the misunderstanding which had +resulted in the removal of the prisoner had been entirely due to the +slanders and deceits of her own daughter Mary, and her husband Gilbert, +with whom she was at this time on the worst of terms. And thus she +laid on them the blame of the Queen's death (if that was really +decreed), but though she outwardly blamed every creature save herself, +such agony of mind, and even terror, proved that in very truth there +must have been the conviction at the bottom of her heart that it was +her own fault. + +The Earl had beckoned away Master Richard, both glad to escape; but +Cicely had to remain, and filled with compassion for one whom she had +always regarded previously as an enemy, she could not help saying, +"Dear madam, take comfort; I am going to bear a petition to the Queen's +Majesty from the captive lady, and if she will hear me all will yet be +well." + +"How! What? How! Thou little moppet! Knows she what she says, Susan +Talbot?" + +Susan made answer that she had had time to hear no particulars yet, but +that Cicely averred that she was going with her father's consent, +whereupon Richard was immediately summoned back to explain. + +The Earl and Countess could hardly believe that he should have +consented that his daughter should be thus employed, and he had to +excuse himself with what he could not help feeling were only half +truths. + +"The poor lady," he said, "is denied all power of sending word or +letter to the Queen save through those whom she views as her enemies, +and therefore she longed earnestly either to see her Majesty, or to +hold communication with her through one whom she knoweth to be both +simple and her own friend." + +"Yea," said the Countess, "I could well have done this for her could I +but have had speech with her. Or she might have sent Bess Pierrepoint, +who surely would have been a more fitting messenger." + +"Save that she hath not had access to the Queen of Scots of late," said +Richard. + +"Yea, and her father would scarcely be willing to risk the Queen's +displeasure," said the Earl. + +"Art thou ready to abide it, Master Richard?" said the Countess, +"though after all it could do you little harm." And her tone marked +the infinite distance she placed between him and Sir Henry Pierrepoint, +the husband of her daughter. + +"That is true, madam," said Richard, "and moreover, I cannot reconcile +it to my conscience to debar the poor lady from any possible opening of +safety." + +"Thou art a good man, Richard," said the Earl, and therewith both he +and the Countess became extremely, nay, almost inconveniently, desirous +to forward the petitioner on her way. To listen to them that night, +they would have had her go as an emissary of the house of Shrewsbury, +and only the previous quarrel with Lord Talbot and his wife prevented +them from proposing that she should be led to the foot of the throne by +Gilbert himself. + +Cicely began to be somewhat alarmed at plans that would disconcert all +the instructions she had received, and only her old habits of respect +kept her silent when she thought Master Richard not ready enough to +refuse all these offers. + +At last he succeeded in obtaining license to depart, and no sooner was +Cicely again shut up with Mistress Susan in the litter than she +exclaimed, "Now will it be most hard to carry out the Queen's orders +that I should go first to the French Ambassador. I would that my Lady +Countess would not think naught can succeed without her meddling." + +"Thou shouldst have let father tell thy purpose in his own way," said +Susan. + +"Ah! mother, I am an indiscreet simpleton, not fit for such a work as I +have taken in hand," said poor Cis. "Here hath my foolish tongue +traversed it already!" + +"Fear not," said Susan, as one who well knew the nature of her +kinswoman; "belike she will have cooled to-morrow, all the more because +father said naught to the nayward." + +Susan was uneasy enough herself, and very desirous to hear all from her +husband in private. And that night he told her that he had very little +hope of the intercession being availing. He believed that the +Treasurer and Secretary were absolutely determined on Mary's death, and +would sooner or later force consent from the Queen; but there was the +possibility that Elizabeth's feelings might be so far stirred that on a +sudden impulse she might set Mary at liberty, and place her beyond +their reach. + +"And hap what may," he said, "when a daughter offereth to do her utmost +for a mother in peril of death, what right have I to hinder her?" + +"May God guard the duteous!" said Susan. "But oh! husband, is she +worthy, for whom the child is thus to lead you into peril?" + +"She is her mother," repeated Richard. "Had I erred--" + +"Which you never could do," broke in the wife. + +"I am a sinful man," said he. + +"Yea, but there are deeds you never could have done." + +"By God's grace I trust not; but hear me out, wife. Mine errors, nay, +my crimes, would not do away with the duty owed to me by my sons. How, +then, should any sins of this poor Queen withhold her daughter from +rendering her all the succour in her power? And thou, thou thyself, +Susan, hast taken her for thine own too long to endure to let her +undertake the matter alone and unaided." + +"She would not attempt it thus," said Susan. + +"I cannot tell; but I should thus be guilty of foiling her in a brave +and filial purpose." + +"And yet thou dost hold her poor mother a guilty woman?" + +"Said I so? Nay, Susan, I am as dubious as ever I was on that head." + +"After hearing the trial?" + +"A word in thine ear, my discreet wife. The trial convinced me far +more that place makes honest men act like cruel knaves than of aught +else." + +"Then thou holdest her innocent?" + +"I said not so. I have known too long how she lives by the weaving of +webs. I know not how it is, but these great folks seem not to deem +that truth in word and deed is a part of their religion. For my part, +I should distrust whatever godliness did not lead to truth, but a plain +man never knows where to have them. That she and poor Antony Babington +were in league to bring hither the Spaniards and restore the Pope, I +have no manner of doubt on the word of both, but then they deem +it--Heaven help them--a virtuous act; and it might be lawful in her, +seeing that she has always called herself a free sovereign unjustly +detained. What he stuck at and she denies, is the purpose of murdering +the Queen's Majesty." + +"Sure that was the head and front of the poor young man's offending." + +"So it was, but not until he had been urged thereto by his priests, and +had obtained her consent in a letter. Heaven forgive me if I misjudge +any one, but my belief is this--that the letters, whereof only the +deciphered copies were shown, did not quit the hands of either the one +or the other, such as we heard them at Fotheringhay. So poor Babington +said, so saith the Queen of Scots, demanding vehemently to have them +read in her presence before Nau and Curll, who could testify to them. +Cis deemeth that the true letter from Babington is in a packet which, +on learning from Humfrey his suspicion that there was treachery, the +Queen gave her, and she threw down a well at Chartley." + +"That was pity." + +"Say not so, for had the original letter been seized, it would only +have been treated in the same manner as the copy, and never allowed to +reach Queen Elizabeth." + +"I am glad poor Cicely's mother can stand clear of that guilt," said +Susan. "I served her too long, and received too much gentle treatment +from her, to brook the thought that she could be so far left to +herself." + +"Mind you, dame," said Richard, "I am not wholly convinced that she was +not aware that her friends would in some way or other bring about the +Queen's death, and that she would scarce have visited it very harshly, +but she is far too wise--ay, and too tender-hearted, to have entered +into the matter beforehand. So I think her not wholly guiltless, +though the wrongs she hath suffered have been so great that I would do +whatever was not disloyal to mine own Queen to aid her to obtain +justice." + +"You are doing much, much indeed," said Susan; "and all this time you +have told me nothing of my son, save what all might hear. How fares +he? is his heart still set on this poor maid?" + +"And ever will be," said his father. "His is not an outspoken babbling +love like poor Master Nau, who they say was so inspired at finding +himself in the same city with Bess Pierrepoint that he could talk of +nothing else, and seemed to have no thought of his own danger or his +Queen's. No, but he hath told me that he will give up all to serve +her, without hope of requital; for her mother hath made her forswear +him, and though she be not always on his tongue, he will do so, if I +mistake not his steadfastness." + +Susan sighed, but she knew that the love, that had begun when the +lonely boy hailed the shipwrecked infant as his little sister, was of a +calm, but unquenchable nature, were it for weal or woe. She could not +but be thankful that the express mandate of both the parents had +withheld her son from sharing the danger which was serious enough even +for her husband's prudence and coolness of head. + +By the morning, as she had predicted, the ardour of the Earl and +Countess had considerably slackened; and though still willing to +forward the petitioner on her way, they did not wish their names to +appear in the matter. + +They did, however, make an important offer. The Mastiff was newly come +into harbour at Hull, and they offered Richard the use of her as a +conveyance. He gladly accepted it. The saving of expense was a great +object; for he was most unwilling to use Queen Mary's order on the +French Ambassador, and he likewise deemed it possible that such a means +of evasion might be very useful. + +The Mastiff was sometimes used by some of the Talbot family on journeys +to London, and had a tolerably commodious cabin, according to the +notions of the time; and though it was late in the year, and poor Cis +was likely to be wretched enough on the voyage, the additional security +was worth having, and Cicely would be under the care of Goatley's wife, +who made all the voyages with her husband. The Earl likewise charged +Richard Talbot with letters and messages of conciliation to his son +Gilbert, whose estrangement was a great grief to him, arising as it did +entirely from the quarrels of the two wives, mother and daughter. He +even charged his kinsman with the proposal to give up Sheffield to Lord +and Lady Talbot and retire to Wingfield rather than continue at enmity. +Mr. Talbot knew the parties too well to have much hope of prevailing, +or producing permanent peace; but the commission was welcome, as it +would give a satisfactory pretext for his presence in London. + +A few days were spent at Bridgefield, Cicely making herself the most +loving, helpful, and charming of daughters, and really basking in the +peaceful atmosphere of Susan's presence; and then,--with many prayers +and blessings from that good lady,--they set forth for Hull, taking +with them two servants besides poor Babington's man Gillingham, whose +superior intelligence and knowledge of London would make him useful, +though there was a dark brooding look about him that made Richard +always dread some act of revenge on his part toward his master's foes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +MASTER TALBOT AND HIS CHARGE. + + +The afternoon on which they were to enter the old town of +Kingston-upon-Hull closed in with a dense sea-fog, fast turning to +drizzling rain. They could see but a little distance on either side, +and could not see the lordly old church tower. The beads of dew on the +fringes of her pony's ears were more visible to Cicely than anything +else, and as she kept along by Master Richard's side, she rejoiced both +in the beaten, well-trodden track, and in the pealing bells which +seemed to guide them into the haven; while Richard was resolving, as he +had done all through the journey, where he could best lodge his +companion so as to be safe, and at the same time free from inconvenient +curiosity. + +The wetness of the evening made promptness of decision the more +needful, while the bad weather which his experienced eye foresaw would +make the choice more important. + +Discerning through the increasing gloom a lantern moving in the street +which seemed to him to light a substantial cloaked figure, he drew up +and asked if he were in the way to a well-known hostel. Fortune had +favoured him, for a voice demanded in return, "Do I hear the voice of +good Captain Talbot? At your service." + +"Yea, it is I--Richard Talbot. Is it you, good Master Heatherthwayte?" + +"It is verily, sir. Well do I remember you, good trusty Captain, and +the goodly lady your wife. Do I see her here?" returned the clergyman, +who had heartily grasped Richard's hand. + +"No, sir, this is my daughter, for whose sake I would ask you to direct +me to some lodging for the night." + +"Nay, if the young lady will put up with my humble chambers, and my +little daughter for her bedfellow, I would not have so old an +acquaintance go farther." + +Richard accepted the offer gladly, and Mr. Heatherthwayte walked close +to the horses, using his lantern to direct them, and sending flashes of +light over the gabled ends of the old houses and the muffled +passengers, till they came to a long flagged passage, when he asked +them to dismount, bidding the servants and horses to await his return, +and giving his hand to conduct the young lady along the narrow slippery +alley, which seemed to have either broken walls or houses on either +aide. + +He explained to Richard, by the way, that he had married the godly +widow of a ship chandler, but that it had pleased Heaven to take her +from him at the end of five years, leaving him two young children, but +that her ancient nurse had the care of the house and the little ones. + +Curates were not sumptuously lodged in those days. The cells which had +been sufficient for monks commissioned by monasteries were no homes for +men with families; and where means were to be had, a few rooms had been +added without much grace, or old cottages adapted--for indeed the +requirements of the clergy of the day did not soar above those of the +farmer or petty dealer. Master Heatherthwayte pulled a string +depending from a hole in a door, the place of which he seemed to know +by instinct, and admitted the newcomers into a narrow paved entry, +where he called aloud, "Here, Oil! Dust! Goody! Bring a light! Here +are guests!" + +A door was opened instantly into a large kitchen or keeping room, +bright with a fire and small lamp. A girl of nine or ten sprang +forward, but hung back at the sight of strangers; a boy of twelve rose +awkwardly from conning his lessons by the low, unglazed lamp; an old +woman showed herself from some kind of pantry. + +"Here," said the clergyman, "is my most esteemed friend Captain Talbot +of Bridgefield and his daughter, who will do us the honour of abiding +with us this night. Do thou, Goody Madge, and thou, Oil-of-Gladness, +make the young lady welcome, and dry her garments, while we go and see +to the beasts. Thou, Dust-and-Ashes, mayest come with us and lead the +gentleman's horse." + +The lad, saddled with this dismal name, and arrayed in garments which +matched it in colour though not in uncleanliness, sprang up with +alacrity, infinitely preferring fog, rain, and darkness to his +accidence, and never guessing that he owed this relaxation to his +father's recollection of Mrs. Talbot's ways, and perception that the +young lady would be better attended to without his presence. + +Oil-of-Gladness was a nice little rosy girl in the tightest and +primmest of caps and collars, and with the little housewifely +hospitality that young mistresses of houses early attain to. There was +no notion of equal terms between the Curate's daughter and the +Squire's: the child brought a chair, and stood respectfully to receive +the hood, cloak, and riding skirt, seeming delighted at the smile and +thanks with which Cicely requited her attentions. The old woman felt +the inner skirts, to make sure that they were not damp, and then the +little girl brought warm water, and held the bowl while her guest +washed face and hands, and smoothed her hair with the ivory comb which +ladies always carried on a journey. The sweet power of setting people +at ease was one Cis had inherited and cultivated by imitation, and +Oil-of-Gladness was soon chattering away over her toilette. Would the +lady really sleep with her in her little bed? She would promise not to +kick if she could help it. Then she exclaimed, "Oh! what fair thing +was that at the lady's throat? Was it a jewel of gold? She had never +seen one; for father said it was not for Christian women to adorn +themselves. Oh no; she did not mean--" and, confused, she ran off to +help Goody to lay the spotless tablecloth, Cis following to set the +child at peace with herself, and unloose the tongue again into hopes +that the lady liked conger pie; for father had bought a mighty conger +for twopence, and Goody had made a goodly pie of him. + +By the time the homely meal was ready Mr. Talbot had returned from +disposing of his horses and servants at a hostel, for whose comparative +respectability Mr. Heatherthwayte had answered. The clergyman himself +alone sat down to supper with his guests. He would not hear of letting +either of his children do so; but while Dust-and-Ashes retired to study +his tasks for the Grammar School by firelight, Oil-of-Gladness assisted +Goody in waiting, in a deft and ready manner pleasant to behold. + +No sooner did Mr. Talbot mention the name Cicely than Master +Heatherthwayte looked up and said--"Methinks it was I who spake that +name over this young lady in baptism." + +"Even so," said Richard. "She knoweth all, but she hath ever been our +good and dutiful daughter, for which we are the more thankful that +Heaven hath given us none other maid child." + +He knew Master Heatherthwayte was inclined to curiosity about other +people's affairs, and therefore turned the discourse on the doings of +his sons, hoping to keep him thus employed and avert all further +conversation upon Cicely and the cause of the journey. The good man +was most interested in Edward, only he exhorted Mr. Talbot to be +careful with whom he bestowed the stripling at Cambridge, so that he +might shed the pure light of the Gospel, undimmed by Popish obscurities +and idolatries. + +He began on his objections to the cross in baptism and the ring in +marriage, and dilated on them to his own satisfaction over the tankard +of ale that was placed for him and his guest, and the apples and nuts +wherewith Cicely was surreptitiously feeding Oil-of-Gladness and +Dust-and-Ashes; while the old woman bustled about, and at length made +her voice heard in the announcement that the chamber was ready, and the +young lady was weary with travel, and it was time she was abed, and Oil +likewise. + +Though not very young children, Oil and Dust, at a sign from their +father, knelt by his chair, and uttered their evening prayers aloud, +after which he blessed and dismissed them--the boy to a shake-down in +his own room, the girl to the ecstasy of assisting the guest to +undress, and admiring the wonders of the very simple toilette apparatus +contained in her little cloak bag. + +Richard meantime was responding as best he could to the inquiries he +knew would be inevitable as soon as he fell in with the Reverend Master +Heatherthwayte. He was going to London in the Mastiff on some business +connected with the Queen of Scots, he said. + +Whereupon Mr. Heatherthwayte quoted something from the Psalms about the +wicked being taken in their own pits, and devoutly hoped she would not +escape this time. His uncharitableness might be excused by the fact +that he viewed it as an immediate possibility that the Prince of Parma +might any day enter the Humber, when he would assuredly be burnt alive, +and Oil-of-Gladness exposed to the fate of the children of Haarlem. + +Then he added, "I grieved to hear that you and your household were so +much exposed to the witchcrafts of that same woman, sir." + +"I hope she hath done them little hurt," said Richard. + +"Is it true," he added, "that the woman hath laid claim to the young +lady now here as a kinswoman?" + +"It is true," said Richard, "but how hath it come to your knowledge, my +good friend? I deemed it known to none out of our house; not even the +Earl and Countess guess that she is no child of ours." + +"Nay, Mr. Talbot, is it well to go on in a deceit?" + +"Call it rather a concealment," said Richard. "We have doubted it +since, but when we began, it was merely that there was none to whom it +seemed needful to explain that the babe was not the little daughter we +buried here. But how did you learn it? It imports to know." + +"Sir, do you remember your old servant Colet, Gervas's wife? It will +be three years next Whitsuntide that hearing a great outcry as of a +woman maltreated as I passed in the street, I made my way into the +house and found Gervas verily beating his wife with a broomstick. After +I had rebuked him and caused him to desist, I asked him the cause, and +he declared it to be that his wife had been gadding to a stinking +Papist fellow, who would be sure to do a mischief to his noble captain, +Mr. Talbot. Thereupon Colet declares that she had done no harm, the +gentleman wist all before. She knew him again for the captain's +kinsman who was in the house the day that the captain brought home the +babe." + +"Cuthbert