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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6253-0.txt b/6253-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d77db83 --- /dev/null +++ b/6253-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5820 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Michel and Angele [A Ladder of Swords], +Complete, by Gilbert Parker + +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: Michel and Angele [A Ladder of Swords], Complete + +Author: Gilbert Parker + +Release Date: October 18, 2006 [EBook #6253] +Last Updated: August 27, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHEL AND ANGELE *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +MICHEL AND ANGELE, Complete + +[A Ladder of Swords] + + +By Gilbert Parker + + + +INTRODUCTION + +If it does not seem too childish a candour to say so, ‘Michel and +Angele’ always seems to me like some old letter lifted out of an ancient +cabinet with the faint perfume of bygone days upon it. Perhaps that is +because the story itself had its origin in a true but brief record of +some good Huguenots who fled from France and took refuge in England, to +be found, as the book declares, at the Walloon Church, in Southampton. + +The record in the first paragraphs of the first chapter of the book +fascinated my imagination, and I wove round Michel de la Foret and +Angele Aubert a soft, bright cloud of romance which would not leave my +vision until I sat down and wrote out what, in the writing, seemed to +me a true history. It was as though some telepathy between the days +of Elizabeth and our own controlled me--self-hypnotism, I suppose; +but still, there it was. The story, in its original form, was first +published in ‘Harper’s Weekly’ under the name of Michel and Angele, but +the fear, I think, that many people would mispronounce the first word of +the title, induced me to change it when, double in length, it became a +volume called ‘A Ladder of Swords’. + +As it originally appeared, I wrote it in the Island of Jersey, out at +the little Bay of Rozel in a house called La Chaire, a few yards away +from the bay itself, and having a pretty garden with a seat at its +highest point, from which, beyond the little bay, the English Channel +ran away to the Atlantic. It was written in complete seclusion. I had +no visitors; there was no one near, indeed, except the landlord of the +little hotel in the bay, and his wife. All through the Island, however, +were people whom I knew, like the Malet de Carterets, the Lemprieres, +and old General Pipon, for whom the Jersey of three hundred years +ago was as near as the Jersey of to-day, so do the Jersiais prize, +cultivate, and conserve every hour of its recorded history. + +As the sea opens out to a vessel making between the promontories to the +main, so, while writing this tale which originally was short, the larger +scheme of ‘The Battle of the Strong’ spread out before me, luring me, +as though in the distance were the Fortunate Isles. Eight years after +‘Michel and Angele’ was written and first published in ‘Harper’s +Weekly’, I decided to give it the dignity of a full-grown romance. For +years I had felt that it had the essentials for a larger canvas, and at +the earnest solicitation of Messrs. Harper & Brothers I settled to do +what had long been in my mind. The narrative grew as naturally from +what it was to larger stature as anything that had been devised upon a +greater scale at the beginning; and in London town I had the same joy +in the company of Michel and Angele--and a vastly increased joy in the +company of Lempriere, the hulking, joyous giant--as I had years before +in Jersey itself when the story first stirred in my mind and reached my +pen. + +While adverse reviews of the book were few if any, it cannot be said +that this romance is a companion in popularity with, for instance, ‘The +Right of Way’. It had its friends, but it has apparently appealed to +smaller audiences--to those who watch the world go by; who are not +searching for the exposure of life’s grim realities; who do not seek the +clinic of the soul’s tragedies. There was tragedy here, but there was +comedy too; there was also joy and faith, patience and courage. The +book, taken by itself, could not make a permanent reputation for any +man, but it has its place in the scheme of my work, and I would not have +it otherwise than it is. + + + + +A NOTE + +There will be found a few anachronisms in this tale, but none so +important as to give a wrong impression of the events of Queen +Elizabeth’s reign. + + + + +MICHEL AND ANGELE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +If you go to Southampton and search the register of the Walloon Church +there, you will find that in the summer of ‘57, + + “Madame Vefue de Montgomery with all her family and servants were + admitted to the Communion”--“Tous ceux ce furent Recus la a Cene du + ‘57, comme passans, sans avoir Rendu Raison de la foj, mes sur la + tesmognage de Mons. Forest, Ministre de Madame, quj certifia quj ne + cognoisoit Rien en tout ceux la po’ quoy Il ne leur deust administre + la Cene s’il estoit en lieu po’ a ferre.” + +There is another striking record, which says that in August of the same +year Demoiselle Angele Claude Aubert, daughter of Monsieur de la Haie +Aubert, Councillor of the Parliament of Rouen, was married to Michel de +la Foret, of the most noble Flemish family of that name. + +When I first saw these records, now grown dim with time, I fell to +wondering what was the real life-history of these two people. Forthwith, +in imagination, I began to make their story piece by piece; and I had +reached a romantic ‘denoument’ satisfactory to myself and in sympathy +with fact, when the Angel of Accident stepped forward with some “human +documents.” Then I found that my tale, woven back from the two obscure +records I have given, was the true story of two most unhappy yet most +happy people. From the note struck in my mind, when my finger touched +that sorrowful page in the register of the Church of the Refugees at +Southampton, had spread out the whole melody and the very book of the +song. + +One of the later-discovered records was a letter, tear-stained, faded, +beautifully written in old French, from Demoiselle Angele Claude Aubert +to Michel de la Foret at Anvers in March of the year 157_. The letter +lies beside me as I write, and I can scarcely believe that three and +a quarter centuries have passed since it was written, and that she who +wrote it was but eighteen years old at the time. I translate it into +English, though it is impossible adequately to carry over either the +flavour or the idiom of the language: + + Written on this May Day of the year 157_, at the place hight Rozel + in the Manor called of the same of Jersey Isle, to Michel de la + Foret, at Anvers in Flanders. + + MICHEL, Thy good letter by safe carriage cometh to my hand, bringing + to my heart a lightness it hath not known since that day when I was + hastily carried to the port of St. Malo, and thou towards the King + his prison. In what great fear have I lived, having no news of thee + and fearing all manner of mischance! But our God hath benignly + saved thee from death, and me He hath set safely here in this isle + of the sea. + + Thou hast ever been a brave soldier, enduring and not fearing; thou + shalt find enow to keep thy blood stirring in these days of trial + and peril to us who are so opprobriously called Les Huguenots. If + thou wouldst know more of my mind thereupon, come hither. Safety is + here, and work for thee--smugglers and pirates do abound on these + coasts, and Popish wolves do harry the flock even in this island + province of England. Michel, I plead for the cause which thou hast + nobly espoused, but--alas! my selfish heart, where thou art lie work + and fighting, and the same high cause, and sadly, I confess, it is + for mine own happiness that I ask thee to come. I wot well that + escape from France hath peril, that the way hither from that point + upon yonder coast called Carteret is hazardous, but yet-but yet all + ways to happiness are set with hazard. + + If thou dost come to Carteret thou wilt see two lights turning this- + wards: one upon a headland called Tour de Rozel, and one upon the + great rock called of the Ecrehos. These will be in line with thy + sight by the sands of Hatainville. Near by the Tour de Rozel shall + I be watching and awaiting thee. By day and night doth my prayer + ascend for thee. + + The messenger who bears this to thee (a piratical knave with a most + kind heart, having, I am told, a wife in every port of France and of + England the south, a most heinous sin!) will wait for thy answer, or + will bring thee hither, which is still better. He is worthy of + trust if thou makest him swear by the little finger of St. Peter. + By all other swearings he doth deceive freely. + + The Lord make thee true, Michel. If thou art faithful to me, I + shall know how faithful thou art in all; for thy vows to me were + most frequent and pronounced, with a full savour that might warrant + short seasoning. Yet, because thou mayst still be given to such + dear fantasies of truth as were on thy lips in those dark days + wherein thy sword saved my life ‘twixt Paris and Rouen, I tell thee + now that I do love thee, and shall so love when, as my heart + inspires me, the cloud shall fall that will hide us from each other + forever. + + ANGELE. + + An Afterword: + + I doubt not we shall come to the heights where there is peace, + though we climb thereto by a ladder of swords. A. + +Some years before Angele’s letter was written, Michel de la Foret had +become an officer in the army of Comte Gabriel de Montgomery, and fought +with him until what time the great chief was besieged in the Castle of +Domfront in Normandy. When the siege grew desperate, Montgomery besought +the intrepid young Huguenot soldier to escort Madame de Montgomery to +England, to be safe from the oppression and misery sure to follow any +mishap to this noble leader of the Camisards. + +At the very moment of departure of the refugees from Domfront with the +Comtesse, Angele’s messenger--the “piratical knave with the most kind +heart” presented himself, delivered her letter to De la Foret, and +proceeded with the party to the coast of Normandy by St. Brieuc. +Embarking there in a lugger which Buonespoir the pirate secured for +them, they made for England. + +Having come but half-way of the Channel, the lugger was stopped by an +English frigate. After much persuasion the captain of the frigate agreed +to land Madame de Montgomery upon the island of Jersey, but forced De la +Foret to return to the coast of France; and Buonespoir elected to return +with him. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Meanwhile Angele had gone through many phases of alternate hope and +despair. She knew that Montgomery the Camisard was dead, and a rumour, +carried by refugees, reached her that De la Foret had been with him to +the end. To this was presently added the word that De la Foret had been +beheaded. But one day she learned that the Comtesse de Montgomery +was sheltered by the Governor, Sir Hugh Pawlett, her kinsman, at Mont +Orgueil Castle. Thither she went in fear from her refuge at Rozel, and +was admitted to the Comtesse. There she learned the joyful truth that De +la Foret had not been slain, and was in hiding on the coast of Normandy. + +The long waiting was a sore trial, yet laughter was often upon her +lips henceforth. The peasants, the farmers and fishermen of Jersey, +at first--as they have ever been--little inclined towards strangers, +learned at last to look for her in the fields and upon the shore, and +laughed in response, they knew not why, to the quick smiling of +her eyes. She even learned to speak their unmusical but friendly +Norman-Jersey French. There were at least a half-dozen fishermen who, +for her, would have gone at night straight to the Witches’ Rock in St. +Clement’s Bay--and this was bravery unmatched. + +It came to be known along the coast that “Ma’m’selle” was waiting for a +lover fleeing from the French coast. This gave her fresh interest in the +eyes of the serfs and sailors and their women folk, who at first were +not inclined towards the Huguenot maiden, partly because she was French, +and partly because she was not a Catholic. But even these, when they saw +that she never talked religiously, that she was fast learning to speak +their own homely patois, and that in the sickness of their children she +was untiring in her kindness, forgave the austerity of the gloomy-browed +old man her father, who spoke to them distantly, or never spoke at all; +and her position was secure. Then, upon the other hand, the gentry of +the manors, seeing the friendship grow between her and the Comtesse de +Montgomery at Mont Orgueil Castle, made courteous advances towards her +father, and towards herself through him. + +She could scarce have counted the number of times she climbed the great +hill like a fortress at the lift of the little bay of Rozel, and from +the Nez du Guet scanned the sea for a sail and the sky for fair weather. +When her eyes were not thus busy, they were searching the lee of the +hillside round for yellow lilies, and the valley below for the campion, +the daffodil, and the thousand pretty ferns growing in profusion there. +Every night she looked out to see that her signal fire was lit upon the +Nez du Guet, and she never went to bed without taking one last look over +the sea, in the restless inveterate hope which at once sustained her and +devoured her. + +But the longest waiting must end. It came on the evening of the very day +that the Seigneur of Rozel went to Angele’s father and bluntly told him +he was ready to forego all Norman-Jersey prejudice against the French +and the Huguenot religion, and take Angele to wife without penny or +estate. + +In reply to the Seigneur, Monsieur Aubert said that he was conscious of +an honour, and referred Monsieur to his daughter, who must answer for +herself; but he must tell Monsieur of Rozel that Monsieur’s religion +would, in his own sight, be a high bar to the union. To that the +Seigneur said that no religion that he had could be a bar to anything at +all; and so long as the young lady could manage her household, drive a +good bargain with the craftsmen and hucksters, and have the handsomest +face and manners in the Channel Islands, he’d ask no more; and she might +pray for him and his salvation without let or hindrance. + +The Seigneur found the young lady in a little retreat among the rocks, +called by the natives La Chaire. Here she sat sewing upon some coarse +linen for a poor fisherwoman’s babe when the Seigneur came near. She +heard the scrunch of his heels upon the gravel, the clank of his sword +upon the rocks, and looked up with a flush, her needle poised; for none +should know of her presence in this place save her father. When she saw +who was her visitor, she rose. After greeting and compliment, none too +finely put, but more generous than fitted with Jersey parsimony, the +gentleman of Rozel came at once to the point. + +“My name is none too bad,” said he--“Raoul Lempriere, of the Lemprieres +that have been here since Rollo ruled in Normandy. My estate is none +worse than any in the whole islands; I have more horses and dogs than +any gentleman of my acres; and I am more in favour at court than De +Carteret of St. Ouen’s. I am the Queen’s butler, and I am the first that +royal favour granted to set up three dove-cotes, one by St. Aubin’s, one +by St. Helier’s, and one at Rozel: and--and,” he added, with a lumbering +attempt at humour--“and, on my oath, I’ll set up another dove-cote with +out my sovereign’s favour, with your leave alone. By our Lady, I do +love that colour in yon cheek! Just such a colour had my mother when +she snatched from the head of my cousin of Carteret’s milk-maid wife +the bonnet of a lady of quality and bade her get to her heifers. God’s +beauty! but ‘tis a colour of red primroses in thy cheeks and blue +campions in thine eyes. Come, I warrant I can deepen that colour”--he +bowed low--“Madame of Rozel, if it be not too soon!” + +The girl listened to this cheerful and loquacious proposal and courtship +all in one, ending with the premature bestowal of a title, in mingled +anger, amusement, disdain, and apprehension. Her heart fluttered, then +stood still, then flew up in her throat, then grew terribly hot and hurt +her, so that she pressed her hand to her bosom as though that might ease +it. By the time he had finished, drawn himself up, and struck his foot +upon the ground in burly emphasis of his devoted statements, the girl +had sufficiently recovered to answer him composedly, and with a little +glint of demure humour in her eyes. She loved another man; she did +not care so much as a spark for this happy, swearing, swashbuckling +gentleman; yet she saw he had meant to do her honour. He had treated her +as courteously as was in him to do; he chose her out from all the ladies +of his acquaintance to make her an honest offer of his hand--he had +said nothing about his heart; he would, should she marry him, throw her +scraps of good-humour, bearish tenderness, drink to her health among his +fellows, and respect and admire her--even exalt her almost to the rank +of a man in his own eyes; and he had the tolerance of the open-hearted +and open-handed man. All these things were as much a compliment to +her as though she were not a despised Huguenot, an exiled lady of no +fortune. She looked at him a moment with an almost solemn intensity, so +that he shifted his ground uneasily, but at once smiled encouragingly, +to relieve her embarrassment at the unexpected honour done her. She had +remained standing; now, as he made a step towards her, she sank down +upon the seat, and waved him back courteously. + +“A moment, Monsieur of Rozel,” she ventured. “Did my father send you to +me?” + +He inclined his head and smiled again. + +“Did you say to him what you have said to me?” she asked, not quite +without a touch of malice. + +“I left out about the colour in the cheek,” he answered, with a smirk at +what he took to be the quickness of his wit. + +“You kept your paint-pot for me,” she replied softly. + +“And the dove-cote, too,” he rejoined, bowing finely, and almost carried +off his feet by his own brilliance. She became serious at once--so +quickly that he was ill prepared for it, and could do little but stare +and pluck at the tassel of his sword; for he was embarrassed before this +maiden, who changed as quickly as the currents change under the brow of +the Couperon Cliff, behind which lay his manor-house of Rozel. + +“I have visited at your manor, Monsieur of Rozel. I have seen the state +in which you live, your retainers, your men-at-arms, your farming-folk, +and your sailormen. I know how your Queen receives you; how your honour +is as stable as your fief.” + +He drew himself up again proudly. He could understand this speech. + +“Your horses and your hounds I have seen,” she added, “your men-servants +and your maid-servants, your fields of corn, your orchards, and your +larder. I have sometimes broken the Commandment and coveted them and +envied you.” + +“Break the Commandment again, for the last time,” he cried, delighted +and boisterous. “Let us not waste words, lady. Let’s kiss and have it +over.” + +Her eyes flashed. “I coveted them and envied you; but then, I am but a +vain girl at times, and vanity is easier to me than humbleness.” + +“Blood of man, but I cannot understand so various a creature!” he broke +in, again puzzled. + +“There is a little chapel in the dell beside your manor, Monsieur. If +you will go there, and get upon your knees, and pray till the candles no +more burn, and the Popish images crumble in their places, you will yet +never understand myself or any woman.” + +“There’s no question of Popish images between us,” he answered, vainly +trying for foothold. “Pray as you please, and I’ll see no harm comes to +the Mistress of Rozel.” + +He was out of his bearings and impatient. Religion to him was a dull +recreation invented chiefly for women. She became plain enough now. +“‘Tis no images nor religion that stands between us,” she answered, +“though they might well do so. It is that I do not love you, Monsieur of +Rozel.” + +His face, which had slowly clouded, suddenly cleared. “Love! Love!” He +laughed good-humouredly. “Love comes, I’m told, with marriage. But we +can do well enough without fugling on that pipe. Come, come, dost think +I’m not a proper man and a gentleman? Dost think I’ll not use thee well +and ‘fend thee, Huguenot though thou art, ‘gainst trouble or fret or any +man’s persecutions--be he my Lord Bishop, my Lord Chancellor, or King of +France, or any other?” + +She came a step closer to him, even as though she would lay a hand upon +his arm. “I believe that you would do all that in you lay,” she answered +steadily. “Yours is a rough wooing, but it is honest--” + +“Rough! Rough!” he protested, for he thought he had behaved like some +Adonis. Was it not ten years only since he had been at Court! + +“Be assured, Monsieur, that I know how to prize the man who speaks after +the light given him. I know that you are a brave and valorous gentleman. +I must thank you most truly and heartily, but, Monsieur, you and yours +are not for me. Seek elsewhere, among your own people, in your own +religion and language and position, the Mistress of Rozel.” + +He was dumfounded. Now he comprehended the plain fact that he had been +declined. + +“You send me packing!” he blurted out, getting red in the face. + +“Ah, no! Say it is my misfortune that I cannot give myself the great +honour,” she said; in her tone a little disdainful dryness, a little +pity, a little feeling that here was a good friend lost. + +“It’s not because of the French soldier that was with Montgomery at +Domfront?--I’ve heard that story. But he’s gone to heaven, and ‘tis vain +crying for last year’s breath,” he added, with proud philosophy. + +“He is not dead. And if he were,” she added, “do you think, Monsieur, +that we should find it easier to cross the gulf between us?” + +“Tut, tut, that bugbear Love!” he said shortly. “And so you’d lose a +good friend for a dead lover? I’ faith, I’d befriend thee well if thou +wert my wife, Ma’m’selle.” + +“It is hard for those who need friends to lose them,” she answered +sadly. + +The sorrow of her position crept in upon her and filled her eyes with +tears. She turned them to the sea-instinctively towards that point on +the shore where she thought it likely Michel might be; as though by +looking she might find comfort and support in this hard hour. + +Even as she gazed into the soft afternoon light she could see, far over, +a little sail standing out towards the Ecrehos. Not once in six months +might the coast of France be seen so clearly. One might almost have +noted people walking on the beach. This was no good token, for when that +coast may be seen with great distinctness a storm follows hard after. +The girl knew this; and though she could not know that this was Michel +de la Foret’s boat, the possibility fixed itself in her mind. She +quickly scanned the horizon. Yes, there in the north-west was gathering +a dark-blue haze, hanging like small filmy curtains in the sky. + +The Seigneur of Rozel presently broke the silence so awkward for him. He +had seen the tears in her eyes, and though he could not guess the cause, +he vaguely thought it might be due to his announcement that she had +lost a friend. He was magnanimous at once, and he meant what he said and +would stand by it through thick and thin. + +“Well, well, I’ll be thy everlasting friend if not thy husband,” he said +with ornate generosity. “Cheer thy heart, lady.” + +With a sudden impulse she seized his hand and kissed it, and, turning, +ran swiftly down the rocks towards her home. + +He stood and looked after her, then, dumfounded, at the hand she had +kissed. + +“Blood of my heart!” he said, and shook his head in utter amazement. + +Then he turned and looked out upon the Channel. He saw the little boat +Angele had descried making from France. Glancing at the sky, “What fools +come there!” he said anxiously. + +They were Michel de la Foret and Buonespoir the pirate, in a +black-bellied cutter with red sails. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +For weeks De la Foret and Buonespoir had lain in hiding at St. Brieuc. +At last Buonespoir declared all was ready once again. He had secured for +the Camisard the passport and clothes of a priest who had but just died +at Granville. Once again they made the attempt to reach English soil. + +Standing out from Carteret on the Belle Suzanne, they steered for the +light upon the Marmotier Rocks of the Ecrehos, which Angele had paid a +fisherman to keep going every night. This light had caused the French +and English frigates some uneasiness, and they had patrolled the Channel +from Cap de la Hague to the Bay of St. Brieuc with a vigilance worthy +of a larger cause. One fine day an English frigate anchored off the +Ecrehos, and the fisherman was seized. He, poor man, swore that he kept +the light burning to guide his brother fishermen to and fro between +Boulay Bay and the Ecrehos. The captain of the frigate tried severities; +but the fisherman stuck to his tale, and the light burned on as +before--a lantern stuck upon a pole. One day, with a telescope, +Buonespoir had seen the exact position of the staff supporting the +light, and had mapped out his course accordingly. He would head straight +for the beacon and pass between the Marmotier and the Maitre Ile, where +is a narrow channel for a boat drawing only a few feet of water. Unless +he made this, he must run south and skirt the Ecriviere Rock and +bank, where the streams setting over the sandy ridges make a confusing +perilous sea to mariners in bad weather. Else, he must sail north +between the Ecrehos and the Dirouilles, in the channel called Etoc, a +tortuous and dangerous passage save in good weather, and then safe only +to the mariner who knows the floor of that strait like his own hand. De +la Foret was wholly in the hands of Buonespoir, for he knew nothing of +these waters and coasts; also he was a soldier and no sailor. + +They cleared Cape Carteret with a fair wind from the north-east, which +should carry them safely as the bird flies to the haven of Rozel. The +high, pinkish sands of Hatainville were behind them; the treacherous +Taillepied Rocks lay to the north, and a sweet sea before. Nothing could +have seemed fairer and more hopeful. But a few old fishermen on shore +at Carteret shook their heads dubiously, and at Port Bail, some miles +below, a disabled naval officer, watching through a glass, rasped out, +“Criminals or fools!” But he shrugged his shoulders, for if they were +criminals he was sure they would expiate their crimes this night, and if +they were fools--he had no pity for fools. + +But Buonespoir knew his danger. Truth is, he had chosen this night +because they would be safest from pursuit, because no sensible seafaring +man, were he King’s officer or another, would venture forth upon the +impish Channel, save to court disaster. Pirate, and soldier in priest’s +garb, had frankly taken the chances. + +With a fair wind they might, with all canvas set--mainsail, foresail, +jib, and fore-topsail--make Rozel Bay within two hours and a quarter. +All seemed well for a brief half-hour. Then, even as the passage between +the Marmotier and the Ecrehos opened out, the wind suddenly shifted from +the north-east to the southwest and a squall came hurrying on them--a +few moments too soon; for, had they been clear of the Ecrehos, clear of +the Taillepieds, Felee Bank, and the Ecriviere, they could have stood +out towards the north in a more open sea. + +Yet there was one thing in their favour: the tide was now running hard +from the north-west, so fighting for them while the wind was against +them. Their only safety lay in getting beyond the Ecrehos. If they +attempted to run in to the Marmotier for safety, they would presently be +at the mercy of the French. To trust their doubtful fortunes and bear on +was the only way. The tide was running fast. They gave the mainsail to +the wind still more, and bore on towards the passage. At last, as they +were opening on it, the wind suddenly veered full north-east. The sails +flapped, the boat seemed to hover for a moment, and then a wave swept +her towards the rocks. Buonespoir put the helm hard over, she went +about, and they close-hauled her as she trembled towards the rocky +opening. + +This was the critical instant. A heavy sea was running, the gale was +blowing hard from the north-east, and under the close-hauled sail the +Belle Suzanne was lying over dangerously. But the tide, too, was running +hard from the south, fighting the wind; and, at the moment when all +seemed terribly uncertain, swept them past the opening and into the +swift-running channel, where the indraught sucked them through to the +more open water beyond. + +Although the Belle Suzanne was in more open water now, the danger was +not over. Ahead lay a treacherous sea, around them roaring winds, and +the perilous coast of Jersey beyond all. + +“Do you think we shall land?” quietly asked De la Foret, nodding towards +the Jersey coast. + +“As many chances ‘gainst it as for it, M’sieu’,” said Buonespoir, +turning his face to the north, for the wind had veered again to +north-east, and he feared its passing to the north-west, giving them a +head-wind and a swooping sea. + +Night came down, but with a clear sky and a bright moon; the wind, +however, not abating. The next three hours were spent in tacking, in +beating towards the Jersey coast under seas which almost swamped them. +They were standing off about a mile from the island, and could see +lighted fires and groups of people upon the shore, when suddenly a gale +came out from the southwest, the wind having again shifted. With an +oath, Buonespoir put the helm hard over, the Belle Suzanne came about +quickly, but as the gale struck her, the mast snapped like a pencil, she +heeled over, and the two adventurers were engulfed in the waves. + +A cry of dismay went up from the watchers on the shore. They turned with +a half-conscious sympathy towards Angele, for her story was known by +all, and in her face they read her mortal fear, though she made no cry, +but only clasped her hands in agony. Her heart told her that yonder +Michel de la Foret was fighting for his life. For an instant only she +stood, the terror of death in her eyes, then she turned to the excited +fishermen near. + +“Men, oh men,” she cried, “will you not save them? Will no one come with +me?” + +Some shook their heads sullenly, others appeared uncertain, but their +wives and children clung to them, and none stirred. Looking round +helplessly, Angele saw the tall figure of the Seigneur of Rozel. He had +been watching the scene for some time. Now he came quickly to her. + +“Is it the very man?” he asked her, jerking a finger towards the +struggling figures in the sea. + +“Yes, oh yes,” she replied, nodding her head piteously. “God tells my +heart it is.” + +Her father drew near and interposed. + +“Let us kneel and pray for two dying men,” said he, and straightway +knelt upon the sand. + +“By St. Martin, we’ve better medicine than that, apothecary!” said +Lempriere of Rozel loudly, and, turning round, summoned two serving-men. +“Launch my strong boat,” he added. “We will pick these gentlemen from +the brine, or know the end of it all.” + +The men hurried gloomily to the long-boat, ran her down to the shore and +into the surf. + +“You are going--you are going to save him, dear Seigneur?” asked the +girl tremulously. + +“To save him--that’s to be seen, mistress,” answered Lempriere, +and advanced to the fishermen. By dint of hard words, and as hearty +encouragement and promises, he got a half-dozen strong sailors to man +the boat. + +A moment after, they were all in. At a motion from the Seigneur, the +boat was shot out into the surf, and a cheer from the shore gave heart +to De la Foret and Buonespoir, who were being driven upon the rocks. + +The Jerseymen rowed gallantly; and the Seigneur, to give them heart, +promised a shilling, a capon, and a gallon of beer to each, if the +rescue was made. Again and again the two men seemed to sink beneath the +sea, and again and again they came to the surface and battled further, +torn, battered, and bloody, but not beaten. Cries of “We’re coming, +gentles, we’re coming!” from the Seigneur of Rozel, came ringing through +the surf to the dulled ears of the drowning men, and they struggled on. + +There never was a more gallant rescue. Almost at their last gasp the two +were rescued. + +“Mistress Aubert sends you welcome, sir, if you be Michel de la Foret,” + said Lempriere of Rozel, and offered the fugitive his horn of liquor as +he lay blown and beaten in the boat. + +“I am he,” De la Foret answered. “I owe you my life, Monsieur,” he +added. + +Lempriere laughed. “You owe it to the lady; and I doubt you can properly +pay the debt,” he answered, with a toss of the head; for had not the +lady refused him, the Seigneur of Rozel, six feet six in height, and all +else in proportion, while this gentleman was scarce six feet. + +“We can have no quarrel upon the point,” answered De la Foret, reaching +out his hand; “you have at least done tough work for her, and if I +cannot pay in gold, I can in kind. It was a generous deed, and it has +made a friend for ever of Michel de la Foret.” + +“Raoul Lempriere of Rozel they call me, Michel de la Foret, and by Rollo +the Duke, but I’ll take your word in the way of friendship, as the lady +yonder takes it for riper fruit! Though, faith, ‘tis fruit of a short +summer, to my thinking.” + +All this while Buonespoir the pirate, his face covered with blood, had +been swearing by the little finger of St. Peter that each Jerseyman +there should have the half of a keg of rum. He went so far in gratitude +as to offer the price of ten sheep which he had once secretly raided +from the Seigneur of Rozel and sold in France; for which he had been +seized on his later return to the island, and had escaped without +punishment. + +Hearing, Lempriere of Rozel roared at him in anger: “Durst speak to me! +For every fleece you thieved I’ll have you flayed with bow-strings if +ever I sight your face within my boundaries.” + +“Then I’ll fetch and carry no more for M’sieu’ of Rozel,” said +Buonespoir, in an offended tone, but grinning under his reddish beard. + +“When didst fetch and carry for me, varlet?” Lempriere roared again. + +“When the Seigneur of Rozel fell from his horse, overslung with sack, +the night of the royal Duke’s visit, and the footpads were on him, I +carried him on my back to the lodge of Rozel Manor. The footpads had +scores to settle with the great Rozel.” + +For a moment the Seigneur stared, then roared again, but this time with +laughter. + +“By the devil and Rollo, I have sworn to this hour that there was no man +in the isle could have carried me on his shoulders. And I was right, for +Jersiais you’re none, neither by adoption nor grace, but a citizen of +the sea.” + +He laughed again as a wave swept over them, drenching them, and a sudden +squall of wind came out of the north. “There’s no better head in the +isle than mine for measurement and thinking, and I swore no man under +eighteen stone could carry me, and I am twenty-five--I take you to be +nineteen stone, eh?” + +“Nineteen, less two ounces,” grinned Buonespoir. + +“I’ll laugh De Carteret of St. Ouen’s out of his stockings over this,” + answered Lempriere. “Trust me for knowing weights and measures! Look +you, varlet, thy sins be forgiven thee. I care not about the fleeces, if +there be no more stealing. St. Ouen’s has no head--I said no one man in +Jersey could have done it--I’m heavier by three stone than any man in +the island.” Thereafter there was little speaking among them, for the +danger was greater as they neared the shore. The wind and the sea were +against them; the tide, however, was in their favour. Others besides +M. Aubert offered up prayers for the safe-landing of the rescued and +rescuers. Presently an ancient fisherman broke out into a rude sailor’s +chanty, and every voice, even those of the two Huguenots, took it up: + + “When the Four Winds, the Wrestlers, strive with the Sun, + When the Sun is slain in the dark; + When the stars burn out, and the night cries + To the blind sea-reapers, and they rise, + And the water-ways are stark-- + God save us when the reapers reap! + When the ships sweep in with the tide to the shore, + And the little white boats return no more; + When the reapers reap, Lord give Thy sailors sleep, + If Thou cast us not upon the shore, + To bless Thee evermore: + To walk in Thy sight as heretofore + Though the way of the Lord be steep! + By Thy grace, + Show Thy face, + Lord of the land and the deep!” + +The song stilled at last. It died away in the roar of the surf, in +the happy cries of foolish women, and the laughter of men back from +a dangerous adventure. As the Seigneur’s boat was drawn up the shore, +Angele threw herself into the arms of Michel de la Foret, the soldier +dressed as a priest. + +Lempriere of Rozel stood abashed before this rich display of feeling. +In his hottest youth he could not have made such passionate motions of +affection. His feelings ran neither high nor broad, but neither did they +run low and muddy. His nature was a straight level of sensibility--a +rough stream between high banks of prejudice, topped with the foam of +vanity, now brawling in season, and now going steady and strong to the +sea. Angele had come to feel what he was beneath the surface. She +felt how unimaginative he was, and how his humour, which was but the +horse-play of vanity, helped him little to understand the world or +himself. His vanity was ridiculous, his self-importance was against +knowledge or wisdom; and Heaven had given him a small brain, a big and +noble heart, a pedigree back to Rollo, and the absurd pride of a little +lord in a little land. Angele knew all this; but realised also that he +had offered her all he was able to offer to any woman. + +She went now and put out both hands to him. “I shall ever pray God’s +blessing on the lord of Rozel,” she said, in a low voice. + +“‘Twould fit me no better than St. Ouen’s sword fits his fingers. I’ll +take thine own benison, lady--but on my cheek, not on my hand as this +day before at four of the clock.” His big voice lowered. “Come, come, +the hand thou kissed, it hath been the hand of a friend to thee, as +Raoul Lempriere of Rozel said he’d be. Thy lips upon his cheek, though +it be but a rough fellow’s fancy, and I warrant, come good, come +ill, Rozel’s face will never be turned from thee. Pooh, pooh! let yon +soldier-priest shut his eyes a minute; this is ‘tween me and thee; and +what’s done before the world’s without shame.” + +He stopped short, his black eyes blazing with honest mirth and kindness, +his breath short, having spoken in such haste. + +Her eyes could scarce see him, so full of tears were they; and, standing +on tiptoe, she kissed him upon each cheek. + +“‘Tis much to get for so little given,” she said, with a quiver in her +voice; “yet this price for friendship would be too high to pay to any +save the Seigneur of Rozel.” + +She hastily turned to the men who had rescued Michel and Buonespoir. +“If I had riches, riches ye should have, brave men of Jersey,” she said; +“but I have naught save love and thanks, and my prayers too, if ye will +have them.” + +“‘Tis a man’s duty to save his fellow an’ he can,” cried a gaunt +fisherman, whose daughter was holding to his lips a bowl of conger-eel +soup. + +“‘Twas a good deed to send us forth to save a priest of Holy Church,” + cried a weazened boat-builder with a giant’s arm, as he buried his +face in a cup of sack, and plunged his hand into a fishwife’s basket of +limpets. + +“Aye, but what means she by kissing and arm-getting with a priest?” + cried a snarling vraic-gatherer. “‘Tis some jest upon Holy Church, or +yon priest is no better than common men but an idle shame.” + +By this time Michel was among them. “Priest I am none, but a soldier,” + he said in a loud voice, and told them bluntly the reasons for his +disguise; then, taking a purse from his pocket, thrust into the hands +of his rescuers and their families pieces of silver and gave them brave +words of thanks. + +But the Seigneur was not to be outdone in generosity. His vanity ran +high; he was fain to show Angele what a gorgeous gentleman she had +failed to make her own; and he was in ripe good-humour all round. + +“Come, ye shall come, all of ye, to the Manor of Rozel, every man and +woman here. Ye shall be fed, and fuddled too ye shall be an’ ye will; +for honest drink which sends to honest sleep hurts no man. To my +kitchen with ye all; and you, messieurs”--turning to M. Aubert and De +la Fore-“and you, Mademoiselle, come, know how open is the door and full +the table at my Manor of Rozel--St. Ouen’s keeps a beggarly board.” + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Thus began the friendship of the bragging Seigneur of Rozel for the +three Huguenots, all because he had seen tears in a girl’s eyes and +misunderstood them, and because the same girl had kissed him. His pride +was flattered that they should receive protection from him, and the +flattery became almost a canonising when De Carteret of St. Ouen’s +brought him to task for harbouring and comforting the despised +Huguenots; for when De Carteret railed he was envious. So henceforth +Lempriere played Lord Protector with still more boisterous unction. +His pride knew no bounds when, three days after the rescue, Sir Hugh +Pawlett, the Governor, answering De la Foret’s letter requesting +permission to visit the Comtesse de Montgomery, sent him word to fetch +De la Foret to Mont Orgueil Castle. Clanking and blowing, he was shown +into the great hall with De la Foret, where waited Sir Hugh and the +widow of the renowned Camisard. Clanking and purring like an enormous +cat, he turned his head away to the window when De la Foret dropped on +his knees and kissed the hand of the Comtesse, whose eyes were full of +tears. Clanking and gurgling, he sat to a mighty meal of turbot, eels, +lobsters, ormers, capons, boar’s head, brawn, and mustard, swan, curlew, +and spiced meats. This he washed down with bastard, malmsey, and good +ale, topped with almonds, comfits, perfumed cherries with “ipocras,” + then sprinkled himself with rose-water and dabbled his face and hands +in it. Filled to the turret, he lurched to his feet, and drinking to Sir +Hugh’s toast, + +“Her sacred Majesty!” he clanked and roared. “Elizabeth!” as though +upon the field of battle. He felt the star of De Carteret declining +and Rozel’s glory ascending like a comet. Once set in a course, nothing +could change him. Other men might err, but once right, the Seigneur of +Rozel was everlasting. + +Of late he had made the cause of Michel de la Foret and Angele Aubert +his own. For this he had been raked upon the coals by De Carteret of St. +Ouen’s and his following, who taunted him with the saying: “Save a thief +from hanging and he’ll cut your throat.” Not that there was ill feeling +against De la Foret in person. He had won most hearts by a frank yet +still manner, and his story and love for Angele had touched the women +folk where their hearts were softest. But the island was not true to +itself or its history if it did not divide itself into factions, headed +by the Seigneurs, and there had been no ground for good division for +five years till De la Foret came. + +Short of actual battle, this new strife was the keenest ever known, +for Sir Hugh Pawlett was ranged on the side of the Seigneur of Rozel. +Kinsman of the Comtesse de Montgomery, of Queen Elizabeth’s own +Protestant religion, and admiring De la Foret, he had given every +countenance to the Camisard refugee. He had even besought the Royal +Court of Jersey to grant a pardon to Buonespoir the pirate, on condition +that he should never commit a depredation upon an inhabitant of the +island--this he was to swear to by the little finger of St. Peter. +Should he break his word, he was to be banished the island for ten +years, under penalty of death if he returned. When the hour had come for +Buonespoir to take the oath, he failed to appear; and the next morning +the Seigneur of St. Ouen’s discovered that during the night his cellar +had been raided of two kegs of canary, many flagons of muscadella, pots +of anchovies and boxes of candied “eringo,” kept solely for the visit +which the Queen had promised the island. There was no doubt of the +misdemeanant, for Buonespoir returned to De Carteret from St. Brieuc +the gabardine of one of his retainers, in which he had carried off the +stolen delicacies. + +This aggravated the feud between the partisans of St. Ouen’s and Rozel, +for Lempriere of Rozel had laughed loudly when he heard of the robbery, +and said “‘Tis like St. Ouen’s to hoard for a Queen and glut a pirate. +We feed as we get at Rozel, and will feed the Court well too when it +comes, or I’m no butler to Elizabeth.” + +But trouble was at hand for Michel and for his protector. The spies +of Catherine de Medici, mother of the King of France, were everywhere. +These had sent word that De la Foret was now attached to the meagre +suite of the widow of the great Camisard Montgomery, near the Castle of +Mont Orgueil. The Medici, having treacherously slain the chief, became +mad with desire to slay the lieutenant. She was set to have the man, +either through diplomacy with England, or to end him by assassination +through her spies. Having determined upon his death, with relentless +soul she pursued the cause as closely as though this exiled soldier were +a powerful enemy at the head of an army in France. + +Thus it was that she wrote to Queen Elizabeth, asking that “this arrant +foe of France, this churl, conspirator, and reviler of the Sacraments, +be rendered unto our hands for well-deserved punishment as warning to +all such evil-doers.” She told Elizabeth of De la Foret’s arrival in +Jersey, disguised as a priest of the Church of France, and set forth his +doings since landing with the Seigneur of Rozel. Further she went on to +say to “our sister of England” that “these dark figures of murder and +revolt be a peril to the soft peace of this good realm.” + +To this, Elizabeth, who had no knowledge of Michel, who desired peace +with France at this time, who had favours to ask of Catherine, and who +in her own realm had fresh reason to fear conspiracy through the Queen +of the Scots and others, replied forthwith that “If this De la Foret +falleth into our hands, and if it were found he had in truth conspired +against France its throne, had he a million lives, not one should +remain.” Having despatched this letter, she straightway sent a messenger +to Sir Hugh Pawlett in Jersey, making quest of De la Foret, and +commanding that he should be sent to her in England at once. + +When the Queen’s messenger arrived at Orgueil Castle, Lempriere chanced +to be with Sir Hugh Pawlett, and the contents of Elizabeth’s letter were +made known to him. + +At the moment Monsieur of Rozel was munching macaroons and washing them +down with canary. The Governor’s announcement was such a shock that he +choked and coughed, the crumbs flying in all directions; and another +pint of canary must be taken to flush his throat. Thus cleared for +action, he struck out. + +“‘Tis St. Ouen’s work,” he growled. + +“‘Tis the work of the Medici,” said Sir Hugh. “Read,” he added, holding +out the paper. + +Now Lempriere of Rozel had a poor eye for reading. He had wit enough to +wind about the difficulty. + +“If I see not the Queen’s commands, I’ve no warrant but Sir Hugh +Pawlett’s words, and I’ll to London and ask ‘fore her Majesty’s face if +she wrote them, and why. I’ll tell my tale and speak my mind, I pledge +you, sir.” + +“You’ll offend her Majesty. Her commands are here.” Pawlett tapped the +letter with his finger. + +“I’m butler to the Queen, and she will list to me. I’ll not smirk and +caper like St. Ouen’s; I’ll bear me like a man not speaking for himself. +I’ll speak as Harry her father spoke--straight to the purpose.... No, +no, no, I’m not to be wheedled, even by a Pawlett, and you shall not +ask me. If you want Michel de la Foret, come and take him. He is in my +house. But ye must take him, for come he shall not!” + +“You will not oppose the Queen’s officers?” + +“De la Foret is under my roof. He must be taken. I will give him up to +no one; and I’ll tell my sovereign these things when I see her in her +palace.” + +“I misdoubt you’ll play the bear,” said Pawlett, with a dry smile. + +“The Queen’s tongue is none so tame. I’ll travel by my star, get sweet +or sour.” + +“Well, well, ‘give a man luck, and throw him into the sea,’ is the old +proverb. I’m coming for your friend to-night.” + +“I’ll be waiting with my fingers on the door, sir,” said Rozel, with a +grim vanity and an outrageous pride in himself. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The Seigneur of Rozel found De la Foret at the house of M. Aubert. His +face was flushed with hard riding, and perhaps the loving attitude of +Michel and Angele deepened it, for at the garden gate the lovers were +saying adieu. + +“You have come for Monsieur de la Foret?” asked Angele anxiously. Her +quick look at the Seigneur’s face had told her there were things amiss. + +“There’s commands from the Queen. They’re for the ears of De la Foret,” + said the Seigneur. + +“I will hear them too,” said Angele, her colour going, her bearing +determined. + +The Seigneur looked down at her with boyish appreciation, then said +to De la Foret: “Two Queens make claim for you. The wolfish Catherine +writes to England for her lost Camisard, with much fool’s talk about +‘dark figures,’ and ‘conspirators,’ ‘churls,’ and foes of ‘soft peace’; +and England takes the bait and sends to Sir Hugh Pawlett yonder. And, in +brief, Monsieur, the Governor is to have you under arrest and send you +to England. God knows why two Queens make such a pother over a fellow +with naught but a sword and a lass to love him--though, come to think, +‘a man’s a man if he have but a hose on his head,’ as the proverb runs.” + +De la Foret smiled, then looked grave, as he caught sight of Angele’s +face. “‘Tis arrest, then?” he asked. + +“‘Tis come willy nilly,” answered the Seigneur. “And once they’ve forced +you from my doors, I’m for England to speak my mind to the Queen. I +can make interest for her presence--I hold court office,” he added with +puffing confidence. + +Angele looked up at him with quick tears, yet with a smile on her lips. + +“You are going to England for Michel’s sake?” she said in a low voice. + +“For Michel, or for you, or for mine honour, what matter, so that I go!” + he answered, then added: “there must be haste to Rozel, friend, lest the +Governor take Lempriere’s guest like a potato-digger in the fields.” + +Putting spurs to his horse, he cantered heavily away, not forgetting to +wave a pompous farewell to Angele. De la Foret was smiling as he turned +to Angele. She looked wonderingly at him, for she had felt that she must +comfort him, and she looked not for this sudden change in his manner. + +“Is prison-going so blithe, then?” she asked, with a little uneasy laugh +which was half a sob. + +“It will bring things to a head,” he answered. “After danger and busy +days, to be merely safe, it is scarce the life for Michel de la Foret. +I have my duty to the Comtesse; I have my love for you; but I seem of +little use by contrast with my past. And yet, and yet,” he added, half +sadly, “how futile has been all our fighting, so far as human eye can +see.” + +“Nothing is futile that is right, Michel,” the girl replied. “Thou hast +done as thy soul answered to God’s messages: thou hast fought when thou +couldst, and thou hast sheathed thy blade when there was naught else to +do. Are not both right?” + +He clasped her to his breast; then, holding her from him a little, +looked into her eyes steadily a moment. “God hath given thee a true +heart, and the true heart hath wisdom,” he answered. + +“You will not seek escape? Nor resist the Governor?” she asked eagerly. + +“Whither should I go? My place is here by you, by the Comtesse de +Montgomery. One day it may be I shall return to France, and to our +cause--” + +“If it be God’s will.” + +“If it be God’s will.” + +“Whatever comes, you will love me, Michel?” + +“I will love you, whatever comes.” + +“Listen.” She drew his head down. “I am no dragweight to thy life? Thou +wouldst not do otherwise if there were no foolish Angele?” + +He did not hesitate. “What is best is. I might do otherwise if there +were no Angele in my life to pilot my heart, but that were worse for +me.” + +“Thou art the best lover in all the world.” + +“I hope to make a better husband. To-morrow is carmine-lettered in my +calendar, if thou sayst thou wilt still have me under the sword of the +Medici.” + +Her hand pressed her heart suddenly. “Under the sword, if it be God’s +will,” she answered. Then, with a faint smile: “But no, I will not +believe the Queen of England will send thee, one of her own Protestant +faith, to the Medici.” + +“And thou wilt marry me?” + +“When the Queen of England approves thee,” she answered, and buried her +face in the hollow of his arm. + +An hour later Sir Hugh Pawlett came to the manor-house of Rozel with +two-score men-at-arms. The Seigneur himself answered the Governor’s +knocking, and showed himself in the doorway, with a dozen halberdiers +behind him. + +“I have come seeking Michel de la Foret,” said the Governor. + +“He is my guest.” + +“I have the Queen’s command to take him.” + +“He is my cherished guest.” + +“Must I force my way?” + +“Is it the Queen’s will that blood be shed?” + +“The Queen’s commands must be obeyed.” + +“The Queen is a miracle of the world, God save her! What is the charge +against him?” + +“Summon Michel de la Foret, ‘gainst whom it lies.” + +“He is my guest; ye shall have him only by force.” The Governor turned +to his men. “Force the passage and search the house,” he commanded. + +The company advanced with levelled pikes, but at a motion from the +Seigneur his men fell back before them, and, making a lane, disclosed +Michel de la Foret at the end of it. Michel had not approved of +Lempriere’s mummery of defence, but he understood from what good spirit +it sprung, and how it flattered the Seigneur’s vanity to make show of +resistance. + +The Governor greeted De la Foret with a sour smile, read to him the +Queen’s writ, and politely begged his company towards Mont Orgueil +Castle. + +“I’ll fetch other commands from her Majesty, or write me down a pedlar +of St. Ouen’s follies,” the Seigneur said from his doorway, as the +Governor and De la Foret bade him good-bye and took the road to the +Castle. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Michel de la Foret was gone, a prisoner. From the dusk of the trees by +the little chapel of Rozel, Angele had watched his exit in charge of the +Governor’s men. She had not sought to show her presence: she had seen +him--that was comfort to her heart; and she would not mar the memory of +that last night’s farewell by another before these strangers. She saw +with what quiet Michel bore his arrest, and she said to herself, as the +last halberdier vanished: + +“If the Queen do but speak with him, if she but look upon his face and +hear his voice, she must needs deal kindly by him. My Michel--ah, it is +a face for all men to trust and all women--” + +But she sighed and averted her head as though before prying eyes. + +The bell of Rozel Chapel broke gently on the evening air; the sound, +softened by the leaves and mellowed by the wood of the great elm-trees, +billowed away till it was lost in faint reverberation in the sea beneath +the cliffs of the Couperon, where a little craft was coming to anchor in +the dead water. + +At first the sound of the bell soothed her, softening the thought of the +danger to Michel. She moved with it towards the sea, the tones of her +grief chiming with it. Presently, as she went, a priest in cassock and +robes and stole crossed the path in front of her, an acolyte before him +swinging a censer, his voice chanting Latin verses from the service +for the sick, in his hands the sacred elements of the sacrament for +the dying. The priest was fat and heavy, his voice was lazy, his eyes +expressionless, and his robes were dirty. The plaintive, peaceful +sense which the sound of the vesper bell had thrown over Angele’s sad +reflections passed away, and the thought smote her that, were it not for +such as this black-toothed priest, Michel would not now be on his way to +England, a prisoner. To her this vesper bell was the symbol of tyranny +and hate. It was fighting, it was martyrdom, it was exile, it was the +Medici. All that she had borne, all that her father had borne, the +thought of the home lost, the mother dead before her time, the name +ruined, the heritage dispossessed, the red war of the Camisards, the +rivulets of blood in the streets of Paris and of her loved Rouen, smote +upon her mind, and drove her to her knees in the forest glade, her hands +upon her ears to shut out the sound of the bell. It came upon her that +the bell had said “Peace! Peace!” to her mind when there should be no +peace; that it had said “Be patient!” when she should be up and doing; +that it had whispered “Stay!” when she should tread the path her lover +trod, her feet following in his footsteps as his feet had trod in hers. + +She pressed her hands tight upon her ears and prayed with a passion and +a fervour she had never known before. A revelation seemed to come upon +her, and, for the first time, she was a Huguenot to the core. Hitherto +she had suffered for her religion because it was her mother’s broken +life, her father’s faith, and because they had suffered, and her +lover had suffered. Her mind had been convinced, her loyalty had been +unwavering, her words for the great cause had measured well with her +deeds. But new senses were suddenly born in her, new eyes were given +to her mind, new powers for endurance to her soul. She saw now as the +martyrs of Meaux had seen; a passionate faith descended on her as it +had descended on them; no longer only patient, she was fain for action. +Tears rained from her eyes. Her heart burst itself in entreaty and +confession. + +“Thy light shall be my light, and Thy will my will, O Lord,” she cried +at the last. “Teach me Thy way, create a right spirit within me. Give +me boldness without rashness, and hope without vain thinking. Bear up my +arms, O Lord, and save me when falling. A poor Samaritan am I. Give +me the water that shall be a well of water springing up to everlasting +life, that I thirst not in the fever of doing. Give me the manna of life +to eat that I faint not nor cry out in plague, pestilence, or famine. +Give me Thy grace, O God, as Thou hast given it to Michel de la Foret, +and guide my feet as I follow him in life and in death, for Christ’s +sake. Amen.” + +As she rose from her knees she heard the evening gun from the castle +of Mont Orgueil, whither Michel was being borne by the Queen’s men. The +vesper bell had stopped. Through the wood came the salt savour of the +sea on the cool sunset air. She threw back her head and walked swiftly +towards it, her heart beating hard, her eyes shining with the light +of purpose, her step elastic with the vigour of youth and health. A +quarter-hour’s walking brought her to the cliff of the Couperon. + +As she gazed out over the sea, however, a voice in the bay below caught +her ear. She looked down. On the deck of the little craft which had +entered the harbour when the vesper bell was ringing stood a man who +waved a hand up towards her, then gave a peculiar call. She stared with +amazement: it was Buonespoir the pirate. What did this mean? Had God +sent this man to her, by his presence to suggest what she should do in +this crisis in her life? For even as she ran down the shore towards +him, it came to her mind that Buonespoir should take her in his craft to +England. + +What to do in England? Who could tell? She only knew that a voice called +her to England, to follow the footsteps of Michel de la Foret, who +even this night would be setting forth in the Governor’s brigantine for +London. + +Buonespoir met her upon the shore, grinning like a boy. + +“God save you, lady!” he said. + +“What brings you hither, friend?” she asked. + +If he had said that a voice had called him hither as one called her to +England, it had not sounded strange; for she was not thinking that this +was one who superstitiously swore by the little finger of St. Peter, but +only that he was the man who had brought her Michel from France, who had +been a faithful friend to her and to her father. + +“What brings me hither?” Buonespoir laughed low in his chest. “Even +to fetch to the Seigneur of Rozel, a friend of mine by every token of +remembrance, a dozen flagons of golden muscadella.” + +To Angele no suggestion flashed that these flagons of muscadella had +come from the cellar of the Seigneur of St. Ouen’s, where they had been +reserved for a certain royal visit. Nothing was in her mind save the one +thought-that she must follow Michel. + +“Will you take me to England?” she asked, putting a hand quickly on his +arm. + +He had been laughing hard, picturing to himself what Lempriere of Rozel +would say when he sniffed the flagon of St. Ouen’s best wine, and for an +instant he did not take in the question; but he stared at her now as the +laugh slowly subsided through notes of abstraction and her words worked +their way into his brain. + +“Will you take me, Buonespoir?” she urged. “Take you--?” he questioned. + +“To England.” + +“And myself to Tyburn?” + +“Nay, to the Queen.” + +“‘Tis the same thing. Head of Abel! Elizabeth hath heard of me. The +Seigneur of St. Ouen’s and others have writ me down a pirate to her. She +would not pardon the muscadella,” he added, with another laugh, looking +down where the flagons lay. + +“She must pardon more than that,” exclaimed Angele, and hastily she told +him of what had happened to Michel de la Foret, and why she would go. + +“Thy father, then?” he asked, scowling hard in his attempt to think it +out. + +“He must go with me--I will seek him now.” + +“It must be at once, i’ faith, for how long, think you, can I stay here +unharmed? I was sighted off St. Ouen’s shore a few hours agone.” + +“To-night?” she asked. + +“By twelve, when we shall have the moon and the tide,” he answered. “But +hold!” he hastily added. “What, think you, could you and your father do +alone in England? And with me it were worse than alone. These be dark +times, when strangers have spies at their heels, and all travellers are +suspect.” + +“We will trust in God,” she answered. + +“Have you money?” he questioned--“for London, not for me,” he added +hastily. + +“Enough,” she replied. + +“The trust with the money is a weighty matter,” he added; “but they +suffice not. You must have ‘fending.” + +“There is no one,” she answered sadly, “no one save--” + +“Save the Seigneur of Rozel!” Buonespoir finished the sentence. “Good. +You to your father, and I to the Seigneur. If you can fetch your +father by your pot-of-honey tongue, I’ll fetch the great Lempriere with +muscadella. Is’t a bargain?” + +“In which I gain all,” she answered, and again touched his arm with her +finger-tips. + +“You shall be aboard here at ten, and I will join you on the stroke of +twelve,” he said, and gave a low whistle. + +At the signal three men sprang up like magic out of the bowels of the +boat beneath them, and scurried over the side; three as ripe knaves as +ever cheated stocks and gallows, but simple knaves, unlike their master. +Two of them had served with Francis Drake in that good ship of his lying +even now not far from Elizabeth’s palace at Greenwich. The third was a +rogue who had been banished from Jersey for a habitual drunkenness which +only attacked him on land--at sea he was sacredly sober. His name was +Jean Nicolle. The names of the other two were Herve Robin and Rouge le +Riche, but their master called them by other names. + +“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,” said Buonespoir in ceremony, and +waved a hand of homage between them and Angele. “Kiss dirt, and know +where duty lies. The lady’s word on my ship is law till we anchor at the +Queen’s Stairs at Greenwich. So, Heaven help you, Shadrach, Meshach, and +Abednego!” said Buonespoir. + +A wave of humour passed over Angele’s grave face, for a stranger quartet +never sailed high seas together: one blind of an eye, one game of a leg, +one bald as a bottle and bereft of two front teeth; but Buonespoir was +sound of wind and limb, his small face with the big eyes lost in the +masses of his red hair, and a body like Hercules. It flashed through +Angele’s mind even as she answered the gurgling salutations of the +triumvirate that they had been got together for no gentle summer sailing +in the Channel. Her conscience smote her that she should use such +churls; but she gave it comfort by the thought that while serving her +they could do naught worse; and her cause was good. Yet they presented +so bizarre an aspect, their ugliness was so varied and particular, that +she almost laughed. Buonespoir understood her thoughts, for with a +look of mocking innocence in his great blue eyes he waved a hand again +towards the graceless trio, and said, “For deep-sea fishing.” Then he +solemnly winked at the three. + +A moment later Angele was speeding along the shore towards her home on +the farther hillside up the little glen; and within an hour Buonespoir +rolled from the dusk of the trees by the manor-house of Rozel and +knocked at the door. He carried on his head, as a fishwife carries a +tray of ormers, a basket full of flagons of muscadella; and he did not +lower the basket when he was shown into the room where the Seigneur of +Rozel was sitting before a trencher of spiced veal and a great pot of +ale. Lempriere roared a hearty greeting to the pirate, for he was in a +sour humour because of the taking off of Michel de la Foret; and of all +men this pirate-fellow, who had quips and cranks, and had played tricks +on his cousin of St. Ouen’s, was most welcome. + +“What’s that on your teacup of a head?” he roared again as Buonespoir +grinned pleasure at the greeting. “Muscadella,” said Buonespoir, and +lowered the basket to the table. + +Lempriere seized a flagon, drew it forth, looked closely at it, then +burst into laughter, and spluttered: “St. Ouen’s muscadella, by the hand +of Rufus!” + +Seizing Buonespoir by the shoulders, he forced him down upon a bench +at the table, and pushed the trencher of spiced meat against his chest. +“Eat, my noble lord of the sea and master of the cellar,” he gurgled +out, and, tipping the flagon of muscadella, took a long draught. +“God-a-mercy--but it has saved my life,” he gasped in satisfaction as +he lay back in his great chair, and put his feet on the bench whereon +Buonespoir sat. + +They raised their flagons and toasted each other, and Lempriere burst +forth into song, in the refrain of which Buonespoir joined boisterously: + + “King Rufus he did hunt the deer, + With a hey ho, come and kiss me, Dolly! + It was the spring-time of the year, + Hey ho, Dolly shut her eyes! + King Rufus was a bully boy, + He hunted all the day for joy, + Sweet Dolly she was ever coy: + And who would e’er be wise + That looked in Dolly’s eyes? + + “King Rufus he did have his day, + With a hey ho, come and kiss me, Dolly! + So get ye forth where dun deer play-- + Hey ho, Dolly comes again! + The greenwood is the place for me, + For that is where the dun deer be, + ‘Tis where my Dolly comes to me: + And who would stay at home, + That might with Dolly roam? + Sing hey ho, come and kiss me, Dolly!” + +Lempriere, perspiring with the exertion, mopped his forehead, then +lapsed into a plaintive mood. + +“I’ve had naught but trouble of late,” he wheezed. “Trouble, trouble, +trouble, like gnats on a filly’s flank!” and in spluttering words, twice +bracketed in muscadella, he told of Michel de la Foret’s arrest, and of +his purpose to go to England if he could get a boat to take him. + +“‘Tis that same business brings me here,” said Buonespoir, and forthwith +told of his meeting with Angele and what was then agreed upon. + +“You to go to England!” cried Lempriere amazed. “They want you for +Tyburn there.” + +“They want me for the gallows here,” said Buonespoir. Rolling a piece +of spiced meat in his hand, he stuffed it into his mouth and chewed +till the grease came out of his eyes, and took eagerly from a servant a +flagon of malmsey and a dish of ormers. + +“Hush, chew thy tongue a minute!” said the Seigneur, suddenly starting +and laying a finger beside his nose. “Hush!” he said again, and looked +into the flicker of the candle by him with half-shut eyes. + +“May I have no rushes for a bed, and die like a rat in a moat, if I +don’t get thy pardon too of the Queen, and bring thee back to Jersey, +a thorn in the side of De Carteret for ever! He’ll look upon thee +assoilzied by the Queen, spitting fire in his rage, and no canary or +muscadella in his cellar.” + +It came not to the mind of either that this expedition would be made at +cost to themselves. They had not heard of Don Quixote, and their gifts +were not imitative. They were of a day when men held their lives as +lightly as many men hold their honour now; when championship was as the +breath of life to men’s nostrils, and to adventure for what was worth +having or doing in life the only road of reputation. + +Buonespoir was as much a champion in his way as Lempriere of Rozel. They +were of like kidney, though so far apart in rank. Had Lempriere been +born as low and as poor as Buonespoir, he would have been a pirate too, +no doubt; and had Buonespoir been born as high as the Seigneur, he would +have carried himself with the same rough sense of honour, with as ripe a +vanity; have been as naive, as sincere, as true to the real heart of +man untaught in the dissimulation of modesty or reserve. When they shook +hands across the trencher of spiced veal, it was as man shakes hand with +man, not man with master. + +They were about to start upon their journey when there came a knocking +at the door. On its being opened the bald and toothless Abednego +stumbled in with the word that immediately after Angele and her father +came aboard the Honeyflower some fifty halberdiers suddenly appeared +upon the Couperon. They had at once set sail, and got away even before +the sailors had reached the shore. As they had rounded the point, where +they were hid from view, Abednego dropped overboard and swam ashore on +the rising tide, making his way to the manor to warn Buonespoir. On his +way hither, stealing through the trees, he had passed a half-score of +halberdiers making for the manor, and he had seen others going towards +the shore. + +Buonespoir looked to the priming of his pistols, and buckling his belt +tightly about him, turned to the Seigneur and said: “I will take my +chances with Abednego. Where does she lie--the Honeyflower, Abednego?” + +“Off the point called Verclut,” answered the little man, who had +travelled with Francis Drake. + +“Good; we will make a run for it, flying dot-and-carry-one as we go.” + +While they had been speaking the Seigneur had been thinking; and now, +even as several figures appeared at a little distance in the trees, +making towards the manor, he said, with a loud laugh: + +“No. ‘Tis the way of a fool to put his head between the door and +the jamb. ‘Tis but a hundred yards to safety. Follow me--to the +sea--Abednego last. This way, bullies!” + +Without a word all three left the house and walked on in the order +indicated, as De Carteret’s halberdiers ran forward threatening. + +“Stand!” shouted the sergeant of the halberdiers. “Stand, or we fire!” + +But the three walked straight on unheeding. When the sergeant of the +men-at-arms recognised the Seigneur, he ordered down the blunderbusses. + +“We come for Buonespoir the pirate,” said the sergeant. + +“Whose warrant?” said the Seigneur, fronting the halberdiers, Buonespoir +and Abednego behind him. “The Seigneur of St. Ouen’s,” was the reply. + +“My compliments to the Seigneur of St. Ouen’s, and tell him that +Buonespoir is my guest,” he bellowed, and strode on, the halberdiers +following. Suddenly the Seigneur swerved towards the chapel and +quickened his footsteps, the others but a step behind. The sergeant of +the halberdiers was in a quandary. He longed to shoot, but dared not, +and while he was making up his mind what to do, the Seigneur had reached +the chapel door. Opening it, he quickly pushed Buonespoir and Abednego +inside, whispering to them, then slammed the door and put his back +against it. + +There was another moment’s hesitation on the sergeant’s part, then a +door at the other end of the chapel was heard to open and shut, and the +Seigneur laughed loudly. The halberdiers ran round the chapel. There +stood Buonespoir and Abednego in a narrow roadway, motionless and +unconcerned. The halberdiers rushed forward. + +“Perquage! Perquage! Perquage!” shouted Buonespoir, and the bright +moonlight showed him grinning. For an instant there was deadly +stillness, in which the approaching footsteps of the Seigneur sounded +loud. + +“Perquage!” Buonespoir repeated. + +“Perquage! Fall back!” said the Seigneur, and waved off the pikes of the +halberdiers. “He has sanctuary to the sea.” + +This narrow road in which the pirates stood was the last of three in the +Isle of Jersey running from churches to the sea, in which a criminal was +safe from arrest by virtue of an old statute. The other perquages had +been taken away; but this one of Rozel remained, a concession made by +Henry VIII to the father of this Raoul Lempriere. The privilege had been +used but once in the present Seigneur’s day, because the criminal must +be put upon the road from the chapel by the Seigneur himself, and he had +used his privilege modestly. + +No man in Jersey but knew the sacredness of this perquage, though it +was ten years since it had been used; and no man, not even the Governor +himself, dare lift his hand to one upon that road. + +So it was that Buonespoir and Abednego, two fugitives from justice, +walked quietly to the sea down the perquage, halberdiers, balked of +their prey, prowling on their steps and cursing the Seigneur of Rozel +for his gift of sanctuary: for the Seigneur of St. Ouen’s and the Royal +Court had promised each halberdier three shillings and all the ale he +could drink at a sitting, if Buonespoir was brought in alive or dead. + +In peace and safety the three boarded the Honeyflower off the point +called Verclut, and set sail for England, just seven hours after Michel +de la Foret had gone his way upon the Channel, a prisoner. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A fortnight later, of a Sunday morning, the Lord Chamberlain of England +was disturbed out of his usual equanimity. As he was treading the rushes +in the presence-chamber of the Royal Palace at Greenwich, his eye busy +in inspection--for the Queen would soon pass on her way to chapel--his +head nodding right and left to archbishop, bishop, councillors of state, +courtiers, and officers of the crown, he heard a rude noise at the door +leading into the ante-chapel, where the Queen received petitions from +the people. Hurrying thither in shocked anxiety, he found a curled +gentleman of the guard, resplendent in red velvet and gold chains, in +peevish argument with a boisterous Seigneur of a bronzed good-humoured +face, who urged his entrance to the presence-chamber. + +The Lord Chamberlain swept down upon the pair like a flamingo with wings +outspread. “God’s death, what means this turmoil? Her Majesty comes +hither!” he cried, and scowled upon the intruder, who now stepped back +a little, treading on the toes of a huge sailor with a small head and +bushy red hair and beard. + +“Because her Majesty comes I come also,” the Seigneur interposed +grandly. + +“What is your name and quality?” + +“Yours first, and I shall know how to answer.” + +“I am the Lord Chamberlain of England.” + +“And I, my lord, am Lempriere, Seigneur of Rozel--and butler to the +Queen.” + +“Where is Rozel?” asked my Lord Chamberlain. + +The face of the Seigneur suddenly flushed, his mouth swelled, and then +burst. + +“Where is Rozel!” he cried in a voice of rage. “Where is Rozel! Have +you heard of Hugh Pawlett,” he asked, with a huge contempt--“of Governor +Hugh Pawlett?” The Lord Chamberlain nodded. “Then ask his Excellency +when next you see him, Where is Rozel? But take good counsel and keep +your ignorance from the Queen,” he added. “She has no love for stupids.” + +“You say you are butler to the Queen? Whence came your commission?” said +the Lord Chamberlain, smiling now; for Lempriere’s words and ways +were of some simple world where odd folk lived, and his boyish vanity +disarmed anger. + +“By royal warrant and heritage. And of all of the Jersey Isle, I only +may have dove-totes, which is the everlasting thorn in the side of De +Carteret of St. Ouen’s. Now will you let me in, my lord?” he said, all +in a breath. + +At a stir behind him the Lord Chamberlain turned, and with a horrified +exclamation hurried away, for the procession from the Queen’s apartments +had already entered the presence-chamber: gentlemen, barons, earls, +knights of the garter, in brave attire, with bare heads and sumptuous +calves. The Lord Chamberlain had scarce got to his place when the +Chancellor, bearing the seals in a red silk purse, entered, flanked by +two gorgeous folk with the royal sceptre and the sword of state in a red +scabbard, all flourished with fleur-de-lis. Moving in and out among them +all was the Queen’s fool, who jested and shook his bells under the noses +of the highest. + +It was an event of which the Seigneur of Rozel told to his dying day: +that he entered the presence-chamber of the Royal Palace of Greenwich +at the same instant as the Queen--“Rozel at one end, Elizabeth at the +other, and all the world at gaze,” he was wont to say with loud guffaws. +But what he spoke of afterwards with preposterous ease and pride was +neither pride nor ease at the moment; for the Queen’s eyes fell on him +as he shoved past the gentlemen who kept the door. For an instant she +stood still, regarding him intently, then turned quickly to the Lord +Chamberlain in inquiry, and with sharp reproof too in her look. The Lord +Chamberlain fell on his knee and with low uncertain voice explained the +incident. + +Elizabeth again cast her eyes towards Lempriere, and the Court, +following her example, scrutinised the Seigneur in varied styles of +insolence or curiosity. Lempriere drew himself up with a slashing +attempt at composure, but ended by flaming from head to foot, his face +shining like a cock’s comb, the perspiration standing out like beads +upon his forehead, his eyes gone blind with confusion. That was but for +a moment, however, and then, Elizabeth’s look being slowly withdrawn +from him, a curious smile came to her lips, and she said to the Lord +Chamberlain: “Let the gentleman remain.” + +The Queen’s fool tripped forward and tapped the Lord Chamberlain on the +shoulder. “Let the gentleman remain, gossip, and see you that remaining +he goeth not like a fly with his feet in the porridge.” With a flippant +step before the Seigneur, he shook his bells at him. “Thou shalt stay, +Nuncio, and staying speak the truth. So doing you shall be as noted as +a comet with three tails. You shall prove that man was made in God’s +image. So lift thy head and sneeze--sneezing is the fashion here; but +see that thou sneeze not thy head off as they do in Tartary. ‘Tis worth +remembrance.” + +Rozel’s self-importance and pride had returned. The blood came back +to his heart, and he threw out his chest grandly; he even turned to +Buonespoir, whose great figure might be seen beyond the door, and winked +at him. For a moment he had time to note the doings of the Queen and +her courtiers with wide-eyed curiosity. He saw the Earl of Leicester, +exquisite, haughty, gallant, fall upon his knee, and Elizabeth slowly +pull off her glove and with a none too gracious look give him her hand +to kiss, the only favour of the kind granted that day. He saw Cecil, her +Minister, introduce a foreign noble, who presented his letters. He +heard the Queen speak in a half-dozen different languages, to people of +various lands, and he was smitten with amazement. + +But as Elizabeth came slowly down the hall, her white silk gown fronted +with great pearls flashing back the light, a marchioness bearing the +train, the crown on her head glittering as she turned from right to +left, her wonderful collar of jewels sparkling on her uncovered bosom, +suddenly the mantle of black, silver-shotted silk upon her shoulders +became to Lempriere’s heated senses a judge’s robe, and Elizabeth the +august judge of the world. His eyes blinded again, for it was as if she +was bearing down upon him. Certainly she was looking at him now, scarce +heeding the courtiers who fell to their knees on either side as she came +on. The red doublets of the fifty Gentlemen Pensioners--all men of +noble families proud to do this humble yet distinguished service--with +battle-axes, on either side of her, seemed to Lempriere on the instant +like an army with banners threatening him. From the ante-chapel behind +him came the cry of the faithful subjects who, as the gentleman-at-arms +fell back from the doorway, had but just caught a glimpse of her +Majesty--“Long live Elizabeth!” + +It seemed to Lempriere that the Gentlemen Pensioners must beat him down +as they passed, yet he stood riveted to the spot; and indeed it was true +that he was almost in the path of her Majesty. He was aware that two +gentlemen touched him on the shoulder and bade him retire; but the Queen +motioned to them to desist. So, with the eyes of the whole court on +him again, and Elizabeth’s calm curious gaze fixed, as it were, on his +forehead, he stood still till the flaming Gentlemen Pensioners were +within a few feet of him, and the battle-axes were almost over his head. + +The great braggart was no better now than a wisp of grass in the wind, +and it was more than homage that bent him to his knees as the Queen +looked him full in the eyes. There was a moment’s absolute silence, and +then she said, with cold condescension: + +“By what privilege do you seek our presence?” + +“I am Raoul Lempriere, Seigneur of Rozel, your high Majesty,” said the +choking voice of the Jerseyman. The Queen raised her eyebrows. “The man +seems French. You come from France?” + +Lempriere flushed to his hair--the Queen did not know him, then! “From +Jersey Isle, your sacred Majesty.” + +“Jersey Isle is dear to us. And what is your warrant here?” + +“I am butler to your Majesty, by your gracious Majesty’s patent, and +I alone may have dove-cotes in the isle; and I only may have the +perquage-on your Majesty’s patent. It is not even held by De Carteret of +St. Ouen’s.” + +The Queen smiled as she had not smiled since she entered the +presence-chamber. “God preserve us,” she said--“that I should not have +recognised you! It is, of course, our faithful Lempriere of Rozel.” + +The blood came back to the Seigneur’s heart, but he did not dare look up +yet, and he did not see that Elizabeth was in rare mirth at his words; +and though she had no ken or memory of him, she read his nature and was +mindful to humour him. Beckoning Leicester to her side, she said a few +words in an undertone, to which he replied with a smile more sour than +sweet. + +“Rise, Monsieur of Rozel,” she said. + +The Seigneur stood up, and met her gaze faintly. “And so, proud +Seigneur, you must needs flout e’en our Lord Chamberlain, in the name of +our butler with three dove-cotes and the perquage. In sooth thy office +must not be set at naught lightly--not when it is flanked by the +perquage. By my father’s doublet, but that frieze jerkin is well cut; +it suits thy figure well--I would that my Lord Leicester here had such a +tailor. But this perquage--I doubt not there are those here at Court who +are most ignorant of its force and moment. My Lord Chamberlain, my Lord +Leicester, Cecil here--confusion sits in their faces. The perquage, +which my father’s patent approved, has served us well, I doubt not, is +a comfort to our realm and a dignity befitting the wearer of that frieze +jerkin. Speak to their better understanding, Monsieur of Rozel.” + +“Speak, Nuncio, and you shall have comforts, and be given in marriage, +multiple or singular, even as I,” said the fool, and touched him on the +breast with his bells. + +Lempriere had recovered his heart, and now was set full sail in the +course he had charted for himself in Jersey. In large words and larger +manner he explained most innocently the sacred privilege of perquage. +“And how often have you used the right, friend?” asked Elizabeth. + +“But once in ten years, your noble Majesty.” + +“When last?” + +“But yesterday a week, your universal Majesty.” Elizabeth raised her +eyebrows. “Who was the criminal, what the occasion?” + +“The criminal was one Buonespoir, the occasion our coming hither to wait +upon the Queen of England and our Lady of Normandy, for such is your +well-born Majesty to your loyal Jersiais.” And thereupon he plunged +into an impeachment of De Carteret of St. Ouen’s, and stumbled through +a blunt broken story of the wrongs and the sorrows of Michel and Angele +and the doings of Buonespoir in their behalf. + +Elizabeth frowned and interrupted him. “I have heard of this Buonespoir, +Monsieur, through others than the Seigneur of St. Ouen’s. He is an +unlikely squire of dames. There’s a hill in my kingdom has long bided +his coming. Where waits the rascal now?” + +“In the ante-chapel, your Majesty.” + +“By the rood!” said Elizabeth in sudden amazement. “In my ante-chapel, +forsooth!” + +She looked beyond the doorway and saw the great red-topped figure of +Buonespoir, his good-natured, fearless fare, his shock of hair, his +clear blue eye--he was not thirty feet away. + +“He comes to crave pardon for his rank offences, your benignant +Majesty,” said Lempriere. + +The humour of the thing rushed upon the Queen. Never before were two +such naive folk at court. There was not a hair of duplicity in the heads +of the two, and she judged them well in her mind. + +“I will see you stand together--you and your henchman,” she said to +Rozel, and moved on to the antechapel, the Court following. Standing +still just inside the doorway, she motioned Buonespoir to come near. +The pirate, unconfused, undismayed, with his wide blue asking eyes, +came forward and dropped upon his knees. Elizabeth motioned Lempriere to +stand a little apart. + +Thereupon she set a few questions to Buonespoir, whose replies, +truthfully given, showed that he had no real estimate of his crimes, and +was indifferent to what might be their penalties. He had no moral sense +on the one hand, on the other, no fear. + +Suddenly she turned to Lempriere again. “You came, then, to speak for +this Michel de la Foret, the exile--?” + +“And for the demoiselle Angele Aubert, who loves him, your Majesty.” + +“I sent for this gentleman exile a fortnight ago--” She turned towards +Leicester inquiringly. + +“I have the papers here, your Majesty,” said Leicester, and gave a +packet over. + +“And where have you De la Foret?” said Elizabeth. “In durance, your +Majesty.” + +“When came he hither?” + +“Three days gone,” answered Leicester, a little gloomily, for there was +acerbity in Elizabeth’s voice. Elizabeth seemed about to speak, then +dropped her eyes upon the papers, and glanced hastily at their contents. + +“You will have this Michel de la Foret brought to my presence as fast +as horse can bring him, my Lord,” she said to Leicester. “This rascal +of the sea--Buonespoir--you will have safe bestowed till I recall +his existence again,” she said to a captain of men-at-arms; “and +you, Monsieur of Rozel, since you are my butler, will get you to my +dining-room, and do your duty--the office is not all perquisites,” + she added smoothly. She was about to move on, when a thought seemed to +strike her, and she added, “This Mademoiselle and her father whom you +brought hither-where are they?” + +“They are even within the palace grounds, your imperial Majesty,” + answered Lempriere. + +“You will summon them when I bid you,” she said to the Seigneur; “and +you shall see that they have comforts and housing as befits their +station,” she added to the Lord Chamberlain. + +So did Elizabeth, out of a whimsical humour, set the highest in the land +to attend upon unknown, unconsidered exiles. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Five minutes later, Lempriere of Rozel, as butler to the Queen, saw a +sight of which he told to his dying day. When, after varied troubles +hereafter set down, he went back to Jersey, he made a speech before +the Royal Court, in which he told what chanced while Elizabeth was at +chapel. + +“There stood I, butler to the Queen,” he said, with a large gesture, +“but what knew I of butler’s duties at Greenwich Palace! Her Majesty had +given me an office where all the work was done for me. Odds life, but +when I saw the Gentleman of the Rod and his fellow get down on their +knees to lay the cloth upon the table, as though it was an altar at +Jerusalem, I thought it time to say my prayers. There was naught but +kneeling and retiring. Now it was the salt-cellar, the plate, and the +bread; then it was a Duke’s Daughter--a noble soul as ever lived--with +a tasting-knife, as beautiful as a rose; then another lady enters who +glares at me, and gets to her knees as does the other. Three times up +and down, and then one rubs the plate with bread and salt, as solemn as +St. Ouen’s when he says prayers in the Royal Court. Gentles, that was a +day for Jersey. For there stood I as master of all, the Queen’s butler, +and the greatest ladies of the land doing my will--though it was all +Persian mystery to me, save when the kettle-drums began to beat and the +trumpet to blow, and in walk bareheaded the Yeomen of the Guard, all +scarlet, with a golden rose on their backs, bringing in a course of +twenty-four gold dishes; and I, as Queen’s butler, receiving them. + +“Then it was I opened my mouth amazed at the endless dishes filled +with niceties of earth, and the Duke’s Daughter pops onto my tongue +a mouthful of the first dish brought, and then does the same to every +Yeoman of the Guard that carried a dish--that her notorious Majesty +be safe against the hand of poisoners. There was I, fed by a Duke’s +Daughter; and thus was Jersey honoured; and the Duke’s Daughter whispers +to me, as a dozen other unmarried ladies enter, ‘The Queen liked not +the cut of your frieze jerkin better than do I, Seigneur.’ With that she +joins the others, and they all kneel down and rise up again, and lifting +the meat from the table, bear it into the Queen’s private chamber. + +“When they return, and the Yeomen of the Guard go forth, I am left alone +with these ladies, and there stand with twelve pair of eyes upon me, +little knowing what to do. There was laughter in the faces of some, and +looks less taking in the eyes of others; for my Lord Leicester was to +have done the duty I was set to do that day, and he the greatest gallant +of the kingdom, as all the world knows. What they said among themselves +I know not, but I heard Leicester’s name, and I guessed that they were +mostly in the pay of his soft words. But the Duke’s Daughter was on my +side, as was proved betimes when Leicester made trouble for us who went +from Jersey to plead the cause of injured folk. Of the Earl’s enmity +to me--a foolish spite of a great nobleman against a Norman-Jersey +gentleman--and of how it injured others for the moment, you all know; +but we had him by the heels before the end of it, great earl and +favourite as he was.” + +In the same speech Lempriere told of his audience with the Queen, even +as she sat at dinner, and of what she said to him; but since his words +give but a partial picture of events, the relation must not be his. + +When the Queen returned from chapel to her apartments, Lempriere was +called by an attendant, and he stood behind the Queen’s chair until she +summoned him to face her. Then, having finished her meal, and dipped her +fingers in a bowl of rose-water, she took up the papers Leicester had +given her--the Duke’s Daughter had read them aloud as she ate--and said: + +“Now, my good Seigneur of Rozel, answer me these few questions: First, +what concern is it of yours whether this Michel de la Foret be sent back +to France, or die here in England?” + +“I helped to save his life at sea--one good turn deserves another, your +high-born Majesty.” + +The Queen looked sharply at him, then burst out laughing. + +“God’s life, but here’s a bull making epigrams!” she said. Then her +humour changed. “See you, my butler of Rozel, you shall speak the truth, +or I’ll have you where that jerkin will fit you not so well a month +hence. Plain answers I will have to plain questions, or De Carteret of +St. Ouen’s shall have his will of you and your precious pirate. So bear +yourself as you would save your head and your honours.” + +Lempriere of Rozel never had a better moment than when he met the Queen +of England’s threats with faultless intrepidity. “I am concerned about +my head, but more about my honours, and most about my honour,” he +replied. “My head is my own, my honours are my family’s, for which I +would give my head when needed; and my honour defends both until both +are naught--and all are in the service of my Queen.” + +Smiling, Elizabeth suddenly leaned forward, and, with a glance of +satisfaction towards the Duke’s Daughter, who was present, said: + +“I had not thought to find so much logic behind your rampant skull,” she +said. “You’ve spoken well, Rozel, and you shall speak by the book to the +end, if you will save your friends. What concern is it of yours whether +Michel de la Foret live or die?” + +“It is a concern of one whom I’ve sworn to befriend, and that is my +concern, your ineffable Majesty.” “Who is the friend?” + +“Mademoiselle Aubert.” + +“The betrothed of this Michel de la Foret?” + +“Even so, your exalted Majesty. But I made sure De la Foret was dead +when I asked her to be my wife.” + +“Lord, Lord, Lord, hear this vast infant, this hulking baby of a +Seigneur, this primeval innocence! Listen to him, cousin,” said the +Queen, turning again to the Duke’s Daughter. “Was ever the like of it in +any kingdom of this earth? He chooses a penniless exile--he, a butler +to the Queen, with three dove-cotes and the perquage--and a Huguenot +withal. He is refused; then comes the absent lover over sea, to +shipwreck; and our Seigneur rescues him, ‘fends him; and when yon master +exile is in peril, defies his Queen’s commands”--she tapped the papers +lying beside her on the table--“then comes to England with the lady to +plead the case before his outraged sovereign, with an outlawed buccaneer +for comrade and lieutenant. There is the case, is’t not?” + +“I swore to be her friend,” answered Lempriere stubbornly, “and I have +done according to my word.” + +“There’s not another nobleman in my kingdom who would not have thought +twice about the matter, with the lady aboard his ship on the high +seas-’tis a miraculous chivalry, cousin,” she added to the Duke’s +Daughter, who bowed, settled herself again on her velvet cushion, and +looked out of the corner of her eyes at Lempriere. + +“You opposed Sir Hugh Pawlett’s officers who went to arrest this De la +Foret,” continued Elizabeth. “Call you that serving your Queen? Pawlett +had our commands.” + +“I opposed them but in form, that the matter might the more surely be +brought to your Majesty’s knowledge.” + +“It might easily have brought you to the Tower, man.” + +“I had faith that your Majesty would do right in this, as in all else. +So I came hither to tell the whole story to your judicial Majesty.” + +“Our thanks for your certificate of character,” said the Queen, with +amused irony. “What is your wish? Make your words few and plain.” + +“I desire before all that Michel de la Foret shall not be returned to +the Medici, most radiant Majesty.” + +“That’s plain. But there are weighty matters ‘twixt France and England, +and De la Foret may turn the scale one way or another. What follows, +beggar of Rozel?” + +“That Mademoiselle Aubert and her father may live without let or +hindrance in Jersey.” + +“That you may eat sour grapes ad eternam? Next?” + +“That Buonespoir be pardoned all offences and let live in Jersey on +pledge that he sin no more, not even to raid St. Ouen’s cellars of the +muscadella reserved for your generous Majesty.” + +There was such humour in Lempriere’s look as he spoke of the muscadella +that the Queen questioned him closely upon Buonespoir’s raid; and so +infectious was his mirth, as he told the tale, that Elizabeth, though +she stamped her foot in assumed impatience, smiled also. + +“You shall have your Buonespoir, Seigneur,” she said; “but for his +future you shall answer as well as he.” + +“For what he does in Jersey Isle, your commiserate Majesty?” + +“For crime elsewhere, if he be caught, he shall march to Tyburn, +friend,” she answered. Then she hurriedly added: “Straightway go and +bring Mademoiselle and her father hither. Orders are given for their +disposal. And to-morrow at this hour you shall wait upon me in their +company. I thank you for your services as butler this day, Monsieur of +Rozel. You do your office rarely.” + +As the Seigneur left Elizabeth’s apartments, he met the Earl of +Leicester hurrying thither, preceded by the Queen’s messenger. Leicester +stopped and said, with a slow malicious smile: “Farming is good, +then--you have fine crops this year on your holding?” + +The point escaped Lempriere at first, for the favourite’s look was all +innocence, and he replied: “You are mistook, my lord. You will remember +I was in the presence-chamber an hour ago, my lord. I am Lempriere, +Seigneur of Rozel, butler to her Majesty.” + +“But are you, then? I thought you were a farmer and raised cabbages.” + Smiling, Leicester passed on. + +For a moment the Seigneur stood pondering the Earl’s words and angrily +wondering at his obtuseness. Then suddenly he knew he had been mocked, +and he turned and ran after his enemy; but Leicester had vanished into +the Queen’s apartments. + +The Queen’s fool was standing near, seemingly engaged in the light +occupation of catching imaginary flies, buzzing with his motions. As +Leicester disappeared he looked from under his arm at Lempriere. “If a +bird will not stop for the salt to its tail, then the salt is damned, +Nuncio; and you must cry David! and get thee to the quarry.” + +Lempriere stared at him swelling with rage; but the quaint smiling of +the fool conquered him, and instead of turning on his heel, he spread +himself like a Colossus and looked down in grandeur. “And wherefore cry +David! and get quarrying?” he asked. “Come, what sense is there in thy +words, when I am wroth with yonder nobleman?” + +“Oh, Nuncio, Nuncio, thou art a child of innocence and without history. +The salt held not the bird for the net of thy anger, Nuncio; so it is +meet that other ways be found. David the ancient put a stone in a sling +and Goliath laid him down like an egg in a nest--therefore, Nuncio, get +thee to the quarry. Obligato, which is to say Leicester yonder, hath no +tail--the devil cut it off and wears it himself. So let salt be damned, +and go sling thy stone!” + +Lempriere was good-humoured again. He fumbled in his purse and brought +forth a gold-piece. “Fool, thou hast spoken like a man born sensible and +infinite. I understand thee like a book. Thou hast not folly and thou +shalt not be answered as if thou wast a fool. But in terms of gold shalt +thou have reply.” He put the gold-piece in the fool’s hand and slapped +him on the shoulder. + +“Why now, Nuncio,” answered the other, “it is clear that there is a +fool at Court, for is it not written that a fool and his money are soon +parted? And this gold-piece is still hot with running ‘tween thee and +me.” + +Lempriere roared. “Why, then, for thy hit thou shalt have another +gold-piece, gossip. But see”--his voice lowered--“know you where is my +friend, Buonespoir, the pirate? Know you where he is in durance?” + +“As I know marrow in a bone I know where he hides, Nuncio, so come with +me,” answered the fool. + +“If De Carteret had but thy sense, we could live at peace in Jersey,” + rejoined Lempriere, and strode ponderously after the light-footed fool +who capered forth singing: + + “Come hither, O come hither, + There’s a bride upon her bed; + They have strewn her o’er with roses, + There are roses ‘neath her head: + Life is love and tears and laughter, + But the laughter it is dead + Sing the way to the Valley, to the Valley! + Hey, but the roses they are red!” + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The next day at noon, as her Majesty had advised the Seigneur, De la +Foret was ushered into the presence. The Queen’s eye quickened as she +saw him, and she remarked with secret pleasure the figure and bearing +of this young captain of the Huguenots. She loved physical grace and +prowess with a full heart. The day had almost passed when she would +measure all men against Leicester in his favour; and he, knowing this +clearly now, saw with haughty anxiety the gradual passing of his power, +and clutched futilely at the vanishing substance. Thus it was that +he now spent his strength in getting his way with the Queen in little +things. She had been so long used to take his counsel--in some part wise +and skilful--that when she at length did without it, or followed her own +mind, it became a fever with him to let no chance pass for serving his +own will by persuading her out of hers. This was why he had spent an +hour the day before in sadly yet vaguely reproaching her for the slight +she put upon him in the presence-chamber by her frown; and another +in urging her to come to terms with Catherine de Medici in this small +affair--since the Frenchwoman had set her revengeful heart upon it--that +larger matters might be settled to the gain of England. It was not so +much that he had reason to destroy De la Foret, as that he saw that the +Queen was disposed to deal friendly by him and protect him. He did +not see the danger of rousing in the Queen the same unreasoning +tenaciousness of will upon just such lesser things as might well be left +to her advisers. In spite of which he almost succeeded, this very day, +in regaining, for a time at least, the ground he had lost with her. He +had never been so adroit, so brilliant, so witty, so insinuating; and +he left her with the feeling that if he had his way concerning De +la Foret--a mere stubborn whim, with no fair reason behind it--his +influence would be again securely set. The sense of crisis was on him. + +On Michel de la Foret entering the presence the Queen’s attention had +become riveted. She felt in him a spirit of mastery, yet of unselfish +purpose. Here was one, she thought, who might well be in her household, +or leading a regiment of her troops. The clear fresh face, curling hair, +direct look, quiet energy, and air of nobility--this sort of man could +only be begotten of a great cause; he were not possible in idle or +prosperous times. + +Elizabeth looked him up and down, then affected surprise. “Monsieur de +la Foret,” she said, “I do not recognise you in this attire”--glancing +towards his dress. + +De la Foret bowed, and Elizabeth continued, looking at a paper in her +hand: “You landed on our shores of Jersey in the robes of a priest of +France. The passport for a priest of France was found upon your +person when our officers in Jersey made search of you. Which is +yourself--Michel de la Foret, soldier, or a priest of France?” + +De la Foret replied gravely that he was a soldier, and that the priestly +dress had been but a disguise. + +“In which papist attire, methinks, Michel de la Foret, soldier and +Huguenot, must have been ill at ease--the eagle with the vulture’s wing. +What say you, Monsieur?” + +“That vulture’s wing hath carried me to a safe dove-cote, your gracious +Majesty,” he answered, with a low obeisance. + +“I’m none so sure of that, Monsieur,” was Elizabeth’s answer, and she +glanced quizzically at Leicester, who made a gesture of annoyance. +“Our cousin France makes you to us a dark intriguer and conspirator, a +dangerous weed in our good garden of England, a ‘troublous, treacherous +violence’--such are you called, Monsieur.” + +“I am in your high Majesty’s power,” he answered, “to do with me as it +seemeth best. If your Majesty wills it that I be returned to France, +I pray you set me upon its coast as I came from it, a fugitive. Thence +will I try to find my way to the army and the poor stricken people of +whom I was. I pray for that only, and not to be given to the red hand of +the Medici.” + +“Red hand--by my faith, but you are bold, Monsieur!” + +Leicester tapped his foot upon the floor impatiently, then caught the +Queen’s eye, and gave her a meaning look. + +De la Foret saw the look and knew his enemy, but he did not quail. “Bold +only by your high Majesty’s faith, indeed,” he answered the Queen, with +harmless guile. + +Elizabeth smiled. She loved such flattering speech from a strong man. +It touched a chord in her deeper than that under Leicester’s finger. +Leicester’s impatience only made her more self-willed on the instant. + +“You speak with the trumpet note, Monsieur,” she said to De la Foret. +“We will prove you. You shall have a company in my Lord Leicester’s army +here, and we will send you upon some service worthy of your fame.” + +“I crave your Majesty’s pardon, but I cannot do it,” was De la Foret’s +instant reply. “I have sworn that I will lift my sword in one cause +only, and to that I must stand. And more--the widow of my dead chief, +Gabriel de Montgomery, is set down in this land unsheltered and alone. +I have sworn to one who loves her, and for my dead chief’s sake, that +I will serve her and be near her until better days be come and she may +return in quietness to France. In exile we few stricken folk must stand +together, your august Majesty.” + +Elizabeth’s eye flashed up. She was impatient of refusal of her favour. +She was also a woman, and that De la Foret should flaunt his devotion +to another woman was little to her liking. The woman in her, which had +never been blessed with a noble love, was roused. The sourness of a +childless, uncompanionable life was stronger for the moment than her +strong mind and sense. + +“Monsieur has sworn this, and Monsieur has sworn that,” she said +petulantly--“and to one who loveth a lady, and for a cause--tut, tut, +tut!--” + +Suddenly a kind of intriguing laugh leaped into her eye, and she turned +to Leicester and whispered in his ear. Leicester frowned, then smiled, +and glanced up and down De la Foret’s figure impertinently. + +“See, Monsieur de la Foret,” she added; “since you will not fight, you +shall preach. A priest you came into my kingdom, and a priest you shall +remain; but you shall preach good English doctrine and no Popish folly.” + +De la Foret started, then composed himself, and before he had time +to reply, Elizabeth continued: “Partly for your own sake am I thus +gracious; for as a preacher of the Word I have not need to give you +up, according to agreement with our brother of France. As a rebel and +conspirator I were bound to do so, unless you were an officer of my +army. The Seigneur of Rozel has spoken for you, and the Comtesse de +Montgomery has written a pleading letter. Also I have from another +source a tearful prayer--the ink is scarce dry upon it--which has been +of service to you. But I myself have chosen this way of escape for +you. Prove yourself worthy, and all may be well--but prove yourself +you shall. You have prepared your own brine, Monsieur; in it you shall +pickle.” + +She smiled a sour smile, for she was piqued, and added: “Do you think I +will have you here squiring of distressed dames, save as a priest? You +shall hence to Madame of Montgomery as her faithful chaplain, once I +have heard you preach and know your doctrine.” + +Leicester almost laughed outright in the young man’s face now, for he +had no thought that De la Foret would accept, and refusal meant the +exile’s doom. + +It seemed fantastic that this noble gentleman, this very type of the +perfect soldier, with the brown face of a picaroon and an athletic +valour of body, should become a preacher even in necessity. + +Elizabeth, seeing De la Foret’s dumb amazement and anxiety, spoke +up sharply: “Do this, or get you hence to the Medici, and Madame of +Montgomery shall mourn her protector, and Mademoiselle your mistress of +the vermilion cheek, shall have one lover the less; which, methinks, our +Seigneur of Rozel would thank me for.” + +De la Foret started, his lips pressed firmly together in effort of +restraint. There seemed little the Queen did not know concerning him; +and reference to Angele roused him to sharp solicitude. + +“Well, well?” asked Elizabeth impatiently, then made a motion to +Leicester, and he, going to the door, bade some one to enter. + +There stepped inside the Seigneur of Rozel, who made a lumbering +obeisance, then got to his knees before the Queen. + +“You have brought the lady safely--with her father?” she asked. + +Lempriere, puzzled, looked inquiringly at the Queen, then replied: “Both +are safe without, your infinite Majesty.” + +De la Foret’s face grew pale. He knew now for the first time that Angele +and her father were in England, and he looked Lempriere suspiciously in +the eyes; but the swaggering Seigneur met his look frankly, and bowed +with ponderous and genial gravity. + +Now De la Foret spoke. “Your high Majesty,” said he, “if I may ask +Mademoiselle Aubert one question in your presence--” + +“Your answer now; the lady in due season,” interposed the Queen. + +“She was betrothed to a soldier, she may resent a priest,” said De la +Foret, with a touch of humour, for he saw the better way was to take the +matter with some outward ease. + +Elizabeth smiled. “It is the custom of her sex to have a fondness for +both,” she answered, with an acid smile. “But your answer?” + +De la Foret’s face became exceeding grave. Bowing his head, he said: “My +sword has spoken freely for the Cause; God forbid that my tongue should +not speak also. I will do your Majesty’s behest.” + +The jesting word that was upon the royal lips came not forth, for De +la Foret’s face was that of a man who had determined a great thing, +and Elizabeth was one who had a heart for high deeds. “The man is brave +indeed,” she said under her breath, and, turning to the dumfounded +Seigneur, bade him bring in Mademoiselle Aubert. + +A moment later Angele entered, came a few steps forward, made obeisance, +and stood still. She showed no trepidation, but looked before her +steadily. She knew not what was to be required of her, she was a +stranger in a strange land; but persecution and exile had gone far to +strengthen her spirit and greaten her composure. + +Elizabeth gazed at the girl coldly and critically. To women she was not +over-amiable; but as she looked at the young Huguenot maid, of this +calm bearing, warm of colour, clear of eye, and purposeful of face, some +thing kindled in her. Most like it was that love for a cause, which was +more to be encouraged by her than any woman’s love for a man, which as +she grew older inspired her with aversion, as talk of marriage brought +cynical allusions to her lips. + +“I have your letter and its protests and its pleadings. There were fine +words and adjurations--are you so religious, then?” she asked brusquely. + +“I am a Huguenot, your noble Majesty,” answered the girl, as though that +answered all. + +“How is it, then, you are betrothed to a roistering soldier?” asked the +Queen. + +“Some must pray for Christ’s sake, and some must fight, your most +christian Majesty,” answered the girl. “Some must do both,” rejoined the +Queen, in a kinder voice, for the pure spirit of the girl worked upon +her. “I am told that Monsieur de la Foret fights fairly. If he can pray +as well, methinks he shall have safety in our kingdom, and ye shall all +have peace. On Trinity Sunday you shall preach in my chapel, Monsieur de +la Foret, and thereafter you shall know your fate.” + +She rose. “My Lord,” she said to Leicester, on whose face gloom had +settled, “you will tell the Lord Chamberlain that Monsieur de la Foret’s +durance must be made comfortable in the west tower of my palace till +chapel-going of Trinity Day. I will send him for his comfort and +instruction some sermons of Latimer.” + +She stepped down from the dais. “You will come with me, mistress,” she +said to Angele, and reached out her hand. + +Angele fell on her knees and kissed it, tears falling down her cheek, +then rose and followed the Queen from the chamber. She greatly desired +to look backward towards De la Foret, but some good angel bade her not. +She realised that to offend the Queen at this moment might ruin all; +and Elizabeth herself was little like to offer chance for farewell and +love-tokens. + +So it was that, with bowed head, Angele left the room with the Queen of +England, leaving Lempriere and De la Foret gazing at each other, the +one bewildered, the other lost in painful reverie, and Leicester smiling +maliciously at them both. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Every man, if you bring him to the right point, if you touch him in the +corner where he is most sensitive, where he most lives, as it were; if +you prick his nerves with a needle of suggestion where all his passions, +ambitions and sentiments are at white heat, will readily throw away the +whole game of life in some mad act out of harmony with all he ever did. +It matters little whether the needle prick him by accident or blunder or +design, he will burst all bounds, and establish again the old truth that +each of us will prove himself a fool given perfect opportunity. Nor need +the occasion of this revolution be a great one; the most trivial event +may produce the great fire which burns up wisdom, prudence and habit. + +The Earl of Leicester, so long counted astute, clearheaded, and +well-governed, had been suddenly foisted out of balance, shaken from his +imperious composure, tortured out of an assumed and persistent urbanity, +by the presence in Greenwich Palace of a Huguenot exile of no seeming +importance, save what the Medici grimly gave him by desiring his head. +It appeared absurd that the great Leicester, whose nearness to the +throne had made him the most feared, most notable, and, by virtue of +his opportunities, the most dramatic figure in England, should have +sleepless nights by reason of a fugitive like Michel de la Foret. On the +surface it was preposterous that he should see in the Queen’s offer of +service to the refugee evidence that she was set to grant him special +favours; it was equally absurd that her offer of safety to him on pledge +of his turning preacher should seem proof that she meant to have him +near her. Elizabeth had left the presence-chamber without so much as +a glance at him, though she had turned and looked graciously at the +stranger. He had hastily followed her, and thereafter impatiently +awaited a summons which never came, though he had sent a message that +his hours were at her Majesty’s disposal. Waiting, he saw Angele’s +father escorted from the palace by a Gentleman Pensioner to a lodge in +the park; he saw Michel de la Foret taken to his apartments; he saw the +Seigneur of Rozel walking in the palace grounds with such possession as +though they were his own, self-content in every motion of his body. + +Upon the instant the great Earl was incensed out of all proportion to +the affront of the Seigneur’s existence. He suddenly hated Lempriere +only less than he hated Michel de la Foret. As he still waited irritably +for a summons from Elizabeth, he brooded on every word and every +look she had given him of late; he recalled her manner to him in the +ante-chapel the day before, and the admiring look she cast on De la +Foret but now. He had seen more in it than mere approval of courage and +the self-reliant bearing of a refugee of her own religion. + +These were days when the soldier of fortune mounted to high places. He +needed but to carry the banner of bravery, and a busy sword, and his way +to power was not hindered by poor estate. To be gently born was the one +thing needful, and Michel de la Foret was gently born; and he had still +his sword, though he chose not to use it in Elizabeth’s service. My Lord +knew it might be easier for a stranger like De la Foret, who came with +no encumbrance, to mount to place in the struggles of the Court, +than for an Englishman, whose increasing and ever-bolder enemies were +undermining on every hand, to hold his own. + +He began to think upon ways and means to meet this sudden preference of +the Queen, made sharply manifest as he waited in the ante-chamber, by a +summons to the refugee to enter the Queen’s apartments. When the refugee +came forth again he wore a sword the Queen had sent him, and a packet +of Latimer’s sermons were under his arm. Leicester was unaware that +Elizabeth herself did not see De la Foret when he was thus hastily +called; but that her lady-in-waiting, the Duke’s Daughter, who figured +so largely in the pictures Lempriere drew of his experiences at +Greenwich Palace, brought forth the sermons and the sword, with this +message from the Queen: + +“The Queen says that it is but fair to the sword to be by Michel de +la Foret’s side when the sermons are in his hand, that his choice have +every seeming of fairness. For her Majesty says it is still his choice +between the Sword and the Book till Trinity Day.” + +Leicester, however, only saw the sword at the side of the refugee and +the gold-bound book under his arm as he came forth, and in a rage he +left the palace and gloomily walked under the trees, denying himself to +every one. + +To seize De la Foret, and send him to the Medici, and then rely on +Elizabeth’s favour for his pardon, as he had done in the past? That +might do, but the risk to England was too great. It would be like the +Queen, if her temper was up, to demand from the Medici the return of De +la Foret, and war might ensue. Two women, with two nations behind them, +were not to be played lightly against each other, trusting to their +common sense and humour. + +As he walked among the trees, brooding with averted eyes, he was +suddenly faced by the Seigneur of Rozel, who also was shaken from his +discretion and the best interests of the two fugitives he was bound to +protect, by a late offence against his own dignity. A seed of rancour +had been sown in his mind which had grown to a great size and must +presently burst into a dark flower of vengeance. He, Lempriere of Rozel, +with three dovecotes, the perquage, and the office of butler to the +Queen, to be called a “farmer,” to be sneered at--it was not in the +blood of man, not in the towering vanity of a Lempriere, to endure it at +any price computable to mortal mind. + +Thus there were in England on that day two fools (there are as many +now), and one said: + +“My Lord Leicester, I crave a word with you.” + +“Crave on, good fellow,” responded Leicester with a look of boredom, +making to pass by. + +“I am Lempriere, lord of Rozel, my lord--” + +“Ah yes, I took you for a farmer,” answered Leicester. “Instead of that, +I believe you keep doves, and wear a jerkin that fits like a king’s. +Dear Lord, so does greatness come with girth!” + +“The King that gave me dove-cotes gave me honour, and ‘tis not for the +Earl of Leicester to belittle it.” + +“What is your coat of arms?” said Leicester with a faint smile, but in +an assumed tone of natural interest. + +“A swan upon a sea of azure, two stars above, and over all a sword with +a wreath around its point,” answered Lempriere simply, unsuspecting +irony, and touched by Leicester’s flint where he was most like to flare +up with vanity. + +“Ah!” said Leicester. “And the motto?” + +“Mea spes supra stella--my hope is beyond the stars.” + +“And the wreath--of parsley, I suppose?” + +Now Lempriere understood, and he shook with fury as he roared: + +“Yes, by God, and to be got at the point of the sword, to put on the +heads of insolents like Lord Leicester!” His face was flaming, he was +like a cock strutting upon a stable mound. + +There fell a slight pause, and then Leicester said: “To-morrow at +daylight, eh?” + +“Now, my lord, now!” + +“We have no seconds.” + +“‘Sblood! ‘Tis not your way, my lord, to be stickling in detail of +courtesy.” + +“‘Tis not the custom to draw swords in secret, Lempriere of Rozel. Also +my teeth are not on edge to fight you.” + +Lempriere had already drawn his sword, and the look of his eyes was as +that of a mad bull in a ring. “You won’t fight with me--you don’t think +Rozel your equal?” His voice was high. + +Leicester’s face took on a hard, cruel look. “We cannot fight among the +ladies,” he said quietly. Lempriere followed his glance, and saw the +Duke’s Daughter and another in the trees near by. + +He hastily put up his sword. “When, my lord?” he asked. + +“You will hear from me to-night,” was the answer, and Leicester went +forward hastily to meet the ladies--they had news no doubt. + +Lempriere turned on his heel and walked quickly away among the trees +towards the quarters where Buonespoir was in durance, which was little +more severe than to keep him within the palace yard. There he found the +fool and the pirate in whimsical converse. + +The fool had brought a letter of inquiry and warm greeting from +Angele to Buonespoir, who was laboriously inditing one in return. When +Lempriere entered the pirate greeted him jovially. + +“In the very pinch of time you come,” he said. “You have grammar and +syntax and etiquette.” + +“‘Tis even so, Nuncio,” said the fool. “Here is needed prosody +potential. Exhale!” + +The three put their heads together above the paper. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +“I would know your story. How came you and yours to this pass? Where +were you born? Of what degree are you? And this Michel de la Foret, when +came he to your feet--or you to his arms? I would know all. Begin where +life began; end where you sit here at the feet of Elizabeth. This other +cushion to your knees. There--now speak. We are alone.” + +Elizabeth pushed a velvet cushion towards Angele, where she half-knelt, +half-sat on the rush-strewn floor of the great chamber. The warm light +of the afternoon sun glowed through the thick-tinted glass high up, and, +in the gleam, the heavy tapestries sent by an archduke, once suitor for +Elizabeth’s hand, emerged with dramatic distinctness, and peopled the +room with silent watchers of the great Queen and the nobly-born but poor +and fugitive Huguenot. A splendid piece of sculpture--Eleanor, wife of +Edward--given Elizabeth by another royal suitor, who had sought to be +her consort through many years, caught the warm bath of gold and crimson +from the clerestory and seemed alive and breathing. Against the pedestal +the Queen had placed her visitor, the red cushions making vivid contrast +to her white gown and black hair. In the half-kneeling, half-sitting +posture, with her hands clasped before her, so to steady herself +to composure, Angele looked a suppliant--and a saint. Her pure, +straightforward gaze, her smooth, urbane forehead, the guilelessness +that spoke in every feature, were not made worldly by the intelligence +and humour reposing in the brown depths of her eyes. Not a line vexed +her face or forehead. Her countenance was of a singular and almost +polished smoothness, and though her gown was severely simple by +comparison with silks and velvets, furs and ruffles of a gorgeous Court +at its most gorgeous period, yet in it here and there were touches of +exquisite fineness. The black velvet ribbon slashing her sleeves, the +slight cloud-like gathering of lace at the back of her head, gave a +distinguished softness to her appearance. + +She was in curious contrast to the Queen, who sat upon heaped-up +cushions, her rich buff and black gown a blaze of jewels, her yellow +hair, now streaked with grey, roped with pearls, her hands heavy with +rings, her face past its youth, past its hopefulness, however noble and +impressive, past its vivid beauty. Her eyes wore ever a determined look, +were persistent and vigilant, with a lurking trouble, yet flooded, too, +by a quiet melancholy, like a low, insistent note that floats through +an opera of passion, romance, and tragedy; like a tone of pathos +giving deep character to some splendid pageant, which praises whilst it +commemorates, proclaiming conquest while the grass has not yet grown on +quiet houses of the children of the sword who no more wield the sword. +Evasive, cautious, secretive, creator of her own policy, she had +sacrificed her womanhood to the power she held and the State she served. +Vain, passionate, and faithful, her heart all England and Elizabeth, the +hunger for glimpses of what she had never known, and was never to know, +thrust itself into her famished life; and she was wont to indulge, as +now, in fancies and follow some emotional whim with a determination very +like to eccentricity. + +That, at this time, when great national events were forward, when +conspiracies abounded, when Parliament was grimly gathering strength +to compel her to marry; and her Council were as sternly pursuing their +policy for the destruction of Leicester; while that very day had come +news of a rising in the North and of fresh Popish plots hatched in +France--that in such case, this day she should set aside all business, +refuse ambassadors and envoys admission, and occupy herself with two +Huguenot refugees seemed incredible to the younger courtiers. To such +as Cecil, however, there was clear understanding. He knew that when +she seemed most inert, most impassive to turbulent occurrences, most +careless of consequences, she was but waiting till, in her own mind, her +plans were grown; so that she should see her end clearly ere she spoke +or moved. Now, as the great minister showed himself at the door of +the chamber and saw Elizabeth seated with Angele, he drew back +instinctively, expectant of the upraised hand which told him he must +wait. And, in truth, he was nothing loth to do so, for his news he +cared little to deliver, important though it was that she should have it +promptly and act upon it soon. He turned away with a feeling of relief, +however, for this gossip with the Huguenot maid would no doubt interest +her, give new direction to her warm sympathies, which if roused in one +thing were ever more easily roused in others. He knew that a crisis was +nearing in the royal relations with Leicester. In a life of devotion to +her service he had seen her before in this strange mood, and he could +feel that she was ready for an outburst. As he thought of De la Foret +and the favour with which she had looked at him he smiled grimly, for if +it meant aught it meant that it would drive Leicester to some act which +would hasten his own doom; though, indeed, it might also make another +path more difficult for himself, for the Parliament, for the people. + +Little as Elizabeth could endure tales of love and news of marriage; +little as she believed in any vows, save those made to herself; little +as she was inclined to adjust the rough courses of true love, she was +the surgeon to this particular business, and she had the surgeon’s love +of laying bare even to her own cynicism the hurt of the poor patient +under her knife. Indeed, so had Angele impressed her that for once she +thought she might hear the truth. Because she saw the awe in the +other’s face and a worshipping admiration of the great protectress of +Protestantism, who had by large gifts of men and money in times past +helped the Cause, she looked upon her here with kindness. + +“Speak now, mistress fugitive, and I will listen,” she added, as Cecil +withdrew; and she made a motion to musicians in a distant gallery. + +Angele’s heart fluttered to her mouth, but the soft, simple music helped +her, and she began with eyes bent upon the ground, her linked fingers +clasping and unclasping slowly. + +“I was born at Rouen, your high Majesty,” she said. “My mother was a +cousin of the Prince of Passy, the great Protestant--” + +“Of Passy--ah!” said Elizabeth amazed. “Then you are Protestants indeed; +and your face is no invention, but cometh honestly. No, no, ‘tis no +accident--God rest his soul, great Passy!” + +“She died--my mother--when I was a little child. I can but just remember +her--so brightly quiet, so quick, so beautiful. In Rouen life had little +motion; but now and then came stir and turmoil, for war sent its message +into the old streets, and our captains and our peasants poured forth to +fight for the King. Once came the King and Queen--Francis and Mary--” + +Elizabeth drew herself upright with an exclamation. “Ah, you have seen +her--Mary of Scots,” she said sharply. “You have seen her?” + +“As near as I might touch her with my hand, as near as is your high +Majesty. She spoke to me--my mother’s father was in her train;--as yet +we had not become Huguenots, nor did we know her Majesty as now the +world knows. They came, the King and Queen--and that was the beginning.” + +She paused, and looked shyly at Elizabeth, as though she found it hard +to tell her story. + +“And the beginning, it was--?” said Elizabeth, impatient and intent. + +“We went to Court. The Queen called my mother into her train. But it was +in no wise for our good. At Court my mother pined away--and so she died +in durance.” + +“Wherefore in durance?” + +“To what she saw she would not shut her eyes; to what she heard she +would not close her soul; what was required of her she would not do.” + +“She would not obey the Queen?” + +“She could not obey those whom the Queen favoured. Then the tyranny that +broke her heart--” + +The Queen interrupted her. + +“In very truth, but ‘tis not in France alone that Queen’s favourites +grasp the sceptre and speak the word. Hath a Queen a thousand eyes--can +she know truth where most dissemble?” + +“There was a man--he could not know there was one true woman there, who +for her daughter’s sake, for her desired advancement, and because she +was cousin of Passy, who urged it, lived that starved life; this man, +this prince, drew round her feet snares, set pit-falls for her while my +father was sent upon a mission. Steadfast she kept her soul unspotted; +but it wore away her life. The Queen would not permit return to +Rouen--who can tell what tale was told her by one whom she foiled? And +so she stayed. In this slow, savage persecution, when she was like +a bird that, thinking it is free, flieth against the window-pane and +falleth back beaten, so did she stay, and none could save her. To cry +out, to throw herself upon the spears, would have been ruin of herself, +her husband and her child; and for these she lived.” + +Elizabeth’s eyes had kindled. Perhaps never in her life had the life at +Court been so exposed to her. The simple words, meant but to convey the +story, and with no thought behind, had thrown a light on her own Court, +on her own position. Adept in weaving a sinuous course in her policy, in +making mazes for others to tread, the mazes which they in turn prepared +had never before been traced beneath her eyes to the same vivid and +ultimate effect. + +“Help me, ye saints, but things are not at such a pass in this place!” + she said abruptly, but with weariness in her voice. “Yet sometimes I +know not. The Court is a city by itself, walled and moated, and hath a +life all its own. ‘If there be found ten honest men within the city yet +will I save it,’ saith the Lord. By my father’s head, I would not risk +a finger on the hazard if this city, this Court of Elizabeth were set +‘twixt the fire from Heaven and eternal peace. In truth, child, I would +lay me down and die in black disgust were it not that one might come +hereafter would make a very Sodom or Gomorrah of this land: and out +yonder--out in all my counties, where the truth of England is among my +poor burgesses, who die for the great causes which my nobles profess but +risk not their lives--out yonder all that they have won, and for which +I have striven, would be lost.... Speak on. I have not heard so plain a +tongue and so little guile these twenty years.” + +Angele continued, more courage in her voice. “In the midst of it all +came the wave of the new faith upon my mother. And before ill could fall +upon her from her foes, she died and was at rest. Then we returned +to Rouen, my father and I, and there we lived in peril, but in great +happiness of soul until the day of massacre. That night in Paris we were +given greatly of the mercy of God.” + +“You were there--you were in the massacre at Paris?” + +“In the house of the Duke of Langon, with whom was resting after a +hazardous enterprise, Michel de la Foret.” + +“And here beginneth the second lesson,” said the Queen with a smile on +her lips; but there was a look of scrutiny in her eyes, and something +like irony in her tone. “And I will swear by all the stars of Heaven +that this Michel saved ye both. Is it not so?” + +“It is even so. By his skill and bravery we found our way to safety, and +in a hiding-place near to our loved Rouen watched him return from the +gates of death.” + +“He was wounded then?” + +“Seven times wounded, and with as little blood left in him as would fill +a cup. But it was summer, and we were in the hills, and they brought us, +our friends of Rouen, all that we had need of; and so God was with us. + +“But did he save thy life, except by skill, by indirect and fortunate +wisdom? Was there deadly danger upon thee? Did he beat down the sword of +death?” + +“He saved my life thrice directly. The wounds he carried were got by +interposing his own sword ‘twixt death and me.” + +“And that hath need of recompense?” + +“My life was little worth the wounds he suffered; but I waited not until +he saved it to owe it unto him. All that it is was his before he drew +the sword.” + +“And ‘tis this ye would call love betwixt ye--sweet givings and takings +of looks, and soft sayings, and unchangeable and devouring faith. Is’t +this--and is this all?” + +The girl had spoken out of an innocent heart, but the challenge in +the Queen’s voice worked upon her, and though she shrank a little, the +fulness of her soul welled up and strengthened her. She spoke again, +and now in her need and in her will to save the man she loved, by making +this majesty of England his protector, her words had eloquence. + +“It is not all, noble Queen. Love is more than that. It is the waking in +the poorest minds, in the most barren souls, of something greater than +themselves--as a chemist should find a substance that would give all +other things by touching of them a new and higher value; as light and +sun draw from the earth the tendrils of the seed that else had lain +unproducing. ‘Tis not alone soft words and touch of hand or lip. This +caring wholly for one outside one’s self kills that self which else +would make the world blind and deaf and dumb. None hath loved greatly +but hath helped to love in others. Ah, most sweet Majesty, for great +souls like thine, souls born great, this medicine is not needful, for +already hath the love of a nation inspired and enlarged it; but for +souls like mine and of so many, none better and none worse than me, to +love one other soul deeply and abidingly lifts us higher than ourselves. +Your Majesty hath been loved by a whole people, by princes and great +men in a different sort--is it not the world’s talk that none that ever +reigned hath drawn such slavery of princes, and of great nobles who have +courted death for hopeless love of one beyond their star? And is it not +written in the world’s book also that the Queen of England hath loved +no man, but hath poured out her heart to a people; and hath served great +causes in all the earth because of that love which hath still enlarged +her soul, dowered at birth beyond reckoning?” Tears filled her eyes. +“Ah, your supreme Majesty, to you whose heart is universal, the love +of one poor mortal seemeth a small thing, but to those of little +consequence it is the cable by which they unsteadily hold over the chasm +‘twixt life and immortality. To thee, oh greatest monarch of the world, +it is a staff on which thou need’st not lean, which thou hast never +grasped; to me it is my all; without it I fail and fall and die.” + +She had spoken as she felt, yet, because she was a woman and guessed the +mind of another woman, she had touched Elizabeth where her armour +was weakest. She had suggested that the Queen had been the object of +adoration, but had never given her heart to any man; that hers was +the virgin heart and life; and that she had never stooped to conquer. +Without realising it, and only dimly moving with that end in view, she +had whetted Elizabeth’s vanity. She had indeed soothed a pride wounded +of late beyond endurance, suspecting, as she did, that Leicester had +played his long part for his own sordid purposes, that his devotion was +more alloy than precious metal. No note of praise could be pitched too +high for Elizabeth, and if only policy did not intervene, if but no +political advantage was lost by saving De la Foret, that safety seemed +now secure. + +“You tell a tale and adorn it with good grace,” she said, and held out +her hand. Angele kissed it. “And you have said to Elizabeth what none +else dared to say since I was Queen here. He who hath never seen the +lightning hath no dread of it. I had not thought there was in the world +so much artlessness, with all the power of perfect art. But we live to +be wiser. Thou shalt continue in thy tale. Thou hast seen Mary, once +Queen of France, now Queen of Scots--answer me fairly; without if, or +though, or any sort of doubt, the questions I shall put. Which of us +twain, this ruin-starred queen or I, is of higher stature?” + +“She hath advantage in little of your Majesty,” bravely answered Angele. + +“Then,” answered Elizabeth sourly, “she is too high, for I myself +am neither too high nor too low.... And of complexion, which is the +fairer?” + +“Her complexion is the fairer, but your Majesty’s countenance hath truer +beauty, and sweeter majesty.” Elizabeth frowned slightly, then said: + +“What exercises did she take when you were at the Court?” + +“Sometimes she hunted, your Majesty, and sometimes she played upon the +virginals.” + +“Did she play to effect?” + +“Reasonably, your noble Majesty.” + +“You shall hear me play, and then speak truth upon us, for I have known +none with so true a tongue since my father died.” + +Thereon she called to a lady who waited near in a little room to bring +an instrument; but at that moment Cecil appeared again at the door, and +his face seeming to show anxiety, Elizabeth, with a sigh, beckoned him +to enter. + +“Your face, Cecil, is as long as a Lenten collect. What raven croaks in +England on May Day eve?” Cecil knelt before her, and gave into her hand +a paper. + +“What record runs here?” she asked querulously. “A prayer of your +faithful Lords and Commons that your Majesty will grant speech with +their chosen deputies to lay before your Majesty a cause they have at +heart.” + +“Touching of--?” darkly asked the Queen. + +“The deputies wait even now--will not your Majesty receive them? They +have come humbly, and will go hence as humbly on the instant, if the +hour is ill chosen.” + +Immediately Elizabeth’s humour changed. A look of passion swept across +her face, but her eyes lighted, and her lips smiled proudly. She avoided +troubles by every means, fought off by subtleties the issues which she +must meet; but when the inevitable hour came none knew so well to meet +it as though it were a dearest friend, no matter what the danger, how +great the stake. + +“They are here at my door, these good servants of the State--shall they +be kept dangling?” she said loudly. “Though it were time for prayers and +God’s mercy yet should they speak with me, have my counsel, or my hand +upon the sacred parchment of the State. Bring them hither, Cecil. Now +we shall see--Now you shall see, Angele of Rouen, now you shall see how +queens shall have no hearts to call their own, but be head and heart and +soul and body at the will of every churl who thinks he serves the State +and knows the will of Heaven. Stand here at my left hand. Mark the +players and the play.” + +Kneeling, the deputies presented a resolution from the Lords and +Commons that the Queen should, without more delay, in keeping with her +oft-expressed resolve and the promise of her Council, appoint one who +should succeed to the throne in case of her death “without posterity.” + Her faithful people pleaded with her gracious Majesty to forego +unwillingness to marry and seek a consort worthy of her supreme +consideration, to be raised to a place beside her near that throne which +she had made the greatest in the world. + +Gravely, solemnly, the chief members of the Lords and Commons spoke, and +with as weighty pauses and devoted protestations as though this were the +first time their plea had been urged, this obvious duty had been set out +before her. Long ago in the flush and pride of her extreme youth and the +full assurance of the fruits of marriage, they had spoken with the +same sober responsibility; and though her youth had gone and the old +certainty had for ever disappeared, they spoke of her marriage and its +consequences as though it were still that far-off yesterday. Well for +them that they did so, for though time had flown and royal suitors +without number had become figures dim in the people’s mind, Elizabeth, +fed upon adulation, invoked, admired, besieged by young courtiers, +flattered by maids who praised her beauty, had never seen the hands +of the clock pass high noon, and still remained under the dearest and +saddest illusion which can rest in a woman’s mind. Long after the hands +of life’s clock had moved into afternoon, the ancient prayer was still +gravely presented that she should marry and give an heir to England’s +crown; and she as solemnly listened and dropped her eyes, and strove to +hide her virgin modesty behind a high demeanour which must needs sink +self in royal duty. + +“These be the dear desires of your supreme Majesty’s faithful Lords and +Commons and the people of the shires whose wills they represent. Your +Majesty’s life, God grant it last beyond that of the youngest of your +people so greatly blessed in your rule! But accidents of time be many; +and while the world is full of guile, none can tell what peril may beset +the crown, if your Majesty’s wisdom sets not apart, gives not to her +country, one whom the nation can surround with its care, encompass +lovingly by its duty.” + +The talk with Angele had had a curious influence upon the Queen. It +was plain that now she was moved by real feeling, and that, though she +deceived herself, or pretended so to do, shutting her eyes to sober +facts, and dreaming old dreams--as it were, in a world where never was +a mirror nor a timepiece--yet there was working in her a fresher spirit, +urging her to a fairer course than she had shaped for many a day. + +“My lords and gentlemen and my beloved subjects,” she answered +presently, and for an instant set her eyes upon Angele, then turned to +them again, “I pray you stand and hear me.... Ye have spoken fair words +to my face, and of my face, and of the person of this daughter of great +Henry, from whom I got whatever grace or manner or favour is to me; and +by all your reasoning you do flatter the heart of the Queen of England, +whose mind indeed sleeps not in deed or desire for this realm. Ye have +drawn a fair picture of this mortal me, and though from the grace of +the picture the colours may fade by time, may give by weather, may be +spoiled by chance, yet my loyal mind, nor time with her swift wings +shall overtake, nor the misty clouds may darken, nor chance with her +slippery foot may overthrow. It sets its course by the heart of England, +and when it passeth there shall be found that one shall be left behind +who shall be surety of all that hath been lying in the dim warehouse +of fate for England’s high future. Be sure that in this thing I have +entered into the weigh-house, and I hold the balance, and ye shall be +well satisfied. Ye have been fruitful in counsel, ye have been long +knitting a knot never tied, ye shall have comfort soon. But know ye +beyond peradventure that I have bided my time with good reason. If our +loom be framed with rotten hurdles, when our web is well-ny done, our +work is yet to begin. Against mischance and dark discoveries my mind, +with knowledge hidden from you, hath been firmly arrayed. If it be in +your thought that I am set against a marriage which shall serve the +nation, purge yourselves, friends, of that sort of heresy, for the +belief is awry. Though I think that to be one and always one, neither +mated nor mothering, be good for a private woman, for a prince it is not +meet. Therefore, say to my Lords and Commons that I am more concerned +for what shall chance to England when I am gone than to linger out my +living thread. I hope, my lords and gentlemen, to die with a good Nunc +Dimittis, which could not be if I did not give surety for the nation +after my graved bones. Ye shall hear soon--ye shall hear and be +satisfied, and so I give you to the care of Almighty God.” + +Once more they knelt, and then slowly withdrew, with faces downcast and +troubled. They had secret knowledge which she did not yet possess, but +which at any moment she must know, and her ambiguous speech carried +no conviction to their minds. Yet their conference with her was most +opportune, for the news she must presently receive, brought by a +messenger from Scotland who had outstripped all others, would no doubt +move her to action which should set the minds of the people at rest, and +go far to stem the tide of conspiracy flowing through the kingdom. + +Elizabeth stood watching them, and remained gazing after they had +disappeared; then rousing herself, she turned to leave the room, and +beckoned to Angele to follow. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +As twilight was giving place to night Angele was roused from the reverie +into which she had fallen, by the Duke’s Daughter, who whispered to +her that if she would have a pleasure given to but few, she would come +quickly. Taking her hand the Duke’s Daughter--as true and whimsical +a spirit as ever lived in troubled days and under the aegis of the +sword-led her swiftly to the Queen’s chamber. They did not enter, but +waited in a quiet gallery. + +“The Queen is playing upon the virginals, and she playeth best when +alone; so stand you here by this tapestry, and you shall have pleasure +beyond payment,” said the Duke’s Daughter. + +Angele had no thought that the Queen of her vanity had commanded that +she be placed there as though secretly, and she listened dutifully +at first; but presently her ears were ravished; and even the Duke’s +Daughter showed some surprise, for never had she heard the Queen play +with such grace and feeling. The countenance of the musician was towards +them, and at last, as though by accident, Elizabeth looked up and saw +the face of her lady. + +“Spy, spy,” she cried. “Come hither--come hither, all of you!” + +When they had descended and knelt to her, she made as if she would +punish the Duke’s Daughter by striking her with a scarf that lay at her +hand, but to Angele she said: + +“How think you then, hath that other greater skill--Darnley’s wife I +mean?” + +“Not she or any other hath so delighted me,” said Angele, with worship +in her eyes--so doth talent given to majesty become lifted beyond its +measure. + +The Queen’s eyes lighted. “We shall have dancing, then,” she said. “The +dance hath charms for me. We shall not deny our youth. The heart shall +keep as young as the body.” + +An instant later the room was full of dancers, and Elizabeth gave her +hand to Leicester, who bent every faculty to pleasing her. His face had +darkened as he had seen Angele beside her, but the Queen’s graciousness, +whether assumed or real, had returned, and her face carried a look of +triumph and spirit and delight. Again and again she glanced towards +Angele, and what she saw evidently gave her pleasure, for she laughed +and disported herself with grace and an agreeable temper, and Leicester +lent himself to her spirit with adroit wit and humility. He had seen his +mistake of the morning, and was now intent to restore himself to favour. + +He succeeded well, for the emotions roused in Elizabeth during the day, +now heightened by vanity and emulation, found in him a centre upon +which they could converge; and, in her mind, Angele, for the nonce, was +disassociated from any thought of De la Foret. Leicester’s undoubted +gifts were well and cautiously directed, and his talent of assumed +passion--his heart was facile, and his gallantry knew no bounds--was +put to dexterous use, convincing for the moment. The Queen seemed all +complaisance again. Presently she had Angele brought to her. + +“How doth her dance compare-she who hath wedded Darnley?” + +“She danceth not so high nor disposedly, with no such joyous lightness +as your high Majesty, but yet she moveth with circumspection.” + +“Circumspection--circumspection, that is no gift in dancing, which +should be wilful yet airily composed, thoughtless yet inducing. +Circumspection!--in nothing else hath Mary shown it where she should. +‘Tis like this Queen perversely to make a psalm of dancing, and then +pirouette with sacred duty. But you have spoken the truth, and I am well +content. So get you to your rest.” + +She tapped Ange’le’s cheek. “You shall remain here to-night. ‘Tis too +late for you to be sent abroad.” She was about to dismiss her, when +there was a sudden stir. Cecil had entered and was making his way to the +Queen, followed by two strangers. Elizabeth waited their approach. + +“Your gracious Majesty,” said Cecil, in a voice none heard save +Elizabeth, for all had fallen back at a wave of her hand, “the Queen of +Scots is the mother of a fair son.” + +Elizabeth’s face flushed, then became pale, and she struck her knee +with her clinched hand. “Who bringeth the news?” she inquired in a sharp +voice. + +“Sir Andrew Melvill here.” + +“Who is with him yonder?” + +“One who hath been attached to the Queen of Scots.” + +“He hath the ill look of such an one,” she answered, and then said below +her breath bitterly: “She hath a son--and I am but a barren stock.” + +Rising, she added hurriedly: “We will speak to the people at the May Day +sports to-morrow. Let there be great feasting.” + +She motioned to Sir Andrew Melvill to come forward, and with a gesture +of welcome and a promise of speech with him on the morrow she dismissed +them. + +Since the two strangers had entered, Angele’s eyes had been fastened on +the gentleman who accompanied Sir Andrew Melvill. Her first glance +at him had sent a chill through her, and she remained confused and +disturbed. In vain her memory strove to find where the man was set in +her past. The time, the place, the event eluded her, but a sense of +foreboding possessed her; and her eyes followed him with strained +anxiety as he retired from the presence. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +As had been arranged when Lempriere challenged Leicester, they met soon +after dawn among the trees beside the Thames. A gentleman of the court, +to whom the Duke’s Daughter had previously presented Lempriere, gaily +agreed to act as second, and gallantly attended the lord of Rozel in his +adventurous enterprise. There were few at Court who had not some grudge +against Leicester, few who would not willingly have done duty at such a +time; for Leicester’s friends were of fair-weather sort, ready to defend +him, to support him, not for friendship but for the crumbs that dropped +from the table of his power. The favourite himself was attended by the +Earl of Ealing, a youngster who had his spurs to win, who thought it +policy to serve the great time-server. Two others also came. + +It was a morning little made for deeds of rancour or of blood. As they +passed, the early morning mists above the green fields of Kent and Essex +were being melted by the summer sun. The smell of ripening fruit came on +them with pungent sweetness, their feet crashed odorously through clumps +of tiger-lilies, and the dew on the ribbon-grass shook glistening drops +upon their velvets. Overhead the carolling of the thrush came swimming +recklessly through the trees, and far over in the fields the ploughmen +started upon the heavy courses of their labour; while here and there +poachers with bows and arrows slid through the green undergrowth, like +spies hovering on an army’s flank. + +To Lempriere the morning carried no impression save that life was well +worth living. No agitation passed across his nerves, no apprehension +reached his mind. He had no imagination; he loved the things that his +eyes saw because they filled him with enjoyment; but why they were, +or whence they came, or what they meant or boded, never gave him +meditation. A vast epicurean, a consummate egotist, ripe with feeling +and rich with energy, he could not believe that when he spoke the +heavens would not fall. The stinging sweetness of the morning was a +tonic to all his energies, an elation to his mind; he swaggered through +the lush grasses and boskage as though marching to a marriage. + +Leicester, on his part, no more caught at the meaning of the morning, at +the long whisper of enlivened nature, than did his foe. The day gave to +him no more than was his right. If the day was not fine, then Leicester +was injured; but if the day was fine, then Leicester had his due. Moral +blindness made him blind for the million deep teachings trembling +round him. He felt only the garish and the splendid. So it was that at +Kenilworth, where his Queen had visited him, the fetes that he had held +would far outshine the fete which would take place in Greenwich Park on +this May Day. The fete of this May Day would take place, but would he +see it? The thought flashed through his mind that he might not; but he +trod it under foot; not through an inborn, primitive egotism like that +of Lempriere, but through an innate arrogance, an unalterable belief +that Fate was ever on his side. He had played so many tricks with Fate, +had mocked while taking its gifts so often, that, like the son who has +flouted his indulgent father through innumerable times, he conceived +that he should never be disinherited. It irked him that he should be +fighting with a farmer, as he termed the Seigneur of the Jersey Isle; +but there was in the event, too, a sense of relief, for he had a will +for murder. Yesterday’s events were still fresh in his mind; and he had +a feeling that the letting of Lempriere’s blood would cool his own and +be some cure for the choler which the presence of these strangers at the +Court had wrought in him. + +There were better swordsmen in England than he, but his skill was +various, and he knew tricks of the trade which this primitive Norman +could never have learnt. He had some touch of wit, some biting +observation, and, as he neared the place of the encounter, he played +upon the coming event with a mordant frivolity. Not by nature a brave +man, he was so much a fatalist, such a worshipper of his star, that +he had acquired an artificial courage which had served him well. The +unschooled gentlemen with him roared with laughter at his sallies, and +they came to the place of meeting as though to a summer feast. + +“Good-morrow, nobility,” said Leicester with courtesy overdone, and +bowing much too low. “Good-morrow, valentine,” answered Lempriere, +flushing slightly at the disguised insult, and rising to the moment. + +“I hear the crop of fools is short this year in Jersey, and through no +fault of yours--you’ve done your best most loyally,” jeered Leicester, +as he doffed his doublet, his gentlemen laughing in derision. + +“‘Tis true enough, my lord, and I have come to find new seed in England, +where are fools to spare; as I trust in Heaven one shall be spared on +this very day for planting yonder.” + +He was eaten with rage, but he was cool and steady. + +He was now in his linen and small clothes and looked like some untrained +Hercules. + +“Well said, nobility,” laughed Leicester with an ugly look. “‘Tis seed +time--let us measure out the seed. On guard!” + +Never were two men such opposites, never two so seemingly ill-matched. +Leicester’s dark face and its sardonic look, his lithe figure, the +nervous strength of his bearing, were in strong contrast to the bulking +breadth, the perspiring robustness of Lempriere of Rozel. It was not +easy of belief that Lempriere should be set to fight this toreador of a +fighting Court. But there they stood, Lempriere’s face with a great-eyed +gravity looming above his rotund figure like a moon above a purple +cloud. But huge and loose though the Seigneur’s motions seemed, he was +as intent as though there were but two beings in the universe, Leicester +and himself. A strange alertness seemed to be upon him, and, as +Leicester found when the swords crossed, he was quicker than his bulk +gave warrant. His perfect health made his vision sure; and, though not +a fine swordsman, he had done much fighting in his time, had been +ever ready for the touch of steel; and had served some warlike days +in fighting France, where fate had well befriended him. That which +Leicester meant should be by-play of a moment became a full half-hour’s +desperate game. Leicester found that the thrust--the fatal thrust +learned from an Italian master--he meant to give, was met by a swift +precision, responding to quick vision. Again and again he would have +brought the end, but Lempriere heavily foiled him. The wound which the +Seigneur got at last, meant to be mortal, was saved from that by the +facility of a quick apprehension. Indeed, for a time the issue had +seemed doubtful, for the endurance and persistence of the Seigneur made +for exasperation and recklessness in his antagonist, and once blood was +drawn from the wrist of the great man; but at length Lempriere went upon +the aggressive. Here he erred, for Leicester found the chance for which +he had manoeuvred--to use the feint and thrust got out of Italy. He +brought his enemy low, but only after a duel the like of which had never +been seen at the Court of England. The toreador had slain his bull at +last, but had done no justice to his reputation. Never did man more +gallantly sustain his honour with heaviest odds against him than did the +Seigneur of Rozel that day. + +As he was carried away by the merry gentlemen of the Court, he called +back to the favourite: + +“Leicester is not so great a swordsman after all. Hang fast to your +honours by the skin of your teeth, my lord.” + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +It was Monday, and the eyes of London and the Court were turned towards +Greenwich Park, where the Queen was to give entertainment to the French +Envoy who had come once more to urge upon the Queen marriage with a +son of the Medici, and to obtain an assurance that she would return to +France the widow of the great Montgomery and his valiant lieutenant, +Michel de la Foret. The river was covered with boats and barges, +festooned, canopied, and hung with banners and devices; and from +sunrise music and singing conducted down the stream the gaily dressed +populace--for those were the days when a man spent on his ruff and his +hose and his russet coat as much as would feed and house a family for a +year; when the fine-figured ruflier with sables about his neck, corked +slipper, trimmed buskin, and cloak of silk or damask furred, carried his +all upon his back. + +Loud-voiced gallants came floating by; men of a hundred guilds bearing +devices pompously held on their way to the great pageant; country +bumpkins up from Surrey roystered and swore that there was but one +land that God had blessed, and challenged the grinning watermen from +Gravesend and Hampton Court to deny it; and the sun with ardour drove +from the sky every invading cloud, leaving Essex and Kent as far as eye +could see perfect green gardens of opulence. + +Before Elizabeth had left her bed, London had emptied itself into +Greenwich Park. Thither the London Companies had come in their varied +dazzling accoutrements--hundreds armed in fine corselets bearing +the long Moorish pike; tall halberdiers in the unique armour called +Almainrivets, and gunners or muleteers equipped in shirts of mail with +morions or steel caps. Here too were to come the Gentlemen Pensioners, +resplendent in scarlet, to “run with the spear;” and hundreds of +men-at-arms were set at every point to give garish bravery to all. +Thousands of citizens, openmouthed, gazed down the long arenas of green +festooned with every sort of decoration and picturesque invention. Cages +of large birds from the Indies, fruits, corn, fishes, grapes, hung in +the trees, players perched in the branches discoursed sweet music, and +poets recited their verses from rustic bridges or on platforms with +weapons and armour hung trophy-wise on ragged staves. Upon a small lake +a dolphin four-and-twenty feet in length came swimming, within its belly +a lively orchestra; Italian tumblers swung from rope to bar; and crowds +gathered at the places where bear and bull-baiting were to excite the +none too fastidious tastes of the time. + +All morning the gay delights went on, and at high noon the cry was +carried from mouth to mouth: “The Queen! The Queen!” + +She appeared on a balcony surrounded by her lords and ladies, and there +received the diplomatists, speaking at length to the French Envoy in +a tone of lightness and elusive cheerfulness which he was at a loss +to understand and tried in vain to pierce by cogent remarks bearing +on matters of moment involved in his embassage. Not far away stood +Leicester, but the Queen had done no more than note his presence by +a glance, and now and again with ostentatious emphasis she spoke +to Angele, whom she had had brought to her in the morning before +chapel-going. Thus early, after a few questions and some scrutiny, she +had sent her in charge of a gentleman-at-arms and a maid of the Duke’s +Daughter to her father’s lodging, with orders to change her robe, to +return to the palace in good time before noon, and to bring her father +to a safe place where he could watch the pleasures of the people. When +Angele came to the presence again she saw that the Queen was wearing a +gown of pure white with the sleeves shot with black, such as she +herself had worn when admitted to audience yesterday. Vexed, agitated, +embittered as Elizabeth had been by the news brought to her the night +before, she had kept her wardrobers and seamstresses at work the whole +night to alter a white satin habit to the simplicity and style of that +which Angele had worn. + +“What think you of my gown, my lady refugee?” she said to Angele at +last, as the Gentlemen Pensioners paraded in the space below, followed +by the Knights Tilters--at their head the Queen’s Champion, Sir Henry +Lee: twenty-five of the most gallant and favoured of the courtiers of +Elizabeth, including the gravest of her counsellors and the youngest +gallant who had won her smile, Master Christopher Hatton. Some of these +brave suitors, taken from the noblest families, had appeared in the +tilt-yard every anniversary of the year of her accession, and had +lifted their romantic office, which seemed but the service of enamoured +knights, into an almost solemn dignity. + +The vast crowd disposed itself around the great improvised yard where +the Knights Tilters were to engage, and the Queen, followed by her +retinue, descended to the dais which had been set up near the palace. +Her white satin gown, roped with pearls only at the neck and breast, +glistened in the bright sun, and her fair hair took on a burnished +radiance. As Angele passed with her in the gorgeous procession, she +could not but view the scene with admiring eye, albeit her own sweet +sober attire, a pearly grey, seemed little in keeping; for the ladies +and lords were most richly attired, and the damask and satin cloaks, +crimson velvet gowns, silk hoods, and jewelled swords and daggers made a +brave show. She was like some moth in a whorl of butterflies. + +Her face was pale, and her eye had a curious disturbed look, as though +they had seen frightening things. The events of last evening had tried +her simple spirit, and she shrank from this glittering show; but the +knowledge that her lover’s life was in danger, and that her happiness +was here and now at stake, held her bravely to her place, beset as it +was with peril; for the Queen, with that eccentricity which had lifted +her up yesterday, might cast her down to-day, and she had good reason +to fear the power and influence of Leicester, whom she knew with a sure +instinct was intent on Michel’s ruin. Behind all her nervous shrinking +and her heart’s doubt, the memory of the face of the stranger she had +seen last night with Sir Andrew Melvill tortured her. She could not find +the time and place where she had seen the eyes that, in the palace, had +filled her with mislike and abhorrence as they looked upon the Queen. +Again and again in her fitful sleep had she dreamt of him, and a sense +of foreboding was heavy upon her--she seemed to hear the footfall of +coming disaster. The anxiety of her soul lent an unnatural brightness to +her eyes; so that more than one enamoured courtier made essay to engage +her in conversation, and paid her deferential compliment when the +Queen’s eyes were not turned her way. Come to the dais, she was placed +not far from her Majesty, beside the Duke’s Daughter, whose whimsical +nature found frequent expression in what the Queen was wont to call “a +merry volt.” She seemed a privileged person, with whom none ventured to +take liberties, and against whom none was entitled to bear offence, for +her quips were free from malice, and her ingenuity in humour of mark. +She it was who had put into the Queen’s head that morning an idea which +was presently to startle Angele and all others. + +Leicester was riding with the Knights Tilters, and as they cantered +lightly past the dais, trailing their spears in obeisance, Elizabeth +engaged herself in talk with Cecil, who was standing near, and appeared +not to see the favourite. This was the first time since he had mounted +to good fortune that she had not thrown him a favour to pick up with his +spear and wear in her honour, and he could scarce believe that she +had meant to neglect him. He half halted, but she only deigned an +inclination of the head, and he spurred his horse angrily on with a +muttered imprecation, yet, to all seeming, gallantly paying homage. + +“There shall be doings ere this day is done. ‘Beware the Gipsy’!” said +the Duke’s Daughter in a low tone to Angele, and she laughed lightly. + +“Who is the Gipsy?” asked Angele, with good suspicion, however. + +“Who but Leicester,” answered the other. “Is he not black enough?” + +“Why was he so called? Who put the name upon Who but the Earl of Sussex +as he died--as noble a chief, as true a counsellor as ever spoke truth +to a Queen. But truth is not all at Court, and Sussex was no flatterer. +Leicester bowed under the storm for a moment when Sussex showed him in +his true colours; but Sussex had no gift of intrigue, the tide turned, +and so he broke his heart, and died. But he left a message which I +sometimes remember with my collects. ‘I am now passing to another +world,’ said he, ‘and must leave you to your fortunes and to the Queen’s +grace and goodness; but beware the Gipsy, for he will be too hard for +all of you; you know not the beast so well as I do.’ But my Lord Sussex +was wrong. One there is who knows him through and through, and hath +little joy in the knowing.” + +The look in the eyes of the Duke’s Daughter became like steel and her +voice hardened, and Angele realised that Leicester had in this beautiful +and delicate maid-of-honour as bitter an enemy as ever brought down +the mighty from their seats; that a pride had been sometime wounded, +suffered an unwarrantable affront, which only innocence could feel so +acutely. Her heart went out to the Duke’s Daughter as it had never +gone out to any of her sex since her mother’s death, and she showed her +admiration in her glance. The other saw it and smiled, slipping a hand +in hers for a moment; and then a look, half-debating, half-triumphant, +came into her face as her eyes followed Leicester down the green +stretches of the tilting-yard. + +The trumpet sounded, the people broke out in shouts of delight, the +tilting began. For an hour the handsome joust went on, the Earl of +Oxford, Charles Howard, Sir Henry Lee, Sir Christopher Hatton, and +Leicester challenging, and so even was the combat that victory seemed to +settle in the plumes of neither, though Leicester of them all showed not +the greatest skill, while in some regards greatest grace and deportment. +Suddenly there rode into the lists, whence, no one seemed to know, so +intent had the public gaze been fixed, so quickly had he come, a mounted +figure all in white, and at the moment when Sir Henry Lee had cried +aloud his challenge for the last time. Silence fell as the bright figure +cantered down the list, lifted the gauge, and sat still upon his black +steed. Consternation fell. None among the people or the Knights Tilters +knew who the invader was, and Leicester called upon the Masters of the +Ceremonies to demand his name and quality. The white horseman made +no reply, but sat unmoved, while noise and turmoil suddenly sprang up +around him. + +Presently the voice of the Queen was heard clearly ringing through the +lists. “His quality hath evidence. Set on.” + +The Duke’s Daughter laughed, and whispered mischievously in Angele’s +ear. + +The gentlemen of England fared ill that day in the sight of all the +people, for the challenger of the Knights Tilters was more than a match +for each that came upon him. He rode like a wild horseman of Yucatan. +Wary, resourceful, sudden in device and powerful in onset, he bore all +down, until the Queen cried: “There hath not been such skill in England +since my father rode these lists. Three of my best gentlemen down, and +it hath been but breathing to him. Now, Sir Harry Lee, it is thy turn,” + she laughed as she saw the champion ride forward; “and next ‘tis thine, +Leicester. Ah, Leicester would have at him now!” she added sharply, as +she saw the favourite spur forward before the gallant Lee. “He is full +of choler--it becomes him, but it shall not be; bravery is not all. And +if he failed”--she smiled acidly--“he would get him home to Kenilworth +and show himself no more--if he failed, and the White Knight failed not! +What think you, dove?” she cried to the Duke’s Daughter. “Would he not +fall in the megrims for that England’s honour had been over thrown? +Leicester could not live if England’s honour should be toppled down like +our dear Chris Hatton and his gallants yonder.” + +The Duke’s Daughter curtsied. “Methinks England’s honour is in little +peril--your Majesty knows well how to ‘fend it. No subject keeps it.” + +“If I must ‘fend it, dove, then Leicester there must not fight to-day. +It shall surely be Sir Harry Lee. My Lord Leicester must have the place +of honour at the last,” she called aloud. Leicester swung his horse +round and galloped to the Queen. + +“Your Majesty,” he cried in suppressed anger, “must I give place?” + +“When all have failed and Leicester has won, then all yield place to +Leicester,” said the Queen drily. The look on his face was not good to +see, but he saluted gravely and rode away to watch the encounter between +the most gallant Knight Tilter in England and the stranger. Rage was in +his heart, and it blinded him to the certainty of his defeat, for he +was not expert in the lists. But by a sure instinct he had guessed the +identity of the White Horseman, and every nerve quivered with desire +to meet him in combat. Last night’s good work seemed to have gone for +naught. Elizabeth’s humour had changed; and to-day she seemed set on +humiliating him before the nobles who hated him, before the people who +had found in him the cause why the Queen had not married, so giving no +heir to the throne. Perturbed and charged with anger as he was, however, +the combat now forward soon chained his attention. Not in many a +year had there been seen in England such a display of skill and +determination. The veteran Knight Tilter, who knew that the result of +this business meant more than life to him, and that more than the honour +of his comrades was at stake--even the valour of England which had been +challenged--fought as he had never fought before, as no man had fought +in England for many a year. At first the people cried aloud their +encouragement; but as onset and attack after onset and attack showed +that two masters of their craft, two desperate men, had met, and that +the great sport had become a vital combat between their own champion and +the champion of another land--Spain, France, Denmark, Russia, Italy?--a +hush spread over the great space, and every eye was strained; men gazed +with bated breath. + +The green turf was torn and mangled, the horses reeked with sweat and +foam, but overhead the soaring skylark sang, as it were, to express the +joyance of the day. During many minutes the only sound that broke +the stillness was the clash of armed men, the thud of hoofs, and the +snorting and the wild breathing of the chargers. The lark’s notes, +however, ringing out over the lists freed the tongue of the Queen’s +fool, who suddenly ran out into the lists, in his motley and cap and +bells, and in his high trilling voice sang a fool’s song to the fighting +twain: + + “Who would lie down and close his eyes + While yet the lark sings o’er the dale? + Who would to Love make no replies, + Nor drink the nut-brown ale, + While throbs the pulse, and full ‘s the purse + And all the world ‘s for sale?” + +Suddenly a cry of relief, of roaring excitement, burst from the people. +Both horsemen and their chargers were on the ground. The fight was over, +the fierce game at an end. That which all had feared, even the Queen +herself, as the fight fared on, had not come to pass--England’s champion +had not been beaten by the armed mystery, though the odds had seemed +against him. + + “Though wintry blasts may prove unkind, + When winter’s past we do forget; + Love’s breast in summer time is kind, + And all ‘s well while life ‘s with us yet + Hey, ho, now the lark is mating, + Life’s sweet wages are in waiting!” + +Thus sang the fool as the two warriors were helped to their feet. +Cumbered with their armour, and all dust-covered and blood-stained, +though not seriously hurt, they were helped to their horses, and rode to +the dais where the Queen sat. + +“Ye have fought like men of old,” she said, “and neither had advantage +at the last. England’s champion still may cry his challenge and not be +forsworn, and he who challenged goeth in honour again from the lists. +You, sir, who have challenged, shall we not see your face or hear +your voice? For what country, for what prince lifted you the gauge and +challenged England’s honour?” + +“I crave your high Majesty’s pardon”--Angele’s heart stood still. Her +love had not pierced his disguise, though Leicester’s hate had done +so on the instant--“I crave your noble Majesty’s grace,” answered the +stranger, “that I may still keep my face covered in humility. My voice +speaks for no country and for no prince. I have fought for mine own +honour, and to prove to England’s Queen that she hath a champion who +smiteth with strong arm, as on me and my steed this hath been seen +to-day.” + +“Gallantly thought and well said,” answered Elizabeth; “but England’s +champion and his strong arm have no victory. If gifts were given they +must needs be cut in twain. But answer me, what is your country? I +will not have it that any man pick up the gauge of England for his own +honour. What is your country? + +“I am an exile, your high Majesty; and the only land for which I +raise my sword this day is that land where I have found safety from my +enemies.” + +The Queen turned and smiled at the Duke’s Daughter. “I knew not where +my own question might lead, but he hath turned it to full account,” she +said, under her breath. “His tongue is as ready as his spear. Then ye +have both laboured in England’s honour, and I drink to you both,” she +added, and raised to her lips a glass of wine which a page presented. +“I love ye both--in your high qualities,” she hastened to add with dry +irony, and her eye rested mockingly on Leicester. + +“My lords and gentlemen and all of my kingdom,” she added in a clear +voice, insistent in its force, “ye have come upon May Day to take +delight of England in my gardens, and ye are welcome. Ye have seen such +a sight as doeth good to the eyes of brave men. It hath pleased me well, +and I am constrained to say to you what, for divers great reasons, I +have kept to my own counsels, labouring for your good. The day hath +come, however, the day and the hour when ye shall know that wherein I +propose to serve you as ye well deserve. It is my will--and now I see my +way to its good fulfilment--that I remain no longer in that virgin state +wherein I have ever lived.” + +Great cheering here broke in, and for a time she could get no further. +Ever alive to the bent of the popular mind, she had chosen a perfect +occasion to take them into her confidence--however little or much she +would abide by her words, or intended the union of which she spoke. In +the past she had counselled with her great advisers, with Cecil and the +rest, and through them messages were borne to the people; but now +she spoke direct to them all, and it had its immediate reward--the +acclamations were as those with which she was greeted when she first +passed through the streets of London on inheriting the crown. + +Well pleased, she continued: “This I will do with expedition and +weightiest judgment, for of little account though I am, he that +sits with the Queen of England in this realm must needs be a prince +indeed.... So be ye sure of this that ye shall have your heart-most +wishes, and there shall be one to come after me who will wear this crown +even as I have worn, in direct descent, my father’s crown. Our dearest +sister, the Queen of the Scots, hath been delivered of a fair son; and +in high affection the news thereof she hath sent me, with a palfry which +I shall ride among you in token of the love I bear her Majesty. She hath +in her time got an heir to the throne with which we are ever in kinship +and alliance, and I in my time shall give ye your heart’s desire.” + +Angele, who had, with palpitating heart and swimming head, seen +Michel de la Foret leave the lists and disappear among the trees, as +mysteriously as he came, was scarce conscious of the cheers and riotous +delight that followed Elizabeth’s tactful if delusive speech to the +people. A few whispered words from the Duke’s Daughter had told her that +Michel had obeyed the Queen’s command in entering the lists and taking +up the challenge; and that she herself, carrying the royal message to +him and making arrangements for his accoutrement and mounting, had urged +him to obedience. She observed drily that he had needed little pressure, +and that his eyes had lighted at the prospect of the combat. Apart +from his innate love of fighting, he had realised that in the moment of +declining to enter the Queen’s service he had been at a disadvantage, +and that his courage was open to attack by the incredulous or malicious. +This would have mattered little were it not that he had been given +unusual importance as a prisoner by the Queen’s personal notice of +himself. He had, therefore, sprung to the acceptance, and sent his +humble duty to the Queen by her winsome messenger, who, with conspicuous +dramatic skill, had arranged secretly, with the help of a Gentleman +Pensioner and the Master of the Horse, his appearance and his exit. +That all succeeded as she had planned quickened her pulses, and made +her heart still warmer to Angele, who, now that all was over, and her +Huguenot lover had gone his mysterious ways, seemed lost in a troubled +reverie. + +It was a troubled reverie indeed, for Angele’s eyes were on the stranger +who was present with Sir Andrew Melvill the night before. Her gaze upon +him now became fixed and insistent, for the sense of foreboding so heavy +on her deepened to a torturing suspense. Where had she seen this man +before? To what day or hour in her past did he belong? What was there in +his smooth, smiling, malicious face that made her blood run cold? As she +watched him, he turned his head. She followed his eyes. The horse which +Mary Queen of Scots had sent with the message of the birth of her son +was being led to the Queen by the dark browed, pale-faced churl who had +brought it from Scotland. She saw a sharp dark look pass between the +two. + +Suddenly her sight swam, she swayed and would have fainted, but +resolution steadied her, and a low exclamation broke from her lips. Now +she knew! + +The face that had eluded her was at last in the grasp of horrified +memory. It was the face of one who many years ago was known to have +poisoned the Due de Chambly by anointing the pommel of his saddle with +a delicate poison which the rider would touch, and touching would, +perhaps, carry to his nostrils or mouth as he rode, and die upon the +instant. She herself had seen the Due de Chambly fall; had seen this man +fly from Paris for his life; and had thereafter known of his return to +favour at the court of Mary and Francis, for nothing could be proved +against him. The memory flashed like lightning through her brain. She +moved swiftly forward despite the detaining hand of the Duke’s Daughter. +The Queen was already mounted, her hand already upon the pommel of the +saddle. + +Elizabeth noted the look of anguished anxiety in Angele’s eyes, her +face like that of one who had seen souls in purgatory; and some swift +instinct, born of years upon years of peril in old days when her life +was no boon to her enemies, made her lean towards the girl, whose +quick whispered words were to her as loud as thunder. She was, however, +composed and still. Not a tremor passed through her. + +“Your wish is granted, mistress,” she said aloud, then addressed a word +to Cecil at her side, who passed on her command. Presently she turned +slowly to the spot where Sir Andrew Melvill and the other sat upon +their horses. She scanned complacently the faces of both, then her eyes +settled steadily on the face of the murderer. Still gazing intently she +drew the back of her gloved fingers along the pommel. The man saw the +motion, unnoted and unsignificant to any other save Angele, meaningless +even to Melvill, the innocent and honest gentleman at his side; and he +realised that the Queen had had a warning. Noting the slight stir among +the gentlemen round him, he knew that his game was foiled, that there +was no escape. He was not prepared for what followed. + +In a voice to be heard only at small distance, the Queen said calmly: + +“This palfry sent me by my dear sister of Scotland shall bear me among +you, friends; and in days to come I will remember how she hath given +new life to me by her loving message. Sir Andrew Melvill, I shall have +further speech with you; and you, sir,”--speaking to the sinister figure +by his side--“come hither.” + +The man dismounted, and with unsteady step came forward. Elizabeth held +out her gloved hand for him to kiss. His face turned white. It was come +soon, his punishment. None knew save Angele and the Queen the doom that +was upon him, if Angele’s warning was well-founded. He knelt, and bent +his head over her hand. + +“Salute, sir,” she said in a low voice. + +He touched his lips to her fingers. She pressed them swiftly against +his mouth. An instant, then he rose and stepped backwards to his horse. +Tremblingly, blindly, he mounted. + +A moment passed, then Elizabeth rode on with her ladies behind her, her +gentlemen beside her. As she passed slowly, the would-be regicide swayed +and fell from his horse, and stirred no more. + +Elizabeth rode on, her hand upon the pommel of the saddle. So she rode +for a full half-hour, and came back to her palace. But she raised +not her gloved right hand above the pommel, and she dismounted with +exceeding care. + +That night the man who cared for the horse died secretly as had done his +master, with the Queen’s glove pressed to his nostrils by one whom Cecil +could trust. And the matter was hidden from the Court and the people; +for it was given out that Melvill’s friend had died of some heart +trouble. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +It seemed an unspeakable smallness in a man of such high place in the +State, whose hand had tied and untied myriad knots of political and +court intrigue, that he should stoop to a game which any pettifogging +hanger-on might play-and reap scorn in the playing. By insidious arts, +Leicester had in his day turned the Queen’s mind to his own will; had +foiled the diplomacy of the Spaniard, the German and the Gaul; had by +subterranean means checkmated the designs of the Medici; had traced his +way through plot and counter-plot, hated by most, loved by none save, +maybe, his Royal mistress to whom he was now more a custom than a +cherished friend. Year upon year he had built up his influence. None had +championed him save himself, and even from the consequences of rashness +and folly he had risen to a still higher place in the kingdom. But such +as Leicester are ever at last a sacrifice to the laborious means by +which they achieve their greatest ends-means contemptible and small. + +To the great intriguers every little detail, every commonplace +insignificance is used--and must be used by them alone--to further their +dark causes. They cannot trust their projects to brave lieutenants, to +faithful subordinates. They cannot say, “Here is the end; this is the +work to be done; upon your shoulders be the burden!” They must “stoop to +conquer.” Every miserable detail becomes of moment, until by-and-by the +art of intrigue and conspiracy begins to lose proportion in their minds. +The detail has ever been so important, conspiracy so much second nature, +that they must needs be intriguing and conspiring when the occasion is +trifling and the end negligible. + +To all intriguers life has lost romance; there is no poem left in +nature; no ideal, personal, public or national, detains them in its +wholesome influence; no great purpose allures them; they have no +causes for which to die--save themselves. They are so honeycombed with +insincerity and the vice of thought, that by-and-by all colours are as +one, all pathways the same; because, whichever hue of light breaks upon +their world they see it through the grey-cloaked mist of falsehood; and +whether the path be good or bad they would still walk in it crookedly. +How many men and women Leicester had tracked or lured to their doom; +over how many men and women he had stepped to his place of power, +history speaks not carefully; but the traces of his deeds run through a +thousand archives, and they suggest plentiful sacrifices to a subverted +character. + +Favourite of a Queen, he must now stoop to set a trap for the ruin of +as simple a soul as ever stepped upon the soil of England; and his dark +purposes had not even the excuse of necessity on the one hand, of love +or passion on the other. An insane jealousy of the place the girl had +won in the consideration of the Queen, of her lover who, he thought, had +won a still higher place in the same influence, was his only motive +for action at first. His cruelty was not redeemed even by the sensuous +interest the girl might arouse in a reckless nature by her beauty and +her charm. + +So the great Leicester--the Gipsy, as the dead Sussex had called +him--lay in wait in Greenwich Park for Angele to pass, like some orchard +thief in the blossoming trees. Knowing the path by which she would +come to her father’s cottage from the palace, he had placed himself +accordingly. He had thought he might have to wait long or come often for +the perfect opportunity; but it seemed as if Fate played his game for +him, and that once again the fruit he would pluck should fall into his +palm. Bright-eyed, and elated from a long talk with the Duke’s Daughter, +who had given her a message from the Queen, Angele had abstractedly +taken the wrong path in the wood. Leicester saw that it would lead her +into the maze some distance off. Making a detour, he met her at the +moment she discovered her mistake. The light from the royal word +her friend had brought was still in her face; but it was crossed by +perplexity now. + +He stood still as though astonished at seeing her, a smile upon his +face. So perfectly did he play his part that she thought the meeting +accidental; and though in her heart she had a fear of the man and knew +how bitter an enemy he was of Michel’s, his urbane power, his skilful +diplomacy of courtesy had its way. These complicated lives, instinct +with contradiction, have the interest of forbidden knowledge. The dark +experiences of life leave their mark and give such natures that touch +of mystery which allures even those who have high instincts and true +feelings, as one peeps over a hidden depth and wonders what lies beyond +the dark. So Angele, suddenly arrested, was caught by the sense of +mystery in the man, by the fascination of finesse, of dark power; and +it was womanlike that all on an instant she should dream of the soul of +goodness in things evil. + +Thus in life we are often surprised out of long years of prejudice, and +even of dislike and suspicion, by some fortuitous incident, which might +have chanced to two who had every impulse towards each other, not such +antagonisms as lay between Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and this +Huguenot refugee. She had every cue to hate hum. Each moment of her life +in England had been beset with peril because of him-peril to the man she +loved, therefore peril to herself. And yet, so various is the nature of +woman, that, while steering straitly by one star, she levies upon the +light of other stars. Faithful and sincere, yet loving power, curious +and adventurous, she must needs, without intention, without purpose, +stray into perilous paths. + +As Leicester stepped suddenly into Angele’s gaze, she was only, as +it were, conscious of a presence in itself alluring by virtue of the +history surrounding it. She was surprised out of an instinctive dislike, +and the cue she had to loathe him was for the moment lost. + +Unconsciously, unintentionally, she smiled at him now, then, realising, +retreated, shrinking from him, her face averted. Man or woman had found +in Leicester the delicate and intrepid gamester, exquisite in the choice +of detail, masterful in the breadth of method. And now, as though his +whole future depended on this interview, he brought to bear a life-long +skill to influence her. He had determined to set the Queen against her. +He did not know--not even he--that she had saved the Queen’s life on +that auspicious May Day when Harry Lee had fought the white knight +Michel de la Foret and halved the honours of the lists with him. If +he had but known that the Queen had hid from him this fact--this vital +thing touching herself and England, he would have viewed his future +with a vaster distrust. But there could be no surer sign of Elizabeth’s +growing coldness and intended breach than that she had hid from him the +dreadful incident of the poisoned glove, and the swift execution of the +would-be murderer, and had made Cecil her only confidant. But he did +know that Elizabeth herself had commanded Michel de la Foret to the +lists; and his mad jealousy impelled him to resort to a satanic cunning +towards these two fugitives, who seemed to have mounted within a few +short days as far as had he in thrice as many years to a high place in +the regard of the Majesty of England. + +To disgrace them both; to sow distrust of the girl in the Queen’s mind; +to make her seem the opposite of what she was; to drop in her own mind +suspicion of her lover; to drive her to some rash act, some challenge +of the Queen herself--that was his plan. He knew how little Elizabeth’s +imperious spirit would brook any challenge from this fearless girl +concerning De la Foret. But to convince her that the Queen favoured +Michel in some shadowed sense, that De la Foret was privy to a dark +compact--so deep a plot was all worthy of a larger end. He had well +inspired the Court of France through its ambassador to urge the Medici +to press actively and bitterly for De la Foret’s return to France and +to the beheading sword that waited for him; and his task had been made +light by international difficulties, which made the heart of Elizabeth’s +foreign policy friendship with France and an alliance against Philip +of Spain. She had, therefore, opened up, even in the past few days, +negotiations once again for the long-talked-of marriage with the Duke +of Anjou, the brother of the King, son of the Medici. State policy was +involved, and, if De la Foret might be a counter, the pledge of exchange +in the game, as it were, the path would once more be clear. + +He well believed that Elizabeth’s notice of De la Foret was but a fancy +that would pass, as a hundred times before such fancies had come and +gone; but against that brighter prospect there lay the fact that never +before had she shown himself such indifference. In the past she had +raged against him, she had imprisoned him; she had driven him from +her presence in her anger, but always her paroxysms of rage had been +succeeded by paroxysms of tenderness. Now he saw a colder light in the +sky, a greyer horizon met his eye. So at every corner of the compass he +played for the breaking of the spell. + +Yet as he now bowed low before Angele there seemed to show in his face +a very candour of surprise, of pleasure, joined to a something friendly +and protective in his glance and manner. His voice insinuated that +bygones should be bygones; it suggested that she had misunderstood him. +It pleaded against the injustice of her prejudice. + +“So far from home!” he said with a smile. + +“More miles from home,” she replied, thinking of never-returning days in +France, “than I shall ever count again.” + +“But no, methinks the palace is within a whisper,” he responded. + +“Lord Leicester knows well I am a prisoner; that I no longer abide in +the palace,” she answered. + +He laughed lightly. “An imprisonment in a Queen’s friendship. I bethink +me, it is three hours since I saw you go to the palace. It is a few +worthless seconds since you have got your freedom.” + +She nettled at his tone. “Lord Leicester takes great interest in my +unimportant goings and comings. I cannot think it is because I go and +come.” + +He chose to misunderstand her meaning. Drawing closer he bent over her +shoulder. “Since your arrival here, my only diary is the tally of your +coming and going.” Suddenly, as though by an impulse of great frankness, +he added in a low tone: + +“And is it strange that I should follow you--that I should worship grace +and virtue? Men call me this and that. You have no doubt been filled +with dark tales of my misdeeds. Has there been one in the Court, even +one, who, living by my bounty or my patronage, has said one good word +of me? And why? For long years the Queen, who, maybe, might have been +better counselled, chose me for her friend, adviser--because I was true +to her. I have lived for the Queen, and living for her have lived for +England. Could I keep--I ask you, could I keep myself blameless in the +midst of flattery, intrigue, and conspiracy? I admit that I have +played with fiery weapons in my day; and must needs still do so. The +incorruptible cannot exist in the corrupted air of this Court. You have +come here with the light of innocence and truth about you. At first I +could scarce believe that such goodness lived, hardly understood it. The +light half-blinded and embarrassed; but, at last, I saw! You of all this +Court have made me see what sort of life I might have lived. You have +made me dream the dreams of youth and high unsullied purpose once again. +Was it strange that in the dark pathways of the Court I watched your +footsteps come and go, carrying radiance with you? No--Leicester has +learned how sombre, sinister, has been his past, by a presence which +is the soul of beauty, of virtue, and of happy truth. Lady, my heart is +yours. I worship you.” + +Overborne for the moment by the eager, searching eloquence of his words, +she had listened bewildered to him. Now she turned upon him with panting +breath and said: + +“My lord, my lord, I will hear no more. You know I love Monsieur de +la Foret, for whose sake I am here in England--for whose sake I still +remain.” + +“‘Tis a labour of love but ill requited,” he answered with suggestion in +his tone. + +“What mean you, my lord?” she asked sharply, a kind of blind agony in +her voice; for she felt his meaning, and though she did not believe him, +and knew in her soul he slandered, there was a sting, for slander ever +scorches where it touches. + +“Can you not see?” he said. “May Day--why did the Queen command him to +the lists? Why does she keep him here-in the palace? Why, against +the will of France, her ally, does she refuse to send him forth? Why, +unheeding the laughter of the Court, does she favour this unimportant +stranger, brave though he be? Why should she smile upon him?... Can you +not see, sweet lady?” + +“You know well why the Queen detains him here,” she answered calmly now. +“In the Queen’s understanding with France, exiles who preach the +faith are free from extradition. You heard what the Queen required of +him--that on Trinity Day he should preach before her, and upon this +preaching should depend his safety.” + +“Indeed, so her Majesty said with great humour,” replied Leicester. “So +indeed she said; but when we hide our faces a thin veil suffices. The +man is a soldier--a soldier born. Why should he turn priest now? I pray +you, think again. He was quick of wit; the Queen’s meaning was clear to +him; he rose with seeming innocence to the fly, and she landed him at +the first toss. But what is forward bodes no good to you, dear star of +heaven. I have known the Queen for half a lifetime. She has wild whims +and dangerous fancies, fills her hours of leisure with experiences--an +artist is the Queen. She means no good to you.” + +She had made as if to leave him, though her eyes searched in vain for +the path which she should take; but she now broke in impatiently: + +“Poor, unnoted though I am, the Queen of England is my friend,” she +answered. “What evil could she wish me? From me she has naught to fear. +I am not an atom in her world. Did she but lift her finger I am done. +But she knows that, humble though I be, I would serve her to my last +breath; because I know, my Lord Leicester, how many there are who serve +her foully, faithlessly; and there should be those by her who would +serve her singly.” + +His eyes half closed, he beat his toe upon the ground. He frowned, as +though he had no wish to hurt her by words which he yet must speak. With +calculated thought he faltered. + +“Yet do you not think it strange,” he said at last, “that Monsieur de la +Foret should be within the palace ever, and that you should be banished +from the palace? Have you never seen the fly and the spider in the web? +Do you not know that they who have the power to bless or ban, to give +joy or withhold it, appear to give when they mean to withhold? God bless +us all--how has your innocence involved your judgment!” + +She suddenly flushed to the eyes. “I have wit enough,” she said acidly, +“to feel that truth which life’s experience may not have taught me. +It is neither age nor evil that teaches one to judge ‘twixt black and +white. God gives the true divination to human hearts that need.” + +It was a contest in which Leicester revelled--simplicity and +single-mindedness against the multifarious and double-tongued. He had +made many efforts in his time to conquer argument and prejudice. When +he chose, none could be more insinuating or turn the flank of a proper +argument by more adroit suggestion. He used his power now. + +“You think she means well by you? You think that she, who has a thousand +ladies of a kingdom at her call, of the best and most beautiful--and +even,” his voice softened, “though you are more beautiful than all, that +beauty would soften her towards you? When was it Elizabeth loved beauty? +When was it that her heart warmed towards those who would love or wed? +Did she not imprison me, even in these palace grounds, for one whole +year because I sought to marry? Has she not a hundred times sent from +her presence women with faces like flowers because they were in contrast +to her own? Do you see love blossoming at this Court? God’s Son! but +she would keep us all like babes in Eden an’ she could, unmated and +unloved.” + +He drew quickly to her and leant over her, whispering down her shoulder. +“Do you think there is any reason why all at once she should change her +mind and cherish lovers?” + +She looked up at him fearlessly and firmly. + +“In truth, I do. My Lord Leicester, you have lived in the circle of +her good pleasure, near to her noble Majesty, as you say, for half a +lifetime. Have you not found a reason why now or any time she should +cherish love and lovers? Ah, no, you have seen her face, you have heard +her voice, but you have not known her heart!” + +“Ah, opportunity lacked,” he said in irony and with a reminiscent +smile. “I have been busy with State affairs, I have not sat on cushions, +listening to royal fingers on the virginals. Still, I ask you, do you +think there is a reason why from her height she should stoop down to +rescue you or give you any joy? Wherefore should the Queen do aught to +serve you? Wherefore should she save your lover?” + +It was on Angele’s lips to answer, “Because I saved her life on May +Day.” It was on her lips to tell of the poisoned glove, but she only +smiled, and said: + +“But, yes, I think, my lord, there is a reason, and in that reason I +have faith.” + +Leicester saw how firmly she was fixed in her idea, how rooted was her +trust in the Queen’s intentions towards her; and he guessed there was +something hidden which gave her such supreme confidence. + +“If she means to save him, why does she not save him now? Why not end +the business in a day--not stretch it over these long mid-summer weeks?” + +“I do not think it strange,” she answered. “He is a political prisoner. +Messages must come and go between England and France. Besides, who +calleth for haste? Is it I who have most at stake? It is not the first +time I have been at Court, my lord. In these high places things are +orderly,”--a touch of sarcasm came into her tone,--“life is not a mighty +rushing wind, save to those whom vexing passion drives to hasty deeds.” + +She made to move on once more, but paused, still not certain of her way. + +“Permit me to show you,” he said with a laugh and a gesture towards a +path. “Not that--this is the shorter. I will take you to a turning which +leads straight to your durance--and another which leads elsewhere.” + +She could not say no, because she had, in very truth, lost her way, and +she might wander far and be in danger. Also, she had no fear of him. +Steeled to danger in the past, she was not timid; but, more than all, +the game of words between them had had its fascination. The man himself, +by virtue of what he was, had his fascination also. The thing inherent +in all her sex, to peep over the hedge, to skirt dangerous fires +lightly, to feel the warmth distantly and not be scorched--that was +in her, too; and she lived according to her race and the long +predisposition of the ages. Most women like her--as good as she--have +peeped and stretched out hands to the alluring fire and come safely +through, wiser and no better. But many, too, bewildered and confused +by what they see--as light from a mirror flashed into the eye half +blinds--have peeped over the hedge and, miscalculating their power +of self-control, have entered in, and returned no more into the quiet +garden of unstraying love. + +Leicester quickly put on an air of gravity. “I warn you that danger lies +before you. If you cross the Queen--and you will cross the Queen +when you know the truth, as I know it--you will pay a heavy price for +refusing Leicester as your friend.” + +She made a protesting motion and seemed about to speak, but suddenly, +with a passionate gesture, Leicester added: “Let them go their way. +Monsieur de la Foret will be tossed aside before another winter comes. +Do you think he can abide here in the midst of plot and intrigue, and +hated by the people of the Court? He is doomed. But more, he is unworthy +of you; while I can serve you well, and I can love you well.” She shrank +away from him. “No, do not turn from me, for in very truth, Leicester’s +heart has been pierced by the inevitable arrow. You think I mean you +evil?” + +He paused with a sudden impulse continued: “No! no! And if there be a +saving grace in marriage, marriage it shall be, if you will but hear me. +You shall be my wife--Leicester’s wife. As I have mounted to power so +I will hold power with you--with you, the brightest spirit that ever +England saw. Worthy of a kingdom with you beside me, I shall win to +greater, happier days; and at Kenilworth, where kings and queens have +lodged, you shall be ruler. We will leave this Court until Elizabeth, +betrayed by those who know not how to serve her, shall send for me +again. Here--the power behind the throne--you and I will sway this realm +through the aging, sentimental Queen. Listen, and look at me in the +eyes--I speak the truth, you read my heart. You think I hated you and +hated De la Foret. By all the gods, it’s true I hated him, because I saw +that he would come between me and the Queen. A man must have one great +passion. Life itself must be a passion. Power was my passion--power, +not the Queen. You have broken all that down. I yield it all to you--for +your sake and my own. I would steal from life yet before my sun goes to +its setting a few years of truth and honesty and clear design. At +heart I am a patriot--a loyal Englishman. Your cause--the cause of +Protestantism--did I not fight for it at Rochelle? Have I not ever urged +the Queen to spend her revenue for your cause, to send her captains and +her men to fight for it?” + +She raised her head in interest, and her lips murmured: “Yes, yes, I +know you did that.” + +He saw his advantage and pursued it. “See, I will be honest with +you--honest, at last, as I have wished in vain to be, for honesty was +misunderstood. It is not so with you--you understand. Dear, light of +womanhood, I speak the truth now. I have been evil in my day I admit +it--evil because I was in the midst of evil. I betrayed because I was +betrayed; I slew, else I should have been slain. We have had dark days +in England, privy conspiracy and rebellion; and I have had to thread my +way through dreadful courses by a thousand blind paths. Would it be +no joy to you if I, through your influence, recast my life--remade +my policy, renewed my youth--pursuing principle where I have pursued +opportunity? Angele, come to Kenilworth with me. Leave De la Foret to +his fate. The way to happiness is with me. Will you come?” + +He had made his great effort. As he spoke he almost himself believed +that he told the truth. Under the spell of his own emotional power +it seemed as though he meant to marry her, as though he could find +happiness in the union. He had almost persuaded himself to be what he +would have her to believe he might be. + +Under the warmth and convincing force of his words her pulses had beat +faster, her heart had throbbed in her throat, her eyes had glistened; +but not with that light which they had shed for Michel de la Foret. +How different was this man’s wooing--its impetuous, audacious, tender +violence, with that quiet, powerful, almost sacred gravity of +her Camisard lover! It is this difference--the weighty, emotional +difference--between a desperate passion and a pure love which has ever +been so powerful in twisting the destinies of a moiety of the world to +misery, who otherwise would have stayed contented, inconspicuous and +good. Angele would have been more than human if she had not felt the +spell of the ablest intriguer, of the most fascinating diplomatist of +his day. + +Before he spoke of marriage the thrill--the unconvincing thrill though +it was--of a perilous temptation was upon her; but the very thing most +meant to move her only made her shudder; for in her heart of hearts +she knew that he was ineradicably false. To be married to one +constitutionally untrue would be more terrible a fate for her than to be +linked to him in a lighter, more dissoluble a bond. So do the greatest +tricksters of this world overdo their part, so play the wrong card when +every past experience suggests it is the card to play. He knew by the +silence that followed his words, and the slow, steady look she gave him, +that she was not won nor on the way to the winning. + +“My lord,” she said at last, and with a courage which steadied her +affrighted and perturbed innocence, “you are eloquent, you are fruitful +of flattery, of those things which have, I doubt not, served you well +in your day. But, if you see your way to a better life, it were well you +should choose one of nobler mould than I. I am not made for sacrifice, +to play the missioner and snatch brands from the burning. I have enough +to do to keep my own feet in the ribbon-path of right. You must +look elsewhere for that guardian influence which is to make of you a +paragon.” + +“No, no,” he answered sharply, “you think the game not worth the +candle--you doubt me and what I can do for you; my sincerity, my power +you doubt.” + +“Indeed, yes, I doubt both,” she answered gravely, “for you would have +me believe that I have power to lead you. With how small a mind you +credit me! You think, too, that you sway this kingdom; but I know that +you stand upon a cliff’s edge, and that the earth is fraying ‘neath your +tread. You dare to think that you have power to drag down with you the +man who honours me with--” + +“With his love, you’d say. Yet he will leave you fretting out your soul +until the sharp-edged truth cuts your heart in twain. Have you no pride? +I care not what you say of me--say your worst, and I will not resent it, +for I will still prove that your way lies with me.” + +She gave a bitter sigh, and touched her forehead with trembling fingers. +“If words could prove it, I had been convinced but now, for they are +well devised, and they have music too; but such a music, my lord, as +would drown the truth in the soul of a woman. Your words allure, but you +have learned the art of words. You yourself--oh, my lord, you who have +tasted all the pleasures of this world, could you then have the heart to +steal from one who has so little that little which gives her happiness?” + +“You know not what can make you happy--I can teach you that. By God’s +Son! but you have wit and intellect and are a match for a prince, not +for a cast off Camisard. I shall ere long be Lord--Lieutenant of these +Isles-of England and Ireland. Come to my nest. We will fly far--ah, your +eye brightens, your heart leaps to mine--I feel it now, I--” + +“Oh, have done, have done,” she passionately broke in; “I would rather +die, be torn upon the rack, burnt at the stake, than put my hand in +yours! And you do not wish it--you speak but to destroy, not to cherish. +While you speak to me I see all those”--she made a gesture as though to +put something from her “all those to whom you have spoken as you have +done to me. I hear the myriad falsehoods you have told--one whelming +confusion. I feel the blindness which has crept upon them--those poor +women--as you have sown the air with the dust of the passion which you +call love. Oh, you never knew what love meant, my lord! I doubt if, when +you lay in your mother’s arms, you turned to her with love. You never +did one kindly act for love, no generous thought was ever born in you by +love. Sir, I know it as though it were written in a book; your life has +been one long calculation--your sympathy or kindness a calculated thing. +Good-nature, emotion you may have had, but never the divine thing by +which the world is saved. Were there but one little place where that +Eden flower might bloom within your heart, you could not seek to ruin +that love which lives in mine and fills it, conquering all the lesser +part of me. I never knew of how much love I was capable until I heard +you speak today. Out of your life’s experience, out of all that you +have learned of women good and evil, you--for a selfish, miserable +purpose--would put the gyves upon my wrists, make me a pawn in your dark +game; a pawn which you would lose without a thought as the game went on. + +“If you must fight, my lord, if you must ruin Monsieur de la Foret and +a poor Huguenot girl, do it by greater means than this. You have power, +you say. Use it then; destroy us, if you will. Send us to the Medici: +bring us to the block, murder us--that were no new thing to Lord +Leicester. But do not stoop to treachery and falsehood to thrust us +down. Oh, you have made me see the depths of shame to-day! But yet,” + her voice suddenly changed, a note of plaintive force filled it--“I have +learned much this hour--more than I ever knew. Perhaps it is that we +come to knowledge only through fire and tears.” She smiled sadly. “I +suppose that sometime some day, this page of life would have scorched my +sight. Oh, my lord, what was there in me that you dared speak so to +me? Was there naught to have stayed your tongue and stemmed the tide in +which you would engulf me?” He had listened as in a dream at first. She +had read him as he might read himself, had revealed him with the certain +truth, as none other had done in all his days. He was silent for a long +moment, then raised his hand in protest. + +“You have a strange idea of what makes offence and shame. I offered +you marriage,” he said complacently. “And when I come to think upon it, +after all that you have said, fair Huguenot, I see no cause for railing. +You call me this and that; to you I am a liar, a rogue, a cut-throat, +what you will; and yet, and yet, I will have my way--I will have my way +in the end.” + +“You offered me marriage--and meant it not. Do I not know? Did you rely +so little on your compelling powers, my lord, that you must needs resort +to that bait? Do you think that you will have your way to-morrow if you +have failed to-day?” + +With a quick change of tone and a cold, scornful laugh he rejoined: “Do +you intend to measure swords with me?” + +“No, no, my lord,” she answered quietly; “what should one poor +unfriended girl do in contest with the Earl of Leicester? But yet, in +very truth, I have friends, and in my hour of greatest need I shall go +seeking.” + +She was thinking of the Queen. He guessed her thought. + +“You will not be so mad,” he said urbanely again. “Of what can you +complain to the Queen? Tut, tut, you must seek other friends than the +Majesty of England!” + +“Then, my lord, I will,” she answered bravely. “I will seek the help of +such a Friend as fails not when all fails, even He who putteth down the +mighty from their seats and exalteth the humble.” + +“Well, well, if I have not touched your heart,” he answered gallantly, +“I at least have touched your wit and intellect. Once more I offer you +alliance. Think well before you decline.” + +He had no thought that he would succeed, but it was ever his way to +return to the charge. It had been the secret of his life’s success so +far. He had never taken a refusal. He had never believed that when man +or woman said no that no was meant; and, if it were meant, he still +believed that constant dropping would wear away the stone. He still held +that persistence was the greatest lever in the world, that unswerving +persistence was the master of opportunity. + +They had now come to two paths in the park leading different ways. + +“This road leads to Kenilworth, this to your prison,” he said with a +slow gesture, his eyes fixed upon hers. “I will go to my prison, then,” + she said, stepping forward, “and alone, by your leave.” + +Leicester was a good sportsman. Though he had been beaten all along the +line, he hid his deep chagrin, choked down the rage that was in him. +Smiling, he bowed low. + +“I will do myself the honour to visit your prison to-morrow,” he said. + +“My father will welcome you, my lord,” she answered, and, gathering up +her skirt, ran down the pathway. + +He stood unmoving, and watched her disappear. “But I shall have my way +with them both,” he said aloud. + +The voice of a singer sounded in the green wood. Half consciously +Leicester listened. The words came shrilling through the trees: + + “Oh, love, it is a lily flower, + (Sing, my captain, sing, my lady!) + The sword shall cleave it, + Life shall leave it + Who shall know the hour? + (Sing, my lady, still!)” + +Presently the jingling of bells mingled with the song, then a figure in +motley burst upon him. It was the Queen’s fool. + +“Brother, well met--most happily met!” he cried. “And why well met, +fool?” asked Leicester. “Prithee, my work grows heavy, brother. I seek +another fool for the yoke. Here are my bells for you. I will keep my +cap. And so we will work together, fool: you for the morning, I for +the afternoon, and the devil take the night-time! So God be with you, +Obligato!” + +With a laugh he leaped into the undergrowth, and left Leicester standing +with the bells in his hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Angele had come to know, as others in like case have ever done, how +wretched indeed is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favours. She had +saved the Queen’s life upon May Day, and on the evening of that day the +Queen had sent for her, had made such high and tender acknowledgment +of her debt as would seem to justify for her perpetual honour. And what +Elizabeth said she meant; but in a life set in forests of complications +and opposing interests the political overlapped the personal in her +nature. Thus it was that she had kept the princes of the world dangling, +advancing towards marriage with them, retreating suddenly, setting +off one house against the other, allying herself to one European power +to-day, with another to-morrow, her own person and her crown the pawn +with which she played. It was not a beautiful thing in a woman, but it +was what a woman could do; and, denied other powers given to men--as to +her father--she resorted to astute but doubtful devices to advance her +diplomacy. Over all was self-infatuation, the bane of princes, the curse +of greatness, the source of wide injustice. It was not to be expected, +as Leicester had said, that Elizabeth, save for the whim of the moment, +would turn aside to confer benefit upon Angele or to keep her in mind, +unless constrained to do so for some political reason. + +The girl had charmed the Queen, had, by saving her life, made England +her long debtor; but Leicester had judged rightly in believing that the +Queen might find the debt irksome; that her gratitude would be corroded +by other destructive emotions. It was true that Angele had saved her +life, but Michel had charmed her eye. He had proved himself a more +gallant fighter than any in her kingdom; and had done it, as he had +said, in her honour. So, as her admiration for Michel grew, her debt to +Angele became burdensome; and, despite her will, there stole into her +mind the old petulance and smothered anger against beauty and love and +marriage. She could ill bear that one near her person should not be +content to flourish in the light and warmth of her own favour, setting +aside all other small affections. So it was that she had sent Angele to +her father and kept De la Foret in the palace. Perplexed, troubled by +new developments, the birth of a son to Mary Queen of Scots, the demand +of her Parliament that she should marry, the pressure of foreign policy +which compelled her to open up again negotiations for marriage with the +Duke of Anjou--all these combined to detach her from the interest +she had suddenly felt in Angele. But, by instinct, she knew also that +Leicester, through jealousy, had increased the complication; and, +fretful under the long influence he had had upon her, she steadily +lessened intercourse with him. The duel he fought with Lempriere on May +Day came to her ears through the Duke’s Daughter, and she seized upon it +with sharp petulance. First she ostentatiously gave housing and care +to Lempriere, and went to visit him; then, having refused Leicester +audience, wrote to him. + +“What is this I hear,” she scrawled upon the paper, “that you have +forced a quarrel with the Lord of Rozel, and have well-ny ta’en his +life! Is swording then your dearest vice that you must urge it on a +harmless gentle man, and my visitor? Do you think you hold a charter +of freedom for your self-will? Have a care, Leicester, or, by God! you +shall know another sword surer than your own.” + +The rage of Leicester on receiving this knew no bounds; for though he +had received from Elizabeth stormy letters before, none had had in it +the cold irony of this missive. The cause of it? Desperation seized +him. With a mad disloyalty he read in every word of Elizabeth’s letter, +Michel de la Foret, refugee. With madder fury he determined to strike +for the immediate ruin of De la Foret, and Angele with him--for had +she not thrice repulsed him as though he had been some village captain? +After the meeting in the maze he had kept his promise of visiting her +“prison.” By every art, and without avail, he had through patient days +sought to gain an influence over her; for he saw that if he could but +show the Queen that the girl was open to his advances, accepted his +protection, her ruin would be certain--in anger Elizabeth would take +revenge upon both refugees. But however much he succeeded with Monsieur +Aubert, he failed wholly with Angele. She repulsed him still with the +most certain courtesy, with the greatest outward composure; but she had +to make her fight alone, for the Queen forbade intercourse with Michel, +and she must have despaired but for the messages sent now and then by +the Duke’s Daughter. + +Through M. Aubert, to whom Leicester was diligently courteous, and whom +he sought daily, discussing piously the question of religion so dear to +the old man’s heart, he strove to foster in Angele’s mind the suspicion +he had ventured at their meeting in the maze, that the Queen, through +personal interest in Michel, was saving his life to keep him in her +household. So well did he work on the old man’s feelings that when he +offered his own protection to M. Aubert and Angele, whatever the issue +with De la Foret might be, he was met with an almost tearful response of +gratitude. It was the moment to convey a deep distrust of De la Foret to +the mind of the old refugee, and it was subtly done. + +Were it not better to leave the Court where only danger surrounded them, +and find safety on Leicester’s own estate, where no man living could +molest them? Were it not well to leave Michel de la Foret to his fate, +what ever it would be? Thrice within a week the Queen had sent for De +la Foret--what reason was there for that, unless the Queen had a secret +personal interest in him? Did M. Aubert think it was only a rare touch +of humour which had turned De la Foret into a preacher, and set his fate +upon a sermon to be preached before the Court? He himself had long held +high office, had been near to her Majesty, and he could speak with more +knowledge than he might use--it grieved him that Mademoiselle Aubert +should be placed in so painful a position. + +Sometimes as the two talked Angele would join them; and then there was +a sudden silence, which made her flush with embarrassment, anxiety or +anger. In vain did she assume a cold composure, in vain school herself +to treat Leicester with a precise courtesy; in vain her heart protested +the goodness of De la Foret and high uprightness of the Queen; the +persistent suggestions of the dark Earl worked upon her mind in spite of +all. Why had the Queen forbidden her to meet Michel, or write to him, +or to receive letters from him? Why had the Queen, who had spoken such +gratitude, deserted her? And now even the Duke’s Daughter wrote to her +no more, sent her no further messages. She felt herself a prisoner, and +that the Queen had forgotten her debt. She took to wandering to that +part of the palace-grounds where she could see the windows of the tower +her lover inhabited. Her old habit of cheerful talk deserted her, +and she brooded. It was long before she heard of the duel between the +Seigneur and Lord Leicester--the Duke’s Daughter had kept this from her, +lest she should be unduly troubled--and when, in anxiety, she went to +the house where Lempriere had been quartered, he had gone, none could +tell her whither. Buonespoir was now in close confinement, by secret +orders of Leicester, and not allowed to walk abroad; and thus with no +friend save her father, now so much under the influence of the Earl, she +was bitterly solitary. Bravely she fought the growing care and suspicion +in her heart; but she was being tried beyond her strength. Her father +had urged her to make personal appeal to the Queen; and at times, +despite her better judgment, she was on the verge of doing so. Yet what +could she say? She could not go to the Queen of England and cry out, +like a silly milk-maid: “You have taken my lover--give him back to me!” + What proof had she that the Queen wanted her lover? And if she spoke, +the impertinence of the suggestion might send back to the fierce Medici +that same lover, to lose his head. + +Leicester, who now was playing the game as though it were a hazard for +states and kingdoms, read the increasing trouble in her face; and +waited confidently for the moment when in desperation she would lose her +self-control and go to the Queen. + +But he did not reckon with the depth of the girl’s nature and her true +sense of life. Her brain told her that what she was tempted to do she +should not; that her only way was to wait; to trust that the Queen +of England was as much true woman as Queen, and as much Queen as +true woman; and that the one was held in high equipoise by the other. +Besides, Trinity Day would bring the end of it all, and that was not far +off. She steeled her will to wait till then, no matter how dark the sky +might be. + +As time went on, Leicester became impatient. He had not been able +to induce M. Aubert to compel Angele to accept a quiet refuge at +Kenilworth; he saw that this plan would not work, and he deployed his +mind upon another. If he could but get Angele to seek De la Foret in +his apartment in the palace, and then bring the matter to Elizabeth’s +knowledge with sure proof, De la Foret’s doom would be sealed. At great +expense, however; for, in order to make the scheme effective, Angele +should visit De la Foret at night. This would mean the ruin of the girl +as well. Still that could be set right; because, once De la Foret was +sent to the Medici the girl’s character could be cleared; and, if not, +so much the surer would she come at last to his protection. What he had +professed in cold deliberation had become in some sense a fact. She had +roused in him an eager passion. He might even dare, when De la Foret was +gone, to confess his own action in the matter to the Queen, once she was +again within his influence. She had forgiven him more than that in the +past, when he had made his own mad devotion to herself excuse for his +rashness or misconduct. + +He waited opportunity, he arranged all details carefully, he secured the +passive agents of his purpose; and when the right day came he acted. + +About ten o’clock one night, a half-hour before the closing of the +palace gates, when no one could go in or go out save by permit of the +Lord Chamberlain, a footman from a surgeon of the palace came to Angele, +bearing a note which read: + + “Your friend is very ill, and asks for you. Come hither alone; and + now, if you would come at all.” + +Her father was confined to bed with some ailment of the hour, and +asleep--it were no good to awaken him. Her mind was at once made up. +There was no time to ask permission of the Queen. She knew the surgeon’s +messengers by sight, this one was in the usual livery, and his master’s +name was duly signed. In haste she made herself ready, and went forth +into the night with the messenger, her heart beating hard, a pitiful +anxiety shaking her. Her steps were fleet between the lodge and the +palace. They were challenged nowhere, and the surgeon’s servant, +entering a side door of the palace, led her hastily through gloomy halls +and passages where they met no one, though once in a dark corridor some +one brushed against her. She wondered why there were no servants to +show the way, why the footman carried no torch or candle; but haste and +urgency seemed due excuse, and she thought only of Michel, and that she +would soon see him-dying, dead perhaps before she could touch his hand! +At last they emerged into a lighter and larger hallway, where her guide +suddenly paused, and said to Angel, motioning towards a door: “Enter. He +is there.” + +For a moment she stood still, scarce able to breathe, her heart hurt her +so. It seemed to her as though life itself was arrested. As the servant, +without further words, turned and left her, she knocked, opened the door +without awaiting a reply, and stepping into semidarkness, said softly: + +“Michel! Michel!” + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +At Angle’s entrance a form slowly raised itself on a couch, and a voice, +not Michel’s, said: “Mademoiselle--by our Lady, ‘tis she!” + +It was the voice of the Seigneur of Rozel, and Angle started back +amazed. + +“You, Monsieur--you!” she gasped. “It was you that sent for me?” + +“Send? Not I--I have not lost my manners yet. Rozel at Court is no +greater fool than Lempriere in Jersey.” + +Angle wrung her hands. “I thought it De la Foret who was ill. The +surgeon said to come quickly.” Lempriere braced himself against the +wall, for he was weak, and his fever still high. “Ill?--not he. As sound +in body and soul as any man in England. That is a friend, that De la +Foret lover of yours, or I’m no butler to the Queen. He gets leave and +brings me here and coaxes me back to life again--with not a wink of +sleep for him these five days past till now.” + +Angel had drawn nearer, and now stood beside the couch, trembling and +fearful, for it came to her mind that she had been made the victim of +some foul device. The letter had read: “Your friend is ill.” True, the +Seigneur was her friend, but he had not sent for her. + +“Where is De la Foret?” she asked quickly. “Yonder, asleep,” said +the Seigneur, pointing to a curtain which divided the room from one +adjoining. Angel ran quickly towards the door, then stopped short. No, +she would not waken him. She would go back at once. She would leave the +palace by the way she came. Without a word she turned and went towards +the door opening into the hallway. With her hand upon the latch she +stopped short again; for she realised that she did not know her way +through the passages and corridors, and that she must make herself known +to the servants of the palace to obtain guidance and exit. As she stood +helpless and confused, the Seigneur called hoarsely: “De la Foret--De la +Foret!” Before Angele could decide upon her course, the curtain of the +other room was thrust aside, and De la Foret entered. He was scarce +awake, and he yawned contentedly. He did not see Angele, but turned +towards Lempriere. For once the Seigneur had a burst of inspiration. He +saw that Angele was in the shadow, and that De la Foret had not observed +her. He determined that the lovers should meet alone. + +“Your arm, De la Foret,” he grunted. + +“I’ll get me to the bed in yonder room--‘tis easier than this couch.” + +“Two hours ago you could not bear the bed, and must get you to the +couch--and now! Seigneur, do you know the weight you are?” he added, +laughing, as he stooped, and helping Lempriere gently to his feet, +raised him slowly in his arms and went heavily with him to the bedroom. +Angele watched him with a strange thrill of timid admiration and +delight. Surely it could not be that Michel--her Michel--could be bought +from his allegiance by any influence on earth. There was the same old +simple laugh on his lips, as, with chaffing words, he carried the huge +Seigneur to the other room. Her heart acquitted him then and there of +all blame, past or to come. + +“Michel!” she said aloud involuntarily--the call of her spirit which +spoke on her lips against her will. + +De la Foret had helped Lempriere to the bed again as he heard his name +called, and he stood suddenly still, looking straight before him into +space. Angele’s voice seemed ghostly and unreal. + +“Michel!” he heard again, and he came forward into the room where she +was. Yet once again she said the word scarcely above a whisper, for the +look of rapt wonder and apprehension in his manner overcame her. Now he +turned towards her, where she stood in the shadow by the door. He +saw her, but even yet he did not stir, for she seemed to him still an +apparition. + +With a little cry she came forward to him. “Michel--help me!” she +murmured, and stretched out her hands. With a cry of joy he took her in +his arms and pressed her to his heart. Then a realisation of danger came +to him. + +“Why did you come?” he asked. + +She told him hastily. He heard with astonishment, and then said: “There +is some foul trick here. Have you the message?” She handed it to him. +“It is the surgeon’s writing, verily,” he said; “but it is still a +trick, for the sick man here is Rozel. I see it all. You and I forbidden +to meet--it was a trick to bring you here.” + +“Oh, let me go!” she cried. “Michel, Michel, take me hence.” She turned +towards the door. + +“The gates are closed,” he said, as a cannon boomed on the evening air. + +Angele trembled violently. “Oh, what will come of this?” she cried, in +tearful despair. + +“Be patient, sweet, and let me think,” he answered. At that moment there +came a knocking at the door, then it was thrown open, and there stepped +inside the Earl of Leicester, preceded by a page bearing a torch. + +“Is Michel de la Foret within?” he called; then stopped short, as though +astonished, seeing Angele. “So! so!” he said, with a contemptuous laugh. +Michel de la Foret’s fingers twitched. He quickly stepped in front of +Angele, and answered: “What is your business here, my lord?” + +Leicester languorously took off a glove, and seemed to stifle a yawn in +it; then said: “I came to take you into my service, to urge upon you +for your own sake to join my troops, going upon duty in the North; for I +fear that if you stay here the Queen Mother of France will have her +way. But I fear I am too late. A man who has sworn himself into service +d’amour has no time for service de la guerre.” + +“I will gladly give an hour from any service I may follow to teach the +Earl of Leicester that he is less a swordsman than a trickster.” + +Leicester flushed, but answered coolly: “I can understand your chagrin. +You should have locked your door. It is the safer custom.” He bowed +lightly towards Angele. “You have not learned our English habits +of discretion, Monsieur de la Foret. I would only do you service. +I appreciate your choler. I should be no less indignant. So, in the +circumstances, I will see that the gates are opened, of course you did +not realise the flight of time,--and I will take Mademoiselle to +her lodgings. You may rely on my discretion. I am wholly at your +service--tout a vous, as who should say in your charming language.” + +The insolence was so veiled in perfect outward courtesy that it must +have seemed impossible for De la Foret to reply in terms equal to the +moment. He had, however, no need to reply, for the door of the room +suddenly opened, and two pages stepped inside with torches. + +They were followed by a gentleman in scarlet and gold, who said, “The +Queen!” and stepped aside. + +An instant afterwards Elizabeth, with the Duke’s Daughter, entered. + +The three dropped upon their knees, and Elizabeth waved without the +pages and the gentleman-in-waiting. When the doors closed, the Queen +eyed the three kneeling figures, and as her glance fell on Leicester a +strange glitter came into her eyes. She motioned all to rise, and with a +hand upon the arm of the Duke’s Daughter, said to Leicester: + +“What brings the Earl of Leicester here?” + +“I came to urge upon Monsieur the wisdom of holding to the Sword and +leaving the Book to the butter-fingered religious. Your Majesty needs +good soldiers.” + +He bowed, but not low, and it was clear he was bent upon a struggle. +He was confounded by the Queen’s presence, he could not guess why she +should have come; and that she was prepared for what she saw was clear. + +“And brought an eloquent pleader with you?” She made a scornful gesture +towards Angele. + +“Nay, your Majesty; the lady’s zeal outran my own, and crossed the +threshold first.” + +The Queen’s face wore a look that Leicester had never seen on it before, +and he had observed it in many moods. + +“You found the lady here, then?” + +“With Monsieur alone. Seeing she was placed unfortunately, I offered to +escort her hence to her father. But your Majesty came upon the moment.” + +There was a ring of triumph in Leicester’s voice. No doubt, by some +chance, the Queen had become aware of Angele’s presence, he thought. +Fate had forestalled the letter he had already written on this matter +and meant to send her within the hour. Chance had played into his hands +with perfect suavity. The Queen, less woman now than Queen, enraged +by the information got he knew not how, had come at once to punish the +gross breach of her orders and a dark misconduct-so he thought. + +The Queen’s look, as she turned it on Angele, apparently had in it what +must have struck terror to even a braver soul than that of the helpless +Huguenot girl. + +“So it is thus you spend the hours of night? God’s faith, but you are +young to be so wanton!” she cried in a sharp voice. “Get you from my +sight and out of my kingdom as fast as horse and ship may carry you--as +feet may bear you.” Leicester’s face lighted to hear. “Your high +Majesty,” pleaded the girl, dropping on her knees, “I am innocent. As +God lives, I am innocent.” + +“The man, then, only is guilty?” the Queen rejoined with scorn. “Is +it innocent to be here at night, my palace gates shut, with your +lover-alone?” Leicester laughed at the words. + +“Your Majesty, oh, your gracious Majesty, hear me. We were not +alone--not alone--” + +There was a rustle of curtains, a heavy footstep, and Lempriere of Rozel +staggered into the room. De la Foret ran to help him, and throwing +an arm around him, almost carried him towards the couch. Lempriere, +however, slipped from De la Foret’s grasp to his knees on the floor +before the Queen. + +“Not alone, your high and sacred Majesty, I am here--I have been here +through all. I was here when Mademoiselle came, brought hither by trick +of some knave not fit to be your immortal Majesty’s subject. I speak the +truth, for I am butler to your Majesty and no liar. I am Lempriere of +Rozel.” + +No man’s self-control could meet such a surprise without wavering. +Leicester was confounded, for he had not known that Lempriere was housed +with De la Foret. For a moment he could do naught but gaze at Lempriere. +Then, as the Seigneur suddenly swayed and would have fallen, the +instinct of effective courtesy, strong in him, sent him with arms +outstretched to lift him up. Together, without a word, he and De la +Foret carried him to the couch and laid him down. That single act saved +Leicester’s life. There was something so naturally (though, in truth, +it was so hypocritically) kind in the way he sprang to his enemy’s +assistance that an old spirit of fondness stirred in the Queen’s breast, +and she looked strangely at him. When, however, they had disposed of +Lempriere and Leicester had turned again towards her, she said: “Did you +think I had no loyal and true gentlemen at my Court, my lord? Did you +think my leech would not serve me as fair as he would serve the Earl of +Leicester? You have not bought us all, Robert Dudley, who have bought +and sold so long. The good leech did your bidding and sent your note +to the lady; but there your bad play ended and Fate’s began. A rabbit’s +brains, Leicester--and a rabbit’s end. Fate has the brains you need.” + +Leicester’s anger burst forth now under the lash of ridicule. “I cannot +hope to win when your Majesty plays Fate in caricature.” + +With a little gasp of rage Elizabeth leaned over and slapped his face +with her long glove. “Death of my life, but I who made you do unmake +you!” she cried. + +He dropped his hand on his sword. “If you were but a man, and not--” he +said, then stopped short, for there was that in the Queen’s face which +changed his purpose. Anger was shaking her, but there were tears in her +eyes. The woman in her was stronger than the Queen. It was nothing to +her at this moment that she might have his life as easily as she had +struck his face with her glove; this man had once shown the better part +of himself to her, and the memory of it shamed her for his own sake now. +She made a step towards the door, then turned and spoke: + +“My Lord, I have no palace and no ground wherein your footstep will not +be trespass. Pray you, remember.” + +She turned towards Lempriere, who lay on his couch faint and panting. +“For you, my Lord of Rozel, I wish you better health, though you have +lost it somewhat in a good cause.” + +Her glance fell on De la Foret. Her look softened. “I will hear you +preach next Sunday, sir.” + +There was an instant’s pause, and then she said to Angele, with gracious +look and in a low voice: “You have heard from me that calumny which the +innocent never escape. To try you I neglected you these many days; to +see your nature even more truly than I knew it, I accused you but now. +You might have been challenged first by one who could do you more harm +than Elizabeth of England, whose office is to do good, not evil. Nets +are spread for those whose hearts are simple, and your feet have been +caught. Be thankful that we understand; and know that Elizabeth is your +loving friend. You have had trials--I have kept you in suspense--there +has been trouble for us all; but we are better now; our minds are more +content; so all may be well, please God! You will rest this night with +our lady-dove here, and to-morrow early you shall return in peace to +your father. You have a good friend in our cousin.” She made a gentle +motion towards the Duke’s Daughter. “She has proved it so. In my leech +she has a slave. To her you owe this help in time of need. She hath +wisdom, too, and we must listen to her, even as I have done this day.” + +She inclined her head towards the door. Leicester opened it, and as she +passed out she gave him one look which told him that his game was lost, +if not for ever, yet for time uncertain and remote. “You must not blame +the leech, my lord,” she said, suddenly turning back. “The Queen of +England has first claim on the duty of her subjects. They serve me for +love; you they help at need as time-servers.” + +She stepped on, then paused again and looked back. “Also I forbid +fighting betwixt you,” she said, in a loud voice, looking at De la Foret +and Leicester. + +Without further sign or look, she moved on. Close behind came Angele and +the Duke’s Daughter, and Leicester followed at some distance. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Not far from the palace, in a secluded place hidden by laburnum, roses, +box and rhododendrons, there was a quaint and beautiful retreat. High +up on all sides of a circle of green the flowering trees and shrubs +interlaced their branches, and the grass, as smooth as velvet, was of +such a note as soothed the eye and quieted the senses. In one segment +of the verdant circle was a sort of open bower made of poles, up which +roses climbed and hung across in gay festoons; and in two other segments +mossy banks made resting-places. Here, in days gone by, when Robert +Dudley, Earl of Leicester, first drew the eyes of his Queen upon him, +Elizabeth came to listen to his vows of allegiance, which swam in floods +of passionate devotion to her person. Christopher Hatton, Sir Henry Lee, +the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Sussex, a race of gallants, had knelt +upon this pleasant sward. Here they had declared a devotion that, +historically platonic, had a personal passion which, if rewarded by no +personal requital, must have been an expensive outlay of patience and +emotion. + +But those days had gone. Robert Dudley had advanced far past his +fellows, had locked himself into the chamber of the Queen’s confidence, +had for long proved himself necessary to her, had mingled deference and +admiration with an air of monopoly, and had then advanced to an air of +possession, of suggested control. Then had begun his decline. England +and England’s Queen could have but one ruler, and upon an occasion in +the past Elizabeth made it clear by the words she used: “God’s death, my +Lord, I have wished you well; but my favour is not so locked up for you +that others shall not partake thereof; and, if you think to rule here, +I will take a course to see you forthcoming. I will have here but one +mistress and no master.” + +In these words she but declared what was the practice of her life, the +persistent passion of her rule. The world could have but one sun, and +every man or woman who sought its warmth must be a sun-worshipper. There +could be no divided faith, no luminaries in the sky save those which +lived by borrowed radiance. + +Here in this bright theatre of green and roses poets had sung the +praises of this Queen to her unblushing and approving face; here ladies +thrice as beautiful as she had begged her to tell them the secret of +her beauty, so much greater than that of any living woman; and she was +pleased even when she knew they flattered but to gain her smile--it was +the tribute that power exacts. The place was a cenotaph of past romance +and pleasure. Every leaf of every tree and flower had impressions of +glories, of love, ambition and intrigue, of tears and laughter, of +joyousness and ruin. Never a spot in England where so much had been said +and done, so far reaching in effect and influence. But its glory was +departed, its day was done, it was a place of dreams and memories: the +Queen came here no more. Many years had withered since she had entered +this charmed spot; and that it remained so fine was but evidence of the +care of those to whom she had given strict orders seven years past, that +in and out of season it must be ever kept as it had erstwhile been. She +had never entered the place since the day the young Marquis of Wessex, +whom she had imprisoned for marrying secretly and without her consent, +on his release came here, and, with a concentrated bitterness and hate, +had told her such truths as she never had heard from man or woman since +she was born. He had impeached her in such cold and murderous terms as +must have made wince even a woman with no pride. To Elizabeth it was +gall and wormwood. When he at last demanded the life of the young wife +who had died in enforced seclusion, because she had married the man +she loved, Elizabeth was so confounded that she hastily left the place, +saying no word in response. This attack had been so violent, so deadly, +that she had seemed unnerved, and forbore to command him to the Tower or +to death. + +“You, in whose breast love never stirred, deny the right to others whom +God blessed with it,” he cried. “Envious of mortal happiness that dare +exist outside your will or gift, you sunder and destroy. You, in whose +hands was power to give joy, gave death. What you have sown you shall +reap. Here on this spot I charge you with high treason, with treachery +to the people over whom you have power as a trust, which trust you have +made a scourge.” + +With such words as these he had assailed her, and for the first time in +her life she had been confounded. In safety he had left the place, and +taken his way to Italy, from which he had never returned, though she +had sent for him in kindness. Since that day Elizabeth had never come +hither; and by-and-by none of her Court came save the Duke’s Daughter, +and her fool, who both made it their resort. Here the fool came upon the +Friday before Trinity Day, bringing with him Lempriere and Buonespoir, +to whom he had much attached himself. + +It was a day of light and warmth, and the place was like a basket of +roses. Having seen the two serving-men dispose, in a convenient place, +the refreshment which Lempriere’s appetite compelled, the fool took +command of the occasion and made the two sit upon a bank, while he +prepared the repast. + +Strangest of the notable trio was the dwarfish fool with his shaggy +black head, twisted mouth, and watchful, wandering eye, whose +foolishness was but the flaunting cover of shrewd observation and +trenchant vision. Going where he would, and saying what he listed, +now in the Queen’s inner chamber, then in the midst of the Council, +unconsidered, and the butt of all, he paid for his bed and bounty by +shooting shafts of foolery which as often made his listeners shrink +as caused their laughter. The Queen he called Delicio, and Leicester, +Obligato--as one who piped to another’s dance. He had taken to +Buonespoir at the first glance, and had frequented him, and Lempriere +had presently been added to his favour. He had again and again been +messenger between them, as also of late between Angele and Michel, whose +case he viewed from a stand-point of great cheerfulness, and treated +them as children playing on the sands--as, indeed, he did the Queen and +all near to her. But Buonespoir, the pirate, was to him reality and the +actual, and he called him Bono Publico. At first Lempriere, ever +jealous of his importance, was inclined to treat him with elephantine +condescension; but he could not long hold out against the boon archness +of the jester, and he collapsed suddenly into as close a friendship as +that between himself and Buonespoir. + +A rollicking spirt was his own fullest stock-in-trade, and it won him +like a brother. + +So it was that here, in the very bosom of the forest, lured by the pipe +the fool played, Lempriere burst forth into song, in one hand a bottle +of canary, in the other a handful of comfits: + + “Duke William was a Norman + (Spread the sail to the breeze!) + That did to England ride; + At Hastings by the Channel + (Drink the wine to the lees!) + Our Harold the Saxon died. + If there be no cakes from Normandy, + There’ll be more ale in England!” + +“Well sung, nobility, and well said,” cried Buonespoir, with a rose by +the stem in his mouth, one hand beating time to the music, the other +clutching a flagon of muscadella; “for the Normans are kings in England, +and there’s drink in plenty at the Court of our Lady Duchess.” + +“Delicio shall never want while I have a penny of hers to spend,” quoth +the fool, feeling for another tune. “Should conspirators prevail, and +the damnedest be, she hath yet the Manor of Rozel and my larder,” urged +Lempriere, with a splutter through the canary. + +“That shall be only when the Fifth wind comes--it is so ordained, +Nuncio!” said the fool blinking. Buonespoir set down his flagon. “And +what wind is the Fifth wind?” he asked, scratching his bullethead, his +child-like, widespread eyes smiling the question. + +“There be now four winds--the North wind and his sisters, the East, the +West, and South. When God sends a Fifth wind, then conspirators shall +wear crowns. Till then Delicio shall sow and I shall reap, as is +Heaven’s will.” + +Lempriere lay back and roared with laughter. “Before Belial, there never +was such another as thou, fool. Conspirators shall die and not prevail, +for a man may not marry his sister, and the North wind shall have no +progeny. So there shall be no Fifth wind.” + +“Proved, proved,” cried the fool. “The North wind shall go whistle for a +mate--there shall be no Fifth wind. So, Delicio shall still sail by the +compass, and shall still compass all, and yet be compassed by none; for +it is written, Who compasseth Delicio existeth not.” + +Buonespoir watched a lark soaring, as though its flight might lead +him through the fool’s argument clearly. Lempriere closed his eye, and +struggled with it, his lips outpursed, his head sunk on his breast. +Suddenly his eyes opened, he brought the bottle of canary down with +a thud on the turf. “‘Fore Michael and all angels, I have it, fool; +I travel, I conceive. De Carteret of St. Ouen’s must have gone to the +block ere conceiving so. I must conceive thus of the argument. He who +compasseth the Queen existeth not, for compassing, he dieth.” + +“So it is by the hour-glass and the fortune told in the porringer. You +have conceived like a man, Nuncio.” + +“And conspirators, I conceive, must die, so long as there be honest men +to slay them,” rejoined the Seigneur. + +“Must only honest men slay conspirators? Oh, Shadrach, Meshach, and +Abednego!” wheezed Buonespoir with a grin. He placed his hand upon +his head in self-pity. “Buonespoir, art thou damned by muscadella?” he +murmured. + +“But thou art purged of the past, Bono Publico,” answered the fool. +“Since Delicio hath looked upon thee she hath shredded the Tyburn lien +upon thee--thou art flushed like a mountain spring; and conspirators +shall fall down by thee if thou, passant, dost fall by conspirators +in the way. Bono Publico, thou shalt live by good company. Henceforth +contraband shall be spurned and the book of grace opened.” + +Buonespoir’s eyes laughed like a summer sky, but he scratched his head +and turned over the rose-stem in his mouth reflectively. “So be it, +then, if it must be; but yesterday the Devon sea-sweeper, Francis Drake, +overhauled me in my cottage, coming from the Queen, who had infused +him of me. ‘I have heard of you from a high masthead,’ said he. ‘If the +Spanish main allure you, come with me. There be galleons yonder still; +they shall cough up doubloons.’ ‘It hath a sound of piracy,’ said I. +‘I am expurgated. My name is written on clean paper now, blessed be the +name of the Queen!’ ‘Tut, tut, Buonesperado,’ laughed he, ‘you shall +forget that Tyburn is not a fable if you care to have doubloons reminted +at the Queen’s mint. It is meet Spanish Philip’s head be molted to +oblivion, and Elizabeth’s raised, so that good silver be purged of +Popish alloy.’ But that I had sworn by the little finger of St. Peter +when the moon was full, never to leave the English seas, I also would +have gone with Drake of Devon this day. It is a man and a master of men +that Drake of Devon.” + +“‘Tis said that when a man hath naught left but life, and hath treated +his honour like a poor relation, he goes to the Spanish main with Drake +and Grenville,” said Lempriere. + +“Then must Obligato go, for he hath such credentials,” said the fool, +blowing thistle-down in the air. “Yesterday was no Palm Sunday to +Leicester. Delicio’s head was high. ‘Imperial Majesty,’ quoth Obligato, +his knees upon the rushes, ‘take my life but send me not forth into +darkness where I shall see my Queen no more. By the light of my Queen’s +eyes have I walked, and pains of hell are my Queen’s displeasure.’ +‘Methinks thy humbleness is tardy,’ quoth Delicio. ‘No cock shall crow +by my nest,’ said she. ‘And, by the mantle of Elijah, I am out with sour +faces and men of phlegm and rheum. I will be gay once more. So get thee +gone to Kenilworth, and stray not from it on thy peril. Take thy malaise +with thee, and I shall laugh again.’ Behold he goeth. So that was the +end of Obligato, and now cometh another tune.” + +“She hath good cheer?” asked Lempriere eagerly. “I have never seen +Delicio smile these seven years as she smiled to-day; and when she +kissed Amicitia I sent for my confessor and made my will. Delicio hath +come to spring-time, and the voice of the turtle is in her ear.” + +“Amicitia--and who is Amicitia?” asked Lempriere, well flushed with +wine. + +“She who hath brought Obligato to the diminuendo and finale,” answered +the fool; “even she who hath befriended the Huguenottine of the black +eyes.” + +“Ah, she, the Duke’s Daughter--v’la, that is a flower of a lady! Did +she not say that my jerkin fitted neatly when I did act as butler to her +adorable Majesty three months syne? She hath no mate in the world save +Mademoiselle Aubert, whom I brought hither to honour and to fame.” + +“To honour and fame, was it--but by the hill of desperandum, Nuncio,” + said the fool, prodding him with his stick of bells. + +“‘Desperandum’! I know not Latin; it amazes me,” said Lempriere, waving +a lofty hand. + +“She--the Huguenottine--was a-mazed also, and from the maze was played +by Obligato.” + +“How so! how so!” cried the Seigneur, catching at his meaning. “Did +Leicester waylay and siege? ‘Sblood, had I known this, I’d have broached +him and swallowed him even on crutches.” + +“She made him raise the siege, she turned his own guns upon him, and in +the end hath driven him hence.” By rough questioning Lempriere got from +the fool by snatches the story of the meeting in the maze, which had +left Leicester standing with the jester’s ribboned bells in his hand. +Then the Seigneur got to his feet, and hugged the fool, bubbling with +laughter. + +“By all the blood of all the saints, I will give thee burial in my +own grave when all’s done,” he spluttered; “for there never was such +fooling, never such a wise fool come since Confucius and the Khan. Good +be with you, fool, and thanks be for such a lady. Thanks be also for the +Duke’s Daughter. Ah, how she laid Leicester out! She washed him up the +shore like behemoth, and left him gaping.” + +Buonespoir intervened. “And what shall come of it? What shall be the +end? The Honeyflower lies at anchor--there be three good men in waiting, +Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and--” + +The Seigneur interrupted. “There’s little longer waiting. All’s well! +Her high hereditary Majesty smiled on me when she gave Leicester conge +and fiery quittance. She hath me in favour, and all shall be well with +Michel and Angele. O fool, fool, fantastic and flavoured fool, sing me +a song of good content, for if this business ends not with crescendo and +bell-ringing, I am no butler to the Queen nor keep good company!” + +Seating themselves upon the mossy bank, their backs to the westward sun, +the fool peered into the green shadows and sang with a soft melancholy +an ancient song that another fool had sung to the first Tudor: + + “When blows the wind and drives the sleet, + And all the trees droop down; + When all the world is sad, + ‘tis meet Good company be known: + And in my heart good company + Sits by the fire and sings to me. + + “When warriors return, and one + That went returns no more; + When dusty is the road we run, + And garners have no store; + One ingle-nook right warm shall be + Where my heart hath good company. + + “When man shall flee and woman fail, + And folly mock and hope deceive, + Let cowards beat the breast and wail, + I’ll homeward hie; I will not grieve: + I’ll draw the blind, I’ll there set free + My heart’s beloved boon company. + + “When kings shall favour, ladies call + My service to their side; + When roses grow upon the wall + Of life, with love inside; + I’ll get me home with joy to be + In my heart’s own good company!” + +“Oh, fool, oh, beneficent fool, well done! ‘Tis a song for a +man--‘twould shame De Carteret of St. Ouen’s to his knees,” cried +Lempriere. + +“Oh, benignant fool, well done! ‘twould draw me from my meals,” said a +voice behind the three; and, turning hastily about, they saw, smiling +and applausive, the Duke’s Daughter. Beside her was Angele. + +The three got to their feet, and each made obeisance after his +kind-Buonespoir ducking awkwardly, his blue eyes bulging with pleasure, +Lempriere swelling with vanity and spreading wide acknowledgment of +their presence, the fool condescending a wave of welcome. “Oh! abundant +Amicitia!” cried the fool to the Duke’s Daughter, “thou art saved by so +doing. So get thee to thanksgiving and God’s mercy.” + +“Wherefore am I saved by being drawn from my meals by thy music, fool?” + she asked, linking her arm in Angele’s. + +“Because thou art more enamoured of lampreys than of man; and it is +written that thou shalt love thy fellow man, and he that loveth not is +lost: therefore thou art lost if thou lingerest at meals.” + +“Is it so, then? And this lady--what thinkest thou? Must she also +abstain and seek good company?” + +“No, verily, Amicitia, for she is good company itself, and so she may +sleep in the larder and have no fear.” + +“And what think you--shall she be happy? Shall she have gifts of fate?” + +“Discriminately so, Amicitia. She shall have souvenirs and no suspicions +of Fate. But she shall not linger here, for all lingerers in Delicio’s +Court are spied upon--not for their soul’s good. She shall go hence, +and--” + +“Ay, princely lady, she shall go hence,” interposed Lempriere, who had +panted to speak, and could bear silence no longer. “Her high Majesty +will kiss her on the brow, and in Jersey Isle she shall blossom +and bloom and know bounty--or never more shall I have privilege and +perquage.” + +He lumbered forward and kissed Angele’s hand as though conferring +distinction, but with great generosity. “I said that all should go well, +and so it shall. Rozel shall prevail. The Queen knows on what rock to +build, as I made warrant for her, and will still do so.” + +His vanity was incorrigible, but through it ran so child-like a spirit +that it bred friendship and repulsed not. The Duke’s Daughter pressed +the arm of Angele, who replied: + +“Indeed it has been so according to your word, and we are--I am--shall +ever be beholden. In storm you have been with us, so true a pilot and so +brave a sailor; and if we come to port and the quiet shore, there shall +be spread a feast of remembrance which shall never grow cold, Seigneur.” + + “One ingle-nook right warm shall be + Where my heart hath good company,” + +sang the fool, and catching by the arm Buonespoir, who ducked his head +in farewell, ran him into the greenwood. Angele came forward as if to +stay Buonespoir, but stopped short reflectively. As she did so, the +Duke’s Daughter whispered quickly into Lempriere’s ear. + +Swelling with pride he nodded, and said: “I will reach him and discover +myself to him, and bring him, if he stray, most undoubted and infallible +lady,” and with an air of mystery he made a heavily respectful exit. + +Left alone, the two ladies seated themselves in the bower of roses, and +for a moment were silent. Presently the Duke’s Daughter laughed aloud. + +“In what seas of dear conceit swims your leviathan Seigneur, +heart’s-ease?” + +Angele stole a hand into the cool palm of the other. “He was builded for +some lonely sea all his own. Creation cheated him. But God give me ever +such friends as he, and I shall indeed ‘have good company’ and fear no +issue.” She sighed. + +“Remains there still a fear? Did you not have good promise in the +Queen’s words that night?” + +“Ay, so it seemed, and so it seemed before--on May Day, and yet--” + +“And yet she banished you, and tried you, and kept you heart-sick? +Sweet, know you not how bitter a thing it is to owe a debt of love to +one whom we have injured? So it was with her. The Queen is not a saint, +but very woman. Marriage she hath ever contemned and hated; men she hath +desired to keep her faithful and impassioned servitors. So does power +blind us. And the braver the man, the more she would have him in her +service, at her feet, the centre of the world.” + +“I had served her in a crisis, an hour of peril. Was naught due me?” + +The Duke’s Daughter drew her close. “She never meant but that all should +be well. And because you had fastened on her feelings as never I have +seen another of your sex, so for the moment she resented it; and because +De la Foret was yours--ah, if you had each been naught to the other, how +easy it would have run! Do you not understand?” + +“Nay, then, and yea, then--and I put it from me. See, am I not happy +now? Upon your friendship I build.” + +“Sweet, I did what I could. Leicester filled her ears with poison every +day, mixed up your business and great affairs with France, sought +to convey that you both were not what you are; until at last I +countermarched him.” She laughed merrily. “Ay, I can laugh now, but it +was all hanging by a thread, when my leech sent his letter that brought +you to the palace. It had grieved me that I might not seek you, or +write to you in all those sad days; but the only way to save you was by +keeping the Queen’s command; for she had known of Leicester’s visits to +you, of your meeting in the maze, and she was set upon it that alone, +all alone, you should be tried to the last vestige of your strength. If +you had failed--” + +“If I had failed--” Angele closed her eyes and shuddered. “I had not +cared for myself, but Michel--” + +“If you had failed, there had been no need to grieve for Michel. He then +had not grieved for thee. But see, the wind blows fair, and in my heart +I have no fear of the end. You shall go hence in peace. This morning the +Queen was happier than I have seen her these many years: a light was in +her eye brighter than showeth to the Court. She talked of this place, +recalled the hours spent here, spoke even softly of Leicester. And that +gives me warrant for the future. She has relief in his banishment, and +only recalls older and happier days when, if her cares were no greater, +they were borne by the buoyancy of girlhood and youth. Of days spent +here she talked until mine own eyes went blind. She said it was a place +for lovers, and if she knew any two lovers who were true lovers, and had +been long parted, she would send them here.” + +“There be two true lovers, and they have been long parted,” murmured +Angele. + +“But she commanded these lovers not to meet till Trinity Day, and she +brooks not disobedience even in herself. How could she disobey her own +commands? But”--her eyes were on the greenwood and the path that led +into the circle--“but she would shut her eyes to-day, and let the world +move on without her, let lovers thrive, and birds be nesting without +heed or hap. Disobedience shall thrive when the Queen connives at +it--and so I leave you to your disobedience, sweet.” + +With a laugh she sprang to her feet, and ran. Amazed and bewildered +Angele gazed after her. As she stood looking she heard her name called +softly. + +Turning, she saw Michel. They were alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +When De la Foret and Angele saw the Queen again it was in the royal +chapel. + +Perhaps the longest five minutes of M. de la Foret’s life were those in +which he waited the coming of the Queen on that Trinity Sunday which +was to decide his fate. When he saw Elizabeth enter the chapel his eyes +swam, till the sight of them was lost in the blur of colour made by +the motions of gorgeously apparelled courtiers and the people of the +household. When the Queen had taken her seat and all was quiet, he +struggled with himself to put on such a front of simple boldness as he +would wear upon day of battle. The sword the Queen had given him was at +his side, and his garb was still that of a gentleman, not of a Huguenot +minister such as Elizabeth in her grim humour, and to satisfy her bond +with France, would make of him this day. + +The brown of his face had paled in the weeks spent in the palace and +in waiting for this hour; anxiety had toned the ruddy vigour of his +bearing; but his figure was the figure of a soldier, and his hand that +of a strong man. He shook a little as he bowed to her Majesty, but that +passed, and when at last his eye met that of the Duke’s Daughter he +grew steady; for she gave him as plainly as though her tongue spoke, a +message from Angele. Angele herself he did not see--she was kneeling +in an obscure corner, her father’s hand in hers, all the passion of her +life pouring out in prayer. + +De la Foret drew himself up with an iron will. No nobler figure of a +man ever essayed to preach the Word, and so Elizabeth thought; and she +repented of the bitter humour which had set this trial as his chance +of life in England and his freedom from the hand of Catherine. The man +bulked larger in her eyes than he had ever done, and she struggled with +herself to keep the vow she had made to the Duke’s Daughter the night +that Angele had been found in De la Foret’s rooms. He had been the +immediate cause, fated or accidental, of the destined breach between +Leicester and herself; he had played a significant part in her own life. +Glancing at her courtiers, she saw that none might compare with him, the +form and being of calm boldness and courage. She sighed she knew scarce +why. + +When De la Foret first opened his mouth and essayed to call the +worshippers to prayer, no words came forth--only a dry whisper. Some +ladies simpered, and more than one courtier laughed silently. Michel +saw, and his face flamed up. But he laid a hand on himself, and a moment +afterwards his voice came forth, clear, musical, and resonant, speaking +simple words, direct and unlacquered sentences, passionately earnest +withal. He stilled the people to a unison of sentiment, none the less +interested and absorbed because it was known that he had been the cause +of the great breach between the Queen and the favourite. Ere he had +spoken far, flippant gallants had ceased to flutter handkerchiefs, to +move their swords idly upon the floor. + +He took for his text: “Stand and search for the old paths.” The +beginning of all systems of religion, the coming of the Nazarene, the +rise and growth of Christianity, the martyrdoms of the early church, the +invasion of the truth by false doctrine, the abuses of the Church, the +Reformation, the martyrdom of the Huguenots for the return to the early +principles of Christianity, the “search for the old paths,” he set forth +in a tone generous but not fiery, presently powerful and searching, yet +not declamatory. At the last he raised the sword that hung by his side, +and the Book that lay before him, and said: + +“And what matter which it is we wield--this steel that strikes for +God, or this Book which speaks of Him? For the Book is the sword of the +Spirit, and the sword is the life of humanity; for all faith must +be fought for, and all that is has been won by strife. But the paths +wherein ye go to battle must be the old paths; your sword shall be your +staff by day, and the Book your lantern by night. That which ye love ye +shall teach, and that which ye teach ye shall defend; and if your love +be a true love your teaching shall be a great teaching, and your sword +a strong sword which none may withstand. It shall be the pride of +sovereign and of people; and so neither ‘height, nor depth, nor any +other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.’” + +Ere he had ended, some of the ladies were overcome, the eyes of the +Duke’s Daughter were full of tears, and Elizabeth said audibly, when he +ceased speaking: “On my soul, I have no bishop with a tongue like his. +Would that my Lord of Ely were here to learn how truth should be spoke. +Henceforth my bishops shall first be Camisards.” + +Of that hour’s joyful business the Queen wrote thus to the Medici before +the day was done: + +Cancelling all other letters on the matter, this M. de la Foret shall +stay in my kingdom. I may not be the headsman of one of my faith--as +eloquent a preacher as he was a brave soldier. Abiding by the strict +terms of our treaty with my brother of France, he shall stay with us in +peace, and in our own care. He hath not the eloquence of a Knox, but he +hath the true thing in him, and that speaks. + +To the Duke’s Daughter the Queen said: “On my soul, he shall be married +instantly, or my ladies will carry him off and murder him for love.” + +And so it was that the heart of Elizabeth the Queen warmed again and +dearly towards two Huguenot exiles, and showed that in doing justice +she also had not so sour a heart towards her sex as was set down to +her credit. Yet she made one further effort to keep De la Foret in her +service. When Michel, once again, declined, dwelt earnestly on his duty +towards the widow of his dead chief, and begged leave to share her exile +in Jersey, Elizabeth said: “On my soul, but I did not think there was +any man on earth so careless of princes’ honours!” + +To this De la Foret replied that he had given his heart and life to one +cause, and since Montgomery had lost all, even life, the least Michel +de la Foret could do was to see that the woman who loved him be not +unprotected in the world. Also, since he might not at this present +fight for the cause, he could speak for it; and he thanked the Queen +of England for having shown him his duty. All that he desired was to be +quiet for a space somewhere in “her high Majesty’s good realm,” till his +way was clear to him. + +“You would return to Jersey, then, with our friend of Rozel?” Elizabeth +said, with a gesture towards Lempriere, who, now recovered from his +wound, was present at the audience. + +De la Foret inclined his head. “If it be your high Majesty’s pleasure.” + +And Lempriere of Rozel said: “He would return with myself your noble +Majesty’s friend before all the world, and Buonespoir his ship the +Honeyflower.” + +Elizabeth’s lips parted in a smile, for she was warmed with the luxury +of doing good, and she answered: + +“I know not what the end of this will be, whether our loyal Lempriere +will become a pirate or Buonespoir a butler to my Court; but it is too +pretty a hazard to forego in a world of chance. By the rood, but I have +never, since I sat on my father’s throne, seen black so white as I have +done this past three months. You shall have your Buonespoir, good Rozel; +but if he plays pirate any more--tell him this from his Queen--upon an +English ship, I will have his head, if I must needs send Drake of Devon +to overhaul him.” + +That same hour the Queen sent for Angele, and by no leave, save her +own, arranged the wedding-day, and ordained that it should take place at +Southampton, whither the Comtesse de Montgomery had come on her way +to Greenwich to plead for the life of Michel de la Foret, and to beg +Elizabeth to relieve her poverty. Both of which things Elizabeth did, as +the annals of her life record. + +After Elizabeth--ever self-willed--had declared her way about the +marriage ceremony, looking for no reply save that of silent obedience, +she made Angele sit at her feet and tell her whole story again from +first to last. They were alone, and Elizabeth showed to this young +refugee more of her own heart than any other woman had ever seen. Not by +words alone, for she made no long story; but once she stooped and kissed +Angele upon the cheek, and once her eyes filled up with tears, and they +dropped upon her lap unheeded. All the devotion shown herself as a woman +had come to naught; and it may be that this thought stirred in her now. +She remembered how Leicester and herself had parted, and how she was +denied all those soft resources of regret which were the right of +the meanest women in her realm. For, whatever she might say to her +Parliament and people, she knew that all was too late--that she would +never marry and that she must go childless and uncomforted to her grave. +Years upon years of delusion of her people, of sacrifice to policy, had +at last become a self-delusion, to which her eyes were not full opened +yet--she sought to shut them tight. But these refugees, coming at the +moment of her own struggle, had changed her heart from an ever-growing +bitterness to human sympathy. When Angele had ended her tale once more, +the Queen said: + +“God knows, ye shall not linger in my Court. Such lives have no place +here. Get you back to my Isle of Jersey, where ye may live in peace. +Here all is noise, self-seeking and time-service. If ye twain are not +happy I will say the world should never have been made.” + +Before they left Greenwich Palace--M. Aubert and Angele, De la Foret, +Lempriere, and Buonespoir--the Queen made Michel de la Foret the gift of +a chaplaincy to the Crown. To Monsieur Aubert she gave a small pension, +and in Angele’s hands she placed a deed of dower worthy of a generosity +greater than her own. + +At Southampton, Michel and Angele were married by royal license, and +with the Comtesse de Montgomery set sail in Buonespoir’s boat, the +Honeyflower, which brought them safe to St. Helier’s, in the Isle of +Jersey. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Followed several happy years for Michel and Angele. The protection +of the Queen herself, the chaplaincy she had given De la Foret, the +friendship with the Governor of the island; and the boisterous tales +Lempriere had told of those days at Greenwich Palace quickened the +sympathy and held the interest of the people at large; while the simple +lives of the two won their way into the hearts of all, even, at last, to +that of De Carteret of St. Ouen’s. It was Angele herself who brought the +two Seigneurs together at her own good table; and it needed all her tact +on that occasion to prevent the ancient foes from drinking all the wine +in her cellar. + +There was no parish in Jersey that did not know their goodness, but +mostly in the parishes of St. Martin’s and Rozel were their faithful +labours done. From all parts of the island people came to hear Michel +speak, though that was but seldom; and when he spoke he always wore the +sword the Queen had given him, and used the Book he had studied in her +palace. It was to their home that Buonespoir the pirate--faithful to +his promise to the Queen that he would harry English ships no more came +wounded, after an engagement with a French boat sent to capture him, +carried thither by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It was there he +died, after having drunk a bottle of St. Ouen’s muscadella, brought +secretly to him by his unchanging friend, Lempriere, so hastening the +end. + +The Comtesse de Montgomery, who lived in a cottage near by, came +constantly to the little house on the hillside by Rozel Bay. She had +never loved her own children more than she did the brown-haired child +with the deep-blue eyes, which was the one pledge of the great happiness +of Michel and Angele. + +Soon after this child was born, M. Aubert had been put to rest in St. +Martin’s churchyard, and there his tombstone might be seen so late as +a hundred years ago. So things went softly by for seven years, and then +Madame de Montgomery journeyed to England, on invitation of the Queen +and to better fortune, and Angele and De la Foret were left to their +quiet life in Jersey. Sometimes this quiet was broken by bitter news +from France, of fresh persecution, and fresh struggle on the part of the +Huguenots. Thereafter for hours, sometimes for days, De la Foret would +be lost in sorrowful and restless meditation; and then he fretted +against his peaceful calling and his uneventful life. But the gracious +hand of his wife and the eyes of his child led him back to cheerful ways +again. + +Suddenly one day came the fearful news from England that the plague had +broken out, and that thousands were dying. The flight from London +was like the flight of the children of Israel into the desert. The +dead-carts filled with decaying bodies rattled through the foul streets, +to drop their horrid burdens into the great pit at Aldgate; the bells +of London tolled all day and all night for the passing of human souls. +Hundreds of homes, isolated because of a victim of the plague found +therein, became ghastly breeding-places of the disease, and then +silent, disgusting graves. If a man shivered in fear, or staggered from +weakness, or for very hunger turned sick, he was marked as a victim, and +despite his protests was huddled away with the real victims to die the +awful death. From every church, where clergy were left to pray, went up +the cry for salvation from “plague, pestilence, and famine.” Scores of +ships from Holland and from France lay in the Channel, not allowed to +touch the shores of England, nor permitted to return whence they came. +On the very day that news of this reached Jersey, came a messenger from +the Queen of England for Michel de la Foret to hasten to her Court +for that she had need of him, and it was a need which would bring him +honour. Even as the young officer who brought the letter handed it to +De la Foret in the little house on the hill-side above Rozel Bay, he was +taken suddenly ill, and fell at the Camisard’s feet. + +De la Foret straightway raised him in his arms. He called to his wife, +but, bidding her not come near, he bore the doomed man away to the +lonely Ecrehos Rocks lying within sight of their own doorway. Suffering +no one to accompany him, he carried the sick man to the boat which had +brought the Queen’s messenger to Rozel Bay. The sailors of the vessel +fled, and alone De la Foret set sail for the Ecrehos. + +There upon the black rocks the young man died, and Michel buried him in +the shore-bed of the Maitre Ile. Then, after two days--for he could bear +suspense no longer--he set sail for Jersey. Upon that journey there +is no need to dwell. Any that hath ever loved a woman and a child must +understand. A deep fear held him all the way, and when he stepped on +shore at Rozel Bay he was as one who had come from the grave, haggard +and old. + +Hurrying up the hillside to his doorway, he called aloud to his wife, to +his child. Throwing open the door, he burst in. His dead child lay upon +a couch, and near by, sitting in a chair, with the sweat of the dying on +her brow, was Angele. As he dropped on his knee beside her, she smiled +and raised her hand as if to touch him, but the hand dropped and the +head fell forward on his breast. She was gone into a greater peace. + +Once more Michel made a journey-alone--to the Ecrehos, and there, under +the ruins of the old Abbey of Val Richer, he buried the twain he had +loved. Not once in all the terrible hours had he shed a tear; not once +had his hand trembled; his face was like stone, and his eyes burned with +an unearthly light. + +He did not pray beside the graves; but he knelt and kissed the earth +again and again. He had doffed his robes of peace, and now wore the +garb of a soldier, armed at all points fully. Rising from his knees, he +turned his face towards Jersey. + +“Only mine! Only mine!” he said aloud in a dry, bitter voice. + +In the whole island, only his loved ones had died of the plague. The +holiness and charity and love of Michel and Angele had ended so! + +When once more he set forth upon the Channel, he turned his back on +Jersey and shaped his course towards France, having sent Elizabeth his +last excuses for declining a service which would have given him honour, +fame and regard. He was bent upon a higher duty. + +Not long did he wait for the death he craved. Next year, in a Huguenot +sortie from Anvers, he was slain. He died with these words on his lips: + +“Maintenant, Angele!” + +In due time the island people forgot them both, but the Seigneur of +Rozel caused a stone to be set up on the highest point of land that +faces France, and on the stone were carved the names of Michel and +Angele. Having done much hard service for his country and for England’s +Queen, Lempriere at length hung up his sword and gave his years to +peace. From the Manor of Rozel he was wont to repair constantly to the +little white house, which remained as the two had left it,--his own by +order of the Queen,--and there, as time went on, he spent most of his +days. To the last he roared with laughter if ever the name of Buonespoir +was mentioned in his presence; he swaggered ever before the Royal Court +and De Carteret of St. Ouen’s; and he spoke proudly of his friendship +with the Duke’s Daughter, who had admired the cut of his jerkin at the +Court of Elizabeth. But in the house where Angele had lived he moved +about as though in the presence of a beloved sleeper he would not awake. + +Michel and Angele had had their few years of exquisite life and love, +and had gone; Lempriere had longer measure of life and little love, and +who shall say which had more profit of breath and being? The generations +have passed away, and the Angel of Equity hath a smiling pity as she +scans the scales and the weighing of the Past. + + + ETEXT EDITOR’S BOOKMARKS: + + Boldness without rashness, and hope without vain thinking + Each of us will prove himself a fool given perfect opportunity + Never believed that when man or woman said no that no was meant + No note of praise could be pitched too high for Elizabeth + Nothing is futile that is right + Religion to him was a dull recreation invented chiefly for women + She had never stooped to conquer + Slander ever scorches where it touches + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Michel and Angele [A Ladder of +Swords], Complete, by Gilbert Parker + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHEL AND ANGELE *** + +***** This file should be named 6253-0.txt or 6253-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/5/6253/ + +Produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/6253-0.zip b/6253-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee16468 --- /dev/null +++ b/6253-0.zip diff --git a/6253-h.zip b/6253-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b0d21c --- /dev/null +++ b/6253-h.zip diff --git a/6253-h/6253-h.htm b/6253-h/6253-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6347eeb --- /dev/null +++ b/6253-h/6253-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6838 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Michel and Angele, Complete, by Gilbert Parker + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd7; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Michel and Angele [A Ladder of Swords], +Complete, by Gilbert Parker + +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: Michel and Angele [A Ladder of Swords], Complete + +Author: Gilbert Parker + +Release Date: October 18, 2006 [EBook #6253] +Last Updated: August 27, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHEL AND ANGELE *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + +</pre> + + <h1> + MICHEL AND ANGELE + </h1> + <h2> + [A Ladder of Swords] + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Gilbert Parker + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <a href="#link2H_INTR"> INTRODUCTION </a><br /><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0002"> A NOTE </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> + <b>MICHEL AND ANGELE</b> </a><br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + INTRODUCTION + </h2> + <p> + If it does not seem too childish a candour to say so, ‘Michel and Angele’ + always seems to me like some old letter lifted out of an ancient cabinet + with the faint perfume of bygone days upon it. Perhaps that is because the + story itself had its origin in a true but brief record of some good + Huguenots who fled from France and took refuge in England, to be found, as + the book declares, at the Walloon Church, in Southampton. + </p> + <p> + The record in the first paragraphs of the first chapter of the book + fascinated my imagination, and I wove round Michel de la Foret and Angele + Aubert a soft, bright cloud of romance which would not leave my vision + until I sat down and wrote out what, in the writing, seemed to me a true + history. It was as though some telepathy between the days of Elizabeth and + our own controlled me—self-hypnotism, I suppose; but still, there it + was. The story, in its original form, was first published in ‘Harper’s + Weekly’ under the name of Michel and Angele, but the fear, I think, that + many people would mispronounce the first word of the title, induced me to + change it when, double in length, it became a volume called ‘A Ladder of + Swords’. + </p> + <p> + As it originally appeared, I wrote it in the Island of Jersey, out at the + little Bay of Rozel in a house called La Chaire, a few yards away from the + bay itself, and having a pretty garden with a seat at its highest point, + from which, beyond the little bay, the English Channel ran away to the + Atlantic. It was written in complete seclusion. I had no visitors; there + was no one near, indeed, except the landlord of the little hotel in the + bay, and his wife. All through the Island, however, were people whom I + knew, like the Malet de Carterets, the Lemprieres, and old General Pipon, + for whom the Jersey of three hundred years ago was as near as the Jersey + of to-day, so do the Jersiais prize, cultivate, and conserve every hour of + its recorded history. + </p> + <p> + As the sea opens out to a vessel making between the promontories to the + main, so, while writing this tale which originally was short, the larger + scheme of ‘The Battle of the Strong’ spread out before me, luring me, as + though in the distance were the Fortunate Isles. Eight years after ‘Michel + and Angele’ was written and first published in ‘Harper’s Weekly’, I + decided to give it the dignity of a full-grown romance. For years I had + felt that it had the essentials for a larger canvas, and at the earnest + solicitation of Messrs. Harper & Brothers I settled to do what had + long been in my mind. The narrative grew as naturally from what it was to + larger stature as anything that had been devised upon a greater scale at + the beginning; and in London town I had the same joy in the company of + Michel and Angele—and a vastly increased joy in the company of + Lempriere, the hulking, joyous giant—as I had years before in Jersey + itself when the story first stirred in my mind and reached my pen. + </p> + <p> + While adverse reviews of the book were few if any, it cannot be said that + this romance is a companion in popularity with, for instance, ‘The Right + of Way’. It had its friends, but it has apparently appealed to smaller + audiences—to those who watch the world go by; who are not searching + for the exposure of life’s grim realities; who do not seek the clinic of + the soul’s tragedies. There was tragedy here, but there was comedy too; + there was also joy and faith, patience and courage. The book, taken by + itself, could not make a permanent reputation for any man, but it has its + place in the scheme of my work, and I would not have it otherwise than it + is. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + A NOTE + </h2> + <p> + There will be found a few anachronisms in this tale, but none so important + as to give a wrong impression of the events of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h1> + MICHEL AND ANGELE + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I + </h2> + <p> + If you go to Southampton and search the register of the Walloon Church + there, you will find that in the summer of ‘57, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Madame Vefue de Montgomery with all her family and servants were + admitted to the Communion”—“Tous ceux ce furent Recus la a Cene du + ‘57, comme passans, sans avoir Rendu Raison de la foj, mes sur la + tesmognage de Mons. Forest, Ministre de Madame, quj certifia quj ne + cognoisoit Rien en tout ceux la po’ quoy Il ne leur deust administre + la Cene s’il estoit en lieu po’ a ferre.” + </pre> + <p> + There is another striking record, which says that in August of the same + year Demoiselle Angele Claude Aubert, daughter of Monsieur de la Haie + Aubert, Councillor of the Parliament of Rouen, was married to Michel de la + Foret, of the most noble Flemish family of that name. + </p> + <p> + When I first saw these records, now grown dim with time, I fell to + wondering what was the real life-history of these two people. Forthwith, + in imagination, I began to make their story piece by piece; and I had + reached a romantic ‘denoument’ satisfactory to myself and in sympathy with + fact, when the Angel of Accident stepped forward with some “human + documents.” Then I found that my tale, woven back from the two obscure + records I have given, was the true story of two most unhappy yet most + happy people. From the note struck in my mind, when my finger touched that + sorrowful page in the register of the Church of the Refugees at + Southampton, had spread out the whole melody and the very book of the + song. + </p> + <p> + One of the later-discovered records was a letter, tear-stained, faded, + beautifully written in old French, from Demoiselle Angele Claude Aubert to + Michel de la Foret at Anvers in March of the year 157_. The letter lies + beside me as I write, and I can scarcely believe that three and a quarter + centuries have passed since it was written, and that she who wrote it was + but eighteen years old at the time. I translate it into English, though it + is impossible adequately to carry over either the flavour or the idiom of + the language: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Written on this May Day of the year 157_, at the place hight Rozel + in the Manor called of the same of Jersey Isle, to Michel de la + Foret, at Anvers in Flanders. + + MICHEL, Thy good letter by safe carriage cometh to my hand, bringing + to my heart a lightness it hath not known since that day when I was + hastily carried to the port of St. Malo, and thou towards the King + his prison. In what great fear have I lived, having no news of thee + and fearing all manner of mischance! But our God hath benignly + saved thee from death, and me He hath set safely here in this isle + of the sea. + + Thou hast ever been a brave soldier, enduring and not fearing; thou + shalt find enow to keep thy blood stirring in these days of trial + and peril to us who are so opprobriously called Les Huguenots. If + thou wouldst know more of my mind thereupon, come hither. Safety is + here, and work for thee—smugglers and pirates do abound on these + coasts, and Popish wolves do harry the flock even in this island + province of England. Michel, I plead for the cause which thou hast + nobly espoused, but—alas! my selfish heart, where thou art lie work + and fighting, and the same high cause, and sadly, I confess, it is + for mine own happiness that I ask thee to come. I wot well that + escape from France hath peril, that the way hither from that point + upon yonder coast called Carteret is hazardous, but yet-but yet all + ways to happiness are set with hazard. + + If thou dost come to Carteret thou wilt see two lights turning this- + wards: one upon a headland called Tour de Rozel, and one upon the + great rock called of the Ecrehos. These will be in line with thy + sight by the sands of Hatainville. Near by the Tour de Rozel shall + I be watching and awaiting thee. By day and night doth my prayer + ascend for thee. + + The messenger who bears this to thee (a piratical knave with a most + kind heart, having, I am told, a wife in every port of France and of + England the south, a most heinous sin!) will wait for thy answer, or + will bring thee hither, which is still better. He is worthy of + trust if thou makest him swear by the little finger of St. Peter. + By all other swearings he doth deceive freely. + + The Lord make thee true, Michel. If thou art faithful to me, I + shall know how faithful thou art in all; for thy vows to me were + most frequent and pronounced, with a full savour that might warrant + short seasoning. Yet, because thou mayst still be given to such + dear fantasies of truth as were on thy lips in those dark days + wherein thy sword saved my life ‘twixt Paris and Rouen, I tell thee + now that I do love thee, and shall so love when, as my heart + inspires me, the cloud shall fall that will hide us from each other + forever. + + ANGELE. + + An Afterword: + + I doubt not we shall come to the heights where there is peace, + though we climb thereto by a ladder of swords. A. +</pre> + <p> + Some years before Angele’s letter was written, Michel de la Foret had + become an officer in the army of Comte Gabriel de Montgomery, and fought + with him until what time the great chief was besieged in the Castle of + Domfront in Normandy. When the siege grew desperate, Montgomery besought + the intrepid young Huguenot soldier to escort Madame de Montgomery to + England, to be safe from the oppression and misery sure to follow any + mishap to this noble leader of the Camisards. + </p> + <p> + At the very moment of departure of the refugees from Domfront with the + Comtesse, Angele’s messenger—the “piratical knave with the most kind + heart” presented himself, delivered her letter to De la Foret, and + proceeded with the party to the coast of Normandy by St. Brieuc. Embarking + there in a lugger which Buonespoir the pirate secured for them, they made + for England. + </p> + <p> + Having come but half-way of the Channel, the lugger was stopped by an + English frigate. After much persuasion the captain of the frigate agreed + to land Madame de Montgomery upon the island of Jersey, but forced De la + Foret to return to the coast of France; and Buonespoir elected to return + with him. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II + </h2> + <p> + Meanwhile Angele had gone through many phases of alternate hope and + despair. She knew that Montgomery the Camisard was dead, and a rumour, + carried by refugees, reached her that De la Foret had been with him to the + end. To this was presently added the word that De la Foret had been + beheaded. But one day she learned that the Comtesse de Montgomery was + sheltered by the Governor, Sir Hugh Pawlett, her kinsman, at Mont Orgueil + Castle. Thither she went in fear from her refuge at Rozel, and was + admitted to the Comtesse. There she learned the joyful truth that De la + Foret had not been slain, and was in hiding on the coast of Normandy. + </p> + <p> + The long waiting was a sore trial, yet laughter was often upon her lips + henceforth. The peasants, the farmers and fishermen of Jersey, at first—as + they have ever been—little inclined towards strangers, learned at + last to look for her in the fields and upon the shore, and laughed in + response, they knew not why, to the quick smiling of her eyes. She even + learned to speak their unmusical but friendly Norman-Jersey French. There + were at least a half-dozen fishermen who, for her, would have gone at + night straight to the Witches’ Rock in St. Clement’s Bay—and this + was bravery unmatched. + </p> + <p> + It came to be known along the coast that “Ma’m’selle” was waiting for a + lover fleeing from the French coast. This gave her fresh interest in the + eyes of the serfs and sailors and their women folk, who at first were not + inclined towards the Huguenot maiden, partly because she was French, and + partly because she was not a Catholic. But even these, when they saw that + she never talked religiously, that she was fast learning to speak their + own homely patois, and that in the sickness of their children she was + untiring in her kindness, forgave the austerity of the gloomy-browed old + man her father, who spoke to them distantly, or never spoke at all; and + her position was secure. Then, upon the other hand, the gentry of the + manors, seeing the friendship grow between her and the Comtesse de + Montgomery at Mont Orgueil Castle, made courteous advances towards her + father, and towards herself through him. + </p> + <p> + She could scarce have counted the number of times she climbed the great + hill like a fortress at the lift of the little bay of Rozel, and from the + Nez du Guet scanned the sea for a sail and the sky for fair weather. When + her eyes were not thus busy, they were searching the lee of the hillside + round for yellow lilies, and the valley below for the campion, the + daffodil, and the thousand pretty ferns growing in profusion there. Every + night she looked out to see that her signal fire was lit upon the Nez du + Guet, and she never went to bed without taking one last look over the sea, + in the restless inveterate hope which at once sustained her and devoured + her. + </p> + <p> + But the longest waiting must end. It came on the evening of the very day + that the Seigneur of Rozel went to Angele’s father and bluntly told him he + was ready to forego all Norman-Jersey prejudice against the French and the + Huguenot religion, and take Angele to wife without penny or estate. + </p> + <p> + In reply to the Seigneur, Monsieur Aubert said that he was conscious of an + honour, and referred Monsieur to his daughter, who must answer for + herself; but he must tell Monsieur of Rozel that Monsieur’s religion + would, in his own sight, be a high bar to the union. To that the Seigneur + said that no religion that he had could be a bar to anything at all; and + so long as the young lady could manage her household, drive a good bargain + with the craftsmen and hucksters, and have the handsomest face and manners + in the Channel Islands, he’d ask no more; and she might pray for him and + his salvation without let or hindrance. + </p> + <p> + The Seigneur found the young lady in a little retreat among the rocks, + called by the natives La Chaire. Here she sat sewing upon some coarse + linen for a poor fisherwoman’s babe when the Seigneur came near. She heard + the scrunch of his heels upon the gravel, the clank of his sword upon the + rocks, and looked up with a flush, her needle poised; for none should know + of her presence in this place save her father. When she saw who was her + visitor, she rose. After greeting and compliment, none too finely put, but + more generous than fitted with Jersey parsimony, the gentleman of Rozel + came at once to the point. + </p> + <p> + “My name is none too bad,” said he—“Raoul Lempriere, of the + Lemprieres that have been here since Rollo ruled in Normandy. My estate is + none worse than any in the whole islands; I have more horses and dogs than + any gentleman of my acres; and I am more in favour at court than De + Carteret of St. Ouen’s. I am the Queen’s butler, and I am the first that + royal favour granted to set up three dove-cotes, one by St. Aubin’s, one + by St. Helier’s, and one at Rozel: and—and,” he added, with a + lumbering attempt at humour—“and, on my oath, I’ll set up another + dove-cote with out my sovereign’s favour, with your leave alone. By our + Lady, I do love that colour in yon cheek! Just such a colour had my mother + when she snatched from the head of my cousin of Carteret’s milk-maid wife + the bonnet of a lady of quality and bade her get to her heifers. God’s + beauty! but ‘tis a colour of red primroses in thy cheeks and blue campions + in thine eyes. Come, I warrant I can deepen that colour”—he bowed + low—“Madame of Rozel, if it be not too soon!” + </p> + <p> + The girl listened to this cheerful and loquacious proposal and courtship + all in one, ending with the premature bestowal of a title, in mingled + anger, amusement, disdain, and apprehension. Her heart fluttered, then + stood still, then flew up in her throat, then grew terribly hot and hurt + her, so that she pressed her hand to her bosom as though that might ease + it. By the time he had finished, drawn himself up, and struck his foot + upon the ground in burly emphasis of his devoted statements, the girl had + sufficiently recovered to answer him composedly, and with a little glint + of demure humour in her eyes. She loved another man; she did not care so + much as a spark for this happy, swearing, swashbuckling gentleman; yet she + saw he had meant to do her honour. He had treated her as courteously as + was in him to do; he chose her out from all the ladies of his acquaintance + to make her an honest offer of his hand—he had said nothing about + his heart; he would, should she marry him, throw her scraps of + good-humour, bearish tenderness, drink to her health among his fellows, + and respect and admire her—even exalt her almost to the rank of a + man in his own eyes; and he had the tolerance of the open-hearted and + open-handed man. All these things were as much a compliment to her as + though she were not a despised Huguenot, an exiled lady of no fortune. She + looked at him a moment with an almost solemn intensity, so that he shifted + his ground uneasily, but at once smiled encouragingly, to relieve her + embarrassment at the unexpected honour done her. She had remained + standing; now, as he made a step towards her, she sank down upon the seat, + and waved him back courteously. + </p> + <p> + “A moment, Monsieur of Rozel,” she ventured. “Did my father send you to + me?” + </p> + <p> + He inclined his head and smiled again. + </p> + <p> + “Did you say to him what you have said to me?” she asked, not quite + without a touch of malice. + </p> + <p> + “I left out about the colour in the cheek,” he answered, with a smirk at + what he took to be the quickness of his wit. + </p> + <p> + “You kept your paint-pot for me,” she replied softly. + </p> + <p> + “And the dove-cote, too,” he rejoined, bowing finely, and almost carried + off his feet by his own brilliance. She became serious at once—so + quickly that he was ill prepared for it, and could do little but stare and + pluck at the tassel of his sword; for he was embarrassed before this + maiden, who changed as quickly as the currents change under the brow of + the Couperon Cliff, behind which lay his manor-house of Rozel. + </p> + <p> + “I have visited at your manor, Monsieur of Rozel. I have seen the state in + which you live, your retainers, your men-at-arms, your farming-folk, and + your sailormen. I know how your Queen receives you; how your honour is as + stable as your fief.” + </p> + <p> + He drew himself up again proudly. He could understand this speech. + </p> + <p> + “Your horses and your hounds I have seen,” she added, “your men-servants + and your maid-servants, your fields of corn, your orchards, and your + larder. I have sometimes broken the Commandment and coveted them and + envied you.” + </p> + <p> + “Break the Commandment again, for the last time,” he cried, delighted and + boisterous. “Let us not waste words, lady. Let’s kiss and have it over.” + </p> + <p> + Her eyes flashed. “I coveted them and envied you; but then, I am but a + vain girl at times, and vanity is easier to me than humbleness.” + </p> + <p> + “Blood of man, but I cannot understand so various a creature!” he broke + in, again puzzled. + </p> + <p> + “There is a little chapel in the dell beside your manor, Monsieur. If you + will go there, and get upon your knees, and pray till the candles no more + burn, and the Popish images crumble in their places, you will yet never + understand myself or any woman.” + </p> + <p> + “There’s no question of Popish images between us,” he answered, vainly + trying for foothold. “Pray as you please, and I’ll see no harm comes to + the Mistress of Rozel.” + </p> + <p> + He was out of his bearings and impatient. Religion to him was a dull + recreation invented chiefly for women. She became plain enough now. “‘Tis + no images nor religion that stands between us,” she answered, “though they + might well do so. It is that I do not love you, Monsieur of Rozel.” + </p> + <p> + His face, which had slowly clouded, suddenly cleared. “Love! Love!” He + laughed good-humouredly. “Love comes, I’m told, with marriage. But we can + do well enough without fugling on that pipe. Come, come, dost think I’m + not a proper man and a gentleman? Dost think I’ll not use thee well and + ‘fend thee, Huguenot though thou art, ‘gainst trouble or fret or any man’s + persecutions—be he my Lord Bishop, my Lord Chancellor, or King of + France, or any other?” + </p> + <p> + She came a step closer to him, even as though she would lay a hand upon + his arm. “I believe that you would do all that in you lay,” she answered + steadily. “Yours is a rough wooing, but it is honest—” + </p> + <p> + “Rough! Rough!” he protested, for he thought he had behaved like some + Adonis. Was it not ten years only since he had been at Court! + </p> + <p> + “Be assured, Monsieur, that I know how to prize the man who speaks after + the light given him. I know that you are a brave and valorous gentleman. I + must thank you most truly and heartily, but, Monsieur, you and yours are + not for me. Seek elsewhere, among your own people, in your own religion + and language and position, the Mistress of Rozel.” + </p> + <p> + He was dumfounded. Now he comprehended the plain fact that he had been + declined. + </p> + <p> + “You send me packing!” he blurted out, getting red in the face. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, no! Say it is my misfortune that I cannot give myself the great + honour,” she said; in her tone a little disdainful dryness, a little pity, + a little feeling that here was a good friend lost. + </p> + <p> + “It’s not because of the French soldier that was with Montgomery at + Domfront?—I’ve heard that story. But he’s gone to heaven, and ‘tis + vain crying for last year’s breath,” he added, with proud philosophy. + </p> + <p> + “He is not dead. And if he were,” she added, “do you think, Monsieur, that + we should find it easier to cross the gulf between us?” + </p> + <p> + “Tut, tut, that bugbear Love!” he said shortly. “And so you’d lose a good + friend for a dead lover? I’ faith, I’d befriend thee well if thou wert my + wife, Ma’m’selle.” + </p> + <p> + “It is hard for those who need friends to lose them,” she answered sadly. + </p> + <p> + The sorrow of her position crept in upon her and filled her eyes with + tears. She turned them to the sea-instinctively towards that point on the + shore where she thought it likely Michel might be; as though by looking + she might find comfort and support in this hard hour. + </p> + <p> + Even as she gazed into the soft afternoon light she could see, far over, a + little sail standing out towards the Ecrehos. Not once in six months might + the coast of France be seen so clearly. One might almost have noted people + walking on the beach. This was no good token, for when that coast may be + seen with great distinctness a storm follows hard after. The girl knew + this; and though she could not know that this was Michel de la Foret’s + boat, the possibility fixed itself in her mind. She quickly scanned the + horizon. Yes, there in the north-west was gathering a dark-blue haze, + hanging like small filmy curtains in the sky. + </p> + <p> + The Seigneur of Rozel presently broke the silence so awkward for him. He + had seen the tears in her eyes, and though he could not guess the cause, + he vaguely thought it might be due to his announcement that she had lost a + friend. He was magnanimous at once, and he meant what he said and would + stand by it through thick and thin. + </p> + <p> + “Well, well, I’ll be thy everlasting friend if not thy husband,” he said + with ornate generosity. “Cheer thy heart, lady.” + </p> + <p> + With a sudden impulse she seized his hand and kissed it, and, turning, ran + swiftly down the rocks towards her home. + </p> + <p> + He stood and looked after her, then, dumfounded, at the hand she had + kissed. + </p> + <p> + “Blood of my heart!” he said, and shook his head in utter amazement. + </p> + <p> + Then he turned and looked out upon the Channel. He saw the little boat + Angele had descried making from France. Glancing at the sky, “What fools + come there!” he said anxiously. + </p> + <p> + They were Michel de la Foret and Buonespoir the pirate, in a black-bellied + cutter with red sails. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III + </h2> + <p> + For weeks De la Foret and Buonespoir had lain in hiding at St. Brieuc. At + last Buonespoir declared all was ready once again. He had secured for the + Camisard the passport and clothes of a priest who had but just died at + Granville. Once again they made the attempt to reach English soil. + </p> + <p> + Standing out from Carteret on the Belle Suzanne, they steered for the + light upon the Marmotier Rocks of the Ecrehos, which Angele had paid a + fisherman to keep going every night. This light had caused the French and + English frigates some uneasiness, and they had patrolled the Channel from + Cap de la Hague to the Bay of St. Brieuc with a vigilance worthy of a + larger cause. One fine day an English frigate anchored off the Ecrehos, + and the fisherman was seized. He, poor man, swore that he kept the light + burning to guide his brother fishermen to and fro between Boulay Bay and + the Ecrehos. The captain of the frigate tried severities; but the + fisherman stuck to his tale, and the light burned on as before—a + lantern stuck upon a pole. One day, with a telescope, Buonespoir had seen + the exact position of the staff supporting the light, and had mapped out + his course accordingly. He would head straight for the beacon and pass + between the Marmotier and the Maitre Ile, where is a narrow channel for a + boat drawing only a few feet of water. Unless he made this, he must run + south and skirt the Ecriviere Rock and bank, where the streams setting + over the sandy ridges make a confusing perilous sea to mariners in bad + weather. Else, he must sail north between the Ecrehos and the Dirouilles, + in the channel called Etoc, a tortuous and dangerous passage save in good + weather, and then safe only to the mariner who knows the floor of that + strait like his own hand. De la Foret was wholly in the hands of + Buonespoir, for he knew nothing of these waters and coasts; also he was a + soldier and no sailor. + </p> + <p> + They cleared Cape Carteret with a fair wind from the north-east, which + should carry them safely as the bird flies to the haven of Rozel. The + high, pinkish sands of Hatainville were behind them; the treacherous + Taillepied Rocks lay to the north, and a sweet sea before. Nothing could + have seemed fairer and more hopeful. But a few old fishermen on shore at + Carteret shook their heads dubiously, and at Port Bail, some miles below, + a disabled naval officer, watching through a glass, rasped out, “Criminals + or fools!” But he shrugged his shoulders, for if they were criminals he + was sure they would expiate their crimes this night, and if they were + fools—he had no pity for fools. + </p> + <p> + But Buonespoir knew his danger. Truth is, he had chosen this night because + they would be safest from pursuit, because no sensible seafaring man, were + he King’s officer or another, would venture forth upon the impish Channel, + save to court disaster. Pirate, and soldier in priest’s garb, had frankly + taken the chances. + </p> + <p> + With a fair wind they might, with all canvas set—mainsail, foresail, + jib, and fore-topsail—make Rozel Bay within two hours and a quarter. + All seemed well for a brief half-hour. Then, even as the passage between + the Marmotier and the Ecrehos opened out, the wind suddenly shifted from + the north-east to the southwest and a squall came hurrying on them—a + few moments too soon; for, had they been clear of the Ecrehos, clear of + the Taillepieds, Felee Bank, and the Ecriviere, they could have stood out + towards the north in a more open sea. + </p> + <p> + Yet there was one thing in their favour: the tide was now running hard + from the north-west, so fighting for them while the wind was against them. + Their only safety lay in getting beyond the Ecrehos. If they attempted to + run in to the Marmotier for safety, they would presently be at the mercy + of the French. To trust their doubtful fortunes and bear on was the only + way. The tide was running fast. They gave the mainsail to the wind still + more, and bore on towards the passage. At last, as they were opening on + it, the wind suddenly veered full north-east. The sails flapped, the boat + seemed to hover for a moment, and then a wave swept her towards the rocks. + Buonespoir put the helm hard over, she went about, and they close-hauled + her as she trembled towards the rocky opening. + </p> + <p> + This was the critical instant. A heavy sea was running, the gale was + blowing hard from the north-east, and under the close-hauled sail the + Belle Suzanne was lying over dangerously. But the tide, too, was running + hard from the south, fighting the wind; and, at the moment when all seemed + terribly uncertain, swept them past the opening and into the swift-running + channel, where the indraught sucked them through to the more open water + beyond. + </p> + <p> + Although the Belle Suzanne was in more open water now, the danger was not + over. Ahead lay a treacherous sea, around them roaring winds, and the + perilous coast of Jersey beyond all. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think we shall land?” quietly asked De la Foret, nodding towards + the Jersey coast. + </p> + <p> + “As many chances ‘gainst it as for it, M’sieu’,” said Buonespoir, turning + his face to the north, for the wind had veered again to north-east, and he + feared its passing to the north-west, giving them a head-wind and a + swooping sea. + </p> + <p> + Night came down, but with a clear sky and a bright moon; the wind, + however, not abating. The next three hours were spent in tacking, in + beating towards the Jersey coast under seas which almost swamped them. + They were standing off about a mile from the island, and could see lighted + fires and groups of people upon the shore, when suddenly a gale came out + from the southwest, the wind having again shifted. With an oath, + Buonespoir put the helm hard over, the Belle Suzanne came about quickly, + but as the gale struck her, the mast snapped like a pencil, she heeled + over, and the two adventurers were engulfed in the waves. + </p> + <p> + A cry of dismay went up from the watchers on the shore. They turned with a + half-conscious sympathy towards Angele, for her story was known by all, + and in her face they read her mortal fear, though she made no cry, but + only clasped her hands in agony. Her heart told her that yonder Michel de + la Foret was fighting for his life. For an instant only she stood, the + terror of death in her eyes, then she turned to the excited fishermen + near. + </p> + <p> + “Men, oh men,” she cried, “will you not save them? Will no one come with + me?” + </p> + <p> + Some shook their heads sullenly, others appeared uncertain, but their + wives and children clung to them, and none stirred. Looking round + helplessly, Angele saw the tall figure of the Seigneur of Rozel. He had + been watching the scene for some time. Now he came quickly to her. + </p> + <p> + “Is it the very man?” he asked her, jerking a finger towards the + struggling figures in the sea. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, oh yes,” she replied, nodding her head piteously. “God tells my + heart it is.” + </p> + <p> + Her father drew near and interposed. + </p> + <p> + “Let us kneel and pray for two dying men,” said he, and straightway knelt + upon the sand. + </p> + <p> + “By St. Martin, we’ve better medicine than that, apothecary!” said + Lempriere of Rozel loudly, and, turning round, summoned two serving-men. + “Launch my strong boat,” he added. “We will pick these gentlemen from the + brine, or know the end of it all.” + </p> + <p> + The men hurried gloomily to the long-boat, ran her down to the shore and + into the surf. + </p> + <p> + “You are going—you are going to save him, dear Seigneur?” asked the + girl tremulously. + </p> + <p> + “To save him—that’s to be seen, mistress,” answered Lempriere, and + advanced to the fishermen. By dint of hard words, and as hearty + encouragement and promises, he got a half-dozen strong sailors to man the + boat. + </p> + <p> + A moment after, they were all in. At a motion from the Seigneur, the boat + was shot out into the surf, and a cheer from the shore gave heart to De la + Foret and Buonespoir, who were being driven upon the rocks. + </p> + <p> + The Jerseymen rowed gallantly; and the Seigneur, to give them heart, + promised a shilling, a capon, and a gallon of beer to each, if the rescue + was made. Again and again the two men seemed to sink beneath the sea, and + again and again they came to the surface and battled further, torn, + battered, and bloody, but not beaten. Cries of “We’re coming, gentles, + we’re coming!” from the Seigneur of Rozel, came ringing through the surf + to the dulled ears of the drowning men, and they struggled on. + </p> + <p> + There never was a more gallant rescue. Almost at their last gasp the two + were rescued. + </p> + <p> + “Mistress Aubert sends you welcome, sir, if you be Michel de la Foret,” + said Lempriere of Rozel, and offered the fugitive his horn of liquor as he + lay blown and beaten in the boat. + </p> + <p> + “I am he,” De la Foret answered. “I owe you my life, Monsieur,” he added. + </p> + <p> + Lempriere laughed. “You owe it to the lady; and I doubt you can properly + pay the debt,” he answered, with a toss of the head; for had not the lady + refused him, the Seigneur of Rozel, six feet six in height, and all else + in proportion, while this gentleman was scarce six feet. + </p> + <p> + “We can have no quarrel upon the point,” answered De la Foret, reaching + out his hand; “you have at least done tough work for her, and if I cannot + pay in gold, I can in kind. It was a generous deed, and it has made a + friend for ever of Michel de la Foret.” + </p> + <p> + “Raoul Lempriere of Rozel they call me, Michel de la Foret, and by Rollo + the Duke, but I’ll take your word in the way of friendship, as the lady + yonder takes it for riper fruit! Though, faith, ‘tis fruit of a short + summer, to my thinking.” + </p> + <p> + All this while Buonespoir the pirate, his face covered with blood, had + been swearing by the little finger of St. Peter that each Jerseyman there + should have the half of a keg of rum. He went so far in gratitude as to + offer the price of ten sheep which he had once secretly raided from the + Seigneur of Rozel and sold in France; for which he had been seized on his + later return to the island, and had escaped without punishment. + </p> + <p> + Hearing, Lempriere of Rozel roared at him in anger: “Durst speak to me! + For every fleece you thieved I’ll have you flayed with bow-strings if ever + I sight your face within my boundaries.” + </p> + <p> + “Then I’ll fetch and carry no more for M’sieu’ of Rozel,” said Buonespoir, + in an offended tone, but grinning under his reddish beard. + </p> + <p> + “When didst fetch and carry for me, varlet?” Lempriere roared again. + </p> + <p> + “When the Seigneur of Rozel fell from his horse, overslung with sack, the + night of the royal Duke’s visit, and the footpads were on him, I carried + him on my back to the lodge of Rozel Manor. The footpads had scores to + settle with the great Rozel.” + </p> + <p> + For a moment the Seigneur stared, then roared again, but this time with + laughter. + </p> + <p> + “By the devil and Rollo, I have sworn to this hour that there was no man + in the isle could have carried me on his shoulders. And I was right, for + Jersiais you’re none, neither by adoption nor grace, but a citizen of the + sea.” + </p> + <p> + He laughed again as a wave swept over them, drenching them, and a sudden + squall of wind came out of the north. “There’s no better head in the isle + than mine for measurement and thinking, and I swore no man under eighteen + stone could carry me, and I am twenty-five—I take you to be nineteen + stone, eh?” + </p> + <p> + “Nineteen, less two ounces,” grinned Buonespoir. + </p> + <p> + “I’ll laugh De Carteret of St. Ouen’s out of his stockings over this,” + answered Lempriere. “Trust me for knowing weights and measures! Look you, + varlet, thy sins be forgiven thee. I care not about the fleeces, if there + be no more stealing. St. Ouen’s has no head—I said no one man in + Jersey could have done it—I’m heavier by three stone than any man in + the island.” Thereafter there was little speaking among them, for the + danger was greater as they neared the shore. The wind and the sea were + against them; the tide, however, was in their favour. Others besides M. + Aubert offered up prayers for the safe-landing of the rescued and + rescuers. Presently an ancient fisherman broke out into a rude sailor’s + chanty, and every voice, even those of the two Huguenots, took it up: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “When the Four Winds, the Wrestlers, strive with the Sun, + When the Sun is slain in the dark; + When the stars burn out, and the night cries + To the blind sea-reapers, and they rise, + And the water-ways are stark— + God save us when the reapers reap! + When the ships sweep in with the tide to the shore, + And the little white boats return no more; + When the reapers reap, Lord give Thy sailors sleep, + If Thou cast us not upon the shore, + To bless Thee evermore: + To walk in Thy sight as heretofore + Though the way of the Lord be steep! + By Thy grace, + Show Thy face, + Lord of the land and the deep!” + </pre> + <p> + The song stilled at last. It died away in the roar of the surf, in the + happy cries of foolish women, and the laughter of men back from a + dangerous adventure. As the Seigneur’s boat was drawn up the shore, Angele + threw herself into the arms of Michel de la Foret, the soldier dressed as + a priest. + </p> + <p> + Lempriere of Rozel stood abashed before this rich display of feeling. In + his hottest youth he could not have made such passionate motions of + affection. His feelings ran neither high nor broad, but neither did they + run low and muddy. His nature was a straight level of sensibility—a + rough stream between high banks of prejudice, topped with the foam of + vanity, now brawling in season, and now going steady and strong to the + sea. Angele had come to feel what he was beneath the surface. She felt how + unimaginative he was, and how his humour, which was but the horse-play of + vanity, helped him little to understand the world or himself. His vanity + was ridiculous, his self-importance was against knowledge or wisdom; and + Heaven had given him a small brain, a big and noble heart, a pedigree back + to Rollo, and the absurd pride of a little lord in a little land. Angele + knew all this; but realised also that he had offered her all he was able + to offer to any woman. + </p> + <p> + She went now and put out both hands to him. “I shall ever pray God’s + blessing on the lord of Rozel,” she said, in a low voice. + </p> + <p> + “‘Twould fit me no better than St. Ouen’s sword fits his fingers. I’ll + take thine own benison, lady—but on my cheek, not on my hand as this + day before at four of the clock.” His big voice lowered. “Come, come, the + hand thou kissed, it hath been the hand of a friend to thee, as Raoul + Lempriere of Rozel said he’d be. Thy lips upon his cheek, though it be but + a rough fellow’s fancy, and I warrant, come good, come ill, Rozel’s face + will never be turned from thee. Pooh, pooh! let yon soldier-priest shut + his eyes a minute; this is ‘tween me and thee; and what’s done before the + world’s without shame.” + </p> + <p> + He stopped short, his black eyes blazing with honest mirth and kindness, + his breath short, having spoken in such haste. + </p> + <p> + Her eyes could scarce see him, so full of tears were they; and, standing + on tiptoe, she kissed him upon each cheek. + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis much to get for so little given,” she said, with a quiver in her + voice; “yet this price for friendship would be too high to pay to any save + the Seigneur of Rozel.” + </p> + <p> + She hastily turned to the men who had rescued Michel and Buonespoir. “If I + had riches, riches ye should have, brave men of Jersey,” she said; “but I + have naught save love and thanks, and my prayers too, if ye will have + them.” + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis a man’s duty to save his fellow an’ he can,” cried a gaunt + fisherman, whose daughter was holding to his lips a bowl of conger-eel + soup. + </p> + <p> + “‘Twas a good deed to send us forth to save a priest of Holy Church,” + cried a weazened boat-builder with a giant’s arm, as he buried his face in + a cup of sack, and plunged his hand into a fishwife’s basket of limpets. + </p> + <p> + “Aye, but what means she by kissing and arm-getting with a priest?” cried + a snarling vraic-gatherer. “‘Tis some jest upon Holy Church, or yon priest + is no better than common men but an idle shame.” + </p> + <p> + By this time Michel was among them. “Priest I am none, but a soldier,” he + said in a loud voice, and told them bluntly the reasons for his disguise; + then, taking a purse from his pocket, thrust into the hands of his + rescuers and their families pieces of silver and gave them brave words of + thanks. + </p> + <p> + But the Seigneur was not to be outdone in generosity. His vanity ran high; + he was fain to show Angele what a gorgeous gentleman she had failed to + make her own; and he was in ripe good-humour all round. + </p> + <p> + “Come, ye shall come, all of ye, to the Manor of Rozel, every man and + woman here. Ye shall be fed, and fuddled too ye shall be an’ ye will; for + honest drink which sends to honest sleep hurts no man. To my kitchen with + ye all; and you, messieurs”—turning to M. Aubert and De la Fore-“and + you, Mademoiselle, come, know how open is the door and full the table at + my Manor of Rozel—St. Ouen’s keeps a beggarly board.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV + </h2> + <p> + Thus began the friendship of the bragging Seigneur of Rozel for the three + Huguenots, all because he had seen tears in a girl’s eyes and + misunderstood them, and because the same girl had kissed him. His pride + was flattered that they should receive protection from him, and the + flattery became almost a canonising when De Carteret of St. Ouen’s brought + him to task for harbouring and comforting the despised Huguenots; for when + De Carteret railed he was envious. So henceforth Lempriere played Lord + Protector with still more boisterous unction. His pride knew no bounds + when, three days after the rescue, Sir Hugh Pawlett, the Governor, + answering De la Foret’s letter requesting permission to visit the Comtesse + de Montgomery, sent him word to fetch De la Foret to Mont Orgueil Castle. + Clanking and blowing, he was shown into the great hall with De la Foret, + where waited Sir Hugh and the widow of the renowned Camisard. Clanking and + purring like an enormous cat, he turned his head away to the window when + De la Foret dropped on his knees and kissed the hand of the Comtesse, + whose eyes were full of tears. Clanking and gurgling, he sat to a mighty + meal of turbot, eels, lobsters, ormers, capons, boar’s head, brawn, and + mustard, swan, curlew, and spiced meats. This he washed down with bastard, + malmsey, and good ale, topped with almonds, comfits, perfumed cherries + with “ipocras,” then sprinkled himself with rose-water and dabbled his + face and hands in it. Filled to the turret, he lurched to his feet, and + drinking to Sir Hugh’s toast, + </p> + <p> + “Her sacred Majesty!” he clanked and roared. “Elizabeth!” as though upon + the field of battle. He felt the star of De Carteret declining and Rozel’s + glory ascending like a comet. Once set in a course, nothing could change + him. Other men might err, but once right, the Seigneur of Rozel was + everlasting. + </p> + <p> + Of late he had made the cause of Michel de la Foret and Angele Aubert his + own. For this he had been raked upon the coals by De Carteret of St. + Ouen’s and his following, who taunted him with the saying: “Save a thief + from hanging and he’ll cut your throat.” Not that there was ill feeling + against De la Foret in person. He had won most hearts by a frank yet still + manner, and his story and love for Angele had touched the women folk where + their hearts were softest. But the island was not true to itself or its + history if it did not divide itself into factions, headed by the + Seigneurs, and there had been no ground for good division for five years + till De la Foret came. + </p> + <p> + Short of actual battle, this new strife was the keenest ever known, for + Sir Hugh Pawlett was ranged on the side of the Seigneur of Rozel. Kinsman + of the Comtesse de Montgomery, of Queen Elizabeth’s own Protestant + religion, and admiring De la Foret, he had given every countenance to the + Camisard refugee. He had even besought the Royal Court of Jersey to grant + a pardon to Buonespoir the pirate, on condition that he should never + commit a depredation upon an inhabitant of the island—this he was to + swear to by the little finger of St. Peter. Should he break his word, he + was to be banished the island for ten years, under penalty of death if he + returned. When the hour had come for Buonespoir to take the oath, he + failed to appear; and the next morning the Seigneur of St. Ouen’s + discovered that during the night his cellar had been raided of two kegs of + canary, many flagons of muscadella, pots of anchovies and boxes of candied + “eringo,” kept solely for the visit which the Queen had promised the + island. There was no doubt of the misdemeanant, for Buonespoir returned to + De Carteret from St. Brieuc the gabardine of one of his retainers, in + which he had carried off the stolen delicacies. + </p> + <p> + This aggravated the feud between the partisans of St. Ouen’s and Rozel, + for Lempriere of Rozel had laughed loudly when he heard of the robbery, + and said “‘Tis like St. Ouen’s to hoard for a Queen and glut a pirate. We + feed as we get at Rozel, and will feed the Court well too when it comes, + or I’m no butler to Elizabeth.” + </p> + <p> + But trouble was at hand for Michel and for his protector. The spies of + Catherine de Medici, mother of the King of France, were everywhere. These + had sent word that De la Foret was now attached to the meagre suite of the + widow of the great Camisard Montgomery, near the Castle of Mont Orgueil. + The Medici, having treacherously slain the chief, became mad with desire + to slay the lieutenant. She was set to have the man, either through + diplomacy with England, or to end him by assassination through her spies. + Having determined upon his death, with relentless soul she pursued the + cause as closely as though this exiled soldier were a powerful enemy at + the head of an army in France. + </p> + <p> + Thus it was that she wrote to Queen Elizabeth, asking that “this arrant + foe of France, this churl, conspirator, and reviler of the Sacraments, be + rendered unto our hands for well-deserved punishment as warning to all + such evil-doers.” She told Elizabeth of De la Foret’s arrival in Jersey, + disguised as a priest of the Church of France, and set forth his doings + since landing with the Seigneur of Rozel. Further she went on to say to + “our sister of England” that “these dark figures of murder and revolt be a + peril to the soft peace of this good realm.” + </p> + <p> + To this, Elizabeth, who had no knowledge of Michel, who desired peace with + France at this time, who had favours to ask of Catherine, and who in her + own realm had fresh reason to fear conspiracy through the Queen of the + Scots and others, replied forthwith that “If this De la Foret falleth into + our hands, and if it were found he had in truth conspired against France + its throne, had he a million lives, not one should remain.” Having + despatched this letter, she straightway sent a messenger to Sir Hugh + Pawlett in Jersey, making quest of De la Foret, and commanding that he + should be sent to her in England at once. + </p> + <p> + When the Queen’s messenger arrived at Orgueil Castle, Lempriere chanced to + be with Sir Hugh Pawlett, and the contents of Elizabeth’s letter were made + known to him. + </p> + <p> + At the moment Monsieur of Rozel was munching macaroons and washing them + down with canary. The Governor’s announcement was such a shock that he + choked and coughed, the crumbs flying in all directions; and another pint + of canary must be taken to flush his throat. Thus cleared for action, he + struck out. + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis St. Ouen’s work,” he growled. + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis the work of the Medici,” said Sir Hugh. “Read,” he added, holding + out the paper. + </p> + <p> + Now Lempriere of Rozel had a poor eye for reading. He had wit enough to + wind about the difficulty. + </p> + <p> + “If I see not the Queen’s commands, I’ve no warrant but Sir Hugh Pawlett’s + words, and I’ll to London and ask ‘fore her Majesty’s face if she wrote + them, and why. I’ll tell my tale and speak my mind, I pledge you, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “You’ll offend her Majesty. Her commands are here.” Pawlett tapped the + letter with his finger. + </p> + <p> + “I’m butler to the Queen, and she will list to me. I’ll not smirk and + caper like St. Ouen’s; I’ll bear me like a man not speaking for himself. + I’ll speak as Harry her father spoke—straight to the purpose.... No, + no, no, I’m not to be wheedled, even by a Pawlett, and you shall not ask + me. If you want Michel de la Foret, come and take him. He is in my house. + But ye must take him, for come he shall not!” + </p> + <p> + “You will not oppose the Queen’s officers?” + </p> + <p> + “De la Foret is under my roof. He must be taken. I will give him up to no + one; and I’ll tell my sovereign these things when I see her in her + palace.” + </p> + <p> + “I misdoubt you’ll play the bear,” said Pawlett, with a dry smile. + </p> + <p> + “The Queen’s tongue is none so tame. I’ll travel by my star, get sweet or + sour.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, well, ‘give a man luck, and throw him into the sea,’ is the old + proverb. I’m coming for your friend to-night.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ll be waiting with my fingers on the door, sir,” said Rozel, with a + grim vanity and an outrageous pride in himself. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V + </h2> + <p> + The Seigneur of Rozel found De la Foret at the house of M. Aubert. His + face was flushed with hard riding, and perhaps the loving attitude of + Michel and Angele deepened it, for at the garden gate the lovers were + saying adieu. + </p> + <p> + “You have come for Monsieur de la Foret?” asked Angele anxiously. Her + quick look at the Seigneur’s face had told her there were things amiss. + </p> + <p> + “There’s commands from the Queen. They’re for the ears of De la Foret,” + said the Seigneur. + </p> + <p> + “I will hear them too,” said Angele, her colour going, her bearing + determined. + </p> + <p> + The Seigneur looked down at her with boyish appreciation, then said to De + la Foret: “Two Queens make claim for you. The wolfish Catherine writes to + England for her lost Camisard, with much fool’s talk about ‘dark figures,’ + and ‘conspirators,’ ‘churls,’ and foes of ‘soft peace’; and England takes + the bait and sends to Sir Hugh Pawlett yonder. And, in brief, Monsieur, + the Governor is to have you under arrest and send you to England. God + knows why two Queens make such a pother over a fellow with naught but a + sword and a lass to love him—though, come to think, ‘a man’s a man + if he have but a hose on his head,’ as the proverb runs.” + </p> + <p> + De la Foret smiled, then looked grave, as he caught sight of Angele’s + face. “‘Tis arrest, then?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis come willy nilly,” answered the Seigneur. “And once they’ve forced + you from my doors, I’m for England to speak my mind to the Queen. I can + make interest for her presence—I hold court office,” he added with + puffing confidence. + </p> + <p> + Angele looked up at him with quick tears, yet with a smile on her lips. + </p> + <p> + “You are going to England for Michel’s sake?” she said in a low voice. + </p> + <p> + “For Michel, or for you, or for mine honour, what matter, so that I go!” + he answered, then added: “there must be haste to Rozel, friend, lest the + Governor take Lempriere’s guest like a potato-digger in the fields.” + </p> + <p> + Putting spurs to his horse, he cantered heavily away, not forgetting to + wave a pompous farewell to Angele. De la Foret was smiling as he turned to + Angele. She looked wonderingly at him, for she had felt that she must + comfort him, and she looked not for this sudden change in his manner. + </p> + <p> + “Is prison-going so blithe, then?” she asked, with a little uneasy laugh + which was half a sob. + </p> + <p> + “It will bring things to a head,” he answered. “After danger and busy + days, to be merely safe, it is scarce the life for Michel de la Foret. I + have my duty to the Comtesse; I have my love for you; but I seem of little + use by contrast with my past. And yet, and yet,” he added, half sadly, + “how futile has been all our fighting, so far as human eye can see.” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing is futile that is right, Michel,” the girl replied. “Thou hast + done as thy soul answered to God’s messages: thou hast fought when thou + couldst, and thou hast sheathed thy blade when there was naught else to + do. Are not both right?” + </p> + <p> + He clasped her to his breast; then, holding her from him a little, looked + into her eyes steadily a moment. “God hath given thee a true heart, and + the true heart hath wisdom,” he answered. + </p> + <p> + “You will not seek escape? Nor resist the Governor?” she asked eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “Whither should I go? My place is here by you, by the Comtesse de + Montgomery. One day it may be I shall return to France, and to our cause—” + </p> + <p> + “If it be God’s will.” + </p> + <p> + “If it be God’s will.” + </p> + <p> + “Whatever comes, you will love me, Michel?” + </p> + <p> + “I will love you, whatever comes.” + </p> + <p> + “Listen.” She drew his head down. “I am no dragweight to thy life? Thou + wouldst not do otherwise if there were no foolish Angele?” + </p> + <p> + He did not hesitate. “What is best is. I might do otherwise if there were + no Angele in my life to pilot my heart, but that were worse for me.” + </p> + <p> + “Thou art the best lover in all the world.” + </p> + <p> + “I hope to make a better husband. To-morrow is carmine-lettered in my + calendar, if thou sayst thou wilt still have me under the sword of the + Medici.” + </p> + <p> + Her hand pressed her heart suddenly. “Under the sword, if it be God’s + will,” she answered. Then, with a faint smile: “But no, I will not believe + the Queen of England will send thee, one of her own Protestant faith, to + the Medici.” + </p> + <p> + “And thou wilt marry me?” + </p> + <p> + “When the Queen of England approves thee,” she answered, and buried her + face in the hollow of his arm. + </p> + <p> + An hour later Sir Hugh Pawlett came to the manor-house of Rozel with + two-score men-at-arms. The Seigneur himself answered the Governor’s + knocking, and showed himself in the doorway, with a dozen halberdiers + behind him. + </p> + <p> + “I have come seeking Michel de la Foret,” said the Governor. + </p> + <p> + “He is my guest.” + </p> + <p> + “I have the Queen’s command to take him.” + </p> + <p> + “He is my cherished guest.” + </p> + <p> + “Must I force my way?” + </p> + <p> + “Is it the Queen’s will that blood be shed?” + </p> + <p> + “The Queen’s commands must be obeyed.” + </p> + <p> + “The Queen is a miracle of the world, God save her! What is the charge + against him?” + </p> + <p> + “Summon Michel de la Foret, ‘gainst whom it lies.” + </p> + <p> + “He is my guest; ye shall have him only by force.” The Governor turned to + his men. “Force the passage and search the house,” he commanded. + </p> + <p> + The company advanced with levelled pikes, but at a motion from the + Seigneur his men fell back before them, and, making a lane, disclosed + Michel de la Foret at the end of it. Michel had not approved of + Lempriere’s mummery of defence, but he understood from what good spirit it + sprung, and how it flattered the Seigneur’s vanity to make show of + resistance. + </p> + <p> + The Governor greeted De la Foret with a sour smile, read to him the + Queen’s writ, and politely begged his company towards Mont Orgueil Castle. + </p> + <p> + “I’ll fetch other commands from her Majesty, or write me down a pedlar of + St. Ouen’s follies,” the Seigneur said from his doorway, as the Governor + and De la Foret bade him good-bye and took the road to the Castle. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI + </h2> + <p> + Michel de la Foret was gone, a prisoner. From the dusk of the trees by the + little chapel of Rozel, Angele had watched his exit in charge of the + Governor’s men. She had not sought to show her presence: she had seen him—that + was comfort to her heart; and she would not mar the memory of that last + night’s farewell by another before these strangers. She saw with what + quiet Michel bore his arrest, and she said to herself, as the last + halberdier vanished: + </p> + <p> + “If the Queen do but speak with him, if she but look upon his face and + hear his voice, she must needs deal kindly by him. My Michel—ah, it + is a face for all men to trust and all women—” + </p> + <p> + But she sighed and averted her head as though before prying eyes. + </p> + <p> + The bell of Rozel Chapel broke gently on the evening air; the sound, + softened by the leaves and mellowed by the wood of the great elm-trees, + billowed away till it was lost in faint reverberation in the sea beneath + the cliffs of the Couperon, where a little craft was coming to anchor in + the dead water. + </p> + <p> + At first the sound of the bell soothed her, softening the thought of the + danger to Michel. She moved with it towards the sea, the tones of her + grief chiming with it. Presently, as she went, a priest in cassock and + robes and stole crossed the path in front of her, an acolyte before him + swinging a censer, his voice chanting Latin verses from the service for + the sick, in his hands the sacred elements of the sacrament for the dying. + The priest was fat and heavy, his voice was lazy, his eyes expressionless, + and his robes were dirty. The plaintive, peaceful sense which the sound of + the vesper bell had thrown over Angele’s sad reflections passed away, and + the thought smote her that, were it not for such as this black-toothed + priest, Michel would not now be on his way to England, a prisoner. To her + this vesper bell was the symbol of tyranny and hate. It was fighting, it + was martyrdom, it was exile, it was the Medici. All that she had borne, + all that her father had borne, the thought of the home lost, the mother + dead before her time, the name ruined, the heritage dispossessed, the red + war of the Camisards, the rivulets of blood in the streets of Paris and of + her loved Rouen, smote upon her mind, and drove her to her knees in the + forest glade, her hands upon her ears to shut out the sound of the bell. + It came upon her that the bell had said “Peace! Peace!” to her mind when + there should be no peace; that it had said “Be patient!” when she should + be up and doing; that it had whispered “Stay!” when she should tread the + path her lover trod, her feet following in his footsteps as his feet had + trod in hers. + </p> + <p> + She pressed her hands tight upon her ears and prayed with a passion and a + fervour she had never known before. A revelation seemed to come upon her, + and, for the first time, she was a Huguenot to the core. Hitherto she had + suffered for her religion because it was her mother’s broken life, her + father’s faith, and because they had suffered, and her lover had suffered. + Her mind had been convinced, her loyalty had been unwavering, her words + for the great cause had measured well with her deeds. But new senses were + suddenly born in her, new eyes were given to her mind, new powers for + endurance to her soul. She saw now as the martyrs of Meaux had seen; a + passionate faith descended on her as it had descended on them; no longer + only patient, she was fain for action. Tears rained from her eyes. Her + heart burst itself in entreaty and confession. + </p> + <p> + “Thy light shall be my light, and Thy will my will, O Lord,” she cried at + the last. “Teach me Thy way, create a right spirit within me. Give me + boldness without rashness, and hope without vain thinking. Bear up my + arms, O Lord, and save me when falling. A poor Samaritan am I. Give me the + water that shall be a well of water springing up to everlasting life, that + I thirst not in the fever of doing. Give me the manna of life to eat that + I faint not nor cry out in plague, pestilence, or famine. Give me Thy + grace, O God, as Thou hast given it to Michel de la Foret, and guide my + feet as I follow him in life and in death, for Christ’s sake. Amen.” + </p> + <p> + As she rose from her knees she heard the evening gun from the castle of + Mont Orgueil, whither Michel was being borne by the Queen’s men. The + vesper bell had stopped. Through the wood came the salt savour of the sea + on the cool sunset air. She threw back her head and walked swiftly towards + it, her heart beating hard, her eyes shining with the light of purpose, + her step elastic with the vigour of youth and health. A quarter-hour’s + walking brought her to the cliff of the Couperon. + </p> + <p> + As she gazed out over the sea, however, a voice in the bay below caught + her ear. She looked down. On the deck of the little craft which had + entered the harbour when the vesper bell was ringing stood a man who waved + a hand up towards her, then gave a peculiar call. She stared with + amazement: it was Buonespoir the pirate. What did this mean? Had God sent + this man to her, by his presence to suggest what she should do in this + crisis in her life? For even as she ran down the shore towards him, it + came to her mind that Buonespoir should take her in his craft to England. + </p> + <p> + What to do in England? Who could tell? She only knew that a voice called + her to England, to follow the footsteps of Michel de la Foret, who even + this night would be setting forth in the Governor’s brigantine for London. + </p> + <p> + Buonespoir met her upon the shore, grinning like a boy. + </p> + <p> + “God save you, lady!” he said. + </p> + <p> + “What brings you hither, friend?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + If he had said that a voice had called him hither as one called her to + England, it had not sounded strange; for she was not thinking that this + was one who superstitiously swore by the little finger of St. Peter, but + only that he was the man who had brought her Michel from France, who had + been a faithful friend to her and to her father. + </p> + <p> + “What brings me hither?” Buonespoir laughed low in his chest. “Even to + fetch to the Seigneur of Rozel, a friend of mine by every token of + remembrance, a dozen flagons of golden muscadella.” + </p> + <p> + To Angele no suggestion flashed that these flagons of muscadella had come + from the cellar of the Seigneur of St. Ouen’s, where they had been + reserved for a certain royal visit. Nothing was in her mind save the one + thought-that she must follow Michel. + </p> + <p> + “Will you take me to England?” she asked, putting a hand quickly on his + arm. + </p> + <p> + He had been laughing hard, picturing to himself what Lempriere of Rozel + would say when he sniffed the flagon of St. Ouen’s best wine, and for an + instant he did not take in the question; but he stared at her now as the + laugh slowly subsided through notes of abstraction and her words worked + their way into his brain. + </p> + <p> + “Will you take me, Buonespoir?” she urged. “Take you—?” he + questioned. + </p> + <p> + “To England.” + </p> + <p> + “And myself to Tyburn?” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, to the Queen.” + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis the same thing. Head of Abel! Elizabeth hath heard of me. The + Seigneur of St. Ouen’s and others have writ me down a pirate to her. She + would not pardon the muscadella,” he added, with another laugh, looking + down where the flagons lay. + </p> + <p> + “She must pardon more than that,” exclaimed Angele, and hastily she told + him of what had happened to Michel de la Foret, and why she would go. + </p> + <p> + “Thy father, then?” he asked, scowling hard in his attempt to think it + out. + </p> + <p> + “He must go with me—I will seek him now.” + </p> + <p> + “It must be at once, i’ faith, for how long, think you, can I stay here + unharmed? I was sighted off St. Ouen’s shore a few hours agone.” + </p> + <p> + “To-night?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “By twelve, when we shall have the moon and the tide,” he answered. “But + hold!” he hastily added. “What, think you, could you and your father do + alone in England? And with me it were worse than alone. These be dark + times, when strangers have spies at their heels, and all travellers are + suspect.” + </p> + <p> + “We will trust in God,” she answered. + </p> + <p> + “Have you money?” he questioned—“for London, not for me,” he added + hastily. + </p> + <p> + “Enough,” she replied. + </p> + <p> + “The trust with the money is a weighty matter,” he added; “but they + suffice not. You must have ‘fending.” + </p> + <p> + “There is no one,” she answered sadly, “no one save—” + </p> + <p> + “Save the Seigneur of Rozel!” Buonespoir finished the sentence. “Good. You + to your father, and I to the Seigneur. If you can fetch your father by + your pot-of-honey tongue, I’ll fetch the great Lempriere with muscadella. + Is’t a bargain?” + </p> + <p> + “In which I gain all,” she answered, and again touched his arm with her + finger-tips. + </p> + <p> + “You shall be aboard here at ten, and I will join you on the stroke of + twelve,” he said, and gave a low whistle. + </p> + <p> + At the signal three men sprang up like magic out of the bowels of the boat + beneath them, and scurried over the side; three as ripe knaves as ever + cheated stocks and gallows, but simple knaves, unlike their master. Two of + them had served with Francis Drake in that good ship of his lying even now + not far from Elizabeth’s palace at Greenwich. The third was a rogue who + had been banished from Jersey for a habitual drunkenness which only + attacked him on land—at sea he was sacredly sober. His name was Jean + Nicolle. The names of the other two were Herve Robin and Rouge le Riche, + but their master called them by other names. + </p> + <p> + “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,” said Buonespoir in ceremony, and waved + a hand of homage between them and Angele. “Kiss dirt, and know where duty + lies. The lady’s word on my ship is law till we anchor at the Queen’s + Stairs at Greenwich. So, Heaven help you, Shadrach, Meshach, and + Abednego!” said Buonespoir. + </p> + <p> + A wave of humour passed over Angele’s grave face, for a stranger quartet + never sailed high seas together: one blind of an eye, one game of a leg, + one bald as a bottle and bereft of two front teeth; but Buonespoir was + sound of wind and limb, his small face with the big eyes lost in the + masses of his red hair, and a body like Hercules. It flashed through + Angele’s mind even as she answered the gurgling salutations of the + triumvirate that they had been got together for no gentle summer sailing + in the Channel. Her conscience smote her that she should use such churls; + but she gave it comfort by the thought that while serving her they could + do naught worse; and her cause was good. Yet they presented so bizarre an + aspect, their ugliness was so varied and particular, that she almost + laughed. Buonespoir understood her thoughts, for with a look of mocking + innocence in his great blue eyes he waved a hand again towards the + graceless trio, and said, “For deep-sea fishing.” Then he solemnly winked + at the three. + </p> + <p> + A moment later Angele was speeding along the shore towards her home on the + farther hillside up the little glen; and within an hour Buonespoir rolled + from the dusk of the trees by the manor-house of Rozel and knocked at the + door. He carried on his head, as a fishwife carries a tray of ormers, a + basket full of flagons of muscadella; and he did not lower the basket when + he was shown into the room where the Seigneur of Rozel was sitting before + a trencher of spiced veal and a great pot of ale. Lempriere roared a + hearty greeting to the pirate, for he was in a sour humour because of the + taking off of Michel de la Foret; and of all men this pirate-fellow, who + had quips and cranks, and had played tricks on his cousin of St. Ouen’s, + was most welcome. + </p> + <p> + “What’s that on your teacup of a head?” he roared again as Buonespoir + grinned pleasure at the greeting. “Muscadella,” said Buonespoir, and + lowered the basket to the table. + </p> + <p> + Lempriere seized a flagon, drew it forth, looked closely at it, then burst + into laughter, and spluttered: “St. Ouen’s muscadella, by the hand of + Rufus!” + </p> + <p> + Seizing Buonespoir by the shoulders, he forced him down upon a bench at + the table, and pushed the trencher of spiced meat against his chest. “Eat, + my noble lord of the sea and master of the cellar,” he gurgled out, and, + tipping the flagon of muscadella, took a long draught. “God-a-mercy—but + it has saved my life,” he gasped in satisfaction as he lay back in his + great chair, and put his feet on the bench whereon Buonespoir sat. + </p> + <p> + They raised their flagons and toasted each other, and Lempriere burst + forth into song, in the refrain of which Buonespoir joined boisterously: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “King Rufus he did hunt the deer, + With a hey ho, come and kiss me, Dolly! + It was the spring-time of the year, + Hey ho, Dolly shut her eyes! + King Rufus was a bully boy, + He hunted all the day for joy, + Sweet Dolly she was ever coy: + And who would e’er be wise + That looked in Dolly’s eyes? + + “King Rufus he did have his day, + With a hey ho, come and kiss me, Dolly! + So get ye forth where dun deer play— + Hey ho, Dolly comes again! + The greenwood is the place for me, + For that is where the dun deer be, + ‘Tis where my Dolly comes to me: + And who would stay at home, + That might with Dolly roam? + Sing hey ho, come and kiss me, Dolly!” + </pre> + <p> + Lempriere, perspiring with the exertion, mopped his forehead, then lapsed + into a plaintive mood. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve had naught but trouble of late,” he wheezed. “Trouble, trouble, + trouble, like gnats on a filly’s flank!” and in spluttering words, twice + bracketed in muscadella, he told of Michel de la Foret’s arrest, and of + his purpose to go to England if he could get a boat to take him. + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis that same business brings me here,” said Buonespoir, and forthwith + told of his meeting with Angele and what was then agreed upon. + </p> + <p> + “You to go to England!” cried Lempriere amazed. “They want you for Tyburn + there.” + </p> + <p> + “They want me for the gallows here,” said Buonespoir. Rolling a piece of + spiced meat in his hand, he stuffed it into his mouth and chewed till the + grease came out of his eyes, and took eagerly from a servant a flagon of + malmsey and a dish of ormers. + </p> + <p> + “Hush, chew thy tongue a minute!” said the Seigneur, suddenly starting and + laying a finger beside his nose. “Hush!” he said again, and looked into + the flicker of the candle by him with half-shut eyes. + </p> + <p> + “May I have no rushes for a bed, and die like a rat in a moat, if I don’t + get thy pardon too of the Queen, and bring thee back to Jersey, a thorn in + the side of De Carteret for ever! He’ll look upon thee assoilzied by the + Queen, spitting fire in his rage, and no canary or muscadella in his + cellar.” + </p> + <p> + It came not to the mind of either that this expedition would be made at + cost to themselves. They had not heard of Don Quixote, and their gifts + were not imitative. They were of a day when men held their lives as + lightly as many men hold their honour now; when championship was as the + breath of life to men’s nostrils, and to adventure for what was worth + having or doing in life the only road of reputation. + </p> + <p> + Buonespoir was as much a champion in his way as Lempriere of Rozel. They + were of like kidney, though so far apart in rank. Had Lempriere been born + as low and as poor as Buonespoir, he would have been a pirate too, no + doubt; and had Buonespoir been born as high as the Seigneur, he would have + carried himself with the same rough sense of honour, with as ripe a + vanity; have been as naive, as sincere, as true to the real heart of man + untaught in the dissimulation of modesty or reserve. When they shook hands + across the trencher of spiced veal, it was as man shakes hand with man, + not man with master. + </p> + <p> + They were about to start upon their journey when there came a knocking at + the door. On its being opened the bald and toothless Abednego stumbled in + with the word that immediately after Angele and her father came aboard the + Honeyflower some fifty halberdiers suddenly appeared upon the Couperon. + They had at once set sail, and got away even before the sailors had + reached the shore. As they had rounded the point, where they were hid from + view, Abednego dropped overboard and swam ashore on the rising tide, + making his way to the manor to warn Buonespoir. On his way hither, + stealing through the trees, he had passed a half-score of halberdiers + making for the manor, and he had seen others going towards the shore. + </p> + <p> + Buonespoir looked to the priming of his pistols, and buckling his belt + tightly about him, turned to the Seigneur and said: “I will take my + chances with Abednego. Where does she lie—the Honeyflower, + Abednego?” + </p> + <p> + “Off the point called Verclut,” answered the little man, who had travelled + with Francis Drake. + </p> + <p> + “Good; we will make a run for it, flying dot-and-carry-one as we go.” + </p> + <p> + While they had been speaking the Seigneur had been thinking; and now, even + as several figures appeared at a little distance in the trees, making + towards the manor, he said, with a loud laugh: + </p> + <p> + “No. ‘Tis the way of a fool to put his head between the door and the jamb. + ‘Tis but a hundred yards to safety. Follow me—to the sea—Abednego + last. This way, bullies!” + </p> + <p> + Without a word all three left the house and walked on in the order + indicated, as De Carteret’s halberdiers ran forward threatening. + </p> + <p> + “Stand!” shouted the sergeant of the halberdiers. “Stand, or we fire!” + </p> + <p> + But the three walked straight on unheeding. When the sergeant of the + men-at-arms recognised the Seigneur, he ordered down the blunderbusses. + </p> + <p> + “We come for Buonespoir the pirate,” said the sergeant. + </p> + <p> + “Whose warrant?” said the Seigneur, fronting the halberdiers, Buonespoir + and Abednego behind him. “The Seigneur of St. Ouen’s,” was the reply. + </p> + <p> + “My compliments to the Seigneur of St. Ouen’s, and tell him that + Buonespoir is my guest,” he bellowed, and strode on, the halberdiers + following. Suddenly the Seigneur swerved towards the chapel and quickened + his footsteps, the others but a step behind. The sergeant of the + halberdiers was in a quandary. He longed to shoot, but dared not, and + while he was making up his mind what to do, the Seigneur had reached the + chapel door. Opening it, he quickly pushed Buonespoir and Abednego inside, + whispering to them, then slammed the door and put his back against it. + </p> + <p> + There was another moment’s hesitation on the sergeant’s part, then a door + at the other end of the chapel was heard to open and shut, and the + Seigneur laughed loudly. The halberdiers ran round the chapel. There stood + Buonespoir and Abednego in a narrow roadway, motionless and unconcerned. + The halberdiers rushed forward. + </p> + <p> + “Perquage! Perquage! Perquage!” shouted Buonespoir, and the bright + moonlight showed him grinning. For an instant there was deadly stillness, + in which the approaching footsteps of the Seigneur sounded loud. + </p> + <p> + “Perquage!” Buonespoir repeated. + </p> + <p> + “Perquage! Fall back!” said the Seigneur, and waved off the pikes of the + halberdiers. “He has sanctuary to the sea.” + </p> + <p> + This narrow road in which the pirates stood was the last of three in the + Isle of Jersey running from churches to the sea, in which a criminal was + safe from arrest by virtue of an old statute. The other perquages had been + taken away; but this one of Rozel remained, a concession made by Henry + VIII to the father of this Raoul Lempriere. The privilege had been used + but once in the present Seigneur’s day, because the criminal must be put + upon the road from the chapel by the Seigneur himself, and he had used his + privilege modestly. + </p> + <p> + No man in Jersey but knew the sacredness of this perquage, though it was + ten years since it had been used; and no man, not even the Governor + himself, dare lift his hand to one upon that road. + </p> + <p> + So it was that Buonespoir and Abednego, two fugitives from justice, walked + quietly to the sea down the perquage, halberdiers, balked of their prey, + prowling on their steps and cursing the Seigneur of Rozel for his gift of + sanctuary: for the Seigneur of St. Ouen’s and the Royal Court had promised + each halberdier three shillings and all the ale he could drink at a + sitting, if Buonespoir was brought in alive or dead. + </p> + <p> + In peace and safety the three boarded the Honeyflower off the point called + Verclut, and set sail for England, just seven hours after Michel de la + Foret had gone his way upon the Channel, a prisoner. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII + </h2> + <p> + A fortnight later, of a Sunday morning, the Lord Chamberlain of England + was disturbed out of his usual equanimity. As he was treading the rushes + in the presence-chamber of the Royal Palace at Greenwich, his eye busy in + inspection—for the Queen would soon pass on her way to chapel—his + head nodding right and left to archbishop, bishop, councillors of state, + courtiers, and officers of the crown, he heard a rude noise at the door + leading into the ante-chapel, where the Queen received petitions from the + people. Hurrying thither in shocked anxiety, he found a curled gentleman + of the guard, resplendent in red velvet and gold chains, in peevish + argument with a boisterous Seigneur of a bronzed good-humoured face, who + urged his entrance to the presence-chamber. + </p> + <p> + The Lord Chamberlain swept down upon the pair like a flamingo with wings + outspread. “God’s death, what means this turmoil? Her Majesty comes + hither!” he cried, and scowled upon the intruder, who now stepped back a + little, treading on the toes of a huge sailor with a small head and bushy + red hair and beard. + </p> + <p> + “Because her Majesty comes I come also,” the Seigneur interposed grandly. + </p> + <p> + “What is your name and quality?” + </p> + <p> + “Yours first, and I shall know how to answer.” + </p> + <p> + “I am the Lord Chamberlain of England.” + </p> + <p> + “And I, my lord, am Lempriere, Seigneur of Rozel—and butler to the + Queen.” + </p> + <p> + “Where is Rozel?” asked my Lord Chamberlain. + </p> + <p> + The face of the Seigneur suddenly flushed, his mouth swelled, and then + burst. + </p> + <p> + “Where is Rozel!” he cried in a voice of rage. “Where is Rozel! Have you + heard of Hugh Pawlett,” he asked, with a huge contempt—“of Governor + Hugh Pawlett?” The Lord Chamberlain nodded. “Then ask his Excellency when + next you see him, Where is Rozel? But take good counsel and keep your + ignorance from the Queen,” he added. “She has no love for stupids.” + </p> + <p> + “You say you are butler to the Queen? Whence came your commission?” said + the Lord Chamberlain, smiling now; for Lempriere’s words and ways were of + some simple world where odd folk lived, and his boyish vanity disarmed + anger. + </p> + <p> + “By royal warrant and heritage. And of all of the Jersey Isle, I only may + have dove-totes, which is the everlasting thorn in the side of De Carteret + of St. Ouen’s. Now will you let me in, my lord?” he said, all in a breath. + </p> + <p> + At a stir behind him the Lord Chamberlain turned, and with a horrified + exclamation hurried away, for the procession from the Queen’s apartments + had already entered the presence-chamber: gentlemen, barons, earls, + knights of the garter, in brave attire, with bare heads and sumptuous + calves. The Lord Chamberlain had scarce got to his place when the + Chancellor, bearing the seals in a red silk purse, entered, flanked by two + gorgeous folk with the royal sceptre and the sword of state in a red + scabbard, all flourished with fleur-de-lis. Moving in and out among them + all was the Queen’s fool, who jested and shook his bells under the noses + of the highest. + </p> + <p> + It was an event of which the Seigneur of Rozel told to his dying day: that + he entered the presence-chamber of the Royal Palace of Greenwich at the + same instant as the Queen—“Rozel at one end, Elizabeth at the other, + and all the world at gaze,” he was wont to say with loud guffaws. But what + he spoke of afterwards with preposterous ease and pride was neither pride + nor ease at the moment; for the Queen’s eyes fell on him as he shoved past + the gentlemen who kept the door. For an instant she stood still, regarding + him intently, then turned quickly to the Lord Chamberlain in inquiry, and + with sharp reproof too in her look. The Lord Chamberlain fell on his knee + and with low uncertain voice explained the incident. + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth again cast her eyes towards Lempriere, and the Court, following + her example, scrutinised the Seigneur in varied styles of insolence or + curiosity. Lempriere drew himself up with a slashing attempt at composure, + but ended by flaming from head to foot, his face shining like a cock’s + comb, the perspiration standing out like beads upon his forehead, his eyes + gone blind with confusion. That was but for a moment, however, and then, + Elizabeth’s look being slowly withdrawn from him, a curious smile came to + her lips, and she said to the Lord Chamberlain: “Let the gentleman + remain.” + </p> + <p> + The Queen’s fool tripped forward and tapped the Lord Chamberlain on the + shoulder. “Let the gentleman remain, gossip, and see you that remaining he + goeth not like a fly with his feet in the porridge.” With a flippant step + before the Seigneur, he shook his bells at him. “Thou shalt stay, Nuncio, + and staying speak the truth. So doing you shall be as noted as a comet + with three tails. You shall prove that man was made in God’s image. So + lift thy head and sneeze—sneezing is the fashion here; but see that + thou sneeze not thy head off as they do in Tartary. ‘Tis worth + remembrance.” + </p> + <p> + Rozel’s self-importance and pride had returned. The blood came back to his + heart, and he threw out his chest grandly; he even turned to Buonespoir, + whose great figure might be seen beyond the door, and winked at him. For a + moment he had time to note the doings of the Queen and her courtiers with + wide-eyed curiosity. He saw the Earl of Leicester, exquisite, haughty, + gallant, fall upon his knee, and Elizabeth slowly pull off her glove and + with a none too gracious look give him her hand to kiss, the only favour + of the kind granted that day. He saw Cecil, her Minister, introduce a + foreign noble, who presented his letters. He heard the Queen speak in a + half-dozen different languages, to people of various lands, and he was + smitten with amazement. + </p> + <p> + But as Elizabeth came slowly down the hall, her white silk gown fronted + with great pearls flashing back the light, a marchioness bearing the + train, the crown on her head glittering as she turned from right to left, + her wonderful collar of jewels sparkling on her uncovered bosom, suddenly + the mantle of black, silver-shotted silk upon her shoulders became to + Lempriere’s heated senses a judge’s robe, and Elizabeth the august judge + of the world. His eyes blinded again, for it was as if she was bearing + down upon him. Certainly she was looking at him now, scarce heeding the + courtiers who fell to their knees on either side as she came on. The red + doublets of the fifty Gentlemen Pensioners—all men of noble families + proud to do this humble yet distinguished service—with battle-axes, + on either side of her, seemed to Lempriere on the instant like an army + with banners threatening him. From the ante-chapel behind him came the cry + of the faithful subjects who, as the gentleman-at-arms fell back from the + doorway, had but just caught a glimpse of her Majesty—“Long live + Elizabeth!” + </p> + <p> + It seemed to Lempriere that the Gentlemen Pensioners must beat him down as + they passed, yet he stood riveted to the spot; and indeed it was true that + he was almost in the path of her Majesty. He was aware that two gentlemen + touched him on the shoulder and bade him retire; but the Queen motioned to + them to desist. So, with the eyes of the whole court on him again, and + Elizabeth’s calm curious gaze fixed, as it were, on his forehead, he stood + still till the flaming Gentlemen Pensioners were within a few feet of him, + and the battle-axes were almost over his head. + </p> + <p> + The great braggart was no better now than a wisp of grass in the wind, and + it was more than homage that bent him to his knees as the Queen looked him + full in the eyes. There was a moment’s absolute silence, and then she + said, with cold condescension: + </p> + <p> + “By what privilege do you seek our presence?” + </p> + <p> + “I am Raoul Lempriere, Seigneur of Rozel, your high Majesty,” said the + choking voice of the Jerseyman. The Queen raised her eyebrows. “The man + seems French. You come from France?” + </p> + <p> + Lempriere flushed to his hair—the Queen did not know him, then! + “From Jersey Isle, your sacred Majesty.” + </p> + <p> + “Jersey Isle is dear to us. And what is your warrant here?” + </p> + <p> + “I am butler to your Majesty, by your gracious Majesty’s patent, and I + alone may have dove-cotes in the isle; and I only may have the perquage-on + your Majesty’s patent. It is not even held by De Carteret of St. Ouen’s.” + </p> + <p> + The Queen smiled as she had not smiled since she entered the + presence-chamber. “God preserve us,” she said—“that I should not + have recognised you! It is, of course, our faithful Lempriere of Rozel.” + </p> + <p> + The blood came back to the Seigneur’s heart, but he did not dare look up + yet, and he did not see that Elizabeth was in rare mirth at his words; and + though she had no ken or memory of him, she read his nature and was + mindful to humour him. Beckoning Leicester to her side, she said a few + words in an undertone, to which he replied with a smile more sour than + sweet. + </p> + <p> + “Rise, Monsieur of Rozel,” she said. + </p> + <p> + The Seigneur stood up, and met her gaze faintly. “And so, proud Seigneur, + you must needs flout e’en our Lord Chamberlain, in the name of our butler + with three dove-cotes and the perquage. In sooth thy office must not be + set at naught lightly—not when it is flanked by the perquage. By my + father’s doublet, but that frieze jerkin is well cut; it suits thy figure + well—I would that my Lord Leicester here had such a tailor. But this + perquage—I doubt not there are those here at Court who are most + ignorant of its force and moment. My Lord Chamberlain, my Lord Leicester, + Cecil here—confusion sits in their faces. The perquage, which my + father’s patent approved, has served us well, I doubt not, is a comfort to + our realm and a dignity befitting the wearer of that frieze jerkin. Speak + to their better understanding, Monsieur of Rozel.” + </p> + <p> + “Speak, Nuncio, and you shall have comforts, and be given in marriage, + multiple or singular, even as I,” said the fool, and touched him on the + breast with his bells. + </p> + <p> + Lempriere had recovered his heart, and now was set full sail in the course + he had charted for himself in Jersey. In large words and larger manner he + explained most innocently the sacred privilege of perquage. “And how often + have you used the right, friend?” asked Elizabeth. + </p> + <p> + “But once in ten years, your noble Majesty.” + </p> + <p> + “When last?” + </p> + <p> + “But yesterday a week, your universal Majesty.” Elizabeth raised her + eyebrows. “Who was the criminal, what the occasion?” + </p> + <p> + “The criminal was one Buonespoir, the occasion our coming hither to wait + upon the Queen of England and our Lady of Normandy, for such is your + well-born Majesty to your loyal Jersiais.” And thereupon he plunged into + an impeachment of De Carteret of St. Ouen’s, and stumbled through a blunt + broken story of the wrongs and the sorrows of Michel and Angele and the + doings of Buonespoir in their behalf. + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth frowned and interrupted him. “I have heard of this Buonespoir, + Monsieur, through others than the Seigneur of St. Ouen’s. He is an + unlikely squire of dames. There’s a hill in my kingdom has long bided his + coming. Where waits the rascal now?” + </p> + <p> + “In the ante-chapel, your Majesty.” + </p> + <p> + “By the rood!” said Elizabeth in sudden amazement. “In my ante-chapel, + forsooth!” + </p> + <p> + She looked beyond the doorway and saw the great red-topped figure of + Buonespoir, his good-natured, fearless fare, his shock of hair, his clear + blue eye—he was not thirty feet away. + </p> + <p> + “He comes to crave pardon for his rank offences, your benignant Majesty,” + said Lempriere. + </p> + <p> + The humour of the thing rushed upon the Queen. Never before were two such + naive folk at court. There was not a hair of duplicity in the heads of the + two, and she judged them well in her mind. + </p> + <p> + “I will see you stand together—you and your henchman,” she said to + Rozel, and moved on to the antechapel, the Court following. Standing still + just inside the doorway, she motioned Buonespoir to come near. The pirate, + unconfused, undismayed, with his wide blue asking eyes, came forward and + dropped upon his knees. Elizabeth motioned Lempriere to stand a little + apart. + </p> + <p> + Thereupon she set a few questions to Buonespoir, whose replies, truthfully + given, showed that he had no real estimate of his crimes, and was + indifferent to what might be their penalties. He had no moral sense on the + one hand, on the other, no fear. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly she turned to Lempriere again. “You came, then, to speak for this + Michel de la Foret, the exile—?” + </p> + <p> + “And for the demoiselle Angele Aubert, who loves him, your Majesty.” + </p> + <p> + “I sent for this gentleman exile a fortnight ago—” She turned + towards Leicester inquiringly. + </p> + <p> + “I have the papers here, your Majesty,” said Leicester, and gave a packet + over. + </p> + <p> + “And where have you De la Foret?” said Elizabeth. “In durance, your + Majesty.” + </p> + <p> + “When came he hither?” + </p> + <p> + “Three days gone,” answered Leicester, a little gloomily, for there was + acerbity in Elizabeth’s voice. Elizabeth seemed about to speak, then + dropped her eyes upon the papers, and glanced hastily at their contents. + </p> + <p> + “You will have this Michel de la Foret brought to my presence as fast as + horse can bring him, my Lord,” she said to Leicester. “This rascal of the + sea—Buonespoir—you will have safe bestowed till I recall his + existence again,” she said to a captain of men-at-arms; “and you, Monsieur + of Rozel, since you are my butler, will get you to my dining-room, and do + your duty—the office is not all perquisites,” she added smoothly. + She was about to move on, when a thought seemed to strike her, and she + added, “This Mademoiselle and her father whom you brought hither-where are + they?” + </p> + <p> + “They are even within the palace grounds, your imperial Majesty,” answered + Lempriere. + </p> + <p> + “You will summon them when I bid you,” she said to the Seigneur; “and you + shall see that they have comforts and housing as befits their station,” + she added to the Lord Chamberlain. + </p> + <p> + So did Elizabeth, out of a whimsical humour, set the highest in the land + to attend upon unknown, unconsidered exiles. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII + </h2> + <p> + Five minutes later, Lempriere of Rozel, as butler to the Queen, saw a + sight of which he told to his dying day. When, after varied troubles + hereafter set down, he went back to Jersey, he made a speech before the + Royal Court, in which he told what chanced while Elizabeth was at chapel. + </p> + <p> + “There stood I, butler to the Queen,” he said, with a large gesture, “but + what knew I of butler’s duties at Greenwich Palace! Her Majesty had given + me an office where all the work was done for me. Odds life, but when I saw + the Gentleman of the Rod and his fellow get down on their knees to lay the + cloth upon the table, as though it was an altar at Jerusalem, I thought it + time to say my prayers. There was naught but kneeling and retiring. Now it + was the salt-cellar, the plate, and the bread; then it was a Duke’s + Daughter—a noble soul as ever lived—with a tasting-knife, as + beautiful as a rose; then another lady enters who glares at me, and gets + to her knees as does the other. Three times up and down, and then one rubs + the plate with bread and salt, as solemn as St. Ouen’s when he says + prayers in the Royal Court. Gentles, that was a day for Jersey. For there + stood I as master of all, the Queen’s butler, and the greatest ladies of + the land doing my will—though it was all Persian mystery to me, save + when the kettle-drums began to beat and the trumpet to blow, and in walk + bareheaded the Yeomen of the Guard, all scarlet, with a golden rose on + their backs, bringing in a course of twenty-four gold dishes; and I, as + Queen’s butler, receiving them. + </p> + <p> + “Then it was I opened my mouth amazed at the endless dishes filled with + niceties of earth, and the Duke’s Daughter pops onto my tongue a mouthful + of the first dish brought, and then does the same to every Yeoman of the + Guard that carried a dish—that her notorious Majesty be safe against + the hand of poisoners. There was I, fed by a Duke’s Daughter; and thus was + Jersey honoured; and the Duke’s Daughter whispers to me, as a dozen other + unmarried ladies enter, ‘The Queen liked not the cut of your frieze jerkin + better than do I, Seigneur.’ With that she joins the others, and they all + kneel down and rise up again, and lifting the meat from the table, bear it + into the Queen’s private chamber. + </p> + <p> + “When they return, and the Yeomen of the Guard go forth, I am left alone + with these ladies, and there stand with twelve pair of eyes upon me, + little knowing what to do. There was laughter in the faces of some, and + looks less taking in the eyes of others; for my Lord Leicester was to have + done the duty I was set to do that day, and he the greatest gallant of the + kingdom, as all the world knows. What they said among themselves I know + not, but I heard Leicester’s name, and I guessed that they were mostly in + the pay of his soft words. But the Duke’s Daughter was on my side, as was + proved betimes when Leicester made trouble for us who went from Jersey to + plead the cause of injured folk. Of the Earl’s enmity to me—a + foolish spite of a great nobleman against a Norman-Jersey gentleman—and + of how it injured others for the moment, you all know; but we had him by + the heels before the end of it, great earl and favourite as he was.” + </p> + <p> + In the same speech Lempriere told of his audience with the Queen, even as + she sat at dinner, and of what she said to him; but since his words give + but a partial picture of events, the relation must not be his. + </p> + <p> + When the Queen returned from chapel to her apartments, Lempriere was + called by an attendant, and he stood behind the Queen’s chair until she + summoned him to face her. Then, having finished her meal, and dipped her + fingers in a bowl of rose-water, she took up the papers Leicester had + given her—the Duke’s Daughter had read them aloud as she ate—and + said: + </p> + <p> + “Now, my good Seigneur of Rozel, answer me these few questions: First, + what concern is it of yours whether this Michel de la Foret be sent back + to France, or die here in England?” + </p> + <p> + “I helped to save his life at sea—one good turn deserves another, + your high-born Majesty.” + </p> + <p> + The Queen looked sharply at him, then burst out laughing. + </p> + <p> + “God’s life, but here’s a bull making epigrams!” she said. Then her humour + changed. “See you, my butler of Rozel, you shall speak the truth, or I’ll + have you where that jerkin will fit you not so well a month hence. Plain + answers I will have to plain questions, or De Carteret of St. Ouen’s shall + have his will of you and your precious pirate. So bear yourself as you + would save your head and your honours.” + </p> + <p> + Lempriere of Rozel never had a better moment than when he met the Queen of + England’s threats with faultless intrepidity. “I am concerned about my + head, but more about my honours, and most about my honour,” he replied. + “My head is my own, my honours are my family’s, for which I would give my + head when needed; and my honour defends both until both are naught—and + all are in the service of my Queen.” + </p> + <p> + Smiling, Elizabeth suddenly leaned forward, and, with a glance of + satisfaction towards the Duke’s Daughter, who was present, said: + </p> + <p> + “I had not thought to find so much logic behind your rampant skull,” she + said. “You’ve spoken well, Rozel, and you shall speak by the book to the + end, if you will save your friends. What concern is it of yours whether + Michel de la Foret live or die?” + </p> + <p> + “It is a concern of one whom I’ve sworn to befriend, and that is my + concern, your ineffable Majesty.” “Who is the friend?” + </p> + <p> + “Mademoiselle Aubert.” + </p> + <p> + “The betrothed of this Michel de la Foret?” + </p> + <p> + “Even so, your exalted Majesty. But I made sure De la Foret was dead when + I asked her to be my wife.” + </p> + <p> + “Lord, Lord, Lord, hear this vast infant, this hulking baby of a Seigneur, + this primeval innocence! Listen to him, cousin,” said the Queen, turning + again to the Duke’s Daughter. “Was ever the like of it in any kingdom of + this earth? He chooses a penniless exile—he, a butler to the Queen, + with three dove-cotes and the perquage—and a Huguenot withal. He is + refused; then comes the absent lover over sea, to shipwreck; and our + Seigneur rescues him, ‘fends him; and when yon master exile is in peril, + defies his Queen’s commands”—she tapped the papers lying beside her + on the table—“then comes to England with the lady to plead the case + before his outraged sovereign, with an outlawed buccaneer for comrade and + lieutenant. There is the case, is’t not?” + </p> + <p> + “I swore to be her friend,” answered Lempriere stubbornly, “and I have + done according to my word.” + </p> + <p> + “There’s not another nobleman in my kingdom who would not have thought + twice about the matter, with the lady aboard his ship on the high + seas-’tis a miraculous chivalry, cousin,” she added to the Duke’s + Daughter, who bowed, settled herself again on her velvet cushion, and + looked out of the corner of her eyes at Lempriere. + </p> + <p> + “You opposed Sir Hugh Pawlett’s officers who went to arrest this De la + Foret,” continued Elizabeth. “Call you that serving your Queen? Pawlett + had our commands.” + </p> + <p> + “I opposed them but in form, that the matter might the more surely be + brought to your Majesty’s knowledge.” + </p> + <p> + “It might easily have brought you to the Tower, man.” + </p> + <p> + “I had faith that your Majesty would do right in this, as in all else. So + I came hither to tell the whole story to your judicial Majesty.” + </p> + <p> + “Our thanks for your certificate of character,” said the Queen, with + amused irony. “What is your wish? Make your words few and plain.” + </p> + <p> + “I desire before all that Michel de la Foret shall not be returned to the + Medici, most radiant Majesty.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s plain. But there are weighty matters ‘twixt France and England, + and De la Foret may turn the scale one way or another. What follows, + beggar of Rozel?” + </p> + <p> + “That Mademoiselle Aubert and her father may live without let or hindrance + in Jersey.” + </p> + <p> + “That you may eat sour grapes ad eternam? Next?” + </p> + <p> + “That Buonespoir be pardoned all offences and let live in Jersey on pledge + that he sin no more, not even to raid St. Ouen’s cellars of the muscadella + reserved for your generous Majesty.” + </p> + <p> + There was such humour in Lempriere’s look as he spoke of the muscadella + that the Queen questioned him closely upon Buonespoir’s raid; and so + infectious was his mirth, as he told the tale, that Elizabeth, though she + stamped her foot in assumed impatience, smiled also. + </p> + <p> + “You shall have your Buonespoir, Seigneur,” she said; “but for his future + you shall answer as well as he.” + </p> + <p> + “For what he does in Jersey Isle, your commiserate Majesty?” + </p> + <p> + “For crime elsewhere, if he be caught, he shall march to Tyburn, friend,” + she answered. Then she hurriedly added: “Straightway go and bring + Mademoiselle and her father hither. Orders are given for their disposal. + And to-morrow at this hour you shall wait upon me in their company. I + thank you for your services as butler this day, Monsieur of Rozel. You do + your office rarely.” + </p> + <p> + As the Seigneur left Elizabeth’s apartments, he met the Earl of Leicester + hurrying thither, preceded by the Queen’s messenger. Leicester stopped and + said, with a slow malicious smile: “Farming is good, then—you have + fine crops this year on your holding?” + </p> + <p> + The point escaped Lempriere at first, for the favourite’s look was all + innocence, and he replied: “You are mistook, my lord. You will remember I + was in the presence-chamber an hour ago, my lord. I am Lempriere, Seigneur + of Rozel, butler to her Majesty.” + </p> + <p> + “But are you, then? I thought you were a farmer and raised cabbages.” + Smiling, Leicester passed on. + </p> + <p> + For a moment the Seigneur stood pondering the Earl’s words and angrily + wondering at his obtuseness. Then suddenly he knew he had been mocked, and + he turned and ran after his enemy; but Leicester had vanished into the + Queen’s apartments. + </p> + <p> + The Queen’s fool was standing near, seemingly engaged in the light + occupation of catching imaginary flies, buzzing with his motions. As + Leicester disappeared he looked from under his arm at Lempriere. “If a + bird will not stop for the salt to its tail, then the salt is damned, + Nuncio; and you must cry David! and get thee to the quarry.” + </p> + <p> + Lempriere stared at him swelling with rage; but the quaint smiling of the + fool conquered him, and instead of turning on his heel, he spread himself + like a Colossus and looked down in grandeur. “And wherefore cry David! and + get quarrying?” he asked. “Come, what sense is there in thy words, when I + am wroth with yonder nobleman?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Nuncio, Nuncio, thou art a child of innocence and without history. + The salt held not the bird for the net of thy anger, Nuncio; so it is meet + that other ways be found. David the ancient put a stone in a sling and + Goliath laid him down like an egg in a nest—therefore, Nuncio, get + thee to the quarry. Obligato, which is to say Leicester yonder, hath no + tail—the devil cut it off and wears it himself. So let salt be + damned, and go sling thy stone!” + </p> + <p> + Lempriere was good-humoured again. He fumbled in his purse and brought + forth a gold-piece. “Fool, thou hast spoken like a man born sensible and + infinite. I understand thee like a book. Thou hast not folly and thou + shalt not be answered as if thou wast a fool. But in terms of gold shalt + thou have reply.” He put the gold-piece in the fool’s hand and slapped him + on the shoulder. + </p> + <p> + “Why now, Nuncio,” answered the other, “it is clear that there is a fool + at Court, for is it not written that a fool and his money are soon parted? + And this gold-piece is still hot with running ‘tween thee and me.” + </p> + <p> + Lempriere roared. “Why, then, for thy hit thou shalt have another + gold-piece, gossip. But see”—his voice lowered—“know you where + is my friend, Buonespoir, the pirate? Know you where he is in durance?” + </p> + <p> + “As I know marrow in a bone I know where he hides, Nuncio, so come with + me,” answered the fool. + </p> + <p> + “If De Carteret had but thy sense, we could live at peace in Jersey,” + rejoined Lempriere, and strode ponderously after the light-footed fool who + capered forth singing: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Come hither, O come hither, + There’s a bride upon her bed; + They have strewn her o’er with roses, + There are roses ‘neath her head: + Life is love and tears and laughter, + But the laughter it is dead + Sing the way to the Valley, to the Valley! + Hey, but the roses they are red!” + </pre> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX + </h2> + <p> + The next day at noon, as her Majesty had advised the Seigneur, De la Foret + was ushered into the presence. The Queen’s eye quickened as she saw him, + and she remarked with secret pleasure the figure and bearing of this young + captain of the Huguenots. She loved physical grace and prowess with a full + heart. The day had almost passed when she would measure all men against + Leicester in his favour; and he, knowing this clearly now, saw with + haughty anxiety the gradual passing of his power, and clutched futilely at + the vanishing substance. Thus it was that he now spent his strength in + getting his way with the Queen in little things. She had been so long used + to take his counsel—in some part wise and skilful—that when + she at length did without it, or followed her own mind, it became a fever + with him to let no chance pass for serving his own will by persuading her + out of hers. This was why he had spent an hour the day before in sadly yet + vaguely reproaching her for the slight she put upon him in the + presence-chamber by her frown; and another in urging her to come to terms + with Catherine de Medici in this small affair—since the Frenchwoman + had set her revengeful heart upon it—that larger matters might be + settled to the gain of England. It was not so much that he had reason to + destroy De la Foret, as that he saw that the Queen was disposed to deal + friendly by him and protect him. He did not see the danger of rousing in + the Queen the same unreasoning tenaciousness of will upon just such lesser + things as might well be left to her advisers. In spite of which he almost + succeeded, this very day, in regaining, for a time at least, the ground he + had lost with her. He had never been so adroit, so brilliant, so witty, so + insinuating; and he left her with the feeling that if he had his way + concerning De la Foret—a mere stubborn whim, with no fair reason + behind it—his influence would be again securely set. The sense of + crisis was on him. + </p> + <p> + On Michel de la Foret entering the presence the Queen’s attention had + become riveted. She felt in him a spirit of mastery, yet of unselfish + purpose. Here was one, she thought, who might well be in her household, or + leading a regiment of her troops. The clear fresh face, curling hair, + direct look, quiet energy, and air of nobility—this sort of man + could only be begotten of a great cause; he were not possible in idle or + prosperous times. + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth looked him up and down, then affected surprise. “Monsieur de la + Foret,” she said, “I do not recognise you in this attire”—glancing + towards his dress. + </p> + <p> + De la Foret bowed, and Elizabeth continued, looking at a paper in her + hand: “You landed on our shores of Jersey in the robes of a priest of + France. The passport for a priest of France was found upon your person + when our officers in Jersey made search of you. Which is yourself—Michel + de la Foret, soldier, or a priest of France?” + </p> + <p> + De la Foret replied gravely that he was a soldier, and that the priestly + dress had been but a disguise. + </p> + <p> + “In which papist attire, methinks, Michel de la Foret, soldier and + Huguenot, must have been ill at ease—the eagle with the vulture’s + wing. What say you, Monsieur?” + </p> + <p> + “That vulture’s wing hath carried me to a safe dove-cote, your gracious + Majesty,” he answered, with a low obeisance. + </p> + <p> + “I’m none so sure of that, Monsieur,” was Elizabeth’s answer, and she + glanced quizzically at Leicester, who made a gesture of annoyance. “Our + cousin France makes you to us a dark intriguer and conspirator, a + dangerous weed in our good garden of England, a ‘troublous, treacherous + violence’—such are you called, Monsieur.” + </p> + <p> + “I am in your high Majesty’s power,” he answered, “to do with me as it + seemeth best. If your Majesty wills it that I be returned to France, I + pray you set me upon its coast as I came from it, a fugitive. Thence will + I try to find my way to the army and the poor stricken people of whom I + was. I pray for that only, and not to be given to the red hand of the + Medici.” + </p> + <p> + “Red hand—by my faith, but you are bold, Monsieur!” + </p> + <p> + Leicester tapped his foot upon the floor impatiently, then caught the + Queen’s eye, and gave her a meaning look. + </p> + <p> + De la Foret saw the look and knew his enemy, but he did not quail. “Bold + only by your high Majesty’s faith, indeed,” he answered the Queen, with + harmless guile. + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth smiled. She loved such flattering speech from a strong man. It + touched a chord in her deeper than that under Leicester’s finger. + Leicester’s impatience only made her more self-willed on the instant. + </p> + <p> + “You speak with the trumpet note, Monsieur,” she said to De la Foret. “We + will prove you. You shall have a company in my Lord Leicester’s army here, + and we will send you upon some service worthy of your fame.” + </p> + <p> + “I crave your Majesty’s pardon, but I cannot do it,” was De la Foret’s + instant reply. “I have sworn that I will lift my sword in one cause only, + and to that I must stand. And more—the widow of my dead chief, + Gabriel de Montgomery, is set down in this land unsheltered and alone. I + have sworn to one who loves her, and for my dead chief’s sake, that I will + serve her and be near her until better days be come and she may return in + quietness to France. In exile we few stricken folk must stand together, + your august Majesty.” + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth’s eye flashed up. She was impatient of refusal of her favour. + She was also a woman, and that De la Foret should flaunt his devotion to + another woman was little to her liking. The woman in her, which had never + been blessed with a noble love, was roused. The sourness of a childless, + uncompanionable life was stronger for the moment than her strong mind and + sense. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur has sworn this, and Monsieur has sworn that,” she said + petulantly—“and to one who loveth a lady, and for a cause—tut, + tut, tut!—” + </p> + <p> + Suddenly a kind of intriguing laugh leaped into her eye, and she turned to + Leicester and whispered in his ear. Leicester frowned, then smiled, and + glanced up and down De la Foret’s figure impertinently. + </p> + <p> + “See, Monsieur de la Foret,” she added; “since you will not fight, you + shall preach. A priest you came into my kingdom, and a priest you shall + remain; but you shall preach good English doctrine and no Popish folly.” + </p> + <p> + De la Foret started, then composed himself, and before he had time to + reply, Elizabeth continued: “Partly for your own sake am I thus gracious; + for as a preacher of the Word I have not need to give you up, according to + agreement with our brother of France. As a rebel and conspirator I were + bound to do so, unless you were an officer of my army. The Seigneur of + Rozel has spoken for you, and the Comtesse de Montgomery has written a + pleading letter. Also I have from another source a tearful prayer—the + ink is scarce dry upon it—which has been of service to you. But I + myself have chosen this way of escape for you. Prove yourself worthy, and + all may be well—but prove yourself you shall. You have prepared your + own brine, Monsieur; in it you shall pickle.” + </p> + <p> + She smiled a sour smile, for she was piqued, and added: “Do you think I + will have you here squiring of distressed dames, save as a priest? You + shall hence to Madame of Montgomery as her faithful chaplain, once I have + heard you preach and know your doctrine.” + </p> + <p> + Leicester almost laughed outright in the young man’s face now, for he had + no thought that De la Foret would accept, and refusal meant the exile’s + doom. + </p> + <p> + It seemed fantastic that this noble gentleman, this very type of the + perfect soldier, with the brown face of a picaroon and an athletic valour + of body, should become a preacher even in necessity. + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth, seeing De la Foret’s dumb amazement and anxiety, spoke up + sharply: “Do this, or get you hence to the Medici, and Madame of + Montgomery shall mourn her protector, and Mademoiselle your mistress of + the vermilion cheek, shall have one lover the less; which, methinks, our + Seigneur of Rozel would thank me for.” + </p> + <p> + De la Foret started, his lips pressed firmly together in effort of + restraint. There seemed little the Queen did not know concerning him; and + reference to Angele roused him to sharp solicitude. + </p> + <p> + “Well, well?” asked Elizabeth impatiently, then made a motion to + Leicester, and he, going to the door, bade some one to enter. + </p> + <p> + There stepped inside the Seigneur of Rozel, who made a lumbering + obeisance, then got to his knees before the Queen. + </p> + <p> + “You have brought the lady safely—with her father?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + Lempriere, puzzled, looked inquiringly at the Queen, then replied: “Both + are safe without, your infinite Majesty.” + </p> + <p> + De la Foret’s face grew pale. He knew now for the first time that Angele + and her father were in England, and he looked Lempriere suspiciously in + the eyes; but the swaggering Seigneur met his look frankly, and bowed with + ponderous and genial gravity. + </p> + <p> + Now De la Foret spoke. “Your high Majesty,” said he, “if I may ask + Mademoiselle Aubert one question in your presence—” + </p> + <p> + “Your answer now; the lady in due season,” interposed the Queen. + </p> + <p> + “She was betrothed to a soldier, she may resent a priest,” said De la + Foret, with a touch of humour, for he saw the better way was to take the + matter with some outward ease. + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth smiled. “It is the custom of her sex to have a fondness for + both,” she answered, with an acid smile. “But your answer?” + </p> + <p> + De la Foret’s face became exceeding grave. Bowing his head, he said: “My + sword has spoken freely for the Cause; God forbid that my tongue should + not speak also. I will do your Majesty’s behest.” + </p> + <p> + The jesting word that was upon the royal lips came not forth, for De la + Foret’s face was that of a man who had determined a great thing, and + Elizabeth was one who had a heart for high deeds. “The man is brave + indeed,” she said under her breath, and, turning to the dumfounded + Seigneur, bade him bring in Mademoiselle Aubert. + </p> + <p> + A moment later Angele entered, came a few steps forward, made obeisance, + and stood still. She showed no trepidation, but looked before her + steadily. She knew not what was to be required of her, she was a stranger + in a strange land; but persecution and exile had gone far to strengthen + her spirit and greaten her composure. + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth gazed at the girl coldly and critically. To women she was not + over-amiable; but as she looked at the young Huguenot maid, of this calm + bearing, warm of colour, clear of eye, and purposeful of face, some thing + kindled in her. Most like it was that love for a cause, which was more to + be encouraged by her than any woman’s love for a man, which as she grew + older inspired her with aversion, as talk of marriage brought cynical + allusions to her lips. + </p> + <p> + “I have your letter and its protests and its pleadings. There were fine + words and adjurations—are you so religious, then?” she asked + brusquely. + </p> + <p> + “I am a Huguenot, your noble Majesty,” answered the girl, as though that + answered all. + </p> + <p> + “How is it, then, you are betrothed to a roistering soldier?” asked the + Queen. + </p> + <p> + “Some must pray for Christ’s sake, and some must fight, your most + christian Majesty,” answered the girl. “Some must do both,” rejoined the + Queen, in a kinder voice, for the pure spirit of the girl worked upon her. + “I am told that Monsieur de la Foret fights fairly. If he can pray as + well, methinks he shall have safety in our kingdom, and ye shall all have + peace. On Trinity Sunday you shall preach in my chapel, Monsieur de la + Foret, and thereafter you shall know your fate.” + </p> + <p> + She rose. “My Lord,” she said to Leicester, on whose face gloom had + settled, “you will tell the Lord Chamberlain that Monsieur de la Foret’s + durance must be made comfortable in the west tower of my palace till + chapel-going of Trinity Day. I will send him for his comfort and + instruction some sermons of Latimer.” + </p> + <p> + She stepped down from the dais. “You will come with me, mistress,” she + said to Angele, and reached out her hand. + </p> + <p> + Angele fell on her knees and kissed it, tears falling down her cheek, then + rose and followed the Queen from the chamber. She greatly desired to look + backward towards De la Foret, but some good angel bade her not. She + realised that to offend the Queen at this moment might ruin all; and + Elizabeth herself was little like to offer chance for farewell and + love-tokens. + </p> + <p> + So it was that, with bowed head, Angele left the room with the Queen of + England, leaving Lempriere and De la Foret gazing at each other, the one + bewildered, the other lost in painful reverie, and Leicester smiling + maliciously at them both. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X + </h2> + <p> + Every man, if you bring him to the right point, if you touch him in the + corner where he is most sensitive, where he most lives, as it were; if you + prick his nerves with a needle of suggestion where all his passions, + ambitions and sentiments are at white heat, will readily throw away the + whole game of life in some mad act out of harmony with all he ever did. It + matters little whether the needle prick him by accident or blunder or + design, he will burst all bounds, and establish again the old truth that + each of us will prove himself a fool given perfect opportunity. Nor need + the occasion of this revolution be a great one; the most trivial event may + produce the great fire which burns up wisdom, prudence and habit. + </p> + <p> + The Earl of Leicester, so long counted astute, clearheaded, and + well-governed, had been suddenly foisted out of balance, shaken from his + imperious composure, tortured out of an assumed and persistent urbanity, + by the presence in Greenwich Palace of a Huguenot exile of no seeming + importance, save what the Medici grimly gave him by desiring his head. It + appeared absurd that the great Leicester, whose nearness to the throne had + made him the most feared, most notable, and, by virtue of his + opportunities, the most dramatic figure in England, should have sleepless + nights by reason of a fugitive like Michel de la Foret. On the surface it + was preposterous that he should see in the Queen’s offer of service to the + refugee evidence that she was set to grant him special favours; it was + equally absurd that her offer of safety to him on pledge of his turning + preacher should seem proof that she meant to have him near her. Elizabeth + had left the presence-chamber without so much as a glance at him, though + she had turned and looked graciously at the stranger. He had hastily + followed her, and thereafter impatiently awaited a summons which never + came, though he had sent a message that his hours were at her Majesty’s + disposal. Waiting, he saw Angele’s father escorted from the palace by a + Gentleman Pensioner to a lodge in the park; he saw Michel de la Foret + taken to his apartments; he saw the Seigneur of Rozel walking in the + palace grounds with such possession as though they were his own, + self-content in every motion of his body. + </p> + <p> + Upon the instant the great Earl was incensed out of all proportion to the + affront of the Seigneur’s existence. He suddenly hated Lempriere only less + than he hated Michel de la Foret. As he still waited irritably for a + summons from Elizabeth, he brooded on every word and every look she had + given him of late; he recalled her manner to him in the ante-chapel the + day before, and the admiring look she cast on De la Foret but now. He had + seen more in it than mere approval of courage and the self-reliant bearing + of a refugee of her own religion. + </p> + <p> + These were days when the soldier of fortune mounted to high places. He + needed but to carry the banner of bravery, and a busy sword, and his way + to power was not hindered by poor estate. To be gently born was the one + thing needful, and Michel de la Foret was gently born; and he had still + his sword, though he chose not to use it in Elizabeth’s service. My Lord + knew it might be easier for a stranger like De la Foret, who came with no + encumbrance, to mount to place in the struggles of the Court, than for an + Englishman, whose increasing and ever-bolder enemies were undermining on + every hand, to hold his own. + </p> + <p> + He began to think upon ways and means to meet this sudden preference of + the Queen, made sharply manifest as he waited in the ante-chamber, by a + summons to the refugee to enter the Queen’s apartments. When the refugee + came forth again he wore a sword the Queen had sent him, and a packet of + Latimer’s sermons were under his arm. Leicester was unaware that Elizabeth + herself did not see De la Foret when he was thus hastily called; but that + her lady-in-waiting, the Duke’s Daughter, who figured so largely in the + pictures Lempriere drew of his experiences at Greenwich Palace, brought + forth the sermons and the sword, with this message from the Queen: + </p> + <p> + “The Queen says that it is but fair to the sword to be by Michel de la + Foret’s side when the sermons are in his hand, that his choice have every + seeming of fairness. For her Majesty says it is still his choice between + the Sword and the Book till Trinity Day.” + </p> + <p> + Leicester, however, only saw the sword at the side of the refugee and the + gold-bound book under his arm as he came forth, and in a rage he left the + palace and gloomily walked under the trees, denying himself to every one. + </p> + <p> + To seize De la Foret, and send him to the Medici, and then rely on + Elizabeth’s favour for his pardon, as he had done in the past? That might + do, but the risk to England was too great. It would be like the Queen, if + her temper was up, to demand from the Medici the return of De la Foret, + and war might ensue. Two women, with two nations behind them, were not to + be played lightly against each other, trusting to their common sense and + humour. + </p> + <p> + As he walked among the trees, brooding with averted eyes, he was suddenly + faced by the Seigneur of Rozel, who also was shaken from his discretion + and the best interests of the two fugitives he was bound to protect, by a + late offence against his own dignity. A seed of rancour had been sown in + his mind which had grown to a great size and must presently burst into a + dark flower of vengeance. He, Lempriere of Rozel, with three dovecotes, + the perquage, and the office of butler to the Queen, to be called a + “farmer,” to be sneered at—it was not in the blood of man, not in + the towering vanity of a Lempriere, to endure it at any price computable + to mortal mind. + </p> + <p> + Thus there were in England on that day two fools (there are as many now), + and one said: + </p> + <p> + “My Lord Leicester, I crave a word with you.” + </p> + <p> + “Crave on, good fellow,” responded Leicester with a look of boredom, + making to pass by. + </p> + <p> + “I am Lempriere, lord of Rozel, my lord—” + </p> + <p> + “Ah yes, I took you for a farmer,” answered Leicester. “Instead of that, I + believe you keep doves, and wear a jerkin that fits like a king’s. Dear + Lord, so does greatness come with girth!” + </p> + <p> + “The King that gave me dove-cotes gave me honour, and ‘tis not for the + Earl of Leicester to belittle it.” + </p> + <p> + “What is your coat of arms?” said Leicester with a faint smile, but in an + assumed tone of natural interest. + </p> + <p> + “A swan upon a sea of azure, two stars above, and over all a sword with a + wreath around its point,” answered Lempriere simply, unsuspecting irony, + and touched by Leicester’s flint where he was most like to flare up with + vanity. + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said Leicester. “And the motto?” + </p> + <p> + “Mea spes supra stella—my hope is beyond the stars.” + </p> + <p> + “And the wreath—of parsley, I suppose?” + </p> + <p> + Now Lempriere understood, and he shook with fury as he roared: + </p> + <p> + “Yes, by God, and to be got at the point of the sword, to put on the heads + of insolents like Lord Leicester!” His face was flaming, he was like a + cock strutting upon a stable mound. + </p> + <p> + There fell a slight pause, and then Leicester said: “To-morrow at + daylight, eh?” + </p> + <p> + “Now, my lord, now!” + </p> + <p> + “We have no seconds.” + </p> + <p> + “‘Sblood! ‘Tis not your way, my lord, to be stickling in detail of + courtesy.” + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis not the custom to draw swords in secret, Lempriere of Rozel. Also my + teeth are not on edge to fight you.” + </p> + <p> + Lempriere had already drawn his sword, and the look of his eyes was as + that of a mad bull in a ring. “You won’t fight with me—you don’t + think Rozel your equal?” His voice was high. + </p> + <p> + Leicester’s face took on a hard, cruel look. “We cannot fight among the + ladies,” he said quietly. Lempriere followed his glance, and saw the + Duke’s Daughter and another in the trees near by. + </p> + <p> + He hastily put up his sword. “When, my lord?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “You will hear from me to-night,” was the answer, and Leicester went + forward hastily to meet the ladies—they had news no doubt. + </p> + <p> + Lempriere turned on his heel and walked quickly away among the trees + towards the quarters where Buonespoir was in durance, which was little + more severe than to keep him within the palace yard. There he found the + fool and the pirate in whimsical converse. + </p> + <p> + The fool had brought a letter of inquiry and warm greeting from Angele to + Buonespoir, who was laboriously inditing one in return. When Lempriere + entered the pirate greeted him jovially. + </p> + <p> + “In the very pinch of time you come,” he said. “You have grammar and + syntax and etiquette.” + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis even so, Nuncio,” said the fool. “Here is needed prosody potential. + Exhale!” + </p> + <p> + The three put their heads together above the paper. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI + </h2> + <p> + “I would know your story. How came you and yours to this pass? Where were + you born? Of what degree are you? And this Michel de la Foret, when came + he to your feet—or you to his arms? I would know all. Begin where + life began; end where you sit here at the feet of Elizabeth. This other + cushion to your knees. There—now speak. We are alone.” + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth pushed a velvet cushion towards Angele, where she half-knelt, + half-sat on the rush-strewn floor of the great chamber. The warm light of + the afternoon sun glowed through the thick-tinted glass high up, and, in + the gleam, the heavy tapestries sent by an archduke, once suitor for + Elizabeth’s hand, emerged with dramatic distinctness, and peopled the room + with silent watchers of the great Queen and the nobly-born but poor and + fugitive Huguenot. A splendid piece of sculpture—Eleanor, wife of + Edward—given Elizabeth by another royal suitor, who had sought to be + her consort through many years, caught the warm bath of gold and crimson + from the clerestory and seemed alive and breathing. Against the pedestal + the Queen had placed her visitor, the red cushions making vivid contrast + to her white gown and black hair. In the half-kneeling, half-sitting + posture, with her hands clasped before her, so to steady herself to + composure, Angele looked a suppliant—and a saint. Her pure, + straightforward gaze, her smooth, urbane forehead, the guilelessness that + spoke in every feature, were not made worldly by the intelligence and + humour reposing in the brown depths of her eyes. Not a line vexed her face + or forehead. Her countenance was of a singular and almost polished + smoothness, and though her gown was severely simple by comparison with + silks and velvets, furs and ruffles of a gorgeous Court at its most + gorgeous period, yet in it here and there were touches of exquisite + fineness. The black velvet ribbon slashing her sleeves, the slight + cloud-like gathering of lace at the back of her head, gave a distinguished + softness to her appearance. + </p> + <p> + She was in curious contrast to the Queen, who sat upon heaped-up cushions, + her rich buff and black gown a blaze of jewels, her yellow hair, now + streaked with grey, roped with pearls, her hands heavy with rings, her + face past its youth, past its hopefulness, however noble and impressive, + past its vivid beauty. Her eyes wore ever a determined look, were + persistent and vigilant, with a lurking trouble, yet flooded, too, by a + quiet melancholy, like a low, insistent note that floats through an opera + of passion, romance, and tragedy; like a tone of pathos giving deep + character to some splendid pageant, which praises whilst it commemorates, + proclaiming conquest while the grass has not yet grown on quiet houses of + the children of the sword who no more wield the sword. Evasive, cautious, + secretive, creator of her own policy, she had sacrificed her womanhood to + the power she held and the State she served. Vain, passionate, and + faithful, her heart all England and Elizabeth, the hunger for glimpses of + what she had never known, and was never to know, thrust itself into her + famished life; and she was wont to indulge, as now, in fancies and follow + some emotional whim with a determination very like to eccentricity. + </p> + <p> + That, at this time, when great national events were forward, when + conspiracies abounded, when Parliament was grimly gathering strength to + compel her to marry; and her Council were as sternly pursuing their policy + for the destruction of Leicester; while that very day had come news of a + rising in the North and of fresh Popish plots hatched in France—that + in such case, this day she should set aside all business, refuse + ambassadors and envoys admission, and occupy herself with two Huguenot + refugees seemed incredible to the younger courtiers. To such as Cecil, + however, there was clear understanding. He knew that when she seemed most + inert, most impassive to turbulent occurrences, most careless of + consequences, she was but waiting till, in her own mind, her plans were + grown; so that she should see her end clearly ere she spoke or moved. Now, + as the great minister showed himself at the door of the chamber and saw + Elizabeth seated with Angele, he drew back instinctively, expectant of the + upraised hand which told him he must wait. And, in truth, he was nothing + loth to do so, for his news he cared little to deliver, important though + it was that she should have it promptly and act upon it soon. He turned + away with a feeling of relief, however, for this gossip with the Huguenot + maid would no doubt interest her, give new direction to her warm + sympathies, which if roused in one thing were ever more easily roused in + others. He knew that a crisis was nearing in the royal relations with + Leicester. In a life of devotion to her service he had seen her before in + this strange mood, and he could feel that she was ready for an outburst. + As he thought of De la Foret and the favour with which she had looked at + him he smiled grimly, for if it meant aught it meant that it would drive + Leicester to some act which would hasten his own doom; though, indeed, it + might also make another path more difficult for himself, for the + Parliament, for the people. + </p> + <p> + Little as Elizabeth could endure tales of love and news of marriage; + little as she believed in any vows, save those made to herself; little as + she was inclined to adjust the rough courses of true love, she was the + surgeon to this particular business, and she had the surgeon’s love of + laying bare even to her own cynicism the hurt of the poor patient under + her knife. Indeed, so had Angele impressed her that for once she thought + she might hear the truth. Because she saw the awe in the other’s face and + a worshipping admiration of the great protectress of Protestantism, who + had by large gifts of men and money in times past helped the Cause, she + looked upon her here with kindness. + </p> + <p> + “Speak now, mistress fugitive, and I will listen,” she added, as Cecil + withdrew; and she made a motion to musicians in a distant gallery. + </p> + <p> + Angele’s heart fluttered to her mouth, but the soft, simple music helped + her, and she began with eyes bent upon the ground, her linked fingers + clasping and unclasping slowly. + </p> + <p> + “I was born at Rouen, your high Majesty,” she said. “My mother was a + cousin of the Prince of Passy, the great Protestant—” + </p> + <p> + “Of Passy—ah!” said Elizabeth amazed. “Then you are Protestants + indeed; and your face is no invention, but cometh honestly. No, no, ‘tis + no accident—God rest his soul, great Passy!” + </p> + <p> + “She died—my mother—when I was a little child. I can but just + remember her—so brightly quiet, so quick, so beautiful. In Rouen + life had little motion; but now and then came stir and turmoil, for war + sent its message into the old streets, and our captains and our peasants + poured forth to fight for the King. Once came the King and Queen—Francis + and Mary—” + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth drew herself upright with an exclamation. “Ah, you have seen her—Mary + of Scots,” she said sharply. “You have seen her?” + </p> + <p> + “As near as I might touch her with my hand, as near as is your high + Majesty. She spoke to me—my mother’s father was in her train;—as + yet we had not become Huguenots, nor did we know her Majesty as now the + world knows. They came, the King and Queen—and that was the + beginning.” + </p> + <p> + She paused, and looked shyly at Elizabeth, as though she found it hard to + tell her story. + </p> + <p> + “And the beginning, it was—?” said Elizabeth, impatient and intent. + </p> + <p> + “We went to Court. The Queen called my mother into her train. But it was + in no wise for our good. At Court my mother pined away—and so she + died in durance.” + </p> + <p> + “Wherefore in durance?” + </p> + <p> + “To what she saw she would not shut her eyes; to what she heard she would + not close her soul; what was required of her she would not do.” + </p> + <p> + “She would not obey the Queen?” + </p> + <p> + “She could not obey those whom the Queen favoured. Then the tyranny that + broke her heart—” + </p> + <p> + The Queen interrupted her. + </p> + <p> + “In very truth, but ‘tis not in France alone that Queen’s favourites grasp + the sceptre and speak the word. Hath a Queen a thousand eyes—can she + know truth where most dissemble?” + </p> + <p> + “There was a man—he could not know there was one true woman there, + who for her daughter’s sake, for her desired advancement, and because she + was cousin of Passy, who urged it, lived that starved life; this man, this + prince, drew round her feet snares, set pit-falls for her while my father + was sent upon a mission. Steadfast she kept her soul unspotted; but it + wore away her life. The Queen would not permit return to Rouen—who + can tell what tale was told her by one whom she foiled? And so she stayed. + In this slow, savage persecution, when she was like a bird that, thinking + it is free, flieth against the window-pane and falleth back beaten, so did + she stay, and none could save her. To cry out, to throw herself upon the + spears, would have been ruin of herself, her husband and her child; and + for these she lived.” + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth’s eyes had kindled. Perhaps never in her life had the life at + Court been so exposed to her. The simple words, meant but to convey the + story, and with no thought behind, had thrown a light on her own Court, on + her own position. Adept in weaving a sinuous course in her policy, in + making mazes for others to tread, the mazes which they in turn prepared + had never before been traced beneath her eyes to the same vivid and + ultimate effect. + </p> + <p> + “Help me, ye saints, but things are not at such a pass in this place!” she + said abruptly, but with weariness in her voice. “Yet sometimes I know not. + The Court is a city by itself, walled and moated, and hath a life all its + own. ‘If there be found ten honest men within the city yet will I save + it,’ saith the Lord. By my father’s head, I would not risk a finger on the + hazard if this city, this Court of Elizabeth were set ‘twixt the fire from + Heaven and eternal peace. In truth, child, I would lay me down and die in + black disgust were it not that one might come hereafter would make a very + Sodom or Gomorrah of this land: and out yonder—out in all my + counties, where the truth of England is among my poor burgesses, who die + for the great causes which my nobles profess but risk not their lives—out + yonder all that they have won, and for which I have striven, would be + lost.... Speak on. I have not heard so plain a tongue and so little guile + these twenty years.” + </p> + <p> + Angele continued, more courage in her voice. “In the midst of it all came + the wave of the new faith upon my mother. And before ill could fall upon + her from her foes, she died and was at rest. Then we returned to Rouen, my + father and I, and there we lived in peril, but in great happiness of soul + until the day of massacre. That night in Paris we were given greatly of + the mercy of God.” + </p> + <p> + “You were there—you were in the massacre at Paris?” + </p> + <p> + “In the house of the Duke of Langon, with whom was resting after a + hazardous enterprise, Michel de la Foret.” + </p> + <p> + “And here beginneth the second lesson,” said the Queen with a smile on her + lips; but there was a look of scrutiny in her eyes, and something like + irony in her tone. “And I will swear by all the stars of Heaven that this + Michel saved ye both. Is it not so?” + </p> + <p> + “It is even so. By his skill and bravery we found our way to safety, and + in a hiding-place near to our loved Rouen watched him return from the + gates of death.” + </p> + <p> + “He was wounded then?” + </p> + <p> + “Seven times wounded, and with as little blood left in him as would fill a + cup. But it was summer, and we were in the hills, and they brought us, our + friends of Rouen, all that we had need of; and so God was with us. + </p> + <p> + “But did he save thy life, except by skill, by indirect and fortunate + wisdom? Was there deadly danger upon thee? Did he beat down the sword of + death?” + </p> + <p> + “He saved my life thrice directly. The wounds he carried were got by + interposing his own sword ‘twixt death and me.” + </p> + <p> + “And that hath need of recompense?” + </p> + <p> + “My life was little worth the wounds he suffered; but I waited not until + he saved it to owe it unto him. All that it is was his before he drew the + sword.” + </p> + <p> + “And ‘tis this ye would call love betwixt ye—sweet givings and + takings of looks, and soft sayings, and unchangeable and devouring faith. + Is’t this—and is this all?” + </p> + <p> + The girl had spoken out of an innocent heart, but the challenge in the + Queen’s voice worked upon her, and though she shrank a little, the fulness + of her soul welled up and strengthened her. She spoke again, and now in + her need and in her will to save the man she loved, by making this majesty + of England his protector, her words had eloquence. + </p> + <p> + “It is not all, noble Queen. Love is more than that. It is the waking in + the poorest minds, in the most barren souls, of something greater than + themselves—as a chemist should find a substance that would give all + other things by touching of them a new and higher value; as light and sun + draw from the earth the tendrils of the seed that else had lain + unproducing. ‘Tis not alone soft words and touch of hand or lip. This + caring wholly for one outside one’s self kills that self which else would + make the world blind and deaf and dumb. None hath loved greatly but hath + helped to love in others. Ah, most sweet Majesty, for great souls like + thine, souls born great, this medicine is not needful, for already hath + the love of a nation inspired and enlarged it; but for souls like mine and + of so many, none better and none worse than me, to love one other soul + deeply and abidingly lifts us higher than ourselves. Your Majesty hath + been loved by a whole people, by princes and great men in a different sort—is + it not the world’s talk that none that ever reigned hath drawn such + slavery of princes, and of great nobles who have courted death for + hopeless love of one beyond their star? And is it not written in the + world’s book also that the Queen of England hath loved no man, but hath + poured out her heart to a people; and hath served great causes in all the + earth because of that love which hath still enlarged her soul, dowered at + birth beyond reckoning?” Tears filled her eyes. “Ah, your supreme Majesty, + to you whose heart is universal, the love of one poor mortal seemeth a + small thing, but to those of little consequence it is the cable by which + they unsteadily hold over the chasm ‘twixt life and immortality. To thee, + oh greatest monarch of the world, it is a staff on which thou need’st not + lean, which thou hast never grasped; to me it is my all; without it I fail + and fall and die.” + </p> + <p> + She had spoken as she felt, yet, because she was a woman and guessed the + mind of another woman, she had touched Elizabeth where her armour was + weakest. She had suggested that the Queen had been the object of + adoration, but had never given her heart to any man; that hers was the + virgin heart and life; and that she had never stooped to conquer. Without + realising it, and only dimly moving with that end in view, she had whetted + Elizabeth’s vanity. She had indeed soothed a pride wounded of late beyond + endurance, suspecting, as she did, that Leicester had played his long part + for his own sordid purposes, that his devotion was more alloy than + precious metal. No note of praise could be pitched too high for Elizabeth, + and if only policy did not intervene, if but no political advantage was + lost by saving De la Foret, that safety seemed now secure. + </p> + <p> + “You tell a tale and adorn it with good grace,” she said, and held out her + hand. Angele kissed it. “And you have said to Elizabeth what none else + dared to say since I was Queen here. He who hath never seen the lightning + hath no dread of it. I had not thought there was in the world so much + artlessness, with all the power of perfect art. But we live to be wiser. + Thou shalt continue in thy tale. Thou hast seen Mary, once Queen of + France, now Queen of Scots—answer me fairly; without if, or though, + or any sort of doubt, the questions I shall put. Which of us twain, this + ruin-starred queen or I, is of higher stature?” + </p> + <p> + “She hath advantage in little of your Majesty,” bravely answered Angele. + </p> + <p> + “Then,” answered Elizabeth sourly, “she is too high, for I myself am + neither too high nor too low.... And of complexion, which is the fairer?” + </p> + <p> + “Her complexion is the fairer, but your Majesty’s countenance hath truer + beauty, and sweeter majesty.” Elizabeth frowned slightly, then said: + </p> + <p> + “What exercises did she take when you were at the Court?” + </p> + <p> + “Sometimes she hunted, your Majesty, and sometimes she played upon the + virginals.” + </p> + <p> + “Did she play to effect?” + </p> + <p> + “Reasonably, your noble Majesty.” + </p> + <p> + “You shall hear me play, and then speak truth upon us, for I have known + none with so true a tongue since my father died.” + </p> + <p> + Thereon she called to a lady who waited near in a little room to bring an + instrument; but at that moment Cecil appeared again at the door, and his + face seeming to show anxiety, Elizabeth, with a sigh, beckoned him to + enter. + </p> + <p> + “Your face, Cecil, is as long as a Lenten collect. What raven croaks in + England on May Day eve?” Cecil knelt before her, and gave into her hand a + paper. + </p> + <p> + “What record runs here?” she asked querulously. “A prayer of your faithful + Lords and Commons that your Majesty will grant speech with their chosen + deputies to lay before your Majesty a cause they have at heart.” + </p> + <p> + “Touching of—?” darkly asked the Queen. + </p> + <p> + “The deputies wait even now—will not your Majesty receive them? They + have come humbly, and will go hence as humbly on the instant, if the hour + is ill chosen.” + </p> + <p> + Immediately Elizabeth’s humour changed. A look of passion swept across her + face, but her eyes lighted, and her lips smiled proudly. She avoided + troubles by every means, fought off by subtleties the issues which she + must meet; but when the inevitable hour came none knew so well to meet it + as though it were a dearest friend, no matter what the danger, how great + the stake. + </p> + <p> + “They are here at my door, these good servants of the State—shall + they be kept dangling?” she said loudly. “Though it were time for prayers + and God’s mercy yet should they speak with me, have my counsel, or my hand + upon the sacred parchment of the State. Bring them hither, Cecil. Now we + shall see—Now you shall see, Angele of Rouen, now you shall see how + queens shall have no hearts to call their own, but be head and heart and + soul and body at the will of every churl who thinks he serves the State + and knows the will of Heaven. Stand here at my left hand. Mark the players + and the play.” + </p> + <p> + Kneeling, the deputies presented a resolution from the Lords and Commons + that the Queen should, without more delay, in keeping with her + oft-expressed resolve and the promise of her Council, appoint one who + should succeed to the throne in case of her death “without posterity.” Her + faithful people pleaded with her gracious Majesty to forego unwillingness + to marry and seek a consort worthy of her supreme consideration, to be + raised to a place beside her near that throne which she had made the + greatest in the world. + </p> + <p> + Gravely, solemnly, the chief members of the Lords and Commons spoke, and + with as weighty pauses and devoted protestations as though this were the + first time their plea had been urged, this obvious duty had been set out + before her. Long ago in the flush and pride of her extreme youth and the + full assurance of the fruits of marriage, they had spoken with the same + sober responsibility; and though her youth had gone and the old certainty + had for ever disappeared, they spoke of her marriage and its consequences + as though it were still that far-off yesterday. Well for them that they + did so, for though time had flown and royal suitors without number had + become figures dim in the people’s mind, Elizabeth, fed upon adulation, + invoked, admired, besieged by young courtiers, flattered by maids who + praised her beauty, had never seen the hands of the clock pass high noon, + and still remained under the dearest and saddest illusion which can rest + in a woman’s mind. Long after the hands of life’s clock had moved into + afternoon, the ancient prayer was still gravely presented that she should + marry and give an heir to England’s crown; and she as solemnly listened + and dropped her eyes, and strove to hide her virgin modesty behind a high + demeanour which must needs sink self in royal duty. + </p> + <p> + “These be the dear desires of your supreme Majesty’s faithful Lords and + Commons and the people of the shires whose wills they represent. Your + Majesty’s life, God grant it last beyond that of the youngest of your + people so greatly blessed in your rule! But accidents of time be many; and + while the world is full of guile, none can tell what peril may beset the + crown, if your Majesty’s wisdom sets not apart, gives not to her country, + one whom the nation can surround with its care, encompass lovingly by its + duty.” + </p> + <p> + The talk with Angele had had a curious influence upon the Queen. It was + plain that now she was moved by real feeling, and that, though she + deceived herself, or pretended so to do, shutting her eyes to sober facts, + and dreaming old dreams—as it were, in a world where never was a + mirror nor a timepiece—yet there was working in her a fresher + spirit, urging her to a fairer course than she had shaped for many a day. + </p> + <p> + “My lords and gentlemen and my beloved subjects,” she answered presently, + and for an instant set her eyes upon Angele, then turned to them again, “I + pray you stand and hear me.... Ye have spoken fair words to my face, and + of my face, and of the person of this daughter of great Henry, from whom I + got whatever grace or manner or favour is to me; and by all your reasoning + you do flatter the heart of the Queen of England, whose mind indeed sleeps + not in deed or desire for this realm. Ye have drawn a fair picture of this + mortal me, and though from the grace of the picture the colours may fade + by time, may give by weather, may be spoiled by chance, yet my loyal mind, + nor time with her swift wings shall overtake, nor the misty clouds may + darken, nor chance with her slippery foot may overthrow. It sets its + course by the heart of England, and when it passeth there shall be found + that one shall be left behind who shall be surety of all that hath been + lying in the dim warehouse of fate for England’s high future. Be sure that + in this thing I have entered into the weigh-house, and I hold the balance, + and ye shall be well satisfied. Ye have been fruitful in counsel, ye have + been long knitting a knot never tied, ye shall have comfort soon. But know + ye beyond peradventure that I have bided my time with good reason. If our + loom be framed with rotten hurdles, when our web is well-ny done, our work + is yet to begin. Against mischance and dark discoveries my mind, with + knowledge hidden from you, hath been firmly arrayed. If it be in your + thought that I am set against a marriage which shall serve the nation, + purge yourselves, friends, of that sort of heresy, for the belief is awry. + Though I think that to be one and always one, neither mated nor mothering, + be good for a private woman, for a prince it is not meet. Therefore, say + to my Lords and Commons that I am more concerned for what shall chance to + England when I am gone than to linger out my living thread. I hope, my + lords and gentlemen, to die with a good Nunc Dimittis, which could not be + if I did not give surety for the nation after my graved bones. Ye shall + hear soon—ye shall hear and be satisfied, and so I give you to the + care of Almighty God.” + </p> + <p> + Once more they knelt, and then slowly withdrew, with faces downcast and + troubled. They had secret knowledge which she did not yet possess, but + which at any moment she must know, and her ambiguous speech carried no + conviction to their minds. Yet their conference with her was most + opportune, for the news she must presently receive, brought by a messenger + from Scotland who had outstripped all others, would no doubt move her to + action which should set the minds of the people at rest, and go far to + stem the tide of conspiracy flowing through the kingdom. + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth stood watching them, and remained gazing after they had + disappeared; then rousing herself, she turned to leave the room, and + beckoned to Angele to follow. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII + </h2> + <p> + As twilight was giving place to night Angele was roused from the reverie + into which she had fallen, by the Duke’s Daughter, who whispered to her + that if she would have a pleasure given to but few, she would come + quickly. Taking her hand the Duke’s Daughter—as true and whimsical a + spirit as ever lived in troubled days and under the aegis of the sword-led + her swiftly to the Queen’s chamber. They did not enter, but waited in a + quiet gallery. + </p> + <p> + “The Queen is playing upon the virginals, and she playeth best when alone; + so stand you here by this tapestry, and you shall have pleasure beyond + payment,” said the Duke’s Daughter. + </p> + <p> + Angele had no thought that the Queen of her vanity had commanded that she + be placed there as though secretly, and she listened dutifully at first; + but presently her ears were ravished; and even the Duke’s Daughter showed + some surprise, for never had she heard the Queen play with such grace and + feeling. The countenance of the musician was towards them, and at last, as + though by accident, Elizabeth looked up and saw the face of her lady. + </p> + <p> + “Spy, spy,” she cried. “Come hither—come hither, all of you!” + </p> + <p> + When they had descended and knelt to her, she made as if she would punish + the Duke’s Daughter by striking her with a scarf that lay at her hand, but + to Angele she said: + </p> + <p> + “How think you then, hath that other greater skill—Darnley’s wife I + mean?” + </p> + <p> + “Not she or any other hath so delighted me,” said Angele, with worship in + her eyes—so doth talent given to majesty become lifted beyond its + measure. + </p> + <p> + The Queen’s eyes lighted. “We shall have dancing, then,” she said. “The + dance hath charms for me. We shall not deny our youth. The heart shall + keep as young as the body.” + </p> + <p> + An instant later the room was full of dancers, and Elizabeth gave her hand + to Leicester, who bent every faculty to pleasing her. His face had + darkened as he had seen Angele beside her, but the Queen’s graciousness, + whether assumed or real, had returned, and her face carried a look of + triumph and spirit and delight. Again and again she glanced towards + Angele, and what she saw evidently gave her pleasure, for she laughed and + disported herself with grace and an agreeable temper, and Leicester lent + himself to her spirit with adroit wit and humility. He had seen his + mistake of the morning, and was now intent to restore himself to favour. + </p> + <p> + He succeeded well, for the emotions roused in Elizabeth during the day, + now heightened by vanity and emulation, found in him a centre upon which + they could converge; and, in her mind, Angele, for the nonce, was + disassociated from any thought of De la Foret. Leicester’s undoubted gifts + were well and cautiously directed, and his talent of assumed passion—his + heart was facile, and his gallantry knew no bounds—was put to + dexterous use, convincing for the moment. The Queen seemed all + complaisance again. Presently she had Angele brought to her. + </p> + <p> + “How doth her dance compare-she who hath wedded Darnley?” + </p> + <p> + “She danceth not so high nor disposedly, with no such joyous lightness as + your high Majesty, but yet she moveth with circumspection.” + </p> + <p> + “Circumspection—circumspection, that is no gift in dancing, which + should be wilful yet airily composed, thoughtless yet inducing. + Circumspection!—in nothing else hath Mary shown it where she should. + ‘Tis like this Queen perversely to make a psalm of dancing, and then + pirouette with sacred duty. But you have spoken the truth, and I am well + content. So get you to your rest.” + </p> + <p> + She tapped Ange’le’s cheek. “You shall remain here to-night. ‘Tis too late + for you to be sent abroad.” She was about to dismiss her, when there was a + sudden stir. Cecil had entered and was making his way to the Queen, + followed by two strangers. Elizabeth waited their approach. + </p> + <p> + “Your gracious Majesty,” said Cecil, in a voice none heard save Elizabeth, + for all had fallen back at a wave of her hand, “the Queen of Scots is the + mother of a fair son.” + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth’s face flushed, then became pale, and she struck her knee with + her clinched hand. “Who bringeth the news?” she inquired in a sharp voice. + </p> + <p> + “Sir Andrew Melvill here.” + </p> + <p> + “Who is with him yonder?” + </p> + <p> + “One who hath been attached to the Queen of Scots.” + </p> + <p> + “He hath the ill look of such an one,” she answered, and then said below + her breath bitterly: “She hath a son—and I am but a barren stock.” + </p> + <p> + Rising, she added hurriedly: “We will speak to the people at the May Day + sports to-morrow. Let there be great feasting.” + </p> + <p> + She motioned to Sir Andrew Melvill to come forward, and with a gesture of + welcome and a promise of speech with him on the morrow she dismissed them. + </p> + <p> + Since the two strangers had entered, Angele’s eyes had been fastened on + the gentleman who accompanied Sir Andrew Melvill. Her first glance at him + had sent a chill through her, and she remained confused and disturbed. In + vain her memory strove to find where the man was set in her past. The + time, the place, the event eluded her, but a sense of foreboding possessed + her; and her eyes followed him with strained anxiety as he retired from + the presence. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII + </h2> + <p> + As had been arranged when Lempriere challenged Leicester, they met soon + after dawn among the trees beside the Thames. A gentleman of the court, to + whom the Duke’s Daughter had previously presented Lempriere, gaily agreed + to act as second, and gallantly attended the lord of Rozel in his + adventurous enterprise. There were few at Court who had not some grudge + against Leicester, few who would not willingly have done duty at such a + time; for Leicester’s friends were of fair-weather sort, ready to defend + him, to support him, not for friendship but for the crumbs that dropped + from the table of his power. The favourite himself was attended by the + Earl of Ealing, a youngster who had his spurs to win, who thought it + policy to serve the great time-server. Two others also came. + </p> + <p> + It was a morning little made for deeds of rancour or of blood. As they + passed, the early morning mists above the green fields of Kent and Essex + were being melted by the summer sun. The smell of ripening fruit came on + them with pungent sweetness, their feet crashed odorously through clumps + of tiger-lilies, and the dew on the ribbon-grass shook glistening drops + upon their velvets. Overhead the carolling of the thrush came swimming + recklessly through the trees, and far over in the fields the ploughmen + started upon the heavy courses of their labour; while here and there + poachers with bows and arrows slid through the green undergrowth, like + spies hovering on an army’s flank. + </p> + <p> + To Lempriere the morning carried no impression save that life was well + worth living. No agitation passed across his nerves, no apprehension + reached his mind. He had no imagination; he loved the things that his eyes + saw because they filled him with enjoyment; but why they were, or whence + they came, or what they meant or boded, never gave him meditation. A vast + epicurean, a consummate egotist, ripe with feeling and rich with energy, + he could not believe that when he spoke the heavens would not fall. The + stinging sweetness of the morning was a tonic to all his energies, an + elation to his mind; he swaggered through the lush grasses and boskage as + though marching to a marriage. + </p> + <p> + Leicester, on his part, no more caught at the meaning of the morning, at + the long whisper of enlivened nature, than did his foe. The day gave to + him no more than was his right. If the day was not fine, then Leicester + was injured; but if the day was fine, then Leicester had his due. Moral + blindness made him blind for the million deep teachings trembling round + him. He felt only the garish and the splendid. So it was that at + Kenilworth, where his Queen had visited him, the fetes that he had held + would far outshine the fete which would take place in Greenwich Park on + this May Day. The fete of this May Day would take place, but would he see + it? The thought flashed through his mind that he might not; but he trod it + under foot; not through an inborn, primitive egotism like that of + Lempriere, but through an innate arrogance, an unalterable belief that + Fate was ever on his side. He had played so many tricks with Fate, had + mocked while taking its gifts so often, that, like the son who has flouted + his indulgent father through innumerable times, he conceived that he + should never be disinherited. It irked him that he should be fighting with + a farmer, as he termed the Seigneur of the Jersey Isle; but there was in + the event, too, a sense of relief, for he had a will for murder. + Yesterday’s events were still fresh in his mind; and he had a feeling that + the letting of Lempriere’s blood would cool his own and be some cure for + the choler which the presence of these strangers at the Court had wrought + in him. + </p> + <p> + There were better swordsmen in England than he, but his skill was various, + and he knew tricks of the trade which this primitive Norman could never + have learnt. He had some touch of wit, some biting observation, and, as he + neared the place of the encounter, he played upon the coming event with a + mordant frivolity. Not by nature a brave man, he was so much a fatalist, + such a worshipper of his star, that he had acquired an artificial courage + which had served him well. The unschooled gentlemen with him roared with + laughter at his sallies, and they came to the place of meeting as though + to a summer feast. + </p> + <p> + “Good-morrow, nobility,” said Leicester with courtesy overdone, and bowing + much too low. “Good-morrow, valentine,” answered Lempriere, flushing + slightly at the disguised insult, and rising to the moment. + </p> + <p> + “I hear the crop of fools is short this year in Jersey, and through no + fault of yours—you’ve done your best most loyally,” jeered + Leicester, as he doffed his doublet, his gentlemen laughing in derision. + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis true enough, my lord, and I have come to find new seed in England, + where are fools to spare; as I trust in Heaven one shall be spared on this + very day for planting yonder.” + </p> + <p> + He was eaten with rage, but he was cool and steady. + </p> + <p> + He was now in his linen and small clothes and looked like some untrained + Hercules. + </p> + <p> + “Well said, nobility,” laughed Leicester with an ugly look. “‘Tis seed + time—let us measure out the seed. On guard!” + </p> + <p> + Never were two men such opposites, never two so seemingly ill-matched. + Leicester’s dark face and its sardonic look, his lithe figure, the nervous + strength of his bearing, were in strong contrast to the bulking breadth, + the perspiring robustness of Lempriere of Rozel. It was not easy of belief + that Lempriere should be set to fight this toreador of a fighting Court. + But there they stood, Lempriere’s face with a great-eyed gravity looming + above his rotund figure like a moon above a purple cloud. But huge and + loose though the Seigneur’s motions seemed, he was as intent as though + there were but two beings in the universe, Leicester and himself. A + strange alertness seemed to be upon him, and, as Leicester found when the + swords crossed, he was quicker than his bulk gave warrant. His perfect + health made his vision sure; and, though not a fine swordsman, he had done + much fighting in his time, had been ever ready for the touch of steel; and + had served some warlike days in fighting France, where fate had well + befriended him. That which Leicester meant should be by-play of a moment + became a full half-hour’s desperate game. Leicester found that the thrust—the + fatal thrust learned from an Italian master—he meant to give, was + met by a swift precision, responding to quick vision. Again and again he + would have brought the end, but Lempriere heavily foiled him. The wound + which the Seigneur got at last, meant to be mortal, was saved from that by + the facility of a quick apprehension. Indeed, for a time the issue had + seemed doubtful, for the endurance and persistence of the Seigneur made + for exasperation and recklessness in his antagonist, and once blood was + drawn from the wrist of the great man; but at length Lempriere went upon + the aggressive. Here he erred, for Leicester found the chance for which he + had manoeuvred—to use the feint and thrust got out of Italy. He + brought his enemy low, but only after a duel the like of which had never + been seen at the Court of England. The toreador had slain his bull at + last, but had done no justice to his reputation. Never did man more + gallantly sustain his honour with heaviest odds against him than did the + Seigneur of Rozel that day. + </p> + <p> + As he was carried away by the merry gentlemen of the Court, he called back + to the favourite: + </p> + <p> + “Leicester is not so great a swordsman after all. Hang fast to your + honours by the skin of your teeth, my lord.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV + </h2> + <p> + It was Monday, and the eyes of London and the Court were turned towards + Greenwich Park, where the Queen was to give entertainment to the French + Envoy who had come once more to urge upon the Queen marriage with a son of + the Medici, and to obtain an assurance that she would return to France the + widow of the great Montgomery and his valiant lieutenant, Michel de la + Foret. The river was covered with boats and barges, festooned, canopied, + and hung with banners and devices; and from sunrise music and singing + conducted down the stream the gaily dressed populace—for those were + the days when a man spent on his ruff and his hose and his russet coat as + much as would feed and house a family for a year; when the fine-figured + ruflier with sables about his neck, corked slipper, trimmed buskin, and + cloak of silk or damask furred, carried his all upon his back. + </p> + <p> + Loud-voiced gallants came floating by; men of a hundred guilds bearing + devices pompously held on their way to the great pageant; country bumpkins + up from Surrey roystered and swore that there was but one land that God + had blessed, and challenged the grinning watermen from Gravesend and + Hampton Court to deny it; and the sun with ardour drove from the sky every + invading cloud, leaving Essex and Kent as far as eye could see perfect + green gardens of opulence. + </p> + <p> + Before Elizabeth had left her bed, London had emptied itself into + Greenwich Park. Thither the London Companies had come in their varied + dazzling accoutrements—hundreds armed in fine corselets bearing the + long Moorish pike; tall halberdiers in the unique armour called + Almainrivets, and gunners or muleteers equipped in shirts of mail with + morions or steel caps. Here too were to come the Gentlemen Pensioners, + resplendent in scarlet, to “run with the spear;” and hundreds of + men-at-arms were set at every point to give garish bravery to all. + Thousands of citizens, openmouthed, gazed down the long arenas of green + festooned with every sort of decoration and picturesque invention. Cages + of large birds from the Indies, fruits, corn, fishes, grapes, hung in the + trees, players perched in the branches discoursed sweet music, and poets + recited their verses from rustic bridges or on platforms with weapons and + armour hung trophy-wise on ragged staves. Upon a small lake a dolphin + four-and-twenty feet in length came swimming, within its belly a lively + orchestra; Italian tumblers swung from rope to bar; and crowds gathered at + the places where bear and bull-baiting were to excite the none too + fastidious tastes of the time. + </p> + <p> + All morning the gay delights went on, and at high noon the cry was carried + from mouth to mouth: “The Queen! The Queen!” + </p> + <p> + She appeared on a balcony surrounded by her lords and ladies, and there + received the diplomatists, speaking at length to the French Envoy in a + tone of lightness and elusive cheerfulness which he was at a loss to + understand and tried in vain to pierce by cogent remarks bearing on + matters of moment involved in his embassage. Not far away stood Leicester, + but the Queen had done no more than note his presence by a glance, and now + and again with ostentatious emphasis she spoke to Angele, whom she had had + brought to her in the morning before chapel-going. Thus early, after a few + questions and some scrutiny, she had sent her in charge of a + gentleman-at-arms and a maid of the Duke’s Daughter to her father’s + lodging, with orders to change her robe, to return to the palace in good + time before noon, and to bring her father to a safe place where he could + watch the pleasures of the people. When Angele came to the presence again + she saw that the Queen was wearing a gown of pure white with the sleeves + shot with black, such as she herself had worn when admitted to audience + yesterday. Vexed, agitated, embittered as Elizabeth had been by the news + brought to her the night before, she had kept her wardrobers and + seamstresses at work the whole night to alter a white satin habit to the + simplicity and style of that which Angele had worn. + </p> + <p> + “What think you of my gown, my lady refugee?” she said to Angele at last, + as the Gentlemen Pensioners paraded in the space below, followed by the + Knights Tilters—at their head the Queen’s Champion, Sir Henry Lee: + twenty-five of the most gallant and favoured of the courtiers of + Elizabeth, including the gravest of her counsellors and the youngest + gallant who had won her smile, Master Christopher Hatton. Some of these + brave suitors, taken from the noblest families, had appeared in the + tilt-yard every anniversary of the year of her accession, and had lifted + their romantic office, which seemed but the service of enamoured knights, + into an almost solemn dignity. + </p> + <p> + The vast crowd disposed itself around the great improvised yard where the + Knights Tilters were to engage, and the Queen, followed by her retinue, + descended to the dais which had been set up near the palace. Her white + satin gown, roped with pearls only at the neck and breast, glistened in + the bright sun, and her fair hair took on a burnished radiance. As Angele + passed with her in the gorgeous procession, she could not but view the + scene with admiring eye, albeit her own sweet sober attire, a pearly grey, + seemed little in keeping; for the ladies and lords were most richly + attired, and the damask and satin cloaks, crimson velvet gowns, silk + hoods, and jewelled swords and daggers made a brave show. She was like + some moth in a whorl of butterflies. + </p> + <p> + Her face was pale, and her eye had a curious disturbed look, as though + they had seen frightening things. The events of last evening had tried her + simple spirit, and she shrank from this glittering show; but the knowledge + that her lover’s life was in danger, and that her happiness was here and + now at stake, held her bravely to her place, beset as it was with peril; + for the Queen, with that eccentricity which had lifted her up yesterday, + might cast her down to-day, and she had good reason to fear the power and + influence of Leicester, whom she knew with a sure instinct was intent on + Michel’s ruin. Behind all her nervous shrinking and her heart’s doubt, the + memory of the face of the stranger she had seen last night with Sir Andrew + Melvill tortured her. She could not find the time and place where she had + seen the eyes that, in the palace, had filled her with mislike and + abhorrence as they looked upon the Queen. Again and again in her fitful + sleep had she dreamt of him, and a sense of foreboding was heavy upon her—she + seemed to hear the footfall of coming disaster. The anxiety of her soul + lent an unnatural brightness to her eyes; so that more than one enamoured + courtier made essay to engage her in conversation, and paid her + deferential compliment when the Queen’s eyes were not turned her way. Come + to the dais, she was placed not far from her Majesty, beside the Duke’s + Daughter, whose whimsical nature found frequent expression in what the + Queen was wont to call “a merry volt.” She seemed a privileged person, + with whom none ventured to take liberties, and against whom none was + entitled to bear offence, for her quips were free from malice, and her + ingenuity in humour of mark. She it was who had put into the Queen’s head + that morning an idea which was presently to startle Angele and all others. + </p> + <p> + Leicester was riding with the Knights Tilters, and as they cantered + lightly past the dais, trailing their spears in obeisance, Elizabeth + engaged herself in talk with Cecil, who was standing near, and appeared + not to see the favourite. This was the first time since he had mounted to + good fortune that she had not thrown him a favour to pick up with his + spear and wear in her honour, and he could scarce believe that she had + meant to neglect him. He half halted, but she only deigned an inclination + of the head, and he spurred his horse angrily on with a muttered + imprecation, yet, to all seeming, gallantly paying homage. + </p> + <p> + “There shall be doings ere this day is done. ‘Beware the Gipsy’!” said the + Duke’s Daughter in a low tone to Angele, and she laughed lightly. + </p> + <p> + “Who is the Gipsy?” asked Angele, with good suspicion, however. + </p> + <p> + “Who but Leicester,” answered the other. “Is he not black enough?” + </p> + <p> + “Why was he so called? Who put the name upon Who but the Earl of Sussex as + he died—as noble a chief, as true a counsellor as ever spoke truth + to a Queen. But truth is not all at Court, and Sussex was no flatterer. + Leicester bowed under the storm for a moment when Sussex showed him in his + true colours; but Sussex had no gift of intrigue, the tide turned, and so + he broke his heart, and died. But he left a message which I sometimes + remember with my collects. ‘I am now passing to another world,’ said he, + ‘and must leave you to your fortunes and to the Queen’s grace and + goodness; but beware the Gipsy, for he will be too hard for all of you; + you know not the beast so well as I do.’ But my Lord Sussex was wrong. One + there is who knows him through and through, and hath little joy in the + knowing.” + </p> + <p> + The look in the eyes of the Duke’s Daughter became like steel and her + voice hardened, and Angele realised that Leicester had in this beautiful + and delicate maid-of-honour as bitter an enemy as ever brought down the + mighty from their seats; that a pride had been sometime wounded, suffered + an unwarrantable affront, which only innocence could feel so acutely. Her + heart went out to the Duke’s Daughter as it had never gone out to any of + her sex since her mother’s death, and she showed her admiration in her + glance. The other saw it and smiled, slipping a hand in hers for a moment; + and then a look, half-debating, half-triumphant, came into her face as her + eyes followed Leicester down the green stretches of the tilting-yard. + </p> + <p> + The trumpet sounded, the people broke out in shouts of delight, the + tilting began. For an hour the handsome joust went on, the Earl of Oxford, + Charles Howard, Sir Henry Lee, Sir Christopher Hatton, and Leicester + challenging, and so even was the combat that victory seemed to settle in + the plumes of neither, though Leicester of them all showed not the + greatest skill, while in some regards greatest grace and deportment. + Suddenly there rode into the lists, whence, no one seemed to know, so + intent had the public gaze been fixed, so quickly had he come, a mounted + figure all in white, and at the moment when Sir Henry Lee had cried aloud + his challenge for the last time. Silence fell as the bright figure + cantered down the list, lifted the gauge, and sat still upon his black + steed. Consternation fell. None among the people or the Knights Tilters + knew who the invader was, and Leicester called upon the Masters of the + Ceremonies to demand his name and quality. The white horseman made no + reply, but sat unmoved, while noise and turmoil suddenly sprang up around + him. + </p> + <p> + Presently the voice of the Queen was heard clearly ringing through the + lists. “His quality hath evidence. Set on.” + </p> + <p> + The Duke’s Daughter laughed, and whispered mischievously in Angele’s ear. + </p> + <p> + The gentlemen of England fared ill that day in the sight of all the + people, for the challenger of the Knights Tilters was more than a match + for each that came upon him. He rode like a wild horseman of Yucatan. + Wary, resourceful, sudden in device and powerful in onset, he bore all + down, until the Queen cried: “There hath not been such skill in England + since my father rode these lists. Three of my best gentlemen down, and it + hath been but breathing to him. Now, Sir Harry Lee, it is thy turn,” she + laughed as she saw the champion ride forward; “and next ‘tis thine, + Leicester. Ah, Leicester would have at him now!” she added sharply, as she + saw the favourite spur forward before the gallant Lee. “He is full of + choler—it becomes him, but it shall not be; bravery is not all. And + if he failed”—she smiled acidly—“he would get him home to + Kenilworth and show himself no more—if he failed, and the White + Knight failed not! What think you, dove?” she cried to the Duke’s + Daughter. “Would he not fall in the megrims for that England’s honour had + been over thrown? Leicester could not live if England’s honour should be + toppled down like our dear Chris Hatton and his gallants yonder.” + </p> + <p> + The Duke’s Daughter curtsied. “Methinks England’s honour is in little + peril—your Majesty knows well how to ‘fend it. No subject keeps it.” + </p> + <p> + “If I must ‘fend it, dove, then Leicester there must not fight to-day. It + shall surely be Sir Harry Lee. My Lord Leicester must have the place of + honour at the last,” she called aloud. Leicester swung his horse round and + galloped to the Queen. + </p> + <p> + “Your Majesty,” he cried in suppressed anger, “must I give place?” + </p> + <p> + “When all have failed and Leicester has won, then all yield place to + Leicester,” said the Queen drily. The look on his face was not good to + see, but he saluted gravely and rode away to watch the encounter between + the most gallant Knight Tilter in England and the stranger. Rage was in + his heart, and it blinded him to the certainty of his defeat, for he was + not expert in the lists. But by a sure instinct he had guessed the + identity of the White Horseman, and every nerve quivered with desire to + meet him in combat. Last night’s good work seemed to have gone for naught. + Elizabeth’s humour had changed; and to-day she seemed set on humiliating + him before the nobles who hated him, before the people who had found in + him the cause why the Queen had not married, so giving no heir to the + throne. Perturbed and charged with anger as he was, however, the combat + now forward soon chained his attention. Not in many a year had there been + seen in England such a display of skill and determination. The veteran + Knight Tilter, who knew that the result of this business meant more than + life to him, and that more than the honour of his comrades was at stake—even + the valour of England which had been challenged—fought as he had + never fought before, as no man had fought in England for many a year. At + first the people cried aloud their encouragement; but as onset and attack + after onset and attack showed that two masters of their craft, two + desperate men, had met, and that the great sport had become a vital combat + between their own champion and the champion of another land—Spain, + France, Denmark, Russia, Italy?—a hush spread over the great space, + and every eye was strained; men gazed with bated breath. + </p> + <p> + The green turf was torn and mangled, the horses reeked with sweat and + foam, but overhead the soaring skylark sang, as it were, to express the + joyance of the day. During many minutes the only sound that broke the + stillness was the clash of armed men, the thud of hoofs, and the snorting + and the wild breathing of the chargers. The lark’s notes, however, ringing + out over the lists freed the tongue of the Queen’s fool, who suddenly ran + out into the lists, in his motley and cap and bells, and in his high + trilling voice sang a fool’s song to the fighting twain: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Who would lie down and close his eyes + While yet the lark sings o’er the dale? + Who would to Love make no replies, + Nor drink the nut-brown ale, + While throbs the pulse, and full ‘s the purse + And all the world ‘s for sale?” + </pre> + <p> + Suddenly a cry of relief, of roaring excitement, burst from the people. + Both horsemen and their chargers were on the ground. The fight was over, + the fierce game at an end. That which all had feared, even the Queen + herself, as the fight fared on, had not come to pass—England’s + champion had not been beaten by the armed mystery, though the odds had + seemed against him. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Though wintry blasts may prove unkind, + When winter’s past we do forget; + Love’s breast in summer time is kind, + And all ‘s well while life ‘s with us yet + Hey, ho, now the lark is mating, + Life’s sweet wages are in waiting!” + </pre> + <p> + Thus sang the fool as the two warriors were helped to their feet. Cumbered + with their armour, and all dust-covered and blood-stained, though not + seriously hurt, they were helped to their horses, and rode to the dais + where the Queen sat. + </p> + <p> + “Ye have fought like men of old,” she said, “and neither had advantage at + the last. England’s champion still may cry his challenge and not be + forsworn, and he who challenged goeth in honour again from the lists. You, + sir, who have challenged, shall we not see your face or hear your voice? + For what country, for what prince lifted you the gauge and challenged + England’s honour?” + </p> + <p> + “I crave your high Majesty’s pardon”—Angele’s heart stood still. Her + love had not pierced his disguise, though Leicester’s hate had done so on + the instant—“I crave your noble Majesty’s grace,” answered the + stranger, “that I may still keep my face covered in humility. My voice + speaks for no country and for no prince. I have fought for mine own + honour, and to prove to England’s Queen that she hath a champion who + smiteth with strong arm, as on me and my steed this hath been seen + to-day.” + </p> + <p> + “Gallantly thought and well said,” answered Elizabeth; “but England’s + champion and his strong arm have no victory. If gifts were given they must + needs be cut in twain. But answer me, what is your country? I will not + have it that any man pick up the gauge of England for his own honour. What + is your country? + </p> + <p> + “I am an exile, your high Majesty; and the only land for which I raise my + sword this day is that land where I have found safety from my enemies.” + </p> + <p> + The Queen turned and smiled at the Duke’s Daughter. “I knew not where my + own question might lead, but he hath turned it to full account,” she said, + under her breath. “His tongue is as ready as his spear. Then ye have both + laboured in England’s honour, and I drink to you both,” she added, and + raised to her lips a glass of wine which a page presented. “I love ye both—in + your high qualities,” she hastened to add with dry irony, and her eye + rested mockingly on Leicester. + </p> + <p> + “My lords and gentlemen and all of my kingdom,” she added in a clear + voice, insistent in its force, “ye have come upon May Day to take delight + of England in my gardens, and ye are welcome. Ye have seen such a sight as + doeth good to the eyes of brave men. It hath pleased me well, and I am + constrained to say to you what, for divers great reasons, I have kept to + my own counsels, labouring for your good. The day hath come, however, the + day and the hour when ye shall know that wherein I propose to serve you as + ye well deserve. It is my will—and now I see my way to its good + fulfilment—that I remain no longer in that virgin state wherein I + have ever lived.” + </p> + <p> + Great cheering here broke in, and for a time she could get no further. + Ever alive to the bent of the popular mind, she had chosen a perfect + occasion to take them into her confidence—however little or much she + would abide by her words, or intended the union of which she spoke. In the + past she had counselled with her great advisers, with Cecil and the rest, + and through them messages were borne to the people; but now she spoke + direct to them all, and it had its immediate reward—the acclamations + were as those with which she was greeted when she first passed through the + streets of London on inheriting the crown. + </p> + <p> + Well pleased, she continued: “This I will do with expedition and + weightiest judgment, for of little account though I am, he that sits with + the Queen of England in this realm must needs be a prince indeed.... So be + ye sure of this that ye shall have your heart-most wishes, and there shall + be one to come after me who will wear this crown even as I have worn, in + direct descent, my father’s crown. Our dearest sister, the Queen of the + Scots, hath been delivered of a fair son; and in high affection the news + thereof she hath sent me, with a palfry which I shall ride among you in + token of the love I bear her Majesty. She hath in her time got an heir to + the throne with which we are ever in kinship and alliance, and I in my + time shall give ye your heart’s desire.” + </p> + <p> + Angele, who had, with palpitating heart and swimming head, seen Michel de + la Foret leave the lists and disappear among the trees, as mysteriously as + he came, was scarce conscious of the cheers and riotous delight that + followed Elizabeth’s tactful if delusive speech to the people. A few + whispered words from the Duke’s Daughter had told her that Michel had + obeyed the Queen’s command in entering the lists and taking up the + challenge; and that she herself, carrying the royal message to him and + making arrangements for his accoutrement and mounting, had urged him to + obedience. She observed drily that he had needed little pressure, and that + his eyes had lighted at the prospect of the combat. Apart from his innate + love of fighting, he had realised that in the moment of declining to enter + the Queen’s service he had been at a disadvantage, and that his courage + was open to attack by the incredulous or malicious. This would have + mattered little were it not that he had been given unusual importance as a + prisoner by the Queen’s personal notice of himself. He had, therefore, + sprung to the acceptance, and sent his humble duty to the Queen by her + winsome messenger, who, with conspicuous dramatic skill, had arranged + secretly, with the help of a Gentleman Pensioner and the Master of the + Horse, his appearance and his exit. That all succeeded as she had planned + quickened her pulses, and made her heart still warmer to Angele, who, now + that all was over, and her Huguenot lover had gone his mysterious ways, + seemed lost in a troubled reverie. + </p> + <p> + It was a troubled reverie indeed, for Angele’s eyes were on the stranger + who was present with Sir Andrew Melvill the night before. Her gaze upon + him now became fixed and insistent, for the sense of foreboding so heavy + on her deepened to a torturing suspense. Where had she seen this man + before? To what day or hour in her past did he belong? What was there in + his smooth, smiling, malicious face that made her blood run cold? As she + watched him, he turned his head. She followed his eyes. The horse which + Mary Queen of Scots had sent with the message of the birth of her son was + being led to the Queen by the dark browed, pale-faced churl who had + brought it from Scotland. She saw a sharp dark look pass between the two. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly her sight swam, she swayed and would have fainted, but resolution + steadied her, and a low exclamation broke from her lips. Now she knew! + </p> + <p> + The face that had eluded her was at last in the grasp of horrified memory. + It was the face of one who many years ago was known to have poisoned the + Due de Chambly by anointing the pommel of his saddle with a delicate + poison which the rider would touch, and touching would, perhaps, carry to + his nostrils or mouth as he rode, and die upon the instant. She herself + had seen the Due de Chambly fall; had seen this man fly from Paris for his + life; and had thereafter known of his return to favour at the court of + Mary and Francis, for nothing could be proved against him. The memory + flashed like lightning through her brain. She moved swiftly forward + despite the detaining hand of the Duke’s Daughter. The Queen was already + mounted, her hand already upon the pommel of the saddle. + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth noted the look of anguished anxiety in Angele’s eyes, her face + like that of one who had seen souls in purgatory; and some swift instinct, + born of years upon years of peril in old days when her life was no boon to + her enemies, made her lean towards the girl, whose quick whispered words + were to her as loud as thunder. She was, however, composed and still. Not + a tremor passed through her. + </p> + <p> + “Your wish is granted, mistress,” she said aloud, then addressed a word to + Cecil at her side, who passed on her command. Presently she turned slowly + to the spot where Sir Andrew Melvill and the other sat upon their horses. + She scanned complacently the faces of both, then her eyes settled steadily + on the face of the murderer. Still gazing intently she drew the back of + her gloved fingers along the pommel. The man saw the motion, unnoted and + unsignificant to any other save Angele, meaningless even to Melvill, the + innocent and honest gentleman at his side; and he realised that the Queen + had had a warning. Noting the slight stir among the gentlemen round him, + he knew that his game was foiled, that there was no escape. He was not + prepared for what followed. + </p> + <p> + In a voice to be heard only at small distance, the Queen said calmly: + </p> + <p> + “This palfry sent me by my dear sister of Scotland shall bear me among + you, friends; and in days to come I will remember how she hath given new + life to me by her loving message. Sir Andrew Melvill, I shall have further + speech with you; and you, sir,”—speaking to the sinister figure by + his side—“come hither.” + </p> + <p> + The man dismounted, and with unsteady step came forward. Elizabeth held + out her gloved hand for him to kiss. His face turned white. It was come + soon, his punishment. None knew save Angele and the Queen the doom that + was upon him, if Angele’s warning was well-founded. He knelt, and bent his + head over her hand. + </p> + <p> + “Salute, sir,” she said in a low voice. + </p> + <p> + He touched his lips to her fingers. She pressed them swiftly against his + mouth. An instant, then he rose and stepped backwards to his horse. + Tremblingly, blindly, he mounted. + </p> + <p> + A moment passed, then Elizabeth rode on with her ladies behind her, her + gentlemen beside her. As she passed slowly, the would-be regicide swayed + and fell from his horse, and stirred no more. + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth rode on, her hand upon the pommel of the saddle. So she rode for + a full half-hour, and came back to her palace. But she raised not her + gloved right hand above the pommel, and she dismounted with exceeding + care. + </p> + <p> + That night the man who cared for the horse died secretly as had done his + master, with the Queen’s glove pressed to his nostrils by one whom Cecil + could trust. And the matter was hidden from the Court and the people; for + it was given out that Melvill’s friend had died of some heart trouble. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV + </h2> + <p> + It seemed an unspeakable smallness in a man of such high place in the + State, whose hand had tied and untied myriad knots of political and court + intrigue, that he should stoop to a game which any pettifogging hanger-on + might play-and reap scorn in the playing. By insidious arts, Leicester had + in his day turned the Queen’s mind to his own will; had foiled the + diplomacy of the Spaniard, the German and the Gaul; had by subterranean + means checkmated the designs of the Medici; had traced his way through + plot and counter-plot, hated by most, loved by none save, maybe, his Royal + mistress to whom he was now more a custom than a cherished friend. Year + upon year he had built up his influence. None had championed him save + himself, and even from the consequences of rashness and folly he had risen + to a still higher place in the kingdom. But such as Leicester are ever at + last a sacrifice to the laborious means by which they achieve their + greatest ends-means contemptible and small. + </p> + <p> + To the great intriguers every little detail, every commonplace + insignificance is used—and must be used by them alone—to + further their dark causes. They cannot trust their projects to brave + lieutenants, to faithful subordinates. They cannot say, “Here is the end; + this is the work to be done; upon your shoulders be the burden!” They must + “stoop to conquer.” Every miserable detail becomes of moment, until + by-and-by the art of intrigue and conspiracy begins to lose proportion in + their minds. The detail has ever been so important, conspiracy so much + second nature, that they must needs be intriguing and conspiring when the + occasion is trifling and the end negligible. + </p> + <p> + To all intriguers life has lost romance; there is no poem left in nature; + no ideal, personal, public or national, detains them in its wholesome + influence; no great purpose allures them; they have no causes for which to + die—save themselves. They are so honeycombed with insincerity and + the vice of thought, that by-and-by all colours are as one, all pathways + the same; because, whichever hue of light breaks upon their world they see + it through the grey-cloaked mist of falsehood; and whether the path be + good or bad they would still walk in it crookedly. How many men and women + Leicester had tracked or lured to their doom; over how many men and women + he had stepped to his place of power, history speaks not carefully; but + the traces of his deeds run through a thousand archives, and they suggest + plentiful sacrifices to a subverted character. + </p> + <p> + Favourite of a Queen, he must now stoop to set a trap for the ruin of as + simple a soul as ever stepped upon the soil of England; and his dark + purposes had not even the excuse of necessity on the one hand, of love or + passion on the other. An insane jealousy of the place the girl had won in + the consideration of the Queen, of her lover who, he thought, had won a + still higher place in the same influence, was his only motive for action + at first. His cruelty was not redeemed even by the sensuous interest the + girl might arouse in a reckless nature by her beauty and her charm. + </p> + <p> + So the great Leicester—the Gipsy, as the dead Sussex had called him—lay + in wait in Greenwich Park for Angele to pass, like some orchard thief in + the blossoming trees. Knowing the path by which she would come to her + father’s cottage from the palace, he had placed himself accordingly. He + had thought he might have to wait long or come often for the perfect + opportunity; but it seemed as if Fate played his game for him, and that + once again the fruit he would pluck should fall into his palm. + Bright-eyed, and elated from a long talk with the Duke’s Daughter, who had + given her a message from the Queen, Angele had abstractedly taken the + wrong path in the wood. Leicester saw that it would lead her into the maze + some distance off. Making a detour, he met her at the moment she + discovered her mistake. The light from the royal word her friend had + brought was still in her face; but it was crossed by perplexity now. + </p> + <p> + He stood still as though astonished at seeing her, a smile upon his face. + So perfectly did he play his part that she thought the meeting accidental; + and though in her heart she had a fear of the man and knew how bitter an + enemy he was of Michel’s, his urbane power, his skilful diplomacy of + courtesy had its way. These complicated lives, instinct with + contradiction, have the interest of forbidden knowledge. The dark + experiences of life leave their mark and give such natures that touch of + mystery which allures even those who have high instincts and true + feelings, as one peeps over a hidden depth and wonders what lies beyond + the dark. So Angele, suddenly arrested, was caught by the sense of mystery + in the man, by the fascination of finesse, of dark power; and it was + womanlike that all on an instant she should dream of the soul of goodness + in things evil. + </p> + <p> + Thus in life we are often surprised out of long years of prejudice, and + even of dislike and suspicion, by some fortuitous incident, which might + have chanced to two who had every impulse towards each other, not such + antagonisms as lay between Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and this + Huguenot refugee. She had every cue to hate hum. Each moment of her life + in England had been beset with peril because of him-peril to the man she + loved, therefore peril to herself. And yet, so various is the nature of + woman, that, while steering straitly by one star, she levies upon the + light of other stars. Faithful and sincere, yet loving power, curious and + adventurous, she must needs, without intention, without purpose, stray + into perilous paths. + </p> + <p> + As Leicester stepped suddenly into Angele’s gaze, she was only, as it + were, conscious of a presence in itself alluring by virtue of the history + surrounding it. She was surprised out of an instinctive dislike, and the + cue she had to loathe him was for the moment lost. + </p> + <p> + Unconsciously, unintentionally, she smiled at him now, then, realising, + retreated, shrinking from him, her face averted. Man or woman had found in + Leicester the delicate and intrepid gamester, exquisite in the choice of + detail, masterful in the breadth of method. And now, as though his whole + future depended on this interview, he brought to bear a life-long skill to + influence her. He had determined to set the Queen against her. He did not + know—not even he—that she had saved the Queen’s life on that + auspicious May Day when Harry Lee had fought the white knight Michel de la + Foret and halved the honours of the lists with him. If he had but known + that the Queen had hid from him this fact—this vital thing touching + herself and England, he would have viewed his future with a vaster + distrust. But there could be no surer sign of Elizabeth’s growing coldness + and intended breach than that she had hid from him the dreadful incident + of the poisoned glove, and the swift execution of the would-be murderer, + and had made Cecil her only confidant. But he did know that Elizabeth + herself had commanded Michel de la Foret to the lists; and his mad + jealousy impelled him to resort to a satanic cunning towards these two + fugitives, who seemed to have mounted within a few short days as far as + had he in thrice as many years to a high place in the regard of the + Majesty of England. + </p> + <p> + To disgrace them both; to sow distrust of the girl in the Queen’s mind; to + make her seem the opposite of what she was; to drop in her own mind + suspicion of her lover; to drive her to some rash act, some challenge of + the Queen herself—that was his plan. He knew how little Elizabeth’s + imperious spirit would brook any challenge from this fearless girl + concerning De la Foret. But to convince her that the Queen favoured Michel + in some shadowed sense, that De la Foret was privy to a dark compact—so + deep a plot was all worthy of a larger end. He had well inspired the Court + of France through its ambassador to urge the Medici to press actively and + bitterly for De la Foret’s return to France and to the beheading sword + that waited for him; and his task had been made light by international + difficulties, which made the heart of Elizabeth’s foreign policy + friendship with France and an alliance against Philip of Spain. She had, + therefore, opened up, even in the past few days, negotiations once again + for the long-talked-of marriage with the Duke of Anjou, the brother of the + King, son of the Medici. State policy was involved, and, if De la Foret + might be a counter, the pledge of exchange in the game, as it were, the + path would once more be clear. + </p> + <p> + He well believed that Elizabeth’s notice of De la Foret was but a fancy + that would pass, as a hundred times before such fancies had come and gone; + but against that brighter prospect there lay the fact that never before + had she shown himself such indifference. In the past she had raged against + him, she had imprisoned him; she had driven him from her presence in her + anger, but always her paroxysms of rage had been succeeded by paroxysms of + tenderness. Now he saw a colder light in the sky, a greyer horizon met his + eye. So at every corner of the compass he played for the breaking of the + spell. + </p> + <p> + Yet as he now bowed low before Angele there seemed to show in his face a + very candour of surprise, of pleasure, joined to a something friendly and + protective in his glance and manner. His voice insinuated that bygones + should be bygones; it suggested that she had misunderstood him. It pleaded + against the injustice of her prejudice. + </p> + <p> + “So far from home!” he said with a smile. + </p> + <p> + “More miles from home,” she replied, thinking of never-returning days in + France, “than I shall ever count again.” + </p> + <p> + “But no, methinks the palace is within a whisper,” he responded. + </p> + <p> + “Lord Leicester knows well I am a prisoner; that I no longer abide in the + palace,” she answered. + </p> + <p> + He laughed lightly. “An imprisonment in a Queen’s friendship. I bethink + me, it is three hours since I saw you go to the palace. It is a few + worthless seconds since you have got your freedom.” + </p> + <p> + She nettled at his tone. “Lord Leicester takes great interest in my + unimportant goings and comings. I cannot think it is because I go and + come.” + </p> + <p> + He chose to misunderstand her meaning. Drawing closer he bent over her + shoulder. “Since your arrival here, my only diary is the tally of your + coming and going.” Suddenly, as though by an impulse of great frankness, + he added in a low tone: + </p> + <p> + “And is it strange that I should follow you—that I should worship + grace and virtue? Men call me this and that. You have no doubt been filled + with dark tales of my misdeeds. Has there been one in the Court, even one, + who, living by my bounty or my patronage, has said one good word of me? + And why? For long years the Queen, who, maybe, might have been better + counselled, chose me for her friend, adviser—because I was true to + her. I have lived for the Queen, and living for her have lived for + England. Could I keep—I ask you, could I keep myself blameless in + the midst of flattery, intrigue, and conspiracy? I admit that I have + played with fiery weapons in my day; and must needs still do so. The + incorruptible cannot exist in the corrupted air of this Court. You have + come here with the light of innocence and truth about you. At first I + could scarce believe that such goodness lived, hardly understood it. The + light half-blinded and embarrassed; but, at last, I saw! You of all this + Court have made me see what sort of life I might have lived. You have made + me dream the dreams of youth and high unsullied purpose once again. Was it + strange that in the dark pathways of the Court I watched your footsteps + come and go, carrying radiance with you? No—Leicester has learned + how sombre, sinister, has been his past, by a presence which is the soul + of beauty, of virtue, and of happy truth. Lady, my heart is yours. I + worship you.” + </p> + <p> + Overborne for the moment by the eager, searching eloquence of his words, + she had listened bewildered to him. Now she turned upon him with panting + breath and said: + </p> + <p> + “My lord, my lord, I will hear no more. You know I love Monsieur de la + Foret, for whose sake I am here in England—for whose sake I still + remain.” + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis a labour of love but ill requited,” he answered with suggestion in + his tone. + </p> + <p> + “What mean you, my lord?” she asked sharply, a kind of blind agony in her + voice; for she felt his meaning, and though she did not believe him, and + knew in her soul he slandered, there was a sting, for slander ever + scorches where it touches. + </p> + <p> + “Can you not see?” he said. “May Day—why did the Queen command him + to the lists? Why does she keep him here-in the palace? Why, against the + will of France, her ally, does she refuse to send him forth? Why, + unheeding the laughter of the Court, does she favour this unimportant + stranger, brave though he be? Why should she smile upon him?... Can you + not see, sweet lady?” + </p> + <p> + “You know well why the Queen detains him here,” she answered calmly now. + “In the Queen’s understanding with France, exiles who preach the faith are + free from extradition. You heard what the Queen required of him—that + on Trinity Day he should preach before her, and upon this preaching should + depend his safety.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, so her Majesty said with great humour,” replied Leicester. “So + indeed she said; but when we hide our faces a thin veil suffices. The man + is a soldier—a soldier born. Why should he turn priest now? I pray + you, think again. He was quick of wit; the Queen’s meaning was clear to + him; he rose with seeming innocence to the fly, and she landed him at the + first toss. But what is forward bodes no good to you, dear star of heaven. + I have known the Queen for half a lifetime. She has wild whims and + dangerous fancies, fills her hours of leisure with experiences—an + artist is the Queen. She means no good to you.” + </p> + <p> + She had made as if to leave him, though her eyes searched in vain for the + path which she should take; but she now broke in impatiently: + </p> + <p> + “Poor, unnoted though I am, the Queen of England is my friend,” she + answered. “What evil could she wish me? From me she has naught to fear. I + am not an atom in her world. Did she but lift her finger I am done. But + she knows that, humble though I be, I would serve her to my last breath; + because I know, my Lord Leicester, how many there are who serve her + foully, faithlessly; and there should be those by her who would serve her + singly.” + </p> + <p> + His eyes half closed, he beat his toe upon the ground. He frowned, as + though he had no wish to hurt her by words which he yet must speak. With + calculated thought he faltered. + </p> + <p> + “Yet do you not think it strange,” he said at last, “that Monsieur de la + Foret should be within the palace ever, and that you should be banished + from the palace? Have you never seen the fly and the spider in the web? Do + you not know that they who have the power to bless or ban, to give joy or + withhold it, appear to give when they mean to withhold? God bless us all—how + has your innocence involved your judgment!” + </p> + <p> + She suddenly flushed to the eyes. “I have wit enough,” she said acidly, + “to feel that truth which life’s experience may not have taught me. It is + neither age nor evil that teaches one to judge ‘twixt black and white. God + gives the true divination to human hearts that need.” + </p> + <p> + It was a contest in which Leicester revelled—simplicity and + single-mindedness against the multifarious and double-tongued. He had made + many efforts in his time to conquer argument and prejudice. When he chose, + none could be more insinuating or turn the flank of a proper argument by + more adroit suggestion. He used his power now. + </p> + <p> + “You think she means well by you? You think that she, who has a thousand + ladies of a kingdom at her call, of the best and most beautiful—and + even,” his voice softened, “though you are more beautiful than all, that + beauty would soften her towards you? When was it Elizabeth loved beauty? + When was it that her heart warmed towards those who would love or wed? Did + she not imprison me, even in these palace grounds, for one whole year + because I sought to marry? Has she not a hundred times sent from her + presence women with faces like flowers because they were in contrast to + her own? Do you see love blossoming at this Court? God’s Son! but she + would keep us all like babes in Eden an’ she could, unmated and unloved.” + </p> + <p> + He drew quickly to her and leant over her, whispering down her shoulder. + “Do you think there is any reason why all at once she should change her + mind and cherish lovers?” + </p> + <p> + She looked up at him fearlessly and firmly. + </p> + <p> + “In truth, I do. My Lord Leicester, you have lived in the circle of her + good pleasure, near to her noble Majesty, as you say, for half a lifetime. + Have you not found a reason why now or any time she should cherish love + and lovers? Ah, no, you have seen her face, you have heard her voice, but + you have not known her heart!” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, opportunity lacked,” he said in irony and with a reminiscent smile. + “I have been busy with State affairs, I have not sat on cushions, + listening to royal fingers on the virginals. Still, I ask you, do you + think there is a reason why from her height she should stoop down to + rescue you or give you any joy? Wherefore should the Queen do aught to + serve you? Wherefore should she save your lover?” + </p> + <p> + It was on Angele’s lips to answer, “Because I saved her life on May Day.” + It was on her lips to tell of the poisoned glove, but she only smiled, and + said: + </p> + <p> + “But, yes, I think, my lord, there is a reason, and in that reason I have + faith.” + </p> + <p> + Leicester saw how firmly she was fixed in her idea, how rooted was her + trust in the Queen’s intentions towards her; and he guessed there was + something hidden which gave her such supreme confidence. + </p> + <p> + “If she means to save him, why does she not save him now? Why not end the + business in a day—not stretch it over these long mid-summer weeks?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not think it strange,” she answered. “He is a political prisoner. + Messages must come and go between England and France. Besides, who calleth + for haste? Is it I who have most at stake? It is not the first time I have + been at Court, my lord. In these high places things are orderly,”—a + touch of sarcasm came into her tone,—“life is not a mighty rushing + wind, save to those whom vexing passion drives to hasty deeds.” + </p> + <p> + She made to move on once more, but paused, still not certain of her way. + </p> + <p> + “Permit me to show you,” he said with a laugh and a gesture towards a + path. “Not that—this is the shorter. I will take you to a turning + which leads straight to your durance—and another which leads + elsewhere.” + </p> + <p> + She could not say no, because she had, in very truth, lost her way, and + she might wander far and be in danger. Also, she had no fear of him. + Steeled to danger in the past, she was not timid; but, more than all, the + game of words between them had had its fascination. The man himself, by + virtue of what he was, had his fascination also. The thing inherent in all + her sex, to peep over the hedge, to skirt dangerous fires lightly, to feel + the warmth distantly and not be scorched—that was in her, too; and + she lived according to her race and the long predisposition of the ages. + Most women like her—as good as she—have peeped and stretched + out hands to the alluring fire and come safely through, wiser and no + better. But many, too, bewildered and confused by what they see—as + light from a mirror flashed into the eye half blinds—have peeped + over the hedge and, miscalculating their power of self-control, have + entered in, and returned no more into the quiet garden of unstraying love. + </p> + <p> + Leicester quickly put on an air of gravity. “I warn you that danger lies + before you. If you cross the Queen—and you will cross the Queen when + you know the truth, as I know it—you will pay a heavy price for + refusing Leicester as your friend.” + </p> + <p> + She made a protesting motion and seemed about to speak, but suddenly, with + a passionate gesture, Leicester added: “Let them go their way. Monsieur de + la Foret will be tossed aside before another winter comes. Do you think he + can abide here in the midst of plot and intrigue, and hated by the people + of the Court? He is doomed. But more, he is unworthy of you; while I can + serve you well, and I can love you well.” She shrank away from him. “No, + do not turn from me, for in very truth, Leicester’s heart has been pierced + by the inevitable arrow. You think I mean you evil?” + </p> + <p> + He paused with a sudden impulse continued: “No! no! And if there be a + saving grace in marriage, marriage it shall be, if you will but hear me. + You shall be my wife—Leicester’s wife. As I have mounted to power so + I will hold power with you—with you, the brightest spirit that ever + England saw. Worthy of a kingdom with you beside me, I shall win to + greater, happier days; and at Kenilworth, where kings and queens have + lodged, you shall be ruler. We will leave this Court until Elizabeth, + betrayed by those who know not how to serve her, shall send for me again. + Here—the power behind the throne—you and I will sway this + realm through the aging, sentimental Queen. Listen, and look at me in the + eyes—I speak the truth, you read my heart. You think I hated you and + hated De la Foret. By all the gods, it’s true I hated him, because I saw + that he would come between me and the Queen. A man must have one great + passion. Life itself must be a passion. Power was my passion—power, + not the Queen. You have broken all that down. I yield it all to you—for + your sake and my own. I would steal from life yet before my sun goes to + its setting a few years of truth and honesty and clear design. At heart I + am a patriot—a loyal Englishman. Your cause—the cause of + Protestantism—did I not fight for it at Rochelle? Have I not ever + urged the Queen to spend her revenue for your cause, to send her captains + and her men to fight for it?” + </p> + <p> + She raised her head in interest, and her lips murmured: “Yes, yes, I know + you did that.” + </p> + <p> + He saw his advantage and pursued it. “See, I will be honest with you—honest, + at last, as I have wished in vain to be, for honesty was misunderstood. It + is not so with you—you understand. Dear, light of womanhood, I speak + the truth now. I have been evil in my day I admit it—evil because I + was in the midst of evil. I betrayed because I was betrayed; I slew, else + I should have been slain. We have had dark days in England, privy + conspiracy and rebellion; and I have had to thread my way through dreadful + courses by a thousand blind paths. Would it be no joy to you if I, through + your influence, recast my life—remade my policy, renewed my youth—pursuing + principle where I have pursued opportunity? Angele, come to Kenilworth + with me. Leave De la Foret to his fate. The way to happiness is with me. + Will you come?” + </p> + <p> + He had made his great effort. As he spoke he almost himself believed that + he told the truth. Under the spell of his own emotional power it seemed as + though he meant to marry her, as though he could find happiness in the + union. He had almost persuaded himself to be what he would have her to + believe he might be. + </p> + <p> + Under the warmth and convincing force of his words her pulses had beat + faster, her heart had throbbed in her throat, her eyes had glistened; but + not with that light which they had shed for Michel de la Foret. How + different was this man’s wooing—its impetuous, audacious, tender + violence, with that quiet, powerful, almost sacred gravity of her Camisard + lover! It is this difference—the weighty, emotional difference—between + a desperate passion and a pure love which has ever been so powerful in + twisting the destinies of a moiety of the world to misery, who otherwise + would have stayed contented, inconspicuous and good. Angele would have + been more than human if she had not felt the spell of the ablest + intriguer, of the most fascinating diplomatist of his day. + </p> + <p> + Before he spoke of marriage the thrill—the unconvincing thrill + though it was—of a perilous temptation was upon her; but the very + thing most meant to move her only made her shudder; for in her heart of + hearts she knew that he was ineradicably false. To be married to one + constitutionally untrue would be more terrible a fate for her than to be + linked to him in a lighter, more dissoluble a bond. So do the greatest + tricksters of this world overdo their part, so play the wrong card when + every past experience suggests it is the card to play. He knew by the + silence that followed his words, and the slow, steady look she gave him, + that she was not won nor on the way to the winning. + </p> + <p> + “My lord,” she said at last, and with a courage which steadied her + affrighted and perturbed innocence, “you are eloquent, you are fruitful of + flattery, of those things which have, I doubt not, served you well in your + day. But, if you see your way to a better life, it were well you should + choose one of nobler mould than I. I am not made for sacrifice, to play + the missioner and snatch brands from the burning. I have enough to do to + keep my own feet in the ribbon-path of right. You must look elsewhere for + that guardian influence which is to make of you a paragon.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no,” he answered sharply, “you think the game not worth the candle—you + doubt me and what I can do for you; my sincerity, my power you doubt.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, yes, I doubt both,” she answered gravely, “for you would have me + believe that I have power to lead you. With how small a mind you credit + me! You think, too, that you sway this kingdom; but I know that you stand + upon a cliff’s edge, and that the earth is fraying ‘neath your tread. You + dare to think that you have power to drag down with you the man who + honours me with—” + </p> + <p> + “With his love, you’d say. Yet he will leave you fretting out your soul + until the sharp-edged truth cuts your heart in twain. Have you no pride? I + care not what you say of me—say your worst, and I will not resent + it, for I will still prove that your way lies with me.” + </p> + <p> + She gave a bitter sigh, and touched her forehead with trembling fingers. + “If words could prove it, I had been convinced but now, for they are well + devised, and they have music too; but such a music, my lord, as would + drown the truth in the soul of a woman. Your words allure, but you have + learned the art of words. You yourself—oh, my lord, you who have + tasted all the pleasures of this world, could you then have the heart to + steal from one who has so little that little which gives her happiness?” + </p> + <p> + “You know not what can make you happy—I can teach you that. By God’s + Son! but you have wit and intellect and are a match for a prince, not for + a cast off Camisard. I shall ere long be Lord—Lieutenant of these + Isles-of England and Ireland. Come to my nest. We will fly far—ah, + your eye brightens, your heart leaps to mine—I feel it now, I—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, have done, have done,” she passionately broke in; “I would rather + die, be torn upon the rack, burnt at the stake, than put my hand in yours! + And you do not wish it—you speak but to destroy, not to cherish. + While you speak to me I see all those”—she made a gesture as though + to put something from her “all those to whom you have spoken as you have + done to me. I hear the myriad falsehoods you have told—one whelming + confusion. I feel the blindness which has crept upon them—those poor + women—as you have sown the air with the dust of the passion which + you call love. Oh, you never knew what love meant, my lord! I doubt if, + when you lay in your mother’s arms, you turned to her with love. You never + did one kindly act for love, no generous thought was ever born in you by + love. Sir, I know it as though it were written in a book; your life has + been one long calculation—your sympathy or kindness a calculated + thing. Good-nature, emotion you may have had, but never the divine thing + by which the world is saved. Were there but one little place where that + Eden flower might bloom within your heart, you could not seek to ruin that + love which lives in mine and fills it, conquering all the lesser part of + me. I never knew of how much love I was capable until I heard you speak + today. Out of your life’s experience, out of all that you have learned of + women good and evil, you—for a selfish, miserable purpose—would + put the gyves upon my wrists, make me a pawn in your dark game; a pawn + which you would lose without a thought as the game went on. + </p> + <p> + “If you must fight, my lord, if you must ruin Monsieur de la Foret and a + poor Huguenot girl, do it by greater means than this. You have power, you + say. Use it then; destroy us, if you will. Send us to the Medici: bring us + to the block, murder us—that were no new thing to Lord Leicester. + But do not stoop to treachery and falsehood to thrust us down. Oh, you + have made me see the depths of shame to-day! But yet,” her voice suddenly + changed, a note of plaintive force filled it—“I have learned much + this hour—more than I ever knew. Perhaps it is that we come to + knowledge only through fire and tears.” She smiled sadly. “I suppose that + sometime some day, this page of life would have scorched my sight. Oh, my + lord, what was there in me that you dared speak so to me? Was there naught + to have stayed your tongue and stemmed the tide in which you would engulf + me?” He had listened as in a dream at first. She had read him as he might + read himself, had revealed him with the certain truth, as none other had + done in all his days. He was silent for a long moment, then raised his + hand in protest. + </p> + <p> + “You have a strange idea of what makes offence and shame. I offered you + marriage,” he said complacently. “And when I come to think upon it, after + all that you have said, fair Huguenot, I see no cause for railing. You + call me this and that; to you I am a liar, a rogue, a cut-throat, what you + will; and yet, and yet, I will have my way—I will have my way in the + end.” + </p> + <p> + “You offered me marriage—and meant it not. Do I not know? Did you + rely so little on your compelling powers, my lord, that you must needs + resort to that bait? Do you think that you will have your way to-morrow if + you have failed to-day?” + </p> + <p> + With a quick change of tone and a cold, scornful laugh he rejoined: “Do + you intend to measure swords with me?” + </p> + <p> + “No, no, my lord,” she answered quietly; “what should one poor unfriended + girl do in contest with the Earl of Leicester? But yet, in very truth, I + have friends, and in my hour of greatest need I shall go seeking.” + </p> + <p> + She was thinking of the Queen. He guessed her thought. + </p> + <p> + “You will not be so mad,” he said urbanely again. “Of what can you + complain to the Queen? Tut, tut, you must seek other friends than the + Majesty of England!” + </p> + <p> + “Then, my lord, I will,” she answered bravely. “I will seek the help of + such a Friend as fails not when all fails, even He who putteth down the + mighty from their seats and exalteth the humble.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, well, if I have not touched your heart,” he answered gallantly, “I + at least have touched your wit and intellect. Once more I offer you + alliance. Think well before you decline.” + </p> + <p> + He had no thought that he would succeed, but it was ever his way to return + to the charge. It had been the secret of his life’s success so far. He had + never taken a refusal. He had never believed that when man or woman said + no that no was meant; and, if it were meant, he still believed that + constant dropping would wear away the stone. He still held that + persistence was the greatest lever in the world, that unswerving + persistence was the master of opportunity. + </p> + <p> + They had now come to two paths in the park leading different ways. + </p> + <p> + “This road leads to Kenilworth, this to your prison,” he said with a slow + gesture, his eyes fixed upon hers. “I will go to my prison, then,” she + said, stepping forward, “and alone, by your leave.” + </p> + <p> + Leicester was a good sportsman. Though he had been beaten all along the + line, he hid his deep chagrin, choked down the rage that was in him. + Smiling, he bowed low. + </p> + <p> + “I will do myself the honour to visit your prison to-morrow,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “My father will welcome you, my lord,” she answered, and, gathering up her + skirt, ran down the pathway. + </p> + <p> + He stood unmoving, and watched her disappear. “But I shall have my way + with them both,” he said aloud. + </p> + <p> + The voice of a singer sounded in the green wood. Half consciously + Leicester listened. The words came shrilling through the trees: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Oh, love, it is a lily flower, + (Sing, my captain, sing, my lady!) + The sword shall cleave it, + Life shall leave it + Who shall know the hour? + (Sing, my lady, still!)” + </pre> + <p> + Presently the jingling of bells mingled with the song, then a figure in + motley burst upon him. It was the Queen’s fool. + </p> + <p> + “Brother, well met—most happily met!” he cried. “And why well met, + fool?” asked Leicester. “Prithee, my work grows heavy, brother. I seek + another fool for the yoke. Here are my bells for you. I will keep my cap. + And so we will work together, fool: you for the morning, I for the + afternoon, and the devil take the night-time! So God be with you, + Obligato!” + </p> + <p> + With a laugh he leaped into the undergrowth, and left Leicester standing + with the bells in his hand. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI + </h2> + <p> + Angele had come to know, as others in like case have ever done, how + wretched indeed is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favours. She had + saved the Queen’s life upon May Day, and on the evening of that day the + Queen had sent for her, had made such high and tender acknowledgment of + her debt as would seem to justify for her perpetual honour. And what + Elizabeth said she meant; but in a life set in forests of complications + and opposing interests the political overlapped the personal in her + nature. Thus it was that she had kept the princes of the world dangling, + advancing towards marriage with them, retreating suddenly, setting off one + house against the other, allying herself to one European power to-day, + with another to-morrow, her own person and her crown the pawn with which + she played. It was not a beautiful thing in a woman, but it was what a + woman could do; and, denied other powers given to men—as to her + father—she resorted to astute but doubtful devices to advance her + diplomacy. Over all was self-infatuation, the bane of princes, the curse + of greatness, the source of wide injustice. It was not to be expected, as + Leicester had said, that Elizabeth, save for the whim of the moment, would + turn aside to confer benefit upon Angele or to keep her in mind, unless + constrained to do so for some political reason. + </p> + <p> + The girl had charmed the Queen, had, by saving her life, made England her + long debtor; but Leicester had judged rightly in believing that the Queen + might find the debt irksome; that her gratitude would be corroded by other + destructive emotions. It was true that Angele had saved her life, but + Michel had charmed her eye. He had proved himself a more gallant fighter + than any in her kingdom; and had done it, as he had said, in her honour. + So, as her admiration for Michel grew, her debt to Angele became + burdensome; and, despite her will, there stole into her mind the old + petulance and smothered anger against beauty and love and marriage. She + could ill bear that one near her person should not be content to flourish + in the light and warmth of her own favour, setting aside all other small + affections. So it was that she had sent Angele to her father and kept De + la Foret in the palace. Perplexed, troubled by new developments, the birth + of a son to Mary Queen of Scots, the demand of her Parliament that she + should marry, the pressure of foreign policy which compelled her to open + up again negotiations for marriage with the Duke of Anjou—all these + combined to detach her from the interest she had suddenly felt in Angele. + But, by instinct, she knew also that Leicester, through jealousy, had + increased the complication; and, fretful under the long influence he had + had upon her, she steadily lessened intercourse with him. The duel he + fought with Lempriere on May Day came to her ears through the Duke’s + Daughter, and she seized upon it with sharp petulance. First she + ostentatiously gave housing and care to Lempriere, and went to visit him; + then, having refused Leicester audience, wrote to him. + </p> + <p> + “What is this I hear,” she scrawled upon the paper, “that you have forced + a quarrel with the Lord of Rozel, and have well-ny ta’en his life! Is + swording then your dearest vice that you must urge it on a harmless gentle + man, and my visitor? Do you think you hold a charter of freedom for your + self-will? Have a care, Leicester, or, by God! you shall know another + sword surer than your own.” + </p> + <p> + The rage of Leicester on receiving this knew no bounds; for though he had + received from Elizabeth stormy letters before, none had had in it the cold + irony of this missive. The cause of it? Desperation seized him. With a mad + disloyalty he read in every word of Elizabeth’s letter, Michel de la + Foret, refugee. With madder fury he determined to strike for the immediate + ruin of De la Foret, and Angele with him—for had she not thrice + repulsed him as though he had been some village captain? After the meeting + in the maze he had kept his promise of visiting her “prison.” By every + art, and without avail, he had through patient days sought to gain an + influence over her; for he saw that if he could but show the Queen that + the girl was open to his advances, accepted his protection, her ruin would + be certain—in anger Elizabeth would take revenge upon both refugees. + But however much he succeeded with Monsieur Aubert, he failed wholly with + Angele. She repulsed him still with the most certain courtesy, with the + greatest outward composure; but she had to make her fight alone, for the + Queen forbade intercourse with Michel, and she must have despaired but for + the messages sent now and then by the Duke’s Daughter. + </p> + <p> + Through M. Aubert, to whom Leicester was diligently courteous, and whom he + sought daily, discussing piously the question of religion so dear to the + old man’s heart, he strove to foster in Angele’s mind the suspicion he had + ventured at their meeting in the maze, that the Queen, through personal + interest in Michel, was saving his life to keep him in her household. So + well did he work on the old man’s feelings that when he offered his own + protection to M. Aubert and Angele, whatever the issue with De la Foret + might be, he was met with an almost tearful response of gratitude. It was + the moment to convey a deep distrust of De la Foret to the mind of the old + refugee, and it was subtly done. + </p> + <p> + Were it not better to leave the Court where only danger surrounded them, + and find safety on Leicester’s own estate, where no man living could + molest them? Were it not well to leave Michel de la Foret to his fate, + what ever it would be? Thrice within a week the Queen had sent for De la + Foret—what reason was there for that, unless the Queen had a secret + personal interest in him? Did M. Aubert think it was only a rare touch of + humour which had turned De la Foret into a preacher, and set his fate upon + a sermon to be preached before the Court? He himself had long held high + office, had been near to her Majesty, and he could speak with more + knowledge than he might use—it grieved him that Mademoiselle Aubert + should be placed in so painful a position. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes as the two talked Angele would join them; and then there was a + sudden silence, which made her flush with embarrassment, anxiety or anger. + In vain did she assume a cold composure, in vain school herself to treat + Leicester with a precise courtesy; in vain her heart protested the + goodness of De la Foret and high uprightness of the Queen; the persistent + suggestions of the dark Earl worked upon her mind in spite of all. Why had + the Queen forbidden her to meet Michel, or write to him, or to receive + letters from him? Why had the Queen, who had spoken such gratitude, + deserted her? And now even the Duke’s Daughter wrote to her no more, sent + her no further messages. She felt herself a prisoner, and that the Queen + had forgotten her debt. She took to wandering to that part of the + palace-grounds where she could see the windows of the tower her lover + inhabited. Her old habit of cheerful talk deserted her, and she brooded. + It was long before she heard of the duel between the Seigneur and Lord + Leicester—the Duke’s Daughter had kept this from her, lest she + should be unduly troubled—and when, in anxiety, she went to the + house where Lempriere had been quartered, he had gone, none could tell her + whither. Buonespoir was now in close confinement, by secret orders of + Leicester, and not allowed to walk abroad; and thus with no friend save + her father, now so much under the influence of the Earl, she was bitterly + solitary. Bravely she fought the growing care and suspicion in her heart; + but she was being tried beyond her strength. Her father had urged her to + make personal appeal to the Queen; and at times, despite her better + judgment, she was on the verge of doing so. Yet what could she say? She + could not go to the Queen of England and cry out, like a silly milk-maid: + “You have taken my lover—give him back to me!” What proof had she + that the Queen wanted her lover? And if she spoke, the impertinence of the + suggestion might send back to the fierce Medici that same lover, to lose + his head. + </p> + <p> + Leicester, who now was playing the game as though it were a hazard for + states and kingdoms, read the increasing trouble in her face; and waited + confidently for the moment when in desperation she would lose her + self-control and go to the Queen. + </p> + <p> + But he did not reckon with the depth of the girl’s nature and her true + sense of life. Her brain told her that what she was tempted to do she + should not; that her only way was to wait; to trust that the Queen of + England was as much true woman as Queen, and as much Queen as true woman; + and that the one was held in high equipoise by the other. Besides, Trinity + Day would bring the end of it all, and that was not far off. She steeled + her will to wait till then, no matter how dark the sky might be. + </p> + <p> + As time went on, Leicester became impatient. He had not been able to + induce M. Aubert to compel Angele to accept a quiet refuge at Kenilworth; + he saw that this plan would not work, and he deployed his mind upon + another. If he could but get Angele to seek De la Foret in his apartment + in the palace, and then bring the matter to Elizabeth’s knowledge with + sure proof, De la Foret’s doom would be sealed. At great expense, however; + for, in order to make the scheme effective, Angele should visit De la + Foret at night. This would mean the ruin of the girl as well. Still that + could be set right; because, once De la Foret was sent to the Medici the + girl’s character could be cleared; and, if not, so much the surer would + she come at last to his protection. What he had professed in cold + deliberation had become in some sense a fact. She had roused in him an + eager passion. He might even dare, when De la Foret was gone, to confess + his own action in the matter to the Queen, once she was again within his + influence. She had forgiven him more than that in the past, when he had + made his own mad devotion to herself excuse for his rashness or + misconduct. + </p> + <p> + He waited opportunity, he arranged all details carefully, he secured the + passive agents of his purpose; and when the right day came he acted. + </p> + <p> + About ten o’clock one night, a half-hour before the closing of the palace + gates, when no one could go in or go out save by permit of the Lord + Chamberlain, a footman from a surgeon of the palace came to Angele, + bearing a note which read: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Your friend is very ill, and asks for you. Come hither alone; and + now, if you would come at all.” + </pre> + <p> + Her father was confined to bed with some ailment of the hour, and asleep—it + were no good to awaken him. Her mind was at once made up. There was no + time to ask permission of the Queen. She knew the surgeon’s messengers by + sight, this one was in the usual livery, and his master’s name was duly + signed. In haste she made herself ready, and went forth into the night + with the messenger, her heart beating hard, a pitiful anxiety shaking her. + Her steps were fleet between the lodge and the palace. They were + challenged nowhere, and the surgeon’s servant, entering a side door of the + palace, led her hastily through gloomy halls and passages where they met + no one, though once in a dark corridor some one brushed against her. She + wondered why there were no servants to show the way, why the footman + carried no torch or candle; but haste and urgency seemed due excuse, and + she thought only of Michel, and that she would soon see him-dying, dead + perhaps before she could touch his hand! At last they emerged into a + lighter and larger hallway, where her guide suddenly paused, and said to + Angel, motioning towards a door: “Enter. He is there.” + </p> + <p> + For a moment she stood still, scarce able to breathe, her heart hurt her + so. It seemed to her as though life itself was arrested. As the servant, + without further words, turned and left her, she knocked, opened the door + without awaiting a reply, and stepping into semidarkness, said softly: + </p> + <p> + “Michel! Michel!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVII + </h2> + <p> + At Angle’s entrance a form slowly raised itself on a couch, and a voice, + not Michel’s, said: “Mademoiselle—by our Lady, ‘tis she!” + </p> + <p> + It was the voice of the Seigneur of Rozel, and Angle started back amazed. + </p> + <p> + “You, Monsieur—you!” she gasped. “It was you that sent for me?” + </p> + <p> + “Send? Not I—I have not lost my manners yet. Rozel at Court is no + greater fool than Lempriere in Jersey.” + </p> + <p> + Angle wrung her hands. “I thought it De la Foret who was ill. The surgeon + said to come quickly.” Lempriere braced himself against the wall, for he + was weak, and his fever still high. “Ill?—not he. As sound in body + and soul as any man in England. That is a friend, that De la Foret lover + of yours, or I’m no butler to the Queen. He gets leave and brings me here + and coaxes me back to life again—with not a wink of sleep for him + these five days past till now.” + </p> + <p> + Angel had drawn nearer, and now stood beside the couch, trembling and + fearful, for it came to her mind that she had been made the victim of some + foul device. The letter had read: “Your friend is ill.” True, the Seigneur + was her friend, but he had not sent for her. + </p> + <p> + “Where is De la Foret?” she asked quickly. “Yonder, asleep,” said the + Seigneur, pointing to a curtain which divided the room from one adjoining. + Angel ran quickly towards the door, then stopped short. No, she would not + waken him. She would go back at once. She would leave the palace by the + way she came. Without a word she turned and went towards the door opening + into the hallway. With her hand upon the latch she stopped short again; + for she realised that she did not know her way through the passages and + corridors, and that she must make herself known to the servants of the + palace to obtain guidance and exit. As she stood helpless and confused, + the Seigneur called hoarsely: “De la Foret—De la Foret!” Before + Angele could decide upon her course, the curtain of the other room was + thrust aside, and De la Foret entered. He was scarce awake, and he yawned + contentedly. He did not see Angele, but turned towards Lempriere. For once + the Seigneur had a burst of inspiration. He saw that Angele was in the + shadow, and that De la Foret had not observed her. He determined that the + lovers should meet alone. + </p> + <p> + “Your arm, De la Foret,” he grunted. + </p> + <p> + “I’ll get me to the bed in yonder room—‘tis easier than this couch.” + </p> + <p> + “Two hours ago you could not bear the bed, and must get you to the couch—and + now! Seigneur, do you know the weight you are?” he added, laughing, as he + stooped, and helping Lempriere gently to his feet, raised him slowly in + his arms and went heavily with him to the bedroom. Angele watched him with + a strange thrill of timid admiration and delight. Surely it could not be + that Michel—her Michel—could be bought from his allegiance by + any influence on earth. There was the same old simple laugh on his lips, + as, with chaffing words, he carried the huge Seigneur to the other room. + Her heart acquitted him then and there of all blame, past or to come. + </p> + <p> + “Michel!” she said aloud involuntarily—the call of her spirit which + spoke on her lips against her will. + </p> + <p> + De la Foret had helped Lempriere to the bed again as he heard his name + called, and he stood suddenly still, looking straight before him into + space. Angele’s voice seemed ghostly and unreal. + </p> + <p> + “Michel!” he heard again, and he came forward into the room where she was. + Yet once again she said the word scarcely above a whisper, for the look of + rapt wonder and apprehension in his manner overcame her. Now he turned + towards her, where she stood in the shadow by the door. He saw her, but + even yet he did not stir, for she seemed to him still an apparition. + </p> + <p> + With a little cry she came forward to him. “Michel—help me!” she + murmured, and stretched out her hands. With a cry of joy he took her in + his arms and pressed her to his heart. Then a realisation of danger came + to him. + </p> + <p> + “Why did you come?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + She told him hastily. He heard with astonishment, and then said: “There is + some foul trick here. Have you the message?” She handed it to him. “It is + the surgeon’s writing, verily,” he said; “but it is still a trick, for the + sick man here is Rozel. I see it all. You and I forbidden to meet—it + was a trick to bring you here.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, let me go!” she cried. “Michel, Michel, take me hence.” She turned + towards the door. + </p> + <p> + “The gates are closed,” he said, as a cannon boomed on the evening air. + </p> + <p> + Angele trembled violently. “Oh, what will come of this?” she cried, in + tearful despair. + </p> + <p> + “Be patient, sweet, and let me think,” he answered. At that moment there + came a knocking at the door, then it was thrown open, and there stepped + inside the Earl of Leicester, preceded by a page bearing a torch. + </p> + <p> + “Is Michel de la Foret within?” he called; then stopped short, as though + astonished, seeing Angele. “So! so!” he said, with a contemptuous laugh. + Michel de la Foret’s fingers twitched. He quickly stepped in front of + Angele, and answered: “What is your business here, my lord?” + </p> + <p> + Leicester languorously took off a glove, and seemed to stifle a yawn in + it; then said: “I came to take you into my service, to urge upon you for + your own sake to join my troops, going upon duty in the North; for I fear + that if you stay here the Queen Mother of France will have her way. But I + fear I am too late. A man who has sworn himself into service d’amour has + no time for service de la guerre.” + </p> + <p> + “I will gladly give an hour from any service I may follow to teach the + Earl of Leicester that he is less a swordsman than a trickster.” + </p> + <p> + Leicester flushed, but answered coolly: “I can understand your chagrin. + You should have locked your door. It is the safer custom.” He bowed + lightly towards Angele. “You have not learned our English habits of + discretion, Monsieur de la Foret. I would only do you service. I + appreciate your choler. I should be no less indignant. So, in the + circumstances, I will see that the gates are opened, of course you did not + realise the flight of time,—and I will take Mademoiselle to her + lodgings. You may rely on my discretion. I am wholly at your service—tout + a vous, as who should say in your charming language.” + </p> + <p> + The insolence was so veiled in perfect outward courtesy that it must have + seemed impossible for De la Foret to reply in terms equal to the moment. + He had, however, no need to reply, for the door of the room suddenly + opened, and two pages stepped inside with torches. + </p> + <p> + They were followed by a gentleman in scarlet and gold, who said, “The + Queen!” and stepped aside. + </p> + <p> + An instant afterwards Elizabeth, with the Duke’s Daughter, entered. + </p> + <p> + The three dropped upon their knees, and Elizabeth waved without the pages + and the gentleman-in-waiting. When the doors closed, the Queen eyed the + three kneeling figures, and as her glance fell on Leicester a strange + glitter came into her eyes. She motioned all to rise, and with a hand upon + the arm of the Duke’s Daughter, said to Leicester: + </p> + <p> + “What brings the Earl of Leicester here?” + </p> + <p> + “I came to urge upon Monsieur the wisdom of holding to the Sword and + leaving the Book to the butter-fingered religious. Your Majesty needs good + soldiers.” + </p> + <p> + He bowed, but not low, and it was clear he was bent upon a struggle. He + was confounded by the Queen’s presence, he could not guess why she should + have come; and that she was prepared for what she saw was clear. + </p> + <p> + “And brought an eloquent pleader with you?” She made a scornful gesture + towards Angele. + </p> + <p> + “Nay, your Majesty; the lady’s zeal outran my own, and crossed the + threshold first.” + </p> + <p> + The Queen’s face wore a look that Leicester had never seen on it before, + and he had observed it in many moods. + </p> + <p> + “You found the lady here, then?” + </p> + <p> + “With Monsieur alone. Seeing she was placed unfortunately, I offered to + escort her hence to her father. But your Majesty came upon the moment.” + </p> + <p> + There was a ring of triumph in Leicester’s voice. No doubt, by some + chance, the Queen had become aware of Angele’s presence, he thought. Fate + had forestalled the letter he had already written on this matter and meant + to send her within the hour. Chance had played into his hands with perfect + suavity. The Queen, less woman now than Queen, enraged by the information + got he knew not how, had come at once to punish the gross breach of her + orders and a dark misconduct-so he thought. + </p> + <p> + The Queen’s look, as she turned it on Angele, apparently had in it what + must have struck terror to even a braver soul than that of the helpless + Huguenot girl. + </p> + <p> + “So it is thus you spend the hours of night? God’s faith, but you are + young to be so wanton!” she cried in a sharp voice. “Get you from my sight + and out of my kingdom as fast as horse and ship may carry you—as + feet may bear you.” Leicester’s face lighted to hear. “Your high Majesty,” + pleaded the girl, dropping on her knees, “I am innocent. As God lives, I + am innocent.” + </p> + <p> + “The man, then, only is guilty?” the Queen rejoined with scorn. “Is it + innocent to be here at night, my palace gates shut, with your + lover-alone?” Leicester laughed at the words. + </p> + <p> + “Your Majesty, oh, your gracious Majesty, hear me. We were not alone—not + alone—” + </p> + <p> + There was a rustle of curtains, a heavy footstep, and Lempriere of Rozel + staggered into the room. De la Foret ran to help him, and throwing an arm + around him, almost carried him towards the couch. Lempriere, however, + slipped from De la Foret’s grasp to his knees on the floor before the + Queen. + </p> + <p> + “Not alone, your high and sacred Majesty, I am here—I have been here + through all. I was here when Mademoiselle came, brought hither by trick of + some knave not fit to be your immortal Majesty’s subject. I speak the + truth, for I am butler to your Majesty and no liar. I am Lempriere of + Rozel.” + </p> + <p> + No man’s self-control could meet such a surprise without wavering. + Leicester was confounded, for he had not known that Lempriere was housed + with De la Foret. For a moment he could do naught but gaze at Lempriere. + Then, as the Seigneur suddenly swayed and would have fallen, the instinct + of effective courtesy, strong in him, sent him with arms outstretched to + lift him up. Together, without a word, he and De la Foret carried him to + the couch and laid him down. That single act saved Leicester’s life. There + was something so naturally (though, in truth, it was so hypocritically) + kind in the way he sprang to his enemy’s assistance that an old spirit of + fondness stirred in the Queen’s breast, and she looked strangely at him. + When, however, they had disposed of Lempriere and Leicester had turned + again towards her, she said: “Did you think I had no loyal and true + gentlemen at my Court, my lord? Did you think my leech would not serve me + as fair as he would serve the Earl of Leicester? You have not bought us + all, Robert Dudley, who have bought and sold so long. The good leech did + your bidding and sent your note to the lady; but there your bad play ended + and Fate’s began. A rabbit’s brains, Leicester—and a rabbit’s end. + Fate has the brains you need.” + </p> + <p> + Leicester’s anger burst forth now under the lash of ridicule. “I cannot + hope to win when your Majesty plays Fate in caricature.” + </p> + <p> + With a little gasp of rage Elizabeth leaned over and slapped his face with + her long glove. “Death of my life, but I who made you do unmake you!” she + cried. + </p> + <p> + He dropped his hand on his sword. “If you were but a man, and not—” + he said, then stopped short, for there was that in the Queen’s face which + changed his purpose. Anger was shaking her, but there were tears in her + eyes. The woman in her was stronger than the Queen. It was nothing to her + at this moment that she might have his life as easily as she had struck + his face with her glove; this man had once shown the better part of + himself to her, and the memory of it shamed her for his own sake now. She + made a step towards the door, then turned and spoke: + </p> + <p> + “My Lord, I have no palace and no ground wherein your footstep will not be + trespass. Pray you, remember.” + </p> + <p> + She turned towards Lempriere, who lay on his couch faint and panting. “For + you, my Lord of Rozel, I wish you better health, though you have lost it + somewhat in a good cause.” + </p> + <p> + Her glance fell on De la Foret. Her look softened. “I will hear you preach + next Sunday, sir.” + </p> + <p> + There was an instant’s pause, and then she said to Angele, with gracious + look and in a low voice: “You have heard from me that calumny which the + innocent never escape. To try you I neglected you these many days; to see + your nature even more truly than I knew it, I accused you but now. You + might have been challenged first by one who could do you more harm than + Elizabeth of England, whose office is to do good, not evil. Nets are + spread for those whose hearts are simple, and your feet have been caught. + Be thankful that we understand; and know that Elizabeth is your loving + friend. You have had trials—I have kept you in suspense—there + has been trouble for us all; but we are better now; our minds are more + content; so all may be well, please God! You will rest this night with our + lady-dove here, and to-morrow early you shall return in peace to your + father. You have a good friend in our cousin.” She made a gentle motion + towards the Duke’s Daughter. “She has proved it so. In my leech she has a + slave. To her you owe this help in time of need. She hath wisdom, too, and + we must listen to her, even as I have done this day.” + </p> + <p> + She inclined her head towards the door. Leicester opened it, and as she + passed out she gave him one look which told him that his game was lost, if + not for ever, yet for time uncertain and remote. “You must not blame the + leech, my lord,” she said, suddenly turning back. “The Queen of England + has first claim on the duty of her subjects. They serve me for love; you + they help at need as time-servers.” + </p> + <p> + She stepped on, then paused again and looked back. “Also I forbid fighting + betwixt you,” she said, in a loud voice, looking at De la Foret and + Leicester. + </p> + <p> + Without further sign or look, she moved on. Close behind came Angele and + the Duke’s Daughter, and Leicester followed at some distance. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVIII + </h2> + <p> + Not far from the palace, in a secluded place hidden by laburnum, roses, + box and rhododendrons, there was a quaint and beautiful retreat. High up + on all sides of a circle of green the flowering trees and shrubs + interlaced their branches, and the grass, as smooth as velvet, was of such + a note as soothed the eye and quieted the senses. In one segment of the + verdant circle was a sort of open bower made of poles, up which roses + climbed and hung across in gay festoons; and in two other segments mossy + banks made resting-places. Here, in days gone by, when Robert Dudley, Earl + of Leicester, first drew the eyes of his Queen upon him, Elizabeth came to + listen to his vows of allegiance, which swam in floods of passionate + devotion to her person. Christopher Hatton, Sir Henry Lee, the Duke of + Norfolk, the Earl of Sussex, a race of gallants, had knelt upon this + pleasant sward. Here they had declared a devotion that, historically + platonic, had a personal passion which, if rewarded by no personal + requital, must have been an expensive outlay of patience and emotion. + </p> + <p> + But those days had gone. Robert Dudley had advanced far past his fellows, + had locked himself into the chamber of the Queen’s confidence, had for + long proved himself necessary to her, had mingled deference and admiration + with an air of monopoly, and had then advanced to an air of possession, of + suggested control. Then had begun his decline. England and England’s Queen + could have but one ruler, and upon an occasion in the past Elizabeth made + it clear by the words she used: “God’s death, my Lord, I have wished you + well; but my favour is not so locked up for you that others shall not + partake thereof; and, if you think to rule here, I will take a course to + see you forthcoming. I will have here but one mistress and no master.” + </p> + <p> + In these words she but declared what was the practice of her life, the + persistent passion of her rule. The world could have but one sun, and + every man or woman who sought its warmth must be a sun-worshipper. There + could be no divided faith, no luminaries in the sky save those which lived + by borrowed radiance. + </p> + <p> + Here in this bright theatre of green and roses poets had sung the praises + of this Queen to her unblushing and approving face; here ladies thrice as + beautiful as she had begged her to tell them the secret of her beauty, so + much greater than that of any living woman; and she was pleased even when + she knew they flattered but to gain her smile—it was the tribute + that power exacts. The place was a cenotaph of past romance and pleasure. + Every leaf of every tree and flower had impressions of glories, of love, + ambition and intrigue, of tears and laughter, of joyousness and ruin. + Never a spot in England where so much had been said and done, so far + reaching in effect and influence. But its glory was departed, its day was + done, it was a place of dreams and memories: the Queen came here no more. + Many years had withered since she had entered this charmed spot; and that + it remained so fine was but evidence of the care of those to whom she had + given strict orders seven years past, that in and out of season it must be + ever kept as it had erstwhile been. She had never entered the place since + the day the young Marquis of Wessex, whom she had imprisoned for marrying + secretly and without her consent, on his release came here, and, with a + concentrated bitterness and hate, had told her such truths as she never + had heard from man or woman since she was born. He had impeached her in + such cold and murderous terms as must have made wince even a woman with no + pride. To Elizabeth it was gall and wormwood. When he at last demanded the + life of the young wife who had died in enforced seclusion, because she had + married the man she loved, Elizabeth was so confounded that she hastily + left the place, saying no word in response. This attack had been so + violent, so deadly, that she had seemed unnerved, and forbore to command + him to the Tower or to death. + </p> + <p> + “You, in whose breast love never stirred, deny the right to others whom + God blessed with it,” he cried. “Envious of mortal happiness that dare + exist outside your will or gift, you sunder and destroy. You, in whose + hands was power to give joy, gave death. What you have sown you shall + reap. Here on this spot I charge you with high treason, with treachery to + the people over whom you have power as a trust, which trust you have made + a scourge.” + </p> + <p> + With such words as these he had assailed her, and for the first time in + her life she had been confounded. In safety he had left the place, and + taken his way to Italy, from which he had never returned, though she had + sent for him in kindness. Since that day Elizabeth had never come hither; + and by-and-by none of her Court came save the Duke’s Daughter, and her + fool, who both made it their resort. Here the fool came upon the Friday + before Trinity Day, bringing with him Lempriere and Buonespoir, to whom he + had much attached himself. + </p> + <p> + It was a day of light and warmth, and the place was like a basket of + roses. Having seen the two serving-men dispose, in a convenient place, the + refreshment which Lempriere’s appetite compelled, the fool took command of + the occasion and made the two sit upon a bank, while he prepared the + repast. + </p> + <p> + Strangest of the notable trio was the dwarfish fool with his shaggy black + head, twisted mouth, and watchful, wandering eye, whose foolishness was + but the flaunting cover of shrewd observation and trenchant vision. Going + where he would, and saying what he listed, now in the Queen’s inner + chamber, then in the midst of the Council, unconsidered, and the butt of + all, he paid for his bed and bounty by shooting shafts of foolery which as + often made his listeners shrink as caused their laughter. The Queen he + called Delicio, and Leicester, Obligato—as one who piped to + another’s dance. He had taken to Buonespoir at the first glance, and had + frequented him, and Lempriere had presently been added to his favour. He + had again and again been messenger between them, as also of late between + Angele and Michel, whose case he viewed from a stand-point of great + cheerfulness, and treated them as children playing on the sands—as, + indeed, he did the Queen and all near to her. But Buonespoir, the pirate, + was to him reality and the actual, and he called him Bono Publico. At + first Lempriere, ever jealous of his importance, was inclined to treat him + with elephantine condescension; but he could not long hold out against the + boon archness of the jester, and he collapsed suddenly into as close a + friendship as that between himself and Buonespoir. + </p> + <p> + A rollicking spirt was his own fullest stock-in-trade, and it won him like + a brother. + </p> + <p> + So it was that here, in the very bosom of the forest, lured by the pipe + the fool played, Lempriere burst forth into song, in one hand a bottle of + canary, in the other a handful of comfits: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Duke William was a Norman + (Spread the sail to the breeze!) + That did to England ride; + At Hastings by the Channel + (Drink the wine to the lees!) + Our Harold the Saxon died. + If there be no cakes from Normandy, + There’ll be more ale in England!” + </pre> + <p> + “Well sung, nobility, and well said,” cried Buonespoir, with a rose by the + stem in his mouth, one hand beating time to the music, the other clutching + a flagon of muscadella; “for the Normans are kings in England, and there’s + drink in plenty at the Court of our Lady Duchess.” + </p> + <p> + “Delicio shall never want while I have a penny of hers to spend,” quoth + the fool, feeling for another tune. “Should conspirators prevail, and the + damnedest be, she hath yet the Manor of Rozel and my larder,” urged + Lempriere, with a splutter through the canary. + </p> + <p> + “That shall be only when the Fifth wind comes—it is so ordained, + Nuncio!” said the fool blinking. Buonespoir set down his flagon. “And what + wind is the Fifth wind?” he asked, scratching his bullethead, his + child-like, widespread eyes smiling the question. + </p> + <p> + “There be now four winds—the North wind and his sisters, the East, + the West, and South. When God sends a Fifth wind, then conspirators shall + wear crowns. Till then Delicio shall sow and I shall reap, as is Heaven’s + will.” + </p> + <p> + Lempriere lay back and roared with laughter. “Before Belial, there never + was such another as thou, fool. Conspirators shall die and not prevail, + for a man may not marry his sister, and the North wind shall have no + progeny. So there shall be no Fifth wind.” + </p> + <p> + “Proved, proved,” cried the fool. “The North wind shall go whistle for a + mate—there shall be no Fifth wind. So, Delicio shall still sail by + the compass, and shall still compass all, and yet be compassed by none; + for it is written, Who compasseth Delicio existeth not.” + </p> + <p> + Buonespoir watched a lark soaring, as though its flight might lead him + through the fool’s argument clearly. Lempriere closed his eye, and + struggled with it, his lips outpursed, his head sunk on his breast. + Suddenly his eyes opened, he brought the bottle of canary down with a thud + on the turf. “‘Fore Michael and all angels, I have it, fool; I travel, I + conceive. De Carteret of St. Ouen’s must have gone to the block ere + conceiving so. I must conceive thus of the argument. He who compasseth the + Queen existeth not, for compassing, he dieth.” + </p> + <p> + “So it is by the hour-glass and the fortune told in the porringer. You + have conceived like a man, Nuncio.” + </p> + <p> + “And conspirators, I conceive, must die, so long as there be honest men to + slay them,” rejoined the Seigneur. + </p> + <p> + “Must only honest men slay conspirators? Oh, Shadrach, Meshach, and + Abednego!” wheezed Buonespoir with a grin. He placed his hand upon his + head in self-pity. “Buonespoir, art thou damned by muscadella?” he + murmured. + </p> + <p> + “But thou art purged of the past, Bono Publico,” answered the fool. “Since + Delicio hath looked upon thee she hath shredded the Tyburn lien upon thee—thou + art flushed like a mountain spring; and conspirators shall fall down by + thee if thou, passant, dost fall by conspirators in the way. Bono Publico, + thou shalt live by good company. Henceforth contraband shall be spurned + and the book of grace opened.” + </p> + <p> + Buonespoir’s eyes laughed like a summer sky, but he scratched his head and + turned over the rose-stem in his mouth reflectively. “So be it, then, if + it must be; but yesterday the Devon sea-sweeper, Francis Drake, overhauled + me in my cottage, coming from the Queen, who had infused him of me. ‘I + have heard of you from a high masthead,’ said he. ‘If the Spanish main + allure you, come with me. There be galleons yonder still; they shall cough + up doubloons.’ ‘It hath a sound of piracy,’ said I. ‘I am expurgated. My + name is written on clean paper now, blessed be the name of the Queen!’ + ‘Tut, tut, Buonesperado,’ laughed he, ‘you shall forget that Tyburn is not + a fable if you care to have doubloons reminted at the Queen’s mint. It is + meet Spanish Philip’s head be molted to oblivion, and Elizabeth’s raised, + so that good silver be purged of Popish alloy.’ But that I had sworn by + the little finger of St. Peter when the moon was full, never to leave the + English seas, I also would have gone with Drake of Devon this day. It is a + man and a master of men that Drake of Devon.” + </p> + <p> + “‘Tis said that when a man hath naught left but life, and hath treated his + honour like a poor relation, he goes to the Spanish main with Drake and + Grenville,” said Lempriere. + </p> + <p> + “Then must Obligato go, for he hath such credentials,” said the fool, + blowing thistle-down in the air. “Yesterday was no Palm Sunday to + Leicester. Delicio’s head was high. ‘Imperial Majesty,’ quoth Obligato, + his knees upon the rushes, ‘take my life but send me not forth into + darkness where I shall see my Queen no more. By the light of my Queen’s + eyes have I walked, and pains of hell are my Queen’s displeasure.’ + ‘Methinks thy humbleness is tardy,’ quoth Delicio. ‘No cock shall crow by + my nest,’ said she. ‘And, by the mantle of Elijah, I am out with sour + faces and men of phlegm and rheum. I will be gay once more. So get thee + gone to Kenilworth, and stray not from it on thy peril. Take thy malaise + with thee, and I shall laugh again.’ Behold he goeth. So that was the end + of Obligato, and now cometh another tune.” + </p> + <p> + “She hath good cheer?” asked Lempriere eagerly. “I have never seen Delicio + smile these seven years as she smiled to-day; and when she kissed Amicitia + I sent for my confessor and made my will. Delicio hath come to + spring-time, and the voice of the turtle is in her ear.” + </p> + <p> + “Amicitia—and who is Amicitia?” asked Lempriere, well flushed with + wine. + </p> + <p> + “She who hath brought Obligato to the diminuendo and finale,” answered the + fool; “even she who hath befriended the Huguenottine of the black eyes.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, she, the Duke’s Daughter—v’la, that is a flower of a lady! Did + she not say that my jerkin fitted neatly when I did act as butler to her + adorable Majesty three months syne? She hath no mate in the world save + Mademoiselle Aubert, whom I brought hither to honour and to fame.” + </p> + <p> + “To honour and fame, was it—but by the hill of desperandum, Nuncio,” + said the fool, prodding him with his stick of bells. + </p> + <p> + “‘Desperandum’! I know not Latin; it amazes me,” said Lempriere, waving a + lofty hand. + </p> + <p> + “She—the Huguenottine—was a-mazed also, and from the maze was + played by Obligato.” + </p> + <p> + “How so! how so!” cried the Seigneur, catching at his meaning. “Did + Leicester waylay and siege? ‘Sblood, had I known this, I’d have broached + him and swallowed him even on crutches.” + </p> + <p> + “She made him raise the siege, she turned his own guns upon him, and in + the end hath driven him hence.” By rough questioning Lempriere got from + the fool by snatches the story of the meeting in the maze, which had left + Leicester standing with the jester’s ribboned bells in his hand. Then the + Seigneur got to his feet, and hugged the fool, bubbling with laughter. + </p> + <p> + “By all the blood of all the saints, I will give thee burial in my own + grave when all’s done,” he spluttered; “for there never was such fooling, + never such a wise fool come since Confucius and the Khan. Good be with + you, fool, and thanks be for such a lady. Thanks be also for the Duke’s + Daughter. Ah, how she laid Leicester out! She washed him up the shore like + behemoth, and left him gaping.” + </p> + <p> + Buonespoir intervened. “And what shall come of it? What shall be the end? + The Honeyflower lies at anchor—there be three good men in waiting, + Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and—” + </p> + <p> + The Seigneur interrupted. “There’s little longer waiting. All’s well! Her + high hereditary Majesty smiled on me when she gave Leicester conge and + fiery quittance. She hath me in favour, and all shall be well with Michel + and Angele. O fool, fool, fantastic and flavoured fool, sing me a song of + good content, for if this business ends not with crescendo and + bell-ringing, I am no butler to the Queen nor keep good company!” + </p> + <p> + Seating themselves upon the mossy bank, their backs to the westward sun, + the fool peered into the green shadows and sang with a soft melancholy an + ancient song that another fool had sung to the first Tudor: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “When blows the wind and drives the sleet, + And all the trees droop down; + When all the world is sad, + ‘tis meet Good company be known: + And in my heart good company + Sits by the fire and sings to me. + + “When warriors return, and one + That went returns no more; + When dusty is the road we run, + And garners have no store; + One ingle-nook right warm shall be + Where my heart hath good company. + + “When man shall flee and woman fail, + And folly mock and hope deceive, + Let cowards beat the breast and wail, + I’ll homeward hie; I will not grieve: + I’ll draw the blind, I’ll there set free + My heart’s beloved boon company. + + “When kings shall favour, ladies call + My service to their side; + When roses grow upon the wall + Of life, with love inside; + I’ll get me home with joy to be + In my heart’s own good company!” + </pre> + <p> + “Oh, fool, oh, beneficent fool, well done! ‘Tis a song for a man—‘twould + shame De Carteret of St. Ouen’s to his knees,” cried Lempriere. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, benignant fool, well done! ‘twould draw me from my meals,” said a + voice behind the three; and, turning hastily about, they saw, smiling and + applausive, the Duke’s Daughter. Beside her was Angele. + </p> + <p> + The three got to their feet, and each made obeisance after his + kind-Buonespoir ducking awkwardly, his blue eyes bulging with pleasure, + Lempriere swelling with vanity and spreading wide acknowledgment of their + presence, the fool condescending a wave of welcome. “Oh! abundant + Amicitia!” cried the fool to the Duke’s Daughter, “thou art saved by so + doing. So get thee to thanksgiving and God’s mercy.” + </p> + <p> + “Wherefore am I saved by being drawn from my meals by thy music, fool?” + she asked, linking her arm in Angele’s. + </p> + <p> + “Because thou art more enamoured of lampreys than of man; and it is + written that thou shalt love thy fellow man, and he that loveth not is + lost: therefore thou art lost if thou lingerest at meals.” + </p> + <p> + “Is it so, then? And this lady—what thinkest thou? Must she also + abstain and seek good company?” + </p> + <p> + “No, verily, Amicitia, for she is good company itself, and so she may + sleep in the larder and have no fear.” + </p> + <p> + “And what think you—shall she be happy? Shall she have gifts of + fate?” + </p> + <p> + “Discriminately so, Amicitia. She shall have souvenirs and no suspicions + of Fate. But she shall not linger here, for all lingerers in Delicio’s + Court are spied upon—not for their soul’s good. She shall go hence, + and—” + </p> + <p> + “Ay, princely lady, she shall go hence,” interposed Lempriere, who had + panted to speak, and could bear silence no longer. “Her high Majesty will + kiss her on the brow, and in Jersey Isle she shall blossom and bloom and + know bounty—or never more shall I have privilege and perquage.” + </p> + <p> + He lumbered forward and kissed Angele’s hand as though conferring + distinction, but with great generosity. “I said that all should go well, + and so it shall. Rozel shall prevail. The Queen knows on what rock to + build, as I made warrant for her, and will still do so.” + </p> + <p> + His vanity was incorrigible, but through it ran so child-like a spirit + that it bred friendship and repulsed not. The Duke’s Daughter pressed the + arm of Angele, who replied: + </p> + <p> + “Indeed it has been so according to your word, and we are—I am—shall + ever be beholden. In storm you have been with us, so true a pilot and so + brave a sailor; and if we come to port and the quiet shore, there shall be + spread a feast of remembrance which shall never grow cold, Seigneur.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “One ingle-nook right warm shall be + Where my heart hath good company,” + </pre> + <p> + sang the fool, and catching by the arm Buonespoir, who ducked his head in + farewell, ran him into the greenwood. Angele came forward as if to stay + Buonespoir, but stopped short reflectively. As she did so, the Duke’s + Daughter whispered quickly into Lempriere’s ear. + </p> + <p> + Swelling with pride he nodded, and said: “I will reach him and discover + myself to him, and bring him, if he stray, most undoubted and infallible + lady,” and with an air of mystery he made a heavily respectful exit. + </p> + <p> + Left alone, the two ladies seated themselves in the bower of roses, and + for a moment were silent. Presently the Duke’s Daughter laughed aloud. + </p> + <p> + “In what seas of dear conceit swims your leviathan Seigneur, + heart’s-ease?” + </p> + <p> + Angele stole a hand into the cool palm of the other. “He was builded for + some lonely sea all his own. Creation cheated him. But God give me ever + such friends as he, and I shall indeed ‘have good company’ and fear no + issue.” She sighed. + </p> + <p> + “Remains there still a fear? Did you not have good promise in the Queen’s + words that night?” + </p> + <p> + “Ay, so it seemed, and so it seemed before—on May Day, and yet—” + </p> + <p> + “And yet she banished you, and tried you, and kept you heart-sick? Sweet, + know you not how bitter a thing it is to owe a debt of love to one whom we + have injured? So it was with her. The Queen is not a saint, but very + woman. Marriage she hath ever contemned and hated; men she hath desired to + keep her faithful and impassioned servitors. So does power blind us. And + the braver the man, the more she would have him in her service, at her + feet, the centre of the world.” + </p> + <p> + “I had served her in a crisis, an hour of peril. Was naught due me?” + </p> + <p> + The Duke’s Daughter drew her close. “She never meant but that all should + be well. And because you had fastened on her feelings as never I have seen + another of your sex, so for the moment she resented it; and because De la + Foret was yours—ah, if you had each been naught to the other, how + easy it would have run! Do you not understand?” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, then, and yea, then—and I put it from me. See, am I not happy + now? Upon your friendship I build.” + </p> + <p> + “Sweet, I did what I could. Leicester filled her ears with poison every + day, mixed up your business and great affairs with France, sought to + convey that you both were not what you are; until at last I countermarched + him.” She laughed merrily. “Ay, I can laugh now, but it was all hanging by + a thread, when my leech sent his letter that brought you to the palace. It + had grieved me that I might not seek you, or write to you in all those sad + days; but the only way to save you was by keeping the Queen’s command; for + she had known of Leicester’s visits to you, of your meeting in the maze, + and she was set upon it that alone, all alone, you should be tried to the + last vestige of your strength. If you had failed—” + </p> + <p> + “If I had failed—” Angele closed her eyes and shuddered. “I had not + cared for myself, but Michel—” + </p> + <p> + “If you had failed, there had been no need to grieve for Michel. He then + had not grieved for thee. But see, the wind blows fair, and in my heart I + have no fear of the end. You shall go hence in peace. This morning the + Queen was happier than I have seen her these many years: a light was in + her eye brighter than showeth to the Court. She talked of this place, + recalled the hours spent here, spoke even softly of Leicester. And that + gives me warrant for the future. She has relief in his banishment, and + only recalls older and happier days when, if her cares were no greater, + they were borne by the buoyancy of girlhood and youth. Of days spent here + she talked until mine own eyes went blind. She said it was a place for + lovers, and if she knew any two lovers who were true lovers, and had been + long parted, she would send them here.” + </p> + <p> + “There be two true lovers, and they have been long parted,” murmured + Angele. + </p> + <p> + “But she commanded these lovers not to meet till Trinity Day, and she + brooks not disobedience even in herself. How could she disobey her own + commands? But”—her eyes were on the greenwood and the path that led + into the circle—“but she would shut her eyes to-day, and let the + world move on without her, let lovers thrive, and birds be nesting without + heed or hap. Disobedience shall thrive when the Queen connives at it—and + so I leave you to your disobedience, sweet.” + </p> + <p> + With a laugh she sprang to her feet, and ran. Amazed and bewildered Angele + gazed after her. As she stood looking she heard her name called softly. + </p> + <p> + Turning, she saw Michel. They were alone. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIX + </h2> + <p> + When De la Foret and Angele saw the Queen again it was in the royal + chapel. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps the longest five minutes of M. de la Foret’s life were those in + which he waited the coming of the Queen on that Trinity Sunday which was + to decide his fate. When he saw Elizabeth enter the chapel his eyes swam, + till the sight of them was lost in the blur of colour made by the motions + of gorgeously apparelled courtiers and the people of the household. When + the Queen had taken her seat and all was quiet, he struggled with himself + to put on such a front of simple boldness as he would wear upon day of + battle. The sword the Queen had given him was at his side, and his garb + was still that of a gentleman, not of a Huguenot minister such as + Elizabeth in her grim humour, and to satisfy her bond with France, would + make of him this day. + </p> + <p> + The brown of his face had paled in the weeks spent in the palace and in + waiting for this hour; anxiety had toned the ruddy vigour of his bearing; + but his figure was the figure of a soldier, and his hand that of a strong + man. He shook a little as he bowed to her Majesty, but that passed, and + when at last his eye met that of the Duke’s Daughter he grew steady; for + she gave him as plainly as though her tongue spoke, a message from Angele. + Angele herself he did not see—she was kneeling in an obscure corner, + her father’s hand in hers, all the passion of her life pouring out in + prayer. + </p> + <p> + De la Foret drew himself up with an iron will. No nobler figure of a man + ever essayed to preach the Word, and so Elizabeth thought; and she + repented of the bitter humour which had set this trial as his chance of + life in England and his freedom from the hand of Catherine. The man bulked + larger in her eyes than he had ever done, and she struggled with herself + to keep the vow she had made to the Duke’s Daughter the night that Angele + had been found in De la Foret’s rooms. He had been the immediate cause, + fated or accidental, of the destined breach between Leicester and herself; + he had played a significant part in her own life. Glancing at her + courtiers, she saw that none might compare with him, the form and being of + calm boldness and courage. She sighed she knew scarce why. + </p> + <p> + When De la Foret first opened his mouth and essayed to call the + worshippers to prayer, no words came forth—only a dry whisper. Some + ladies simpered, and more than one courtier laughed silently. Michel saw, + and his face flamed up. But he laid a hand on himself, and a moment + afterwards his voice came forth, clear, musical, and resonant, speaking + simple words, direct and unlacquered sentences, passionately earnest + withal. He stilled the people to a unison of sentiment, none the less + interested and absorbed because it was known that he had been the cause of + the great breach between the Queen and the favourite. Ere he had spoken + far, flippant gallants had ceased to flutter handkerchiefs, to move their + swords idly upon the floor. + </p> + <p> + He took for his text: “Stand and search for the old paths.” The beginning + of all systems of religion, the coming of the Nazarene, the rise and + growth of Christianity, the martyrdoms of the early church, the invasion + of the truth by false doctrine, the abuses of the Church, the Reformation, + the martyrdom of the Huguenots for the return to the early principles of + Christianity, the “search for the old paths,” he set forth in a tone + generous but not fiery, presently powerful and searching, yet not + declamatory. At the last he raised the sword that hung by his side, and + the Book that lay before him, and said: + </p> + <p> + “And what matter which it is we wield—this steel that strikes for + God, or this Book which speaks of Him? For the Book is the sword of the + Spirit, and the sword is the life of humanity; for all faith must be + fought for, and all that is has been won by strife. But the paths wherein + ye go to battle must be the old paths; your sword shall be your staff by + day, and the Book your lantern by night. That which ye love ye shall + teach, and that which ye teach ye shall defend; and if your love be a true + love your teaching shall be a great teaching, and your sword a strong + sword which none may withstand. It shall be the pride of sovereign and of + people; and so neither ‘height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall + be able to separate us from the love of God.’” + </p> + <p> + Ere he had ended, some of the ladies were overcome, the eyes of the Duke’s + Daughter were full of tears, and Elizabeth said audibly, when he ceased + speaking: “On my soul, I have no bishop with a tongue like his. Would that + my Lord of Ely were here to learn how truth should be spoke. Henceforth my + bishops shall first be Camisards.” + </p> + <p> + Of that hour’s joyful business the Queen wrote thus to the Medici before + the day was done: + </p> + <p> + Cancelling all other letters on the matter, this M. de la Foret shall stay + in my kingdom. I may not be the headsman of one of my faith—as + eloquent a preacher as he was a brave soldier. Abiding by the strict terms + of our treaty with my brother of France, he shall stay with us in peace, + and in our own care. He hath not the eloquence of a Knox, but he hath the + true thing in him, and that speaks. + </p> + <p> + To the Duke’s Daughter the Queen said: “On my soul, he shall be married + instantly, or my ladies will carry him off and murder him for love.” + </p> + <p> + And so it was that the heart of Elizabeth the Queen warmed again and + dearly towards two Huguenot exiles, and showed that in doing justice she + also had not so sour a heart towards her sex as was set down to her + credit. Yet she made one further effort to keep De la Foret in her + service. When Michel, once again, declined, dwelt earnestly on his duty + towards the widow of his dead chief, and begged leave to share her exile + in Jersey, Elizabeth said: “On my soul, but I did not think there was any + man on earth so careless of princes’ honours!” + </p> + <p> + To this De la Foret replied that he had given his heart and life to one + cause, and since Montgomery had lost all, even life, the least Michel de + la Foret could do was to see that the woman who loved him be not + unprotected in the world. Also, since he might not at this present fight + for the cause, he could speak for it; and he thanked the Queen of England + for having shown him his duty. All that he desired was to be quiet for a + space somewhere in “her high Majesty’s good realm,” till his way was clear + to him. + </p> + <p> + “You would return to Jersey, then, with our friend of Rozel?” Elizabeth + said, with a gesture towards Lempriere, who, now recovered from his wound, + was present at the audience. + </p> + <p> + De la Foret inclined his head. “If it be your high Majesty’s pleasure.” + </p> + <p> + And Lempriere of Rozel said: “He would return with myself your noble + Majesty’s friend before all the world, and Buonespoir his ship the + Honeyflower.” + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth’s lips parted in a smile, for she was warmed with the luxury of + doing good, and she answered: + </p> + <p> + “I know not what the end of this will be, whether our loyal Lempriere will + become a pirate or Buonespoir a butler to my Court; but it is too pretty a + hazard to forego in a world of chance. By the rood, but I have never, + since I sat on my father’s throne, seen black so white as I have done this + past three months. You shall have your Buonespoir, good Rozel; but if he + plays pirate any more—tell him this from his Queen—upon an + English ship, I will have his head, if I must needs send Drake of Devon to + overhaul him.” + </p> + <p> + That same hour the Queen sent for Angele, and by no leave, save her own, + arranged the wedding-day, and ordained that it should take place at + Southampton, whither the Comtesse de Montgomery had come on her way to + Greenwich to plead for the life of Michel de la Foret, and to beg + Elizabeth to relieve her poverty. Both of which things Elizabeth did, as + the annals of her life record. + </p> + <p> + After Elizabeth—ever self-willed—had declared her way about + the marriage ceremony, looking for no reply save that of silent obedience, + she made Angele sit at her feet and tell her whole story again from first + to last. They were alone, and Elizabeth showed to this young refugee more + of her own heart than any other woman had ever seen. Not by words alone, + for she made no long story; but once she stooped and kissed Angele upon + the cheek, and once her eyes filled up with tears, and they dropped upon + her lap unheeded. All the devotion shown herself as a woman had come to + naught; and it may be that this thought stirred in her now. She remembered + how Leicester and herself had parted, and how she was denied all those + soft resources of regret which were the right of the meanest women in her + realm. For, whatever she might say to her Parliament and people, she knew + that all was too late—that she would never marry and that she must + go childless and uncomforted to her grave. Years upon years of delusion of + her people, of sacrifice to policy, had at last become a self-delusion, to + which her eyes were not full opened yet—she sought to shut them + tight. But these refugees, coming at the moment of her own struggle, had + changed her heart from an ever-growing bitterness to human sympathy. When + Angele had ended her tale once more, the Queen said: + </p> + <p> + “God knows, ye shall not linger in my Court. Such lives have no place + here. Get you back to my Isle of Jersey, where ye may live in peace. Here + all is noise, self-seeking and time-service. If ye twain are not happy I + will say the world should never have been made.” + </p> + <p> + Before they left Greenwich Palace—M. Aubert and Angele, De la Foret, + Lempriere, and Buonespoir—the Queen made Michel de la Foret the gift + of a chaplaincy to the Crown. To Monsieur Aubert she gave a small pension, + and in Angele’s hands she placed a deed of dower worthy of a generosity + greater than her own. + </p> + <p> + At Southampton, Michel and Angele were married by royal license, and with + the Comtesse de Montgomery set sail in Buonespoir’s boat, the Honeyflower, + which brought them safe to St. Helier’s, in the Isle of Jersey. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XX + </h2> + <p> + Followed several happy years for Michel and Angele. The protection of the + Queen herself, the chaplaincy she had given De la Foret, the friendship + with the Governor of the island; and the boisterous tales Lempriere had + told of those days at Greenwich Palace quickened the sympathy and held the + interest of the people at large; while the simple lives of the two won + their way into the hearts of all, even, at last, to that of De Carteret of + St. Ouen’s. It was Angele herself who brought the two Seigneurs together + at her own good table; and it needed all her tact on that occasion to + prevent the ancient foes from drinking all the wine in her cellar. + </p> + <p> + There was no parish in Jersey that did not know their goodness, but mostly + in the parishes of St. Martin’s and Rozel were their faithful labours + done. From all parts of the island people came to hear Michel speak, + though that was but seldom; and when he spoke he always wore the sword the + Queen had given him, and used the Book he had studied in her palace. It + was to their home that Buonespoir the pirate—faithful to his promise + to the Queen that he would harry English ships no more came wounded, after + an engagement with a French boat sent to capture him, carried thither by + Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It was there he died, after having drunk + a bottle of St. Ouen’s muscadella, brought secretly to him by his + unchanging friend, Lempriere, so hastening the end. + </p> + <p> + The Comtesse de Montgomery, who lived in a cottage near by, came + constantly to the little house on the hillside by Rozel Bay. She had never + loved her own children more than she did the brown-haired child with the + deep-blue eyes, which was the one pledge of the great happiness of Michel + and Angele. + </p> + <p> + Soon after this child was born, M. Aubert had been put to rest in St. + Martin’s churchyard, and there his tombstone might be seen so late as a + hundred years ago. So things went softly by for seven years, and then + Madame de Montgomery journeyed to England, on invitation of the Queen and + to better fortune, and Angele and De la Foret were left to their quiet + life in Jersey. Sometimes this quiet was broken by bitter news from + France, of fresh persecution, and fresh struggle on the part of the + Huguenots. Thereafter for hours, sometimes for days, De la Foret would be + lost in sorrowful and restless meditation; and then he fretted against his + peaceful calling and his uneventful life. But the gracious hand of his + wife and the eyes of his child led him back to cheerful ways again. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly one day came the fearful news from England that the plague had + broken out, and that thousands were dying. The flight from London was like + the flight of the children of Israel into the desert. The dead-carts + filled with decaying bodies rattled through the foul streets, to drop + their horrid burdens into the great pit at Aldgate; the bells of London + tolled all day and all night for the passing of human souls. Hundreds of + homes, isolated because of a victim of the plague found therein, became + ghastly breeding-places of the disease, and then silent, disgusting + graves. If a man shivered in fear, or staggered from weakness, or for very + hunger turned sick, he was marked as a victim, and despite his protests + was huddled away with the real victims to die the awful death. From every + church, where clergy were left to pray, went up the cry for salvation from + “plague, pestilence, and famine.” Scores of ships from Holland and from + France lay in the Channel, not allowed to touch the shores of England, nor + permitted to return whence they came. On the very day that news of this + reached Jersey, came a messenger from the Queen of England for Michel de + la Foret to hasten to her Court for that she had need of him, and it was a + need which would bring him honour. Even as the young officer who brought + the letter handed it to De la Foret in the little house on the hill-side + above Rozel Bay, he was taken suddenly ill, and fell at the Camisard’s + feet. + </p> + <p> + De la Foret straightway raised him in his arms. He called to his wife, + but, bidding her not come near, he bore the doomed man away to the lonely + Ecrehos Rocks lying within sight of their own doorway. Suffering no one to + accompany him, he carried the sick man to the boat which had brought the + Queen’s messenger to Rozel Bay. The sailors of the vessel fled, and alone + De la Foret set sail for the Ecrehos. + </p> + <p> + There upon the black rocks the young man died, and Michel buried him in + the shore-bed of the Maitre Ile. Then, after two days—for he could + bear suspense no longer—he set sail for Jersey. Upon that journey + there is no need to dwell. Any that hath ever loved a woman and a child + must understand. A deep fear held him all the way, and when he stepped on + shore at Rozel Bay he was as one who had come from the grave, haggard and + old. + </p> + <p> + Hurrying up the hillside to his doorway, he called aloud to his wife, to + his child. Throwing open the door, he burst in. His dead child lay upon a + couch, and near by, sitting in a chair, with the sweat of the dying on her + brow, was Angele. As he dropped on his knee beside her, she smiled and + raised her hand as if to touch him, but the hand dropped and the head fell + forward on his breast. She was gone into a greater peace. + </p> + <p> + Once more Michel made a journey-alone—to the Ecrehos, and there, + under the ruins of the old Abbey of Val Richer, he buried the twain he had + loved. Not once in all the terrible hours had he shed a tear; not once had + his hand trembled; his face was like stone, and his eyes burned with an + unearthly light. + </p> + <p> + He did not pray beside the graves; but he knelt and kissed the earth again + and again. He had doffed his robes of peace, and now wore the garb of a + soldier, armed at all points fully. Rising from his knees, he turned his + face towards Jersey. + </p> + <p> + “Only mine! Only mine!” he said aloud in a dry, bitter voice. + </p> + <p> + In the whole island, only his loved ones had died of the plague. The + holiness and charity and love of Michel and Angele had ended so! + </p> + <p> + When once more he set forth upon the Channel, he turned his back on Jersey + and shaped his course towards France, having sent Elizabeth his last + excuses for declining a service which would have given him honour, fame + and regard. He was bent upon a higher duty. + </p> + <p> + Not long did he wait for the death he craved. Next year, in a Huguenot + sortie from Anvers, he was slain. He died with these words on his lips: + </p> + <p> + “Maintenant, Angele!” + </p> + <p> + In due time the island people forgot them both, but the Seigneur of Rozel + caused a stone to be set up on the highest point of land that faces + France, and on the stone were carved the names of Michel and Angele. + Having done much hard service for his country and for England’s Queen, + Lempriere at length hung up his sword and gave his years to peace. From + the Manor of Rozel he was wont to repair constantly to the little white + house, which remained as the two had left it,—his own by order of + the Queen,—and there, as time went on, he spent most of his days. To + the last he roared with laughter if ever the name of Buonespoir was + mentioned in his presence; he swaggered ever before the Royal Court and De + Carteret of St. Ouen’s; and he spoke proudly of his friendship with the + Duke’s Daughter, who had admired the cut of his jerkin at the Court of + Elizabeth. But in the house where Angele had lived he moved about as + though in the presence of a beloved sleeper he would not awake. + </p> + <p> + Michel and Angele had had their few years of exquisite life and love, and + had gone; Lempriere had longer measure of life and little love, and who + shall say which had more profit of breath and being? The generations have + passed away, and the Angel of Equity hath a smiling pity as she scans the + scales and the weighing of the Past. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + ETEXT EDITOR’S BOOKMARKS: + + Boldness without rashness, and hope without vain thinking + Each of us will prove himself a fool given perfect opportunity + Never believed that when man or woman said no that no was meant + No note of praise could be pitched too high for Elizabeth + Nothing is futile that is right + Religion to him was a dull recreation invented chiefly for women + She had never stooped to conquer + Slander ever scorches where it touches +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Michel and Angele [A Ladder of +Swords], Complete, by Gilbert Parker + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHEL AND ANGELE *** + +***** This file should be named 6253-h.htm or 6253-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/5/6253/ + +Produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Michel and Angele [A Ladder of Swords], Complete + +Author: Gilbert Parker + +Last Updated: March 14, 2009 +Release Date: October 18, 2006 [EBook #6253] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHEL AND ANGELE *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +MICHEL AND ANGELE, Complete + +[A Ladder of Swords] + + +By Gilbert Parker + + + +INTRODUCTION + +If it does not seem too childish a candour to say so, 'Michel and +Angele' always seems to me like some old letter lifted out of an ancient +cabinet with the faint perfume of bygone days upon it. Perhaps that is +because the story itself had its origin in a true but brief record of +some good Huguenots who fled from France and took refuge in England, to +be found, as the book declares, at the Walloon Church, in Southampton. + +The record in the first paragraphs of the first chapter of the book +fascinated my imagination, and I wove round Michel de la Foret and +Angele Aubert a soft, bright cloud of romance which would not leave my +vision until I sat down and wrote out what, in the writing, seemed to +me a true history. It was as though some telepathy between the days +of Elizabeth and our own controlled me--self-hypnotism, I suppose; +but still, there it was. The story, in its original form, was first +published in 'Harper's Weekly' under the name of Michel and Angele, but +the fear, I think, that many people would mispronounce the first word of +the title, induced me to change it when, double in length, it became a +volume called 'A Ladder of Swords'. + +As it originally appeared, I wrote it in the Island of Jersey, out at +the little Bay of Rozel in a house called La Chaire, a few yards away +from the bay itself, and having a pretty garden with a seat at its +highest point, from which, beyond the little bay, the English Channel +ran away to the Atlantic. It was written in complete seclusion. I had +no visitors; there was no one near, indeed, except the landlord of the +little hotel in the bay, and his wife. All through the Island, however, +were people whom I knew, like the Malet de Carterets, the Lemprieres, +and old General Pipon, for whom the Jersey of three hundred years +ago was as near as the Jersey of to-day, so do the Jersiais prize, +cultivate, and conserve every hour of its recorded history. + +As the sea opens out to a vessel making between the promontories to the +main, so, while writing this tale which originally was short, the larger +scheme of 'The Battle of the Strong' spread out before me, luring me, +as though in the distance were the Fortunate Isles. Eight years after +'Michel and Angele' was written and first published in 'Harper's +Weekly', I decided to give it the dignity of a full-grown romance. For +years I had felt that it had the essentials for a larger canvas, and at +the earnest solicitation of Messrs. Harper & Brothers I settled to do +what had long been in my mind. The narrative grew as naturally from +what it was to larger stature as anything that had been devised upon a +greater scale at the beginning; and in London town I had the same joy +in the company of Michel and Angele--and a vastly increased joy in the +company of Lempriere, the hulking, joyous giant--as I had years before +in Jersey itself when the story first stirred in my mind and reached my +pen. + +While adverse reviews of the book were few if any, it cannot be said +that this romance is a companion in popularity with, for instance, 'The +Right of Way'. It had its friends, but it has apparently appealed to +smaller audiences--to those who watch the world go by; who are not +searching for the exposure of life's grim realities; who do not seek the +clinic of the soul's tragedies. There was tragedy here, but there was +comedy too; there was also joy and faith, patience and courage. The +book, taken by itself, could not make a permanent reputation for any +man, but it has its place in the scheme of my work, and I would not have +it otherwise than it is. + + + + +A NOTE + +There will be found a few anachronisms in this tale, but none so +important as to give a wrong impression of the events of Queen +Elizabeth's reign. + + + + +MICHEL AND ANGELE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +If you go to Southampton and search the register of the Walloon Church +there, you will find that in the summer of '57, + + "Madame Vefue de Montgomery with all her family and servants were + admitted to the Communion"--"Tous ceux ce furent Recus la a Cene du + '57, comme passans, sans avoir Rendu Raison de la foj, mes sur la + tesmognage de Mons. Forest, Ministre de Madame, quj certifia quj ne + cognoisoit Rien en tout ceux la po' quoy Il ne leur deust administre + la Cene s'il estoit en lieu po' a ferre." + +There is another striking record, which says that in August of the same +year Demoiselle Angele Claude Aubert, daughter of Monsieur de la Haie +Aubert, Councillor of the Parliament of Rouen, was married to Michel de +la Foret, of the most noble Flemish family of that name. + +When I first saw these records, now grown dim with time, I fell to +wondering what was the real life-history of these two people. Forthwith, +in imagination, I began to make their story piece by piece; and I had +reached a romantic 'denoument' satisfactory to myself and in sympathy +with fact, when the Angel of Accident stepped forward with some "human +documents." Then I found that my tale, woven back from the two obscure +records I have given, was the true story of two most unhappy yet most +happy people. From the note struck in my mind, when my finger touched +that sorrowful page in the register of the Church of the Refugees at +Southampton, had spread out the whole melody and the very book of the +song. + +One of the later-discovered records was a letter, tear-stained, faded, +beautifully written in old French, from Demoiselle Angele Claude Aubert +to Michel de la Foret at Anvers in March of the year 157_. The letter +lies beside me as I write, and I can scarcely believe that three and +a quarter centuries have passed since it was written, and that she who +wrote it was but eighteen years old at the time. I translate it into +English, though it is impossible adequately to carry over either the +flavour or the idiom of the language: + + Written on this May Day of the year 157_, at the place hight Rozel + in the Manor called of the same of Jersey Isle, to Michel de la + Foret, at Anvers in Flanders. + + MICHEL, Thy good letter by safe carriage cometh to my hand, bringing + to my heart a lightness it hath not known since that day when I was + hastily carried to the port of St. Malo, and thou towards the King + his prison. In what great fear have I lived, having no news of thee + and fearing all manner of mischance! But our God hath benignly + saved thee from death, and me He hath set safely here in this isle + of the sea. + + Thou hast ever been a brave soldier, enduring and not fearing; thou + shalt find enow to keep thy blood stirring in these days of trial + and peril to us who are so opprobriously called Les Huguenots. If + thou wouldst know more of my mind thereupon, come hither. Safety is + here, and work for thee--smugglers and pirates do abound on these + coasts, and Popish wolves do harry the flock even in this island + province of England. Michel, I plead for the cause which thou hast + nobly espoused, but--alas! my selfish heart, where thou art lie work + and fighting, and the same high cause, and sadly, I confess, it is + for mine own happiness that I ask thee to come. I wot well that + escape from France hath peril, that the way hither from that point + upon yonder coast called Carteret is hazardous, but yet-but yet all + ways to happiness are set with hazard. + + If thou dost come to Carteret thou wilt see two lights turning this- + wards: one upon a headland called Tour de Rozel, and one upon the + great rock called of the Ecrehos. These will be in line with thy + sight by the sands of Hatainville. Near by the Tour de Rozel shall + I be watching and awaiting thee. By day and night doth my prayer + ascend for thee. + + The messenger who bears this to thee (a piratical knave with a most + kind heart, having, I am told, a wife in every port of France and of + England the south, a most heinous sin!) will wait for thy answer, or + will bring thee hither, which is still better. He is worthy of + trust if thou makest him swear by the little finger of St. Peter. + By all other swearings he doth deceive freely. + + The Lord make thee true, Michel. If thou art faithful to me, I + shall know how faithful thou art in all; for thy vows to me were + most frequent and pronounced, with a full savour that might warrant + short seasoning. Yet, because thou mayst still be given to such + dear fantasies of truth as were on thy lips in those dark days + wherein thy sword saved my life 'twixt Paris and Rouen, I tell thee + now that I do love thee, and shall so love when, as my heart + inspires me, the cloud shall fall that will hide us from each other + forever. + + ANGELE. + + An Afterword: + + I doubt not we shall come to the heights where there is peace, + though we climb thereto by a ladder of swords. A. + +Some years before Angele's letter was written, Michel de la Foret had +become an officer in the army of Comte Gabriel de Montgomery, and fought +with him until what time the great chief was besieged in the Castle of +Domfront in Normandy. When the siege grew desperate, Montgomery besought +the intrepid young Huguenot soldier to escort Madame de Montgomery to +England, to be safe from the oppression and misery sure to follow any +mishap to this noble leader of the Camisards. + +At the very moment of departure of the refugees from Domfront with the +Comtesse, Angele's messenger--the "piratical knave with the most kind +heart" presented himself, delivered her letter to De la Foret, and +proceeded with the party to the coast of Normandy by St. Brieuc. +Embarking there in a lugger which Buonespoir the pirate secured for +them, they made for England. + +Having come but half-way of the Channel, the lugger was stopped by an +English frigate. After much persuasion the captain of the frigate agreed +to land Madame de Montgomery upon the island of Jersey, but forced De la +Foret to return to the coast of France; and Buonespoir elected to return +with him. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Meanwhile Angele had gone through many phases of alternate hope and +despair. She knew that Montgomery the Camisard was dead, and a rumour, +carried by refugees, reached her that De la Foret had been with him to +the end. To this was presently added the word that De la Foret had been +beheaded. But one day she learned that the Comtesse de Montgomery +was sheltered by the Governor, Sir Hugh Pawlett, her kinsman, at Mont +Orgueil Castle. Thither she went in fear from her refuge at Rozel, and +was admitted to the Comtesse. There she learned the joyful truth that De +la Foret had not been slain, and was in hiding on the coast of Normandy. + +The long waiting was a sore trial, yet laughter was often upon her +lips henceforth. The peasants, the farmers and fishermen of Jersey, +at first--as they have ever been--little inclined towards strangers, +learned at last to look for her in the fields and upon the shore, and +laughed in response, they knew not why, to the quick smiling of +her eyes. She even learned to speak their unmusical but friendly +Norman-Jersey French. There were at least a half-dozen fishermen who, +for her, would have gone at night straight to the Witches' Rock in St. +Clement's Bay--and this was bravery unmatched. + +It came to be known along the coast that "Ma'm'selle" was waiting for a +lover fleeing from the French coast. This gave her fresh interest in the +eyes of the serfs and sailors and their women folk, who at first were +not inclined towards the Huguenot maiden, partly because she was French, +and partly because she was not a Catholic. But even these, when they saw +that she never talked religiously, that she was fast learning to speak +their own homely patois, and that in the sickness of their children she +was untiring in her kindness, forgave the austerity of the gloomy-browed +old man her father, who spoke to them distantly, or never spoke at all; +and her position was secure. Then, upon the other hand, the gentry of +the manors, seeing the friendship grow between her and the Comtesse de +Montgomery at Mont Orgueil Castle, made courteous advances towards her +father, and towards herself through him. + +She could scarce have counted the number of times she climbed the great +hill like a fortress at the lift of the little bay of Rozel, and from +the Nez du Guet scanned the sea for a sail and the sky for fair weather. +When her eyes were not thus busy, they were searching the lee of the +hillside round for yellow lilies, and the valley below for the campion, +the daffodil, and the thousand pretty ferns growing in profusion there. +Every night she looked out to see that her signal fire was lit upon the +Nez du Guet, and she never went to bed without taking one last look over +the sea, in the restless inveterate hope which at once sustained her and +devoured her. + +But the longest waiting must end. It came on the evening of the very day +that the Seigneur of Rozel went to Angele's father and bluntly told him +he was ready to forego all Norman-Jersey prejudice against the French +and the Huguenot religion, and take Angele to wife without penny or +estate. + +In reply to the Seigneur, Monsieur Aubert said that he was conscious of +an honour, and referred Monsieur to his daughter, who must answer for +herself; but he must tell Monsieur of Rozel that Monsieur's religion +would, in his own sight, be a high bar to the union. To that the +Seigneur said that no religion that he had could be a bar to anything at +all; and so long as the young lady could manage her household, drive a +good bargain with the craftsmen and hucksters, and have the handsomest +face and manners in the Channel Islands, he'd ask no more; and she might +pray for him and his salvation without let or hindrance. + +The Seigneur found the young lady in a little retreat among the rocks, +called by the natives La Chaire. Here she sat sewing upon some coarse +linen for a poor fisherwoman's babe when the Seigneur came near. She +heard the scrunch of his heels upon the gravel, the clank of his sword +upon the rocks, and looked up with a flush, her needle poised; for none +should know of her presence in this place save her father. When she saw +who was her visitor, she rose. After greeting and compliment, none too +finely put, but more generous than fitted with Jersey parsimony, the +gentleman of Rozel came at once to the point. + +"My name is none too bad," said he--"Raoul Lempriere, of the Lemprieres +that have been here since Rollo ruled in Normandy. My estate is none +worse than any in the whole islands; I have more horses and dogs than +any gentleman of my acres; and I am more in favour at court than De +Carteret of St. Ouen's. I am the Queen's butler, and I am the first that +royal favour granted to set up three dove-cotes, one by St. Aubin's, one +by St. Helier's, and one at Rozel: and--and," he added, with a lumbering +attempt at humour--"and, on my oath, I'll set up another dove-cote with +out my sovereign's favour, with your leave alone. By our Lady, I do +love that colour in yon cheek! Just such a colour had my mother when +she snatched from the head of my cousin of Carteret's milk-maid wife +the bonnet of a lady of quality and bade her get to her heifers. God's +beauty! but 'tis a colour of red primroses in thy cheeks and blue +campions in thine eyes. Come, I warrant I can deepen that colour"--he +bowed low--"Madame of Rozel, if it be not too soon!" + +The girl listened to this cheerful and loquacious proposal and courtship +all in one, ending with the premature bestowal of a title, in mingled +anger, amusement, disdain, and apprehension. Her heart fluttered, then +stood still, then flew up in her throat, then grew terribly hot and hurt +her, so that she pressed her hand to her bosom as though that might ease +it. By the time he had finished, drawn himself up, and struck his foot +upon the ground in burly emphasis of his devoted statements, the girl +had sufficiently recovered to answer him composedly, and with a little +glint of demure humour in her eyes. She loved another man; she did +not care so much as a spark for this happy, swearing, swashbuckling +gentleman; yet she saw he had meant to do her honour. He had treated her +as courteously as was in him to do; he chose her out from all the ladies +of his acquaintance to make her an honest offer of his hand--he had +said nothing about his heart; he would, should she marry him, throw her +scraps of good-humour, bearish tenderness, drink to her health among his +fellows, and respect and admire her--even exalt her almost to the rank +of a man in his own eyes; and he had the tolerance of the open-hearted +and open-handed man. All these things were as much a compliment to +her as though she were not a despised Huguenot, an exiled lady of no +fortune. She looked at him a moment with an almost solemn intensity, so +that he shifted his ground uneasily, but at once smiled encouragingly, +to relieve her embarrassment at the unexpected honour done her. She had +remained standing; now, as he made a step towards her, she sank down +upon the seat, and waved him back courteously. + +"A moment, Monsieur of Rozel," she ventured. "Did my father send you to +me?" + +He inclined his head and smiled again. + +"Did you say to him what you have said to me?" she asked, not quite +without a touch of malice. + +"I left out about the colour in the cheek," he answered, with a smirk at +what he took to be the quickness of his wit. + +"You kept your paint-pot for me," she replied softly. + +"And the dove-cote, too," he rejoined, bowing finely, and almost carried +off his feet by his own brilliance. She became serious at once--so +quickly that he was ill prepared for it, and could do little but stare +and pluck at the tassel of his sword; for he was embarrassed before this +maiden, who changed as quickly as the currents change under the brow of +the Couperon Cliff, behind which lay his manor-house of Rozel. + +"I have visited at your manor, Monsieur of Rozel. I have seen the state +in which you live, your retainers, your men-at-arms, your farming-folk, +and your sailormen. I know how your Queen receives you; how your honour +is as stable as your fief." + +He drew himself up again proudly. He could understand this speech. + +"Your horses and your hounds I have seen," she added, "your men-servants +and your maid-servants, your fields of corn, your orchards, and your +larder. I have sometimes broken the Commandment and coveted them and +envied you." + +"Break the Commandment again, for the last time," he cried, delighted +and boisterous. "Let us not waste words, lady. Let's kiss and have it +over." + +Her eyes flashed. "I coveted them and envied you; but then, I am but a +vain girl at times, and vanity is easier to me than humbleness." + +"Blood of man, but I cannot understand so various a creature!" he broke +in, again puzzled. + +"There is a little chapel in the dell beside your manor, Monsieur. If +you will go there, and get upon your knees, and pray till the candles no +more burn, and the Popish images crumble in their places, you will yet +never understand myself or any woman." + +"There's no question of Popish images between us," he answered, vainly +trying for foothold. "Pray as you please, and I'll see no harm comes to +the Mistress of Rozel." + +He was out of his bearings and impatient. Religion to him was a dull +recreation invented chiefly for women. She became plain enough now. +"'Tis no images nor religion that stands between us," she answered, +"though they might well do so. It is that I do not love you, Monsieur of +Rozel." + +His face, which had slowly clouded, suddenly cleared. "Love! Love!" He +laughed good-humouredly. "Love comes, I'm told, with marriage. But we +can do well enough without fugling on that pipe. Come, come, dost think +I'm not a proper man and a gentleman? Dost think I'll not use thee well +and 'fend thee, Huguenot though thou art, 'gainst trouble or fret or any +man's persecutions--be he my Lord Bishop, my Lord Chancellor, or King of +France, or any other?" + +She came a step closer to him, even as though she would lay a hand upon +his arm. "I believe that you would do all that in you lay," she answered +steadily. "Yours is a rough wooing, but it is honest--" + +"Rough! Rough!" he protested, for he thought he had behaved like some +Adonis. Was it not ten years only since he had been at Court! + +"Be assured, Monsieur, that I know how to prize the man who speaks after +the light given him. I know that you are a brave and valorous gentleman. +I must thank you most truly and heartily, but, Monsieur, you and yours +are not for me. Seek elsewhere, among your own people, in your own +religion and language and position, the Mistress of Rozel." + +He was dumfounded. Now he comprehended the plain fact that he had been +declined. + +"You send me packing!" he blurted out, getting red in the face. + +"Ah, no! Say it is my misfortune that I cannot give myself the great +honour," she said; in her tone a little disdainful dryness, a little +pity, a little feeling that here was a good friend lost. + +"It's not because of the French soldier that was with Montgomery at +Domfront?