Langston!" + +"Even so, sir. It seems that he had been with this woman, and +questioned her closely on all she remembered of the child, learning +from her what I never knew before, that there were marks branded on her +shoulders and a letter sewn in her clothes. Was it so, sir?" + +"Ay, but my wife and I thought that even Colet had never seen them." + +"Nothing can escape a woman, sir. This man drew all from her by +assuring her that the maiden belonged to some great folk, and was even +akin to the King and Queen of Scots, and that she might have some great +reward if she told her story to them. She even sold him some three or +four gold and ivory beads which she says she found when sweeping out +the room where the child was first undressed." + +"Hath she ever heard more of the fellow?" + +"Nay, but Gervas since told me that he had met some of my Lord's men +who told him that your daughter was one of the Queen of Scots' ladies, +and said he, 'I held my peace; but methought, It hath come of the +talebearing of that fellow to whom my wife prated.'" + +"Gervas guessed right," said Richard. "That Langston did contrive to +make known to the Queen of Scots such tokens as led to her owning the +maiden as of near kin to her by the mother's side, and to her husband +on the father's; but for many reasons she entreated us to allow the +damsel still to bear our name, and be treated as our child." + +"I doubt me whether it were well done of you, sir," said Mr. +Heatherthwayte. + +"Of that," said Richard, drawing up into himself, "no man can judge for +another." + +"She hath been with that woman; she will have imbibed her Popish +vanities!" exclaimed the poor clergyman, almost ready to start up and +separate Oil-of-Gladness at once from the contamination. + +"You may be easy on that score," said Richard drily. "Her faith is +what my good wife taught her, and she hath constantly attended the +preachings of the chaplains of Sir Amias Paulett, who be all of your +own way of thinking." + +"You assure me?" said Mr. Heatherthwayte, "for it is the nature of +these folk to act a part, even as did the parent the serpent." + +Often as Richard had thought so himself, he was offended now, and rose, +"If you think I have brought a serpent into your house, sir, we will +take shelter elsewhere. I will call her." + +Mr. Heatherthwayte apologised and protested, and showed himself willing +to accept the assurance that Cicely was as simple and guileless as his +own little maid; and Mr. Talbot, not wishing to be sent adrift with +Cicely at that time of night, and certainly not to put such an affront +on the good, if over-anxious father, was pacified, but the cordial tone +of ease was at an end, and they were glad to separate and retire to +rest. + +Richard had much cause for thought. He perceived, what had always been +a perplexity to him before, how Langston had arrived at the knowledge +that enabled him to identify Cicely with the babe of Lochleven. + +Mr. Talbot heard moanings and wailings of wind all night, which to his +experience here meant either a three days' detention at Hull, or a land +journey. With dawn there were gusts and showers. He rose betimes and +went downstairs. He could hear his good host praying aloud in his +room, and feeling determined not to vex that Puritan spirit by the +presence of Queen Mary's pupil, he wrapped his cloak about him and went +out to study the weather, and inquire for lodgings to which he might +remove Cicely. He saw nothing he liked, and determined on consulting +his old mate, Goatley, who generally acted as skipper, but he had first +to return so as not to delay the morning meal. He found, on coming in, +Cicely helping Oil-of-Gladness in making griddle cakes, and buttering +them, so as to make Mr. Heatherthwayte declare that he had not tasted +the like since Mistress Susan quitted Hull. + +Moreover, he had not sat down to the meal more than ten minutes before +he discovered, to his secret amusement, that Cicely had perfectly +fascinated and charmed the good minister, who would have shuddered had +he known that she did so by the graces inherited and acquired from the +object of his abhorrence. Invitations to abide in their present +quarters till it was possible to sail were pressed on them; and though +Richard showed himself unwilling to accept them, they were so cordially +reiterated, that he felt it wiser to accede to them rather than spread +the mystery farther. He was never quite sure whether Mr. +Heatherthwayte looked on the young lady as untainted, or whether he +wished to secure her in his own instructions; but he always described +her as a modest and virtuous young lady, and so far from thinking her +presence dangerous, only wished Oil to learn as much from her as +possible. + +Cicely was sorely disappointed, and wanted to ride on at once by land; +but when her foster-father had shown her that the bad weather would be +an almost equal obstacle, and that much time would be lost on the road, +she submitted with the good temper she had cultivated under such a +notable example. She taught Oil-of-Gladness the cookery of one of her +mothers and the stitchery of the other; she helped Dust-and-Ashes with +his accidence, and enlightened him on the sports of the Bridgefield +boys, so that his father looked round dismayed at the smothered +laughter, when she assured him that she was only telling how her +brother Diccon caught a coney, or the like, and in some magical way +smoothed down his frowns with her smile. + +Mistress Cicely Talbot's visit was likely to be an unforgotten era with +Dust-and-Ashes and Oil-of-Gladness. The good curate entreated that she +and her father would lodge there on their return, and the invitation +was accepted conditionally, Mr. Talbot writing to his wife, by the +carriers, to send such a load of good cheer from Bridgefield as would +amply compensate for the expenses of this hospitality. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +THE FETTERLOCK COURT. + + +People did not pity themselves so much for suspense when, instead of +receiving an answer in less than an hour, they had to wait for it for +weeks if not months. Mrs. Talbot might be anxious at Bridgefield, and +her son at Fotheringhay, and poor Queen Mary, whose life hung in the +balance, more heartsick with what old writers well named 'wanhope' than +any of them; but they had to live on, and rise morning after morning +without expecting any intelligence, unable to do anything but pray for +those who might be in perils unknown. + +After the strain and effort of her trial, Mary had become very ill, and +kept her bed for many days. Humfrey continued to fulfil his daily +duties as commander of the guards set upon her, but he seldom saw or +spoke with any of her attendants, as Sir Andrew Melville, whom he knew +the best of them, had on some suspicion been separated from his +mistress and confined in another part of the Castle. + +Sir Amias Paulett, too, was sick with gout and anxiety, and was much +relieved when Sir Drew Drury was sent to his assistance. The new +warder was a more courteous and easy-mannered person, and did not fret +himself or the prisoner with precautions like his colleague; and on Sir +Amias's reiterated complaint that the guards were not numerous enough, +he had brought down five fresh men, hired in London, fellows used to +all sorts of weapons, and at home in military discipline; but, as +Humfrey soon perceived, at home likewise in the license of camps, and +most incongruous companions for the simple village bumpkins, and the +precise retainers who had hitherto formed the garrison. He did his +best to keep order, but marvelled how Sir Amias would view their +excesses when he should come forth again from his sick chamber. + +The Queen was better, though still lame; and on a fine November +noontide she obtained, by earnest entreaty, permission to gratify her +longing for free air by taking a turn in what was called the Fetterlock +Court, from the Yorkist badge of the falcon and fetterlock carved +profusely on the decorations. This was the inmost strength of the +castle, on the highest ground, an octagon court, with the keep closing +one side of it, and the others surrounded with huge massive walls, +shutting in a greensward with a well. There was a broad commodious +terrace in the thickness of the walls, intended as a station whence the +defenders could shoot between the battlements, but in time of peace +forming a pleasant promenade sheltered from the wind, and catching on +its northern side the meridian rays of this Martinmas summer day, so +that physician as well as jailer consented to permit the captive there +to take the air. + +"Some watch there must be," said Paulett anxiously, when his colleague +reported the consent he had given. + +"It will suffice, then," said Sir Drew Drury, "if the officer of the +guard--Talbot call you him?--stands at the angle of the court, so as to +keep her in his view. He is a well-nurtured youth, and will not vex +her." + +"Let him have the guard within call," said Paulett, and to this Drury +assented, perhaps with a little amusement at the restless precautions +of the invalid. + +Accordingly, Humfrey took up his station, as unobtrusively as he could, +at the corner of the terrace, and presently, through a doorway at the +other end saw the Queen, hooded and cloaked, come forth, leaning +heavily on the arm of Dr. Bourgoin, and attended by the two Maries and +the two elder ladies. She moved slowly, and paused every few steps, +gazing round her, inhaling the fresh air and enjoying the sunshine, or +speaking a caressing word to little Bijou, who leaped about, and +barked, and whined with delight at having her out of doors again. +There was a seat in the wall, and her ladies spread cushions and cloaks +for her to sit on it, warmed as it was by the sun; and there she +rested, watching a starling running about on the turf, his +gold-bespangled green plumage glistening. She hardly spoke; she seemed +to be making the most of the repose of the fair calm day. Humfrey would +not intrude by making her sensible of his presence, but he watched her +from his station, wondering within himself if she cared for the peril +to which she had exposed the daughter so dear to him. + +Such were his thoughts when an angry bark from Bijou warned him to be +on the alert. A man--ay, one of the new men-at-arms--was springing up +the ramp leading to the summit of the wall almost immediately in front +of the little group. There was a gleam of steel in his hand. With one +long ringing whistle, Humfrey bounded from his place, and at the moment +when the ruffian was on the point of assailing the Queen, he caught him +with one hand by the collar, with the other tried to master the arm +that held the weapon. It was a sharp struggle, for the fellow was a +trained soldier in the full strength of manhood, and Humfrey was a +youth of twenty-three, and unarmed. They went down together, rolling +on the ground before Mary's chair; but in another moment Humfrey was +the uppermost. He had his knee on the fellow's chest, and held aloft, +though in a bleeding hand, the dagger wrenched from him. The victory +had been won in a few seconds, before the two men, whom his whistle had +brought, had time to rush forward. They were ready now to throw +themselves on the assailant. "Hold!" cried Humfrey, speaking for the +first time. "Hurt him not! Hold him fast till I have him to Sir +Amias!" + +Each had an arm of the fallen man, and Humfrey rose to meet the eyes of +the Queen sparkling, as she cried, "Bravely, bravely done, sir! We +thank you. Though it be but the poor remnant of a worthless life that +you have saved, we thank you. The sight of your manhood has gladdened +us." + +Humfrey bowed low, and at the same time there was a cry among the +ladies that he was bleeding. It was only his hand, as he showed them. +The dagger had been drawn across the palm before he could capture it. +The kerchiefs were instantly brought forward to bind it up, Dr. +Bourgoin saying that it ought to have Master Gorion's attention. + +"I may not wait for that, sir," said Humfrey. "I must carry this +villain at once to Sir Amias and report on the affair." + +"Nay, but you will come again to be tended," said the Queen, while Dr. +Bourgoin fastened the knot of the temporary bandage. "Ah! and is it +Humfrey Talbot to whom I owe my life? There is one who will thank thee +for it more than even I. But come back. Gorion must treat that hand, +and then you will tell me what you have heard of her." + +"Naught, alas, madam," said Humfrey with an expressive shake of the +head, but ere he turned away Mary extended her hand to him, and as he +bent his knee to kiss it she laid the other kindly on his dark curled +head and said, "God bless thee, brave youth." + +She was escorted to the door nearest to her apartments, and as she sank +back on her day bed she could not help murmuring to Mary Seaton, "A +brave laddie. Would that he had one drop of princely blood." + +"The Talbot blood is not amiss," said the lady. + +"True; and were it but mine own Scottish royalty that were in question +I should see naught amiss, but with this English right that hath been +the bane of us all, what can their love bring the poor children save +woe?" + +Meantime Humfrey was conducting his prisoner to Sir Amias Paulett. The +man was a bronzed, tough-looking ruffian, with an air of having seen +service, and a certain foreign touch in his accent. He glanced +somewhat contemptuously at his captor, and said; "Neatly done, sir; I +marvel if you'll get any thanks." + +"What mean you?" said Humfrey sharply, but the fellow only shrugged his +shoulders. The whole affair had been so noiseless, that Humfrey +brought the first intelligence when he was admitted to the sick +chamber, where Sir Amias sat in a large chair by the fire. He had left +his prisoner guarded by two men at the door. "How now! What is it?" +cried Paulett at first sight of his bandaged hand. "Is she safe?" + +"Even so, sir, and untouched," said Humfrey. + +"Thanks be to God!" he exclaimed. "This is what I feared. Who was it?" + +"One of the new men-at-arms from London--Peter Pierson he called +himself, and said he had served in the Netherlands." + +And after a few further words of explanation, Humfrey called in the +prisoner and his guards, and before his face gave an account of his +attempt upon the helpless Queen. + +"Godless and murderous villain!" said Paulett, "what hast thou to say +for thyself that I should not hang thee from the highest tower?" + +"Naught that will hinder you, worshipful seignior," returned the man +with a sneer. "In sooth I see no great odds between taking life with a +dagger and with an axe, save that fewer folk are regaled with the +spectacle." + +"Wretch," said Paulett, "wouldst thou confound private murder with the +open judgment of God and man?" + +"Judgment hath been pronounced," said the fellow, "but it needs not to +dispute the matter. Only if this honest youth had not come blundering +in and cut his fingers in the fray, your captive would have been +quietly rid of all her troubles, and I should have had my reward from +certain great folk you wot of. Ay," as Sir Amias turned still +yellower, "you take my meaning, sir." + +"Take him away," said Paulett, collecting himself; "he would cloak his +crime by accusing others of his desperate wickedness." + +"Where, sir?" inquired Humfrey. + +Sir Amias would have preferred hanging the fellow without inquiry, but +as Fotheringhay was not under martial law, he ordered him off to the +dungeons for the present, while the nearest justice of the peace was +sent for. The knight bade Humfrey remain while the prisoner was walked +off under due guard, and made a few more inquiries, adding, with a +sigh, "You must double the guard, Master Talbot, and get rid of all +those London rogues--sons of Belial are they all, and I'll have none +for whom I cannot answer--for I fear me 'tis all too true what the +fellow says." + +"Who would set him on?" + +"That I may not say. But would you believe it, Humfrey Talbot, I have +been blamed--ay, rated like a hound, for that I will not lend myself to +a privy murder." + +"Verily, sir?" + +"Verily, and indeed, young man. 'Tis the part of a loyal subject, they +say, to spare her Majesty's womanish feelings and her hatred of +bloodshed, and this lady having been condemned, to take her off +secretly so as to save the Queen the pain and heart-searchings of +signing the warrant. You credit me not, sir, but I have the letter--to +my sorrow and shame." + +No wonder that the poor, precise, hard-hearted, but religious and +high-principled man was laid up with a fit of the gout, after receiving +the shameful letter which he described, which is still extant, signed +by Walsingham and Davison. + +"Strange loyalty," said Humfrey. + +"And too much after the Spanish sort for an English Protestant," said +Sir Amias. "I made answer that I would lay down my life to guard this +unhappy woman to undergo the justice that is to be done upon her, but +murder her, or allow her to be slain in my hands, I neither can nor +will, so help me Heaven, as a true though sinful man." + +"Amen," said Humfrey. + +"And no small cause of thanks have I that in you, young sir, I have one +who may be trusted for faith as well as courage, and I need not say +discretion." + +As he spoke, Sir Drew Drury, who had been out riding, returned, anxious +to hear the details of this strange event. Sir Amias could not leave +his room. Sir Drew accompanied Humfrey to the Queen's apartments to +hear her account and that of her attendants. It was given with praises +of the young gentleman which put him to the blush, and Sir Drew then +gave permission for his hurt to be treated by Maitre Gorion, and left +him in the antechamber for the purpose. + +Sir Amias would perhaps have done more wisely if he had not detained +Humfrey from seeing the criminal guarded to his prison. For Sir Drew +Drury, going from the Queen's presence to interrogate the fellow before +sending for a magistrate, found the cell empty. It had been the turn +of duty of one of the new London men-at-arms, and he had been placed as +sentry at the door by the sergeant--the stupidest and trustiest of +fellows--who stood gaping in utter amazement when he found that sentry +and prisoner were both alike missing. + +On the whole, the two warders agreed that it would be wiser to hush up +the matter. When Mary heard that the man had escaped, she quietly +said, "I understand. They know how to do such things better abroad." + +Things returned to their usual state except that Humfrey had permission +to go daily to have his hand attended to by M. Gorion, and the Queen +never let pass this opportunity of speaking to him, though the very +first time she ascertained that he knew as little as she did of the +proceedings of his father and Cicely. + +Now, for the first time, did Humfrey understand the charm that had +captivated Babington, and that even his father confessed. Ailing, +aging, and suffering as she was, and in daily expectation of her +sentence of death, there was still something more wonderfully winning +about her, a sweet pathetic cheerfulness, kindness, and resignation, +that filled his heart with devotion to her. And then she spoke of +Cicely, the rarest and greatest delight that he could enjoy. She +evidently regarded him with favour, if not affection, because he loved +the maiden whom she could not but deny to him. Would he not do +anything for her? Ay, anything consistent with duty. And there came a +twinge which startled him. Was she making him value duty less? Never. +Besides, how few days he could see her. His hand was healing all too +fast, and what might not come any day from London? Was Queen Mary's +last conquest to be that of Humfrey Talbot? + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +THE SENTENCE. + + +The tragedies of the stage compress themselves into a few hours, but +the tragedies of real life are of slow and heavy march, and the +heart-sickness of delay and hope and dread alike deferred is one of +their chief trials. + +Humfrey's hurt was quite well, but as he was at once trusted by his +superiors, and acceptable to the captive, he was employed in many of +those lesser communications between her and her keepers, for which the +two knights did not feel it necessary to harass her with their +presence. His post, for half the twenty-four hours, was on guard in +the gallery outside her anteroom door; but he often knocked and was +admitted as bearer of some message to her or her household; and equally +often was called in to hear her requests, and sometimes he could not +help believing because it pleased her to see him, even if there were +nothing to tell her. + +Nor was there anything known until the 19th of November, when the sound +of horses' feet in large numbers, and the blast of bugles, announced +the arrival of a numerous party. When marshalled into the ordinary +dining-hall, they proved to be Lord Buckhurst, a dignified-looking +nobleman, who bore a sad and grave countenance full of presage, with +Mr. Beale, the Clerk of the Council, and two or three other officials +and secretaries, among whom Humfrey perceived the inevitable Will +Cavendish. + +The two old comrades quickly sought each other out, Will observing, "So +here you are still, Humfrey. We are like to see the end of a long +story." + +"How so?" asked Humfrey, with a thrill of horror, "is she sentenced?" + +"By the Commissioners, all excepting my Lord Zouch, and by both houses +of Parliament! We are come down to announce it to her. I'll have you +into the presence-chamber if I can prevail. It will be a noteworthy +thing to see how the daughter of a hundred kings brooks such a +sentence." + +"Hath no one spoken for her?" asked Humfrey, thinking at least as much +of Cicely as of the victim. + +"The King of Scots hath sent an ambassage," returned Cavendish, "but +when I say 'tis the Master of Gray, you know what that means. King +James may be urgent to save his mother--nay, he hath written more +sharply and shrewishly than ever he did before; but as for this Gray, +whatever he may say openly, we know that he has whispered to the Queen, +'The dead don't bite.'" + +"The villain!" + +"That may be, so far as he himself is concerned, but the counsel is +canny, like the false Scot himself. What's this I hear, Humfrey, that +you have been playing the champion, and getting wounded in the defence?" + +"A mere nothing," said Humfrey, opening his hand, however, to show the +mark. "I did but get my palm scored in hindering a villainous +man-at-arms from slaying the poor lady." + +"Yea, well are thy race named Talbot!" said Cavendish. "Sturdy +watch-dogs are ye all, with never a notion that sometimes it may be for +the good of all parties to look the other way." + +"If you mean that I am to stand by and see a helpless woman--" + +"Hush! my good friend," said Will, holding up his hand. "I know thy +breed far too well to mean any such thing. Moreover, thy precisian +governor, old Paulett there, hath repelled, like instigations of Satan, +more hints than one that pain might be saved to one queen and publicity +to the other, if he would have taken a leaf from Don Philip's book, and +permitted the lady to be dealt with secretly. Had he given an ear to +the matter six months back, it would have spared poor Antony." + +"Speak not thus, Will," said Humfrey, "or thou wilt make me believe +thee a worse man than thou art, only for the sake of showing me how +thou art versed in state policy. Tell me, instead, if thou hast seen +my father." + +"Thy father? yea, verily, and I have a packet for thee from him. It is +in my mails, and I will give it thee anon. He is come on a bootless +errand! As long as my mother and my sister Mall are both living, he +might as well try to bring two catamounts together without hisses and +scratches." + +"Where is he lying?" asked Humfrey. + +"In Shrewsbury House, after the family wont, and Gilbert makes him +welcome enough, but Mall is angered with him for not lodging his +daughter there likewise! I tell her he is afraid lest she should get +hold of the wench, and work up a fresh web of tales against this lady, +like those which did so much damage before. 'Twould be rare if she +made out that Gravity himself, in the person of old Paulett, had been +entranced by her." + +"Peace with thy gibes," said Humfrey impatiently, "and tell me where my +sister is." + +"Where thinkest thou? Of all strange places in the world, he hath +bestowed her with Madame de Salmonnet, the wife of one of the French +Ambassador's following, to perfect her French, as he saith. Canst thou +conceive wherefore he doth it? Hath he any marriage in view for her? +Mall tried to find out, but he is secret. Tell me, Numps, what is it?" + +"If he be secret, must not I be the same?" said Humfrey, laughing. + +"Nay, thou owest me some return for all that I have told thee." + +"Marry, Will, that is more like a maiden than a statesman! But be +content, comrade, I know no more than thou what purposes there may be +anent my sister's marriage," he added. "Only if thou canst give me my +father's letter, I should be beholden to thee." + +They were interrupted, however, by a summons to Humfrey, who was to go +to the apartments of the Queen of Scots, to bear the information that +in the space of half an hour the Lord Buckhurst and Master Beale would +do themselves the honour of speaking with her. + +"So," muttered Cavendish to himself as Humfrey went up the stairs, +"there _is_ then some secret. I marvel what it bodes! Did not that +crafty villain Langston utter some sort of warning which I spurned, +knowing the Bridgefield trustiness and good faith? This wench hath +been mightily favoured by the lady. I must see to it." + +Meantime Humfrey had been admitted to Queen Mary's room, where she sat +as usual at her needlework. "You bring me tidings, my friend," she +said, as he bent his knee before her. "Methought I heard a fresh stir +in the Castle; who is arrived?" + +"The Lord Buckhurst, so please your Grace, and Master Beale. They +crave an audience of your Grace in half an hour's time." + +"Yea, and I can well guess wherefore," said the Queen. "Well, Fiat +voluntas tua! Buckhurst? he is kinsman of Elizabeth on the Boleyn +side, methinks! She would do me grace, you see, my masters, by sending +me such tidings by her cousin. They cannot hurt me! I am far past +that! So let us have no tears, my lassies, but receive them right +royally, as befits a message from one sovereign to another! Remember, +it is not before my Lord Buckhurst and Master Beale that we sit, but +before all posterities for evermore, who will hear of Mary Stewart and +her wrongs. Tell them I am ready, sir. Nay but, my son," she added, +with a very different tone of the tender woman instead of the outraged +sovereign, "I see thou hast news for me. Is it of the child?" + +"Even so, madam. I wot little yet, but what I know is hopeful. She is +with Madame de Salmonnet, wife of one of the suite of the French +Ambassador." + +"Ah! that speaketh much," said Mary, smiling, "more than you know, +young man. Salmonnet is sprung of a Scottish archer, Jockie of the +salmon net, whereof they made in France M. de Salmonnet. Chateauneuf +must have owned her, and put her under the protection of the Embassy. +Hast thou had a letter from thy father?" + +"I am told that one is among Will Cavendish's mails, madam, and I hope +to have it anon." + +"These men have all unawares brought with them that which may well bear +me up through whatever may be coming." + +A second message arrived from Lord Buckhurst himself, to say how +grieved he was to be the bearer of heavy tidings, and to say that he +would not presume to intrude on her Majesty's presence until she would +notify to him that she was ready to receive him. + +"They have become courteous," said Mary. "But why should we dally? The +sooner this is over, the better." + +The gentlemen were then admitted: Lord Buckhurst grave, sad, stately, +and courteous; Sir Annas Paulett, as usual, grim and wooden in his +puritanical stiffness; Sir Drew Drury keeping in the background as one +grieved; and Mr. Beale, who had already often harassed the Queen +before, eager, forward, and peremptory, as one whose exultation could +hardly be repressed by respect for his superior, Lord Buckhurst. + +Bending low before her, this nobleman craved her pardon for that which +it was his duty to execute; and having kissed her hand, in token of her +personal forgiveness, he bade Mr. Beale read the papers. + +The Clerk of the Council stood forth almost without obeisance, till it +was absolutely compelled from him by Buckhurst. He read aloud the +details of the judgment, that Mary had been found guilty by the +Commission, of conspiracy against the kingdom, and the life of the +Queen, with the sentence from the High Court of Parliament that she was +to die by being beheaded. + +Mary listened with unmoved countenance, only she stood up and made +solemn protest against the authority and power of the Commission either +to try or condemn her. Beale was about to reply, but Lord Buckhurst +checked him, telling him it was simply his business to record the +protest; and then adding that he was charged to warn her to put away +all hopes of mercy, and to prepare for death. This, he said, was on +behalf of his Queen, who implored her to disburthen her conscience by a +full confession. "It is not her work," added Buckhurst; "the sentence +is not hers, but this thing is required by her people, inasmuch as her +life can never be safe while your Grace lives, nor can her religion +remain in any security." + +Mary's demeanour had hitherto been resolute. Here a brightness and +look of thankful joy came over her, as she raised her eyes to Heaven +and joined her hands, saying, "I thank you, my lord; you have made it +all gladness to me, by declaring me to be an instrument in the cause of +my religion, for which, unworthy as I am, I shall rejoice to shed my +blood." + +"Saint and martyr, indeed!" broke out Paulett. "That is fine! when you +are dying for plotting treason and murder!" + +"Nay, sir," gently returned Mary, "I am not so presumptuous as to call +myself saint or martyr; but though you have power over my body, you +have none over my soul, nor can you prevent me from hoping that by the +mercy of Him who died for me, my blood and life may be accepted by Him, +as offerings freely made for His Church." + +She then begged for the restoration of her Almoner De Preaux. She was +told that the request would be referred to the Queen, but that she +should have the attendance of an English Bishop and Dean. Paulett was +so angered at the manner in which she had met the doom, that he began +to threaten her that she would be denied all that could serve to her +idolatries. + +"Yea, verily," said she calmly, "I am aware that the English have never +been noted for mercy." + +Lord Buckhurst succeeded in getting the knight away without any more +bitter replies. Humfrey and Cavendish had, of course, to leave the +room in their train, and as it was the hour of guard for the former, he +had to take up his station and wait with what patience he could until +it should please Master William to carry him the packet. He opened it +eagerly, standing close beneath the little lamp that illuminated his +post, to read it: but after all, it was somewhat disappointing, for Mr. +Talbot did not feel that absolute confidence in the consciences of +gentlemen-in-place which would make him certain of that of Master +Cavendish, supposing any notion should arise that Cicely's presence in +London could have any purpose connected with the prisoner. + + +"To my dear son Humfrey, greeting-- + +"I do you to wit that we are here safely arrived in London, though we +were forced by stress of weather to tarry seven days in Hull, at the +house of good Master Heatherthwayte, where we received good and +hospitable entertainment. The voyage was a fair one, and the old +Mastiff is as brave a little vessel as ever she was wont to be; but thy +poor sister lay abed all the time, and was right glad when we came into +smooth water. We have presented the letters to those whom we came to +seek, and so far matters have gone with us more towardly than I had +expected. There are those who knew Cicely's mother at her years who +say there is a strange likeness between them, and who therefore +received her the more favourably. I am lying at present at Shrewsbury +House, where my young Lord makes me welcome, but it hath been judged +meet that thy sister should lodge with the good Madame de Salmonnet, a +lady of Scottish birth, who is wife to one of the secretaries of M. de +Chateauneuf, the French Ambassador, but who was bred in the convent of +Soissons. She is a virtuous and honourable lady, and hath taken charge +of thy sister while we remain in London. For the purpose for which we +came, it goeth forward, and those who should know assure me that we do +not lose time here. Diccon commendeth himself to thee; he is well in +health, and hath much improved in all his exercises. Mistress Curll is +lodging nigh unto the Strand, in hopes of being permitted to see her +husband; but that hath not yet been granted to her, although she is +assured that he is well in health, and like ere long to be set free, as +well as Monsieur Nau. + +"We came to London the day after the Parliament had pronounced sentence +upon the Lady at Fotheringhay. I promise you there was ringing of +bells and firing of cannon, and lighting of bonfires, so that we deemed +that there must have been some great defeat of the Spaniards in the Low +Countries; and when we were told it was for joy that the Parliament had +declared the Queen of Scots guilty of death, my poor Cicely had +well-nigh swooned to think that there could be such joy for the doom of +one poor sick lady. There hath been a petition to the Queen that the +sentence may be carried out, and she hath answered in a dubious and +uncertain manner, which leaves ground for hope; and the King of Scots +hath written pressingly and sent the Master of Gray to speak in his +mother's behalf; also M. de Chateauneuf hath both urged mercy on the +Queen, and so written to France that King Henry is sending an +Ambassador Extraordinary, M. de Bellievre, to intercede for her. + +"I send these presents by favour of Master Cavendish, who will tell +thee more than I have here space to set down, and can assure thee that +nothing hasty is like to be done in the business on which he hath come +down with these gentlemen. And so no more at present from thy loving +father, + + "Richard Talbot." + + +Humfrey had to gather what he could from this letter, but he had no +opportunity of speech with the prisoner on the remainder of that day, +nor on the next, until after Lord Buckhurst and his followers had left +Fotheringhay, bearing with them a long and most touching letter from +the prisoner to Queen Elizabeth. + +On that day, Paulett worked himself up to the strange idea that it was +for the good of the unfortunate prisoner's soul, and an act of duty to +his own sovereign, to march into the prison chamber and announce to +Queen Mary that being a dead woman in the eye of the law, no royal +state could be permitted her, in token of which he commanded her +servants to remove the canopy over her chair. They all flatly refused +to touch it, and the women began to cry "Out upon him," for being +cowardly enough to insult their mistress, and she calmly said, "Sir, +you may do as you please. My royal state comes from God, and is not +yours to give or take away. I shall die a Queen, whatever you may do +by such law as robbers in a forest might use with a righteous judge." + +Intensely angered, Sir Amias came, hobbling and stumbling out to the +door, pale with rage, and called on Talbot to come and bring his men to +tear down the rag of vanity in which this contumacious woman put her +trust. + +"The men are your servants, sir," said Humfrey, with a flush on his +cheek and his teeth set; "I am here to guard the Queen of Scots, not to +insult her." + +"How, sirrah? Do you know to whom you speak? Have you not sworn +obedience to me?" + +"In all things within my commission, sir; but this is as much beyond +it, as I believe it to be beyond yours." + +"Insolent, disloyal varlet! You are under ward till I can account with +and discharge you. To your chamber!" + +Humfrey could but walk away, grieved that his power of bearing +intelligence or alleviation to the prisoner had been forfeited, and +that he should probably not even take leave of her. Was she to be left +to all the insults that the malice of her persecutor could devise? Yet +it was not exactly malice. Paulett would have guarded her life from +assassination with his own, though chiefly for his own sake, and, as he +said, for that of "saving his poor posterity from so foul a blot;" but +he could not bear, as he told Sir Drew Drury, to see the Popish, +bloodthirsty woman sit queening it so calmly; and when he tore down her +cloth of state, and sat down in her presence with his hat on, he did +not so much intend to pain the woman, Mary, as to express the triumph +of Elizabeth and of her religion. Humfrey believed his service over, +and began to occupy himself with putting his clothes together, while +considering whether to seek his father in London or to go home. After +about an hour, he was summoned to the hall, where he expected to have +found Sir Amias Paulett ready to give him his discharge. He found, +however, only Sir Drew Drury, who thus accosted him--"Young man, you +had better return to your duty. Sir Amias is willing to overlook what +passed this morning." + +"I thank you, sir, but I am not aware of having done aught to need +forgiveness," said Humfrey. + +"Come, come, my fair youth, stand not on these points. 'Tis true my +good colleague hath an excess of zeal, and I could wish he could have +found it in his heart to leave the poor lady these marks of dignity +that hurt no one. I would have no hand in it, and I am glad thou +wouldst not. He knoweth that he had no power to require such service +of thee. He will say no more, and I trust that neither wilt thou; for +it would not be well to change warders at this time. Another might not +be so acceptable to the poor lady, and I would fain save her all that I +can." + +Humfrey bowed, and thanked "him of milder mood," nor was any further +notice taken of this hasty dismissal. + +When next he had to enter the Queen's apartments, the absence of all +the tokens of her royal rank was to him truly a shock, accustomed as he +had been, from his earliest childhood, to connect them with her, and +knowing what their removal signified. + +Mary, who was writing, looked up as, with cap in hand, he presented +himself on one knee, his head bowed lower than ever before, perhaps to +hide the tear that had sprung to his eye at sight of her pale, patient +countenance. + +"How now, sir?" she said. "This obeisance is out of place to one +already dead in law. Don your bonnet. There is no queen here for an +Englishman." + +"Ah! madam, suffer me. My reverence cannot but be greater than ever," +faltered Humfrey from his very heart, his words lost in the kiss he +printed on the hand she granted him. + +Mary bent "her gray discrowned head," crowned in his eyes as the Queen +of Sorrows, and said to Marie de Courcelles, who stood behind her, "Is +it not true, ma mie, that our griefs have this make-weight, namely, +that they prove to us whose are the souls whose generosity is above all +price! And what saith thy good father, my Humfrey?" + +He had not ventured on bringing the letter into the apartments, but he +repeated most of the substance of it, without, however, greatly raising +the hopes of the Queen, though she was gratified that her cause was not +neglected either by her son or by her brother-in-law. + +"They, and above all my poor maid, will be comforted to have done their +utmost," she said; "but I scarcely care that they should prevail. As I +have written to my cousin Elizabeth, I am beholden to her for ending my +long captivity, and above all for conferring on me the blessings and +glories of one who dies for her faith, all unworthy as I am!" and she +clasped her hands, while a rapt expression came upon her countenance. + +Her chief desire seemed to be that neither Cicely nor her foster-father +should run into danger on her account, and she much regretted that she +had not been able to impress upon Humfrey messages to that effect +before he wrote in answer to his father, sending his letter by +Cavendish. + +"Thou wilt not write again?" she asked. + +"I doubt its being safe," said Humfrey. "I durst not speak openly even +in the scroll I sent yesterday." + +Then Mary recurred to the power which he possessed of visiting Sir +Andrew Melville and the Almoner, the Abbe de Preaux, who were shut up +in the Fetterlock tower and court, and requested him to take a billet +which she had written to the latter. The request came like a blow to +the young man. "With permission--" he began. + +"I tell thee," said Mary, "this concerns naught but mine own soul. It +is nothing to the State, but all and everything to me, a dying woman." + +"Ah, madam! Let me but obtain consent." + +"What! go to Paulett that he may have occasion to blaspheme my faith +and insult me!" said the Queen, offended. + +"I should go to Sir Drew Drury, who is of another mould," said Humfrey-- + +"But who dares not lift a finger to cross his fellow," said Mary, +leaning back resignedly. + +"And this is the young gentleman's love for your Grace!" exclaimed Jean +Kennedy. + +"Nay, madam," said Humfrey, stung to the quick, "but I am sworn!" + +"Let him alone, Nurse Jeanie!" said Mary. "He is like the rest of the +English. They know not how to distinguish between the spirit and the +letter! I understand it all, though I had thought for a moment that in +him there was a love for me and mine that would perceive that I could +ask nothing that could damage his honour or his good faith. I--who had +almost a mother's love and trust in him." + +"Madam," cried Humfrey, "you know I would lay down my life for you, but +I cannot break my trust." + +"Your trust, fule laddie!" exclaimed Mrs. Kennedy. "Ane wad think the +Queen speired of ye to carry a letter to Mendoza to burn and slay, +instead of a bit scart of the pen to ask the good father for his +prayers, or the like! But you are all alike; ye will not stir a hand +to aid her poor soul." + +"Pardon me, madam," entreated Humfrey. "The matter is, not what the +letter may bear, but how my oath binds me! I may not be the bearer of +aught in writing from this chamber. 