--I've heard that story. But he's gone to heaven, and 'tis vain +crying for last year's breath," he added, with proud philosophy. + +"He is not dead. And if he were," she added, "do you think, Monsieur, +that we should find it easier to cross the gulf between us?" + +"Tut, tut, that bugbear Love!" he said shortly. "And so you'd lose a +good friend for a dead lover? I' faith, I'd befriend thee well if thou +wert my wife, Ma'm'selle." + +"It is hard for those who need friends to lose them," she answered +sadly. + +The sorrow of her position crept in upon her and filled her eyes with +tears. She turned them to the sea-instinctively towards that point on +the shore where she thought it likely Michel might be; as though by +looking she might find comfort and support in this hard hour. + +Even as she gazed into the soft afternoon light she could see, far over, +a little sail standing out towards the Ecrehos. Not once in six months +might the coast of France be seen so clearly. One might almost have +noted people walking on the beach. This was no good token, for when that +coast may be seen with great distinctness a storm follows hard after. +The girl knew this; and though she could not know that this was Michel +de la Foret's boat, the possibility fixed itself in her mind. She +quickly scanned the horizon. Yes, there in the north-west was gathering +a dark-blue haze, hanging like small filmy curtains in the sky. + +The Seigneur of Rozel presently broke the silence so awkward for him. He +had seen the tears in her eyes, and though he could not guess the cause, +he vaguely thought it might be due to his announcement that she had +lost a friend. He was magnanimous at once, and he meant what he said and +would stand by it through thick and thin. + +"Well, well, I'll be thy everlasting friend if not thy husband," he said +with ornate generosity. "Cheer thy heart, lady." + +With a sudden impulse she seized his hand and kissed it, and, turning, +ran swiftly down the rocks towards her home. + +He stood and looked after her, then, dumfounded, at the hand she had +kissed. + +"Blood of my heart!" he said, and shook his head in utter amazement. + +Then he turned and looked out upon the Channel. He saw the little boat +Angele had descried making from France. Glancing at the sky, "What fools +come there!" he said anxiously. + +They were Michel de la Foret and Buonespoir the pirate, in a +black-bellied cutter with red sails. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +For weeks De la Foret and Buonespoir had lain in hiding at St. Brieuc. +At last Buonespoir declared all was ready once again. He had secured for +the Camisard the passport and clothes of a priest who had but just died +at Granville. Once again they made the attempt to reach English soil. + +Standing out from Carteret on the Belle Suzanne, they steered for the +light upon the Marmotier Rocks of the Ecrehos, which Angele had paid a +fisherman to keep going every night. This light had caused the French +and English frigates some uneasiness, and they had patrolled the Channel +from Cap de la Hague to the Bay of St. Brieuc with a vigilance worthy +of a larger cause. One fine day an English frigate anchored off the +Ecrehos, and the fisherman was seized. He, poor man, swore that he kept +the light burning to guide his brother fishermen to and fro between +Boulay Bay and the Ecrehos. The captain of the frigate tried severities; +but the fisherman stuck to his tale, and the light burned on as +before--a lantern stuck upon a pole. One day, with a telescope, +Buonespoir had seen the exact position of the staff supporting the +light, and had mapped out his course accordingly. He would head straight +for the beacon and pass between the Marmotier and the Maitre Ile, where +is a narrow channel for a boat drawing only a few feet of water. Unless +he made this, he must run south and skirt the Ecriviere Rock and +bank, where the streams setting over the sandy ridges make a confusing +perilous sea to mariners in bad weather. Else, he must sail north +between the Ecrehos and the Dirouilles, in the channel called Etoc, a +tortuous and dangerous passage save in good weather, and then safe only +to the mariner who knows the floor of that strait like his own hand. De +la Foret was wholly in the hands of Buonespoir, for he knew nothing of +these waters and coasts; also he was a soldier and no sailor. + +They cleared Cape Carteret with a fair wind from the north-east, which +should carry them safely as the bird flies to the haven of Rozel. The +high, pinkish sands of Hatainville were behind them; the treacherous +Taillepied Rocks lay to the north, and a sweet sea before. Nothing could +have seemed fairer and more hopeful. But a few old fishermen on shore +at Carteret shook their heads dubiously, and at Port Bail, some miles +below, a disabled naval officer, watching through a glass, rasped out, +"Criminals or fools!" But he shrugged his shoulders, for if they were +criminals he was sure they would expiate their crimes this night, and if +they were fools--he had no pity for fools. + +But Buonespoir knew his danger. Truth is, he had chosen this night +because they would be safest from pursuit, because no sensible seafaring +man, were he King's officer or another, would venture forth upon the +impish Channel, save to court disaster. Pirate, and soldier in priest's +garb, had frankly taken the chances. + +With a fair wind they might, with all canvas set--mainsail, foresail, +jib, and fore-topsail--make Rozel Bay within two hours and a quarter. +All seemed well for a brief half-hour. Then, even as the passage between +the Marmotier and the Ecrehos opened out, the wind suddenly shifted from +the north-east to the southwest and a squall came hurrying on them--a +few moments too soon; for, had they been clear of the Ecrehos, clear of +the Taillepieds, Felee Bank, and the Ecriviere, they could have stood +out towards the north in a more open sea. + +Yet there was one thing in their favour: the tide was now running hard +from the north-west, so fighting for them while the wind was against +them. Their only safety lay in getting beyond the Ecrehos. If they +attempted to run in to the Marmotier for safety, they would presently be +at the mercy of the French. To trust their doubtful fortunes and bear on +was the only way. The tide was running fast. They gave the mainsail to +the wind still more, and bore on towards the passage. At last, as they +were opening on it, the wind suddenly veered full north-east. The sails +flapped, the boat seemed to hover for a moment, and then a wave swept +her towards the rocks. Buonespoir put the helm hard over, she went +about, and they close-hauled her as she trembled towards the rocky +opening. + +This was the critical instant. A heavy sea was running, the gale was +blowing hard from the north-east, and under the close-hauled sail the +Belle Suzanne was lying over dangerously. But the tide, too, was running +hard from the south, fighting the wind; and, at the moment when all +seemed terribly uncertain, swept them past the opening and into the +swift-running channel, where the indraught sucked them through to the +more open water beyond. + +Although the Belle Suzanne was in more open water now, the danger was +not over. Ahead lay a treacherous sea, around them roaring winds, and +the perilous coast of Jersey beyond all. + +"Do you think we shall land?" quietly asked De la Foret, nodding towards +the Jersey coast. + +"As many chances 'gainst it as for it, M'sieu'," said Buonespoir, +turning his face to the north, for the wind had veered again to +north-east, and he feared its passing to the north-west, giving them a +head-wind and a swooping sea. + +Night came down, but with a clear sky and a bright moon; the wind, +however, not abating. The next three hours were spent in tacking, in +beating towards the Jersey coast under seas which almost swamped them. +They were standing off about a mile from the island, and could see +lighted fires and groups of people upon the shore, when suddenly a gale +came out from the southwest, the wind having again shifted. With an +oath, Buonespoir put the helm hard over, the Belle Suzanne came about +quickly, but as the gale struck her, the mast snapped like a pencil, she +heeled over, and the two adventurers were engulfed in the waves. + +A cry of dismay went up from the watchers on the shore. They turned with +a half-conscious sympathy towards Angele, for her story was known by +all, and in her face they read her mortal fear, though she made no cry, +but only clasped her hands in agony. Her heart told her that yonder +Michel de la Foret was fighting for his life. For an instant only she +stood, the terror of death in her eyes, then she turned to the excited +fishermen near. + +"Men, oh men," she cried, "will you not save them? Will no one come with +me?" + +Some shook their heads sullenly, others appeared uncertain, but their +wives and children clung to them, and none stirred. Looking round +helplessly, Angele saw the tall figure of the Seigneur of Rozel. He had +been watching the scene for some time. Now he came quickly to her. + +"Is it the very man?" he asked her, jerking a finger towards the +struggling figures in the sea. + +"Yes, oh yes," she replied, nodding her head piteously. "God tells my +heart it is." + +Her father drew near and interposed. + +"Let us kneel and pray for two dying men," said he, and straightway +knelt upon the sand. + +"By St. Martin, we've better medicine than that, apothecary!" said +Lempriere of Rozel loudly, and, turning round, summoned two serving-men. +"Launch my strong boat," he added. "We will pick these gentlemen from +the brine, or know the end of it all." + +The men hurried gloomily to the long-boat, ran her down to the shore and +into the surf. + +"You are going--you are going to save him, dear Seigneur?" asked the +girl tremulously. + +"To save him--that's to be seen, mistress," answered Lempriere, +and advanced to the fishermen. By dint of hard words, and as hearty +encouragement and promises, he got a half-dozen strong sailors to man +the boat. + +A moment after, they were all in. At a motion from the Seigneur, the +boat was shot out into the surf, and a cheer from the shore gave heart +to De la Foret and Buonespoir, who were being driven upon the rocks. + +The Jerseymen rowed gallantly; and the Seigneur, to give them heart, +promised a shilling, a capon, and a gallon of beer to each, if the +rescue was made. Again and again the two men seemed to sink beneath the +sea, and again and again they came to the surface and battled further, +torn, battered, and bloody, but not beaten. Cries of "We're coming, +gentles, we're coming!" from the Seigneur of Rozel, came ringing through +the surf to the dulled ears of the drowning men, and they struggled on. + +There never was a more gallant rescue. Almost at their last gasp the two +were rescued. + +"Mistress Aubert sends you welcome, sir, if you be Michel de la Foret," +said Lempriere of Rozel, and offered the fugitive his horn of liquor as +he lay blown and beaten in the boat. + +"I am he," De la Foret answered. "I owe you my life, Monsieur," he +added. + +Lempriere laughed. "You owe it to the lady; and I doubt you can properly +pay the debt," he answered, with a toss of the head; for had not the +lady refused him, the Seigneur of Rozel, six feet six in height, and all +else in proportion, while this gentleman was scarce six feet. + +"We can have no quarrel upon the point," answered De la Foret, reaching +out his hand; "you have at least done tough work for her, and if I +cannot pay in gold, I can in kind. It was a generous deed, and it has +made a friend for ever of Michel de la Foret." + +"Raoul Lempriere of Rozel they call me, Michel de la Foret, and by Rollo +the Duke, but I'll take your word in the way of friendship, as the lady +yonder takes it for riper fruit! Though, faith, 'tis fruit of a short +summer, to my thinking." + +All this while Buonespoir the pirate, his face covered with blood, had +been swearing by the little finger of St. Peter that each Jerseyman +there should have the half of a keg of rum. He went so far in gratitude +as to offer the price of ten sheep which he had once secretly raided +from the Seigneur of Rozel and sold in France; for which he had been +seized on his later return to the island, and had escaped without +punishment. + +Hearing, Lempriere of Rozel roared at him in anger: "Durst speak to me! +For every fleece you thieved I'll have you flayed with bow-strings if +ever I sight your face within my boundaries." + +"Then I'll fetch and carry no more for M'sieu' of Rozel," said +Buonespoir, in an offended tone, but grinning under his reddish beard. + +"When didst fetch and carry for me, varlet?" Lempriere roared again. + +"When the Seigneur of Rozel fell from his horse, overslung with sack, +the night of the royal Duke's visit, and the footpads were on him, I +carried him on my back to the lodge of Rozel Manor. The footpads had +scores to settle with the great Rozel." + +For a moment the Seigneur stared, then roared again, but this time with +laughter. + +"By the devil and Rollo, I have sworn to this hour that there was no man +in the isle could have carried me on his shoulders. And I was right, for +Jersiais you're none, neither by adoption nor grace, but a citizen of +the sea." + +He laughed again as a wave swept over them, drenching them, and a sudden +squall of wind came out of the north. "There's no better head in the +isle than mine for measurement and thinking, and I swore no man under +eighteen stone could carry me, and I am twenty-five--I take you to be +nineteen stone, eh?" + +"Nineteen, less two ounces," grinned Buonespoir. + +"I'll laugh De Carteret of St. Ouen's out of his stockings over this," +answered Lempriere. "Trust me for knowing weights and measures! Look +you, varlet, thy sins be forgiven thee. I care not about the fleeces, if +there be no more stealing. St. Ouen's has no head--I said no one man in +Jersey could have done it--I'm heavier by three stone than any man in +the island." Thereafter there was little speaking among them, for the +danger was greater as they neared the shore. The wind and the sea were +against them; the tide, however, was in their favour. Others besides +M. Aubert offered up prayers for the safe-landing of the rescued and +rescuers. Presently an ancient fisherman broke out into a rude sailor's +chanty, and every voice, even those of the two Huguenots, took it up: + + "When the Four Winds, the Wrestlers, strive with the Sun, + When the Sun is slain in the dark; + When the stars burn out, and the night cries + To the blind sea-reapers, and they rise, + And the water-ways are stark-- + God save us when the reapers reap! + When the ships sweep in with the tide to the shore, + And the little white boats return no more; + When the reapers reap, Lord give Thy sailors sleep, + If Thou cast us not upon the shore, + To bless Thee evermore: + To walk in Thy sight as heretofore + Though the way of the Lord be steep! + By Thy grace, + Show Thy face, + Lord of the land and the deep!" + +The song stilled at last. It died away in the roar of the surf, in +the happy cries of foolish women, and the laughter of men back from +a dangerous adventure. As the Seigneur's boat was drawn up the shore, +Angele threw herself into the arms of Michel de la Foret, the soldier +dressed as a priest. + +Lempriere of Rozel stood abashed before this rich display of feeling. +In his hottest youth he could not have made such passionate motions of +affection. His feelings ran neither high nor broad, but neither did they +run low and muddy. His nature was a straight level of sensibility--a +rough stream between high banks of prejudice, topped with the foam of +vanity, now brawling in season, and now going steady and strong to the +sea. Angele had come to feel what he was beneath the surface. She +felt how unimaginative he was, and how his humour, which was but the +horse-play of vanity, helped him little to understand the world or +himself. His vanity was ridiculous, his self-importance was against +knowledge or wisdom; and Heaven had given him a small brain, a big and +noble heart, a pedigree back to Rollo, and the absurd pride of a little +lord in a little land. Angele knew all this; but realised also that he +had offered her all he was able to offer to any woman. + +She went now and put out both hands to him. "I shall ever pray God's +blessing on the lord of Rozel," she said, in a low voice. + +"'Twould fit me no better than St. Ouen's sword fits his fingers. I'll +take thine own benison, lady--but on my cheek, not on my hand as this +day before at four of the clock." His big voice lowered. "Come, come, +the hand thou kissed, it hath been the hand of a friend to thee, as +Raoul Lempriere of Rozel said he'd be. Thy lips upon his cheek, though +it be but a rough fellow's fancy, and I warrant, come good, come +ill, Rozel's face will never be turned from thee. Pooh, pooh! let yon +soldier-priest shut his eyes a minute; this is 'tween me and thee; and +what's done before the world's without shame." + +He stopped short, his black eyes blazing with honest mirth and kindness, +his breath short, having spoken in such haste. + +Her eyes could scarce see him, so full of tears were they; and, standing +on tiptoe, she kissed him upon each cheek. + +"'Tis much to get for so little given," she said, with a quiver in her +voice; "yet this price for friendship would be too high to pay to any +save the Seigneur of Rozel." + +She hastily turned to the men who had rescued Michel and Buonespoir. +"If I had riches, riches ye should have, brave men of Jersey," she said; +"but I have naught save love and thanks, and my prayers too, if ye will +have them." + +"'Tis a man's duty to save his fellow an' he can," cried a gaunt +fisherman, whose daughter was holding to his lips a bowl of conger-eel +soup. + +"'Twas a good deed to send us forth to save a priest of Holy Church," +cried a weazened boat-builder with a giant's arm, as he buried his +face in a cup of sack, and plunged his hand into a fishwife's basket of +limpets. + +"Aye, but what means she by kissing and arm-getting with a priest?" +cried a snarling vraic-gatherer. "'Tis some jest upon Holy Church, or +yon priest is no better than common men but an idle shame." + +By this time Michel was among them. "Priest I am none, but a soldier," +he said in a loud voice, and told them bluntly the reasons for his +disguise; then, taking a purse from his pocket, thrust into the hands +of his rescuers and their families pieces of silver and gave them brave +words of thanks. + +But the Seigneur was not to be outdone in generosity. His vanity ran +high; he was fain to show Angele what a gorgeous gentleman she had +failed to make her own; and he was in ripe good-humour all round. + +"Come, ye shall come, all of ye, to the Manor of Rozel, every man and +woman here. Ye shall be fed, and fuddled too ye shall be an' ye will; +for honest drink which sends to honest sleep hurts no man. To my +kitchen with ye all; and you, messieurs"--turning to M. Aubert and De +la Fore-"and you, Mademoiselle, come, know how open is the door and full +the table at my Manor of Rozel--St. Ouen's keeps a beggarly board." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Thus began the friendship of the bragging Seigneur of Rozel for the +three Huguenots, all because he had seen tears in a girl's eyes and +misunderstood them, and because the same girl had kissed him. His pride +was flattered that they should receive protection from him, and the +flattery became almost a canonising when De Carteret of St. Ouen's +brought him to task for harbouring and comforting the despised +Huguenots; for when De Carteret railed he was envious. So henceforth +Lempriere played Lord Protector with still more boisterous unction. +His pride knew no bounds when, three days after the rescue, Sir Hugh +Pawlett, the Governor, answering De la Foret's letter requesting +permission to visit the Comtesse de Montgomery, sent him word to fetch +De la Foret to Mont Orgueil Castle. Clanking and blowing, he was shown +into the great hall with De la Foret, where waited Sir Hugh and the +widow of the renowned Camisard. Clanking and purring like an enormous +cat, he turned his head away to the window when De la Foret dropped on +his knees and kissed the hand of the Comtesse, whose eyes were full of +tears. Clanking and gurgling, he sat to a mighty meal of turbot, eels, +lobsters, ormers, capons, boar's head, brawn, and mustard, swan, curlew, +and spiced meats. This he washed down with bastard, malmsey, and good +ale, topped with almonds, comfits, perfumed cherries with "ipocras," +then sprinkled himself with rose-water and dabbled his face and hands +in it. Filled to the turret, he lurched to his feet, and drinking to Sir +Hugh's toast, + +"Her sacred Majesty!" he clanked and roared. "Elizabeth!" as though +upon the field of battle. He felt the star of De Carteret declining +and Rozel's glory ascending like a comet. Once set in a course, nothing +could change him. Other men might err, but once right, the Seigneur of +Rozel was everlasting. + +Of late he had made the cause of Michel de la Foret and Angele Aubert +his own. For this he had been raked upon the coals by De Carteret of St. +Ouen's and his following, who taunted him with the saying: "Save a thief +from hanging and he'll cut your throat." Not that there was ill feeling +against De la Foret in person. He had won most hearts by a frank yet +still manner, and his story and love for Angele had touched the women +folk where their hearts were softest. But the island was not true to +itself or its history if it did not divide itself into factions, headed +by the Seigneurs, and there had been no ground for good division for +five years till De la Foret came. + +Short of actual battle, this new strife was the keenest ever known, +for Sir Hugh Pawlett was ranged on the side of the Seigneur of Rozel. +Kinsman of the Comtesse de Montgomery, of Queen Elizabeth's own +Protestant religion, and admiring De la Foret, he had given every +countenance to the Camisard refugee. He had even besought the Royal +Court of Jersey to grant a pardon to Buonespoir the pirate, on condition +that he should never commit a depredation upon an inhabitant of the +island--this he was to swear to by the little finger of St. Peter. +Should he break his word, he was to be banished the island for ten +years, under penalty of death if he returned. When the hour had come for +Buonespoir to take the oath, he failed to appear; and the next morning +the Seigneur of St. Ouen's discovered that during the night his cellar +had been raided of two kegs of canary, many flagons of muscadella, pots +of anchovies and boxes of candied "eringo," kept solely for the visit +which the Queen had promised the island. There was no doubt of the +misdemeanant, for Buonespoir returned to De Carteret from St. Brieuc +the gabardine of one of his retainers, in which he had carried off the +stolen delicacies. + +This aggravated the feud between the partisans of St. Ouen's and Rozel, +for Lempriere of Rozel had laughed loudly when he heard of the robbery, +and said "'Tis like St. Ouen's to hoard for a Queen and glut a pirate. +We feed as we get at Rozel, and will feed the Court well too when it +comes, or I'm no butler to Elizabeth." + +But trouble was at hand for Michel and for his protector. The spies +of Catherine de Medici, mother of the King of France, were everywhere. +These had sent word that De la Foret was now attached to the meagre +suite of the widow of the great Camisard Montgomery, near the Castle of +Mont Orgueil. The Medici, having treacherously slain the chief, became +mad with desire to slay the lieutenant. She was set to have the man, +either through diplomacy with England, or to end him by assassination +through her spies. Having determined upon his death, with relentless +soul she pursued the cause as closely as though this exiled soldier were +a powerful enemy at the head of an army in France. + +Thus it was that she wrote to Queen Elizabeth, asking that "this arrant +foe of France, this churl, conspirator, and reviler of the Sacraments, +be rendered unto our hands for well-deserved punishment as warning to +all such evil-doers." She told Elizabeth of De la Foret's arrival in +Jersey, disguised as a priest of the Church of France, and set forth his +doings since landing with the Seigneur of Rozel. Further she went on to +say to "our sister of England" that "these dark figures of murder and +revolt be a peril to the soft peace of this good realm." + +To this, Elizabeth, who had no knowledge of Michel, who desired peace +with France at this time, who had favours to ask of Catherine, and who +in her own realm had fresh reason to fear conspiracy through the Queen +of the Scots and others, replied forthwith that "If this De la Foret +falleth into our hands, and if it were found he had in truth conspired +against France its throne, had he a million lives, not one should +remain." Having despatched this letter, she straightway sent a messenger +to Sir Hugh Pawlett in Jersey, making quest of De la Foret, and +commanding that he should be sent to her in England at once. + +When the Queen's messenger arrived at Orgueil Castle, Lempriere chanced +to be with Sir Hugh Pawlett, and the contents of Elizabeth's letter were +made known to him. + +At the moment Monsieur of Rozel was munching macaroons and washing them +down with canary. The Governor's announcement was such a shock that he +choked and coughed, the crumbs flying in all directions; and another +pint of canary must be taken to flush his throat. Thus cleared for +action, he struck out. + +"'Tis St. Ouen's work," he growled. + +"'Tis the work of the Medici," said Sir Hugh. "Read," he added, holding +out the paper. + +Now Lempriere of Rozel had a poor eye for reading. He had wit enough to +wind about the difficulty. + +"If I see not the Queen's commands, I've no warrant but Sir Hugh +Pawlett's words, and I'll to London and ask 'fore her Majesty's face if +she wrote them, and why. I'll tell my tale and speak my mind, I pledge +you, sir." + +"You'll offend her Majesty. Her commands are here." Pawlett tapped the +letter with his finger. + +"I'm butler to the Queen, and she will list to me. I'll not smirk and +caper like St. Ouen's; I'll bear me like a man not speaking for himself. +I'll speak as Harry her father spoke--straight to the purpose.... No, +no, no, I'm not to be wheedled, even by a Pawlett, and you shall not +ask me. If you want Michel de la Foret, come and take him. He is in my +house. But ye must take him, for come he shall not!" + +"You will not oppose the Queen's officers?" + +"De la Foret is under my roof. He must be taken. I will give him up to +no one; and I'll tell my sovereign these things when I see her in her +palace." + +"I misdoubt you'll play the bear," said Pawlett, with a dry smile. + +"The Queen's tongue is none so tame. I'll travel by my star, get sweet +or sour." + +"Well, well, 'give a man luck, and throw him into the sea,' is the old +proverb. I'm coming for your friend to-night." + +"I'll be waiting with my fingers on the door, sir," said Rozel, with a +grim vanity and an outrageous pride in himself. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The Seigneur of Rozel found De la Foret at the house of M. Aubert. His +face was flushed with hard riding, and perhaps the loving attitude of +Michel and Angele deepened it, for at the garden gate the lovers were +saying adieu. + +"You have come for Monsieur de la Foret?" asked Angele anxiously. Her +quick look at the Seigneur's face had told her there were things amiss. + +"There's commands from the Queen. They're for the ears of De la Foret," +said the Seigneur. + +"I will hear them too," said Angele, her colour going, her bearing +determined. + +The Seigneur looked down at her with boyish appreciation, then said +to De la Foret: "Two Queens make claim for you. The wolfish Catherine +writes to England for her lost Camisard, with much fool's talk about +'dark figures,' and 'conspirators,' 'churls,' and foes of 'soft peace'; +and England takes the bait and sends to Sir Hugh Pawlett yonder. And, in +brief, Monsieur, the Governor is to have you under arrest and send you +to England. God knows why two Queens make such a pother over a fellow +with naught but a sword and a lass to love him--though, come to think, +'a man's a man if he have but a hose on his head,' as the proverb runs." + +De la Foret smiled, then looked grave, as he caught sight of Angele's +face. "'Tis arrest, then?" he asked. + +"'Tis come willy nilly," answered the Seigneur. "And once they've forced +you from my doors, I'm for England to speak my mind to the Queen. I +can make interest for her presence--I hold court office," he added with +puffing confidence. + +Angele looked up at him with quick tears, yet with a smile on her lips. + +"You are going to England for Michel's sake?" she said in a low voice. + +"For Michel, or for you, or for mine honour, what matter, so that I go!" +he answered, then added: "there must be haste to Rozel, friend, lest the +Governor take Lempriere's guest like a potato-digger in the fields." + +Putting spurs to his horse, he cantered heavily away, not forgetting to +wave a pompous farewell to Angele. De la Foret was smiling as he turned +to Angele. She looked wonderingly at him, for she had felt that she must +comfort him, and she looked not for this sudden change in his manner. + +"Is prison-going so blithe, then?" she asked, with a little uneasy laugh +which was half a sob. + +"It will bring things to a head," he answered. "After danger and busy +days, to be merely safe, it is scarce the life for Michel de la Foret. +I have my duty to the Comtesse; I have my love for you; but I seem of +little use by contrast with my past. And yet, and yet," he added, half +sadly, "how futile has been all our fighting, so far as human eye can +see." + +"Nothing is futile that is right, Michel," the girl replied. "Thou hast +done as thy soul answered to God's messages: thou hast fought when thou +couldst, and thou hast sheathed thy blade when there was naught else to +do. Are not both right?" + +He clasped her to his breast; then, holding her from him a little, +looked into her eyes steadily a moment. "God hath given thee a true +heart, and the true heart hath wisdom," he answered. + +"You will not seek escape? Nor resist the Governor?" she asked eagerly. + +"Whither should I go? My place is here by you, by the Comtesse de +Montgomery. One day it may be I shall return to France, and to our +cause--" + +"If it be God's will." + +"If it be God's will." + +"Whatever comes, you will love me, Michel?" + +"I will love you, whatever comes." + +"Listen." She drew his head down. "I am no dragweight to thy life? Thou +wouldst not do otherwise if there were no foolish Angele?" + +He did not hesitate. "What is best is. I might do otherwise if there +were no Angele in my life to pilot my heart, but that were worse for +me." + +"Thou art the best lover in all the world." + +"I hope to make a better husband. To-morrow is carmine-lettered in my +calendar, if thou sayst thou wilt still have me under the sword of the +Medici." + +Her hand pressed her heart suddenly. "Under the sword, if it be God's +will," she answered. Then, with a faint smile: "But no, I will not +believe the Queen of England will send thee, one of her own Protestant +faith, to the Medici." + +"And thou wilt marry me?" + +"When the Queen of England approves thee," she answered, and buried her +face in the hollow of his arm. + +An hour later Sir Hugh Pawlett came to the manor-house of Rozel with +two-score men-at-arms. The Seigneur himself answered the Governor's +knocking, and showed himself in the doorway, with a dozen halberdiers +behind him. + +"I have come seeking Michel de la Foret," said the Governor. + +"He is my guest." + +"I have the Queen's command to take him." + +"He is my cherished guest." + +"Must I force my way?" + +"Is it the Queen's will that blood be shed?" + +"The Queen's commands must be obeyed." + +"The Queen is a miracle of the world, God save her! What is the charge +against him?" + +"Summon Michel de la Foret, 'gainst whom it lies." + +"He is my guest; ye shall have him only by force." The Governor turned +to his men. "Force the passage and search the house," he commanded. + +The company advanced with levelled pikes, but at a motion from the +Seigneur his men fell back before them, and, making a lane, disclosed +Michel de la Foret at the end of it. Michel had not approved of +Lempriere's mummery of defence, but he understood from what good spirit +it sprung, and how it flattered the Seigneur's vanity to make show of +resistance. + +The Governor greeted De la Foret with a sour smile, read to him the +Queen's writ, and politely begged his company towards Mont Orgueil +Castle. + +"I'll fetch other commands from her Majesty, or write me down a pedlar +of St. Ouen's follies," the Seigneur said from his doorway, as the +Governor and De la Foret bade him good-bye and took the road to the +Castle. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Michel de la Foret was gone, a prisoner. From the dusk of the trees by +the little chapel of Rozel, Angele had watched his exit in charge of the +Governor's men. She had not sought to show her presence: she had seen +him--that was comfort to her heart; and she would not mar the memory of +that last night's farewell by another before these strangers. She saw +with what quiet Michel bore his arrest, and she said to herself, as the +last halberdier vanished: + +"If the Queen do but speak with him, if she but look upon his face and +hear his voice, she must needs deal kindly by him. My Michel--ah, it is +a face for all men to trust and all women--" + +But she sighed and averted her head as though before prying eyes. + +The bell of Rozel Chapel broke gently on the evening air; the sound, +softened by the leaves and mellowed by the wood of the great elm-trees, +billowed away till it was lost in faint reverberation in the sea beneath +the cliffs of the Couperon, where a little craft was coming to anchor in +the dead water. + +At first the sound of the bell soothed her, softening the thought of the +danger to Michel. She moved with it towards the sea, the tones of her +grief chiming with it. Presently, as she went, a priest in cassock and +robes and stole crossed the path in front of her, an acolyte before him +swinging a censer, his voice chanting Latin verses from the service +for the sick, in his hands the sacred elements of the sacrament for +the dying. The priest was fat and heavy, his voice was lazy, his eyes +expressionless, and his robes were dirty. The plaintive, peaceful +sense which the sound of the vesper bell had thrown over Angele's sad +reflections passed away, and the thought smote her that, were it not for +such as this black-toothed priest, Michel would not now be on his way to +England, a prisoner. To her this vesper bell was the symbol of tyranny +and hate. It was fighting, it was martyrdom, it was exile, it was the +Medici. All that she had borne, all that her father had borne, the +thought of the home lost, the mother dead before her time, the name +ruined, the heritage dispossessed, the red war of the Camisards, the +rivulets of blood in the streets of Paris and of her loved Rouen, smote +upon her mind, and drove her to her knees in the forest glade, her hands +upon her ears to shut out the sound of the bell. It came upon her that +the bell had said "Peace! Peace!" to her mind when there should be no +peace; that it had said "Be patient!" when she should be up and doing; +that it had whispered "Stay!" when she should tread the path her lover +trod, her feet following in his footsteps as his feet had trod in hers. + +She pressed her hands tight upon her ears and prayed with a passion and +a fervour she had never known before. A revelation seemed to come upon +her, and, for the first time, she was a Huguenot to the core. Hitherto +she had suffered for her religion because it was her mother's broken +life, her father's faith, and because they had suffered, and her +lover had suffered. Her mind had been convinced, her loyalty had been +unwavering, her words for the great cause had measured well with her +deeds. But new senses were suddenly born in her, new eyes were given +to her mind, new powers for endurance to her soul. She saw now as the +martyrs of Meaux had seen; a passionate faith descended on her as it +had descended on them; no longer only patient, she was fain for action. +Tears rained from her eyes. Her heart burst itself in entreaty and +confession. + +"Thy light shall be my light, and Thy will my will, O Lord," she cried +at the last. "Teach me Thy way, create a right spirit within me. Give +me boldness without rashness, and hope without vain thinking. Bear up my +arms, O Lord, and save me when falling. A poor Samaritan am I. Give +me the water that shall be a well of water springing up to everlasting +life, that I thirst not in the fever of doing. Give me the manna of life +to eat that I faint not nor cry out in plague, pestilence, or famine. +Give me Thy grace, O God, as Thou hast given it to Michel de la Foret, +and guide my feet as I follow him in life and in death, for Christ's +sake. Amen." + +As she rose from her knees she heard the evening gun from the castle +of Mont Orgueil, whither Michel was being borne by the Queen's men. The +vesper bell had stopped. Through the wood came the salt savour of the +sea on the cool sunset air. She threw back her head and walked swiftly +towards it, her heart beating hard, her eyes shining with the light +of purpose, her step elastic with the vigour of youth and health. A +quarter-hour's walking brought her to the cliff of the Couperon. + +As she gazed out over the sea, however, a voice in the bay below caught +her ear. She looked down. On the deck of the little craft which had +entered the harbour when the vesper bell was ringing stood a man who +waved a hand up towards her, then gave a peculiar call. She stared with +amazement: it was Buonespoir the pirate. What did this mean? Had God +sent this man to her, by his presence to suggest what she should do in +this crisis in her life? For even as she ran down the shore towards +him, it came to her mind that Buonespoir should take her in his craft to +England. + +What to do in England? Who could tell? She only knew that a voice called +her to England, to follow the footsteps of Michel de la Foret, who +even this night would be setting forth in the Governor's brigantine for +London. + +Buonespoir met her upon the shore, grinning like a boy. + +"God save you, lady!" he said. + +"What brings you hither, friend?" she asked. + +If he had said that a voice had called him hither as one called her to +England, it had not sounded strange; for she was not thinking that this +was one who superstitiously swore by the little finger of St. Peter, but +only that he was the man who had brought her Michel from France, who had +been a faithful friend to her and to her father. + +"What brings me hither?" Buonespoir laughed low in his chest. "Even +to fetch to the Seigneur of Rozel, a friend of mine by every token of +remembrance, a dozen flagons of golden muscadella." + +To Angele no suggestion flashed that these flagons of muscadella had +come from the cellar of the Seigneur of St. Ouen's, where they had been +reserved for a certain royal visit. Nothing was in her mind save the one +thought-that she must follow Michel. + +"Will you take me to England?" she asked, putting a hand quickly on his +arm. + +He had been laughing hard, picturing to himself what Lempriere of Rozel +would say when he sniffed the flagon of St. Ouen's best wine, and for an +instant he did not take in the question; but he stared at her now as the +laugh slowly subsided through notes of abstraction and her words worked +their way into his brain. + +"Will you take me, Buonespoir?" she urged. "Take you--?" he questioned. + +"To England." + +"And myself to Tyburn?" + +"Nay, to the Queen." + +"'Tis the same thing. Head of Abel! Elizabeth hath heard of me. The +Seigneur of St. Ouen's and others have writ me down a pirate to her. She +would not pardon the muscadella," he added, with another laugh, looking +down where the flagons lay. + +"She must pardon more than that," exclaimed Angele, and hastily she told +him of what had happened to Michel de la Foret, and why she would go. + +"Thy father, then?" he asked, scowling hard in his attempt to think it +out. + +"He must go with me--I will seek him now." + +"It must be at once, i' faith, for how long, think you, can I stay here +unharmed? I was sighted off St. Ouen's shore a few hours agone." + +"To-night?" she asked. + +"By twelve, when we shall have the moon and the tide," he answered. "But +hold!" he hastily added. "What, think you, could you and your father do +alone in England? And with me it were worse than alone. These be dark +times, when strangers have spies at their heels, and all travellers are +suspect." + +"We will trust in God," she answered. + +"Have you money?" he questioned--"for London, not for me," he added +hastily. + +"Enough," she replied. + +"The trust with the money is a weighty matter," he added; "but they +suffice not. You must have 'fending." + +"There is no one," she answered sadly, "no one save--" + +"Save the Seigneur of Rozel!" Buonespoir finished the sentence. "Good. +You to your father, and I to the Seigneur. If you can fetch your +father by your pot-of-honey tongue, I'll fetch the great Lempriere with +muscadella. Is't a bargain?" + +"In which I gain all," she answered, and again touched his arm with her +finger-tips. + +"You shall be aboard here at ten, and I will join you on the stroke of +twelve," he said, and gave a low whistle. + +At the signal three men sprang up like magic out of the bowels of the +boat beneath them, and scurried over the side; three as ripe knaves as +ever cheated stocks and gallows, but simple knaves, unlike their master. +Two of them had served with Francis Drake in that good ship of his lying +even now not far from Elizabeth's palace at Greenwich. The third was a +rogue who had been banished from Jersey for a habitual drunkenness which +only attacked him on land--at sea he was sacredly sober. His name was +Jean Nicolle. The names of the other two were Herve Robin and Rouge le +Riche, but their master called them by other names. + +"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego," said Buonespoir in ceremony, and +waved a hand of homage between them and Angele. "Kiss dirt, and know +where duty lies. The lady's word on my ship is law till we anchor at the +Queen's Stairs at Greenwich. So, Heaven help you, Shadrach, Meshach, and +Abednego!" said Buonespoir. + +A wave of humour passed over Angele's grave face, for a stranger quartet +never sailed high seas together: one blind of an eye, one game of a leg, +one bald as a bottle and bereft of two front teeth; but Buonespoir was +sound of wind and limb, his small face with the big eyes lost in the +masses of his red hair, and a body like Hercules. It flashed through +Angele's mind even as she answered the gurgling salutations of the +triumvirate that they had been got together for no gentle summer sailing +in the Channel. Her conscience smote her that she should use such +churls; but she gave it comfort by the thought that while serving her +they could do naught worse; and her cause was good. Yet they presented +so bizarre an aspect, their ugliness was so varied and particular, that +she almost laughed. Buonespoir understood her thoughts, for with a +look of mocking innocence in his great blue eyes he waved a hand again +towards the graceless trio, and said, "For deep-sea fishing." Then he +solemnly winked at the three. + +A moment later Angele was speeding along the shore towards her home on +the farther hillside up the little glen; and within an hour Buonespoir +rolled from the dusk of the trees by the manor-house of Rozel and +knocked at the door. He carried on his head, as a fishwife carries a +tray of ormers, a basket full of flagons of muscadella; and he did not +lower the basket when he was shown into the room where the Seigneur of +Rozel was sitting before a trencher of spiced veal and a great pot of +ale. Lempriere roared a hearty greeting to the pirate, for he was in a +sour humour because of the taking off of Michel de la Foret; and of all +men this pirate-fellow, who had quips and cranks, and had played tricks +on his cousin of St. Ouen's, was most welcome. + +"What's that on your teacup of a head?" he roared again as Buonespoir +grinned pleasure at the greeting. "Muscadella," said Buonespoir, and +lowered the basket to the table. + +Lempriere seized a flagon, drew it forth, looked closely at it, then +burst into laughter, and spluttered: "St. Ouen's muscadella, by the hand +of Rufus!" + +Seizing Buonespoir by the shoulders, he forced him down upon a bench +at the table, and pushed the trencher of spiced meat against his chest. +"Eat, my noble lord of the sea and master of the cellar," he gurgled +out, and, tipping the flagon of muscadella, took a long draught. +"God-a-mercy--but it has saved my life," he gasped in satisfaction as +he lay back in his great chair, and put his feet on the bench whereon +Buonespoir sat. + +They raised their flagons and toasted each other, and Lempriere burst +forth into song, in the refrain of which Buonespoir joined boisterously: + + "King Rufus he did hunt the deer, + With a hey ho, come and kiss me, Dolly! + It was the spring-time of the year, + Hey ho, Dolly shut her eyes! + King Rufus was a bully boy, + He hunted all the day for joy, + Sweet Dolly she was ever coy: + And who would e'er be wise + That looked in Dolly's eyes? + + "King Rufus he did have his day, + With a hey ho, come and kiss me, Dolly! + So get ye forth where dun deer play-- + Hey ho, Dolly comes again! + The greenwood is the place for me, + For that is where the dun deer be, + 'Tis where my Dolly comes to me: + And who would stay at home, + That might with Dolly roam? + Sing hey ho, come and kiss me, Dolly!" + +Lempriere, perspiring with the exertion, mopped his forehead, then +lapsed into a plaintive mood. + +"I've had naught but trouble of late," he wheezed. "Trouble, trouble, +trouble, like gnats on a filly's flank!" and in spluttering words, twice +bracketed in muscadella, he told of Michel de la Foret's arrest, and of +his purpose to go to England if he could get a boat to take him. + +"'Tis that same business brings me here," said Buonespoir, and forthwith +told of his meeting with Angele and what was then agreed upon. + +"You to go to England!" cried Lempriere amazed. "They want you for +Tyburn there." + +"They want me for the gallows here," said Buonespoir. Rolling a piece +of spiced meat in his hand, he stuffed it into his mouth and chewed +till the grease came out of his eyes, and took eagerly from a servant a +flagon of malmsey and a dish of ormers. + +"Hush, chew thy tongue a minute!" said the Seigneur, suddenly starting +and laying a finger beside his nose. "Hush!" he said again, and looked +into the flicker of the candle by him with half-shut eyes. + +"May I have no rushes for a bed, and die like a rat in a moat, if I +don't get thy pardon too of the Queen, and bring thee back to Jersey, +a thorn in the side of De Carteret for ever! He'll look upon thee +assoilzied by the Queen, spitting fire in his rage, and no canary or +muscadella in his cellar." + +It came not to the mind of either that this expedition would be made at +cost to themselves. They had not heard of Don Quixote, and their gifts +were not imitative. They were of a day when men held their lives as +lightly as many men hold their honour now; when championship was as the +breath of life to men's nostrils, and to adventure for what was worth +having or doing in life the only road of reputation. + +Buonespoir was as much a champion in his way as Lempriere of Rozel. They +were of like kidney, though so far apart in rank. Had Lempriere been +born as low and as poor as Buonespoir, he would have been a pirate too, +no doubt; and had Buonespoir been born as high as the Seigneur, he would +have carried himself with the same rough sense of honour, with as ripe a +vanity; have been as naive, as sincere, as true to the real heart of +man untaught in the dissimulation of modesty or reserve. When they shook +hands across the trencher of spiced veal, it was as man shakes hand with +man, not man with master. + +They were about to start upon their journey when there came a knocking +at the door. On its being opened the bald and toothless Abednego +stumbled in with the word that immediately after Angele and her father +came aboard the Honeyflower some fifty halberdiers suddenly appeared +upon the Couperon. They had at once set sail, and got away even before +the sailors had reached the shore. As they had rounded the point, where +they were hid from view, Abednego dropped overboard and swam ashore on +the rising tide, making his way to the manor to warn Buonespoir. On his +way hither, stealing through the trees, he had passed a half-score of +halberdiers making for the manor, and he had seen others going towards +the shore. + +Buonespoir looked to the priming of his pistols, and buckling his belt +tightly about him, turned to the Seigneur and said: "I will take my +chances with Abednego. Where does she lie--the Honeyflower, Abednego?" + +"Off the point called Verclut," answered the little man, who had +travelled with Francis Drake. + +"Good; we will make a run for it, flying dot-and-carry-one as we go." + +While they had been speaking the Seigneur had been thinking; and now, +even as several figures appeared at a little distance in the trees, +making towards the manor, he said, with a loud laugh: + +"No. 'Tis the way of a fool to put his head between the door and +the jamb. 'Tis but a hundred yards to safety. Follow me--to the +sea--Abednego last. This way, bullies!" + +Without a word all three left the house and walked on in the order +indicated, as De Carteret's halberdiers ran forward threatening. + +"Stand!" shouted the sergeant of the halberdiers. "Stand, or we fire!" + +But the three walked straight on unheeding. When the sergeant of the +men-at-arms recognised the Seigneur, he ordered down the blunderbusses. + +"We come for Buonespoir the pirate," said the sergeant. + +"Whose warrant?" said the Seigneur, fronting the halberdiers, Buonespoir +and Abednego behind him. "The Seigneur of St. Ouen's," was the reply. + +"My compliments to the Seigneur of St. Ouen's, and tell him that +Buonespoir is my guest," he bellowed, and strode on, the halberdiers +following. Suddenly the Seigneur swerved towards the chapel and +quickened his footsteps, the others but a step behind. The sergeant of +the halberdiers was in a quandary. He longed to shoot, but dared not, +and while he was making up his mind what to do, the Seigneur had reached +the chapel door. Opening it, he quickly pushed Buonespoir and Abednego +inside, whispering to them, then slammed the door and put his back +against it. + +There was another moment's hesitation on the sergeant's part, then a +door at the other end of the chapel was heard to open and shut, and the +Seigneur laughed loudly. The halberdiers ran round the chapel. There +stood Buonespoir and Abednego in a narrow roadway, motionless and +unconcerned. The halberdiers rushed forward. + +"Perquage! Perquage! Perquage!" shouted Buonespoir, and the bright +moonlight showed him grinning. For an instant there was deadly +stillness, in which the approaching footsteps of the Seigneur sounded +loud. + +"Perquage!" Buonespoir repeated. + +"Perquage! Fall back!" said the Seigneur, and waved off the pikes of the +halberdiers. "He has sanctuary to the sea." + +This narrow road in which the pirates stood was the last of three in the +Isle of Jersey running from churches to the sea, in which a criminal was +safe from arrest by virtue of an old statute. The other perquages had +been taken away; but this one of Rozel remained, a concession made by +Henry VIII to the father of this Raoul Lempriere. The privilege had been +used but once in the present Seigneur's day, because the criminal must +be put upon the road from the chapel by the Seigneur himself, and he had +used his privilege modestly. + +No man in Jersey but knew the sacredness of this perquage, though it +was ten years since it had been used; and no man, not even the Governor +himself, dare lift his hand to one upon that road. + +So it was that Buonespoir and Abednego, two fugitives from justice, +walked quietly to the sea down the perquage, halberdiers, balked of +their prey, prowling on their steps and cursing the Seigneur of Rozel +for his gift of sanctuary: for the Seigneur of St. Ouen's and the Royal +Court had promised each halberdier three shillings and all the ale he +could drink at a sitting, if Buonespoir was brought in alive or dead. + +In peace and safety the three boarded the Honeyflower off the point +called Verclut, and set sail for England, just seven hours after Michel +de la Foret had gone his way upon the Channel, a prisoner. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A fortnight later, of a Sunday morning, the Lord Chamberlain of England +was disturbed out of his usual equanimity. As he was treading the rushes +in the presence-chamber of the Royal Palace at Greenwich, his eye busy +in inspection--for the Queen would soon pass on her way to chapel--his +head nodding right and left to archbishop, bishop, councillors of state, +courtiers, and officers of the crown, he heard a rude noise at the door +leading into the ante-chapel, where the Queen received petitions from +the people. Hurrying thither in shocked anxiety, he found a curled +gentleman of the guard, resplendent in red velvet and gold chains, in +peevish argument with a boisterous Seigneur of a bronzed good-humoured +face, who urged his entrance to the presence-chamber. + +The Lord Chamberlain swept down upon the pair like a flamingo with wings +outspread. "God's death, what means this turmoil? Her Majesty comes +hither!" he cried, and scowled upon the intruder, who now stepped back +a little, treading on the toes of a huge sailor with a small head and +bushy red hair and beard. + +"Because her Majesty comes I come also," the Seigneur interposed +grandly. + +"What is your name and quality?" + +"Yours first, and I shall know how to answer." + +"I am the Lord Chamberlain of England." + +"And I, my lord, am Lempriere, Seigneur of Rozel--and butler to the +Queen." + +"Where is Rozel?" asked my Lord Chamberlain. + +The face of the Seigneur suddenly flushed, his mouth swelled, and then +burst. + +"Where is Rozel!" he cried in a voice of rage. "Where is Rozel! Have +you heard of Hugh Pawlett," he asked, with a huge contempt--"of Governor +Hugh Pawlett?" The Lord Chamberlain nodded. "Then ask his Excellency +when next you see him, Where is Rozel? But take good counsel and keep +your ignorance from the Queen," he added. "She has no love for stupids." + +"You say you are butler to the Queen? Whence came your commission?" said +the Lord Chamberlain, smiling now; for Lempriere's words and ways +were of some simple world where odd folk lived, and his boyish vanity +disarmed anger. + +"By royal warrant and heritage. And of all of the Jersey Isle, I only +may have dove-totes, which is the everlasting thorn in the side of De +Carteret of St. Ouen's. Now will you let me in, my lord?" he said, all +in a breath. + +At a stir behind him the Lord Chamberlain turned, and with a horrified +exclamation hurried away, for the procession from the Queen's apartments +had already entered the presence-chamber: gentlemen, barons, earls, +knights of the garter, in brave attire, with bare heads and sumptuous +calves. The Lord Chamberlain had scarce got to his place when the +Chancellor, bearing the seals in a red silk purse, entered, flanked by +two gorgeous folk with the royal sceptre and the sword of state in a red +scabbard, all flourished with fleur-de-lis. Moving in and out among them +all was the Queen's fool, who jested and shook his bells under the noses +of the highest. + +It was an event of which the Seigneur of Rozel told to his dying day: +that he entered the presence-chamber of the Royal Palace of Greenwich +at the same instant as the Queen--"Rozel at one end, Elizabeth at the +other, and all the world at gaze," he was wont to say with loud guffaws. +But what he spoke of afterwards with preposterous ease and pride was +neither pride nor ease at the moment; for the Queen's eyes fell on him +as he shoved past the gentlemen who kept the door. For an instant she +stood still, regarding him intently, then turned quickly to the Lord +Chamberlain in inquiry, and with sharp reproof too in her look. The Lord +Chamberlain fell on his knee and with low uncertain voice explained the +incident. + +Elizabeth again cast her eyes towards Lempriere, and the Court, +following her example, scrutinised the Seigneur in varied styles of +insolence or curiosity. Lempriere drew himself up with a slashing +attempt at composure, but ended by flaming from head to foot, his face +shining like a cock's comb, the perspiration standing out like beads +upon his forehead, his eyes gone blind with confusion. That was but for +a moment, however, and then, Elizabeth's look being slowly withdrawn +from him, a curious smile came to her lips, and she said to the Lord +Chamberlain: "Let the gentleman remain." + +The Queen's fool tripped forward and tapped the Lord Chamberlain on the +shoulder. "Let the gentleman remain, gossip, and see you that remaining +he goeth not like a fly with his feet in the porridge." With a flippant +step before the Seigneur, he shook his bells at him. "Thou shalt stay, +Nuncio, and staying speak the truth. So doing you shall be as noted as +a comet with three tails. You shall prove that man was made in God's +image. So lift thy head and sneeze--sneezing is the fashion here; but +see that thou sneeze not thy head off as they do in Tartary. 'Tis worth +remembrance." + +Rozel's self-importance and pride had returned. The blood came back +to his heart, and he threw out his chest grandly; he even turned to +Buonespoir, whose great figure might be seen beyond the door, and winked +at him. For a moment he had time to note the doings of the Queen and +her courtiers with wide-eyed curiosity. He saw the Earl of Leicester, +exquisite, haughty, gallant, fall upon his knee, and Elizabeth slowly +pull off her glove and with a none too gracious look give him her hand +to kiss, the only favour of the kind granted that day. He saw Cecil, her +Minister, introduce a foreign noble, who presented his letters. He +heard the Queen speak in a half-dozen different languages, to people of +various lands, and he was smitten with amazement. + +But as Elizabeth came slowly down the hall, her white silk gown fronted +with great pearls flashing back the light, a marchioness bearing the +train, the crown on her head glittering as she turned from right to +left, her wonderful collar of jewels sparkling on her uncovered bosom, +suddenly the mantle of black, silver-shotted silk upon her shoulders +became to Lempriere's heated senses a judge's robe, and Elizabeth the +august judge of the world. His eyes blinded again, for it was as if she +was bearing down upon him. Certainly she was looking at him now, scarce +heeding the courtiers who fell to their knees on either side as she came +on. The red doublets of the fifty Gentlemen Pensioners--all men of +noble families proud to do this humble yet distinguished service--with +battle-axes, on either side of her, seemed to Lempriere on the instant +like an army with banners threatening him. From the ante-chapel behind +him came the cry of the faithful subjects who, as the gentleman-at-arms +fell back from the doorway, had but just caught a glimpse of her +Majesty--"Long live Elizabeth!" + +It seemed to Lempriere that the Gentlemen Pensioners must beat him down +as they passed, yet he stood riveted to the spot; and indeed it was true +that he was almost in the path of her Majesty. He was aware that two +gentlemen touched him on the shoulder and bade him retire; but the Queen +motioned to them to desist. So, with the eyes of the whole court on +him again, and Elizabeth's calm curious gaze fixed, as it were, on his +forehead, he stood still till the flaming Gentlemen Pensioners were +within a few feet of him, and the battle-axes were almost over his head. + +The great braggart was no better now than a wisp of grass in the wind, +and it was more than homage that bent him to his knees as the Queen +looked him full in the eyes. There was a moment's absolute silence, and +then she said, with cold condescension: + +"By what privilege do you seek our presence?" + +"I am Raoul Lempriere, Seigneur of Rozel, your high Majesty," said the +choking voice of the Jerseyman. The Queen raised her eyebrows. "The man +seems French. You come from France?" + +Lempriere flushed to his hair--the Queen did not know him, then! "From +Jersey Isle, your sacred Majesty." + +"Jersey Isle is dear to us. And what is your warrant here?" + +"I am butler to your Majesty, by your gracious Majesty's patent, and +I alone may have dove-cotes in the isle; and I only may have the +perquage-on your Majesty's patent. It is not even held by De Carteret of +St. Ouen's." + +The Queen smiled as she had not smiled since she entered the +presence-chamber. "God preserve us," she said--"that I should not have +recognised you! It is, of course, our faithful Lempriere of Rozel." + +The blood came back to the Seigneur's heart, but he did not dare look up +yet, and he did not see that Elizabeth was in rare mirth at his words; +and though she had no ken or memory of him, she read his nature and was +mindful to humour him. Beckoning Leicester to her side, she said a few +words in an undertone, to which he replied with a smile more sour than +sweet. + +"Rise, Monsieur of Rozel," she said. + +The Seigneur stood up, and met her gaze faintly. "And so, proud +Seigneur, you must needs flout e'en our Lord Chamberlain, in the name of +our butler with three dove-cotes and the perquage. In sooth thy office +must not be set at naught lightly--not when it is flanked by the +perquage. By my father's doublet, but that frieze jerkin is well cut; +it suits thy figure well--I would that my Lord Leicester here had such a +tailor. But this perquage--I doubt not there are those here at Court who +are most ignorant of its force and moment. My Lord Chamberlain, my Lord +Leicester, Cecil here--confusion sits in their faces. The perquage, +which my father's patent approved, has served us well, I doubt not, is +a comfort to our realm and a dignity befitting the wearer of that frieze +jerkin. Speak to their better understanding, Monsieur of Rozel." + +"Speak, Nuncio, and you shall have comforts, and be given in marriage, +multiple or singular, even as I," said the fool, and touched him on the +breast with his bells. + +Lempriere had recovered his heart, and now was set full sail in the +course he had charted for himself in Jersey. In large words and larger +manner he explained most innocently the sacred privilege of perquage. +"And how often have you used the right, friend?" asked Elizabeth. + +"But once in ten years, your noble Majesty." + +"When last?" + +"But yesterday a week, your universal Majesty." Elizabeth raised her +eyebrows. "Who was the criminal, what the occasion?" + +"The criminal was one Buonespoir, the occasion our coming hither to wait +upon the Queen of England and our Lady of Normandy, for such is your +well-born Majesty to your loyal Jersiais." And thereupon he plunged +into an impeachment of De Carteret of St. Ouen's, and stumbled through +a blunt broken story of the wrongs and the sorrows of Michel and Angele +and the doings of Buonespoir in their behalf. + +Elizabeth frowned and interrupted him. "I have heard of this Buonespoir, +Monsieur, through others than the Seigneur of St. Ouen's. He is an +unlikely squire of dames. There's a hill in my kingdom has long bided +his coming. Where waits the rascal now?" + +"In the ante-chapel, your Majesty." + +"By the rood!" said Elizabeth in sudden amazement. "In my ante-chapel, +forsooth!" + +She looked beyond the doorway and saw the great red-topped figure of +Buonespoir, his good-natured, fearless fare, his shock of hair, his +clear blue eye--he was not thirty feet away. + +"He comes to crave pardon for his rank offences, your benignant +Majesty," said Lempriere. + +The humour of the thing rushed upon the Queen. Never before were two +such naive folk at court. There was not a hair of duplicity in the heads +of the two, and she judged them well in her mind. + +"I will see you stand together--you and your henchman," she said to +Rozel, and moved on to the antechapel, the Court following. Standing +still just inside the doorway, she motioned Buonespoir to come near. +The pirate, unconfused, undismayed, with his wide blue asking eyes, +came forward and dropped upon his knees. Elizabeth motioned Lempriere to +stand a little apart. + +Thereupon she set a few questions to Buonespoir, whose replies, +truthfully given, showed that he had no real estimate of his crimes, and +was indifferent to what might be their penalties. He had no moral sense +on the one hand, on the other, no fear. + +Suddenly she turned to Lempriere again. "You came, then, to speak for +this Michel de la Foret, the exile--?" + +"And for the demoiselle Angele Aubert, who loves him, your Majesty." + +"I sent for this gentleman exile a fortnight ago--" She turned towards +Leicester inquiringly. + +"I have the papers here, your Majesty," said Leicester, and gave a +packet over. + +"And where have you De la Foret?" said Elizabeth. "In durance, your +Majesty." + +"When came he hither?" + +"Three days gone," answered Leicester, a little gloomily, for there was +acerbity in Elizabeth's voice. Elizabeth seemed about to speak, then +dropped her eyes upon the papers, and glanced hastily at their contents. + +"You will have this Michel de la Foret brought to my presence as fast +as horse can bring him, my Lord," she said to Leicester. "This rascal +of the sea--Buonespoir--you will have safe bestowed till I recall +his existence again," she said to a captain of men-at-arms; "and +you, Monsieur of Rozel, since you are my butler, will get you to my +dining-room, and do your duty--the office is not all perquisites," +she added smoothly. She was about to move on, when a thought seemed to +strike her, and she added, "This Mademoiselle and her father whom you +brought hither-where are they?" + +"They are even within the palace grounds, your imperial Majesty," +answered Lempriere. + +"You will summon them when I bid you," she said to the Seigneur; "and +you shall see that they have comforts and housing as befits their +station," she added to the Lord Chamberlain. + +So did Elizabeth, out of a whimsical humour, set the highest in the land +to attend upon unknown, unconsidered exiles. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Five minutes later, Lempriere of Rozel, as butler to the Queen, saw a +sight of which he told to his dying day. When, after varied troubles +hereafter set down, he went back to Jersey, he made a speech before +the Royal Court, in which he told what chanced while Elizabeth was at +chapel. + +"There stood I, butler to the Queen," he said, with a large gesture, +"but what knew I of butler's duties at Greenwich Palace! Her Majesty had +given me an office where all the work was done for me. Odds life, but +when I saw the Gentleman of the Rod and his fellow get down on their +knees to lay the cloth upon the table, as though it was an altar at +Jerusalem, I thought it time to say my prayers. There was naught but +kneeling and retiring. Now it was the salt-cellar, the plate, and the +bread; then it was a Duke's Daughter--a noble soul as ever lived--with +a tasting-knife, as beautiful as a rose; then another lady enters who +glares at me, and gets to her knees as does the other. Three times up +and down, and then one rubs the plate with bread and salt, as solemn as +St. Ouen's when he says prayers in the Royal Court. Gentles, that was a +day for Jersey. For there stood I as master of all, the Queen's butler, +and the greatest ladies of the land doing my will--though it was all +Persian mystery to me, save when the kettle-drums began to beat and the +trumpet to blow, and in walk bareheaded the Yeomen of the Guard, all +scarlet, with a golden rose on their backs, bringing in a course of +twenty-four gold dishes; and I, as Queen's butler, receiving them. + +"Then it was I opened my mouth amazed at the endless dishes filled +with niceties of earth, and the Duke's Daughter pops onto my tongue +a mouthful of the first dish brought, and then does the same to every +Yeoman of the Guard that carried a dish--that her notorious Majesty +be safe against the hand of poisoners. There was I, fed by a Duke's +Daughter; and thus was Jersey honoured; and the Duke's Daughter whispers +to me, as a dozen other unmarried ladies enter, 'The Queen liked not +the cut of your frieze jerkin better than do I, Seigneur.' With that she +joins the others, and they all kneel down and rise up again, and lifting +the meat from the table, bear it into the Queen's private chamber. + +"When they return, and the Yeomen of the Guard go forth, I am left alone +with these ladies, and there stand with twelve pair of eyes upon me, +little knowing what to do. There was laughter in the faces of some, and +looks less taking in the eyes of others; for my Lord Leicester was to +have done the duty I was set to do that day, and he the greatest gallant +of the kingdom, as all the world knows. What they said among themselves +I know not, but I heard Leicester's name, and I guessed that they were +mostly in the pay of his soft words. But the Duke's Daughter was on my +side, as was proved betimes when Leicester made trouble for us who went +from Jersey to plead the cause of injured folk. Of the Earl's enmity +to me--a foolish spite of a great nobleman against a Norman-Jersey +gentleman--and of how it injured others for the moment, you all know; +but we had him by the heels before the end of it, great earl and +favourite as he was." + +In the same speech Lempriere told of his audience with the Queen, even +as she sat at dinner, and of what she said to him; but since his words +give but a partial picture of events, the relation must not be his. + +When the Queen returned from chapel to her apartments, Lempriere was +called by an attendant, and he stood behind the Queen's chair until she +summoned him to face her. Then, having finished her meal, and dipped her +fingers in a bowl of rose-water, she took up the papers Leicester had +given her--the Duke's Daughter had read them aloud as she ate--and said: + +"Now, my good Seigneur of Rozel, answer me these few questions: First, +what concern is it of yours whether this Michel de la Foret be sent back +to France, or die here in England?" + +"I helped to save his life at sea--one good turn deserves another, your +high-born Majesty." + +The Queen looked sharply at him, then burst out laughing. + +"God's life, but here's a bull making epigrams!" she said. Then her +humour changed. "See you, my butler of Rozel, you shall speak the truth, +or I'll have you where that jerkin will fit you not so well a month +hence. Plain answers I will have to plain questions, or De Carteret of +St. Ouen's shall have his will of you and your precious pirate. So bear +yourself as you would save your head and your honours." + +Lempriere of Rozel never had a better moment than when he met the Queen +of England's threats with faultless intrepidity. "I am concerned about +my head, but more about my honours, and most about my honour," he +replied. "My head is my own, my honours are my family's, for which I +would give my head when needed; and my honour defends both until both +are naught--and all are in the service of my Queen." + +Smiling, Elizabeth suddenly leaned forward, and, with a glance of +satisfaction towards the Duke's Daughter, who was present, said: + +"I had not thought to find so much logic behind your rampant skull," she +said. "You've spoken well, Rozel, and you shall speak by the book to the +end, if you will save your friends. What concern is it of yours whether +Michel de la Foret live or die?" + +"It is a concern of one whom I've sworn to befriend, and that is my +concern, your ineffable Majesty." "Who is the friend?" + +"Mademoiselle Aubert." + +"The betrothed of this Michel de la Foret?" + +"Even so, your exalted Majesty. But I made sure De la Foret was dead +when I asked her to be my wife." + +"Lord, Lord, Lord, hear this vast infant, this hulking baby of a +Seigneur, this primeval innocence! Listen to him, cousin," said the +Queen, turning again to the Duke's Daughter. "Was ever the like of it in +any kingdom of this earth? He chooses a penniless exile--he, a butler +to the Queen, with three dove-cotes and the perquage--and a Huguenot +withal. He is refused; then comes the absent lover over sea, to +shipwreck; and our Seigneur rescues him, 'fends him; and when yon master +exile is in peril, defies his Queen's commands"--she tapped the papers +lying beside her on the table--"then comes to England with the lady to +plead the case before his outraged sovereign, with an outlawed buccaneer +for comrade and lieutenant. There is the case, is't not?" + +"I swore to be her friend," answered Lempriere stubbornly, "and I have +done according to my word." + +"There's not another nobleman in my kingdom who would not have thought +twice about the matter, with the lady aboard his ship on the high +seas-'tis a miraculous chivalry, cousin," she added to the Duke's +Daughter, who bowed, settled herself again on her velvet cushion, and +looked out of the corner of her eyes at Lempriere. + +"You opposed Sir Hugh Pawlett's officers who went to arrest this De la +Foret," continued Elizabeth. "Call you that serving your Queen? Pawlett +had our commands." + +"I opposed them but in form, that the matter might the more surely be +brought to your Majesty's knowledge." + +"It might easily have brought you to the Tower, man." + +"I had faith that your Majesty would do right in this, as in all else. +So I came hither to tell the whole story to your judicial Majesty." + +"Our thanks for your certificate of character," said the Queen, with +amused irony. "What is your wish? Make your words few and plain." + +"I desire before all that Michel de la Foret shall not be returned to +the Medici, most radiant Majesty." + +"That's plain. But there are weighty matters 'twixt France and England, +and De la Foret may turn the scale one way or another. What follows, +beggar of Rozel?" + +"That Mademoiselle Aubert and her father may live without let or +hindrance in Jersey." + +"That you may eat sour grapes ad eternam? Next?" + +"That Buonespoir be pardoned all offences and let live in Jersey on +pledge that he sin no more, not even to raid St. Ouen's cellars of the +muscadella reserved for your generous Majesty." + +There was such humour in Lempriere's look as he spoke of the muscadella +that the Queen questioned him closely upon Buonespoir's raid; and so +infectious was his mirth, as he told the tale, that Elizabeth, though +she stamped her foot in assumed impatience, smiled also. + +"You shall have your Buonespoir, Seigneur," she said; "but for his +future you shall answer as well as he." + +"For what he does in Jersey Isle, your commiserate Majesty?" + +"For crime elsewhere, if he be caught, he shall march to Tyburn, +friend," she answered. Then she hurriedly added: "Straightway go and +bring Mademoiselle and her father hither. Orders are given for their +disposal. And to-morrow at this hour you shall wait upon me in their +company. I thank you for your services as butler this day, Monsieur of +Rozel. You do your office rarely." + +As the Seigneur left Elizabeth's apartments, he met the Earl of +Leicester hurrying thither, preceded by the Queen's messenger. Leicester +stopped and said, with a slow malicious smile: "Farming is good, +then--you have fine crops this year on your holding?" + +The point escaped Lempriere at first, for the favourite's look was all +innocence, and he replied: "You are mistook, my lord. You will remember +I was in the presence-chamber an hour ago, my lord. I am Lempriere, +Seigneur of Rozel, butler to her Majesty." + +"But are you, then? I thought you were a farmer and raised cabbages." +Smiling, Leicester passed on. + +For a moment the Seigneur stood pondering the Earl's words and angrily +wondering at his obtuseness. Then suddenly he knew he had been mocked, +and he turned and ran after his enemy; but Leicester had vanished into +the Queen's apartments. + +The Queen's fool was standing near, seemingly engaged in the light +occupation of catching imaginary flies, buzzing with his motions. As +Leicester disappeared he looked from under his arm at Lempriere. "If a +bird will not stop for the salt to its tail, then the salt is damned, +Nuncio; and you must cry David! and get thee to the quarry." + +Lempriere stared at him swelling with rage; but the quaint smiling of +the fool conquered him, and instead of turning on his heel, he spread +himself like a Colossus and looked down in grandeur. "And wherefore cry +David! and get quarrying?" he asked. "Come, what sense is there in thy +words, when I am wroth with yonder nobleman?" + +"Oh, Nuncio, Nuncio, thou art a child of innocence and without history. +The salt held not the bird for the net of thy anger, Nuncio; so it is +meet that other ways be found. David the ancient put a stone in a sling +and Goliath laid him down like an egg in a nest--therefore, Nuncio, get +thee to the quarry. Obligato, which is to say Leicester yonder, hath no +tail--the devil cut it off and wears it himself. So let salt be damned, +and go sling thy stone!" + +Lempriere was good-humoured again. He fumbled in his purse and brought +forth a gold-piece. "Fool, thou hast spoken like a man born sensible and +infinite. I understand thee like a book. Thou hast not folly and thou +shalt not be answered as if thou wast a fool. But in terms of gold shalt +thou have reply." He put the gold-piece in the fool's hand and slapped +him on the shoulder. + +"Why now, Nuncio," answered the other, "it is clear that there is a +fool at Court, for is it not written that a fool and his money are soon +parted? And this gold-piece is still hot with running 'tween thee and +me." + +Lempriere roared. "Why, then, for thy hit thou shalt have another +gold-piece, gossip. But see"--his voice lowered--"know you where is my +friend, Buonespoir, the pirate? Know you where he is in durance?" + +"As I know marrow in a bone I know where he hides, Nuncio, so come with +me," answered the fool. + +"If De Carteret had but thy sense, we could live at peace in Jersey," +rejoined Lempriere, and strode ponderously after the light-footed fool +who capered forth singing: + + "Come hither, O come hither, + There's a bride upon her bed; + They have strewn her o'er with roses, + There are roses 'neath her head: + Life is love and tears and laughter, + But the laughter it is dead + Sing the way to the Valley, to the Valley! + Hey, but the roses they are red!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The next day at noon, as her Majesty had advised the Seigneur, De la +Foret was ushered into the presence. The Queen's eye quickened as she +saw him, and she remarked with secret pleasure the figure and bearing +of this young captain of the Huguenots. She loved physical grace and +prowess with a full heart. The day had almost passed when she would +measure all men against Leicester in his favour; and he, knowing this +clearly now, saw with haughty anxiety the gradual passing of his power, +and clutched futilely at the vanishing substance. Thus it was that +he now spent his strength in getting his way with the Queen in little +things. She had been so long used to take his counsel--in some part wise +and skilful--that when she at length did without it, or followed her own +mind, it became a fever with him to let no chance pass for serving his +own will by persuading her out of hers. This was why he had spent an +hour the day before in sadly yet vaguely reproaching her for the slight +she put upon him in the presence-chamber by her frown; and another +in urging her to come to terms with Catherine de Medici in this small +affair--since the Frenchwoman had set her revengeful heart upon it--that +larger matters might be settled to the gain of England. It was not so +much that he had reason to destroy De la Foret, as that he saw that the +Queen was disposed to deal friendly by him and protect him. He did +not see the danger of rousing in the Queen the same unreasoning +tenaciousness of will upon just such lesser things as might well be left +to her advisers. In spite of which he almost succeeded, this very day, +in regaining, for a time at least, the ground he had lost with her. He +had never been so adroit, so brilliant, so witty, so insinuating; and +he left her with the feeling that if he had his way concerning De +la Foret--a mere stubborn whim, with no fair reason behind it--his +influence would be again securely set. The sense of crisis was on him. + +On Michel de la Foret entering the presence the Queen's attention had +become riveted. She felt in him a spirit of mastery, yet of unselfish +purpose. Here was one, she thought, who might well be in her household, +or leading a regiment of her troops. The clear fresh face, curling hair, +direct look, quiet energy, and air of nobility--this sort of man could +only be begotten of a great cause; he were not possible in idle or +prosperous times. + +Elizabeth looked him up and down, then affected surprise. "Monsieur de +la Foret," she said, "I do not recognise you in this attire"--glancing +towards his dress. + +De la Foret bowed, and Elizabeth continued, looking at a paper in her +hand: "You landed on our shores of Jersey in the robes of a priest of +France. The passport for a priest of France was found upon your +person when our officers in Jersey made search of you. Which is +yourself--Michel de la Foret, soldier, or a priest of France?" + +De la Foret replied gravely that he was a soldier, and that the priestly +dress had been but a disguise. + +"In which papist attire, methinks, Michel de la Foret, soldier and +Huguenot, must have been ill at ease--the eagle with the vulture's wing. +What say you, Monsieur?" + +"That vulture's wing hath carried me to a safe dove-cote, your gracious +Majesty," he answered, with a low obeisance. + +"I'm none so sure of that, Monsieur," was Elizabeth's answer, and she +glanced quizzically at Leicester, who made a gesture of annoyance. +"Our cousin France makes you to us a dark intriguer and conspirator, a +dangerous weed in our good garden of England, a 'troublous, treacherous +violence'--such are you called, Monsieur." + +"I am in your high Majesty's power," he answered, "to do with me as it +seemeth best. If your Majesty wills it that I be returned to France, +I pray you set me upon its coast as I came from it, a fugitive. Thence +will I try to find my way to the army and the poor stricken people of +whom I was. I pray for that only, and not to be given to the red hand of +the Medici." + +"Red hand--by my faith, but you are bold, Monsieur!" + +Leicester tapped his foot upon the floor impatiently, then caught the +Queen's eye, and gave her a meaning look. + +De la Foret saw the look and knew his enemy, but he did not quail. "Bold +only by your high Majesty's faith, indeed," he answered the Queen, with +harmless guile. + +Elizabeth smiled. She loved such flattering speech from a strong man. +It touched a chord in her deeper than that under Leicester's finger. +Leicester's impatience only made her more self-willed on the instant. + +"You speak with the trumpet note, Monsieur," she said to De la Foret. +"We will prove you. You shall have a company in my Lord Leicester's army +here, and we will send you upon some service worthy of your fame." + +"I crave your Majesty's pardon, but I cannot do it," was De la Foret's +instant reply. "I have sworn that I will lift my sword in one cause +only, and to that I must stand. And more--the widow of my dead chief, +Gabriel de Montgomery, is set down in this land unsheltered and alone. +I have sworn to one who loves her, and for my dead chief's sake, that +I will serve her and be near her until better days be come and she may +return in quietness to France. In exile we few stricken folk must stand +together, your august Majesty." + +Elizabeth's eye flashed up. She was impatient of refusal of her favour. +She was also a woman, and that De la Foret should flaunt his devotion +to another woman was little to her liking. The woman in her, which had +never been blessed with a noble love, was roused. The sourness of a +childless, uncompanionable life was stronger for the moment than her +strong mind and sense. + +"Monsieur has sworn this, and Monsieur has sworn that," she said +petulantly--"and to one who loveth a lady, and for a cause--tut, tut, +tut!--" + +Suddenly a kind of intriguing laugh leaped into her eye, and she turned +to Leicester and whispered in his ear. Leicester frowned, then smiled, +and glanced up and down De la Foret's figure impertinently. + +"See, Monsieur de la Foret," she added; "since you will not fight, you +shall preach. A priest you came into my kingdom, and a priest you shall +remain; but you shall preach good English doctrine and no Popish folly." + +De la Foret started, then composed himself, and before he had time +to reply, Elizabeth continued: "Partly for your own sake am I thus +gracious; for as a preacher of the Word I have not need to give you +up, according to agreement with our brother of France. As a rebel and +conspirator I were bound to do so, unless you were an officer of my +army. The Seigneur of Rozel has spoken for you, and the Comtesse de +Montgomery has written a pleading letter. Also I have from another +source a tearful prayer--the ink is scarce dry upon it--which has been +of service to you. But I myself have chosen this way of escape for +you. Prove yourself worthy, and all may be well--but prove yourself +you shall. You have prepared your own brine, Monsieur; in it you shall +pickle." + +She smiled a sour smile, for she was piqued, and added: "Do you think I +will have you here squiring of distressed dames, save as a priest? You +shall hence to Madame of Montgomery as her faithful chaplain, once I +have heard you preach and know your doctrine." + +Leicester almost laughed outright in the young man's face now, for he +had no thought that De la Foret would accept, and refusal meant the +exile's doom. + +It seemed fantastic that this noble gentleman, this very type of the +perfect soldier, with the brown face of a picaroon and an athletic +valour of body, should become a preacher even in necessity. + +Elizabeth, seeing De la Foret's dumb amazement and anxiety, spoke +up sharply: "Do this, or get you hence to the Medici, and Madame of +Montgomery shall mourn her protector, and Mademoiselle your mistress of +the vermilion cheek, shall have one lover the less; which, methinks, our +Seigneur of Rozel would thank me for." + +De la Foret started, his lips pressed firmly together in effort of +restraint. There seemed little the Queen did not know concerning him; +and reference to Angele roused him to sharp solicitude. + +"Well, well?" asked Elizabeth impatiently, then made a motion to +Leicester, and he, going to the door, bade some one to enter. + +There stepped inside the Seigneur of Rozel, who made a lumbering +obeisance, then got to his knees before the Queen. + +"You have brought the lady safely--with her father?" she asked. + +Lempriere, puzzled, looked inquiringly at the Queen, then replied: "Both +are safe without, your infinite Majesty." + +De la Foret's face grew pale. He knew now for the first time that Angele +and her father were in England, and he looked Lempriere suspiciously in +the eyes; but the swaggering Seigneur met his look frankly, and bowed +with ponderous and genial gravity. + +Now De la Foret spoke. "Your high Majesty," said he, "if I may ask +Mademoiselle Aubert one question in your presence--" + +"Your answer now; the lady in due season," interposed the Queen. + +"She was betrothed to a soldier, she may resent a priest," said De la +Foret, with a touch of humour, for he saw the better way was to take the +matter with some outward ease. + +Elizabeth smiled. "It is the custom of her sex to have a fondness for +both," she answered, with an acid smile. "But your answer?" + +De la Foret's face became exceeding grave. Bowing his head, he said: "My +sword has spoken freely for the Cause; God forbid that my tongue should +not speak also. I will do your Majesty's behest." + +The jesting word that was upon the royal lips came not forth, for De +la Foret's face was that of a man who had determined a great thing, +and Elizabeth was one who had a heart for high deeds. "The man is brave +indeed," she said under her breath, and, turning to the dumfounded +Seigneur, bade him bring in Mademoiselle Aubert. + +A moment later Angele entered, came a few steps forward, made obeisance, +and stood still. She showed no trepidation, but looked before her +steadily. She knew not what was to be required of her, she was a +stranger in a strange land; but persecution and exile had gone far to +strengthen her spirit and greaten her composure. + +Elizabeth gazed at the girl coldly and critically. To women she was not +over-amiable; but as she looked at the young Huguenot maid, of this +calm bearing, warm of colour, clear of eye, and purposeful of face, some +thing kindled in her. Most like it was that love for a cause, which was +more to be encouraged by her than any woman's love for a man, which as +she grew older inspired her with aversion, as talk of marriage brought +cynical allusions to her lips. + +"I have your letter and its protests and its pleadings. There were fine +words and adjurations--are you so religious, then?" she asked brusquely. + +"I am a Huguenot, your noble Majesty," answered the girl, as though that +answered all. + +"How is it, then, you are betrothed to a roistering soldier?" asked the +Queen. + +"Some must pray for Christ's sake, and some must fight, your most +christian Majesty," answered the girl. "Some must do both," rejoined the +Queen, in a kinder voice, for the pure spirit of the girl worked upon +her. "I am told that Monsieur de la Foret fights fairly. If he can pray +as well, methinks he shall have safety in our kingdom, and ye shall all +have peace. On Trinity Sunday you shall preach in my chapel, Monsieur de +la Foret, and thereafter you shall know your fate." + +She rose. "My Lord," she said to Leicester, on whose face gloom had +settled, "you will tell the Lord Chamberlain that Monsieur de la Foret's +durance must be made comfortable in the west tower of my palace till +chapel-going of Trinity Day. I will send him for his comfort and +instruction some sermons of Latimer." + +She stepped down from the dais. "You will come with me, mistress," she +said to Angele, and reached out her hand. + +Angele fell on her knees and kissed it, tears falling down her cheek, +then rose and followed the Queen from the chamber. She greatly desired +to look backward towards De la Foret, but some good angel bade her not. +She realised that to offend the Queen at this moment might ruin all; +and Elizabeth herself was little like to offer chance for farewell and +love-tokens. + +So it was that, with bowed head, Angele left the room with the Queen of +England, leaving Lempriere and De la Foret gazing at each other, the +one bewildered, the other lost in painful reverie, and Leicester smiling +maliciously at them both. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Every man, if you bring him to the right point, if you touch him in the +corner where he is most sensitive, where he most lives, as it were; if +you prick his nerves with a needle of suggestion where all his passions, +ambitions and sentiments are at white heat, will readily throw away the +whole game of life in some mad act out of harmony with all he ever did. +It matters little whether the needle prick him by accident or blunder or +design, he will burst all bounds, and establish again the old truth that +each of us will prove himself a fool given perfect opportunity. Nor need +the occasion of this revolution be a great one; the most trivial event +may produce the great fire which burns up wisdom, prudence and habit. + +The Earl of Leicester, so long counted astute, clearheaded, and +well-governed, had been suddenly foisted out of balance, shaken from his +imperious composure, tortured out of an assumed and persistent urbanity, +by the presence in Greenwich Palace of a Huguenot exile of no seeming +importance, save what the Medici grimly gave him by desiring his head. +It appeared absurd that the great Leicester, whose nearness to the +throne had made him the most feared, most notable, and, by virtue of +his opportunities, the most dramatic figure in England, should have +sleepless nights by reason of a fugitive like Michel de la Foret. On the +surface it was preposterous that he should see in the Queen's offer of +service to the refugee evidence that she was set to grant him special +favours; it was equally absurd that her offer of safety to him on pledge +of his turning preacher should seem proof that she meant to have him +near her. Elizabeth had left the presence-chamber without so much as +a glance at him, though she had turned and looked graciously at the +stranger. He had hastily followed her, and thereafter impatiently +awaited a summons which never came, though he had sent a message that +his hours were at her Majesty's disposal. Waiting, he saw Angele's +father escorted from the palace by a Gentleman Pensioner to a lodge in +the park; he saw Michel de la Foret taken to his apartments; he saw the +Seigneur of Rozel walking in the palace grounds with such possession as +though they were his own, self-content in every motion of his body. + +Upon the instant the great Earl was incensed out of all proportion to +the affront of the Seigneur's existence. He suddenly hated Lempriere +only less than he hated Michel de la Foret. As he still waited irritably +for a summons from Elizabeth, he brooded on every word and every +look she had given him of late; he recalled her manner to him in the +ante-chapel the day before, and the admiring look she cast on De la +Foret but now. He had seen more in it than mere approval of courage and +the self-reliant bearing of a refugee of her own religion. + +These were days when the soldier of fortune mounted to high places. He +needed but to carry the banner of bravery, and a busy sword, and his way +to power was not hindered by poor estate. To be gently born was the one +thing needful, and Michel de la Foret was gently born; and he had still +his sword, though he chose not to use it in Elizabeth's service. My Lord +knew it might be easier for a stranger like De la Foret, who came with +no encumbrance, to mount to place in the struggles of the Court, +than for an Englishman, whose increasing and ever-bolder enemies were +undermining on every hand, to hold his own. + +He began to think upon ways and means to meet this sudden preference of +the Queen, made sharply manifest as he waited in the ante-chamber, by a +summons to the refugee to enter the Queen's apartments. When the refugee +came forth again he wore a sword the Queen had sent him, and a packet +of Latimer's sermons were under his arm. Leicester was unaware that +Elizabeth herself did not see De la Foret when he was thus hastily +called; but that her lady-in-waiting, the Duke's Daughter, who figured +so largely in the pictures Lempriere drew of his experiences at +Greenwich Palace, brought forth the sermons and the sword, with this +message from the Queen: + +"The Queen says that it is but fair to the sword to be by Michel de +la Foret's side when the sermons are in his hand, that his choice have +every seeming of fairness. For her Majesty says it is still his choice +between the Sword and the Book till Trinity Day." + +Leicester, however, only saw the sword at the side of the refugee and +the gold-bound book under his arm as he came forth, and in a rage he +left the palace and gloomily walked under the trees, denying himself to +every one. + +To seize De la Foret, and send him to the Medici, and then rely on +Elizabeth's favour for his pardon, as he had done in the past? That +might do, but the risk to England was too great. It would be like the +Queen, if her temper was up, to demand from the Medici the return of De +la Foret, and war might ensue. Two women, with two nations behind them, +were not to be played lightly against each other, trusting to their +common sense and humour. + +As he walked among the trees, brooding with averted eyes, he was +suddenly faced by the Seigneur of Rozel, who also was shaken from his +discretion and the best interests of the two fugitives he was bound to +protect, by a late offence against his own dignity. A seed of rancour +had been sown in his mind which had grown to a great size and must +presently burst into a dark flower of vengeance. He, Lempriere of Rozel, +with three dovecotes, the perquage, and the office of butler to the +Queen, to be called a "farmer," to be sneered at--it was not in the +blood of man, not in the towering vanity of a Lempriere, to endure it at +any price computable to mortal mind. + +Thus there were in England on that day two fools (there are as many +now), and one said: + +"My Lord Leicester, I crave a word with you." + +"Crave on, good fellow," responded Leicester with a look of boredom, +making to pass by. + +"I am Lempriere, lord of Rozel, my lord--" + +"Ah yes, I took you for a farmer," answered Leicester. "Instead of that, +I believe you keep doves, and wear a jerkin that fits like a king's. +Dear Lord, so does greatness come with girth!" + +"The King that gave me dove-cotes gave me honour, and 'tis not for the +Earl of Leicester to belittle it." + +"What is your coat of arms?" said Leicester with a faint smile, but in +an assumed tone of natural interest. + +"A swan upon a sea of azure, two stars above, and over all a sword with +a wreath around its point," answered Lempriere simply, unsuspecting +irony, and touched by Leicester's flint where he was most like to flare +up with vanity. + +"Ah!" said Leicester. "And the motto?" + +"Mea spes supra stella--my hope is beyond the stars." + +"And the wreath--of parsley, I suppose?" + +Now Lempriere understood, and he shook with fury as he roared: + +"Yes, by God, and to be got at the point of the sword, to put on the +heads of insolents like Lord Leicester!" His face was flaming, he was +like a cock strutting upon a stable mound. + +There fell a slight pause, and then Leicester said: "To-morrow at +daylight, eh?" + +"Now, my lord, now!" + +"We have no seconds." + +"'Sblood! 'Tis not your way, my lord, to be stickling in detail of +courtesy." + +"'Tis not the custom to draw swords in secret, Lempriere of Rozel. Also +my teeth are not on edge to fight you." + +Lempriere had already drawn his sword, and the look of his eyes was as +that of a mad bull in a ring. "You won't fight with me--you don't think +Rozel your equal?" His voice was high. + +Leicester's face took on a hard, cruel look. "We cannot fight among the +ladies," he said quietly. Lempriere followed his glance, and saw the +Duke's Daughter and another in the trees near by. + +He hastily put up his sword. "When, my lord?" he asked. + +"You will hear from me to-night," was the answer, and Leicester went +forward hastily to meet the ladies--they had news no doubt. + +Lempriere turned on his heel and walked quickly away among the trees +towards the quarters where Buonespoir was in durance, which was little +more severe than to keep him within the palace yard. There he found the +fool and the pirate in whimsical converse. + +The fool had brought a letter of inquiry and warm greeting from +Angele to Buonespoir, who was laboriously inditing one in return. When +Lempriere entered the pirate greeted him jovially. + +"In the very pinch of time you come," he said. "You have grammar and +syntax and etiquette." + +"'Tis even so, Nuncio," said the fool. "Here is needed prosody +potential. Exhale!" + +The three put their heads together above the paper. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"I would know your story. How came you and yours to this pass? Where +were you born? Of what degree are you? And this Michel de la Foret, when +came he to your feet--or you to his arms? I would know all. Begin where +life began; end where you sit here at the feet of Elizabeth. This other +cushion to your knees. There--now speak. We are alone." + +Elizabeth pushed a velvet cushion towards Angele, where she half-knelt, +half-sat on the rush-strewn floor of the great chamber. The warm light +of the afternoon sun glowed through the thick-tinted glass high up, and, +in the gleam, the heavy tapestries sent by an archduke, once suitor for +Elizabeth's hand, emerged with dramatic distinctness, and peopled the +room with silent watchers of the great Queen and the nobly-born but poor +and fugitive Huguenot. A splendid piece of sculpture--Eleanor, wife of +Edward--given Elizabeth by another royal suitor, who had sought to be +her consort through many years, caught the warm bath of gold and crimson +from the clerestory and seemed alive and breathing. Against the pedestal +the Queen had placed her visitor, the red cushions making vivid contrast +to her white gown and black hair. In the half-kneeling, half-sitting +posture, with her hands clasped before her, so to steady herself +to composure, Angele looked a suppliant--and a saint. Her pure, +straightforward gaze, her smooth, urbane forehead, the guilelessness +that spoke in every feature, were not made worldly by the intelligence +and humour reposing in the brown depths of her eyes. Not a line vexed +her face or forehead. Her countenance was of a singular and almost +polished smoothness, and though her gown was severely simple by +comparison with silks and velvets, furs and ruffles of a gorgeous Court +at its most gorgeous period, yet in it here and there were touches of +exquisite fineness. The black velvet ribbon slashing her sleeves, the +slight cloud-like gathering of lace at the back of her head, gave a +distinguished softness to her appearance. + +She was in curious contrast to the Queen, who sat upon heaped-up +cushions, her rich buff and black gown a blaze of jewels, her yellow +hair, now streaked with grey, roped with pearls, her hands heavy with +rings, her face past its youth, past its hopefulness, however noble and +impressive, past its vivid beauty. Her eyes wore ever a determined look, +were persistent and vigilant, with a lurking trouble, yet flooded, too, +by a quiet melancholy, like a low, insistent note that floats through +an opera of passion, romance, and tragedy; like a tone of pathos +giving deep character to some splendid pageant, which praises whilst it +commemorates, proclaiming conquest while the grass has not yet grown on +quiet houses of the children of the sword who no more wield the sword. +Evasive, cautious, secretive, creator of her own policy, she had +sacrificed her womanhood to the power she held and the State she served. +Vain, passionate, and faithful, her heart all England and Elizabeth, the +hunger for glimpses of what she had never known, and was never to know, +thrust itself into her famished life; and she was wont to indulge, as +now, in fancies and follow some emotional whim with a determination very +like to eccentricity. + +That, at this time, when great national events were forward, when +conspiracies abounded, when Parliament was grimly gathering strength +to compel her to marry; and her Council were as sternly pursuing their +policy for the destruction of Leicester; while that very day had come +news of a rising in the North and of fresh Popish plots hatched in +France--that in such case, this day she should set aside all business, +refuse ambassadors and envoys admission, and occupy herself with two +Huguenot refugees seemed incredible to the younger courtiers. To such +as Cecil, however, there was clear understanding. He knew that when +she seemed most inert, most impassive to turbulent occurrences, most +careless of consequences, she was but waiting till, in her own mind, her +plans were grown; so that she should see her end clearly ere she spoke +or moved. Now, as the great minister showed himself at the door of +the chamber and saw Elizabeth seated with Angele, he drew back +instinctively, expectant of the upraised hand which told him he must +wait. And, in truth, he was nothing loth to do so, for his news he +cared little to deliver, important though it was that she should have it +promptly and act upon it soon. He turned away with a feeling of relief, +however, for this gossip with the Huguenot maid would no doubt interest +her, give new direction to her warm sympathies, which if roused in one +thing were ever more easily roused in others. He knew that a crisis was +nearing in the royal relations with Leicester. In a life of devotion to +her service he had seen her before in this strange mood, and he could +feel that she was ready for an outburst. As he thought of De la Foret +and the favour with which she had looked at him he smiled grimly, for if +it meant aught it meant that it would drive Leicester to some act which +would hasten his own doom; though, indeed, it might also make another +path more difficult for himself, for the Parliament, for the people. + +Little as Elizabeth could endure tales of love and news of marriage; +little as she believed in any vows, save those made to herself; little +as she was inclined to adjust the rough courses of true love, she was +the surgeon to this particular business, and she had the surgeon's love +of laying bare even to her own cynicism the hurt of the poor patient +under her knife. Indeed, so had Angele impressed her that for once she +thought she might hear the truth. Because she saw the awe in the +other's face and a worshipping admiration of the great protectress of +Protestantism, who had by large gifts of men and money in times past +helped the Cause, she looked upon her here with kindness. + +"Speak now, mistress fugitive, and I will listen," she added, as Cecil +withdrew; and she made a motion to musicians in a distant gallery. + +Angele's heart fluttered to her mouth, but the soft, simple music helped +her, and she began with eyes bent upon the ground, her linked fingers +clasping and unclasping slowly. + +"I was born at Rouen, your high Majesty," she said. "My mother was a +cousin of the Prince of Passy, the great Protestant--" + +"Of Passy--ah!" said Elizabeth amazed. "Then you are Protestants indeed; +and your face is no invention, but cometh honestly. No, no, 'tis no +accident--God rest his soul, great Passy!" + +"She died--my mother--when I was a little child. I can but just remember +her--so brightly quiet, so quick, so beautiful. In Rouen life had little +motion; but now and then came stir and turmoil, for war sent its message +into the old streets, and our captains and our peasants poured forth to +fight for the King. Once came the King and Queen--Francis and Mary--" + +Elizabeth drew herself upright with an exclamation. "Ah, you have seen +her--Mary of Scots," she said sharply. "You have seen her?" + +"As near as I might touch her with my hand, as near as is your high +Majesty. She spoke to me--my mother's father was in her train;--as yet +we had not become Huguenots, nor did we know her Majesty as now the +world knows. They came, the King and Queen--and that was the beginning." + +She paused, and looked shyly at Elizabeth, as though she found it hard +to tell her story. + +"And the beginning, it was--?" said Elizabeth, impatient and intent. + +"We went to Court. The Queen called my mother into her train. But it was +in no wise for our good. At Court my mother pined away--and so she died +in durance." + +"Wherefore in durance?" + +"To what she saw she would not shut her eyes; to what she heard she +would not close her soul; what was required of her she would not do." + +"She would not obey the Queen?" + +"She could not obey those whom the Queen favoured. Then the tyranny that +broke her heart--" + +The Queen interrupted her. + +"In very truth, but 'tis not in France alone that Queen's favourites +grasp the sceptre and speak the word. Hath a Queen a thousand eyes--can +she know truth where most dissemble?" + +"There was a man--he could not know there was one true woman there, who +for her daughter's sake, for her desired advancement, and because she +was cousin of Passy, who urged it, lived that starved life; this man, +this prince, drew round her feet snares, set pit-falls for her while my +father was sent upon a mission. Steadfast she kept her soul unspotted; +but it wore away her life. The Queen would not permit return to +Rouen--who can tell what tale was told her by one whom she foiled? And +so she stayed. In this slow, savage persecution, when she was like +a bird that, thinking it is free, flieth against the window-pane and +falleth back beaten, so did she stay, and none could save her. To cry +out, to throw herself upon the spears, would have been ruin of herself, +her husband and her child; and for these she lived." + +Elizabeth's eyes had kindled. Perhaps never in her life had the life at +Court been so exposed to her. The simple words, meant but to convey the +story, and with no thought behind, had thrown a light on her own Court, +on her own position. Adept in weaving a sinuous course in her policy, in +making mazes for others to tread, the mazes which they in turn prepared +had never before been traced beneath her eyes to the same vivid and +ultimate effect. + +"Help me, ye saints, but things are not at such a pass in this place!" +she said abruptly, but with weariness in her voice. "Yet sometimes I +know not. The Court is a city by itself, walled and moated, and hath a +life all its own. 'If there be found ten honest men within the city yet +will I save it,' saith the Lord. By my father's head, I would not risk +a finger on the hazard if this city, this Court of Elizabeth were set +'twixt the fire from Heaven and eternal peace. In truth, child, I would +lay me down and die in black disgust were it not that one might come +hereafter would make a very Sodom or Gomorrah of this land: and out +yonder--out in all my counties, where the truth of England is among my +poor burgesses, who die for the great causes which my nobles profess but +risk not their lives--out yonder all that they have won, and for which +I have striven, would be lost.... Speak on. I have not heard so plain a +tongue and so little guile these twenty years." + +Angele continued, more courage in her voice. "In the midst of it all +came the wave of the new faith upon my mother. And before ill could fall +upon her from her foes, she died and was at rest. Then we returned +to Rouen, my father and I, and there we lived in peril, but in great +happiness of soul until the day of massacre. That night in Paris we were +given greatly of the mercy of God." + +"You were there--you were in the massacre at Paris?" + +"In the house of the Duke of Langon, with whom was resting after a +hazardous enterprise, Michel de la Foret." + +"And here beginneth the second lesson," said the Queen with a smile on +her lips; but there was a look of scrutiny in her eyes, and something +like irony in her tone. "And I will swear by all the stars of Heaven +that this Michel saved ye both. Is it not so?" + +"It is even so. By his skill and bravery we found our way to safety, and +in a hiding-place near to our loved Rouen watched him return from the +gates of death." + +"He was wounded then?" + +"Seven times wounded, and with as little blood left in him as would fill +a cup. But it was summer, and we were in the hills, and they brought us, +our friends of Rouen, all that we had need of; and so God was with us. + +"But did he save thy life, except by skill, by indirect and fortunate +wisdom? Was there deadly danger upon thee? Did he beat down the sword of +death?" + +"He saved my life thrice directly. The wounds he carried were got by +interposing his own sword 'twixt death and me." + +"And that hath need of recompense?" + +"My life was little worth the wounds he suffered; but I waited not until +he saved it to owe it unto him. All that it is was his before he drew +the sword." + +"And 'tis this ye would call love betwixt ye--sweet givings and takings +of looks, and soft sayings, and unchangeable and devouring faith. Is't +this--and is this all?" + +The girl had spoken out of an innocent heart, but the challenge in +the Queen's voice worked upon her, and though she shrank a little, the +fulness of her soul welled up and strengthened her. She spoke again, +and now in her need and in her will to save the man she loved, by making +this majesty of England his protector, her words had eloquence. + +"It is not all, noble Queen. Love is more than that. It is the waking in +the poorest minds, in the most barren souls, of something greater than +themselves--as a chemist should find a substance that would give all +other things by touching of them a new and higher value; as light and +sun draw from the earth the tendrils of the seed that else had lain +unproducing. 'Tis not alone soft words and touch of hand or lip. This +caring wholly for one outside one's self kills that self which else +would make the world blind and deaf and dumb. None hath loved greatly +but hath helped to love in others. Ah, most sweet Majesty, for great +souls like thine, souls born great, this medicine is not needful, for +already hath the love of a nation inspired and enlarged it; but for +souls like mine and of so many, none better and none worse than me, to +love one other soul deeply and abidingly lifts us higher than ourselves. +Your Majesty hath been loved by a whole people, by princes and great +men in a different sort--is it not the world's talk that none that ever +reigned hath drawn such slavery of princes, and of great nobles who have +courted death for hopeless love of one beyond their star? And is it not +written in the world's book also that the Queen of England hath loved +no man, but hath poured out her heart to a people; and hath served great +causes in all the earth because of that love which hath still enlarged +her soul, dowered at birth beyond reckoning?" Tears filled her eyes. +"Ah, your supreme Majesty, to you whose heart is universal, the love +of one poor mortal seemeth a small thing, but to those of little +consequence it is the cable by which they unsteadily hold over the chasm +'twixt life and immortality. To thee, oh greatest monarch of the world, +it is a staff on which thou need'st not lean, which thou hast never +grasped; to me it is my all; without it I fail and fall and die." + +She had spoken as she felt, yet, because she was a woman and guessed the +mind of another woman, she had touched Elizabeth where her armour +was weakest. She had suggested that the Queen had been the object of +adoration, but had never given her heart to any man; that hers was +the virgin heart and life; and that she had never stooped to conquer. +Without realising it, and only dimly moving with that end in view, she +had whetted Elizabeth's vanity. She had indeed soothed a pride wounded +of late beyond endurance, suspecting, as she did, that Leicester had +played his long part for his own sordid purposes, that his devotion was +more alloy than precious metal. No note of praise could be pitched too +high for Elizabeth, and if only policy did not intervene, if but no +political advantage was lost by saving De la Foret, that safety seemed +now secure. + +"You tell a tale and adorn it with good grace," she said, and held out +her hand. Angele kissed it. "And you have said to Elizabeth what none +else dared to say since I was Queen here. He who hath never seen the +lightning hath no dread of it. I had not thought there was in the world +so much artlessness, with all the power of perfect art. But we live to +be wiser. Thou shalt continue in thy tale. Thou hast seen Mary, once +Queen of France, now Queen of Scots--answer me fairly; without if, or +though, or any sort of doubt, the questions I shall put. Which of us +twain, this ruin-starred queen or I, is of higher stature?" + +"She hath advantage in little of your Majesty," bravely answered Angele. + +"Then," answered Elizabeth sourly, "she is too high, for I myself +am neither too high nor too low.... And of complexion, which is the +fairer?" + +"Her complexion is the fairer, but your Majesty's countenance hath truer +beauty, and sweeter majesty." Elizabeth frowned slightly, then said: + +"What exercises did she take when you were at the Court?" + +"Sometimes she hunted, your Majesty, and sometimes she played upon the +virginals." + +"Did she play to effect?" + +"Reasonably, your noble Majesty." + +"You shall hear me play, and then speak truth upon us, for I have known +none with so true a tongue since my father died." + +Thereon she called to a lady who waited near in a little room to bring +an instrument; but at that moment Cecil appeared again at the door, and +his face seeming to show anxiety, Elizabeth, with a sigh, beckoned him +to enter. + +"Your face, Cecil, is as long as a Lenten collect. What raven croaks in +England on May Day eve?" Cecil knelt before her, and gave into her hand +a paper. + +"What record runs here?" she asked querulously. "A prayer of your +faithful Lords and Commons that your Majesty will grant speech with +their chosen deputies to lay before your Majesty a cause they have at +heart." + +"Touching of--?" darkly asked the Queen. + +"The deputies wait even now--will not your Majesty receive them? They +have come humbly, and will go hence as humbly on the instant, if the +hour is ill chosen." + +Immediately Elizabeth's humour changed. A look of passion swept across +her face, but her eyes lighted, and her lips smiled proudly. She avoided +troubles by every means, fought off by subtleties the issues which she +must meet; but when the inevitable hour came none knew so well to meet +it as though it were a dearest friend, no matter what the danger, how +great the stake. + +"They are here at my door, these good servants of the State--shall they +be kept dangling?" she said loudly. "Though it were time for prayers and +God's mercy yet should they speak with me, have my counsel, or my hand +upon the sacred parchment of the State. Bring them hither, Cecil. Now +we shall see--Now you shall see, Angele of Rouen, now you shall see how +queens shall have no hearts to call their own, but be head and heart and +soul and body at the will of every churl who thinks he serves the State +and knows the will of Heaven. Stand here at my left hand. Mark the +players and the play." + +Kneeling, the deputies presented a resolution from the Lords and +Commons that the Queen should, without more delay, in keeping with her +oft-expressed resolve and the promise of her Council, appoint one who +should succeed to the throne in case of her death "without posterity." +Her faithful people pleaded with her gracious Majesty to forego +unwillingness to marry and seek a consort worthy of her supreme +consideration, to be raised to a place beside her near that throne which +she had made the greatest in the world. + +Gravely, solemnly, the chief members of the Lords and Commons spoke, and +with as weighty pauses and devoted protestations as though this were the +first time their plea had been urged, this obvious duty had been set out +before her. Long ago in the flush and pride of her extreme youth and the +full assurance of the fruits of marriage, they had spoken with the +same sober responsibility; and though her youth had gone and the old +certainty had for ever disappeared, they spoke of her marriage and its +consequences as though it were still that far-off yesterday. Well for +them that they did so, for though time had flown and royal suitors +without number had become figures dim in the people's mind, Elizabeth, +fed upon adulation, invoked, admired, besieged by young courtiers, +flattered by maids who praised her beauty, had never seen the hands +of the clock pass high noon, and still remained under the dearest and +saddest illusion which can rest in a woman's mind. Long after the hands +of life's clock had moved into afternoon, the ancient prayer was still +gravely presented that she should marry and give an heir to England's +crown; and she as solemnly listened and dropped her eyes, and strove to +hide her virgin modesty behind a high demeanour which must needs sink +self in royal duty. + +"These be the dear desires of your supreme Majesty's faithful Lords and +Commons and the people of the shires whose wills they represent. Your +Majesty's life, God grant it last beyond that of the youngest of your +people so greatly blessed in your rule! But accidents of time be many; +and while the world is full of guile, none can tell what peril may beset +the crown, if your Majesty's wisdom sets not apart, gives not to her +country, one whom the nation can surround with its care, encompass +lovingly by its duty." + +The talk with Angele had had a curious influence upon the Queen. It +was plain that now she was moved by real feeling, and that, though she +deceived herself, or pretended so to do, shutting her eyes to sober +facts, and dreaming old dreams--as it were, in a world where never was +a mirror nor a timepiece--yet there was working in her a fresher spirit, +urging her to a fairer course than she had shaped for many a day. + +"My lords and gentlemen and my beloved subjects," she answered +presently, and for an instant set her eyes upon Angele, then turned to +them again, "I pray you stand and hear me.... Ye have spoken fair words +to my face, and of my face, and of the person of this daughter of great +Henry, from whom I got whatever grace or manner or favour is to me; and +by all your reasoning you do flatter the heart of the Queen of England, +whose mind indeed sleeps not in deed or desire for this realm. Ye have +drawn a fair picture of this mortal me, and though from the grace of +the picture the colours may fade by time, may give by weather, may be +spoiled by chance, yet my loyal mind, nor time with her swift wings +shall overtake, nor the misty clouds may darken, nor chance with her +slippery foot may overthrow. It sets its course by the heart of England, +and when it passeth there shall be found that one shall be left behind +who shall be surety of all that hath been lying in the dim warehouse +of fate for England's high future. Be sure that in this thing I have +entered into the weigh-house, and I hold the balance, and ye shall be +well satisfied. Ye have been fruitful in counsel, ye have been long +knitting a knot never tied, ye shall have comfort soon. But know ye +beyond peradventure that I have bided my time with good reason. If our +loom be framed with rotten hurdles, when our web is well-ny done, our +work is yet to begin. Against mischance and dark discoveries my mind, +with knowledge hidden from you, hath been firmly arrayed. If it be in +your thought that I am set against a marriage which shall serve the +nation, purge yourselves, friends, of that sort of heresy, for the +belief is awry. Though I think that to be one and always one, neither +mated nor mothering, be good for a private woman, for a prince it is not +meet. Therefore, say to my Lords and Commons that I am more concerned +for what shall chance to England when I am gone than to linger out my +living thread. I hope, my lords and gentlemen, to die with a good Nunc +Dimittis, which could not be if I did not give surety for the nation +after my graved bones. Ye shall hear soon--ye shall hear and be +satisfied, and so I give you to the care of Almighty God." + +Once more they knelt, and then slowly withdrew, with faces downcast and +troubled. They had secret knowledge which she did not yet possess, but +which at any moment she must know, and her ambiguous speech carried +no conviction to their minds. Yet their conference with her was most +opportune, for the news she must presently receive, brought by a +messenger from Scotland who had outstripped all others, would no doubt +move her to action which should set the minds of the people at rest, and +go far to stem the tide of conspiracy flowing through the kingdom. + +Elizabeth stood watching them, and remained gazing after they had +disappeared; then rousing herself, she turned to leave the room, and +beckoned to Angele to follow. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +As twilight was giving place to night Angele was roused from the reverie +into which she had fallen, by the Duke's Daughter, who whispered to +her that if she would have a pleasure given to but few, she would come +quickly. Taking her hand the Duke's Daughter--as true and whimsical +a spirit as ever lived in troubled days and under the aegis of the +sword-led her swiftly to the Queen's chamber. They did not enter, but +waited in a quiet gallery. + +"The Queen is playing upon the virginals, and she playeth best when +alone; so stand you here by this tapestry, and you shall have pleasure +beyond payment," said the Duke's Daughter. + +Angele had no thought that the Queen of her vanity had commanded that +she be placed there as though secretly, and she listened dutifully +at first; but presently her ears were ravished; and even the Duke's +Daughter showed some surprise, for never had she heard the Queen play +with such grace and feeling. The countenance of the musician was towards +them, and at last, as though by accident, Elizabeth looked up and saw +the face of her lady. + +"Spy, spy," she cried. "Come hither--come hither, all of you!" + +When they had descended and knelt to her, she made as if she would +punish the Duke's Daughter by striking her with a scarf that lay at her +hand, but to Angele she said: + +"How think you then, hath that other greater skill--Darnley's wife I +mean?" + +"Not she or any other hath so delighted me," said Angele, with worship +in her eyes--so doth talent given to majesty become lifted beyond its +measure. + +The Queen's eyes lighted. "We shall have dancing, then," she said. "The +dance hath charms for me. We shall not deny our youth. The heart shall +keep as young as the body." + +An instant later the room was full of dancers, and Elizabeth gave her +hand to Leicester, who bent every faculty to pleasing her. His face had +darkened as he had seen Angele beside her, but the Queen's graciousness, +whether assumed or real, had returned, and her face carried a look of +triumph and spirit and delight. Again and again she glanced towards +Angele, and what she saw evidently gave her pleasure, for she laughed +and disported herself with grace and an agreeable temper, and Leicester +lent himself to her spirit with adroit wit and humility. He had seen his +mistake of the morning, and was now intent to restore himself to favour. + +He succeeded well, for the emotions roused in Elizabeth during the day, +now heightened by vanity and emulation, found in him a centre upon +which they could converge; and, in her mind, Angele, for the nonce, was +disassociated from any thought of De la Foret. Leicester's undoubted +gifts were well and cautiously directed, and his talent of assumed +passion--his heart was facile, and his gallantry knew no bounds--was +put to dexterous use, convincing for the moment. The Queen seemed all +complaisance again. Presently she had Angele brought to her. + +"How doth her dance compare-she who hath wedded Darnley?" + +"She danceth not so high nor disposedly, with no such joyous lightness +as your high Majesty, but yet she moveth with circumspection." + +"Circumspection--circumspection, that is no gift in dancing, which +should be wilful yet airily composed, thoughtless yet inducing. +Circumspection!--in nothing else hath Mary shown it where she should. +'Tis like this Queen perversely to make a psalm of dancing, and then +pirouette with sacred duty. But you have spoken the truth, and I am well +content. So get you to your rest." + +She tapped Ange'le's cheek. "You shall remain here to-night. 'Tis too +late for you to be sent abroad." She was about to dismiss her, when +there was a sudden stir. Cecil had entered and was making his way to the +Queen, followed by two strangers. Elizabeth waited their approach. + +"Your gracious Majesty," said Cecil, in a voice none heard save +Elizabeth, for all had fallen back at a wave of her hand, "the Queen of +Scots is the mother of a fair son." + +Elizabeth's face flushed, then became pale, and she struck her knee +with her clinched hand. "Who bringeth the news?" she inquired in a sharp +voice. + +"Sir Andrew Melvill here." + +"Who is with him yonder?" + +"One who hath been attached to the Queen of Scots." + +"He hath the ill look of such an one," she answered, and then said below +her breath bitterly: "She hath a son--and I am but a barren stock." + +Rising, she added hurriedly: "We will speak to the people at the May Day +sports to-morrow. Let there be great feasting." + +She motioned to Sir Andrew Melvill to come forward, and with a gesture +of welcome and a promise of speech with him on the morrow she dismissed +them. + +Since the two strangers had entered, Angele's eyes had been fastened on +the gentleman who accompanied Sir Andrew Melvill. Her first glance +at him had sent a chill through her, and she remained confused and +disturbed. In vain her memory strove to find where the man was set in +her past. The time, the place, the event eluded her, but a sense of +foreboding possessed her; and her eyes followed him with strained +anxiety as he retired from the presence. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +As had been arranged when Lempriere challenged Leicester, they met soon +after dawn among the trees beside the Thames. A gentleman of the court, +to whom the Duke's Daughter had previously presented Lempriere, gaily +agreed to act as second, and gallantly attended the lord of Rozel in his +adventurous enterprise. There were few at Court who had not some grudge +against Leicester, few who would not willingly have done duty at such a +time; for Leicester's friends were of fair-weather sort, ready to defend +him, to support him, not for friendship but for the crumbs that dropped +from the table of his power. The favourite himself was attended by the +Earl of Ealing, a youngster who had his spurs to win, who thought it +policy to serve the great time-server. Two others also came. + +It was a morning little made for deeds of rancour or of blood. As they +passed, the early morning mists above the green fields of Kent and Essex +were being melted by the summer sun. The smell of ripening fruit came on +them with pungent sweetness, their feet crashed odorously through clumps +of tiger-lilies, and the dew on the ribbon-grass shook glistening drops +upon their velvets. Overhead the carolling of the thrush came swimming +recklessly through the trees, and far over in the fields the ploughmen +started upon the heavy courses of their labour; while here and there +poachers with bows and arrows slid through the green undergrowth, like +spies hovering on an army's flank. + +To Lempriere the morning carried no impression save that life was well +worth living. No agitation passed across his nerves, no apprehension +reached his mind. He had no imagination; he loved the things that his +eyes saw because they filled him with enjoyment; but why they were, +or whence they came, or what they meant or boded, never gave him +meditation. A vast epicurean, a consummate egotist, ripe with feeling +and rich with energy, he could not believe that when he spoke the +heavens would not fall. The stinging sweetness of the morning was a +tonic to all his energies, an elation to his mind; he swaggered through +the lush grasses and boskage as though marching to a marriage. + +Leicester, on his part, no more caught at the meaning of the morning, at +the long whisper of enlivened nature, than did his foe. The day gave to +him no more than was his right. If the day was not fine, then Leicester +was injured; but if the day was fine, then Leicester had his due. Moral +blindness made him blind for the million deep teachings trembling +round him. He felt only the garish and the splendid. So it was that at +Kenilworth, where his Queen had visited him, the fetes that he had held +would far outshine the fete which would take place in Greenwich Park on +this May Day. The fete of this May Day would take place, but would he +see it? The thought flashed through his mind that he might not; but he +trod it under foot; not through an inborn, primitive egotism like that +of Lempriere, but through an innate arrogance, an unalterable belief +that Fate was ever on his side. He had played so many tricks with Fate, +had mocked while taking its gifts so often, that, like the son who has +flouted his indulgent father through innumerable times, he conceived +that he should never be disinherited. It irked him that he should be +fighting with a farmer, as he termed the Seigneur of the Jersey Isle; +but there was in the event, too, a sense of relief, for he had a will +for murder. Yesterday's events were still fresh in his mind; and he had +a feeling that the letting of Lempriere's blood would cool his own and +be some cure for the choler which the presence of these strangers at the +Court had wrought in him. + +There were better swordsmen in England than he, but his skill was +various, and he knew tricks of the trade which this primitive Norman +could never have learnt. He had some touch of wit, some biting +observation, and, as he neared the place of the encounter, he played +upon the coming event with a mordant frivolity. Not by nature a brave +man, he was so much a fatalist, such a worshipper of his star, that +he had acquired an artificial courage which had served him well. The +unschooled gentlemen with him roared with laughter at his sallies, and +they came to the place of meeting as though to a summer feast. + +"Good-morrow, nobility," said Leicester with courtesy overdone, and +bowing much too low. "Good-morrow, valentine," answered Lempriere, +flushing slightly at the disguised insult, and rising to the moment. + +"I hear the crop of fools is short this year in Jersey, and through no +fault of yours--you've done your best most loyally," jeered Leicester, +as he doffed his doublet, his gentlemen laughing in derision. + +"'Tis true enough, my lord, and I have come to find new seed in England, +where are fools to spare; as I trust in Heaven one shall be spared on +this very day for planting yonder." + +He was eaten with rage, but he was cool and steady. + +He was now in his linen and small clothes and looked like some untrained +Hercules. + +"Well said, nobility," laughed Leicester with an ugly look. "'Tis seed +time--let us measure out the seed. On guard!" + +Never were two men such opposites, never two so seemingly ill-matched. +Leicester's dark face and its sardonic look, his lithe figure, the +nervous strength of his bearing, were in strong contrast to the bulking +breadth, the perspiring robustness of Lempriere of Rozel. It was not +easy of belief that Lempriere should be set to fight this toreador of a +fighting Court. But there they stood, Lempriere's face with a great-eyed +gravity looming above his rotund figure like a moon above a purple +cloud. But huge and loose though the Seigneur's motions seemed, he was +as intent as though there were but two beings in the universe, Leicester +and himself. A strange alertness seemed to be upon him, and, as +Leicester found when the swords crossed, he was quicker than his bulk +gave warrant. His perfect health made his vision sure; and, though not +a fine swordsman, he had done much fighting in his time, had been +ever ready for the touch of steel; and had served some warlike days +in fighting France, where fate had well befriended him. That which +Leicester meant should be by-play of a moment became a full half-hour's +desperate game. Leicester found that the thrust--the fatal thrust +learned from an Italian master--he meant to give, was met by a swift +precision, responding to quick vision. Again and again he would have +brought the end, but Lempriere heavily foiled him. The wound which the +Seigneur got at last, meant to be mortal, was saved from that by the +facility of a quick apprehension. Indeed, for a time the issue had +seemed doubtful, for the endurance and persistence of the Seigneur made +for exasperation and recklessness in his antagonist, and once blood was +drawn from the wrist of the great man; but at length Lempriere went upon +the aggressive. Here he erred, for Leicester found the chance for which +he had manoeuvred--to use the feint and thrust got out of Italy. He +brought his enemy low, but only after a duel the like of which had never +been seen at the Court of England. The toreador had slain his bull at +last, but had done no justice to his reputation. Never did man more +gallantly sustain his honour with heaviest odds against him than did the +Seigneur of Rozel that day. + +As he was carried away by the merry gentlemen of the Court, he called +back to the favourite: + +"Leicester is not so great a swordsman after all. Hang fast to your +honours by the skin of your teeth, my lord." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +It was Monday, and the eyes of London and the Court were turned towards +Greenwich Park, where the Queen was to give entertainment to the French +Envoy who had come once more to urge upon the Queen marriage with a +son of the Medici, and to obtain an assurance that she would return to +France the widow of the great Montgomery and his valiant lieutenant, +Michel de la Foret. The river was covered with boats and barges, +festooned, canopied, and hung with banners and devices; and from +sunrise music and singing conducted down the stream the gaily dressed +populace--for those were the days when a man spent on his ruff and his +hose and his russet coat as much as would feed and house a family for a +year; when the fine-figured ruflier with sables about his neck, corked +slipper, trimmed buskin, and cloak of silk or damask furred, carried his +all upon his back. + +Loud-voiced gallants came floating by; men of a hundred guilds bearing +devices pompously held on their way to the great pageant; country +bumpkins up from Surrey roystered and swore that there was but one +land that God had blessed, and challenged the grinning watermen from +Gravesend and Hampton Court to deny it; and the sun with ardour drove +from the sky every invading cloud, leaving Essex and Kent as far as eye +could see perfect green gardens of opulence. + +Before Elizabeth had left her bed, London had emptied itself into +Greenwich Park. Thither the London Companies had come in their varied +dazzling accoutrements--hundreds armed in fine corselets bearing +the long Moorish pike; tall halberdiers in the unique armour called +Almainrivets, and gunners or muleteers equipped in shirts of mail with +morions or steel caps. Here too were to come the Gentlemen Pensioners, +resplendent in scarlet, to "run with the spear;" and hundreds of +men-at-arms were set at every point to give garish bravery to all. +Thousands of citizens, openmouthed, gazed down the long arenas of green +festooned with every sort of decoration and picturesque invention. Cages +of large birds from the Indies, fruits, corn, fishes, grapes, hung in +the trees, players perched in the branches discoursed sweet music, and +poets recited their verses from rustic bridges or on platforms with +weapons and armour hung trophy-wise on ragged staves. Upon a small lake +a dolphin four-and-twenty feet in length came swimming, within its belly +a lively orchestra; Italian tumblers swung from rope to bar; and crowds +gathered at the places where bear and bull-baiting were to excite the +none too fastidious tastes of the time. + +All morning the gay delights went on, and at high noon the cry was +carried from mouth to mouth: "The Queen! The Queen!" + +She appeared on a balcony surrounded by her lords and ladies, and there +received the diplomatists, speaking at length to the French Envoy in +a tone of lightness and elusive cheerfulness which he was at a loss +to understand and tried in vain to pierce by cogent remarks bearing +on matters of moment involved in his embassage. Not far away stood +Leicester, but the Queen had done no more than note his presence by +a glance, and now and again with ostentatious emphasis she spoke +to Angele, whom she had had brought to her in the morning before +chapel-going. Thus early, after a few questions and some scrutiny, she +had sent her in charge of a gentleman-at-arms and a maid of the Duke's +Daughter to her father's lodging, with orders to change her robe, to +return to the palace in good time before noon, and to bring her father +to a safe place where he could watch the pleasures of the people. When +Angele came to the presence again she saw that the Queen was wearing a +gown of pure white with the sleeves shot with black, such as she +herself had worn when admitted to audience yesterday. Vexed, agitated, +embittered as Elizabeth had been by the news brought to her the night +before, she had kept her wardrobers and seamstresses at work the whole +night to alter a white satin habit to the simplicity and style of that +which Angele had worn. + +"What think you of my gown, my lady refugee?" she said to Angele at +last, as the Gentlemen Pensioners paraded in the space below, followed +by the Knights Tilters--at their head the Queen's Champion, Sir Henry +Lee: twenty-five of the most gallant and favoured of the courtiers of +Elizabeth, including the gravest of her counsellors and the youngest +gallant who had won her smile, Master Christopher Hatton. Some of these +brave suitors, taken from the noblest families, had appeared in the +tilt-yard every anniversary of the year of her accession, and had +lifted their romantic office, which seemed but the service of enamoured +knights, into an almost solemn dignity. + +The vast crowd disposed itself around the great improvised yard where +the Knights Tilters were to engage, and the Queen, followed by her +retinue, descended to the dais which had been set up near the palace. +Her white satin gown, roped with pearls only at the neck and breast, +glistened in the bright sun, and her fair hair took on a burnished +radiance. As Angele passed with her in the gorgeous procession, she +could not but view the scene with admiring eye, albeit her own sweet +sober attire, a pearly grey, seemed little in keeping; for the ladies +and lords were most richly attired, and the damask and satin cloaks, +crimson velvet gowns, silk hoods, and jewelled swords and daggers made a +brave show. She was like some moth in a whorl of butterflies. + +Her face was pale, and her eye had a curious disturbed look, as though +they had seen frightening things. The events of last evening had tried +her simple spirit, and she shrank from this glittering show; but the +knowledge that her lover's life was in danger, and that her happiness +was here and now at stake, held her bravely to her place, beset as it +was with peril; for the Queen, with that eccentricity which had lifted +her up yesterday, might cast her down to-day, and she had good reason +to fear the power and influence of Leicester, whom she knew with a sure +instinct was intent on Michel's ruin. Behind all her nervous shrinking +and her heart's doubt, the memory of the face of the stranger she had +seen last night with Sir Andrew Melvill tortured her. She could not find +the time and place where she had seen the eyes that, in the palace, had +filled her with mislike and abhorrence as they looked upon the Queen. +Again and again in her fitful sleep had she dreamt of him, and a sense +of foreboding was heavy upon her--she seemed to hear the footfall of +coming disaster. The anxiety of her soul lent an unnatural brightness to +her eyes; so that more than one enamoured courtier made essay to engage +her in conversation, and paid her deferential compliment when the +Queen's eyes were not turned her way. Come to the dais, she was placed +not far from her Majesty, beside the Duke's Daughter, whose whimsical +nature found frequent expression in what the Queen was wont to call "a +merry volt." She seemed a privileged person, with whom none ventured to +take liberties, and against whom none was entitled to bear offence, for +her quips were free from malice, and her ingenuity in humour of mark. +She it was who had put into the Queen's head that morning an idea which +was presently to startle Angele and all others. + +Leicester was riding with the Knights Tilters, and as they cantered +lightly past the dais, trailing their spears in obeisance, Elizabeth +engaged herself in talk with Cecil, who was standing near, and appeared +not to see the favourite. This was the first time since he had mounted +to good fortune that she had not thrown him a favour to pick up with his +spear and wear in her honour, and he could scarce believe that she +had meant to neglect him. He half halted, but she only deigned an +inclination of the head, and he spurred his horse angrily on with a +muttered imprecation, yet, to all seeming, gallantly paying homage. + +"There shall be doings ere this day is done. 'Beware the Gipsy'!" said +the Duke's Daughter in a low tone to Angele, and she laughed lightly. + +"Who is the Gipsy?" asked Angele, with good suspicion, however. + +"Who but Leicester," answered the other. "Is he not black enough?" + +"Why was he so called? Who put the name upon Who but the Earl of Sussex +as he died--as noble a chief, as true a counsellor as ever spoke truth +to a Queen. But truth is not all at Court, and Sussex was no flatterer. +Leicester bowed under the storm for a moment when Sussex showed him in +his true colours; but Sussex had no gift of intrigue, the tide turned, +and so he broke his heart, and died. But he left a message which I +sometimes remember with my collects. 'I am now passing to another +world,' said he, 'and must leave you to your fortunes and to the Queen's +grace and goodness; but beware the Gipsy, for he will be too hard for +all of you; you know not the beast so well as I do.' But my Lord Sussex +was wrong. One there is who knows him through and through, and hath +little joy in the knowing." + +The look in the eyes of the Duke's Daughter became like steel and her +voice hardened, and Angele realised that Leicester had in this beautiful +and delicate maid-of-honour as bitter an enemy as ever brought down +the mighty from their seats; that a pride had been sometime wounded, +suffered an unwarrantable affront, which only innocence could feel so +acutely. Her heart went out to the Duke's Daughter as it had never +gone out to any of her sex since her mother's death, and she showed her +admiration in her glance. The other saw it and smiled, slipping a hand +in hers for a moment; and then a look, half-debating, half-triumphant, +came into her face as her eyes followed Leicester down the green +stretches of the tilting-yard. + +The trumpet sounded, the people broke out in shouts of delight, the +tilting began. For an hour the handsome joust went on, the Earl of +Oxford, Charles Howard, Sir Henry Lee, Sir Christopher Hatton, and +Leicester challenging, and so even was the combat that victory seemed to +settle in the plumes of neither, though Leicester of them all showed not +the greatest skill, while in some regards greatest grace and deportment. +Suddenly there rode into the lists, whence, no one seemed to know, so +intent had the public gaze been fixed, so quickly had he come, a mounted +figure all in white, and at the moment when Sir Henry Lee had cried +aloud his challenge for the last time. Silence fell as the bright figure +cantered down the list, lifted the gauge, and sat still upon his black +steed. Consternation fell. None among the people or the Knights Tilters +knew who the invader was, and Leicester called upon the Masters of the +Ceremonies to demand his name and quality. The white horseman made +no reply, but sat unmoved, while noise and turmoil suddenly sprang up +around him. + +Presently the voice of the Queen was heard clearly ringing through the +lists. "His quality hath evidence. Set on." + +The Duke's Daughter laughed, and whispered mischievously in Angele's +ear. + +The gentlemen of England fared ill that day in the sight of all the +people, for the challenger of the Knights Tilters was more than a match +for each that came upon him. He rode like a wild horseman of Yucatan. +Wary, resourceful, sudden in device and powerful in onset, he bore all +down, until the Queen cried: "There hath not been such skill in England +since my father rode these lists. Three of my best gentlemen down, and +it hath been but breathing to him. Now, Sir Harry Lee, it is thy turn," +she laughed as she saw the champion ride forward; "and next 'tis thine, +Leicester. Ah, Leicester would have at him now!" she added sharply, as +she saw the favourite spur forward before the gallant Lee. "He is full +of choler--it becomes him, but it shall not be; bravery is not all. And +if he failed"--she smiled acidly--"he would get him home to Kenilworth +and show himself no more--if he failed, and the White Knight failed not! +What think you, dove?" she cried to the Duke's Daughter. "Would he not +fall in the megrims for that England's honour had been over thrown? +Leicester could not live if England's honour should be toppled down like +our dear Chris Hatton and his gallants yonder." + +The Duke's Daughter curtsied. "Methinks England's honour is in little +peril--your Majesty knows well how to 'fend it. No subject keeps it." + +"If I must 'fend it, dove, then Leicester there must not fight to-day. +It shall surely be Sir Harry Lee. My Lord Leicester must have the place +of honour at the last," she called aloud. Leicester swung his horse +round and galloped to the Queen. + +"Your Majesty," he cried in suppressed anger, "must I give place?" + +"When all have failed and Leicester has won, then all yield place to +Leicester," said the Queen drily. The look on his face was not good to +see, but he saluted gravely and rode away to watch the encounter between +the most gallant Knight Tilter in England and the stranger. Rage was in +his heart, and it blinded him to the certainty of his defeat, for he +was not expert in the lists. But by a sure instinct he had guessed the +identity of the White Horseman, and every nerve quivered with desire +to meet him in combat. Last night's good work seemed to have gone for +naught. Elizabeth's humour had changed; and to-day she seemed set on +humiliating him before the nobles who hated him, before the people who +had found in him the cause why the Queen had not married, so giving no +heir to the throne. Perturbed and charged with anger as he was, however, +the combat now forward soon chained his attention. Not in many a +year had there been seen in England such a display of skill and +determination. The veteran Knight Tilter, who knew that the result of +this business meant more than life to him, and that more than the honour +of his comrades was at stake--even the valour of England which had been +challenged--fought as he had never fought before, as no man had fought +in England for many a year. At first the people cried aloud their +encouragement; but as onset and attack after onset and attack showed +that two masters of their craft, two desperate men, had met, and that +the great sport had become a vital combat between their own champion and +the champion of another land--Spain, France, Denmark, Russia, Italy?--a +hush spread over the great space, and every eye was strained; men gazed +with bated breath. + +The green turf was torn and mangled, the horses reeked with sweat and +foam, but overhead the soaring skylark sang, as it were, to express the +joyance of the day. During many minutes the only sound that broke +the stillness was the clash of armed men, the thud of hoofs, and the +snorting and the wild breathing of the chargers. The lark's notes, +however, ringing out over the lists freed the tongue of the Queen's +fool, who suddenly ran out into the lists, in his motley and cap and +bells, and in his high trilling voice sang a fool's song to the fighting +twain: + + "Who would lie down and close his eyes + While yet the lark sings o'er the dale? + Who would to Love make no replies, + Nor drink the nut-brown ale, + While throbs the pulse, and full 's the purse + And all the world 's for sale?" + +Suddenly a cry of relief, of roaring excitement, burst from the people. +Both horsemen and their chargers were on the ground. The fight was over, +the fierce game at an end. That which all had feared, even the Queen +herself, as the fight fared on, had not come to pass--England's champion +had not been beaten by the armed mystery, though the odds had seemed +against him. + + "Though wintry blasts may prove unkind, + When winter's past we do forget; + Love's breast in summer time is kind, + And all 's well while life 's with us yet + Hey, ho, now the lark is mating, + Life's sweet wages are in waiting!" + +Thus sang the fool as the two warriors were helped to their feet. +Cumbered with their armour, and all dust-covered and blood-stained, +though not seriously hurt, they were helped to their horses, and rode to +the dais where the Queen sat. + +"Ye have fought like men of old," she said, "and neither had advantage +at the last. England's champion still may cry his challenge and not be +forsworn, and he who challenged goeth in honour again from the lists. +You, sir, who have challenged, shall we not see your face or hear +your voice? For what country, for what prince lifted you the gauge and +challenged England's honour?" + +"I crave your high Majesty's pardon"--Angele's heart stood still. Her +love had not pierced his disguise, though Leicester's hate had done +so on the instant--"I crave your noble Majesty's grace," answered the +stranger, "that I may still keep my face covered in humility. My voice +speaks for no country and for no prince. I have fought for mine own +honour, and to prove to England's Queen that she hath a champion who +smiteth with strong arm, as on me and my steed this hath been seen +to-day." + +"Gallantly thought and well said," answered Elizabeth; "but England's +champion and his strong arm have no victory. If gifts were given they +must needs be cut in twain. But answer me, what is your country? I +will not have it that any man pick up the gauge of England for his own +honour. What is your country? + +"I am an exile, your high Majesty; and the only land for which I +raise my sword this day is that land where I have found safety from my +enemies." + +The Queen turned and smiled at the Duke's Daughter. "I knew not where +my own question might lead, but he hath turned it to full account," she +said, under her breath. "His tongue is as ready as his spear. Then ye +have both laboured in England's honour, and I drink to you both," she +added, and raised to her lips a glass of wine which a page presented. +"I love ye both--in your high qualities," she hastened to add with dry +irony, and her eye rested mockingly on Leicester. + +"My lords and gentlemen and all of my kingdom," she added in a clear +voice, insistent in its force, "ye have come upon May Day to take +delight of England in my gardens, and ye are welcome. Ye have seen such +a sight as doeth good to the eyes of brave men. It hath pleased me well, +and I am constrained to say to you what, for divers great reasons, I +have kept to my own counsels, labouring for your good. The day hath +come, however, the day and the hour when ye shall know that wherein I +propose to serve you as ye well deserve. It is my will--and now I see my +way to its good fulfilment--that I remain no longer in that virgin state +wherein I have ever lived." + +Great cheering here broke in, and for a time she could get no further. +Ever alive to the bent of the popular mind, she had chosen a perfect +occasion to take them into her confidence--however little or much she +would abide by her words, or intended the union of which she spoke. In +the past she had counselled with her great advisers, with Cecil and the +rest, and through them messages were borne to the people; but now +she spoke direct to them all, and it had its immediate reward--the +acclamations were as those with which she was greeted when she first +passed through the streets of London on inheriting the crown. + +Well pleased, she continued: "This I will do with expedition and +weightiest judgment, for of little account though I am, he that +sits with the Queen of England in this realm must needs be a prince +indeed.... So be ye sure of this that ye shall have your heart-most +wishes, and there shall be one to come after me who will wear this crown +even as I have worn, in direct descent, my father's crown. Our dearest +sister, the Queen of the Scots, hath been delivered of a fair son; and +in high affection the news thereof she hath sent me, with a palfry which +I shall ride among you in token of the love I bear her Majesty. She hath +in her time got an heir to the throne with which we are ever in kinship +and alliance, and I in my time shall give ye your heart's desire." + +Angele, who had, with palpitating heart and swimming head, seen +Michel de la Foret leave the lists and disappear among the trees, as +mysteriously as he came, was scarce conscious of the cheers and riotous +delight that followed Elizabeth's tactful if delusive speech to the +people. A few whispered words from the Duke's Daughter had told her that +Michel had obeyed the Queen's command in entering the lists and taking +up the challenge; and that she herself, carrying the royal message to +him and making arrangements for his accoutrement and mounting, had urged +him to obedience. She observed drily that he had needed little pressure, +and that his eyes had lighted at the prospect of the combat. Apart +from his innate love of fighting, he had realised that in the moment of +declining to enter the Queen's service he had been at a disadvantage, +and that his courage was open to attack by the incredulous or malicious. +This would have mattered little were it not that he had been given +unusual importance as a prisoner by the Queen's personal notice of +himself. He had, therefore, sprung to the acceptance, and sent his +humble duty to the Queen by her winsome messenger, who, with conspicuous +dramatic skill, had arranged secretly, with the help of a Gentleman +Pensioner and the Master of the Horse, his appearance and his exit. +That all succeeded as she had planned quickened her pulses, and made +her heart still warmer to Angele, who, now that all was over, and her +Huguenot lover had gone his mysterious ways, seemed lost in a troubled +reverie. + +It was a troubled reverie indeed, for Angele's eyes were on the stranger +who was present with Sir Andrew Melvill the night before. Her gaze upon +him now became fixed and insistent, for the sense of foreboding so heavy +on her deepened to a torturing suspense. Where had she seen this man +before? To what day or hour in her past did he belong? What was there in +his smooth, smiling, malicious face that made her blood run cold? As she +watched him, he turned his head. She followed his eyes. The horse which +Mary Queen of Scots had sent with the message of the birth of her son +was being led to the Queen by the dark browed, pale-faced churl who had +brought it from Scotland. She saw a sharp dark look pass between the +two. + +Suddenly her sight swam, she swayed and would have fainted, but +resolution steadied her, and a low exclamation broke from her lips. Now +she knew! + +The face that had eluded her was at last in the grasp of horrified +memory. It was the face of one who many years ago was known to have +poisoned the Due de Chambly by anointing the pommel of his saddle with +a delicate poison which the rider would touch, and touching would, +perhaps, carry to his nostrils or mouth as he rode, and die upon the +instant. She herself had seen the Due de Chambly fall; had seen this man +fly from Paris for his life; and had thereafter known of his return to +favour at the court of Mary and Francis, for nothing could be proved +against him. The memory flashed like lightning through her brain. She +moved swiftly forward despite the detaining hand of the Duke's Daughter. +The Queen was already mounted, her hand already upon the pommel of the +saddle. + +Elizabeth noted the look of anguished anxiety in Angele's eyes, her +face like that of one who had seen souls in purgatory; and some swift +instinct, born of years upon years of peril in old days when her life +was no boon to her enemies, made her lean towards the girl, whose +quick whispered words were to her as loud as thunder. She was, however, +composed and still. Not a tremor passed through her. + +"Your wish is granted, mistress," she said aloud, then addressed a word +to Cecil at her side, who passed on her command. Presently she turned +slowly to the spot where Sir Andrew Melvill and the other sat upon +their horses. She scanned complacently the faces of both, then her eyes +settled steadily on the face of the murderer. Still gazing intently she +drew the back of her gloved fingers along the pommel. The man saw the +motion, unnoted and unsignificant to any other save Angele, meaningless +even to Melvill, the innocent and honest gentleman at his side; and he +realised that the Queen had had a warning. Noting the slight stir among +the gentlemen round him, he knew that his game was foiled, that there +was no escape. He was not prepared for what followed. + +In a voice to be heard only at small distance, the Queen said calmly: + +"This palfry sent me by my dear sister of Scotland shall bear me among +you, friends; and in days to come I will remember how she hath given +new life to me by her loving message. Sir Andrew Melvill, I shall have +further speech with you; and you, sir,"--speaking to the sinister figure +by his side--"come hither." + +The man dismounted, and with unsteady step came forward. Elizabeth held +out her gloved hand for him to kiss. His face turned white. It was come +soon, his punishment. None knew save Angele and the Queen the doom that +was upon him, if Angele's warning was well-founded. He knelt, and bent +his head over her hand. + +"Salute, sir," she said in a low voice. + +He touched his lips to her fingers. She pressed them swiftly against +his mouth. An instant, then he rose and stepped backwards to his horse. +Tremblingly, blindly, he mounted. + +A moment passed, then Elizabeth rode on with her ladies behind her, her +gentlemen beside her. As she passed slowly, the would-be regicide swayed +and fell from his horse, and stirred no more. + +Elizabeth rode on, her hand upon the pommel of the saddle. So she rode +for a full half-hour, and came back to her palace. But she raised +not her gloved right hand above the pommel, and she dismounted with +exceeding care. + +That night the man who cared for the horse died secretly as had done his +master, with the Queen's glove pressed to his nostrils by one whom Cecil +could trust. And the matter was hidden from the Court and the people; +for it was given out that Melvill's friend had died of some heart +trouble. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +It seemed an unspeakable smallness in a man of such high place in the +State, whose hand had tied and untied myriad knots of political and +court intrigue, that he should stoop to a game which any pettifogging +hanger-on might play-and reap scorn in the playing. By insidious arts, +Leicester had in his day turned the Queen's mind to his own will; had +foiled the diplomacy of the Spaniard, the German and the Gaul; had by +subterranean means checkmated the designs of the Medici; had traced his +way through plot and counter-plot, hated by most, loved by none save, +maybe, his Royal mistress to whom he was now more a custom than a +cherished friend. Year upon year he had built up his influence. None had +championed him save himself, and even from the consequences of rashness +and folly he had risen to a still higher place in the kingdom. But such +as Leicester are ever at last a sacrifice to the laborious means by +which they achieve their greatest ends-means contemptible and small. + +To the great intriguers every little detail, every commonplace +insignificance is used--and must be used by them alone--to further their +dark causes. They cannot trust their projects to brave lieutenants, to +faithful subordinates. They cannot say, "Here is the end; this is the +work to be done; upon your shoulders be the burden!" They must "stoop to +conquer." Every miserable detail becomes of moment, until by-and-by the +art of intrigue and conspiracy begins to lose proportion in their minds. +The detail has ever been so important, conspiracy so much second nature, +that they must needs be intriguing and conspiring when the occasion is +trifling and the end negligible. + +To all intriguers life has lost romance; there is no poem left in +nature; no ideal, personal, public or national, detains them in its +wholesome influence; no great purpose allures them; they have no +causes for which to die--save themselves. They are so honeycombed with +insincerity and the vice of thought, that by-and-by all colours are as +one, all pathways the same; because, whichever hue of light breaks upon +their world they see it through the grey-cloaked mist of falsehood; and +whether the path be good or bad they would still walk in it crookedly. +How many men and women Leicester had tracked or lured to their doom; +over how many men and women he had stepped to his place of power, +history speaks not carefully; but the traces of his deeds run through a +thousand archives, and they suggest plentiful sacrifices to a subverted +character. + +Favourite of a Queen, he must now stoop to set a trap for the ruin of +as simple a soul as ever stepped upon the soil of England; and his dark +purposes had not even the excuse of necessity on the one hand, of love +or passion on the other. An insane jealousy of the place the girl had +won in the consideration of the Queen, of her lover who, he thought, had +won a still higher place in the same influence, was his only motive +for action at first. His cruelty was not redeemed even by the sensuous +interest the girl might arouse in a reckless nature by her beauty and +her charm. + +So the great Leicester--the Gipsy, as the dead Sussex had called +him--lay in wait in Greenwich Park for Angele to pass, like some orchard +thief in the blossoming trees. Knowing the path by which she would +come to her father's cottage from the palace, he had placed himself +accordingly. He had thought he might have to wait long or come often for +the perfect opportunity; but it seemed as if Fate played his game for +him, and that once again the fruit he would pluck should fall into his +palm. Bright-eyed, and elated from a long talk with the Duke's Daughter, +who had given her a message from the Queen, Angele had abstractedly +taken the wrong path in the wood. Leicester saw that it would lead her +into the maze some distance off. Making a detour, he met her at the +moment she discovered her mistake. The light from the royal word +her friend had brought was still in her face; but it was crossed by +perplexity now. + +He stood still as though astonished at seeing her, a smile upon his +face. So perfectly did he play his part that she thought the meeting +accidental; and though in her heart she had a fear of the man and knew +how bitter an enemy he was of Michel's, his urbane power, his skilful +diplomacy of courtesy had its way. These complicated lives, instinct +with contradiction, have the interest of forbidden knowledge. The dark +experiences of life leave their mark and give such natures that touch +of mystery which allures even those who have high instincts and true +feelings, as one peeps over a hidden depth and wonders what lies beyond +the dark. So Angele, suddenly arrested, was caught by the sense of +mystery in the man, by the fascination of finesse, of dark power; and +it was womanlike that all on an instant she should dream of the soul of +goodness in things evil. + +Thus in life we are often surprised out of long years of prejudice, and +even of dislike and suspicion, by some fortuitous incident, which might +have chanced to two who had every impulse towards each other, not such +antagonisms as lay between Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and this +Huguenot refugee. She had every cue to hate hum. Each moment of her life +in England had been beset with peril because of him-peril to the man she +loved, therefore peril to herself. And yet, so various is the nature of +woman, that, while steering straitly by one star, she levies upon the +light of other stars. Faithful and sincere, yet loving power, curious +and adventurous, she must needs, without intention, without purpose, +stray into perilous paths. + +As Leicester stepped suddenly into Angele's gaze, she was only, as +it were, conscious of a presence in itself alluring by virtue of the +history surrounding it. She was surprised out of an instinctive dislike, +and the cue she had to loathe him was for the moment lost. + +Unconsciously, unintentionally, she smiled at him now, then, realising, +retreated, shrinking from him, her face averted. Man or woman had found +in Leicester the delicate and intrepid gamester, exquisite in the choice +of detail, masterful in the breadth of method. And now, as though his +whole future depended on this interview, he brought to bear a life-long +skill to influence her. He had determined to set the Queen against her. +He did not know--not even he--that she had saved the Queen's life on +that auspicious May Day when Harry Lee had fought the white knight +Michel de la Foret and halved the honours of the lists with him. If +he had but known that the Queen had hid from him this fact--this vital +thing touching herself and England, he would have viewed his future +with a vaster distrust. But there could be no surer sign of Elizabeth's +growing coldness and intended breach than that she had hid from him the +dreadful incident of the poisoned glove, and the swift execution of the +would-be murderer, and had made Cecil her only confidant. But he did +know that Elizabeth herself had commanded Michel de la Foret to the +lists; and his mad jealousy impelled him to resort to a satanic cunning +towards these two fugitives, who seemed to have mounted within a few +short days as far as had he in thrice as many years to a high place in +the regard of the Majesty of England. + +To disgrace them both; to sow distrust of the girl in the Queen's mind; +to make her seem the opposite of what she was; to drop in her own mind +suspicion of her lover; to drive her to some rash act, some challenge +of the Queen herself--that was his plan. He knew how little Elizabeth's +imperious spirit would brook any challenge from this fearless girl +concerning De la Foret. But to convince her that the Queen favoured +Michel in some shadowed sense, that De la Foret was privy to a dark +compact--so deep a plot was all worthy of a larger end. He had well +inspired the Court of France through its ambassador to urge the Medici +to press actively and bitterly for De la Foret's return to France and +to the beheading sword that waited for him; and his task had been made +light by international difficulties, which made the heart of Elizabeth's +foreign policy friendship with France and an alliance against Philip +of Spain. She had, therefore, opened up, even in the past few days, +negotiations once again for the long-talked-of marriage with the Duke +of Anjou, the brother of the King, son of the Medici. State policy was +involved, and, if De la Foret might be a counter, the pledge of exchange +in the game, as it were, the path would once more be clear. + +He well believed that Elizabeth's notice of De la Foret was but a fancy +that would pass, as a hundred times before such fancies had come and +gone; but against that brighter prospect there lay the fact that never +before had she shown himself such indifference. In the past she had +raged against him, she had imprisoned him; she had driven him from +her presence in her anger, but always her paroxysms of rage had been +succeeded by paroxysms of tenderness. Now he saw a colder light in the +sky, a greyer horizon met his eye. So at every corner of the compass he +played for the breaking of the spell. + +Yet as he now bowed low before Angele there seemed to show in his face +a very candour of surprise, of pleasure, joined to a something friendly +and protective in his glance and manner. His voice insinuated that +bygones should be bygones; it suggested that she had misunderstood him. +It pleaded against the injustice of her prejudice. + +"So far from home!" he said with a smile. + +"More miles from home," she replied, thinking of never-returning days in +France, "than I shall ever count again." + +"But no, methinks the palace is within a whisper," he responded. + +"Lord Leicester knows well I am a prisoner; that I no longer abide in +the palace," she answered. + +He laughed lightly. "An imprisonment in a Queen's friendship. I bethink +me, it is three hours since I saw you go to the palace. It is a few +worthless seconds since you have got your freedom." + +She nettled at his tone. "Lord Leicester takes great interest in my +unimportant goings and comings. I cannot think it is because I go and +come." + +He chose to misunderstand her meaning. Drawing closer he bent over her +shoulder. "Since your arrival here, my only diary is the tally of your +coming and going." Suddenly, as though by an impulse of great frankness, +he added in a low tone: + +"And is it strange that I should follow you--that I should worship grace +and virtue? Men call me this and that. You have no doubt been filled +with dark tales of my misdeeds. Has there been one in the Court, even +one, who, living by my bounty or my patronage, has said one good word +of me? And why? For long years the Queen, who, maybe, might have been +better counselled, chose me for her friend, adviser--because I was true +to her. I have lived for the Queen, and living for her have lived for +England. Could I keep--I ask you, could I keep myself blameless in the +midst of flattery, intrigue, and conspiracy? I admit that I have +played with fiery weapons in my day; and must needs still do so. The +incorruptible cannot exist in the corrupted air of this Court. You have +come here with the light of innocence and truth about you. At first I +could scarce believe that such goodness lived, hardly understood it. The +light half-blinded and embarrassed; but, at last, I saw! You of all this +Court have made me see what sort of life I might have lived. You have +made me dream the dreams of youth and high unsullied purpose once again. +Was it strange that in the dark pathways of the Court I watched your +footsteps come and go, carrying radiance with you? No--Leicester has +learned how sombre, sinister, has been his past, by a presence which +is the soul of beauty, of virtue, and of happy truth. Lady, my heart is +yours. I worship you." + +Overborne for the moment by the eager, searching eloquence of his words, +she had listened bewildered to him. Now she turned upon him with panting +breath and said: + +"My lord, my lord, I will hear no more. You know I love Monsieur de +la Foret, for whose sake I am here in England--for whose sake I still +remain." + +"'Tis a labour of love but ill requited," he answered with suggestion in +his tone. + +"What mean you, my lord?" she asked sharply, a kind of blind agony in +her voice; for she felt his meaning, and though she did not believe him, +and knew in her soul he slandered, there was a sting, for slander ever +scorches where it touches. + +"Can you not see?" he said. "May Day--why did the Queen command him to +the lists? Why does she keep him here-in the palace? Why, against +the will of France, her ally, does she refuse to send him forth? Why, +unheeding the laughter of the Court, does she favour this unimportant +stranger, brave though he be? Why should she smile upon him?... Can you +not see, sweet lady?" + +"You know well why the Queen detains him here," she answered calmly now. +"In the Queen's understanding with France, exiles who preach the +faith are free from extradition. You heard what the Queen required of +him--that on Trinity Day he should preach before her, and upon this +preaching should depend his safety." + +"Indeed, so her Majesty said with great humour," replied Leicester. "So +indeed she said; but when we hide our faces a thin veil suffices. The +man is a soldier--a soldier born. Why should he turn priest now? I pray +you, think again. He was quick of wit; the Queen's meaning was clear to +him; he rose with seeming innocence to the fly, and she landed him at +the first toss. But what is forward bodes no good to you, dear star of +heaven. I have known the Queen for half a lifetime. She has wild whims +and dangerous fancies, fills her hours of leisure with experiences--an +artist is the Queen. She means no good to you." + +She had made as if to leave him, though her eyes searched in vain for +the path which she should take; but she now broke in impatiently: + +"Poor, unnoted though I am, the Queen of England is my friend," she +answered. "What evil could she wish me? From me she has naught to fear. +I am not an atom in her world. Did she but lift her finger I am done. +But she knows that, humble though I be, I would serve her to my last +breath; because I know, my Lord Leicester, how many there are who serve +her foully, faithlessly; and there should be those by her who would +serve her singly." + +His eyes half closed, he beat his toe upon the ground. He frowned, as +though he had no wish to hurt her by words which he yet must speak. With +calculated thought he faltered. + +"Yet do you not think it strange," he said at last, "that Monsieur de la +Foret should be within the palace ever, and that you should be banished +from the palace? Have you never seen the fly and the spider in the web? +Do you not know that they who have the power to bless or ban, to give +joy or withhold it, appear to give when they mean to withhold? God bless +us all--how has your innocence involved your judgment!" + +She suddenly flushed to the eyes. "I have wit enough," she said acidly, +"to feel that truth which life's experience may not have taught me. +It is neither age nor evil that teaches one to judge 'twixt black and +white. God gives the true divination to human hearts that need." + +It was a contest in which Leicester revelled--simplicity and +single-mindedness against the multifarious and double-tongued. He had +made many efforts in his time to conquer argument and prejudice. When +he chose, none could be more insinuating or turn the flank of a proper +argument by more adroit suggestion. He used his power now. + +"You think she means well by you? You think that she, who has a thousand +ladies of a kingdom at her call, of the best and most beautiful--and +even," his voice softened, "though you are more beautiful than all, that +beauty would soften her towards you? When was it Elizabeth loved beauty? +When was it that her heart warmed towards those who would love or wed? +Did she not imprison me, even in these palace grounds, for one whole +year because I sought to marry? Has she not a hundred times sent from +her presence women with faces like flowers because they were in contrast +to her own? Do you see love blossoming at this Court? God's Son! but +she would keep us all like babes in Eden an' she could, unmated and +unloved." + +He drew quickly to her and leant over her, whispering down her shoulder. +"Do you think there is any reason why all at once she should change her +mind and cherish lovers?" + +She looked up at him fearlessly and firmly. + +"In truth, I do. My Lord Leicester, you have lived in the circle of +her good pleasure, near to her noble Majesty, as you say, for half a +lifetime. Have you not found a reason why now or any time she should +cherish love and lovers? Ah, no, you have seen her face, you have heard +her voice, but you have not known her heart!" + +"Ah, opportunity lacked," he said in irony and with a reminiscent +smile. "I have been busy with State affairs, I have not sat on cushions, +listening to royal fingers on the virginals. Still, I ask you, do you +think there is a reason why from her height she should stoop down to +rescue you or give you any joy? Wherefore should the Queen do aught to +serve you? Wherefore should she save your lover?" + +It was on Angele's lips to answer, "Because I saved her life on May +Day." It was on her lips to tell of the poisoned glove, but she only +smiled, and said: + +"But, yes, I think, my lord, there is a reason, and in that reason I +have faith." + +Leicester saw how firmly she was fixed in her idea, how rooted was her +trust in the Queen's intentions towards her; and he guessed there was +something hidden which gave her such supreme confidence. + +"If she means to save him, why does she not save him now? Why not end +the business in a day--not stretch it over these long mid-summer weeks?" + +"I do not think it strange," she answered. "He is a political prisoner. +Messages must come and go between England and France. Besides, who +calleth for haste? Is it I who have most at stake? It is not the first +time I have been at Court, my lord. In these high places things are +orderly,"--a touch of sarcasm came into her tone,--"life is not a mighty +rushing wind, save to those whom vexing passion drives to hasty deeds." + +She made to move on once more, but paused, still not certain of her way. + +"Permit me to show you," he said with a laugh and a gesture towards a +path. "Not that--this is the shorter. I will take you to a turning which +leads straight to your durance--and another which leads elsewhere." + +She could not say no, because she had, in very truth, lost her way, and +she might wander far and be in danger. Also, she had no fear of him. +Steeled to danger in the past, she was not timid; but, more than all, +the game of words between them had had its fascination. The man himself, +by virtue of what he was, had his fascination also. The thing inherent +in all her sex, to peep over the hedge, to skirt dangerous fires +lightly, to feel the warmth distantly and not be scorched--that was +in her, too; and she lived according to her race and the long +predisposition of the ages. Most women like her--as good as she--have +peeped and stretched out hands to the alluring fire and come safely +through, wiser and no better. But many, too, bewildered and confused +by what they see--as light from a mirror flashed into the eye half +blinds--have peeped over the hedge and, miscalculating their power +of self-control, have entered in, and returned no more into the quiet +garden of unstraying love. + +Leicester quickly put on an air of gravity. "I warn you that danger lies +before you. If you cross the Queen--and you will cross the Queen +when you know the truth, as I know it--you will pay a heavy price for +refusing Leicester as your friend." + +She made a protesting motion and seemed about to speak, but suddenly, +with a passionate gesture, Leicester added: "Let them go their way. +Monsieur de la Foret will be tossed aside before another winter comes. +Do you think he can abide here in the midst of plot and intrigue, and +hated by the people of the Court? He is doomed. But more, he is unworthy +of you; while I can serve you well, and I can love you well." She shrank +away from him. "No, do not turn from me, for in very truth, Leicester's +heart has been pierced by the inevitable arrow. You think I mean you +evil?" + +He paused with a sudden impulse continued: "No! no! And if there be a +saving grace in marriage, marriage it shall be, if you will but hear me. +You shall be my wife--Leicester's wife. As I have mounted to power so +I will hold power with you--with you, the brightest spirit that ever +England saw. Worthy of a kingdom with you beside me, I shall win to +greater, happier days; and at Kenilworth, where kings and queens have +lodged, you shall be ruler. We will leave this Court until Elizabeth, +betrayed by those who know not how to serve her, shall send for me +again. Here--the power behind the throne--you and I will sway this realm +through the aging, sentimental Queen. Listen, and look at me in the +eyes--I speak the truth, you read my heart. You think I hated you and +hated De la Foret. By all the gods, it's true I hated him, because I saw +that he would come between me and the Queen. A man must have one great +passion. Life itself must be a passion. Power was my passion--power, +not the Queen. You have broken all that down. I yield it all to you--for +your sake and my own. I would steal from life yet before my sun goes to +its setting a few years of truth and honesty and clear design. At +heart I am a patriot--a loyal Englishman. Your cause--the cause of +Protestantism--did I not fight for it at Rochelle? Have I not ever urged +the Queen to spend her revenue for your cause, to send her captains and +her men to fight for it?" + +She raised her head in interest, and her lips murmured: "Yes, yes, I +know you did that." + +He saw his advantage and pursued it. "See, I will be honest with +you--honest, at last, as I have wished in vain to be, for honesty was +misunderstood. It is not so with you--you understand. Dear, light of +womanhood, I speak the truth now. I have been evil in my day I admit +it--evil because I was in the midst of evil. I betrayed because I was +betrayed; I slew, else I should have been slain. We have had dark days +in England, privy conspiracy and rebellion; and I have had to thread my +way through dreadful courses by a thousand blind paths. Would it be +no joy to you if I, through your influence, recast my life--remade +my policy, renewed my youth--pursuing principle where I have pursued +opportunity? Angele, come to Kenilworth with me. Leave De la Foret to +his fate. The way to happiness is with me. Will you come?" + +He had made his great effort. As he spoke he almost himself believed +that he told the truth. Under the spell of his own emotional power +it seemed as though he meant to marry her, as though he could find +happiness in the union. He had almost persuaded himself to be what he +would have her to believe he might be. + +Under the warmth and convincing force of his words her pulses had beat +faster, her heart had throbbed in her throat, her eyes had glistened; +but not with that light which they had shed for Michel de la Foret. +How different was this man's wooing--its impetuous, audacious, tender +violence, with that quiet, powerful, almost sacred gravity of +her Camisard lover! It is this difference--the weighty, emotional +difference--between a desperate passion and a pure love which has ever +been so powerful in twisting the destinies of a moiety of the world to +misery, who otherwise would have stayed contented, inconspicuous and +good. Angele would have been more than human if she had not felt the +spell of the ablest intriguer, of the most fascinating diplomatist of +his day. + +Before he spoke of marriage the thrill--the unconvincing thrill though +it was--of a perilous temptation was upon her; but the very thing most +meant to move her only made her shudder; for in her heart of hearts +she knew that he was ineradicably false. To be married to one +constitutionally untrue would be more terrible a fate for her than to be +linked to him in a lighter, more dissoluble a bond. So do the greatest +tricksters of this world overdo their part, so play the wrong card when +every past experience suggests it is the card to play. He knew by the +silence that followed his words, and the slow, steady look she gave him, +that she was not won nor on the way to the winning. + +"My lord," she said at last, and with a courage which steadied her +affrighted and perturbed innocence, "you are eloquent, you are fruitful +of flattery, of those things which have, I doubt not, served you well +in your day. But, if you see your way to a better life, it were well you +should choose one of nobler mould than I. I am not made for sacrifice, +to play the missioner and snatch brands from the burning. I have enough +to do to keep my own feet in the ribbon-path of right. You must +look elsewhere for that guardian influence which is to make of you a +paragon." + +"No, no," he answered sharply, "you think the game not worth the +candle--you doubt me and what I can do for you; my sincerity, my power +you doubt." + +"Indeed, yes, I doubt both," she answered gravely, "for you would have +me believe that I have power to lead you. With how small a mind you +credit me! You think, too, that you sway this kingdom; but I know that +you stand upon a cliff's edge, and that the earth is fraying 'neath your +tread. You dare to think that you have power to drag down with you the +man who honours me with--" + +"With his love, you'd say. Yet he will leave you fretting out your soul +until the sharp-edged truth cuts your heart in twain. Have you no pride? +I care not what you say of me--say your worst, and I will not resent it, +for I will still prove that your way lies with me." + +She gave a bitter sigh, and touched her forehead with trembling fingers. +"If words could prove it, I had been convinced but now, for they are +well devised, and they have music too; but such a music, my lord, as +would drown the truth in the soul of a woman. Your words allure, but you +have learned the art of words. You yourself--oh, my lord, you who have +tasted all the pleasures of this world, could you then have the heart to +steal from one who has so little that little which gives her happiness?" + +"You know not what can make you happy--I can teach you that. By God's +Son! but you have wit and intellect and are a match for a prince, not +for a cast off Camisard. I shall ere long be Lord--Lieutenant of these +Isles-of England and Ireland. Come to my nest. We will fly far--ah, your +eye brightens, your heart leaps to mine--I feel it now, I--" + +"Oh, have done, have done," she passionately broke in; "I would rather +die, be torn upon the rack, burnt at the stake, than put my hand in +yours! And you do not wish it--you speak but to destroy, not to cherish. +While you speak to me I see all those"--she made a gesture as though to +put something from her "all those to whom you have spoken as you have +done to me. I hear the myriad falsehoods you have told--one whelming +confusion. I feel the blindness which has crept upon them--those poor +women--as you have sown the air with the dust of the passion which you +call love. Oh, you never knew what love meant, my lord! I doubt if, when +you lay in your mother's arms, you turned to her with love. You never +did one kindly act for love, no generous thought was ever born in you by +love. Sir, I know it as though it were written in a book; your life has +been one long calculation--your sympathy or kindness a calculated thing. +Good-nature, emotion you may have had, but never the divine thing by +which the world is saved. Were there but one little place where that +Eden flower might bloom within your heart, you could not seek to ruin +that love which lives in mine and fills it, conquering all the lesser +part of me. I never knew of how much love I was capable until I heard +you speak today. Out of your life's experience, out of all that you +have learned of women good and evil, you--for a selfish, miserable +purpose--would put the gyves upon my wrists, make me a pawn in your dark +game; a pawn which you would lose without a thought as the game went on. + +"If you must fight, my lord, if you must ruin Monsieur de la Foret and +a poor Huguenot girl, do it by greater means than this. You have power, +you say. Use it then; destroy us, if you will. Send us to the Medici: +bring us to the block, murder us--that were no new thing to Lord +Leicester. But do not stoop to treachery and falsehood to thrust us +down. Oh, you have made me see the depths of shame to-day! But yet," +her voice suddenly changed, a note of plaintive force filled it--"I have +learned much this hour--more than I ever knew. Perhaps it is that we +come to knowledge only through fire and tears." She smiled sadly. "I +suppose that sometime some day, this page of life would have scorched my +sight. Oh, my lord, what was there in me that you dared speak so to +me? Was there naught to have stayed your tongue and stemmed the tide in +which you would engulf me?" He had listened as in a dream at first. She +had read him as he might read himself, had revealed him with the certain +truth, as none other had done in all his days. He was silent for a long +moment, then raised his hand in protest. + +"You have a strange idea of what makes offence and shame. I offered +you marriage," he said complacently. "And when I come to think upon it, +after all that you have said, fair Huguenot, I see no cause for railing. +You call me this and that; to you I am a liar, a rogue, a cut-throat, +what you will; and yet, and yet, I will have my way--I will have my way +in the end." + +"You offered me marriage--and meant it not. Do I not know? Did you rely +so little on your compelling powers, my lord, that you must needs resort +to that bait? Do you think that you will have your way to-morrow if you +have failed to-day?" + +With a quick change of tone and a cold, scornful laugh he rejoined: "Do +you intend to measure swords with me?" + +"No, no, my lord," she answered quietly; "what should one poor +unfriended girl do in contest with the Earl of Leicester? But yet, in +very truth, I have friends, and in my hour of greatest need I shall go +seeking." + +She was thinking of the Queen. He guessed her thought. + +"You will not be so mad," he said urbanely again. "Of what can you +complain to the Queen? Tut, tut, you must seek other friends than the +Majesty of England!" + +"Then, my lord, I will," she answered bravely. "I will seek the help of +such a Friend as fails not when all fails, even He who putteth down the +mighty from their seats and exalteth the humble." + +"Well, well, if I have not touched your heart," he answered gallantly, +"I at least have touched your wit and intellect. Once more I offer you +alliance. Think well before you decline." + +He had no thought that he would succeed, but it was ever his way to +return to the charge. It had been the secret of his life's success so +far. He had never taken a refusal. He had never believed that when man +or woman said no that no was meant; and, if it were meant, he still +believed that constant dropping would wear away the stone. He still held +that persistence was the greatest lever in the world, that unswerving +persistence was the master of opportunity. + +They had now come to two paths in the park leading different ways. + +"This road leads to Kenilworth, this to your prison," he said with a +slow gesture, his eyes fixed upon hers. "I will go to my prison, then," +she said, stepping forward, "and alone, by your leave." + +Leicester was a good sportsman. Though he had been beaten all along the +line, he hid his deep chagrin, choked down the rage that was in him. +Smiling, he bowed low. + +"I will do myself the honour to visit your prison to-morrow," he said. + +"My father will welcome you, my lord," she answered, and, gathering up +her skirt, ran down the pathway. + +He stood unmoving, and watched her disappear. "But I shall have my way +with them both," he said aloud. + +The voice of a singer sounded in the green wood. Half consciously +Leicester listened. The words came shrilling through the trees: + + "Oh, love, it is a lily flower, + (Sing, my captain, sing, my lady!) + The sword shall cleave it, + Life shall leave it + Who shall know the hour? + (Sing, my lady, still!)" + +Presently the jingling of bells mingled with the song, then a figure in +motley burst upon him. It was the Queen's fool. + +"Brother, well met--most happily met!" he cried. "And why well met, +fool?" asked Leicester. "Prithee, my work grows heavy, brother. I seek +another fool for the yoke. Here are my bells for you. I will keep my +cap. And so we will work together, fool: you for the morning, I for +the afternoon, and the devil take the night-time! So God be with you, +Obligato!" + +With a laugh he leaped into the undergrowth, and left Leicester standing +with the bells in his hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Angele had come to know, as others in like case have ever done, how +wretched indeed is that poor man that hangs on princes' favours. She had +saved the Queen's life upon May Day, and on the evening of that day the +Queen had sent for her, had made such high and tender acknowledgment +of her debt as would seem to justify for her perpetual honour. And what +Elizabeth said she meant; but in a life set in forests of complications +and opposing interests the political overlapped the personal in her +nature. Thus it was that she had kept the princes of the world dangling, +advancing towards marriage with them, retreating suddenly, setting +off one house against the other, allying herself to one European power +to-day, with another to-morrow, her own person and her crown the pawn +with which she played. It was not a beautiful thing in a woman, but it +was what a woman could do; and, denied other powers given to men--as to +her father--she resorted to astute but doubtful devices to advance her +diplomacy. Over all was self-infatuation, the bane of princes, the curse +of greatness, the source of wide injustice. It was not to be expected, +as Leicester had said, that Elizabeth, save for the whim of the moment, +would turn aside to confer benefit upon Angele or to keep her in mind, +unless constrained to do so for some political reason. + +The girl had charmed the Queen, had, by saving her life, made England +her long debtor; but Leicester had judged rightly in believing that the +Queen might find the debt irksome; that her gratitude would be corroded +by other destructive emotions. It was true that Angele had saved her +life, but Michel had charmed her eye. He had proved himself a more +gallant fighter than any in her kingdom; and had done it, as he had +said, in her honour. So, as her admiration for Michel grew, her debt to +Angele became burdensome; and, despite her will, there stole into her +mind the old petulance and smothered anger against beauty and love and +marriage. She could ill bear that one near her person should not be +content to flourish in the light and warmth of her own favour, setting +aside all other small affections. So it was that she had sent Angele to +her father and kept De la Foret in the palace. Perplexed, troubled by +new developments, the birth of a son to Mary Queen of Scots, the demand +of her Parliament that she should marry, the pressure of foreign policy +which compelled her to open up again negotiations for marriage with the +Duke of Anjou--all these combined to detach her from the interest +she had suddenly felt in Angele. But, by instinct, she knew also that +Leicester, through jealousy, had increased the complication; and, +fretful under the long influence he had had upon her, she steadily +lessened intercourse with him. The duel he fought with Lempriere on May +Day came to her ears through the Duke's Daughter, and she seized upon it +with sharp petulance. First she ostentatiously gave housing and care +to Lempriere, and went to visit him; then, having refused Leicester +audience, wrote to him. + +"What is this I hear," she scrawled upon the paper, "that you have +forced a quarrel with the Lord of Rozel, and have well-ny ta'en his +life! Is swording then your dearest vice that you must urge it on a +harmless gentle man, and my visitor? Do you think you hold a charter +of freedom for your self-will? Have a care, Leicester, or, by God! you +shall know another sword surer than your own." + +The rage of Leicester on receiving this knew no bounds; for though he +had received from Elizabeth stormy letters before, none had had in it +the cold irony of this missive. The cause of it? Desperation seized +him. With a mad disloyalty he read in every word of Elizabeth's letter, +Michel de la Foret, refugee. With madder fury he determined to strike +for the immediate ruin of De la Foret, and Angele with him--for had +she not thrice repulsed him as though he had been some village captain? +After the meeting in the maze he had kept his promise of visiting her +"prison." By every art, and without avail, he had through patient days +sought to gain an influence over her; for he saw that if he could but +show the Queen that the girl was open to his advances, accepted his +protection, her ruin would be certain--in anger Elizabeth would take +revenge upon both refugees. But however much he succeeded with Monsieur +Aubert, he failed wholly with Angele. She repulsed him still with the +most certain courtesy, with the greatest outward composure; but she had +to make her fight alone, for the Queen forbade intercourse with Michel, +and she must have despaired but for the messages sent now and then by +the Duke's Daughter. + +Through M. Aubert, to whom Leicester was diligently courteous, and whom +he sought daily, discussing piously the question of religion so dear to +the old man's heart, he strove to foster in Angele's mind the suspicion +he had ventured at their meeting in the maze, that the Queen, through +personal interest in Michel, was saving his life to keep him in her +household. So well did he work on the old man's feelings that when he +offered his own protection to M. Aubert and Angele, whatever the issue +with De la Foret might be, he was met with an almost tearful response of +gratitude. It was the moment to convey a deep distrust of De la Foret to +the mind of the old refugee, and it was subtly done. + +Were it not better to leave the Court where only danger surrounded them, +and find safety on Leicester's own estate, where no man living could +molest them? Were it not well to leave Michel de la Foret to his fate, +what ever it would be? Thrice within a week the Queen had sent for De +la Foret--what reason was there for that, unless the Queen had a secret +personal interest in him? Did M. Aubert think it was only a rare touch +of humour which had turned De la Foret into a preacher, and set his fate +upon a sermon to be preached before the Court? He himself had long held +high office, had been near to her Majesty, and he could speak with more +knowledge than he might use--it grieved him that Mademoiselle Aubert +should be placed in so painful a position. + +Sometimes as the two talked Angele would join them; and then there was +a sudden silence, which made her flush with embarrassment, anxiety or +anger. In vain did she assume a cold composure, in vain school herself +to treat Leicester with a precise courtesy; in vain her heart protested +the goodness of De la Foret and high uprightness of the Queen; the +persistent suggestions of the dark Earl worked upon her mind in spite of +all. Why had the Queen forbidden her to meet Michel, or write to him, +or to receive letters from him? Why had the Queen, who had spoken such +gratitude, deserted her? And now even the Duke's Daughter wrote to her +no more, sent her no further messages. She felt herself a prisoner, and +that the Queen had forgotten her debt. She took to wandering to that +part of the palace-grounds where she could see the windows of the tower +her lover inhabited. Her old habit of cheerful talk deserted her, +and she brooded. It was long before she heard of the duel between the +Seigneur and Lord Leicester--the Duke's Daughter had kept this from her, +lest she should be unduly troubled--and when, in anxiety, she went to +the house where Lempriere had been quartered, he had gone, none could +tell her whither. Buonespoir was now in close confinement, by secret +orders of Leicester, and not allowed to walk abroad; and thus with no +friend save her father, now so much under the influence of the Earl, she +was bitterly solitary. Bravely she fought the growing care and suspicion +in her heart; but she was being tried beyond her strength. Her father +had urged her to make personal appeal to the Queen; and at times, +despite her better judgment, she was on the verge of doing so. Yet what +could she say? She could not go to the Queen of England and cry out, +like a silly milk-maid: "You have taken my lover--give him back to me!" +What proof had she that the Queen wanted her lover? And if she spoke, +the impertinence of the suggestion might send back to the fierce Medici +that same lover, to lose his head. + +Leicester, who now was playing the game as though it were a hazard for +states and kingdoms, read the increasing trouble in her face; and +waited confidently for the moment when in desperation she would lose her +self-control and go to the Queen. + +But he did not reckon with the depth of the girl's nature and her true +sense of life. Her brain told her that what she was tempted to do she +should not; that her only way was to wait; to trust that the Queen +of England was as much true woman as Queen, and as much Queen as +true woman; and that the one was held in high equipoise by the other. +Besides, Trinity Day would bring the end of it all, and that was not far +off. She steeled her will to wait till then, no matter how dark the sky +might be. + +As time went on, Leicester became impatient. He had not been able +to induce M. Aubert to compel Angele to accept a quiet refuge at +Kenilworth; he saw that this plan would not work, and he deployed his +mind upon another. If he could but get Angele to seek De la Foret in +his apartment in the palace, and then bring the matter to Elizabeth's +knowledge with sure proof, De la Foret's doom would be sealed. At great +expense, however; for, in order to make the scheme effective, Angele +should visit De la Foret at night. This would mean the ruin of the girl +as well. Still that could be set right; because, once De la Foret was +sent to the Medici the girl's character could be cleared; and, if not, +so much the surer would she come at last to his protection. What he had +professed in cold deliberation had become in some sense a fact. She had +roused in him an eager passion. He might even dare, when De la Foret was +gone, to confess his own action in the matter to the Queen, once she was +again within his influence. She had forgiven him more than that in the +past, when he had made his own mad devotion to herself excuse for his +rashness or misconduct. + +He waited opportunity, he arranged all details carefully, he secured the +passive agents of his purpose; and when the right day came he acted. + +About ten o'clock one night, a half-hour before the closing of the +palace gates, when no one could go in or go out save by permit of the +Lord Chamberlain, a footman from a surgeon of the palace came to Angele, +bearing a note which read: + + "Your friend is very ill, and asks for you. Come hither alone; and + now, if you would come at all." + +Her father was confined to bed with some ailment of the hour, and +asleep--it were no good to awaken him. Her mind was at once made up. +There was no time to ask permission of the Queen. She knew the surgeon's +messengers by sight, this one was in the usual livery, and his master's +name was duly signed. In haste she made herself ready, and went forth +into the night with the messenger, her heart beating hard, a pitiful +anxiety shaking her. Her steps were fleet between the lodge and the +palace. They were challenged nowhere, and the surgeon's servant, +entering a side door of the palace, led her hastily through gloomy halls +and passages where they met no one, though once in a dark corridor some +one brushed against her. She wondered why there were no servants to +show the way, why the footman carried no torch or candle; but haste and +urgency seemed due excuse, and she thought only of Michel, and that she +would soon see him-dying, dead perhaps before she could touch his hand! +At last they emerged into a lighter and larger hallway, where her guide +suddenly paused, and said to Angel, motioning towards a door: "Enter. He +is there." + +For a moment she stood still, scarce able to breathe, her heart hurt her +so. It seemed to her as though life itself was arrested. As the servant, +without further words, turned and left her, she knocked, opened the door +without awaiting a reply, and stepping into semidarkness, said softly: + +"Michel! Michel!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +At Angle's entrance a form slowly raised itself on a couch, and a voice, +not Michel's, said: "Mademoiselle--by our Lady, 'tis she!" + +It was the voice of the Seigneur of Rozel, and Angle started back +amazed. + +"You, Monsieur--you!" she gasped. "It was you that sent for me?" + +"Send? Not I--I have not lost my manners yet. Rozel at Court is no +greater fool than Lempriere in Jersey." + +Angle wrung her hands. "I thought it De la Foret who was ill. The +surgeon said to come quickly." Lempriere braced himself against the +wall, for he was weak, and his fever still high. "Ill?--not he. As sound +in body and soul as any man in England. That is a friend, that De la +Foret lover of yours, or I'm no butler to the Queen. He gets leave and +brings me here and coaxes me back to life again--with not a wink of +sleep for him these five days past till now." + +Angel had drawn nearer, and now stood beside the couch, trembling and +fearful, for it came to her mind that she had been made the victim of +some foul device. The letter had read: "Your friend is ill." True, the +Seigneur was her friend, but he had not sent for her. + +"Where is De la Foret?" she asked quickly. "Yonder, asleep," said +the Seigneur, pointing to a curtain which divided the room from one +adjoining. Angel ran quickly towards the door, then stopped short. No, +she would not waken him. She would go back at once. She would leave the +palace by the way she came. Without a word she turned and went towards +the door opening into the hallway. With her hand upon the latch she +stopped short again; for she realised that she did not know her way +through the passages and corridors, and that she must make herself known +to the servants of the palace to obtain guidance and exit. As she stood +helpless and confused, the Seigneur called hoarsely: "De la Foret--De la +Foret!" Before Angele could decide upon her course, the curtain of the +other room was thrust aside, and De la Foret entered. He was scarce +awake, and he yawned contentedly. He did not see Angele, but turned +towards Lempriere. For once the Seigneur had a burst of inspiration. He +saw that Angele was in the shadow, and that De la Foret had not observed +her. He determined that the lovers should meet alone. + +"Your arm, De la Foret," he grunted. + +"I'll get me to the bed in yonder room--'tis easier than this couch." + +"Two hours ago you could not bear the bed, and must get you to the +couch--and now! Seigneur, do you know the weight you are?" he added, +laughing, as he stooped, and helping Lempriere gently to his feet, +raised him slowly in his arms and went heavily with him to the bedroom. +Angele watched him with a strange thrill of timid admiration and +delight. Surely it could not be that Michel--her Michel--could be bought +from his allegiance by any influence on earth. There was the same old +simple laugh on his lips, as, with chaffing words, he carried the huge +Seigneur to the other room. Her heart acquitted him then and there of +all blame, past or to come. + +"Michel!" she said aloud involuntarily--the call of her spirit which +spoke on her lips against her will. + +De la Foret had helped Lempriere to the bed again as he heard his name +called, and he stood suddenly still, looking straight before him into +space. Angele's voice seemed ghostly and unreal. + +"Michel!" he heard again, and he came forward into the room where she +was. Yet once again she said the word scarcely above a whisper, for the +look of rapt wonder and apprehension in his manner overcame her. Now he +turned towards her, where she stood in the shadow by the door. He +saw her, but even yet he did not stir, for she seemed to him still an +apparition. + +With a little cry she came forward to him. "Michel--help me!" she +murmured, and stretched out her hands. With a cry of joy he took her in +his arms and pressed her to his heart. Then a realisation of danger came +to him. + +"Why did you come?" he asked. + +She told him hastily. He heard with astonishment, and then said: "There +is some foul trick here. Have you the message?" She handed it to him. +"It is the surgeon's writing, verily," he said; "but it is still a +trick, for the sick man here is Rozel. I see it all. You and I forbidden +to meet--it was a trick to bring you here." + +"Oh, let me go!" she cried. "Michel, Michel, take me hence." She turned +towards the door. + +"The gates are closed," he said, as a cannon boomed on the evening air. + +Angele trembled violently. "Oh, what will come of this?" she cried, in +tearful despair. + +"Be patient, sweet, and let me think," he answered. At that moment there +came a knocking at the door, then it was thrown open, and there stepped +inside the Earl of Leicester, preceded by a page bearing a torch. + +"Is Michel de la Foret within?" he called; then stopped short, as though +astonished, seeing Angele. "So! so!" he said, with a contemptuous laugh. +Michel de la Foret's fingers twitched. He quickly stepped in front of +Angele, and answered: "What is your business here, my lord?" + +Leicester languorously took off a glove, and seemed to stifle a yawn in +it; then said: "I came to take you into my service, to urge upon you +for your own sake to join my troops, going upon duty in the North; for I +fear that if you stay here the Queen Mother of France will have her +way. But I fear I am too late. A man who has sworn himself into service +d'amour has no time for service de la guerre." + +"I will gladly give an hour from any service I may follow to teach the +Earl of Leicester that he is less a swordsman than a trickster." + +Leicester flushed, but answered coolly: "I can understand your chagrin. +You should have locked your door. It is the safer custom." He bowed +lightly towards Angele. "You have not learned our English habits +of discretion, Monsieur de la Foret. I would only do you service. +I appreciate your choler. I should be no less indignant. So, in the +circumstances, I will see that the gates are opened, of course you did +not realise the flight of time,--and I will take Mademoiselle to +her lodgings. You may rely on my discretion. I am wholly at your +service--tout a vous, as who should say in your charming language." + +The insolence was so veiled in perfect outward courtesy that it must +have seemed impossible for De la Foret to reply in terms equal to the +moment. He had, however, no need to reply, for the door of the room +suddenly opened, and two pages stepped inside with torches. + +They were followed by a gentleman in scarlet and gold, who said, "The +Queen!" and stepped aside. + +An instant afterwards Elizabeth, with the Duke's Daughter, entered. + +The three dropped upon their knees, and Elizabeth waved without the +pages and the gentleman-in-waiting. When the doors closed, the Queen +eyed the three kneeling figures, and as her glance fell on Leicester a +strange glitter came into her eyes. She motioned all to rise, and with a +hand upon the arm of the Duke's Daughter, said to Leicester: + +"What brings the Earl of Leicester here?" + +"I came to urge upon Monsieur the wisdom of holding to the Sword and +leaving the Book to the butter-fingered religious. Your Majesty needs +good soldiers." + +He bowed, but not low, and it was clear he was bent upon a struggle. +He was confounded by the Queen's presence, he could not guess why she +should have come; and that she was prepared for what she saw was clear. + +"And brought an eloquent pleader with you?" She made a scornful gesture +towards Angele. + +"Nay, your Majesty; the lady's zeal outran my own, and crossed the +threshold first." + +The Queen's face wore a look that Leicester had never seen on it before, +and he had observed it in many moods. + +"You found the lady here, then?" + +"With Monsieur alone. Seeing she was placed unfortunately, I offered to +escort her hence to her father. But your Majesty came upon the moment." + +There was a ring of triumph in Leicester's voice. No doubt, by some +chance, the Queen had become aware of Angele's presence, he thought. +Fate had forestalled the letter he had already written on this matter +and meant to send her within the hour. Chance had played into his hands +with perfect suavity. The Queen, less woman now than Queen, enraged +by the information got he knew not how, had come at once to punish the +gross breach of her orders and a dark misconduct-so he thought. + +The Queen's look, as she turned it on Angele, apparently had in it what +must have struck terror to even a braver soul than that of the helpless +Huguenot girl. + +"So it is thus you spend the hours of night? God's faith, but you are +young to be so wanton!" she cried in a sharp voice. "Get you from my +sight and out of my kingdom as fast as horse and ship may carry you--as +feet may bear you." Leicester's face lighted to hear. "Your high +Majesty," pleaded the girl, dropping on her knees, "I am innocent. As +God lives, I am innocent." + +"The man, then, only is guilty?" the Queen rejoined with scorn. "Is +it innocent to be here at night, my palace gates shut, with your +lover-alone?" Leicester laughed at the words. + +"Your Majesty, oh, your gracious Majesty, hear me. We were not +alone--not alone--" + +There was a rustle of curtains, a heavy footstep, and Lempriere of Rozel +staggered into the room. De la Foret ran to help him, and throwing +an arm around him, almost carried him towards the couch. Lempriere, +however, slipped from De la Foret's grasp to his knees on the floor +before the Queen. + +"Not alone, your high and sacred Majesty, I am here--I have been here +through all. I was here when Mademoiselle came, brought hither by trick +of some knave not fit to be your immortal Majesty's subject. I speak the +truth, for I am butler to your Majesty and no liar. I am Lempriere of +Rozel." + +No man's self-control could meet such a surprise without wavering. +Leicester was confounded, for he had not known that Lempriere was housed +with De la Foret. For a moment he could do naught but gaze at Lempriere. +Then, as the Seigneur suddenly swayed and would have fallen, the +instinct of effective courtesy, strong in him, sent him with arms +outstretched to lift him up. Together, without a word, he and De la +Foret carried him to the couch and laid him down. That single act saved +Leicester's life. There was something so naturally (though, in truth, +it was so hypocritically) kind in the way he sprang to his enemy's +assistance that an old spirit of fondness stirred in the Queen's breast, +and she looked strangely at him. When, however, they had disposed of +Lempriere and Leicester had turned again towards her, she said: "Did you +think I had no loyal and true gentlemen at my Court, my lord? Did you +think my leech would not serve me as fair as he would serve the Earl of +Leicester? You have not bought us all, Robert Dudley, who have bought +and sold so long. The good leech did your bidding and sent your note +to the lady; but there your bad play ended and Fate's began. A rabbit's +brains, Leicester--and a rabbit's end. Fate has the brains you need." + +Leicester's anger burst forth now under the lash of ridicule. "I cannot +hope to win when your Majesty plays Fate in caricature." + +With a little gasp of rage Elizabeth leaned over and slapped his face +with her long glove. "Death of my life, but I who made you do unmake +you!" she cried. + +He dropped his hand on his sword. "If you were but a man, and not--" he +said, then stopped short, for there was that in the Queen's face which +changed his purpose. Anger was shaking her, but there were tears in her +eyes. The woman in her was stronger than the Queen. It was nothing to +her at this moment that she might have his life as easily as she had +struck his face with her glove; this man had once shown the better part +of himself to her, and the memory of it shamed her for his own sake now. +She made a step towards the door, then turned and spoke: + +"My Lord, I have no palace and no ground wherein your footstep will not +be trespass. Pray you, remember." + +She turned towards Lempriere, who lay on his couch faint and panting. +"For you, my Lord of Rozel, I wish you better health, though you have +lost it somewhat in a good cause." + +Her glance fell on De la Foret. Her look softened. "I will hear you +preach next Sunday, sir." + +There was an instant's pause, and then she said to Angele, with gracious +look and in a low voice: "You have heard from me that calumny which the +innocent never escape. To try you I neglected you these many days; to +see your nature even more truly than I knew it, I accused you but now. +You might have been challenged first by one who could do you more harm +than Elizabeth of England, whose office is to do good, not evil. Nets +are spread for those whose hearts are simple, and your feet have been +caught. Be thankful that we understand; and know that Elizabeth is your +loving friend. You have had trials--I have kept you in suspense--there +has been trouble for us all; but we are better now; our minds are more +content; so all may be well, please God! You will rest this night with +our lady-dove here, and to-morrow early you shall return in peace to +your father. You have a good friend in our cousin." She made a gentle +motion towards the Duke's Daughter. "She has proved it so. In my leech +she has a slave. To her you owe this help in time of need. She hath +wisdom, too, and we must listen to her, even as I have done this day." + +She inclined her head towards the door. Leicester opened it, and as she +passed out she gave him one look which told him that his game was lost, +if not for ever, yet for time uncertain and remote. "You must not blame +the leech, my lord," she said, suddenly turning back. "The Queen of +England has first claim on the duty of her subjects. They serve me for +love; you they help at need as time-servers." + +She stepped on, then paused again and looked back. "Also I forbid +fighting betwixt you," she said, in a loud voice, looking at De la Foret +and Leicester. + +Without further sign or look, she moved on. Close behind came Angele and +the Duke's Daughter, and Leicester followed at some distance. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Not far from the palace, in a secluded place hidden by laburnum, roses, +box and rhododendrons, there was a quaint and beautiful retreat. High +up on all sides of a circle of green the flowering trees and shrubs +interlaced their branches, and the grass, as smooth as velvet, was of +such a note as soothed the eye and quieted the senses. In one segment +of the verdant circle was a sort of open bower made of poles, up which +roses climbed and hung across in gay festoons; and in two other segments +mossy banks made resting-places. Here, in days gone by, when Robert +Dudley, Earl of Leicester, first drew the eyes of his Queen upon him, +Elizabeth came to listen to his vows of allegiance, which swam in floods +of passionate devotion to her person. Christopher Hatton, Sir Henry Lee, +the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Sussex, a race of gallants, had knelt +upon this pleasant sward. Here they had declared a devotion that, +historically platonic, had a personal passion which, if rewarded by no +personal requital, must have been an expensive outlay of patience and +emotion. + +But those days had gone. Robert Dudley had advanced far past his +fellows, had locked himself into the chamber of the Queen's confidence, +had for long proved himself necessary to her, had mingled deference and +admiration with an air of monopoly, and had then advanced to an air of +possession, of suggested control. Then had begun his decline. England +and England's Queen could have but one ruler, and upon an occasion in +the past Elizabeth made it clear by the words she used: "God's death, my +Lord, I have wished you well; but my favour is not so locked up for you +that others shall not partake thereof; and, if you think to rule here, +I will take a course to see you forthcoming. I will have here but one +mistress and no master." + +In these words she but declared what was the practice of her life, the +persistent passion of her rule. The world could have but one sun, and +every man or woman who sought its warmth must be a sun-worshipper. There +could be no divided faith, no luminaries in the sky save those which +lived by borrowed radiance. + +Here in this bright theatre of green and roses poets had sung the +praises of this Queen to her unblushing and approving face; here ladies +thrice as beautiful as she had begged her to tell them the secret of +her beauty, so much greater than that of any living woman; and she was +pleased even when she knew they flattered but to gain her smile--it was +the tribute that power exacts. The place was a cenotaph of past romance +and pleasure. Every leaf of every tree and flower had impressions of +glories, of love, ambition and intrigue, of tears and laughter, of +joyousness and ruin. Never a spot in England where so much had been said +and done, so far reaching in effect and influence. But its glory was +departed, its day was done, it was a place of dreams and memories: the +Queen came here no more. Many years had withered since she had entered +this charmed spot; and that it remained so fine was but evidence of the +care of those to whom she had given strict orders seven years past, that +in and out of season it must be ever kept as it had erstwhile been. She +had never entered the place since the day the young Marquis of Wessex, +whom she had imprisoned for marrying secretly and without her consent, +on his release came here, and, with a concentrated bitterness and hate, +had told her such truths as she never had heard from man or woman since +she was born. He had impeached her in such cold and murderous terms as +must have made wince even a woman with no pride. To Elizabeth it was +gall and wormwood. When he at last demanded the life of the young wife +who had died in enforced seclusion, because she had married the man +she loved, Elizabeth was so confounded that she hastily left the place, +saying no word in response. This attack had been so violent, so deadly, +that she had seemed unnerved, and forbore to command him to the Tower or +to death. + +"You, in whose breast love never stirred, deny the right to others whom +God blessed with it," he cried. "Envious of mortal happiness that dare +exist outside your will or gift, you sunder and destroy. You, in whose +hands was power to give joy, gave death. What you have sown you shall +reap. Here on this spot I charge you with high treason, with treachery +to the people over whom you have power as a trust, which trust you have +made a scourge." + +With such words as these he had assailed her, and for the first time in +her life she had been confounded. In safety he had left the place, and +taken his way to Italy, from which he had never returned, though she +had sent for him in kindness. Since that day Elizabeth had never come +hither; and by-and-by none of her Court came save the Duke's Daughter, +and her fool, who both made it their resort. Here the fool came upon the +Friday before Trinity Day, bringing with him Lempriere and Buonespoir, +to whom he had much attached himself. + +It was a day of light and warmth, and the place was like a basket of +roses. Having seen the two serving-men dispose, in a convenient place, +the refreshment which Lempriere's appetite compelled, the fool took +command of the occasion and made the two sit upon a bank, while he +prepared the repast. + +Strangest of the notable trio was the dwarfish fool with his shaggy +black head, twisted mouth, and watchful, wandering eye, whose +foolishness was but the flaunting cover of shrewd observation and +trenchant vision. Going where he would, and saying what he listed, +now in the Queen's inner chamber, then in the midst of the Council, +unconsidered, and the butt of all, he paid for his bed and bounty by +shooting shafts of foolery which as often made his listeners shrink +as caused their laughter. The Queen he called Delicio, and Leicester, +Obligato--as one who piped to another's dance. He had taken to +Buonespoir at the first glance, and had frequented him, and Lempriere +had presently been added to his favour. He had again and again been +messenger between them, as also of late between Angele and Michel, whose +case he viewed from a stand-point of great cheerfulness, and treated +them as children playing on the sands--as, indeed, he did the Queen and +all near to her. But Buonespoir, the pirate, was to him reality and the +actual, and he called him Bono Publico. At first Lempriere, ever +jealous of his importance, was inclined to treat him with elephantine +condescension; but he could not long hold out against the boon archness +of the jester, and he collapsed suddenly into as close a friendship as +that between himself and Buonespoir. + +A rollicking spirt was his own fullest stock-in-trade, and it won him +like a brother. + +So it was that here, in the very bosom of the forest, lured by the pipe +the fool played, Lempriere burst forth into song, in one hand a bottle +of canary, in the other a handful of comfits: + + "Duke William was a Norman + (Spread the sail to the breeze!) + That did to England ride; + At Hastings by the Channel + (Drink the wine to the lees!) + Our Harold the Saxon died. + If there be no cakes from Normandy, + There'll be more ale in England!" + +"Well sung, nobility, and well said," cried Buonespoir, with a rose by +the stem in his mouth, one hand beating time to the music, the other +clutching a flagon of muscadella; "for the Normans are kings in England, +and there's drink in plenty at the Court of our Lady Duchess." + +"Delicio shall never want while I have a penny of hers to spend," quoth +the fool, feeling for another tune. "Should conspirators prevail, and +the damnedest be, she hath yet the Manor of Rozel and my larder," urged +Lempriere, with a splutter through the canary. + +"That shall be only when the Fifth wind comes--it is so ordained, +Nuncio!" said the fool blinking. Buonespoir set down his flagon. "And +what wind is the Fifth wind?" he asked, scratching his bullethead, his +child-like, widespread eyes smiling the question. + +"There be now four winds--the North wind and his sisters, the East, the +West, and South. When God sends a Fifth wind, then conspirators shall +wear crowns. Till then Delicio shall sow and I shall reap, as is +Heaven's will." + +Lempriere lay back and roared with laughter. "Before Belial, there never +was such another as thou, fool. Conspirators shall die and not prevail, +for a man may not marry his sister, and the North wind shall have no +progeny. So there shall be no Fifth wind." + +"Proved, proved," cried the fool. "The North wind shall go whistle for a +mate--there shall be no Fifth wind. So, Delicio shall still sail by the +compass, and shall still compass all, and yet be compassed by none; for +it is written, Who compasseth Delicio existeth not." + +Buonespoir watched a lark soaring, as though its flight might lead +him through the fool's argument clearly. Lempriere closed his eye, and +struggled with it, his lips outpursed, his head sunk on his breast. +Suddenly his eyes opened, he brought the bottle of canary down with +a thud on the turf. "'Fore Michael and all angels, I have it, fool; +I travel, I conceive. De Carteret of St. Ouen's must have gone to the +block ere conceiving so. I must conceive thus of the argument. He who +compasseth the Queen existeth not, for compassing, he dieth." + +"So it is by the hour-glass and the fortune told in the porringer. You +have conceived like a man, Nuncio." + +"And conspirators, I conceive, must die, so long as there be honest men +to slay them," rejoined the Seigneur. + +"Must only honest men slay conspirators? Oh, Shadrach, Meshach, and +Abednego!" wheezed Buonespoir with a grin. He placed his hand upon +his head in self-pity. "Buonespoir, art thou damned by muscadella?" he +murmured. + +"But thou art purged of the past, Bono Publico," answered the fool. +"Since Delicio hath looked upon thee she hath shredded the Tyburn lien +upon thee--thou art flushed like a mountain spring; and conspirators +shall fall down by thee if thou, passant, dost fall by conspirators +in the way. Bono Publico, thou shalt live by good company. Henceforth +contraband shall be spurned and the book of grace opened." + +Buonespoir's eyes laughed like a summer sky, but he scratched his head +and turned over the rose-stem in his mouth reflectively. "So be it, +then, if it must be; but yesterday the Devon sea-sweeper, Francis Drake, +overhauled me in my cottage, coming from the Queen, who had infused +him of me. 'I have heard of you from a high masthead,' said he. 'If the +Spanish main allure you, come with me. There be galleons yonder still; +they shall cough up doubloons.' 'It hath a sound of piracy,' said I. +'I am expurgated. My name is written on clean paper now, blessed be the +name of the Queen!' 'Tut, tut, Buonesperado,' laughed he, 'you shall +forget that Tyburn is not a fable if you care to have doubloons reminted +at the Queen's mint. It is meet Spanish Philip's head be molted to +oblivion, and Elizabeth's raised, so that good silver be purged of +Popish alloy.' But that I had sworn by the little finger of St. Peter +when the moon was full, never to leave the English seas, I also would +have gone with Drake of Devon this day. It is a man and a master of men +that Drake of Devon." + +"'Tis said that when a man hath naught left but life, and hath treated +his honour like a poor relation, he goes to the Spanish main with Drake +and Grenville," said Lempriere. + +"Then must Obligato go, for he hath such credentials," said the fool, +blowing thistle-down in the air. "Yesterday was no Palm Sunday to +Leicester. Delicio's head was high. 'Imperial Majesty,' quoth Obligato, +his knees upon the rushes, 'take my life but send me not forth into +darkness where I shall see my Queen no more. By the light of my Queen's +eyes have I walked, and pains of hell are my Queen's displeasure.' +'Methinks thy humbleness is tardy,' quoth Delicio. 'No cock shall crow +by my nest,' said she. 'And, by the mantle of Elijah, I am out with sour +faces and men of phlegm and rheum. I will be gay once more. So get thee +gone to Kenilworth, and stray not from it on thy peril. Take thy malaise +with thee, and I shall laugh again.' Behold he goeth. So that was the +end of Obligato, and now cometh another tune." + +"She hath good cheer?" asked Lempriere eagerly. "I have never seen +Delicio smile these seven years as she smiled to-day; and when she +kissed Amicitia I sent for my confessor and made my will. Delicio hath +come to spring-time, and the voice of the turtle is in her ear." + +"Amicitia--and who is Amicitia?" asked Lempriere, well flushed with +wine. + +"She who hath brought Obligato to the diminuendo and finale," answered +the fool; "even she who hath befriended the Huguenottine of the black +eyes." + +"Ah, she, the Duke's Daughter--v'la, that is a flower of a lady! Did +she not say that my jerkin fitted neatly when I did act as butler to her +adorable Majesty three months syne? She hath no mate in the world save +Mademoiselle Aubert, whom I brought hither to honour and to fame." + +"To honour and fame, was it--but by the hill of desperandum, Nuncio," +said the fool, prodding him with his stick of bells. + +"'Desperandum'! I know not Latin; it amazes me," said Lempriere, waving +a lofty hand. + +"She--the Huguenottine--was a-mazed also, and from the maze was played +by Obligato." + +"How so! how so!" cried the Seigneur, catching at his meaning. "Did +Leicester waylay and siege? 'Sblood, had I known this, I'd have broached +him and swallowed him even on crutches." + +"She made him raise the siege, she turned his own guns upon him, and in +the end hath driven him hence." By rough questioning Lempriere got from +the fool by snatches the story of the meeting in the maze, which had +left Leicester standing with the jester's ribboned bells in his hand. +Then the Seigneur got to his feet, and hugged the fool, bubbling with +laughter. + +"By all the blood of all the saints, I will give thee burial in my +own grave when all's done," he spluttered; "for there never was such +fooling, never such a wise fool come since Confucius and the Khan. Good +be with you, fool, and thanks be for such a lady. Thanks be also for the +Duke's Daughter. Ah, how she laid Leicester out! She washed him up the +shore like behemoth, and left him gaping." + +Buonespoir intervened. "And what shall come of it? What shall be the +end? The Honeyflower lies at anchor--there be three good men in waiting, +Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and--" + +The Seigneur interrupted. "There's little longer waiting. All's well! +Her high hereditary Majesty smiled on me when she gave Leicester conge +and fiery quittance. She hath me in favour, and all shall be well with +Michel and Angele. O fool, fool, fantastic and flavoured fool, sing me +a song of good content, for if this business ends not with crescendo and +bell-ringing, I am no butler to the Queen nor keep good company!" + +Seating themselves upon the mossy bank, their backs to the westward sun, +the fool peered into the green shadows and sang with a soft melancholy +an ancient song that another fool had sung to the first Tudor: + + "When blows the wind and drives the sleet, + And all the trees droop down; + When all the world is sad, + 'tis meet Good company be known: + And in my heart good company + Sits by the fire and sings to me. + + "When warriors return, and one + That went returns no more; + When dusty is the road we run, + And garners have no store; + One ingle-nook right warm shall be + Where my heart hath good company. + + "When man shall flee and woman fail, + And folly mock and hope deceive, + Let cowards beat the breast and wail, + I'll homeward hie; I will not grieve: + I'll draw the blind, I'll there set free + My heart's beloved boon company. + + "When kings shall favour, ladies call + My service to their side; + When roses grow upon the wall + Of life, with love inside; + I'll get me home with joy to be + In my heart's own good company!" + +"Oh, fool, oh, beneficent fool, well done! 'Tis a song for a +man--'twould shame De Carteret of St. Ouen's to his knees," cried +Lempriere. + +"Oh, benignant fool, well done! 