'Twas the very reason I would not +bring in my father's letter. Madam, say but you pardon me." + +"Of course I pardon you," returned Mary coldly. "I have so much to +pardon that I can well forgive the lukewarmness and precision that are +so bred in your nature that you cannot help them. I pardon injuries, +and I may well try to pardon disappointments. Fare you well, Mr. +Talbot; may your fidelity have its reward from Sir Amias Paulett." + +Humfrey was obliged to quit the apartment, cruelly wounded, sometimes +wondering whether he had really acted on a harsh selfish punctilio in +cutting off the dying woman from the consolations of religion, and thus +taking part with the persecutors, while his heart bled for her. +Sometimes it seemed to him as if he had been on the point of earning +her consent to his marriage with her daughter, and had thrown it away, +and at other moments a horror came over him lest he was being beguiled +as poor Antony had been before him. And if he let his faith slip, how +should he meet his father again? Yet his affection for the Queen +repelled this idea like a cruel injury, while, day by day, it was +renewed pain and grief to be treated by her with the gentlest and most +studied courtesy, but no longer as almost one of her own inner circle +of friends and confidants. + +And as Sir Andrew Melville was in a few days more restored to her +service, he was far less often required to bear messages, or do little +services in the prison apartments, and he felt himself excluded, and +cut off from the intimacy that had been very sweet, and even a little +hopeful to him. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +HER ROYAL HIGHNESS. + + +Cicely had been living in almost as much suspense in London as her +mother at Fotheringhay. For greater security Mr. Talbot had kept her +on board the Mastiff till he had seen M. d'Aubepine Chateauneuf, and +presented to him Queen Mary's letter. The Ambassador, an exceedingly +polished and graceful Frenchman, was greatly astonished, and at first +incredulous; but he could not but accept the Queen's letter as genuine, +and he called into his counsels his Secretary De Salmonnet, an elderly +man, whose wife, a Scotswoman by birth, preferred her husband's society +to the delights of Paris. She was a Hamilton who had been a +pensionnaire in the convent at Soissons, and she knew that it had been +expected that an infant from Lochleven might be sent to the Abbess, but +that it had never come, and that after many months of waiting, tidings +had arrived that the vessel which carried the babe had been lost at sea. + +M. de Chateauneuf thereupon committed the investigation to her and her +husband. Richard Talbot took them first to the rooms where Mrs. +Barbara Curll had taken up her abode, so as to be near her husband, who +was still a prisoner in Walsingham's house. She fully confirmed all +that Mr. Talbot said of the Queen's complete acceptance of Cis as her +daughter, and moreover consented to come with the Salmonnets and Mr. +Talbot, to visit the young lady on board the Mastiff. + +Accordingly they went down the river together in Mr. Talbot's boat, and +found Cicely, well cloaked and muffled, sitting under an awning, under +the care of old Goatley, who treated her like a little queen, and was +busy explaining to her all the different craft which filled the river. + +She sprang up with the utmost delight at the sight of Mrs. Curll, and +threw herself into her arms. There was an interchange of inquiries and +comments that--unpremeditated as they were--could not but convince the +auditor of the terms on which the young lady had stood with Queen Mary +and her suite. + +Afterwards Cicely took the two ladies to her cabin, a tiny box, but not +uncomfortable according to her habits, and there, on Barbara's +persuasion, she permitted Madame de Salmonnet to see the monograms on +her shoulders. The lady went home convinced of her identity, and came +again the next day with a gentleman in slouched hat, mask, and cloak. + +As Cicely rose to receive him he uttered an exclamation of +irrepressible astonishment, then added, "Your Highness will pardon me. +Exactly thus did her royal mother stand when I took leave of her at +Calais." + +The Ambassador had thus been taken by storm, although the resemblance +was more in figure and gesture than feature, but Mrs. Curll could aver +that those who had seen Bothwell were at no loss to trace the +derivation of the dark brows and somewhat homely features, in which the +girl differed from the royal race of Scotland. + +What was to be done? Queen Mary's letter to him begged him so far as +was possible to give her French protection, and avoid compromising +"that excellent Talbot," and he thought it would be wisest for her to +await the coming of the Envoy Extraordinary, M. de Pomponne Bellievre, +and be presented by him. In the meantime her remaining on board ship +in this winter weather would be miserably uncomfortable, and Richmond +and Greenwich were so near that any intercourse with her would be +dangerous, especially if Langston was still in England. Lodgings or +inns where a young lady from the country could safely be bestowed were +not easily to be procured without greater familiarity with the place +than Mr. Talbot possessed, and he could as little think of placing her +with Lady Talbot, whose gossiping tongue and shrewish temper were not +for a moment to be trusted. Therefore M de Chateauneuf's proposal that +the young lady should become Madame de Salmonnet's guest at the embassy +was not unwelcome. The lady was elderly, Scottish, and, as M. de +Chateauneuf with something of a shudder assured Mr. Talbot, "most +respectable." And it was hoped that it would not be for long. So, +having seen her safely made over to the lady's care, Richard ventured +for the first time to make his presence in London known to his son, and +to his kindred; and he was the more glad to have her in these quarters +because Diccon told him that there was no doubt that Langston was +lurking about the town, and indeed he was convinced that he had +recognised that spy entering Walsingham's house in the dress of a +scrivener. He would not alarm Cicely, but he bade her keep all her +goods in a state ready for immediate departure, in case it should be +needful to leave London at once after seeing the Queen. + +The French Ambassador's abode was an old conventual building on the +river-side, consisting of a number of sets of separate chambers, like +those of a college, opening on a quadrangle in the centre, and with one +side occupied by the state apartments and chapel. This arrangement +eminently suited the French suite, every one of whom liked to have his +own little arrangements of cookery, and to look after his own marmite +in his own way, all being alike horrified at the gross English diet and +lack of vegetables. Many tried experiments in the way of growing +salads in little gardens of their own, with little heed to the once +beautiful green grass-plot which they broke up. + +Inside that gate it was like a new country, and as all the shrill thin +intonations of the French rang in her ears, Cicely could hardly believe +that she had--she said--only a brick wall between her and old England. + +M. de Salmonnet was unmistakably a Scot by descent, though he had never +seen the land of his ancestors. His grandfather bad been ennobled, but +only belonged to the lesser order of the noblesse, being exempted from +imposts, but not being above employment, especially in diplomacy. He +had acted as secretary, interpreter, and general factotum, to a whole +succession of ambassadors, and thus his little loge, as he called it, +had become something of a home. His wife had once or twice before had +to take charge of young ladies, French or English, who were confided to +the embassy, and she had a guest chamber for them, a small room, but +with an oriel window overhanging the Thames and letting in the southern +sun, so as almost to compensate for the bareness of the rest, where +there was nothing but a square box-bed, a chest, and a few toilette +essentials, to break upon the dulness of the dark wainscoted walls. +Madame herself came to sleep with her guest, for lonely nights were +regarded with dread in those times, and indeed she seemed to regard it +as her duty never to lose sight of her charge for a moment. + +Madame de Salmonnet's proper bed-chamber was the only approach to this +little room, but that mattered the less as it was also the parlour! +The bed, likewise a box, was in the far-off recesses, and the family +were up and astir long before the November sun. Dressed Madame could +scarcely be called--the costume in which she assisted Babette and queer +wizened old Pierrot in doing the morning's work, horrified Cicely, used +as she was to Mistress Susan's scrupulous neatness. Downstairs there +was a sort of office room of Monsieur's, where the family meals were +taken, and behind it an exceedingly small kitchen, where Madame and +Pierrot performed marvels of cookery, surpassing those of Queen Mary's +five cooks. + +Cicely longed to assist in them, and after a slight demur, she was +permitted to do so, chiefly because her duenna could not otherwise +watch her and the confections at the same time. Cis could never make +out whether it was as princess or simply as maiden that she was so +closely watched, for Madame bristled and swelled like a mother cat +about to spring at a strange dog, if any gentleman of the suite showed +symptoms of accosting her. Nay, when Mr. Talbot once brought Diccon in +with him, and there was a greeting, which to Cicely's mind was dismally +cold and dry, the lady was so scandalised that Cicely was obliged +formally to tell her that she would answer for it to the Queen. On +Sunday, Mr. Talbot always came to take her to church, and this was a +terrible grievance to Madame, though it was to Cicely the one +refreshment of the week. If it had been only the being out of hearing +of her hostess's incessant tongue, the walk would have been a +refreshment. Madame de Salmonnet had been transported from home so +young that she was far more French than Scottish; she was a small woman +full of activity and zeal of all kinds, though perhaps most of all for +her pot au feu. She was busied about her domestic affairs morning, +noon, and night, and never ceased chattering the whole time, till +Cicely began to regard the sound like the clack of the mill at +Bridgefield. Yet, talker as she was, she was a safe woman, and never +had been known to betray secrets. Indeed, much more of her +conversation consisted of speculations on the tenderness of the +poultry, or the freshness of the fish, than of anything that went much +deeper. She did, however, spend much time in describing the habits and +customs of the pensioners at Soissons; the maigre food they had to eat; +their tricks upon the elder and graver nuns, and a good deal besides +that was amusing at first, but which became rather wearisome, and made +Cicely wonder what either of her mothers would have thought of it. + +The excuse for all this was to enable the maiden to make her appearance +before Queen Elizabeth as freshly brought from Soissons by her mother's +danger. Mary herself had suggested this, as removing all danger from +the Talbots, and as making it easier for the French Embassy to claim +and protect Cis herself; and M. de Chateauneuf had so far acquiesced as +to desire Madame de Salmonnet to see whether the young lady could be +prepared to assume the character before eyes that would not be over +qualified to judge. Cis, however, had always been passive when the +proposal was made, and the more she heard from Madame de Salmonnet, the +more averse she was to it. The only consideration that seemed to her +in its favour was the avoidance of implicating her foster-father, but a +Sunday morning spent with him removed the scruple. + +"I know I cannot feign," she said. "They all used to laugh at me at +Chartley for being too much of the downright mastiff to act a part." + +"I am right glad to hear it," said Richard. + +"Moreover," added Cicely, "if I did try to turn my words with the +Scottish or French ring, I wot that the sight of the Queen's Majesty +and my anxiety would drive out from me all I should strive to remember, +and I should falter and utter mere folly; and if she saw I was +deceiving her, there would be no hope at all. Nay, how could I ask God +Almighty to bless my doing with a lie in my mouth?" + +"There spake my Susan's own maid," said Richard. "'Tis the joy of my +heart that they have not been able to teach thee to lie with a good +grace. Trust my word, my wench, truth is the only wisdom, and one +would have thought they might have learnt it by this time." + +"I only doubted, lest it should be to your damage, dear father. Can +they call it treason?" + +"I trow not, my child. The worst that could hap would be that I might +be lodged in prison a while, or have to pay a fine; and liefer, far +liefer, would I undergo the like than that those lips of thine should +learn guile. I say not that there is safety for any of us, least of +all for thee, my poor maid, but the danger is tenfold increased by +trying to deceive; and, moreover, it cannot be met with a good +conscience." + +"Moreover," said Cicely, "I have pleadings and promises to make on my +mother-queen's behalf that would come strangely amiss if I had to feign +that I had never seen her! May I not seek the Queen at once, without +waiting for this French gentleman? Then would this weary, weary time +be at an end! Each time I hear a bell, or a cannon shot, I start and +think, Oh! has she signed the warrant? Is it too late?" + +"There is no fear of that," said Richard; "I shall know from Will +Cavendish the instant aught is done, and through Diccon I could get +thee brought to the Queen's very chamber in time to plead. Meantime, +the Queen is in many minds. She cannot bear to give up her kinswoman; +she sits apart and mutters, 'Aut fer aut feri,' and 'Ne feriare feri.' +Her ladies say she tosses and sighs all night, and hath once or twice +awoke shrieking that she was covered with blood. It is Burghley and +Walsingham who are forcing this on, and not her free will. Strengthen +but her better will, and let her feel herself secure, and she will +spare, and gladly." + +"That do I hope to do," said Cicely, encouraged. The poor girl had to +endure many a vicissitude and heart-sinking before M. de Bellievre +appeared; and when he did come, he was a disappointment. + +He was a most magnificent specimen of the mignons of Henri's court. The +Embassy rang with stories of the number of mails he had brought, of the +milk baths he sent for, the gloves he slept in, the valets who tweaked +out superfluous hairs from his eyebrows, the delicacies required for +his little dogs. + +M. de Salmonnet reported that on hearing the story of "Mademoiselle," +as Cicely was called in the Embassy, he had twirled the waxed ends of +his moustaches into a satirical twist, and observed, "That is well +found, and may serve as a last resource." + +He never would say that he disbelieved what he was told of her; and +when presented to her, he behaved with an exaggerated deference which +angered her intensely, for it seemed to her mockery of her pretensions. +No doubt his desire was that Mary's life should be granted to the +intercession of his king rather than to any other consideration; and +therefore once, twice, thrice, he had interviews with Elizabeth, and +still he would not take the anxious suppliant, who was in an agony at +each disappointment, as she watched the gay barge float down the river, +and who began to devise setting forth alone, to seek the Queen at +Richmond and end it all! She would have done so, but that Diccon told +her that since the alarm caused by Barnwell, it had become so much more +difficult to approach the Queen that she would have no hope. + +But she was in a restless state that made Madame de Salmonnet's chatter +almost distracting, when at last, far on in January, M. de Salmonnet +came in. + +"Well, mademoiselle, the moment is come. The passports are granted, +but Monsieur the Ambassador Extraordinary has asked for a last private +audience, and he prays your Highness to be ready to accompany him at +nine of the clock to-morrow morning." + +Cicely's first thought was to send tidings to Mr. Talbot, and in this +M. de Salmonnet assisted her, though his wife thought it very +superfluous to drag in the great, dull, heavy, English sailor. The +girl longed for a sight and speech of him all that evening in vain, +though she was sure she saw the Mastiff's boat pass down the river, and +most earnestly did she wish she could have had her chamber to herself +for the prayers and preparations, on which Madame's tongue broke so +intolerably that she felt as if she should ere long be wild and +senseless, and unable to recollect anything. + +She had only a little peace when Madame rose early in the morning and +left her, thinking her asleep, for a brief interval, which gave her +time to rally her thoughts and commend herself to her only Guide. + +She let Madame dress her, as had been determined, in perfectly plain +black, with a cap that would have suited "a novice out of convent +shade." It was certainly the most suitable garb for a petitioner for +her mother's life. In her hand she took the Queen's letter, and the +most essential proofs of her birth. She was cloaked and hooded over +all as warmly as possible to encounter the cold of the river: and +Madame de Salmonnet, sighing deeply at the cold, arranged herself to +chaperon her, and tried to make her fortify herself with food, but she +was too tremulous to swallow anything but a little bread and wine. +Poor child! She felt frightfully alone amongst all those foreign +tongues, above all when the two ambassadors crossed the court to M. de +Salmonnet's little door. Bellievre, rolled up in splendid sables from +head to foot, bowed down to the ground before her, almost sweeping the +pavement with his plume, and asked in his deferential voice of mockery +if her Royal Highness would do him the honour of accepting his escort. + +Cicely bent her head and said in French, "I thank you, sir," giving him +her hand; and there was a grave dignity in the action that repressed +him, so that he did not speak again as he led her to the barge, which +was covered in at the stern so as to afford a shelter from the wind. + +Her quick eye detected the Mastiff's boat as she was handed down the +stairs, and this was some relief, while she was placed in the seat of +honour, with an ambassador on each side of her. + +"May I ask," demanded Bellievre, waving a scented handkerchief, "what +her Highness is prepared to say, in case I have to confirm it?" + +"I thank your Excellency," replied Cicely, "but I mean to tell the +simple truth; and as your Excellency has had no previous knowledge of +me, I do not see how you can confirm it." + +The two gentlemen looked at one another, and Chateauneuf said, "Do I +understand her Royal Highness that she does not come as the +pensionnaire from Soissons, as the Queen had recommended?" + +"No, sir," said Cicely; "I have considered the matter, and I could not +support the character. All that I ask of your Excellencies is to bring +me into the presence of Queen Elizabeth. I will do the rest myself, +with the help of God." + +"Perhaps she is right," said the one ambassador to the other. "These +English are incomprehensible!" + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +THE SUPPLICATION. + + +In due time the boat drew up at the stairs leading to the palace of +Richmond. Cicely, in the midst of her trepidation, perceived that +Diccon was among the gentlemen pensioners who made a lane from the +landing to receive them, as she was handed along by M. de Bellievre. In +the hall there was a pause, during which the mufflings were thrown off, +and Cicely appeared in her simple black, a great contrast to her +cavalier, who was clad from neck to knee in pale pink satin, quilted, +and with a pearl at each intersection, earrings in his ears, perfumed +and long-fringed gloves in his hand--a perfect specimen of the foppery +of the Court of France. However, he might have been in hodden gray +without her perceiving it. She had the sensation of having plunged +into deep, unknown waters, without rope or plank, and being absolutely +forced to strike out for herself; yet the very urgency of the moment, +acting on her high blood and recent training, made her, outwardly, +perfectly self-possessed and calm. She walked along, holding her head +in the regal manner that was her inheritance, and was so utterly +absorbed in the situation that she saw nothing, and thought only of the +Queen. + +This was to be a private audience, and after a minute's demur with the +clerk of the chamber, when Chateauneuf made some explanation, a door +was opened, a curtain withdrawn, and the two ambassadors and the young +lady were admitted to Elizabeth's closet, where she sat alone, in an +arm-chair with a table before her. Cicely's first glance at the Queen +reminded her of the Countess, though the face was older, and had an +intellect and a grandeur latent in it, such as Bess of Hardwicke had +never possessed; but it was haggard and worn, the eyelids red, either +with weeping, or with sleeplessness, and there was an anxious look +about the keen light hazel eyes which was sometimes almost pathetic, +and gave Cicely hope. To the end of her days she never could recollect +how the Queen was arrayed; she saw nothing but the expression in those +falcon eyes, and the strangely sensitive mouth, which bewrayed the +shrewish nose and chin, and the equally inconsistent firmness of the +jaw. + +The first glance Cicely encountered was one of utter amazement and +wrath, as the Queen exclaimed, "Whom have you brought hither, +Messieurs?" + +Before either could reply, she, whom they had thought a raw, helpless +girl, moved forward, and kneeling before Elizabeth said, "It is I, so +please your Majesty, I, who have availed myself of the introduction of +their Excellencies to lay before your Majesty a letter from my mother, +the Queen of Scots." + +Queen Elizabeth made so vehement and incredulous an exclamation of +amazement that Cicely was the more reminded of the Countess, and this +perhaps made her task the easier, and besides, she was not an untrained +rustic, but had really been accustomed to familiar intercourse with a +queen, who, captive as she was, maintained full state and etiquette. + +She therefore made answer with dignity, "If it will please your Majesty +to look at this letter, you will see the proofs of what I say, and that +I am indeed Bride Hepburn, the daughter of Queen Mary's last marriage. +I was born at Lochleven on the 20th of February of the year of grace +1567," (footnote--1568 according to our calendar) "and thence secretly +sent in the Bride of Dunbar to be bred up in France. The ship was +wrecked, and all lost on board, but I was, by the grace of God, picked +up by a good and gallant gentleman of my Lord of Shrewsbury's +following, Master Richard Talbot of Bridgefield, who brought me up as +his own daughter, all unknowing whence I came or who I was, until three +years ago, when one of the secret agents who had knowledge of the +affairs of the Queen of Scots made known to her that I was the babe who +had been embarked in the Bride of Dunbar." + +"Verily, thou must be a bold wench to expect me to believe such a mere +minstrel's tale," said Elizabeth. + +"Nevertheless, madam, it is the simple truth, as you will see if you +deign to open this packet." + +"And who or where is this same honourable gentleman who brought you +up--Richard Talbot? I have heard that name before!" + +"He is here, madam. He will confirm all I say." + +The Queen touched a little bell, and ordered Master Talbot of +Bridgefield to be brought to her, while, hastily casting her eyes on +the credentials, she demanded of Chateauneuf, "Knew you aught of this, +sir?" + +"I know only what the Queen of Scotland has written and what this +Monsieur Talbot has told me, madam," said Chateauneuf. "There can be +no doubt that the Queen of Scotland has treated her as a daughter, and +owns her for such in her letter to me, as well as to your Majesty." + +"And the letters are no forgery?" + +"Mine is assuredly not, madam; I know the private hand of the Queen of +Scots too well to be deceived. Moreover, Madame Curll, the wife of the +Secretary, and others, can speak to the manner in which this young lady +was treated." + +"Openly treated as a daughter! That passes, sir. My faithful subjects +would never have left me uninformed!" + +"So please your Majesty," here the maiden ventured, "I have always +borne the name of Cicely Talbot, and no one knows what is my real birth +save those who were with my mother at Lochleven, excepting Mrs. Curll. +The rest even of her own attendants only understood me to be a Scottish +orphan. My true lineage should never have been known, were it not a +daughter's duty to plead for her mother." + +By this time Mr. Talbot was at the door, and he was received by the +Queen with, "So ho! Master Talbot, how is this? You, that have been +vaunted to us as the very pink of fidelity, working up a tale that +smacks mightily of treason and leasing!" + +"The truth is oft stranger than any playwright can devise," said +Richard, as he knelt. + +"If it be truth, the worse for you, sir," said the Queen, hotly. "What +colour can you give to thus hiding one who might, forsooth, claim royal +blood, tainted though it be?" + +"Pardon me, your Grace. For many years I knew not who the babe was +whom I had taken from the wreck, and when the secret of her birth was +discovered, I deemed it not mine own but that of the Queen of Scots." + +"A captive's secrets are not her own, and are only kept by traitors," +said Elizabeth, severely. + +At this Cicely threw herself forward with glowing cheeks. "Madam, +madam, traitor never was named in the same breath with Master Talbot's +name before. If he kept the secret, it was out of pity, and knowing no +hurt could come to your Majesty by it." + +"Thou hast a tongue, wench, be thou who thou mayst," said Elizabeth +sharply. "Stand back, and let him tell his own tale." + +Richard very briefly related the history of the rescue of the infant, +which he said he could confirm by the testimony of Goatley and of +Heatherthwayte. He then explained how Langston had been present when +she was brought home, and had afterwards made communications to the +Queen of Scots that led to the girl, already in attendance on her, +being claimed and recognised; after which he confessed that he had not +the heart to do what might separate the mother and daughter by +declaring their relationship. Elizabeth meanwhile was evidently +comparing his narrative with the letters of the Queen of Scots, asking +searching questions here and there. + +She made a sound of perplexity and annoyance at the end, and said, +"This must be further inquired into." + +Here Cicely, fearing an instant dismissal, clasped her hands, and on +her knees exclaimed, "Madam! it will not matter. No trouble shall ever +be caused by my drop of royal blood; no one shall ever even know that +Bride of Scotland exists, save the few who now know it, and have kept +the secret most faithfully. I seek no state; all I ask is my mother's +life. O madam, would you but see her, and speak with her, you would +know how far from her thoughts is any evil to your royal person!" + +"Tush, wench! we know better. Is this thy lesson?" + +"None hath taught me any lesson, madam. I know what my mother's +enemies have, as they say, proved against her, and I know they say that +while she lives your Grace cannot be in security." + +"That is what moves my people to demand her death," said Elizabeth. + +"It is not of your own free will, madam, nor of your own kind heart," +cried Cicely. "That I well know! And, madam, I will show you the way. +Let but my mother be escorted to some convent abroad, in France or +Austria, or anywhere beyond the reach of Spain, and her name should be +hidden from everyone! None should know where to seek her. Not even the +Abbess should know her name. She would be prisoned in a cell, but she +would be happy, for she would have life and the free exercise of her +religion. No English Papist, no Leaguer, none should ever trace her, +and she would disquiet you no more." + +"And who is to answer that, when once beyond English bounds, she should +not stir up more trouble than ever?" demanded Elizabeth. + +"That do I," said the girl. "Here am I, Bride Hepburn, ready to live +in your Majesty's hands as a hostage, whom you might put to death at +the first stirring on her behalf." + +"Silly maid, we have no love of putting folk to death," said Elizabeth, +rather hurt. "That is only for traitors, when they forfeit our mercy." + +"Then, O madam, madam, what has been done in her name cannot forfeit +mercy for her! She was shut up in prison; I was with her day and +night, and I know she had naught to do with any evil purpose towards +your Majesty. Ah! you do not believe me! I know they have found her +guilty, and that is not what I came to say," she continued, getting +bewildered in her earnestness for a moment. "No. But, gracious Queen, +you have spared her often; I have heard her say that you had again and +again saved her life from those who would fain have her blood." + +"It is true," said Elizabeth, half softened. + +"Save her then now, madam," entreated the girl. "Let her go beyond +their reach, yet where none shall find her to use her name against you. +Let me go to her at Fotheringhay with these terms. She will consent +and bless and pray for you for ever; and here am I, ready to do what +you will with me!" + +"To hang about Court, and be found secretly wedded to some base groom!" + +"No, madam. I give you my solemn word as a Queen's daughter that I +will never wed, save by your consent, if my mother's life be granted. +The King of Scots knows not that there is such a being. He need never +know it. I will thank and bless you whether you throw me into the +Tower, or let me abide as the humblest of your serving-women, under the +name I have always borne, Cicely Talbot." + +"Foolish maid, thou mayest purpose as thou sayest, but I know what +wenches are made of too well to trust thee." + +"Ah madam, pardon me, but you know not how strong a maiden's heart can +be for a mother's sake. Madam! you have never seen my mother. If you +but knew her patience and her tenderness, you would know how not only +I, but every man or woman in her train, would gladly lay down life and +liberty for her, could we but break her bonds, and win her a shelter +among those of her own faith." + +"Art a Papist?" asked the Queen, observing the pronoun. + +"Not so, an't please your Majesty. This gentleman bred me up in our +own Church, nor would I leave it." + +"Strange--strange matters," muttered Elizabeth, "and they need to be +duly considered." + +"I will then abide your Majesty's pleasure," said Cicely, "craving +license that it may be at Fotheringhay with my mother. Then can I bear +her the tidings, and she will write in full her consent to these terms. +O madam, I see mercy in your looks. Receive a daughter's blessing and +thanks!" + +"Over fast, over fast, maiden. Who told thee that I had consented?" + +"Your Majesty's own countenance," replied Cicely readily. "I see pity +in it, and the recollection that all posterity for evermore will speak +of the clemency of Elizabeth as the crown of all her glories!" + +"Child, child," said the Queen, really moved, "Heaven knows that I +would gladly practise clemency if my people would suffer it, but they +fear for my life, and still more for themselves, were I removed, nor +can I blame them." + +"Your Majesty, I know that. But my mother would be dead to the world, +leaving her rights solemnly made over to her son. None would know +where to find her, and she would leave in your hands, and those of the +Parliament, a resignation of all her claims." + +"And would she do this? Am I to take it on thy word, girl?" + +"Your Majesty knows this ring, sent to her at Lochleven," said Cicely, +holding it up. "It is the pledge that she binds herself to these +conditions. Oh! let me but bear them to her, and you shall have them +signed and sealed, and your Majesty will know the sweet bliss of +pardoning. May I carry the tidings to her? I can go with this +gentleman as Cis Talbot returning to her service." + +Elizabeth bent her head as though assenting thoughtfully. + +"How shall I thank you, gracious Queen?" cried Cicely, joining hands in +a transport, but Elizabeth sharply cut her short. + +"What means the wench? I have promised nothing. I have only said I +will look into this strange story of thine, and consider this +proposal--that is, if thy mother, as thou callest her, truly intend +it--ay, and will keep to it." + +"That is all I could ask of your Majesty," said Cicely. "The next +messenger after my return shall carry her full consent to these +conditions, and there will I abide your pleasure until the time comes +for her to be conducted to her convent, if not to see your face, which +would be best of all. O madam, what thanks will be worthy of such a +grace?" + +"Wait to see whether it is a grace, little cousin," said Elizabeth, but +with a kiss to the young round cheek, and a friendliness of tone that +surprised all. "Messieurs," she added to the ambassadors, "you came, +if I mistake not, to bring me this young demoiselle." + +"Who has, I hope, pleaded more effectually than I," returned Bellievre. + +"I have made no promises, sir," said the Queen, drawing herself up +proudly. + +"Still your Majesty forbids us not to hope," said Chateauneuf. + +Wherewith they found themselves dismissed. There was a great increase +of genuine respect in the manner in which Bellievre handed the young +lady from the Queen's chamber through the gallery and hall, and finally +to the boat. No one spoke, for there were many standing around, but +Cicely could read in a glance that passed between the Frenchmen that +they were astonished at her success. Her own brain was in a whirl, her +heart beating high; she could hardly realise what had passed, but when +again placed in the barge the first words she heard were from Bellievre. + +"Your Royal Highness will permit me to congratulate you." At the same +time she saw, to her great joy, that M. de Chateauneuf had caused her +foster-father to enter the barge with them. "If the Queen of Scotland +were close at hand, the game would be won," said Bellievre. + +"Ah! Milord Treasurer and M. le Secretaire are far too cunning to have +let her be within reach," said Chateauneuf. + +"Could we but have bound the Queen to anything," added Bellievre. + +"That she always knows how to avoid," said the resident ambassador. + +"At least," said Cicely, "she has permitted that I should bear the +terms to my mother at Fotheringhay." + +"That is true," said Chateauneuf, "and in my opinion no time should be +lost in so doing. I doubt," he added, looking at Richard, "whether, +now that her Highness's exalted rank is known, the embassy will be +permitted to remain a shelter to her, in case the Queen should demand +her of me." + +"Your Excellency speaks my thought," said Richard. "I am even disposed +to believe that it would be wiser to begin our journey this very day." + +"I grieve for the apparent inhospitality and disrespect to one whom I +honour so highly," said Chateauneuf, "but I verily believe it would be +the wiser plan. Look you, sir, the enemies of the unfortunate Queen of +Scotland have done all in their power to hinder my colleague from +seeing the Queen, but to-day the Lord Treasurer is occupied at +Westminster, and Monsieur le Secretaire is sick. She sent for us in +one of those wilful moods in which she chooses to assert herself +without their knowledge, and she remains, as it were, stunned by the +surprise, and touched by her Royal Highness's pleading. But let these +gentlemen discover what has passed, or let her recover and send for +them, and bah! they will inquire, and messengers will go forth at once +to stop her Highness and yourself. All will be lost. But if you can +actually be on the way to this castle before they hear of it--and it is +possible you may have a full day in advance--they will be unable to +hinder the conditions from being laid before the Queen of Scots, and we +are witnesses of what they were." + +"Oh, let us go! let us go at once, dear sir," entreated Cicely. "I +burn to carry my mother this hope." + +It was not yet noon, so early had been the audience, and dark and short +as were the days, it was quite possible to make some progress on the +journey before night. Cicely had kept the necessaries for her journey +ready, and so had Mr. Talbot, even to the purchase of horses, which +were in the Shrewsbury House stables. + +The rest of the mails could be fetched by the Mastiff's crew, and +brought to Hull under charge of Goatley. Madame de Salmonnet was a +good deal scandalised at Son Altesse Royale going off with only a male +escort, and to Cicely's surprise, wept over her, and prayed aloud that +she might have good success, and bring safety and deliverance to the +good and persecuted Queen for whom she had attempted so much. + +"Sir," said Chateauneuf, as he stood beside Richard, waiting till the +girl's preparations were over, "if there could have been any doubts of +the royal lineage of your charge, her demeanour to-day would have +disproved them. She stood there speaking as an equal, all undaunted +before that Queen before whom all tremble, save when they can cajole +her." + +"She stood there in the strength of truth and innocence," said Richard. + +Whereat the Frenchman again looked perplexed at these incomprehensible +English. + +Cicely presently appeared. It was wonderful to see how that one effort +had given her dignity and womanhood. She thanked the two ambassadors +for the countenance they had given to her, and begged them to continue +their exertions in her mother's cause. "And," she added, "I believe my +mother has already requested of you to keep this matter a secret." + +They bowed, and she added, "You perceive, gentlemen, that the very +conditions I have offered involve secrecy both as to my mother's future +abode and my existence. Therefore, I trust that you will not consider +it inconsistent with your duty to the King of France to send no word of +this." + +Again they assured her of their secrecy, and the promise was so far +kept that the story was reserved for the private ear of Henri III. on +Bellievre's return, and never put into the despatches. + +Two days later, Cicely enjoyed some of the happiest hours of her life. +She stood by the bed where her mother was lying, and was greeted with +the cry, "My child, my child! I thought I never should see thee more. +Domine, nunc dimittis!" + +"Nay, dearest mother, but I trust she will show mercy. I bring you +conditions." + +Mary laid her head on her daughter's shoulder and listened. It might +be that she had too much experience of Elizabeth's vacillations to +entertain much hope of her being allowed to retire beyond her grasp +into a foreign convent, and she declared that she could not endure that +her beloved, devoted child should wear away her life under Elizabeth's +jealous eye, but Cis put this aside, saying with a smile, "I think she +will not be hard with me. She will be no worse than my Lady Countess, +and I shall have a secret of joy within me in thinking of you resting +among the good nuns." + +And Mary caught hope from the anticipations she would not damp, and +gave herself to the description of the peaceful cloister life, +reviewing in turn the nunneries she had heard described, and talking +over their rules. There would indeed be as little liberty as here, but +she would live in the midst of prayer and praise, and be at rest from +the plots and plans, the hopes and fears, of her long captivity, and be +at leisure for penitence. "For, ah! my child, guiltless though I be of +much that is laid to my charge, thy mother is a sinful woman, all +unworthy of what her brave and innocent daughter has dared and done for +her." + +Almost equally precious with that mother's greeting was the grave +congratulating look of approval which Cicely met in Humfrey's eyes when +he had heard all from his father. He could exult in her, even while he +thought sadly of the future which she had so bravely risked, watching +over her from a distance in his silent, self-restrained, unselfish +devotion. + +The Queen's coldness towards Humfrey had meantime diminished daily, +though he could not guess whether she really viewed his course as the +right one, or whether she forgave this as well as all other injuries in +the calm gentle state into which she had come, not greatly moved by +hope or fear, content alike to live or die. + +Richard, in much anxiety, was to remain another day or two at +Fotheringhay, on the plea of his wearied horses and of the Sunday rest. + +Meantime Mary diligently wrote the conditions, but perhaps more to +satisfy her daughter than with much hope of their acceptance. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +THE WARRANT + + +"Yea, madam, they are gone! They stole away at once, and are far on +the way to Fotheringhay, with these same conditions." So spoke +Davison, under-secretary, Walsingham being still indisposed. + +"And therefore will I see whether the Queen of Scots will ratify them, +ere I go farther in the matter," returned Elizabeth. + +"She will ratify them without question," said the Secretary, +ironically, "seeing that to escape into the hands of one of your +Majesty's enemies is just what she desires." + +"She leaves her daughter as a pledge." + +"Yea, a piece of tinsel to delude your Majesty." + +Elizabeth swore an oath that there was truth in every word and gesture +of the maiden. + +"The poor wench may believe all she said herself," said Davison. "Nay, +she is as much deluded as the rest, and so is that honest, dull-pated +sailor, Talbot. If your Majesty will permit me to call in a fellow I +have here, I can make all plain." + +"Who is he? You know I cannot abide those foul carrion rascals you +make use of," said Elizabeth, with an air of disgust. + +"This man is gentleman born. Villain he may be, but there is naught to +offend your Majesty in him. He is one Langston, a kinsman of this +Talbot's; and having once been a Papist, but now having seen the error +of his ways, he did good service in the unwinding of the late horrible +plot." + +"Well, if no other way will serve you but I must hear the fellow, have +him in." + +A neatly-dressed, small, elderly man, entirely arrayed in black, was +called in, and knelt most humbly before the Queen. Being bidden to +tell what he knew respecting the lady who had appeared before the Queen +the day before, calling herself Bride Hepburn, he returned for answer +that he believed it to be verily her name, but that she was the +daughter of a man who had fled to France, and become an archer of the +Scottish guard. + +He told how he had been at Hull when the infant had been saved from the +wreck, and brought home to Mistress Susan Talbot, who left the place +the next day, and had, he understood, bred up the child as her own. He +himself, being then, as he confessed, led astray by the delusions of +Popery, had much commerce with the Queen's party, and had learnt from +some of the garrison of Dunfermline that the child on board the lost +ship was the offspring of this same Hepburn, and of one of Queen Mary's +many namesake kindred, who had died in childbirth at Lochleven. And +now Langston professed bitterly to regret what he had done when, in his +disguise at Buxton, he had made known to some of Mary's suite that the +supposed Cicely Talbot was of their country and kindred. She had been +immediately made a great favourite by the Queen of Scots, and the +attendants all knew who she really was, though she still went by the +name of Talbot. He imagined that the Queen of Scots, whose charms were +not so imperishable as those which dazzled his eyes at this moment, +wanted a fresh bait for her victims, since she herself was growing old, +and thus had actually succeeded in binding Babington to her service, +though even then the girl was puffed up with notions of her own +importance and had flouted him. And now, all other hope having +vanished, Queen Mary's last and ablest resource had been to possess the +poor maiden with an idea of being actually her own child, and then to +work on her filial obedience to offer herself as a hostage, whom Mary +herself could without scruple leave to her fate, so soon as she was +ready to head an army of invaders. + +Davison further added that the Secretary Nau could corroborate that +Bride Hepburn was known to the suite as a kinswoman of the Queen, and +that Mr. Cavendish, clerk to Sir Francis Walsingham, knew that +Babington had been suitor to the young lady, and had crossed swords +with young Talbot on her account. + +Elizabeth listened, and made no comment at the time, save that she +sharply questioned Langston; but his tale was perfectly coherent, and +as it threw the onus of the deception entirely on Mary, it did not +conflict either with the sincerity evident in both Cicely and her +foster-father, or with the credentials supplied by the Queen of Scots. +Of the ciphered letter, and of the monograms, Elizabeth had never +heard, though, if she had asked for further proof, they would have been +brought forward. + +She heard all, dismissed Langston, and with some petulance bade Davison +likewise begone, being aware that her ministers meant her to draw the +moral that she had involved herself in difficulties by holding a +private audience of the French Ambassadors without their knowledge or +presence. It may be that the very sense of having been touched +exasperated her the more. She paced up and down the room restlessly, +and her ladies heard her muttering--"That she should cheat me thus! I +have pitied her often; I will pity her no more! To breed up that poor +child to be palmed on me! I will make an end of it; I can endure this +no longer! These tossings to and fro are more than I can bear, and all +for one who is false, false, false, false! My brain will bear no more. +Hap what hap, an end must be made of it. She or I, she or I must die; +and which is best for England and the faith? That girl had well-nigh +made me pity her, and it was all a vile cheat!" + +Thus it was that Elizabeth sent for Davison, and bade him bring the +warrant with him. + +And thus it was that in the midst of dinner in the hall, on the Sunday, +the 5th of February, the meine of the Castle were startled by the +arrival of Mr. Beale, the Clerk of the Council, always a bird of +sinister omen, and accompanied by a still more alarming figure a strong +burly man clad in black velvet from head to foot. Every one knew who +he was, and a thrill of dismay, that what had been so long expected had +come at last, went through all who saw him pass through the hall. Sir +Amias was summoned from table, and remained in conference with the two +arrivals all through evening chapel time--an event in itself +extraordinary enough to excite general anxiety. It was Humfrey's turn +to be on guard, and he had not long taken his station before he was +called into the Queen's apartments, where she sat at the foot of her +bed, in a large chair with a small table before her. No one was with +her but her two mediciners, Bourgoin and Gorion. + +"Here," she said, "is the list our good Doctor has writ of the herbs he +requires for my threatened attack of rheumatism." + +"I will endeavour, with Sir Amias's permission, to seek them in the +park," said Humfrey. + +"But tell me," said Mary, fixing her clear eyes upon him, "tell me +truly. Is there not a surer and more lasting cure for all my ills in +preparation? Who was it who arrived to-night?" + +"Madame," said Humfrey, bowing his head low as he knelt on one knee, +"it was Mr. Beale." + +"Ay, and who besides?" + +"Madam, I heard no name, but"--as she waited for him to speak further, +he uttered in a choked voice--"it was one clad in black." + +"I perceive," said Mary, looking up with a smile. "A more effectual +Doctor than you, my good Bourgoin. I thank my God and my cousin +Elizabeth for giving me the martyr's hope at the close of the most +mournful life that ever woman lived. Nay, leave me not as yet, good +Humfrey. I have somewhat to say unto thee. I have a charge for thee." +Something in her tone led him to look up earnestly in her face. "Thou +lovest my child, I think," she added. + +The young man's voice was scarcely heard, and he only said, "Yea, +madam;" but there was an intensity in the tone and eyes which went to +her heart. + +"Thou dost not speak, but thou canst do. Wilt thou take her, Humfrey, +and with her, all the inheritance of peril and sorrow that dogs our +unhappy race?" + +"Oh"--and there was a mighty sob that almost cut off his voice--"My +life is already hers, and would be spent in her service wherever, +whatever she was." + +"I guessed it," said the Queen, letting her hand rest on his shoulder. +"And for her thou wilt endure, if needful, suspicion, danger, exile?" + +"They will be welcome, so I may shield her." + +"I trust thee," she said, and she took his firm strong hand into her +own white wasted one. "But will thy father consent? Thou art his +eldest son and heir." + +"He loves her like his own daughter. My brother may have the lands." + +"'Tis strange," said Mary, "that in wedding a princess, 'tis no crown, +no kingdom, that is set before thee, only the loss of thine own +inheritance. For now that the poor child has made herself known to +Elizabeth, there will be no safety for her between these seas. I have +considered it well. I had thought of sending her abroad with my French +servants, and making her known to my kindred there. That would have +been well if she could have accepted the true faith, or if--if her +heart had not been thine; but to have sent her as she is would only +expose her to persecution, and she hath not the mounting spirit that +would cast aside love for the sake of rising. She lived too long with +thy mother to be aught save a homely Cis. I would have made a princess +of her, but it passes my powers. Nay, the question is, whether it may +yet be possible to prevent the Queen from laying hands on her." + +"My father is still here," said Humfrey, "and I deem not that any +orders have come respecting her. Might not he crave permission to take +her home, that is, if she will leave your Grace?" + +"I will lay my commands on her! It is well thought of," said the +Queen. "How soon canst thou have speech with him?" + +"He is very like to come to my post," said Humfrey, "and then we can +walk the gallery and talk unheard." + +"It is well. Let him make his demand, and I will have her ready to +depart as early as may be to-morrow morn. Bourgoin, I would ask thee +to call the maiden hither." + +Cicely appeared from the apartment where she had been sitting with the +other ladies. + +"Child," said the Queen, as she came in, "is thy mind set on wedding an +archduke?" + +"Marriage is not for me, madam," said Cicely, perplexed and shaken by +this strange address and by Humfrey's presence. + +"Nay, didst not once tell me of a betrothal now many years ago? What +wouldst say if thine own mother were to ratify it?" + +"Ah! madam," said Cicely, blushing crimson however, "but I pledged +myself never to wed save with Queen Elizabeth's consent." + +"On one condition," said the Queen. "But if that condition were not +observed by the other party--" + +"How--what, mother!" exclaimed Cicely, with a scream. "There is no +fear--Humfrey, have you heard aught?" + +"Nothing is certain," said Mary, calmly. "I ask thee not to break thy +word. I ask thee, if thou wert free to marry, if thou wouldst be an +Austrian or Lorraine duchess, or content thee with an honest English +youth whose plighted word is more precious to him than gold." + +"O mother, how can you ask?" said Cicely, dropping down, and hiding her +face in the Queen's lap. + +"Then, Humfrey Talbot, I give her to thee, my child, my Bride of +Scotland. Thou wilt guard her, and shield her, and for thine own sake +as well as hers, save her from the wrath and jealousy of Elizabeth. +Hark, hark! Rise, my child. They are presenting arms. We shall have +Paulett in anon to convey my rere-supper." + +They had only just time to compose themselves before Paulett came in, +looking, as they all thought, grimmer and more starched than ever, and +not well pleased to find Humfrey there, but the Queen was equal to the +occasion. + +"Here is Dr. Bourgoin's list of the herbs that he needs to ease my +aches," she said. "Master Talbot is so good as to say that, being +properly instructed, he will go in search of them." + +"They will not be needed," said Paulett, but he spoke no farther to the +Queen. Outside, however, he said to Humfrey, "Young man, you do not +well to waste the Sabbath evening in converse with that blinded woman;" +and meeting Mr. Talbot himself on the stair, he said, "You are going in +quest of your son, sir. You would do wisely to admonish him that he +will bring himself into suspicion, if not worse, by loitering amid the +snares and wiles of the woman whom wrath is even now overtaking." + +Richard found his son pacing the gallery, almost choked with agitation, +and with the endeavour to conceal it from the two stolid, heavy yeomen +who dozed behind the screen. Not till he had reached the extreme end +did Humfrey master his voice enough to utter in his father's ear, "She +has given her to me!" + +Richard could not answer for a moment, then he said, "I fear me it will +be thy ruin, Humfrey." + +"Not ruin in love or faithfulness," said the youth. "Father, you know +I should everywhere have followed her and watched over her, even to the +death, even if she could never have been mine." + +"I trow thou wouldst," said Richard. + +"Nor would you have it otherwise--your child, your only daughter, to be +left unguarded." + +"Nay, I know not that I would," said Richard. "I cannot but care for +the poor maid like mine own, and I would not have thee less +true-hearted, Humfrey, even though it cost thee thine home, and us our +eldest son." + +"You have Diccon and Ned," said Humfrey. And then he told what had +passed, and his father observed that Beale had evidently no knowledge +of Cicely's conference with the Queen, and apparently no orders to +seize her. It had oozed out that a commission had been sent to five +noblemen to come and superintend the execution, since Sir Amias Paulett +had again refused to let it take place without witnesses, and Richard +undertook to apply at once to Sir Amias for permission to remove his +daughter, on the ground of saving her tender youth from the shock. + +"Then," said he, "I will leave a token at Nottingham where I have taken +her; whether home or at once to Hull. If I leave Brown Roundle at the +inn for thee, then come home; but if it be White Blossom, then come to +Hull. It will be best that thou dost not know while here, and I cannot +go direct to Hull, because the fens at this season may not be fit for +riding. Heatherthwayte will need no proofs to convince him that she is +not thy sister, and can wed you at once, and you will also be able to +embark in case there be any endeavour to arrest her." + +"Taking service in Holland," said Humfrey, "until there may be safety +in returning to England." + +Richard sighed. The risk and sacrifice were great, and it was to him +like the loss of two children, but the die was cast; Humfrey never +could be other than Cicely's devoted champion and guardian, and it was +better that it should be as her husband. So he repaired to Sir Amias, +and told him that he desired not to expose his daughter's tender years +and feeble spirits to the sight of the Queen's death, and claimed +permission to take her away with him the next day, saying that the +permission of the Queen had already been granted through his son, whom +he would gladly also take with him. + +Paulett hemmed and hawed. He thought it a great error in Mr. Talbot to +avoid letting his daughter be edified by a spectacle that might go far +to moderate the contagion of intercourse with so obstinate a Papist and +deceiver. Being of pitiless mould himself, he was incapable of +appreciating Richard's observation that compassion would only increase +her devotion to the unfortunate lady. He would not, or could not, part +with Humfrey. He said that there would be such a turmoil and concourse +that the services of the captain of his yeomen would be indispensable, +but that he himself, and all the rest, would be free on the Thursday at +latest. + +Mr. Talbot's desire to be away was a surprise to him, for he was in +difficulties how, even in that enormous hall, to dispose of all who +claimed by right or by favour to witness what he called the tardy +fulfilment of judgment. Yet though he thought it a weakness, he did +not refuse, and ere night Mr. Talbot was able to send formal word that +the horses would be ready for Mistress Cicely at break of day the next +morning. + +The message was transmitted through the ladies as the Queen sat writing +at her table, and she at once gave orders to Elizabeth Curll to prepare +the cloak bag with necessaries for the journey. + +Cicely cried out, "O madam my mother, do not send me from you!" + +"There is no help for it, little one. It is the only hope of safety or +happiness for thee." + +"But I pledged myself to await Queen Elizabeth's reply here!" + +"She has replied," said Mary. + +"How?" cried Cicely. "Methought your letter confirming mine offers had +not yet been sent." + +"It hath not, but she hath made known to me that she rejects thy terms, +my poor maid." + +"Is there then no hope?" said the girl, under her breath, which came +short with dismay. + +"Hope! yea," said Mary, with a ray of brightness on her face, "but not +earthly hope. That is over, and I am more at rest and peace than I can +remember to have been since I was a babe at my mother's knee. But, +little one, I must preserve thee for thine Humfrey and for happiness, +and so thou must be gone ere the hounds be on thy track." + +"Never, mother, I cannot leave you. You bid no one else to go!" said +Cis, clinging to her with a face bathed in tears. + +"No one else is imperilled by remaining as thy bold venture has +imperilled thee, my sweet maid. Think, child, how fears for thee would +disturb my spirit, when I would fain commune only with Heaven. Seest +thou not that to lose thy dear presence for the few days left to me +will be far better for me than to be rent with anxiety for thee, and it +may be to see thee snatched from me by these stern, harsh men?" + +"To quit you now! It is unnatural! I cannot." + +"You will go, child. As Queen and as mother alike, I lay my commands +on you. Let not the last, almost the only commands I ever gave thee be +transgressed, and waste not these last hours in a vain strife." + +She spoke with an authority against which Cis had no appeal, save by +holding her hand tight and covering it with kisses and tears. Mary +presently released her hand and went on writing, giving her a little +time to restrain her agony of bitter weeping. The first words spoken +were, "I shall not name thee in my will, nor recommend thee to thy +brother. It would only bring on thee suspicion and danger. Here, +however, is a letter giving full evidence of thy birth, and mentioning +the various witnesses who can attest it. I shall leave the like with +Melville, but it will be for thy happiness and safety if it never see +the light. Should thy brother die without heirs, then it might be thy +duty to come forward and stretch out thy hand for these two crowns, +which have more thorns than jewels in them. Alas! would that I could +dare to hope they might be exchanged for a crown of stars! But lie +down on the bed, my bairnie. I have much still to do, and thou hast a +long journey before thee." + +Cicely would fain have resisted, but was forced to obey, though +protesting that she should not sleep; and she lay awake for a long time +watching the Queen writing, until unawares slumber overpowered her +eyes. When she awoke, the Queen was standing over her saying, "It is +time thou wert astir, little one!" + +"Oh! and have I lost all these hours of you?" cried Cicely, as her +senses awoke to the remembrance of the situation of affairs. "Mother, +why did you not let me watch with you?" + +Mary only smiled and kissed her brow. The time went by in the +preparations, in all of which the Queen took an active part. Her money +and jewels had been restored to her by Elizabeth's orders during her +daughter's absence, and she had put twenty gold pieces in the silken +and pearl purse which she always used. "More I may not give thee," she +said. "I know not whether I shall be able to give my poor faithful +servants enough to carry them to their homes. This thou must have to +provide thee. And for my jewels, they should be all thine by right, +but the more valuable ones, which bear tokens, might only bring thee +under suspicion, poor child." + +She wished Cicely to choose among them, but the poor girl had no heart +for choice, and the Queen herself put in her hand a small case +containing a few which were unobtrusive, yet well known to her, and +among them a ring with the Hepburn arms, given by Bothwell. She also +showed her a gold chain which she meant to give to Humfrey. In this +manner time passed, till a message came in that Master Richard Talbot +was ready. + +"Who brought it?" asked the Queen, and when she heard that it was +Humfrey himself who was at the door, she bade him be called in. + +"Children," she said, "we were interrupted last night. Let me see you +give your betrothal kiss, and bless you." + +"One word, my mother," said Cicely. "Humfrey will not bear me ill-will +if I say that while there can still be any hope that Queen Elizabeth +will accept me for her prisoner in your stead, I neither can nor ought +to wed him." + +"Thou mayst safely accept the condition, my son," said Mary. + +"Then if these messengers should come to conduct my mother abroad, and +to take me as her hostage, Humfrey will know where to find me." + +"Yea, thou art a good child to the last, my little one," said Mary. + +"You promise, Humfrey?" said Cicely. + +"I do," he said, knowing as well as the Queen how little chance there +was that he would be called on to fulfil it, but feeling that the agony +of the parting was thus in some degree softened to Cicely. + +Mary gave the betrothal ring to Humfrey, and she laid her hands on +their clasped ones. "My daughter and my son," she said, "I leave you +my blessing. If filial love and unshaken truth can bring down +blessings from above, they will be yours. Think of your mother in +times to come as one who hath erred, but suffered and repented. If +your Church permits you, pray often for her. Remember, when you hear +her blamed, that in the glare of courts, she had none to breed her up +in godly fear and simple truth like your good mother at Bridgefield, +but that she learnt to think what you view in the light of deadly sin +as the mere lawful instruments of government, above all for the weaker. +Condemn her not utterly, but pray, pray with all your hearts that her +God and Saviour will accept her penitence, and unite her sufferings +with those of her Lord, since He has done her the grace of letting her +die in part for His Church. Now," she added, kissing each brow, and +then holding her daughter in her embrace, "take her away, Humfrey, and +let me turn my soul from all earthly loves and cares!" + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +ON THE HUMBER. + + +Master Talbot had done considerately in arranging that Cicely should at +least begin her journey on a pillion behind himself, for her anguish of +suppressed weeping unfitted her to guide a horse, and would have +attracted the attention of any serving-man behind whom he could have +placed her, whereas she could lay her head against his shoulder, and +feel a kind of dreary repose there. + +He would have gone by the more direct way to Hull, through Lincoln, but +that he feared that February Filldyke would have rendered the fens +impassable, so he directed his course more to the north-west. Cicely +was silent, crushed, but more capable of riding than of anything else; +in fact, the air and motion seemed to give her a certain relief. + +He meant to halt for the night at a large inn at Nottingham. There was +much stir in the court, and it seemed to be full of the train of some +great noble. Richard knew not whether to be glad or sorry when he +perceived the Shrewsbury colours and the silver mastiff badge, and was +greeted by a cry of "Master Richard of Bridgefield!" Two or three +retainers of higher degree came round him as he rode into the yard, +and, while demanding his news, communicated their own, that my Lord was +on his way to Fotheringhay to preside at the execution of the Queen of +Scots. + +He could feel Cicely's shudder as he lifted her off her horse, and he +replied repressively, "I am bringing my daughter from thence." + +"Come in and see my Lord," said the gentleman. "He is a woeful man at +the work that is put on him." + +Lord Shrewsbury did indeed look sad, almost broken, as he held out his +hand to Richard, and said, "This is a piteous errand, cousin, on which +I am bound. And thou, my young kinswoman, thou didst not succeed with +her Majesty!" + +"She is sick with grief and weariness," said Richard. "I would fain +take her to her chamber." + +The evident intimacy of the new-comers with so great a personage as my +Lord procured for them better accommodation than they might otherwise +have had, and Richard obtained for Cicely a tiny closet within the room +where he was himself to sleep. He even contrived that she should be +served alone, partly by himself, partly by the hostess, a kind motherly +woman, to whom he committed her, while he supped with the Earl, and was +afterwards called into his sleeping chamber to tell him of his +endeavours at treating with Lord and Lady Talbot, and also to hear his +lamentations over the business he had been sent upon. He had actually +offered to make over his office as Earl Marshal to Burghley for the +nonce, but as he said, "that of all the nobles in England, such work +should fall to the lot of him, who had been for fourteen years the poor +lady's host, and knew her admirable patience and sweet conditions, was +truly hard." + +Moreover, he was joined in the commission with the Earl of Kent, a sour +Puritan, who would rejoice in making her drink to the dregs of the cup +of bitterness! He was sick at heart with the thought. Richard +represented that he would, at least, be able to give what comfort could +be derived from mildness and compassion. + +"Not I, not I!" said the poor man, always weak. "Not with those harsh +yoke-fellows Kent and Paulett to drive me on, and that viper Beale to +report to the Privy Council any strain of mercy as mere treason. What +can I do?" + +"You would do much, my Lord, if you would move them to restore--for +these last hours--to her those faithful servants, Melville and De +Preaux, whom Paulett hath seen fit to seclude from her. It is rank +cruelty to let her die without the sacraments of her Church when her +conscience will not let her accept ours." + +"It is true, Richard, over true. I will do what I can, but I doubt me +whether I shall prevail, where Paulett looks on a Mass as mere +idolatry, and will not brook that it should be offered in his house. +But come you back with me, kinsman. We will send old Master Purvis to +take your daughter safely home." + +Richard of course refused, and at the same time, thinking an +explanation necessary and due to the Earl, disclosed to him that Cicely +was no child of his, but a near kinswoman of the Scottish Queen, whom +it was desirable to place out of Queen Elizabeth's reach for the +present, adding that there had been love passages between her and his +son Humfrey, who intended to wed her and see some foreign service. +Lord Shrewsbury showed at first some offence at having been kept in +ignorance all these years of such a fact, and wondered what his +Countess would say, marvelled too that his cousin should consent to his +son's throwing himself away on a mere stranger, of perilous connection, +and going off to foreign wars; but the good nobleman was a placable +man, and always considerably influenced by the person who addressed +him, and he ended by placing the Mastiff at Richard's disposal to take +the young people to Scotland or Holland, or wherever they might wish to +go. + +This decided Mr. Talbot on making at once for the seaport; and +accordingly he left behind him the horse, which was to serve as a token +to his son that such was his course. Cicely had been worn out with her +day's journey, and slept late and sound, so that she was not ready to +leave her chamber till the Earl and his retinue were gone, and thus she +was spared actual contact with him who was to doom her mother, and see +that doom carried out. She was recruited by rest, and more ready to +talk than on the previous day, but she was greatly disappointed to find +that she might not be taken to Bridgefield. + +"If I could only be with Mother Susan for one hour," she sighed. + +"Would that thou couldst, my poor maid," said Richard. "The mother +hath the trick of comfort." + +"'Twas not comfort I thought of. None can give me that," said the poor +girl; "but she would teach me how to be a good wife to Humfrey." + +These words were a satisfaction to Richard, who had begun to feel +somewhat jealous for his son's sake, and to doubt whether the girl's +affection rose to the point of requiting the great sacrifice made for +his sake, though truly in those days parents were not wont to be +solicitous as to the mutual attachment between a betrothed pair. +However, Cicely's absolute resignation of herself and her fate into +Humfrey's hands, without even a question, and with entire confidence +and peace, was evidence enough that her heart was entirely his; nay, +had been his throughout all the little flights of ambition now so +entirely passed away, without apparently a thought on her part. + +It was on the Friday forenoon, a day very unlike their last entrance +into Hull, that they again entered the old town, in the brightness of a +crisp frost; but poor Cicely could not but contrast her hopeful mood of +November with her present overwhelming sorrow, where, however, there +was one drop of sweetness. Her foster-father took her again to good +Mr. Heatherthwayte's, according to the previous invitation, and was +rejoiced to see that the joyous welcome of Oil-of-Gladness awoke a +smile; and the little girl, being well trained in soberness and +discretion, did not obtrude upon her grief. + +Stern Puritan as he was, the minister himself contained his +satisfaction that the Papist woman was to die and never reign over +England until he was out of hearing of the pale maiden who had--strange +as it seemed to him--loved her enough to be almost broken-hearted at +her death. + +Richard saw Goatley and set him to prepare the Mastiff for an immediate +voyage. Her crew, somewhat like those of a few modern yachts, were +permanently attached to her, and lived in the neighbourhood of the +wharf, so that, under the personal superintendence of one who was as +much loved and looked up to as Captain Talbot, all was soon in a state +of forwardness, and Gillingham made himself very useful. When darkness +put a stop to the work and supper was being made ready, Richard found +time to explain matters to Mr. Heatherthwayte, for his honourable mind +would not permit him to ask his host unawares to perform an office that +might possibly be construed as treasonable. In spite of the +preparation which he had already received through Colet's +communications, the minister's wonder was extreme. "Daughter to the +Queen of Scots, say you, sir! Yonder modest, shamefast maiden, of +such seemly carriage and gentle speech?" + +Richard smiled and said--"My good friend, had you seen that poor +lady--to whom God be merciful--as I have done, you would know that what +is sweetest in our Cicely's outward woman is derived from her; for the +inner graces, I cannot but trace them to mine own good wife." + +Mr. Heatherthwayte seemed at first hardly to hear him, so overpowered +was he with the notion that the daughter of her, whom he was in the +habit of classing with Athaliah and Herodias, was in his house, resting +on the innocent pillow of Oil-of-Gladness. He made his guest recount +to him the steps by which the discovery had been made, and at last +seemed to embrace the idea. Then he asked whether Master Talbot were +about to carry the young lady to the protection of her brother in +Scotland; and when the answer was that it might be poor protection even +if conferred, and that by all accounts the Court of Scotland was by no +means a place in which to leave a lonely damsel with no faithful +guardian, the minister asked-- + +"How then will you bestow the maiden?" + +"In that, sir, I came to ask you to aid me. My son Humfrey is +following on our steps, leaving Fotheringhay so soon as his charge +there is ended; and I ask of you to wed him to the maid, whom we will +then take to Holland, when he will take service with the States." + +The amazement of the clergyman was redoubled, and he began at first to +plead with Richard that a perilous overleaping ambition was leading him +thus to mate his son with an evil, though a royal, race. + +At this Richard smiled and shook his head, pointing out that the very +last thing any of them desired was that Cicely's birth should be known; +and that even if it were, her mother's marriage was very questionable. +It was no ambition, he said, that actuated his son, "But you saw +yourself how, nineteen years ago, the little lad welcomed her as his +little sister come back to him. That love hath grown up with him. +When, at fifteen years old, he learnt that she was a nameless stranger, +his first cry was that he would wed her and give her his name. Never +hath his love faltered; and even when this misfortune of her rank was +known, and he lost all hope of gaining her, while her mother bade her +renounce him, his purpose was even still to watch over and guard her; +and at the end, beyond all our expectations, they have had her mother's +dying blessing and entreaty that he would take her." + +"Sir, do you give me your word for that?" + +"Yea, Master Heatherthwayte, as I am a true man. Mind you, worldly +matters look as different to a poor woman who knoweth the headsman is +in the house, as to one who hath her head on her dying pillow. This +Queen had devised plans for sending our poor Cis abroad to her French +and Lorraine kindred, with some of the French ladies of her train." + +"Heaven forbid!" broke out Heatherthwayte, in horror. "The rankest of +Papists--" + +"Even so, and with recommendations to give her in marriage to some +adventurous prince whom the Spaniards might abet in working woe to us +in her name. But when she saw how staunch the child is in believing as +mine own good dame taught her, she saw, no doubt, that this would be +mere giving her over to be persecuted and mewed in a convent." + +"Then the woman hath some bowels of mercy, though a Papist." + +"She even saith that she doubteth not that such as live honestly and +faithfully by the light that is in them shall be saved. So when she +saw she prevailed nothing with the maid, she left off her endeavours. +Moreover, my son not only saved her life, but won her regard by his +faith and honour; and she called him to her, and even besought him to +be her daughter's husband. I came to you, reverend sir, as one who has +known from the first that the young folk are no kin to one another; and +as I think the peril to you is small, I deemed that you would do them +this office. Otherwise, I must take her to Holland and see them wedded +by a stranger there." + +Mr. Heatherthwayte was somewhat touched, but he sat and considered, +perceiving that to marry the young lady to a loyal Englishman was the +safest way of hindering her from falling into the clutches of a Popish +prince; but he still demurred, and asked how Mr. Talbot could talk of +the mere folly of love, and for its sake let his eldest son and heir +become a mere exile and fugitive, cut off, it might be, from home. + +"For that matter, sir," said Richard, "my son is not one to loiter +about, as the lubberly heir, cumbering the land at home. He would, so +long as I am spared in health and strength, be doing service by land or +sea, and I trust that by the time he is needed at home, all this may be +so forgotten that Cis may return safely. The maid hath been our child +too long for us to risk her alone. And for such love being weak and +foolish, surely, sir, it was the voice of One greater than you or I +that bade a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife." + +Mr. Heatherthwayte still murmured something about "youth" and "lightly +undertaken," and Master Talbot observed, with a smile, that when he had +seen Humfrey he might judge as to the lightness of purpose. + +Richard meanwhile was watching somewhat anxiously for the arrival of +his son, who, he had reckoned, would make so much more speed than was +possible for Cis, that he might have almost overtaken them, if the +fatal business had not been delayed longer than he had seen reason to +anticipate. However, these last words had not long been out of his +mouth when a man's footsteps, eager, yet with a tired sound and with +the clank of spurs, came along the paved way outside, and there was a +knock at the door. Some one else had been watching; for, as the street +door was opened, Cicely sprang forward as Humfrey held out his arms; +then, as she rested against his breast, he said, so that she alone +could hear, "Her last words to me were, 'Give her my love and blessing, +and tell her my joy is come--such joy as I never knew before.'" + +Then they knew the deed was done, and Richard said, "God have mercy on +her soul!" Nor did Mr. Heatherthwayte rebuke him. Indeed there was no +time, for Humfrey exclaimed, "She is swooning." He gathered her in his +arms, and carried her where they lighted him, laying her on Oil's +little bed, but she was not entirely unconscious, and rallied her +senses so as to give him a reassuring look, not quite a smile, and yet +wondrously sweet, even in the eyes of others. Then, as the lamp +flashed on his figure, she sprang to her feet, all else forgotten in +the exclamation. + +"O Humfrey, thou art hurt! What is it? Sit thee down." + +They then saw that his face was, indeed, very pale and jaded, and that +his dress was muddied from head to foot, and in some places there were +marks of blood; but as she almost pushed him down on the chest beside +the bed, he said, in a voice hoarse and sunk, betraying weariness-- + +"Naught, naught, Cis; only my beast fell with me going down a hill, and +lamed himself, so that I had to lead him the last four or five miles. +Moreover, this cut on my hand must needs break forth bleeding more than +I knew in the dark, or I had not frighted thee by coming in such sorry +plight," and he in his turn gazed reassuringly into her eyes as she +stood over him, anxiously examining, as if she scarce durst trust him, +that if stiff and bruised at all, it mattered not. Then she begged a +cup of wine for him, and sent Oil for water and linen, and Humfrey had +to abandon his hand to her, to be cleansed and bound up, neither of +them uttering a word more than needful, as she knelt by the chest +performing this work with skilful hands, though there was now and then +a tremor over her whole frame. + +"Now, dear maid," said Richard, "thou must let him come with us and don +some dry garments: then shalt thou see him again." + +"Rest and food--he needs them," said Cis, in a voice weak and +tremulous, though the self-restraint of her princely nature strove to +control it. "Take him, father; methinks I cannot hear more to-night. +He will tell me all when we are away together. I would be alone, and +in the dark; I know he is come, and you are caring for him. That is +enough, and I can still thank God." + +Her face quivered, and she turned away; nor did Humfrey dare to shake +her further by another demonstration, but stumbled after his father to +the minister's chamber, where some incongruous clerical attire had been +provided for him, since he disdained the offer of supping in bed. + +Mr. Heatherthwayte was much struck with the undemonstrativeness of +their meeting, for there was high esteem for austerity in the Puritan +world, in contrast to the utter want of self-restraint shown by the +more secular characters. + +When Humfrey presently made his appearance with his father's cloak +wrapped over the minister's clean shirt and nether garments, Richard +said, "Son Humfrey, this good gentleman who baptized our Cis would fain +be certain that there is no lightness of purpose in this thy design." + +"Nay, nay, Mr. Talbot," broke in the minister, "I spake ere I had seen +this gentleman. From what I have now beheld, I have no doubts that be +she who she may, it is a marriage made and blessed in heaven." + +"I thank you, sir," said Humfrey, gravely; "it is my one hope +fulfilled." + +They spoke no more till he had eaten, for he was much spent, having +never rested more than a couple of hours, and not slept at all since +leaving Fotheringhay. He had understood by the colour of the horse +left at Nottingham which road to take, and at the hostel at Hull had +encountered Gillingham, who directed him on to Mr. Heatherthwayte's. + +What he brought himself to tell of the last scene at Fotheringhay has +been mostly recorded by history, and need not here be dwelt upon. When +Bourgoin and Melville fell back, unable to support their mistress along +the hall to the scaffold, the Queen had said to him, "Thou wilt do me +this last service," and had leant on his arm along the crowded hall, +and had taken that moment to speak those last words for Cicely. She +had blessed James openly, and declared her trust that he would find +salvation if he lived well and sincerely in the faith he had chosen. +With him she had secretly blessed her other child. + +Humfrey was much shaken and could hardly command his voice to answer +the questions of Master Heatherthwayte, but he so replied to them that, +one by one, the phrases and turns were relinquished which the worthy +man had prepared for a Sunday's sermon on "Go see now this accursed +woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter," and he even began to +consider of choosing for his text something that would bid his +congregation not to judge after the sight of their eyes, nor condemn +after the hearing of their ears. + +When Humfrey had eaten and drunk, and the ruddy hue was returning to +his cheek, Mr. Heatherthwayte discovered that he must speak with his +churchwarden that night. Probably the pleasure of communicating the +tidings that the deed was accomplished added force to the consideration +that the father and son would rather be alone together, for he lighted +his lantern with alacrity, and carried off Dust-and-Ashes with him. + +Then Humfrey had more to tell which brooked no delay. On the day after +the departure of his father and Cicely, Will Cavendish had arrived, and +Humfrey had been desired to demand from the prisoner an immediate +audience for that gentleman. Mary had said, "This is anent the child. +Call him in, Humfrey," and as Cavendish had passed the guard he had +struck his old comrade on the shoulder and observed, "What gulls we +have at Hallamshire." + +He had come out from his conference fuming, and desiring to hear from +Humfrey whether he were aware of the imposture that had been put on the +Queen and upon them all, and to which yonder stubborn woman still chose +to cleave--little Cis Talbot supposing herself a queen's daughter, and +they all, even grave Master Richard, being duped. It was too much for +Will! A gentleman, so nearly connected with the Privy Council, was not +to be deceived like these simple soldiers and sailors, though it suited +Queen Mary's purposes to declare the maid to be in sooth her daughter, +and to refuse to disown her. He supposed it was to embroil England for +the future that she left such a seed of mischief. + +And old Paulett had been fool enough to let the girl leave the Castle, +whereas Cavendish's orders had been to be as secret as possible lest +the mischievous suspicion of the existence of such a person should +spread, but to arrest her and bring her to London as soon as the +execution should be over; when, as he said, no harm would happen to her +provided she would give up the pretensions with which she had been +deceived. + +"It would have been safer for you both," said poor Queen Mary to +Humfrey afterwards, "if I had denied her, but I could not disown my +poor child, or prevent her from yet claiming royal rights. Moreover, I +have learnt enough of you Talbots to know that you would not owe your +safety to falsehood from a dying woman." + +But Will's conceit might be quite as effectual. He was under orders to +communicate the matter to no one not already aware of it, and as above +all things he desired to see the execution as the most memorable +spectacle he was likely to behold in his life, and he believed Cicely +to be safe at Bridgefield, he thought it unnecessary to take any +farther steps until that should be over. Humfrey had listened to all +with what countenance he might, and gave as little sign as possible. + +But when the tragedy had been consummated, and he had seen the fair +head fall, and himself withdrawn poor little Bijou from beneath his +dead mistress's garment, handing him to Jean Kennedy, he had--with +blood still curdling with horror--gone down to the stables, taken his +horse, and ridden away. + +There would no doubt be pursuit so soon as Richard and Cicely were +found not to be at Bridgefield; but there was a space in which to act, +and Mr. Talbot at once said, "The Mastiff is well-nigh ready to sail. +Ye must be wedded to-morrow morn, and go on board without delay." + +They judged it better not to speak of this to the poor bride in her +heavy grief; and Humfrey, having heard from their little hostess that +Mistress Cicely lay quite still, and sent him her loving greeting, +consented to avail himself of the hospitable minister's own bed, +hoping, as he confided to his father, that very weariness would hinder +him from seeing the block, the axe, and the convulsed face, that had +haunted him on the only previous time when he had tried to close his +eyes. + +Long before day Cicely heard her father's voice bidding her awake and +dress herself, and handing in a light. The call was welcome, for it +had been a night of strange dreams and sadder wakenings to the sense +"it had come at last"--yet the one comfort, "Humfrey is near." She +dressed herself in those plain black garments she had assumed in +London, and in due time came down to where her father awaited her. She +was pale, silent, and passive, and obeyed mechanically as he made her +take a little food. She looked about as if for some one, and he said, +"Humfrey will meet us anon." Then he himself put on her cloak, hood, +and muffler. She was like one in a dream, never asking where they were +going, and thus they left the house. There was light from a waning +moon, and by it he led her to the church. + +It was a strange wedding in that morning moonlight streaming in at the +east window of that grand old church, and casting the shadows of the +columns and arches on the floor, only aided by one wax light, which, as +Mr. Heatherthwayte took care to protest, was not placed on the holy +table out of superstition, but because he could not see without it. +Indeed the table stood lengthways in the centre aisle, and would have +been bare, even of a white cloth, had not Richard begged for a +Communion for the young pair to speed them on their perilous way, and +Mr. Heatherthwayte--almost under protest--consented, since a sea voyage +and warlike service in a foreign land lay before them. But, except +that he wore no surplice, he had resigned himself to Master Richard on +that most unnatural morning, and stifled his inmost sighs when he had +to pronounce the name Bride, given, not by himself, but by some Romish +priest--when the bridegroom, with the hand wounded for Queen Mary's +sake, gave a ruby ring, most unmistakably coming from that same +perilous quarter,--and above all when the pair and the father knelt in +deep reverence. Yet their devotion was evidently so earnest and so +heartfelt that he knew not how to blame it, and he could not but bless +them with his whole heart as he walked down with them to the wharf. +All were silent, except that Cicely once paused and said she wanted to +speak to "Father." He came to her side, and she took his arm instead +of Humfrey's. + +"Sir," she said; "it has come to me that now my sweet mother is left +alone it would be no small joy to her, and of great service to our good +host's little daughter, if Oil-of-Gladness could take my place at home +for a year or two." + +"None will do that, Cis; but there is much that would be well in the +notion, and I will consider of it. She is a maid of good conditions, +and the mother is lonesome." + +His consideration resulted in his making the proposal, much startling, +though greatly gratifying. Master Heatherthwayte, who thanked him, +talked of his honour for that discreet and godly woman Mistress Susan, +and said he must ponder and pray upon it, and would reply when Mr. +Talbot returned from his voyage. + +At the wharf lay the Mastiff's boat in charge of Gervas and Gillingham. +All three stepped into it together, the most silent bride and +bridegroom perhaps that the Humber had ever seen. Only each of the +three wrung the hand of the good clergyman. At that moment all the +bells in Hull broke forth with a joyous peal, which by the association +made the bride look up with a smile. Her husband forced one in return; +but his father's eyes, which she could not see, filled with tears. He +knew it was in exultation at her mother's death, and they hurried into +the boat lest she should catch the purport of the shouts that were +beginning to arise as the townsfolk awoke to the knowledge that their +enemy was dead. + +The fires of Smithfield were in the remembrance of this generation. The +cities of Flanders were writhing under the Spanish yoke; "the richest +spoils of Mexico, the stoutest hearts of Spain," were already mustering +to reduce England to the condition of Antwerp or Haarlem; and only +Elizabeth's life had seemed to lie between them and her who was bound +by her religion to bring all this upon the peaceful land. No wonder +those who knew not the tissue of cruel deceits and treacheries that had +worked the final ruin of the captive, and believed her guilty of +fearful crimes, should have burst forth in a wild tumult of joy, such +as saddened even the Protestant soul of Mr. Heatherthwayte, as he +turned homewards after giving his blessing to the mournful young girl, +whom the boat was bearing over the muddy waters of the Hull. + +They soon had her on board, but the preparations were hardly yet +complete, nor could the vessel make her way down the river until the +evening tide. It was a bright clear day, and a seat on deck was +arranged for the lady, where she sat with Humfrey beside her, holding +her cloak round her, and telling her--strange theme for a bridal +day--all he thought well to tell her of those last hours, when Mary had +truly shown herself purified by her long patience, and exalted by the +hope that her death had in it somewhat of martyrdom. + +His father meantime superintended the work of the crew, being extremely +anxious to lose no time, and to sail before night. Mr. +Heatherthwayte's anxiety brought him on board again, for he wanted to +ask more questions about the Bridgefield doings ere beginning his +ponderings and his prayers respecting his decision for his little +daughter; nor had he taken his final leave when the anchor was at +length weighed, and the ship had passed by the strange old gables, +timbered houses, and open lofts, that bounded the harbour out from the +Hull river into the Humber itself, while both the Talbots breathed more +freely; but as the chill air of evening made itself felt, they +persuaded Cicely to let her husband take her down to her cabin. + +It was at this moment, in the deepening twilight, that the ship was +hailed, and a boat came alongside, and there was a summons, "In the +Queen's name," and a slightly made lean figure in black came up the +side. He was accompanied by a stout man, apparently a constable. There +was a moment's pause, then the new-comer said "Kinsman Talbot--" + +"I count no kindred with betrayers, Cuthbert Langston," said Richard, +drawing himself up with folded arms. + +"Scorn me not, Richard Talbot," was the reply; "you stood my friend +once when none other did so, and for that cause have I hindered much +hurt to you and yours. But for me you had been in a London jail for +these three weeks past. Nor do I come to do you evil now. Give up the +wench, and your name shall never be brought forward, since the matter +is to be private. Behold a warrant from the Council empowering me to +bring before them the person of Bride Hepburn, otherwise called Cicely +Talbot." + +"Man of treacheries and violence," said Mr. Heatherthwayte, standing +forward, an imposing figure in his full black gown and white ruff, "go +back! The lady is not for thy double-dealing, nor is there now any +such person as either Bride Hepburn or Cicely Talbot." + +"I cry you mercy," sneered Langston. "I see how it is! I shall have +to bear your reverence likewise away for a treasonable act in +performing the office of matrimony for a person of royal blood without +consent of the Queen. And your reverence knows the penalty." + +At that instant there rang from the forecastle a never-to-be-forgotten +howl of triumphant hatred and fury, and with a spring like that of a +tiger, Gillingham bounded upon him with a shout, "Remember Babington!" +and grappled with him, dragging him backwards to the bulwark. Richard +and the constable both tried to seize the fiercely struggling forms, +but in vain. They were over the side in a moment, and there was a +heavy splash into the muddy waters of the Humber, thick with the +downcome of swollen rivers, thrown back by the flowing tide. + +Humfrey came dashing up from below, demanding who was overboard, and +ready to leap to the rescue wherever any should point in the darkness, +but his father withheld him, nor, indeed, was there sound or eddy to be +perceived. + +"It is the manifest judgment of God," said Mr. Heatherthwayte, in a +low, awe-stricken voice. + +But the constable cried aloud that a murder had been done in resisting +the Queen's warrant. + +With a ready gesture the minister made Humfrey understand that he must +keep his wife in the cabin, and Richard at the same time called Mr. +Heatherthwayte and all present to witness that, murder as it +undoubtedly was, it had not been in resisting the Queen's warrant, but +in private revenge of the servant, Harry Gillingham, for his master +Babington, whom he believed to have been betrayed by this gentleman. + +It appeared that the constable knew neither the name of the gentleman +nor whom the warrant mentioned. He had only been summoned in the +Queen's name to come on board the Mastiff to assist in securing the +person of a young gentlewoman, but who she was, or why she was to be +arrested, the man did not know. He saw no lady on deck, and he was by +no means disposed to make any search, and the presence of Master +Heatherthwayte likewise impressed him much with the belief that all was +right with the gentlemen. + +Of course it would have been his duty to detain the Mastiff for an +inquiry into the matter, but the poor man was extremely ill at ease in +the vessel and among the retainers of my Lord of Shrewsbury; and in +point of fact, they might all have been concerned in a crime of much +deeper dye without his venturing to interfere. He saw no one to +arrest, the warrant was lost, the murderer was dead, and he was +thankful enough to be returned to his boat with Master Richard Talbot's +assurance that it was probable that no inquiry would be made, but that +if it were, the pilot would be there to bear witness of his innocence, +and that he himself should return in a month at latest with the Mastiff. + +Master Heatherthwayte consoled the constable further by saying he would +return in his boat, and speak for him if there were any inquiry after +the other passenger. + +"I must speak my farewells here," he said, "and trust we shall have no +coil to meet you on your return, Master Richard." + +"But for her," said Humfrey, "I could not let my father face it alone. +When she is in safety"-- + +"Tush, lad," said his father, "such plotters as yonder poor wretch had +become are not such choice prizes as to be inquired for. Men are only +too glad to be rid of them when their foul work is done." + +"So farewell, good Master Heatherthwayte," added Humfrey, "with thanks +for this day's work. I have read of good and evil geniuses or angels, +be they which they may, haunting us for life, and striving for the +mastery. Methinks my Cis hath found both on the same Humber which +brought her to us." + +"Nay, go not forth with Pagan nor Popish follies on thy tongue, young +man," said Heatherthwayte, "but rather pray that the blessing of the +Holy One, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of thy father, +may be with thee and thine in this strange land, and bring thee safely +back in His own time. And surely He will bless the faithful." + +And Richard Talbot said Amen. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +TEN YEARS AFTER. + + +It was ten years later in the reign of Elizabeth, when James VI. was +under one of his many eclipses of favour, and when the united English +and Dutch fleets had been performing gallant exploits at Cadiz and +Tercera, that license for a few weeks' absence was requested for one of +the lieutenants in her Majesty's guard, Master Richard Talbot. + +"And wherefore?" demanded the royal lady of Sir Walter Raleigh, the +captain of her guard, who made the request. + +"To go to the Hague to look after his brother's widow and estate, so +please your Majesty; more's the pity," said Raleigh. + +"His brother's widow?" repeated the Queen. + +"Yea, madam. For it may be feared that young Humfrey Talbot--I know +not whether your Majesty ever saw him--but he was my brave brother +Humfrey Gilbert's godson, and sailed with us to the West some sixteen +years back. He was as gallant a sailor as ever trod a deck, and I +never could see why he thought fit to take service with the States. But +he did good work in the time of the Armada, and I saw him one of the +foremost in the attack on Cadiz. Nay, he was one of those knighted by +my Lord of Essex in the market-place. Then he sailed with my Lord of +Cumberland for the Azores, now six months since, and hath not since +been heard of, as his brother tells me, and therefore doth Talbot +request this favour of your Majesty." + +"Send the young man to me," returned the Queen. + +Diccon, to give him his old name, was not quite so unsophisticated as +when his father had first left him in London. Though a good deal +shocked by what a new arrival from Holland had just told him of the +hopelessness of ever seeing the Ark of Fortune and her captain again, +he was not so overpowered with grief as to prevent him from being full +of excitement and gratification at the honour of an interview with the +Queen, and he arranged his rich scarlet and gold attire so as to set +himself off to the best advantage, that so he might be pronounced "a +proper man." + +Queen Elizabeth was now some years over sixty, and her nose and chin +began to meet, but otherwise she was as well preserved as ever, and +quite as alert and dignified. To his increased surprise, she was +alone, and as she was becoming a little deaf, she made him kneel very +near her chair. + +"So, Master Talbot," she said, "you are the son of Richard Talbot of +Bridgefield." + +"An it so please your Majesty." + +"And you request license from us to go to the Hague?" + +"An it so please your Majesty," repeated Diccon, wondering what was +coming next; and as she paused for him to continue--"There are grave +rumours and great fears for my brother's ship--he being in the Dutch +service--and I would fain learn the truth and see what may be done for +his wife." + +"Who is his wife?" demanded the Queen, fixing her keen glittering eyes +on him, but he replied with readiness. + +"She was an orphan brought up by my father and mother." + +"Young man, speak plainly. No tampering serves here. She is the wench +who came hither to plead for the Queen of Scots." + +"Yea, madam," said Diccon, seeing that direct answers were required. + +"Tell me truly," continued the Queen. "On your duty to your Queen, is +she what she called herself?" + +"To the best of my belief she is, madam," he answered. + +"Look you, sir, Cavendish brought back word that it was all an +ingenious figment which had deceived your father, mother, and the maid +herself--and no wonder, since the Queen of Scots persisted therein to +the last." + +"Yea, madam, but my mother still keeps absolute proofs in the garments +and the letter that were found on the child when recovered from the +wreck. I had never known that she was not my sister till her journey +to London; and when next I went to the north my mother told me the +whole truth." + +"I pray, then, how suits it with the boasted loyalty of your house that +this brother of yours should have wedded the maid?" + +"Madam; it was not prudent, but he had never a thought save for her +throughout his life. Her mother committed her to him, and holding the +matter a deep and dead secret, he thought to do your Majesty no wrong +by the marriage. If he erred, be merciful, madam." + +"Pah! foolish youth, to whom should I be merciful since the man is +dead? No doubt he hath left half a score of children to be puffed up +with the wind of their royal extraction." + +"Not one, madam. When last I heard they were still childless." + +"And now you are on your way to take on you the cheering of your +sister-in-law, the widow," said the Queen, and as Diccon made a gesture +of assent, she stretched out her hand and drew him nearer. "She is then +alone in the world. She is my kinswoman, if so be she is all she calls +herself. Now, Master Talbot, go not open-mouthed about your work, but +tell this lady that if she can prove her kindred to me, and bring +evidence of her birth at Lochleven, I will welcome her here, treat her +as my cousin the Princess of Scotland, and, it may be, put her on her +way to higher preferment, so she prove herself worthy thereof. You +take me, sir?" + +Diccon did take in the situation. He had understood how Cavendish, +partly blinded by Langston, partly unwilling to believe in any +competitor who would be nearer the throne than his niece Arabella +Stewart, and partly disconcerted by Langston's disappearance, had made +such a report to the Queen and the French Ambassador, that they had +thought that the whole matter was an imposture, and had been so ashamed +of their acquiescence as to obliterate all record of it. But the +Queen's mind had since recurred to the matter, and as in these later +years of her reign one of her constant desires was to hinder James from +making too sure of the succession, she was evidently willing to play +his sister off against him. + +Nay, in the general uncertainty, dreams came over Diccon of possible +royal honours to Queen Bridget; and then what glories would be +reflected on the house of Talbot! His father and mother were too old, +no doubt, to bask in the sunshine of the Court, and Ned--pity that he +was a clergyman, and had done so dull a thing as marry that little +pupil of his mother's, Laetitia, as he had rendered her Puritan name. +But he might be made a bishop, and his mother's scholar would always +become any station. And for Diccon himself--assuredly the Mastiff race +would rejoice in a new coronet! + +Seven weeks later, Diccon was back again, and was once more summoned to +the Queen's apartment. He looked crestfallen, and she began,-- + +"Well, sir? Have you brought the lady?" + +"Not so, an't please your Majesty." + +"And wherefore? Fears she to come, or has she sent no message nor +letter?" + +"She sends her deep and humble thanks, madam, for the honour your +Majesty intended her, but she--" + +"How now? Is she too great a fool to accept of it?" + +"Yea, madam. She prays your Grace to leave her in her obscurity at the +Hague." + +Elizabeth made a sound of utter amazement and incredulity, and then +said, "This is new madness! Come, young man, tell me all! This is as +good and new as ever was play. Let me hear. What like is she? And +what is her house to be preferred to mine?" + +Diccon saw his cue, and began-- + +"Her house, madam, is one of those tall Dutch mansions with high roof, +and many small windows therein, with a stoop or broad flight of steps +below, on the banks of a broad and pleasant canal, shaded with fine +elm-trees. There I found her on the stoop, in the shade, with two or +three children round her; for she is a mother to all the English +orphans there, and they are but too many. They bring them to her as a +matter of course when their parents die, and she keeps them till their +kindred in England claim them. Madam, her queenliness of port hath +gained on her. Had she come, she would not have shamed your Majesty; +and it seems that, none knowing her true birth, she is yet well-nigh a +princess among the many wives of officers and merchants who dwell at +the Hague, and doubly so among the men, to whom she and her husband +have never failed to do a kindness. Well, madam, I weary you. She +greeted me as the tender sister she has ever been, but she would not +brook to hear of fears or compassion for my brother. She would listen +to no word of doubt that he was safe, but kept the whole household in +perfect readiness for him to come. At last I spake your Majesty's +gracious message; and, madam, pardon me, but all I got was a sound +rating, that I should think any hope of royal splendour or preferment +should draw her from waiting for Humfrey. Ay, she knew he would come! +And if not, she would never be more than his faithful widow. Had he +not given up all for her? Should she fail in patience because his ship +tarried awhile? No; he should find her ready in his home that he had +made for her." + +"Why, this is as good as the Globe Theatre!" cried the Queen, but with +a tear glittering in her eye. + +"Your Majesty would have said so truly," said Diccon; "for as I sat at +evening, striving hard to make her give over these fantastic notions +and consult her true interest, behold she gave a cry--''Tis his foot!' +Yea, and verily there was Humfrey, brown as a berry, having been so far +with his mate as to the very mouth of the River Plate. He had, indeed, +lost his Ark of Fortune, but he has come home with a carrack that +quadruples her burthen, and with a thousand bars of silver in her hold. +And then, madam, the joy, the kisses, the embraces, and even more--the +look of perfect content, and peace, and trust, were enough to make a +bachelor long for a wife." + +"Long to be a fool!" broke out the Queen sharply. "Look you, lad: +there may be such couples as this Humfrey and--what call you her?--here +and there." + +"My father and mother are such." + +"Yea, saucy cockerel as you are; but for one such, there are a hundred +others who fret the yoke, and long to be free! Ay, and this brother of +thine, what hath he got with this wife of his but banishment and dread +of his own land?" + +"Even so, madam; but they still count all they either could have had or +hoped for, nought in comparison with their love to one another." + +"After ten years! Ha! They are no subjects for this real world of +ours; are they not rather swains in my poor Philip Sidney's Arcadia? +Ho, no; 'twere pity to meddle with them. Leave them to their Dutch +household and their carracks. Let them keep their own secret; I'll +meddle in the matter no more." + +And so, though after Elizabeth's death and James's accession, Sir +Humfrey and Lady Talbot gladdened the eyes of the loving and venerable +pair at Bridgefield, the Princess Bride of Scotland still remained in +happy obscurity, "Unknown to History." + + + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Unknown to History, by Charlotte M. Yonge + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNKNOWN TO HISTORY *** + +***** This file should be named 4596.txt or 4596.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/5/9/4596/ + +Produced by Sandra Laythorpe. 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