'twould draw me from my meals," said a +voice behind the three; and, turning hastily about, they saw, smiling +and applausive, the Duke's Daughter. Beside her was Angele. + +The three got to their feet, and each made obeisance after his +kind-Buonespoir ducking awkwardly, his blue eyes bulging with pleasure, +Lempriere swelling with vanity and spreading wide acknowledgment of +their presence, the fool condescending a wave of welcome. "Oh! abundant +Amicitia!" cried the fool to the Duke's Daughter, "thou art saved by so +doing. So get thee to thanksgiving and God's mercy." + +"Wherefore am I saved by being drawn from my meals by thy music, fool?" +she asked, linking her arm in Angele's. + +"Because thou art more enamoured of lampreys than of man; and it is +written that thou shalt love thy fellow man, and he that loveth not is +lost: therefore thou art lost if thou lingerest at meals." + +"Is it so, then? And this lady--what thinkest thou? Must she also +abstain and seek good company?" + +"No, verily, Amicitia, for she is good company itself, and so she may +sleep in the larder and have no fear." + +"And what think you--shall she be happy? Shall she have gifts of fate?" + +"Discriminately so, Amicitia. She shall have souvenirs and no suspicions +of Fate. But she shall not linger here, for all lingerers in Delicio's +Court are spied upon--not for their soul's good. She shall go hence, +and--" + +"Ay, princely lady, she shall go hence," interposed Lempriere, who had +panted to speak, and could bear silence no longer. "Her high Majesty +will kiss her on the brow, and in Jersey Isle she shall blossom +and bloom and know bounty--or never more shall I have privilege and +perquage." + +He lumbered forward and kissed Angele's hand as though conferring +distinction, but with great generosity. "I said that all should go well, +and so it shall. Rozel shall prevail. The Queen knows on what rock to +build, as I made warrant for her, and will still do so." + +His vanity was incorrigible, but through it ran so child-like a spirit +that it bred friendship and repulsed not. The Duke's Daughter pressed +the arm of Angele, who replied: + +"Indeed it has been so according to your word, and we are--I am--shall +ever be beholden. In storm you have been with us, so true a pilot and so +brave a sailor; and if we come to port and the quiet shore, there shall +be spread a feast of remembrance which shall never grow cold, Seigneur." + + "One ingle-nook right warm shall be + Where my heart hath good company," + +sang the fool, and catching by the arm Buonespoir, who ducked his head +in farewell, ran him into the greenwood. Angele came forward as if to +stay Buonespoir, but stopped short reflectively. As she did so, the +Duke's Daughter whispered quickly into Lempriere's ear. + +Swelling with pride he nodded, and said: "I will reach him and discover +myself to him, and bring him, if he stray, most undoubted and infallible +lady," and with an air of mystery he made a heavily respectful exit. + +Left alone, the two ladies seated themselves in the bower of roses, and +for a moment were silent. Presently the Duke's Daughter laughed aloud. + +"In what seas of dear conceit swims your leviathan Seigneur, +heart's-ease?" + +Angele stole a hand into the cool palm of the other. "He was builded for +some lonely sea all his own. Creation cheated him. But God give me ever +such friends as he, and I shall indeed 'have good company' and fear no +issue." She sighed. + +"Remains there still a fear? Did you not have good promise in the +Queen's words that night?" + +"Ay, so it seemed, and so it seemed before--on May Day, and yet--" + +"And yet she banished you, and tried you, and kept you heart-sick? +Sweet, know you not how bitter a thing it is to owe a debt of love to +one whom we have injured? So it was with her. The Queen is not a saint, +but very woman. Marriage she hath ever contemned and hated; men she hath +desired to keep her faithful and impassioned servitors. So does power +blind us. And the braver the man, the more she would have him in her +service, at her feet, the centre of the world." + +"I had served her in a crisis, an hour of peril. Was naught due me?" + +The Duke's Daughter drew her close. "She never meant but that all should +be well. And because you had fastened on her feelings as never I have +seen another of your sex, so for the moment she resented it; and because +De la Foret was yours--ah, if you had each been naught to the other, how +easy it would have run! Do you not understand?" + +"Nay, then, and yea, then--and I put it from me. See, am I not happy +now? Upon your friendship I build." + +"Sweet, I did what I could. Leicester filled her ears with poison every +day, mixed up your business and great affairs with France, sought +to convey that you both were not what you are; until at last I +countermarched him." She laughed merrily. "Ay, I can laugh now, but it +was all hanging by a thread, when my leech sent his letter that brought +you to the palace. It had grieved me that I might not seek you, or +write to you in all those sad days; but the only way to save you was by +keeping the Queen's command; for she had known of Leicester's visits to +you, of your meeting in the maze, and she was set upon it that alone, +all alone, you should be tried to the last vestige of your strength. If +you had failed--" + +"If I had failed--" Angele closed her eyes and shuddered. "I had not +cared for myself, but Michel--" + +"If you had failed, there had been no need to grieve for Michel. He then +had not grieved for thee. But see, the wind blows fair, and in my heart +I have no fear of the end. You shall go hence in peace. This morning the +Queen was happier than I have seen her these many years: a light was in +her eye brighter than showeth to the Court. She talked of this place, +recalled the hours spent here, spoke even softly of Leicester. And that +gives me warrant for the future. She has relief in his banishment, and +only recalls older and happier days when, if her cares were no greater, +they were borne by the buoyancy of girlhood and youth. Of days spent +here she talked until mine own eyes went blind. She said it was a place +for lovers, and if she knew any two lovers who were true lovers, and had +been long parted, she would send them here." + +"There be two true lovers, and they have been long parted," murmured +Angele. + +"But she commanded these lovers not to meet till Trinity Day, and she +brooks not disobedience even in herself. How could she disobey her own +commands? But"--her eyes were on the greenwood and the path that led +into the circle--"but she would shut her eyes to-day, and let the world +move on without her, let lovers thrive, and birds be nesting without +heed or hap. Disobedience shall thrive when the Queen connives at +it--and so I leave you to your disobedience, sweet." + +With a laugh she sprang to her feet, and ran. Amazed and bewildered +Angele gazed after her. As she stood looking she heard her name called +softly. + +Turning, she saw Michel. They were alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +When De la Foret and Angele saw the Queen again it was in the royal +chapel. + +Perhaps the longest five minutes of M. de la Foret's life were those in +which he waited the coming of the Queen on that Trinity Sunday which +was to decide his fate. When he saw Elizabeth enter the chapel his eyes +swam, till the sight of them was lost in the blur of colour made by +the motions of gorgeously apparelled courtiers and the people of the +household. When the Queen had taken her seat and all was quiet, he +struggled with himself to put on such a front of simple boldness as he +would wear upon day of battle. The sword the Queen had given him was at +his side, and his garb was still that of a gentleman, not of a Huguenot +minister such as Elizabeth in her grim humour, and to satisfy her bond +with France, would make of him this day. + +The brown of his face had paled in the weeks spent in the palace and +in waiting for this hour; anxiety had toned the ruddy vigour of his +bearing; but his figure was the figure of a soldier, and his hand that +of a strong man. He shook a little as he bowed to her Majesty, but that +passed, and when at last his eye met that of the Duke's Daughter he +grew steady; for she gave him as plainly as though her tongue spoke, a +message from Angele. Angele herself he did not see--she was kneeling +in an obscure corner, her father's hand in hers, all the passion of her +life pouring out in prayer. + +De la Foret drew himself up with an iron will. No nobler figure of a +man ever essayed to preach the Word, and so Elizabeth thought; and she +repented of the bitter humour which had set this trial as his chance +of life in England and his freedom from the hand of Catherine. The man +bulked larger in her eyes than he had ever done, and she struggled with +herself to keep the vow she had made to the Duke's Daughter the night +that Angele had been found in De la Foret's rooms. He had been the +immediate cause, fated or accidental, of the destined breach between +Leicester and herself; he had played a significant part in her own life. +Glancing at her courtiers, she saw that none might compare with him, the +form and being of calm boldness and courage. She sighed she knew scarce +why. + +When De la Foret first opened his mouth and essayed to call the +worshippers to prayer, no words came forth--only a dry whisper. Some +ladies simpered, and more than one courtier laughed silently. Michel +saw, and his face flamed up. But he laid a hand on himself, and a moment +afterwards his voice came forth, clear, musical, and resonant, speaking +simple words, direct and unlacquered sentences, passionately earnest +withal. He stilled the people to a unison of sentiment, none the less +interested and absorbed because it was known that he had been the cause +of the great breach between the Queen and the favourite. Ere he had +spoken far, flippant gallants had ceased to flutter handkerchiefs, to +move their swords idly upon the floor. + +He took for his text: "Stand and search for the old paths." The +beginning of all systems of religion, the coming of the Nazarene, the +rise and growth of Christianity, the martyrdoms of the early church, the +invasion of the truth by false doctrine, the abuses of the Church, the +Reformation, the martyrdom of the Huguenots for the return to the early +principles of Christianity, the "search for the old paths," he set forth +in a tone generous but not fiery, presently powerful and searching, yet +not declamatory. At the last he raised the sword that hung by his side, +and the Book that lay before him, and said: + +"And what matter which it is we wield--this steel that strikes for +God, or this Book which speaks of Him? For the Book is the sword of the +Spirit, and the sword is the life of humanity; for all faith must +be fought for, and all that is has been won by strife. But the paths +wherein ye go to battle must be the old paths; your sword shall be your +staff by day, and the Book your lantern by night. That which ye love ye +shall teach, and that which ye teach ye shall defend; and if your love +be a true love your teaching shall be a great teaching, and your sword +a strong sword which none may withstand. It shall be the pride of +sovereign and of people; and so neither 'height, nor depth, nor any +other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.'" + +Ere he had ended, some of the ladies were overcome, the eyes of the +Duke's Daughter were full of tears, and Elizabeth said audibly, when he +ceased speaking: "On my soul, I have no bishop with a tongue like his. +Would that my Lord of Ely were here to learn how truth should be spoke. +Henceforth my bishops shall first be Camisards." + +Of that hour's joyful business the Queen wrote thus to the Medici before +the day was done: + +Cancelling all other letters on the matter, this M. de la Foret shall +stay in my kingdom. I may not be the headsman of one of my faith--as +eloquent a preacher as he was a brave soldier. Abiding by the strict +terms of our treaty with my brother of France, he shall stay with us in +peace, and in our own care. He hath not the eloquence of a Knox, but he +hath the true thing in him, and that speaks. + +To the Duke's Daughter the Queen said: "On my soul, he shall be married +instantly, or my ladies will carry him off and murder him for love." + +And so it was that the heart of Elizabeth the Queen warmed again and +dearly towards two Huguenot exiles, and showed that in doing justice +she also had not so sour a heart towards her sex as was set down to +her credit. Yet she made one further effort to keep De la Foret in her +service. When Michel, once again, declined, dwelt earnestly on his duty +towards the widow of his dead chief, and begged leave to share her exile +in Jersey, Elizabeth said: "On my soul, but I did not think there was +any man on earth so careless of princes' honours!" + +To this De la Foret replied that he had given his heart and life to one +cause, and since Montgomery had lost all, even life, the least Michel +de la Foret could do was to see that the woman who loved him be not +unprotected in the world. Also, since he might not at this present +fight for the cause, he could speak for it; and he thanked the Queen +of England for having shown him his duty. All that he desired was to be +quiet for a space somewhere in "her high Majesty's good realm," till his +way was clear to him. + +"You would return to Jersey, then, with our friend of Rozel?" Elizabeth +said, with a gesture towards Lempriere, who, now recovered from his +wound, was present at the audience. + +De la Foret inclined his head. "If it be your high Majesty's pleasure." + +And Lempriere of Rozel said: "He would return with myself your noble +Majesty's friend before all the world, and Buonespoir his ship the +Honeyflower." + +Elizabeth's lips parted in a smile, for she was warmed with the luxury +of doing good, and she answered: + +"I know not what the end of this will be, whether our loyal Lempriere +will become a pirate or Buonespoir a butler to my Court; but it is too +pretty a hazard to forego in a world of chance. By the rood, but I have +never, since I sat on my father's throne, seen black so white as I have +done this past three months. You shall have your Buonespoir, good Rozel; +but if he plays pirate any more--tell him this from his Queen--upon an +English ship, I will have his head, if I must needs send Drake of Devon +to overhaul him." + +That same hour the Queen sent for Angele, and by no leave, save her +own, arranged the wedding-day, and ordained that it should take place at +Southampton, whither the Comtesse de Montgomery had come on her way +to Greenwich to plead for the life of Michel de la Foret, and to beg +Elizabeth to relieve her poverty. Both of which things Elizabeth did, as +the annals of her life record. + +After Elizabeth--ever self-willed--had declared her way about the +marriage ceremony, looking for no reply save that of silent obedience, +she made Angele sit at her feet and tell her whole story again from +first to last. They were alone, and Elizabeth showed to this young +refugee more of her own heart than any other woman had ever seen. Not by +words alone, for she made no long story; but once she stooped and kissed +Angele upon the cheek, and once her eyes filled up with tears, and they +dropped upon her lap unheeded. All the devotion shown herself as a woman +had come to naught; and it may be that this thought stirred in her now. +She remembered how Leicester and herself had parted, and how she was +denied all those soft resources of regret which were the right of +the meanest women in her realm. For, whatever she might say to her +Parliament and people, she knew that all was too late--that she would +never marry and that she must go childless and uncomforted to her grave. +Years upon years of delusion of her people, of sacrifice to policy, had +at last become a self-delusion, to which her eyes were not full opened +yet--she sought to shut them tight. But these refugees, coming at the +moment of her own struggle, had changed her heart from an ever-growing +bitterness to human sympathy. When Angele had ended her tale once more, +the Queen said: + +"God knows, ye shall not linger in my Court. Such lives have no place +here. Get you back to my Isle of Jersey, where ye may live in peace. +Here all is noise, self-seeking and time-service. If ye twain are not +happy I will say the world should never have been made." + +Before they left Greenwich Palace--M. Aubert and Angele, De la Foret, +Lempriere, and Buonespoir--the Queen made Michel de la Foret the gift of +a chaplaincy to the Crown. To Monsieur Aubert she gave a small pension, +and in Angele's hands she placed a deed of dower worthy of a generosity +greater than her own. + +At Southampton, Michel and Angele were married by royal license, and +with the Comtesse de Montgomery set sail in Buonespoir's boat, the +Honeyflower, which brought them safe to St. Helier's, in the Isle of +Jersey. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Followed several happy years for Michel and Angele. The protection +of the Queen herself, the chaplaincy she had given De la Foret, the +friendship with the Governor of the island; and the boisterous tales +Lempriere had told of those days at Greenwich Palace quickened the +sympathy and held the interest of the people at large; while the simple +lives of the two won their way into the hearts of all, even, at last, to +that of De Carteret of St. Ouen's. It was Angele herself who brought the +two Seigneurs together at her own good table; and it needed all her tact +on that occasion to prevent the ancient foes from drinking all the wine +in her cellar. + +There was no parish in Jersey that did not know their goodness, but +mostly in the parishes of St. Martin's and Rozel were their faithful +labours done. From all parts of the island people came to hear Michel +speak, though that was but seldom; and when he spoke he always wore the +sword the Queen had given him, and used the Book he had studied in her +palace. It was to their home that Buonespoir the pirate--faithful to +his promise to the Queen that he would harry English ships no more came +wounded, after an engagement with a French boat sent to capture him, +carried thither by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It was there he +died, after having drunk a bottle of St. Ouen's muscadella, brought +secretly to him by his unchanging friend, Lempriere, so hastening the +end. + +The Comtesse de Montgomery, who lived in a cottage near by, came +constantly to the little house on the hillside by Rozel Bay. She had +never loved her own children more than she did the brown-haired child +with the deep-blue eyes, which was the one pledge of the great happiness +of Michel and Angele. + +Soon after this child was born, M. Aubert had been put to rest in St. +Martin's churchyard, and there his tombstone might be seen so late as +a hundred years ago. So things went softly by for seven years, and then +Madame de Montgomery journeyed to England, on invitation of the Queen +and to better fortune, and Angele and De la Foret were left to their +quiet life in Jersey. Sometimes this quiet was broken by bitter news +from France, of fresh persecution, and fresh struggle on the part of the +Huguenots. Thereafter for hours, sometimes for days, De la Foret would +be lost in sorrowful and restless meditation; and then he fretted +against his peaceful calling and his uneventful life. But the gracious +hand of his wife and the eyes of his child led him back to cheerful ways +again. + +Suddenly one day came the fearful news from England that the plague had +broken out, and that thousands were dying. The flight from London +was like the flight of the children of Israel into the desert. The +dead-carts filled with decaying bodies rattled through the foul streets, +to drop their horrid burdens into the great pit at Aldgate; the bells +of London tolled all day and all night for the passing of human souls. +Hundreds of homes, isolated because of a victim of the plague found +therein, became ghastly breeding-places of the disease, and then +silent, disgusting graves. If a man shivered in fear, or staggered from +weakness, or for very hunger turned sick, he was marked as a victim, and +despite his protests was huddled away with the real victims to die the +awful death. From every church, where clergy were left to pray, went up +the cry for salvation from "plague, pestilence, and famine." Scores of +ships from Holland and from France lay in the Channel, not allowed to +touch the shores of England, nor permitted to return whence they came. +On the very day that news of this reached Jersey, came a messenger from +the Queen of England for Michel de la Foret to hasten to her Court +for that she had need of him, and it was a need which would bring him +honour. Even as the young officer who brought the letter handed it to +De la Foret in the little house on the hill-side above Rozel Bay, he was +taken suddenly ill, and fell at the Camisard's feet. + +De la Foret straightway raised him in his arms. He called to his wife, +but, bidding her not come near, he bore the doomed man away to the +lonely Ecrehos Rocks lying within sight of their own doorway. Suffering +no one to accompany him, he carried the sick man to the boat which had +brought the Queen's messenger to Rozel Bay. The sailors of the vessel +fled, and alone De la Foret set sail for the Ecrehos. + +There upon the black rocks the young man died, and Michel buried him in +the shore-bed of the Maitre Ile. Then, after two days--for he could bear +suspense no longer--he set sail for Jersey. Upon that journey there +is no need to dwell. Any that hath ever loved a woman and a child must +understand. A deep fear held him all the way, and when he stepped on +shore at Rozel Bay he was as one who had come from the grave, haggard +and old. + +Hurrying up the hillside to his doorway, he called aloud to his wife, to +his child. Throwing open the door, he burst in. His dead child lay upon +a couch, and near by, sitting in a chair, with the sweat of the dying on +her brow, was Angele. As he dropped on his knee beside her, she smiled +and raised her hand as if to touch him, but the hand dropped and the +head fell forward on his breast. She was gone into a greater peace. + +Once more Michel made a journey-alone--to the Ecrehos, and there, under +the ruins of the old Abbey of Val Richer, he buried the twain he had +loved. Not once in all the terrible hours had he shed a tear; not once +had his hand trembled; his face was like stone, and his eyes burned with +an unearthly light. + +He did not pray beside the graves; but he knelt and kissed the earth +again and again. He had doffed his robes of peace, and now wore the +garb of a soldier, armed at all points fully. Rising from his knees, he +turned his face towards Jersey. + +"Only mine! Only mine!" he said aloud in a dry, bitter voice. + +In the whole island, only his loved ones had died of the plague. The +holiness and charity and love of Michel and Angele had ended so! + +When once more he set forth upon the Channel, he turned his back on +Jersey and shaped his course towards France, having sent Elizabeth his +last excuses for declining a service which would have given him honour, +fame and regard. He was bent upon a higher duty. + +Not long did he wait for the death he craved. Next year, in a Huguenot +sortie from Anvers, he was slain. He died with these words on his lips: + +"Maintenant, Angele!" + +In due time the island people forgot them both, but the Seigneur of +Rozel caused a stone to be set up on the highest point of land that +faces France, and on the stone were carved the names of Michel and +Angele. Having done much hard service for his country and for England's +Queen, Lempriere at length hung up his sword and gave his years to +peace. From the Manor of Rozel he was wont to repair constantly to the +little white house, which remained as the two had left it,--his own by +order of the Queen,--and there, as time went on, he spent most of his +days. To the last he roared with laughter if ever the name of Buonespoir +was mentioned in his presence; he swaggered ever before the Royal Court +and De Carteret of St. Ouen's; and he spoke proudly of his friendship +with the Duke's Daughter, who had admired the cut of his jerkin at the +Court of Elizabeth. But in the house where Angele had lived he moved +about as though in the presence of a beloved sleeper he would not awake. + +Michel and Angele had had their few years of exquisite life and love, +and had gone; Lempriere had longer measure of life and little love, and +who shall say which had more profit of breath and being? The generations +have passed away, and the Angel of Equity hath a smiling pity as she +scans the scales and the weighing of the Past. + + + ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + + Boldness without rashness, and hope without vain thinking + Each of us will prove himself a fool given perfect opportunity + Never believed that when man or woman said no that no was meant + No note of praise could be pitched too high for Elizabeth + Nothing is futile that is right + Religion to him was a dull recreation invented chiefly for women + She had never stooped to conquer + Slander ever scorches where it touches + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Michel and Angele [A Ladder of +Swords], Complete, by Gilbert Parker + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHEL AND ANGELE *** + +***** This file should be named 6253.txt or 6253.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/5/6253/ + +Produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: Michel and Angele [A Ladder of Swords], Complete + +Author: Gilbert Parker + +Release Date: August, 2004 [EBook #6253] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 31, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHEL AND ANGELE, COMPLETE *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +MICHEL AND ANGELE, Complete + +[A Ladder of Swords] + +By Gilbert Parker + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +If it does not seem too childish a candour to say so, 'Michel and Angele' +always seems to me like some old letter lifted out of an ancient cabinet +with the faint perfume of bygone days upon it. Perhaps that is because +the story itself had its origin in a true but brief record of some good +Huguenots who fled from France and took refuge in England, to be found, +as the book declares, at the Walloon Church, in Southampton. + +The record in the first paragraphs of the first chapter of the book +fascinated my imagination, and I wove round Michel de la Foret and Angele +Aubert a soft, bright cloud of romance which would not leave my vision +until I sat down and wrote out what, in the writing, seemed to me a true +history. It was as though some telepathy between the days of Elizabeth +and our own controlled me--self-hypnotism, I suppose; but still, there it +was. The story, in its original form, was first published in 'Harper's +Weekly' under the name of Michel and Angele, but the fear, I think, that +many people would mispronounce the first word of the title, induced me to +change it when, double in length, it became a volume called 'A Ladder of +Swords'. + +As it originally appeared, I wrote it in the Island of Jersey, out at the +little Bay of Rozel in a house called La Chaire, a few yards away from +the bay itself, and having a pretty garden with a seat at its highest +point, from which, beyond the little bay, the English Channel ran away to +the Atlantic. It was written in complete seclusion. I had no visitors; +there was no one near, indeed, except the landlord of the little hotel in +the bay, and his wife. All through the Island, however, were people whom +I knew, like the Malet de Carterets, the Lemprieres, and old General +Pipon, for whom the Jersey of three hundred years ago was as near as the +Jersey of to-day, so do the Jersiais prize, cultivate, and conserve every +hour of its recorded history. + +As the sea opens out to a vessel making between the promontories to the +main, so, while writing this tale which originally was short, the larger +scheme of 'The Battle of the Strong' spread out before me, luring me, as +though in the distance were the Fortunate Isles. Eight years after +'Michel and Angele' was written and first published in 'Harper's Weekly', +I decided to give it the dignity of a full-grown romance. For years I +had felt that it had the essentials for a larger canvas, and at the +earnest solicitation of Messrs. Harper & Brothers I settled to do what +had long been in my mind. The narrative grew as naturally from what it +was to larger stature as anything that had been devised upon a greater +scale at the beginning; and in London town I had the same joy in the +company of Michel and Angele--and a vastly increased joy in the company +of Lempriere, the hulking, joyous giant--as I had years before in Jersey +itself when the story first stirred in my mind and reached my pen. + +While adverse reviews of the book were few if any, it cannot be said that +this romance is a companion in popularity with, for instance, 'The Right +of Way'. It had its friends, but it has apparently appealed to smaller +audiences--to those who watch the world go by; who are not searching for +the exposure of life's grim realities; who do not seek the clinic of the +soul's tragedies. There was tragedy here, but there was comedy too; +there was also joy and faith, patience and courage. The book, taken by +itself, could not make a permanent reputation for any man, but it has its +place in the scheme of my work, and I would not have it otherwise than it +is. + + + + +A NOTE + +There will be found a few anachronisms in this tale, but none so +important as to give a wrong impression of the events of Queen +Elizabeth's reign. + + + + +MICHEL AND ANGELE + +CHAPTER I + +If you go to Southampton and search the register of the Walloon Church +there, you will find that in the summer of 157_, + + "Madame Vefue de Montgomery with all her family and servants were + admitted to the Communion"--"Tous ceux cj furent Recus la a Cene du + 157_, comme passans, sans avoir Rendu Raison de la foj, mes sur la + tesmognage de Mons. Forest, Ministre de Madame, quj certifia quj ne + cognoisoit Rien en tout ceux la po' quoy Il ne leur deust administre + la Cene s'il estoit en lieu po' a ferre." + +There is another striking record, which says that in August of the same +year Demoiselle Angele Claude Aubert, daughter of Monsieur de la Haie +Aubert, Councillor of the Parliament of Rouen, was married to Michel de +la Foret, of the most noble Flemish family of that name. + +When I first saw these records, now grown dim with time, I fell to +wondering what was the real life-history of these two people. Forthwith, +in imagination, I began to make their story piece by piece; and I had +reached a romantic 'denoument' satisfactory to myself and in sympathy +with fact, when the Angel of Accident stepped forward with some "human +documents." Then I found that my tale, woven back from the two obscure +records I have given, was the true story of two most unhappy yet most +happy people. From the note struck in my mind, when my finger touched +that sorrowful page in the register of the Church of the Refugees at +Southampton, had spread out the whole melody and the very book of the +song. + +One of the later-discovered records was a letter, tear-stained, faded, +beautifully written in old French, from Demoiselle Angele Claude Aubert +to Michel de la Foret at Anvers in March of the year 157_. The letter +lies beside me as I write, and I can scarcely believe that three and a +quarter centuries have passed since it was written, and that she who +wrote it was but eighteen years old at the time. I translate it into +English, though it is impossible adequately to carry over either the +flavour or the idiom of the language: + + Written on this May Day of the year 157_, at the place hight Rozel + in the Manor called of the same of Jersey Isle, to Michel de la + Foret, at Anvers in Flanders. + + MICHEL, Thy good letter by safe carriage cometh to my hand, bringing + to my heart a lightness it hath not known since that day when I was + hastily carried to the port of St. Malo, and thou towards the King + his prison. In what great fear have I lived, having no news of thee + and fearing all manner of mischance! But our God hath benignly + saved thee from death, and me He hath set safely here in this isle + of the sea. + + Thou hast ever been a brave soldier, enduring and not fearing; thou + shalt find enow to keep thy blood stirring in these days of trial + and peril to us who are so opprobriously called Les Huguenots. If + thou wouldst know more of my mind thereupon, come hither. Safety is + here, and work for thee--smugglers and pirates do abound on these + coasts, and Popish wolves do harry the flock even in this island + province of England. Michel, I plead for the cause which thou hast + nobly espoused, but--alas! my selfish heart, where thou art lie work + and fighting, and the same high cause, and sadly, I confess, it is + for mine own happiness that I ask thee to come. I wot well that + escape from France hath peril, that the way hither from that point + upon yonder coast called Carteret is hazardous, but yet-but yet all + ways to happiness are set with hazard. + + If thou dost come to Carteret thou wilt see two lights turning this- + wards: one upon a headland called Tour de Rozel, and one upon the + great rock called of the Ecrehos. These will be in line with thy + sight by the sands of Hatainville. Near by the Tour de Rozel shall + I be watching and awaiting thee. By day and night doth my prayer + ascend for thee. + + The messenger who bears this to thee (a piratical knave with a most + kind heart, having, I am told, a wife in every port of France and of + England the south, a most heinous sin!) will wait for thy answer, or + will bring thee hither, which is still better. He is worthy of + trust if thou makest him swear by the little finger of St. Peter. + By all other swearings he doth deceive freely. + + The Lord make thee true, Michel. If thou art faithful to me, I + shall know how faithful thou art in all; for thy vows to me were + most frequent and pronounced, with a full savour that might warrant + short seasoning. Yet, because thou mayst still be given to such + dear fantasies of truth as were on thy lips in those dark days + wherein thy sword saved my life 'twixt Paris and Rouen, I tell thee + now that I do love thee, and shall so love when, as my heart + inspires me, the cloud shall fall that will hide us from each other + forever. + + ANGELE. + + An Afterword: + + I doubt not we shall come to the heights where there is peace, + though we climb thereto by a ladder of swords. A. + + +Some years before Angele's letter was written, Michel de la Foret had +become an officer in the army of Comte Gabriel de Montgomery, and fought +with him until what time the great chief was besieged in the Castle of +Domfront in Normandy. When the siege grew desperate, Montgomery besought +the intrepid young Huguenot soldier to escort Madame de Montgomery to +England, to be safe from the oppression and misery sure to follow any +mishap to this noble leader of the Camisards. + +At the very moment of departure of the refugees from Domfront with the +Comtesse, Angele's messenger--the "piratical knave with the most kind +heart "presented himself, delivered her letter to De la Foret, and +proceeded with the party to the coast of Normandy by St. Brieuc. +Embarking there in a lugger which Buonespoir the pirate secured for them, +they made for England. + +Having come but half-way of the Channel, the lugger was stopped by an +English frigate. After much persuasion the captain of the frigate agreed +to land Madame de Montgomery upon the island of Jersey, but forced De la +Foret to return to the coast of France; and Buonespoir elected to return +with him. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Meanwhile Angele had gone through many phases of alternate hope and +despair. She knew that Montgomery the Camisard was dead, and a rumour, +carried by refugees, reached her that De la Foret had been with him to +the end. To this was presently added the word that De la Foret had been +beheaded. But one day she learned that the Comtesse de Montgomery was +sheltered by the Governor, Sir Hugh Pawlett, her kinsman, at Mont Orgueil +Castle. Thither she went in fear from her refuge at Rozel, and was +admitted to the Comtesse. There she learned the joyful truth that De la +Foret had not been slain, and was in hiding on the coast of Normandy. + +The long waiting was a sore trial, yet laughter was often upon her lips +henceforth. The peasants, the farmers and fishermen of Jersey, at first +--as they have ever been--little inclined towards strangers, learned at +last to look for her in the fields and upon the shore, and laughed in +response, they knew not why, to the quick smiling of her eyes. She even +learned to speak their unmusical but friendly Norman-Jersey French. +There were at least a half-dozen fishermen who, for her, would have gone +at night straight to the Witches' Rock in St. Clement's Bay--and this was +bravery unmatched. + +It came to be known along the coast that "Ma'm'selle" was waiting for a +lover fleeing from the French coast. This gave her fresh interest in the +eyes of the serfs and sailors and their women folk, who at first were not +inclined towards the Huguenot maiden, partly because she was French, and +partly because she was not a Catholic. But even these, when they saw +that she never talked religiously, that she was fast learning to speak +their own homely patois, and that in the sickness of their children she +was untiring in her kindness, forgave the austerity of the gloomy-browed +old man her father, who spoke to them distantly, or never spoke at all; +and her position was secure. Then, upon the other hand, the gentry of +the manors, seeing the friendship grow between her and the Comtesse de +Montgomery at Mont Orgueil Castle, made courteous advances towards her +father, and towards herself through him. + +She could scarce have counted the number of times she climbed the great +hill like a fortress at the lift of the little bay of Rozel, and from the +Nez du Guet scanned the sea for a sail and the sky for fair weather. +When her eyes were not thus busy, they were searching the lee of the +hillside round for yellow lilies, and the valley below for the campion, +the daffodil, and the thousand pretty ferns growing in profusion there. +Every night she looked out to see that her signal fire was lit upon the +Nez du Guet, and she never went to bed without taking one last look over +the sea, in the restless inveterate hope which at once sustained her and +devoured her. + +But the longest waiting must end. It came on the evening of the very day +that the Seigneur of Rozel went to Angele's father and bluntly told him +he was ready to forego all Norman-Jersey prejudice against the French and +the Huguenot religion, and take Angele to wife without penny or estate. + +In reply to the Seigneur, Monsieur Aubert said that he was conscious of +an honour, and referred Monsieur to his daughter, who must answer for +herself; but he must tell Monsieur of Rozel that Monsieur's religion +would, in his own sight, be a high bar to the union. To that the +Seigneur said that no religion that he had could be a bar to anything at +all; and so long as the young lady could manage her household, drive a +good bargain with the craftsmen and hucksters, and have the handsomest +face and manners in the Channel Islands, he'd ask no more; and she might +pray for him and his salvation without let or hindrance. + +The Seigneur found the young lady in a little retreat among the rocks, +called by the natives La Chaire. Here she sat sewing upon some coarse +linen for a poor fisherwoman's babe when the Seigneur came near. She +heard the scrunch of his heels upon the gravel, the clank of his sword +upon the rocks, and looked up with a flush, her needle poised; for none +should know of her presence in this place save her father. When she saw +who was her visitor, she rose. After greeting and compliment, none too +finely put, but more generous than fitted with Jersey parsimony, the +gentleman of Rozel came at once to the point. + +"My name is none too bad," said he--"Raoul Lempriere, of the Lemprieres +that have been here since Rollo ruled in Normandy. My estate is none +worse than any in the whole islands; I have more horses and dogs than any +gentleman of my acres; and I am more in favour at court than De Carteret +of St. Ouen's. I am the Queen's butler, and I am the first that royal +favour granted to set up three dove-cotes, one by St. Aubin's, one by St. +Helier's, and one at Rozel: and--and," he added, with a lumbering attempt +at humour--"and, on my oath, I'll set up another dove-cote with out my +sovereign's favour, with your leave alone. By our Lady, I do love that +colour in yon cheek! Just such a colour had my mother when she snatched +from the head of my cousin of Carteret's milk-maid wife the bonnet of a +lady of quality and bade her get to her heifers. God's beauty! but 'tis +a colour of red primroses in thy cheeks and blue campions in thine eyes. +Come, I warrant I can deepen that colour"--he bowed low--"Madame of +Rozel, if it be not too soon!" + +The girl listened to this cheerful and loquacious proposal and courtship +all in one, ending with the premature bestowal of a title, in mingled +anger, amusement, disdain, and apprehension. Her heart fluttered, then +stood still, then flew up in her throat, then grew terribly hot and hurt +her, so that she pressed her hand to her bosom as though that might ease +it. By the time he had finished, drawn himself up, and struck his foot +upon the ground in burly emphasis of his devoted statements, the girl had +sufficiently recovered to answer him composedly, and with a little glint +of demure humour in her eyes. She loved another man; she did not care so +much as a spark for this happy, swearing, swashbuckling gentleman; yet +she saw he had meant to do her honour. He had treated her as courteously +as was in him to do; he chose her out from all the ladies of his +acquaintance to make her an honest offer of his hand--he had said nothing +about his heart; he would, should she marry him, throw her scraps of +good-humour, bearish tenderness, drink to her health among his fellows, +and respect and admire her--even exalt her almost to the rank of a man +in his own eyes; and he had the tolerance of the open-hearted and open- +handed man. All these things were as much a compliment to her as though +she were not a despised Huguenot, an exiled lady of no fortune. She +looked at him a moment with an almost solemn intensity, so that he +shifted his ground uneasily, but at once smiled encouragingly, to relieve +her embarrassment at the unexpected honour done her. She had remained +standing; now, as he made a step towards her, she sank down upon the +seat, and waved him back courteously. + +"A moment, Monsieur of Rozel," she ventured. "Did my father send you to +me?" + +He inclined his head and smiled again. + +"Did you say to him what you have said to me?" she asked, not quite +without a touch of malice. + +"I left out about the colour in the cheek," he answered, with a smirk at +what he took to be the quickness of his wit. + +"You kept your paint-pot for me," she replied softly. + +"And the dove-cote, too," he rejoined, bowing finely, and almost carried +off his feet by his own brilliance. She became serious at once--so +quickly that he was ill prepared for it, and could do little but stare +and pluck at the tassel of his sword; for he was embarrassed before this +maiden, who changed as quickly as the currents change under the brow of +the Couperon Cliff, behind which lay his manor-house of Rozel. + +"I have visited at your manor, Monsieur of Rozel. I have seen the state +in which you live, your retainers, your men-at-arms, your farming-folk, +and your sailormen. I know how your Queen receives you; how your honour +is as stable as your fief." + +He drew himself up again proudly. He could understand this speech. + +"Your horses and your hounds I have seen," she added, "your men-servants +and your maid-servants, your fields of corn, your orchards, and your +larder. I have sometimes broken the Commandment and coveted them and +envied you." + +"Break the Commandment again, for the last time," he cried, delighted and +boisterous. "Let us not waste words, lady. Let's kiss and have it +over." + +Her eyes flashed. "I coveted them and envied you; but then, I am but a +vain girl at times, and vanity is easier to me than humbleness." + +"Blood of man, but I cannot understand so various a creature!" he broke +in, again puzzled. + +"There is a little chapel in the dell beside your manor, Monsieur. If +you will go there, and get upon your knees, and pray till the candles no +more burn, and the Popish images crumble in their places, you will yet +never understand myself or any woman." + +"There's no question of Popish images between us," he answered, vainly +trying for foothold. "Pray as you please, and I'll see no harm comes to +the Mistress of Rozel." + +He was out of his bearings and impatient. Religion to him was a dull +recreation invented chiefly for women. She became plain enough now. +"'Tis no images nor religion that stands between us," she answered, +"though they might well do so. It is that I do not love you, Monsieur of +Rozel." + +His face, which had slowly clouded, suddenly cleared. "Love! Love!" He +laughed good-humouredly. "Love comes, I'm told, with marriage. But we +can do well enough without fugling on that pipe. Come, come, dost think +I'm not a proper man and a gentleman? Dost think I'll not use thee well +and 'fend thee, Huguenot though thou art, 'gainst trouble or fret or any +man's persecutions--be he my Lord Bishop, my Lord Chancellor, or King of +France, or any other?" + +She came a step closer to him, even as though she would lay a hand upon +his arm. "I believe that you would do all that in you lay," she answered +steadily. "Yours is a rough wooing, but it is honest--" + +"Rough! Rough!" he protested, for he thought he had behaved like some +Adonis. Was it not ten years only since he had been at Court! + +"Be assured, Monsieur, that I know how to prize the man who speaks after +the light given him. I know that you are a brave and valorous gentleman. +I must thank you most truly and heartily, but, Monsieur, you and yours +are not for me. Seek elsewhere, among your own people, in your own +religion and language and position, the Mistress of Rozel." + +He was dumfounded. Now he comprehended the plain fact that he had been +declined. + +"You send me packing!" he blurted out, getting red in the face. + +"Ah, no! Say it is my misfortune that I cannot give myself the great +honour," she said; in her tone a little disdainful dryness, a little +pity, a little feeling that here was a good friend lost. + +"It's not because of the French soldier that was with Montgomery at +Domfront?--I've heard that story. But he's gone to heaven, and 'tis vain +crying for last year's breath," he added, with proud philosophy. + +"He is not dead. And if he were," she added, "do you think, Monsieur, +that we should find it easier to cross the gulf between us?" + +"Tut, tut, that bugbear Love!" he said shortly. "And so you'd lose a +good friend for a dead lover? I' faith, I'd befriend thee well if thou +wert my wife, Ma'm'selle." + +"It is hard for those who need friends to lose them," she answered sadly. + +The sorrow of her position crept in upon her and filled her eyes with +tears. She turned them to the sea-instinctively towards that point on +the shore where she thought it likely Michel might be; as though by +looking she might find comfort and support in this hard hour. + +Even as she gazed into the soft afternoon light she could see, far over, +a little sail standing out towards the Ecrehos. Not once in six months +might the coast of France be seen so clearly. One might almost have +noted people walking on the beach. This was no good token, for when that +coast may be seen with great distinctness a storm follows hard after. +The girl knew this; and though she could not know that this was Michel de +la Foret's boat, the possibility fixed itself in her mind. She quickly +scanned the horizon. Yes, there in the north-west was gathering a dark- +blue haze, hanging like small filmy curtains in the sky. + +The Seigneur of Rozel presently broke the silence so awkward for him. +He had seen the tears in her eyes, and though he could not guess the +cause, he vaguely thought it might be due to his announcement that she +had lost a friend. He was magnanimous at once, and he meant what he said +and would stand by it through thick and thin. + +"Well, well, I'll be thy everlasting friend if not thy husband," he said +with ornate generosity. "Cheer thy heart, lady." + +With a sudden impulse she seized his hand and kissed it, and, turning, +ran swiftly down the rocks towards her home. + +He stood and looked after her, then, dumfounded, at the hand she had +kissed. + +"Blood of my heart!" he said, and shook his head in utter amazement. + +Then he turned and looked out upon the Channel. He saw the little boat +Angele had descried making from France. Glancing at the sky, "What fools +come there!" he said anxiously. + +They were Michel de la Foret and Buonespoir the pirate, in a black- +bellied cutter with red sails. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +For weeks De la Foret and Buonespoir had lain in hiding at St. Brieuc. +At last Buonespoir declared all was ready once again. He had secured for +the Camisard the passport and clothes of a priest who had but just died +at Granville. Once again they made the attempt to reach English soil. + +Standing out from Carteret on the Belle Suzanne, they steered for the +light upon the Marmotier Rocks of the Ecrehos, which Angele had paid a +fisherman to keep going every night. This light had caused the French +and English frigates some uneasiness, and they had patrolled the Channel +from Cap de la Hague to the Bay of St. Brieuc with a vigilance worthy of +a larger cause. One fine day an English frigate anchored off the +Ecrehos, and the fisherman was seized. He, poor man, swore that he kept +the light burning to guide his brother fishermen to and fro between +Boulay Bay and the Ecrehos. The captain of the frigate tried severities; +but the fisherman stuck to his tale, and the light burned on as before-- +a lantern stuck upon a pole. One day, with a telescope, Buonespoir had +seen the exact position of the staff supporting the light, and had mapped +out his course accordingly. He would head straight for the beacon and +pass between the Marmotier and the Maitre Ile, where is a narrow channel +for a boat drawing only a few feet of water. Unless he made this, he +must run south and skirt the Ecriviere Rock and bank, where the streams +setting over the sandy ridges make a confusing perilous sea to mariners +in bad weather. Else, he must sail north between the Ecrehos and the +Dirouilles, in the channel called Etoc, a tortuous and dangerous passage +save in good weather, and then safe only to the mariner who knows the +floor of that strait like his own hand. De la Foret was wholly in the +hands of Buonespoir, for he knew nothing of these waters and coasts; also +he was a soldier and no sailor. + +They cleared Cape Carteret with a fair wind from the north-east, which +should carry them safely as the bird flies to the haven of Rozel. The +high, pinkish sands of Hatainville were behind them; the treacherous +Taillepied Rocks lay to the north, and a sweet sea before. Nothing could +have seemed fairer and more hopeful. But a few old fishermen on shore at +Carteret shook their heads dubiously, and at Port Bail, some miles below, +a disabled naval officer, watching through a glass, rasped out, +"Criminals or fools!" But he shrugged his shoulders, for if they were +criminals he was sure they would expiate their crimes this night, and if +they were fools--he had no pity for fools. + +But Buonespoir knew his danger. Truth is, he had chosen this night +because they would be safest from pursuit, because no sensible seafaring +man, were he King's officer or another, would venture forth upon the +impish Channel, save to court disaster. Pirate, and soldier in priest's +garb, had frankly taken the chances. + +With a fair wind they might, with all canvas set--mainsail, foresail, +jib, and fore-topsail--make Rozel Bay within two hours and a quarter. +All seemed well for a brief half-hour. Then, even as the passage between +the Marmotier and the Ecrehos opened out, the wind suddenly shifted from +the north-east to the southwest and a squall came hurrying on them--a few +moments too soon; for, had they been clear of the Ecrehos, clear of the +Taillepieds, Felee Bank, and the Ecriviere, they could have stood out +towards the north in a more open sea. + +Yet there was one thing in their favour: the tide was now running hard +from the north-west, so fighting for them while the wind was against +them. Their only safety lay in getting beyond the Ecrehos. If they +attempted to run in to the Marmotier for safety, they would presently be +at the mercy of the French. To trust their doubtful fortunes and bear on +was the only way. The tide was running fast. They gave the mainsail to +the wind still more, and bore on towards the passage. At last, as they +were opening on it, the wind suddenly veered full north-east. The sails +flapped, the boat seemed to hover for a moment, and then a wave swept her +towards the rocks. Buonespoir put the helm hard over, she went about, +and they close-hauled her as she trembled towards the rocky opening. + +This was the critical instant. A heavy sea was running, the gale was +blowing hard from the north-east, and under the close-hauled sail the +Belle Suzanne was lying over dangerously. But the tide, too, was running +hard from the south, fighting the wind; and, at the moment when all +seemed terribly uncertain, swept them past the opening and into the +swift-running channel, where the indraught sucked them through to the +more open water beyond. + +Although the Belle Suzanne was in more open water now, the danger was not +over. Ahead lay a treacherous sea, around them roaring winds, and the +perilous coast of Jersey beyond all. + +"Do you think we shall land?" quietly asked De la Foret, nodding towards +the Jersey coast. + +"As many chances 'gainst it as for it, M'sieu'," said Buonespoir, turning +his face to the north, for the wind had veered again to north-east, and +he feared its passing to the north-west, giving them a head-wind and a +swooping sea. + +Night came down, but with a clear sky and a bright moon; the wind, +however, not abating. The next three hours were spent in tacking, in +beating towards the Jersey coast under seas which almost swamped them. +They were standing off about a mile from the island, and could see +lighted fires and groups of people upon the shore, when suddenly a gale +came out from the southwest, the wind having again shifted. With an +oath, Buonespoir put the helm hard over, the Belle Suzanne came about +quickly, but as the gale struck her, the mast snapped like a pencil, she +heeled over, and the two adventurers were engulfed in the waves. + +A cry of dismay went up from the watchers on the shore. They turned with +a half-conscious sympathy towards Angele, for her story was known by all, +and in her face they read her mortal fear, though she made no cry, but +only clasped her hands in agony. Her heart told her that yonder Michel +de la Foret was fighting for his life. For an instant only she stood, +the terror of death in her eyes, then she turned to the excited fishermen +near. + +"Men, oh men," she cried, "will you not save them? Will no one come with +me?" + +Some shook their heads sullenly, others appeared uncertain, but their +wives and children clung to them, and none stirred. Looking round +helplessly, Angele saw the tall figure of the Seigneur of Rozel. He had +been watching the scene for some time. Now he came quickly to her. + +"Is it the very man?" he asked her, jerking a finger towards the +struggling figures in the sea. + +"Yes, oh yes," she replied, nodding her head piteously. "God tells my +heart it is." + +Her father drew near and interposed. + +"Let us kneel and pray for two dying men," said he, and straightway knelt +upon the sand. + +"By St. Martin, we've better medicine than that, apothecary!" said +Lempriere of Rozel loudly, and, turning round, summoned two serving-men. +"Launch my strong boat," he added. "We will pick these gentlemen from +the brine, or know the end of it all." + +The men hurried gloomily to the long-boat, ran her down to the shore and +into the surf. + +"You are going--you are going to save him, dear Seigneur?" asked the +girl tremulously. + +"To save him--that's to be seen, mistress," answered Lempriere, and +advanced to the fishermen. By dint of hard words, and as hearty +encouragement and promises, he got a half-dozen strong sailors to man the +boat. + +A moment after, they were all in. At a motion from the Seigneur, the +boat was shot out into the surf, and a cheer from the shore gave heart to +De la Foret and Buonespoir, who were being driven upon the rocks. + +The Jerseymen rowed gallantly; and the Seigneur, to give them heart, +promised a shilling, a capon, and a gallon of beer to each, if the rescue +was made. Again and again the two men seemed to sink beneath the sea, +and again and again they came to the surface and battled further, torn, +battered, and bloody, but not beaten. Cries of "We're coming, gentles, +we're coming!" from the Seigneur of Rozel, came ringing through the surf +to the dulled ears of the drowning men, and they struggled on. + +There never was a more gallant rescue. Almost at their last gasp the two +were rescued. + +"Mistress Aubert sends you welcome, sir, if you be Michel de la Foret," +said Lempriere of Rozel, and offered the fugitive his horn of liquor as +he lay blown and beaten in the boat. + +"I am he," De la Foret answered. "I owe you my life, Monsieur," he +added. + +Lempriere laughed. "You owe it to the lady; and I doubt you can properly +pay the debt," he answered, with a toss of the head; for had not the lady +refused him, the Seigneur of Rozel, six feet six in height, and all else +in proportion, while this gentleman was scarce six feet. + +"We can have no quarrel upon the point," answered De la Foret, reaching +out his hand; "you have at least done tough work for her, and if I cannot +pay in gold, I can in kind. It was a generous deed, and it has made a +friend for ever of Michel de la Foret." + +"Raoul Lempriere of Rozel they call me, Michel de la Foret, and by Rollo +the Duke, but I'll take your word in the way of friendship, as the lady +yonder takes it for riper fruit! Though, faith, 'tis fruit of a short +summer, to my thinking." + +All this while Buonespoir the pirate, his face covered with blood, had +been swearing by the little finger of St. Peter that each Jerseyman there +should have the half of a keg of rum. He went so far in gratitude as to +offer the price of ten sheep which he had once secretly raided from the +Seigneur of Rozel and sold in France; for which he had been seized on his +later return to the island, and had escaped without punishment. + +Hearing, Lempriere of Rozel roared at him in anger: "Durst speak to me! +For every fleece you thieved I'll have you flayed with bow-strings if +ever I sight your face within my boundaries." + +"Then I'll fetch and carry no more for M'sieu' of Rozel," said +Buonespoir, in an offended tone, but grinning under his reddish beard. + +"When didst fetch and carry for me, varlet?" Lempriere roared again. + +"When the Seigneur of Rozel fell from his horse, overslung with sack, the +night of the royal Duke's visit, and the footpads were on him, I carried +him on my back to the lodge of Rozel Manor. The footpads had scores to +settle with the great Rozel." + +For a moment the Seigneur stared, then roared again, but this time with +laughter. + +"By the devil and Rollo, I have sworn to this hour that there was no man +in the isle could have carried me on his shoulders. And I was right, for +Jersiais you're none, neither by adoption nor grace, but a citizen of the +sea." + +He laughed again as a wave swept over them, drenching them, and a sudden +squall of wind came out of the north. "There's no better head in the +isle than mine for measurement and thinking, and I swore no man under +eighteen stone could carry me, and I am twenty-five--I take you to be +nineteen stone, eh?" + +"Nineteen, less two ounces," grinned Buonespoir. + +"I'll laugh De Carteret of St. Ouen's out of his stockings over this," +answered Lempriere. "Trust me for knowing weights and measures! Look +you, varlet, thy sins be forgiven thee. I care not about the fleeces, if +there be no more stealing. St. Ouen's has no head--I said no one man in +Jersey could have done it--I'm heavier by three stone than any man in the +island." Thereafter there was little speaking among them, for the danger +was greater as they neared the shore. The wind and the sea were against +them; the tide, however, was in their favour. Others besides M. Aubert +offered up prayers for the safe-landing of the rescued and rescuers. +Presently an ancient fisherman broke out into a rude sailor's chanty, and +every voice, even those of the two Huguenots, took it up: + + "When the Four Winds, the Wrestlers, strive with the Sun, + When the Sun is slain in the dark; + When the stars burn out, and the night cries + To the blind sea-reapers, and they rise, + And the water-ways are stark-- + God save us when the reapers reap! + When the ships sweep in with the tide to the shore, + And the little white boats return no more; + When the reapers reap, Lord give Thy sailors sleep, + If Thou cast us not upon the shore, + To bless Thee evermore: + To walk in Thy sight as heretofore + Though the way of the Lord be steep! + By Thy grace, + Show Thy face, + Lord of the land and the deep!" + +The song stilled at last. It died away in the roar of the surf, +in the happy cries of foolish women, and the laughter of men back from +a dangerous adventure. As the Seigneur's boat was drawn up the shore, +Angele threw herself into the arms of Michel de la Foret, the soldier +dressed as a priest. + +Lempriere of Rozel stood abashed before this rich display of feeling. +In his hottest youth he could not have made such passionate motions of +affection. His feelings ran neither high nor broad, but neither did they +run low and muddy. His nature was a straight level of sensibility--a +rough stream between high banks of prejudice, topped with the foam of +vanity, now brawling in season, and now going steady and strong to the +sea. Angele had come to feel what he was beneath the surface. She felt +how unimaginative he was, and how his humour, which was but the horse- +play of vanity, helped him little to understand the world or himself. +His vanity was ridiculous, his self-importance was against knowledge or +wisdom; and Heaven had given him a small brain, a big and noble heart, a +pedigree back to Rollo, and the absurd pride of a little lord in a little +land. Angele knew all this; but realised also that he had offered her +all he was able to offer to any woman. + +She went now and put out both hands to him. "I shall ever pray God's +blessing on the lord of Rozel," she said, in a low voice. + +"'Twould fit me no better than St. Ouen's sword fits his fingers. I'll +take thine own benison, lady--but on my cheek, not on my hand as this day +before at four of the clock." His big voice lowered. "Come, come, the +hand thou kissed, it hath been the hand of a friend to thee, as Raoul +Lempriere of Rozel said he'd be. Thy lips upon his cheek, though it be +but a rough fellow's fancy, and I warrant, come good, come ill, Rozel's +face will never be turned from thee. Pooh, pooh! let yon soldier-priest +shut his eyes a minute; this is 'tween me and thee; and what's done +before the world's without shame." + +He stopped short, his black eyes blazing with honest mirth and kindness, +his breath short, having spoken in such haste. + +Her eyes could scarce see him, so full of tears were they; and, standing +on tiptoe, she kissed him upon each cheek. + +"'Tis much to get for so little given," she said, with a quiver in her +voice; "yet this price for friendship would be too high to pay to any +save the Seigneur of Rozel." + +She hastily turned to the men who had rescued Michel and Buonespoir. +"If I had riches, riches ye should have, brave men of Jersey," she said; +"but I have naught save love and thanks, and my prayers too, if ye will +have them." + +"'Tis a man's duty to save his fellow an' he can," cried a gaunt +fisherman, whose daughter was holding to his lips a bowl of conger-eel +soup. + +"'Twas a good deed to send us forth to save a priest of Holy Church," +cried a weazened boat-builder with a giant's arm, as he buried his face +in a cup of sack, and plunged his hand into a fishwife's basket of +limpets. + +"Aye, but what means she by kissing and arm-getting with a priest?" +cried a snarling vraic-gatherer. "'Tis some jest upon Holy Church, or +yon priest is no better than common men but an idle shame." + +By this time Michel was among them. "Priest I am none, but a soldier," +he said in a loud voice, and told them bluntly the reasons for his +disguise; then, taking a purse from his pocket, thrust into the hands of +his rescuers and their families pieces of silver and gave them brave +words of thanks. + +But the Seigneur was not to be outdone in generosity. His vanity ran +high; he was fain to show Angele what a gorgeous gentleman she had failed +to make her own; and he was in ripe good-humour all round. + +"Come, ye shall come, all of ye, to the Manor of Rozel, every man and +woman here. Ye shall be fed, and fuddled too ye shall be an' ye will; +for honest drink which sends to honest sleep hurts no man. To my kitchen +with ye all; and you, messieurs"--turning to M. Aubert and De la Fore- +"and you, Mademoiselle, come, know how open is the door and full the +table at my Manor of Rozel--St. Ouen's keeps a beggarly board." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Thus began the friendship of the bragging Seigneur of Rozel for the +three Huguenots, all because he had seen tears in a girl's eyes and +misunderstood them, and because the same girl had kissed him. His pride +was flattered that they should receive protection from him, and the +flattery became almost a canonising when De Carteret of St. Ouen's +brought him to task for harbouring and comforting the despised Huguenots; +for when De Carteret railed he was envious. So henceforth Lempriere +played Lord Protector with still more boisterous unction. His pride knew +no bounds when, three days after the rescue, Sir Hugh Pawlett, the +Governor, answering De la Foret's letter requesting permission to visit +the Comtesse de Montgomery, sent him word to fetch De la Foret to Mont +Orgueil Castle. Clanking and blowing, he was shown into the great hall +with De la Foret, where waited Sir Hugh and the widow of the renowned +Camisard. Clanking and purring like an enormous cat, he turned his head +away to the window when De la Foret dropped on his knees and kissed the +hand of the Comtesse, whose eyes were full of tears. Clanking and +gurgling, he sat to a mighty meal of turbot, eels, lobsters, ormers, +capons, boar's head, brawn, and mustard, swan, curlew, and spiced meats. +This he washed down with bastard, malmsey, and good ale, topped with +almonds, comfits, perfumed cherries with "ipocras," then sprinkled +himself with rose-water and dabbled his face and hands in it. Filled to +the turret, he lurched to his feet, and drinking to Sir Hugh's toast, 27 + +"Her sacred Majesty!" he clanked and roared. "Elizabeth!" as though +upon the field of battle. He felt the star of De Carteret declining and +Rozel's glory ascending like a comet. Once set in a course, nothing +could change him. Other men might err, but once right, the Seigneur of +Rozel was everlasting. + +Of late he had made the cause of Michel de la Foret and Angele Aubert +his own. For this he had been raked upon the coals by De Carteret of St. +Ouen's and his following, who taunted him with the saying: "Save a thief +from hanging and he'll cut your throat." Not that there was ill feeling +against De la Foret in person. He had won most hearts by a frank yet +still manner, and his story and love for Angele had touched the women +folk where their hearts were softest. But the island was not true to +itself or its history if it did not divide itself into factions, headed +by the Seigneurs, and there had been no ground for good division for five +years till De la Foret came. + +Short of actual battle, this new strife was the keenest ever known, +for Sir Hugh Pawlett was ranged on the side of the Seigneur of Rozel. +Kinsman of the Comtesse de Montgomery, of Queen Elizabeth's own +Protestant religion, and admiring De la Foret, he had given every +countenance to the Camisard refugee. He had even besought the Royal +Court of Jersey to grant a pardon to Buonespoir the pirate, on condition +that he should never commit a depredation upon an inhabitant of the +island--this he was to swear to by the little finger of St. Peter. +Should he break his word, he was to be banished the island for ten years, +under penalty of death if he returned. When the hour had come for +Buonespoir to take the oath, he failed to appear; and the next morning +the Seigneur of St. Ouen's discovered that during the night his cellar +had been raided of two kegs of canary, many flagons of muscadella, pots +of anchovies and boxes of candied "eringo," kept solely for the visit +which the Queen had promised the island. There was no doubt of the +misdemeanant, for Buonespoir returned to De Carteret from St. Brieuc the +gabardine of one of his retainers, in which he had carried off the stolen +delicacies. + +This aggravated the feud between the partisans of St. Ouen's and Rozel, +for Lempriere of Rozel had laughed loudly when he heard of the robbery, +and said "'Tis like St. Ouen's to hoard for a Queen and glut a pirate. +We feed as we get at Rozel, and will feed the Court well too when it +comes, or I'm no butler to Elizabeth." + +But trouble was at hand for Michel and for his protector. The spies of +Catherine de Medici, mother of the King of France, were everywhere. +These had sent word that De la Foret was now attached to the meagre suite +of the widow of the great Camisard Montgomery, near the Castle of Mont +Orgueil. The Medici, having treacherously slain the chief, became mad +with desire to slay the lieutenant. She was set to have the man, either +through diplomacy with England, or to end him by assassination through +her spies. Having determined upon his death, with relentless soul she +pursued the cause as closely as though this exiled soldier were a +powerful enemy at the head of an army in France. + +Thus it was that she wrote to Queen Elizabeth, asking that "this arrant +foe of France, this churl, conspirator, and reviler of the Sacraments, +be rendered unto our hands for well-deserved punishment as warning to all +such evil-doers." She told Elizabeth of De la Foret's arrival in Jersey, +disguised as a priest of the Church of France, and set forth his doings +since landing with the Seigneur of Rozel. Further she went on to say to +"our sister of England" that "these dark figures of murder and revolt be +a peril to the soft peace of this good realm." + +To this, Elizabeth, who had no knowledge of Michel, who desired peace +with France at this time, who had favours to ask of Catherine, and who +in her own realm had fresh reason to fear conspiracy through the Queen of +the Scots and others, replied forthwith that "If this De la Foret falleth +into our hands, and if it were found he had in truth conspired against +France its throne, had he a million lives, not one should remain." +Having despatched this letter, she straightway sent a messenger to Sir +Hugh Pawlett in Jersey, making quest of De la Foret, and commanding that +he should be sent to her in England at once. + +When the Queen's messenger arrived at Orgueil Castle, Lempriere chanced +to be with Sir Hugh Pawlett, and the contents of Elizabeth's letter were +made known to him. + +At the moment Monsieur of Rozel was munching macaroons and washing them +down with canary. The Governor's announcement was such a shock that he +choked and coughed, the crumbs flying in all directions; and another pint +of canary must be taken to flush his throat. Thus cleared for action, he +struck out. + +"'Tis St. Ouen's work," he growled. + +"'Tis the work of the Medici," said Sir Hugh. "Read," he added, holding +out the paper. + +Now Lempriere of Rozel had a poor eye for reading. He had wit enough to +wind about the difficulty. + +"If I see not the Queen's commands, I've no warrant but Sir Hugh +Pawlett's words, and I'll to London and ask 'fore her Majesty's face if +she wrote them, and why. I'll tell my tale and speak my mind, I pledge +you, sir." + +"You'll offend her Majesty. Her commands are here." Pawlett tapped the +letter with his finger. + +"I'm butler to the Queen, and she will list to me. I'll not smirk and +caper like St. Ouen's; I'll bear me like a man not speaking for himself. +I'll speak as Harry her father spoke--straight to the purpose. . . . +No, no, no, I'm not to be wheedled, even by a Pawlett, and you shall not +ask me. If you want Michel de la Foret, come and take him. He is in my +house. But ye must take him, for come he shall not!" + +"You will not oppose the Queen's officers?" + +"De la Foret is under my roof. He must be taken. I will give him up +to no one; and I'll tell my sovereign these things when I see her in her +palace." + +"I misdoubt you'll play the bear," said Pawlett, with a dry smile. + +"The Queen's tongue is none so tame. I'll travel by my star, get sweet +or sour." + +"Well, well, 'give a man luck, and throw him into the sea,' is the old +proverb. I'm coming for your friend to-night." + +"I'll be waiting with my fingers on the door, sir," said Rozel, with a +grim vanity and an outrageous pride in himself. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The Seigneur of Rozel found De la Foret at the house of M. Aubert. His +face was flushed with hard riding, and perhaps the loving attitude of +Michel and Angele deepened it, for at the garden gate the lovers were +saying adieu. + +"You have come for Monsieur de la Foret?" asked Angele anxiously. Her +quick look at the Seigneur's face had told her there were things amiss. + +"There's commands from the Queen. They're for the ears of De la Foret," +said the Seigneur. + +"I will hear them too," said Angele, her colour going, her bearing +determined. + +The Seigneur looked down at her with boyish appreciation, then said to +De la Foret: "Two Queens make claim for you. The wolfish Catherine +writes to England for her lost Camisard, with much fool's talk about +'dark figures,' and 'conspirators,' 'churls,' and foes of 'soft peace'; +and England takes the bait and sends to Sir Hugh Pawlett yonder. And, in +brief, Monsieur, the Governor is to have you under arrest and send you to +England. God knows why two Queens make such a pother over a fellow with +naught but a sword and a lass to love him--though, come to think, +'a man's a man if he have but a hose on his head,' as the proverb runs." + +De la Foret smiled, then looked grave, as he caught sight of Angele's +face. "'Tis arrest, then?" he asked. + +"'Tis come willy nilly," answered the Seigneur. "And once they've forced +you from my doors, I'm for England to speak my mind to the Queen. I can +make interest for her presence--I hold court office," he added with +puffing confidence. + +Angele looked up at him with quick tears, yet with a smile on her lips. + +"You are going to England for Michel's sake?" she said in a low voice. + +"For Michel, or for you, or for mine honour, what matter, so that I go!" +he answered, then added: "there must be haste to Rozel, friend, lest the +Governor take Lempriere's guest like a potato-digger in the fields." + +Putting spurs to his horse, he cantered heavily away, not forgetting to +wave a pompous farewell to Angele. De la Foret was smiling as he turned +to Angele. She looked wonderingly at him, for she had felt that she must +comfort him, and she looked not for this sudden change in his manner. + +"Is prison-going so blithe, then?" she asked, with a little uneasy laugh +which was half a sob. + +"It will bring things to a head," he answered. "After danger and busy +days, to be merely safe, it is scarce the life for Michel de la Foret. +I have my duty to the Comtesse; I have my love for you; but I seem of +little use by contrast with my past. And yet, and yet," he added, half +sadly, "how futile has been all our fighting, so far as human eye can +see." + +"Nothing is futile that is right, Michel," the girl replied. "Thou hast +done as thy soul answered to God's messages: thou hast fought when thou +couldst, and thou hast sheathed thy blade when there was naught else to +do. Are not both right?" + +He clasped her to his breast; then, holding her from him a little, looked +into her eyes steadily a moment. "God hath given thee a true heart, and +the true heart hath wisdom," he answered. + +"You will not seek escape? Nor resist the Governor?" she asked eagerly. + +"Whither should I go? My place is here by you, by the Comtesse de +Montgomery. One day it may be I shall return to France, and to our +cause--" + +"If it be God's will." + +"If it be God's will." + +"Whatever comes, you will love me, Michel?" + +"I will love you, whatever comes." + +"Listen." She drew his head down. "I am no dragweight to thy life? +Thou wouldst not do otherwise if there were no foolish Angele?" + +He did not hesitate. "What is best is. I might do otherwise if there +were no Angele in my life to pilot my heart, but that were worse for me." + +"Thou art the best lover in all the world." + +"I hope to make a better husband. To-morrow is carmine-lettered in my +calendar, if thou sayst thou wilt still have me under the sword of the +Medici." + +Her hand pressed her heart suddenly. "Under the sword, if it be God's +will," she answered. Then, with a faint smile: "But no, I will not +believe the Queen of England will send thee, one of her own Protestant +faith, to the Medici." + +"And thou wilt marry me?" + +"When the Queen of England approves thee," she answered, and buried her +face in the hollow of his arm. + +An hour later Sir Hugh Pawlett came to the manor-house of Rozel with +two-score men-at-arms. The Seigneur himself answered the Governor's +knocking, and showed himself in the doorway, with a dozen halberdiers +behind him. + +"I have come seeking Michel de la Foret," said the Governor. + +"He is my guest." + +"I have the Queen's command to take him." + +"He is my cherished guest." + +"Must I force my way?" + +"Is it the Queen's will that blood be shed?" + +"The Queen's commands must be obeyed." + +"The Queen is a miracle of the world, God save her! What is the charge +against him?" + +"Summon Michel de la Foret, 'gainst whom it lies." + +"He is my guest; ye shall have him only by force." The Governor turned +to his men. "Force the passage and search the house," he commanded. + +The company advanced with levelled pikes, but at a motion from the +Seigneur his men fell back before them, and, making a lane, disclosed +Michel de la Foret at the end of it. Michel had not approved of +Lempriere's mummery of defence, but he understood from what good spirit +it sprung, and how it flattered the Seigneur's vanity to make show of +resistance. + +The Governor greeted De la Foret with a sour smile, read to him the +Queen's writ, and politely begged his company towards Mont Orgueil +Castle. + +"I'll fetch other commands from her Majesty, or write me down a pedlar of +St. Ouen's follies," the Seigneur said from his doorway, as the Governor +and De la Foret bade him good-bye and took the road to the Castle. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Michel de la Foret was gone, a prisoner. From the dusk of the trees by +the little chapel of Rozel, Angele had watched his exit in charge of the +Governor's men. She had not sought to show her presence: she had seen +him--that was comfort to her heart; and she would not mar the memory of +that last night's farewell by another before these strangers. She saw +with what quiet Michel bore his arrest, and she said to herself, as the +last halberdier vanished: + +"If the Queen do but speak with him, if she but look upon his face and +hear his voice, she must needs deal kindly by him. My Michel--ah, it is +a face for all men to trust and all women--" + +But she sighed and averted her head as though before prying eyes. + +The bell of Rozel Chapel broke gently on the evening air; the sound, +softened by the leaves and mellowed by the wood of the great elm-trees, +billowed away till it was lost in faint reverberation in the sea beneath +the cliffs of the Couperon, where a little craft was coming to anchor in +the dead water. + +At first the sound of the bell soothed her, softening the thought of the +danger to Michel. She moved with it towards the sea, the tones of her +grief chiming with it. Presently, as she went, a priest in cassock and +robes and stole crossed the path in front of her, an acolyte before him +swinging a censer, his voice chanting Latin verses from the service for +the sick, in his hands the sacred elements of the sacrament for the +dying. The priest was fat and heavy, his voice was lazy, his eyes +expressionless, and his robes were dirty. The plaintive, peaceful +sense which the sound of the vesper bell had thrown over Angele's sad +reflections passed away, and the thought smote her that, were it not for +such as this black-toothed priest, Michel would not now be on his way to +England, a prisoner. To her this vesper bell was the symbol of tyranny +and hate. It was fighting, it was martyrdom, it was exile, it was the +Medici. All that she had borne, all that her father had borne, the +thought of the home lost, the mother dead before her time, the name +ruined, the heritage dispossessed, the red war of the Camisards, the +rivulets of blood in the streets of Paris and of her loved Rouen, smote +upon her mind, and drove her to her knees in the forest glade, her hands +upon her ears to shut out the sound of the bell. It came upon her that +the bell had said "Peace! Peace!" to her mind when there should be no +peace; that it had said "Be patient!" when she should be up and doing; +that it had whispered "Stay!" when she should tread the path her lover +trod, her feet following in his footsteps as his feet had trod in hers. + +She pressed her hands tight upon her ears and prayed with a passion and +a fervour she had never known before. A revelation seemed to come upon +her, and, for the first time, she was a Huguenot to the core. Hitherto +she had suffered for her religion because it was her mother's broken +life, her father's faith, and because they had suffered, and her lover +had suffered. Her mind had been convinced, her loyalty had been +unwavering, her words for the great cause had measured well with her +deeds. But new senses were suddenly born in her, new eyes were given +to her mind, new powers for endurance to her soul. She saw now as the +martyrs of Meaux had seen; a passionate faith descended on her as it had +descended on them; no longer only patient, she was fain for action. +Tears rained from her eyes. Her heart burst itself in entreaty and +confession. + +"Thy light shall be my light, and Thy will my will, O Lord," she cried at +the last. "Teach me Thy way, create a right spirit within me. Give me +boldness without rashness, and hope without vain thinking. Bear up my +arms, O Lord, and save me when falling. A poor Samaritan am I. Give me +the water that shall be a well of water springing up to everlasting life, +that I thirst not in the fever of doing. Give me the manna of life to +eat that I faint not nor cry out in plague, pestilence, or famine. Give +me Thy grace, O God, as Thou hast given it to Michel de la Foret, and +guide my feet as I follow him in life and in death, for Christ's sake. +Amen." + +As she rose from her knees she heard the evening gun from the castle of +Mont Orgueil, whither Michel was being borne by the Queen's men. The +vesper bell had stopped. Through the wood came the salt savour of the +sea on the cool sunset air. She threw back her head and walked swiftly +towards it, her heart beating hard, her eyes shining with the light of +purpose, her step elastic with the vigour of youth and health. A +quarter-hour's walking brought her to the cliff of the Couperon. + +As she gazed out over the sea, however, a voice in the bay below caught +her ear. She looked down. On the deck of the little craft which had +entered the harbour when the vesper bell was ringing stood a man who +waved a hand up towards her, then gave a peculiar call. She stared with +amazement: it was Buonespoir the pirate. What did this mean? Had God +sent this man to her, by his presence to suggest what she should do in +this crisis in her life? For even as she ran down the shore towards him, +it came to her mind that Buonespoir should take her in his craft to +England. + +What to do in England? Who could tell? She only knew that a voice +called her to England, to follow the footsteps of Michel de la Foret, who +even this night would be setting forth in the Governor's brigantine for +London. + +Buonespoir met her upon the shore, grinning like a boy. + +"God save you, lady!" he said. + +"What brings you hither, friend?" she asked. + +If he had said that a voice had called him hither as one called her to +England, it had not sounded strange; for she was not thinking that this +was one who superstitiously swore by the little finger of St. Peter, but +only that he was the man who had brought her Michel from France, who had +been a faithful friend to her and to her father. + +"What brings me hither?" Buonespoir laughed low in his chest. "Even to +fetch to the Seigneur of Rozel, a friend of mine by every token of +remembrance, a dozen flagons of golden muscadella." + +To Angele no suggestion flashed that these flagons of muscadella had +come from the cellar of the Seigneur of St. Ouen's, where they had been +reserved for a certain royal visit. Nothing was in her mind save the one +thought-that she must follow Michel. + +"Will you take me to England?" she asked, putting a hand quickly on his +arm. + +He had been laughing hard, picturing to himself what Lempriere of Rozel +would say when he sniffed the flagon of St. Ouen's best wine, and for an +instant he did not take in the question; but he stared at her now as the +laugh slowly subsided through notes of abstraction and her words worked +their way into his brain. + +"Will you take me, Buonespoir?" she urged. "Take you--?" he questioned. + +"To England." + +"And myself to Tyburn?" + +"Nay, to the Queen." + +"'Tis the same thing. Head of Abel! Elizabeth hath heard of me. The +Seigneur of St. Ouen's and others have writ me down a pirate to her. She +would not pardon the muscadella," he added, with another laugh, looking +down where the flagons lay. + +"She must pardon more than that," exclaimed Angele, and hastily she told +him of what had happened to Michel de la Foret, and why she would go. + +"Thy father, then?" he asked, scowling hard in his attempt to think it +out. + +"He must go with me--I will seek him now." + +"It must be at once, i' faith, for how long, think you, can I stay here +unharmed? I was sighted off St. Ouen's shore a few hours agone." + +"To-night?" she asked. + +"By twelve, when we shall have the moon and the tide," he answered. +"But hold!" he hastily added. "What, think you, could you and your +father do alone in England? And with me it were worse than alone. These +be dark times, when strangers have spies at their heels, and all +travellers are suspect." + +"We will trust in God," she answered. + +"Have you money?" he questioned--"for London, not for me," he added +hastily. + +"Enough," she replied. + +"The trust with the money is a weighty matter," he added; "but they +suffice not. You must have 'fending." + +"There is no one," she answered sadly, "no one save--" + +"Save the Seigneur of Rozel!" Buonespoir finished the sentence. "Good. +You to your father, and I to the Seigneur. If you can fetch your father +by your pot-of-honey tongue, I'll fetch the great Lempriere with +muscadella. Is't a bargain?" + +"In which I gain all," she answered, and again touched his arm with her +finger-tips. + +"You shall be aboard here at ten, and I will join you on the stroke of +twelve," he said, and gave a low whistle. + +At the signal three men sprang up like magic out of the bowels of the +boat beneath them, and scurried over the side; three as ripe knaves as +ever cheated stocks and gallows, but simple knaves, unlike their master. +Two of them had served with Francis Drake in that good ship of his lying +even now not far from Elizabeth's palace at Greenwich. The third was a +rogue who had been banished from Jersey for a habitual drunkenness which +only attacked him on land--at sea he was sacredly sober. His name was +Jean Nicolle. The names of the other two were Herve Robin and Rouge le +Riche, but their master called them by other names. + +"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego," said Buonespoir in ceremony, and waved +a hand of homage between them and Angele. "Kiss dirt, and know where +duty lies. The lady's word on my ship is law till we anchor at the +Queen's Stairs at Greenwich. So, Heaven help you, Shadrach, Meshach, and +Abednego!" said Buonespoir. + +A wave of humour passed over Angele's grave face, for a stranger quartet +never sailed high seas together: one blind of an eye, one game of a leg, +one bald as a bottle and bereft of two front teeth; but Buonespoir was +sound of wind and limb, his small face with the big eyes lost in the +masses of his red hair, and a body like Hercules. It flashed through +Angele's mind even as she answered the gurgling salutations of the +triumvirate that they had been got together for no gentle summer sailing +in the Channel. Her conscience smote her that she should use such +churls; but she gave it comfort by the thought that while serving her +they could do naught worse; and her cause was good. Yet they presented +so bizarre an aspect, their ugliness was so varied and particular, that +she almost laughed. Buonespoir understood her thoughts, for with a look +of mocking innocence in his great blue eyes he waved a hand again towards +the graceless trio, and said, "For deep-sea fishing." Then he solemnly +winked at the three. + +A moment later Angele was speeding along the shore towards her home on +the farther hillside up the little glen; and within an hour Buonespoir +rolled from the dusk of the trees by the manor-house of Rozel and knocked +at the door. He carried on his head, as a fishwife carries a tray of +ormers, a basket full of flagons of muscadella; and he did not lower the +basket when he was shown into the room where the Seigneur of Rozel was +sitting before a trencher of spiced veal and a great pot of ale. +Lempriere roared a hearty greeting to the pirate, for he was in a sour +humour because of the taking off of Michel de la Foret; and of all men +this pirate-fellow, who had quips and cranks, and had played tricks on +his cousin of St. Ouen's, was most welcome. + +"What's that on your teacup of a head?" he roared again as Buonespoir +grinned pleasure at the greeting. "Muscadella," said Buonespoir, and +lowered the basket to the table. + +Lempriere seized a flagon, drew it forth, looked closely at it, then +burst into laughter, and spluttered: "St. Ouen's muscadella, by the hand +of Rufus!" + +Seizing Buonespoir by the shoulders, he forced him down upon a bench at +the table, and pushed the trencher of spiced meat against his chest. +"Eat, my noble lord of the sea and master of the cellar," he gurgled out, +and, tipping the flagon of muscadella, took a long draught. "God-a- +mercy--but it has saved my life," he gasped in satisfaction as he lay +back in his great chair, and put his feet on the bench whereon Buonespoir +sat. + +They raised their flagons and toasted each other, and Lempriere burst +forth into song, in the refrain of which Buonespoir joined boisterously: + + "King Rufus he did hunt the deer, + With a hey ho, come and kiss me, Dolly! + It was the spring-time of the year, + Hey ho, Dolly shut her eyes! + King Rufus was a bully boy, + He hunted all the day for joy, + Sweet Dolly she was ever coy: + And who would e'er be wise + That looked in Dolly's eyes? + + "King Rufus he did have his day, + With a hey ho, come and kiss me, Dolly! + So get ye forth where dun deer play-- + Hey ho, Dolly comes again! + The greenwood is the place for me, + For that is where the dun deer be, + 'Tis where my Dolly comes to me: + And who would stay at home, + That might with Dolly roam? + Sing hey ho, come and kiss me, Dolly!" + +Lempriere, perspiring with the exertion, mopped his forehead, then lapsed +into a plaintive mood. + +"I've had naught but trouble of late," he wheezed. "Trouble, trouble, +trouble, like gnats on a filly's flank!" and in spluttering words, twice +bracketed in muscadella, he told of Michel de la Foret's arrest, and of +his purpose to go to England if he could get a boat to take him. + +"'Tis that same business brings me here," said Buonespoir, and forthwith +told of his meeting with Angele and what was then agreed upon. + +"You to go to England!" cried Lempriere amazed. "They want you for +Tyburn there." + +"They want me for the gallows here," said Buonespoir. Rolling a piece of +spiced meat in his hand, he stuffed it into his mouth and chewed till the +grease came out of his eyes, and took eagerly from a servant a flagon of +malmsey and a dish of ormers. + +"Hush, chew thy tongue a minute!" said the Seigneur, suddenly starting +and laying a finger beside his nose. "Hush!" he said again, and looked +into the flicker of the candle by him with half-shut eyes. + +"May I have no rushes for a bed, and die like a rat in a moat, if I don't +get thy pardon too of the Queen, and bring thee back to Jersey, a thorn +in the side of De Carteret for ever! He'll look upon thee assoilzied by +the Queen, spitting fire in his rage, and no canary or muscadella in his +cellar." + +It came not to the mind of either that this expedition would be made at +cost to themselves. They had not heard of Don Quixote, and their gifts +were not imitative. They were of a day when men held their lives as +lightly as many men hold their honour now; when championship was as the +breath of life to men's nostrils, and to adventure for what was worth +having or doing in life the only road of reputation. + +Buonespoir was as much a champion in his way as Lempriere of Rozel. +They were of like kidney, though so far apart in rank. Had Lempriere +been born as low and as poor as Buonespoir, he would have been a pirate +too, no doubt; and had Buonespoir been born as high as the Seigneur, he +would have carried himself with the same rough sense of honour, with as +ripe a vanity; have been as naive, as sincere, as true to the real heart +of man untaught in the dissimulation of modesty or reserve. When they +shook hands across the trencher of spiced veal, it was as man shakes hand +with man, not man with master. + +They were about to start upon their journey when there came a knocking at +the door. On its being opened the bald and toothless Abednego stumbled +in with the word that immediately after Angele and her father came aboard +the Honeyflower some fifty halberdiers suddenly appeared upon the +Couperon. They had at once set sail, and got away even before the +sailors had reached the shore. As they had rounded the point, where they +were hid from view, Abednego dropped overboard and swam ashore on the +rising tide, making his way to the manor to warn Buonespoir. On his way +hither, stealing through the trees, he had passed a half-score of +halberdiers making for the manor, and he had seen others going towards +the shore. + +Buonespoir looked to the priming of his pistols, and buckling his belt +tightly about him, turned to the Seigneur and said: "I will take my +chances with Abednego. Where does she lie--the Honeyflower, Abednego?" + +"Off the point called Verclut," answered the little man, who had +travelled with Francis Drake. + +"Good; we will make a run for it, flying dot-and-carry-one as we go." + +While they had been speaking the Seigneur had been thinking; and now, +even as several figures appeared at a little distance in the trees, +making towards the manor, he said, with a loud laugh: + +"No. 'Tis the way of a fool to put his head between the door and the +jamb. 'Tis but a hundred yards to safety. Follow me--to the sea-- +Abednego last. This way, bullies!" + +Without a word all three left the house and walked on in the order +indicated, as De Carteret's halberdiers ran forward threatening. + +"Stand!" shouted the sergeant of the halberdiers. "Stand, or we fire!" + +But the three walked straight on unheeding. When the sergeant of the +men-at-arms recognised the Seigneur, he ordered down the blunderbusses. + +"We come for Buonespoir the pirate," said the sergeant. + +"Whose warrant?" said the Seigneur, fronting the halberdiers, Buonespoir +and Abednego behind him. "The Seigneur of St. Ouen's," was the reply. + +"My compliments to the Seigneur of St. Ouen's, and tell him that +Buonespoir is my guest," he bellowed, and strode on, the halberdiers +following. Suddenly the Seigneur swerved towards the chapel and +quickened his footsteps, the others but a step behind. The sergeant of +the halberdiers was in a quandary. He longed to shoot, but dared not, +and while he was making up his mind what to do, the Seigneur had reached +the chapel door. Opening it, he quickly pushed Buonespoir and Abednego +inside, whispering to them, then slammed the door and put his back +against it. + +There was another moment's hesitation on the sergeant's part, then a door +at the other end of the chapel was heard to open and shut, and the +Seigneur laughed loudly. The halberdiers ran round the chapel. There +stood Buonespoir and Abednego in a narrow roadway, motionless and +unconcerned. The halberdiers rushed forward. + +"Perquage! Perquage! Perquage!" shouted Buonespoir, and the bright +moonlight showed him grinning. For an instant there was deadly +stillness, in which the approaching footsteps of the Seigneur sounded +loud. + +"Perquage!" Buonespoir repeated. + +"Perquage! Fall back!" said the Seigneur, and waved off the pikes of +the halberdiers. "He has sanctuary to the sea." + +This narrow road in which the pirates stood was the last of three in the +Isle of Jersey running from churches to the sea, in which a criminal was +safe from arrest by virtue of an old statute. The other perquages had +been taken away; but this one of Rozel remained, a concession made by +Henry VIII to the father of this Raoul Lempriere. The privilege had been +used but once in the present Seigneur's day, because the criminal must be +put upon the road from the chapel by the Seigneur himself, and he had +used his privilege modestly. + +No man in Jersey but knew the sacredness of this perquage, though it was +ten years since it had been used; and no man, not even the Governor +himself, dare lift his hand to one upon that road. + +So it was that Buonespoir and Abednego, two fugitives from justice, +walked quietly to the sea down the perquage, halberdiers, balked of their +prey, prowling on their steps and cursing the Seigneur of Rozel for his +gift of sanctuary: for the Seigneur of St. Ouen's and the Royal Court had +promised each halberdier three shillings and all the ale he could drink +at a sitting, if Buonespoir was brought in alive or dead. + +In peace and safety the three boarded the Honeyflower off the point +called Verclut, and set sail for England, just seven hours after Michel +de la Foret had gone his way upon the Channel, a prisoner. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A fortnight later, of a Sunday morning, the Lord Chamberlain of England +was disturbed out of his usual equanimity. As he was treading the rushes +in the presence-chamber of the Royal Palace at Greenwich, his eye busy in +inspection--for the Queen would soon pass on her way to chapel--his head +nodding right and left to archbishop, bishop, councillors of state, +courtiers, and officers of the crown, he heard a rude noise at the door +leading into the ante-chapel, where the Queen received petitions from the +people. Hurrying thither in shocked anxiety, he found a curled gentleman +of the guard, resplendent in red velvet and gold chains, in peevish +argument with a boisterous Seigneur of a bronzed good-humoured face, who +urged his entrance to the presence-chamber. + +The Lord Chamberlain swept down upon the pair like a flamingo with wings +outspread. "God's death, what means this turmoil? Her Majesty comes +hither!" he cried, and scowled upon the intruder, who now stepped back a +little, treading on the toes of a huge sailor with a small head and bushy +red hair and beard. + +"Because her Majesty comes I come also," the Seigneur interposed grandly. + +"What is your name and quality?" + +"Yours first, and I shall know how to answer." + +"I am the Lord Chamberlain of England." + +"And I, my lord, am Lempriere, Seigneur of Rozel--and butler to the +Queen." + +"Where is Rozel?" asked my Lord Chamberlain. + +The face of the Seigneur suddenly flushed, his mouth swelled, and then +burst. + +"Where is Rozel!" he cried in a voice of rage. "Where is Rozel! Have +you heard of Hugh Pawlett," he asked, with a huge contempt--" of Governor +Hugh Pawlett?" The Lord Chamberlain nodded. "Then ask his Excellency +when next you see him, Where is Rozel? But take good counsel and keep +your ignorance from the Queen," he added. "She has no love for stupids." +"You say you are butler to the Queen? Whence came your commission?" +said the Lord Chamberlain, smiling now; for Lempriere's words and ways +were of some simple world where odd folk lived, and his boyish vanity +disarmed anger. + +"By royal warrant and heritage. And of all of the Jersey Isle, I only +may have dove-totes, which is the everlasting thorn in the side of De +Carteret of St. Ouen's. Now will you let me in, my lord?" he said, all +in a breath. + +At a stir behind him the Lord Chamberlain turned, and with a horrified +exclamation hurried away, for the procession from the Queen's apartments +had already entered the presence-chamber: gentlemen, barons, earls, +knights of the garter, in brave attire, with bare heads and sumptuous +calves. The Lord Chamberlain had scarce got to his place when the +Chancellor, bearing the seals in a red silk purse, entered, flanked by +two gorgeous folk with the royal sceptre and the sword of state in a red +scabbard, all flourished with fleur-de-lis. Moving in and out among them +all was the Queen's fool, who jested and shook his bells under the noses +of the highest. + +It was an event of which the Seigneur of Rozel told to his dying day: +that he entered the presence-chamber of the Royal Palace of Greenwich at +the same instant as the Queen--"Rozel at one end, Elizabeth at the other, +and all the world at gaze," he was wont to say with loud guffaws. But +what he spoke of afterwards with preposterous ease and pride was neither +pride nor ease at the moment; for the Queen's eyes fell on him as he +shoved past the gentlemen who kept the door. For an instant she stood +still, regarding him intently, then turned quickly to the Lord +Chamberlain in inquiry, and with sharp reproof too in her look. The Lord +Chamberlain fell on his knee and with low uncertain voice explained the +incident. + +Elizabeth again cast her eyes towards Lempriere, and the Court, following +her example, scrutinised the Seigneur in varied styles of insolence or +curiosity. Lempriere drew himself up with a slashing attempt at +composure, but ended by flaming from head to foot, his face shining like +a cock's comb, the perspiration standing out like beads upon his +forehead, his eyes gone blind with confusion. That was but for a moment, +however, and then, Elizabeth's look being slowly withdrawn from him, a +curious smile came to her lips, and she said to the Lord Chamberlain: +"Let the gentleman remain." + +The Queen's fool tripped forward and tapped the Lord Chamberlain on the +shoulder. "Let the gentleman remain, gossip, and see you that remaining +he goeth not like a fly with his feet in the porridge." With a flippant +step before the Seigneur, he shook his bells at him. "Thou shalt stay, +Nuncio, and staying speak the truth. So doing you shall be as noted as a +comet with three tails. You shall prove that man was made in God's +image. So lift thy head and sneeze--sneezing is the fashion here; but +see that thou sneeze not thy head off as they do in Tartary. 'Tis worth +remembrance." + +Rozel's self-importance and pride had returned. The blood came back +to his heart, and he threw out his chest grandly; he even turned to +Buonespoir, whose great figure might be seen beyond the door, and winked +at him. For a moment he had time to note the doings of the Queen and her +courtiers with wide-eyed curiosity. He saw the Earl of Leicester, +exquisite, haughty, gallant, fall upon his knee, and Elizabeth slowly +pull off her glove and with a none too gracious look give him her hand +to kiss, the only favour of the kind granted that day. He saw Cecil, her +Minister, introduce a foreign noble, who presented his letters. He heard +the Queen speak in a half-dozen different languages, to people of various +lands, and he was smitten with amazement. + +But as Elizabeth came slowly down the hall, her white silk gown fronted +with great pearls flashing back the light, a marchioness bearing the +train, the crown on her head glittering as she turned from right to left, +her wonderful collar of jewels sparkling on her uncovered bosom, suddenly +the mantle of black, silver-shotted silk upon her shoulders became to +Lempriere's heated senses a judge's robe, and Elizabeth the august judge +of the world. His eyes blinded again, for it was as if she was bearing +down upon him. Certainly she was looking at him now, scarce heeding the +courtiers who fell to their knees on either side as she came on. The red +doublets of the fifty Gentlemen Pensioners--all men of noble families +proud to do this humble yet distinguished service--with battle-axes, on +either side of her, seemed to Lempriere on the instant like an army with +banners threatening him. From the ante-chapel behind him came the cry of +the faithful subjects who, as the gentleman-at-arms fell back from the +doorway, had but just caught a glimpse of her Majesty--"Long live +Elizabeth!" + +It seemed to Lempriere that the Gentlemen Pensioners must beat him down +as they passed, yet he stood riveted to the spot; and indeed it was true +that he was almost in the path of her Majesty. He was aware that two +gentlemen touched him on the shoulder and bade him retire; but the Queen +motioned to them to desist. So, with the eyes of the whole court on him +again, and Elizabeth's calm curious gaze fixed, as it were, on his +forehead, he stood still till the flaming Gentlemen Pensioners were +within a few feet of him, and the battle-axes were almost over his head. + +The great braggart was no better now than a wisp of grass in the wind, +and it was more than homage that bent him to his knees as the Queen +looked him full in the eyes. There was a moment's absolute silence, and +then she said, with cold condescension: + +"By what privilege do you seek our presence?" + +"I am Raoul Lempriere, Seigneur of Rozel, your high Majesty," said the +choking voice of the Jerseyman. The Queen raised her eyebrows. "The man +seems French. You come from France?" + +Lempriere flushed to his hair--the Queen did not know him, then! "From +Jersey Isle, your sacred Majesty." + +"Jersey Isle is dear to us. And what is your warrant here?" + +"I am butler to your Majesty, by your gracious Majesty's patent, and I +alone may have dove-cotes in the isle; and I only may have the perquage- +on your Majesty's patent. It is not even held by De Carteret of St. +Ouen's." + +The Queen smiled as she had not smiled since she entered the presence- +chamber. "God preserve us," she said--"that I should not have recognised +you! It is, of course, our faithful Lempriere of Rozel." + +The blood came back to the Seigneur's heart, but he did not dare look up +yet, and he did not see that Elizabeth was in rare mirth at his words; +and though she had no ken or memory of him, she read his nature and was +mindful to humour him. Beckoning Leicester to her side, she said a few +words in an undertone, to which he replied with a smile more sour than +sweet. + +"Rise, Monsieur of Rozel," she said. + +The Seigneur stood up, and met her gaze faintly. "And so, proud +Seigneur, you must needs flout e'en our Lord Chamberlain, in the name of +our butler with three dove-cotes and the perquage. In sooth thy office +must not be set at naught lightly--not when it is flanked by the +perquage. By my father's doublet, but that frieze jerkin is well cut; +it suits thy figure well--I would that my Lord Leicester here had such a +tailor. But this perquage--I doubt not there are those here at Court who +are most ignorant of its force and moment. My Lord Chamberlain, my Lord +Leicester, Cecil here--confusion sits in their faces. The perquage, +which my father's patent approved, has served us well, I doubt not, is a +comfort to our realm and a dignity befitting the wearer of that frieze +jerkin. Speak to their better understanding, Monsieur of Rozel." + +"Speak, Nuncio, and you shall have comforts, and be given in marriage, +multiple or singular, even as I," said the fool, and touched him on the +breast with his bells. + +Lempriere had recovered his heart, and now was set full sail in the +course he had charted for himself in Jersey. In large words and larger +manner he explained most innocently the sacred privilege of perquage. +"And how often have you used the right, friend?" asked Elizabeth. + +"But once in ten years, your noble Majesty." "When last?" + +"But yesterday a week, your universal Majesty." Elizabeth raised her +eyebrows. "Who was the criminal, what the occasion?" + +"The criminal was one Buonespoir, the occasion our coming hither to wait +upon the Queen of England and our Lady of Normandy, for such is your +well-born Majesty to your loyal Jersiais." And thereupon he plunged into +an impeachment of De Carteret of St. Ouen's, and stumbled through a blunt +broken story of the wrongs and the sorrows of Michel and Angele and the +doings of Buonespoir in their behalf. + +Elizabeth frowned and interrupted him. "I have heard of this Buonespoir, +Monsieur, through others than the Seigneur of St. Ouen's. He is an +unlikely squire of dames. There's a hill in my kingdom has long bided +his coming. Where waits the rascal now?" + +"In the ante-chapel, your Majesty." + +"By the rood!" said Elizabeth in sudden amazement. "In my ante-chapel, +forsooth!" + +She looked beyond the doorway and saw the great red-topped figure of +Buonespoir, his good-natured, fearless fare, his shock of hair, his clear +blue eye--he was not thirty feet away. + +"He comes to crave pardon for his rank offences, your benignant Majesty," +said Lempriere. + +The humour of the thing rushed upon the Queen. Never before were two +such naive folk at court. There was not a hair of duplicity in the heads +of the two, and she judged them well in her mind. + +"I will see you stand together--you and your henchman," she said to +Rozel, and moved on to the antechapel, the Court following. Standing +still just inside the doorway, she motioned Buonespoir to come near. The +pirate, unconfused, undismayed, with his wide blue asking eyes, came +forward and dropped upon his knees. Elizabeth motioned Lempriere to +stand a little apart. + +Thereupon she set a few questions to Buonespoir, whose replies, +truthfully given, showed that he had no real estimate of his crimes, and +was indifferent to what might be their penalties. He had no moral sense +on the one hand, on the other, no fear. + +Suddenly she turned to Lempriere again. "You came, then, to speak for +this Michel de la Foret, the exile--?" + +"And for the demoiselle Angele Aubert, who loves him, your Majesty." + +"I sent for this gentleman exile a fortnight ago--" She turned towards +Leicester inquiringly. + +"I have the papers here, your Majesty," said Leicester, and gave a packet +over. + +"And where have you De la Foret?" said Elizabeth. "In durance, your +Majesty." + +"When came he hither?" + +"Three days gone," answered Leicester, a little gloomily, for there was +acerbity in Elizabeth's voice. Elizabeth seemed about to speak, then +dropped her eyes upon the papers, and glanced hastily at their contents. + +"You will have this Michel de la Foret brought to my presence as fast as +horse can bring him, my Lord," she said to Leicester. "This rascal of +the sea--Buonespoir--you will have safe bestowed till I recall his +existence again," she said to a captain of men-at-arms; "and you, +Monsieur of Rozel, since you are my butler, will get you to my dining- +room, and do your duty--the office is not all perquisites," she added +smoothly. She was about to move on, when a thought seemed to strike her, +and she added, "This Mademoiselle and her father whom you brought hither- +where are they?" + +"They are even within the palace grounds, your imperial Majesty," +answered Lempriere. + +"You will summon them when I bid you," she said to the Seigneur; "and you +shall see that they have comforts and housing as befits their station," +she added to the Lord Chamberlain. + +So did Elizabeth, out of a whimsical humour, set the highest in the land +to attend upon unknown, unconsidered exiles. + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Boldness without rashness, and hope without vain thinking +Nothing is futile that is right +Religion to him was a dull recreation invented chiefly for women + + + + + + +MICHEL AND ANGELE + +[A Ladder of Swords] + +By Gilbert Parker + +Volume 2. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Five minutes later, Lempriere of Rozel, as butler to the Queen, saw a +sight of which he told to his dying day. When, after varied troubles +hereafter set down, he went back to Jersey, he made a speech before the +Royal Court, in which he told what chanced while Elizabeth was at chapel. + +"There stood I, butler to the Queen," he said, with a large gesture, +"but what knew I of butler's duties at Greenwich Palace! Her Majesty had +given me an office where all the work was done for me. Odds life, but +when I saw the Gentleman of the Rod and his fellow get down on their +knees to lay the cloth upon the table, as though it was an altar at +Jerusalem, I thought it time to say my prayers. There was naught but +kneeling and retiring. Now it was the salt-cellar, the plate, and the +bread; then it was a Duke's Daughter--a noble soul as ever lived--with a +tasting-knife, as beautiful as a rose; then another lady enters who +glares at me, and gets to her knees as does the other. Three times up +and down, and then one rubs the plate with bread and salt, as solemn as +St. Ouen's when he says prayers in the Royal Court. Gentles, that was a +day for Jersey. For there stood I as master of all, the Queen's butler, +and the greatest ladies of the land doing my will--though it was all +Persian mystery to me, save when the kettle-drums began to beat and the +trumpet to blow, and in walk bareheaded the Yeomen of the Guard, all +scarlet, with a golden rose on their backs, bringing in a course of +twenty-four gold dishes; and I, as Queen's butler, receiving them. + +"Then it was I opened my mouth amazed at the endless dishes filled with +niceties of earth, and the Duke's Daughter pops onto my tongue a mouthful +of the first dish brought, and then does the same to every Yeoman of the +Guard that carried a dish--that her notorious Majesty be safe against the +hand of poisoners. There was I, fed by a Duke's Daughter; and thus was +Jersey honoured; and the Duke's Daughter whispers to me, as a dozen other +unmarried ladies enter, 'The Queen liked not the cut of your frieze +jerkin better than do I, Seigneur.' With that she joins the others, and +they all kneel down and rise up again, and lifting the meat from the +table, bear it into the Queen's private chamber. + +"When they return, and the Yeomen of the Guard go forth, I am left alone +with these ladies, and there stand with twelve pair of eyes upon me, +little knowing what to do. There was laughter in the faces of some, and +looks less taking in the eyes of others; for my Lord Leicester was to +have done the duty I was set to do that day, and he the greatest gallant +of the kingdom, as all the world knows. What they said among themselves +I know not, but I heard Leicester's name, and I guessed that they were +mostly in the pay of his soft words. But the Duke's Daughter was on my +side, as was proved betimes when Leicester made trouble for us who went +from Jersey to plead the cause of injured folk. Of the Earl's enmity to +me--a foolish spite of a great nobleman against a Norman-Jersey +gentleman--and of how it injured others for the moment, you all know; but +we had him by the heels before the end of it, great earl and favourite as +he was." + +In the same speech Lempriere told of his audience with the Queen, even as +she sat at dinner, and of what she said to him; but since his words give +but a partial picture of events, the relation must not be his. + +When the Queen returned from chapel to her apartments, Lempriere was +called by an attendant, and he stood behind the Queen's chair until she +summoned him to face her. Then, having finished her meal, and dipped her +fingers in a bowl of rose-water, she took up the papers Leicester had +given her--the Duke's Daughter had read them aloud as she ate--and said: + +"Now, my good Seigneur of Rozel, answer me these few questions: First, +what concern is it of yours whether this Michel de la Foret be sent back +to France, or die here in England?" + +"I helped to save his life at sea--one good turn deserves another, your +high-born Majesty." + +The Queen looked sharply at him, then burst out laughing. + +"God's life, but here's a bull making epigrams!" she said. Then her +humour changed. "See you, my butler of Rozel, you shall speak the truth, +or I'll have you where that jerkin will fit you not so well a month +hence. Plain answers I will have to plain questions, or De Carteret of +St. Ouen's shall have his will of you and your precious pirate. So bear +yourself as you would save your head and your honours." + +Lempriere of Rozel never had a better moment than when he met the Queen +of England's threats with faultless intrepidity. "I am concerned about +my head, but more about my honours, and most about my honour," he +replied. "My head is my own, my honours are my family's, for which I +would give my head when needed; and my honour defends both until both are +naught--and all are in the service of my Queen." + +Smiling, Elizabeth suddenly leaned forward, and, with a glance of +satisfaction towards the Duke's Daughter, who was present, said: + +"I had not thought to find so much logic behind your rampant skull," she +said. "You've spoken well, Rozel, and you shall speak by the book to the +end, if you will save your friends. What concern is it of yours whether +Michel de la Foret live or die?" + +"It is a concern of one whom I've sworn to befriend, and that is my +concern, your ineffable Majesty." "Who is the friend?" + +"Mademoiselle Aubert." + +"The betrothed of this Michel de la Foret?" + +"Even so, your exalted Majesty. But I made sure De la Foret was dead +when I asked her to be my wife." + +"Lord, Lord, Lord, hear this vast infant, this hulking baby of a +Seigneur, this primeval innocence! Listen to him, cousin," said the +Queen, turning again to the Duke's Daughter. "Was ever the like of it in +any kingdom of this earth? He chooses a penniless exile--he, a butler to +the Queen, with three dove-cotes and the perquage--and a Huguenot withal. +He is refused; then comes the absent lover over sea, to shipwreck; and +our Seigneur rescues him, 'fends him; and when yon master exile is in +peril, defies his Queen's commands"--she tapped the papers lying beside +her on the table--"then comes to England with the lady to plead the case +before his outraged sovereign, with an outlawed buccaneer for comrade and +lieutenant. There is the case, is't not?" + +"I swore to be her friend," answered Lempriere stubbornly, "and I have +done according to my word." + +"There's not another nobleman in my kingdom who would not have thought +twice about the matter, with the lady aboard his ship on the high seas- +'tis a miraculous chivalry, cousin," she added to the Duke's Daughter, +who bowed, settled herself again on her velvet cushion, and looked out of +the corner of her eyes at Lempriere. + +"You opposed Sir Hugh Pawlett's officers who went to arrest this De la +Foret," continued Elizabeth. "Call you that serving your Queen? Pawlett +had our commands." + +"I opposed them but in form, that the matter might the more surely be +brought to your Majesty's knowledge." + +"It might easily have brought you to the Tower, man." + +"I had faith that your Majesty would do right in this, as in all else. +So I came hither to tell the whole story to your judicial Majesty." + +"Our thanks for your certificate of character," said the Queen, with +amused irony. "What is your wish? Make your words few and plain." + +"I desire before all that Michel de la Foret shall not be returned to the +Medici, most radiant Majesty." + +"That's plain. But there are weighty matters 'twixt France and England, +and De la Foret may turn the scale one way or another. What follows, +beggar of Rozel?" + +"That Mademoiselle Aubert and her father may live without let or +hindrance in Jersey." + +"That you may eat sour grapes ad eternam? Next?" + +"That Buonespoir be pardoned all offences and let live in Jersey on +pledge that he sin no more, not even to raid St. Ouen's cellars of the +muscadella reserved for your generous Majesty." + +There was such humour in Lempriere's look as he spoke of the muscadella +that the Queen questioned him closely upon Buonespoir's raid; and so +infectious was his mirth, as he told the tale, that Elizabeth, though she +stamped her foot in assumed impatience, smiled also. + +"You shall have your Buonespoir, Seigneur," she said; "but for his future +you shall answer as well as he." + +"For what he does in Jersey Isle, your commiserate Majesty?" + +"For crime elsewhere, if he be caught, he shall march to Tyburn, friend," +she answered. Then she hurriedly added: "Straightway go and bring +Mademoiselle and her father hither. Orders are given for their disposal. +And to-morrow at this hour you shall wait upon me in their company. I +thank you for your services as butler this day, Monsieur of Rozel. You +do your office rarely." + +As the Seigneur left Elizabeth's apartments, he met the Earl of Leicester +hurrying thither, preceded by the Queen's messenger. Leicester stopped +and said, with a slow malicious smile: "Farming is good, then--you have +fine crops this year on your holding?" + +The point escaped Lempriere at first, for the favourite's look was all +innocence, and he replied: "You are mistook, my lord. You will remember +I was in the presence-chamber an hour ago, my lord. I am Lempriere, +Seigneur of Rozel, butler to her Majesty." + +"But are you, then? I thought you were a farmer and raised cabbages." +Smiling, Leicester passed on. + +For a moment the Seigneur stood pondering the Earl's words and angrily +wondering at his obtuseness. Then suddenly he knew he had been mocked, +and he turned and ran after his enemy; but Leicester had vanished into +the Queen's apartments. + +The Queen's fool was standing near, seemingly engaged in the light +occupation of catching imaginary flies, buzzing with his motions. As +Leicester disappeared he looked from under his arm at Lempriere. "If a +bird will not stop for the salt to its tail, then the salt is damned, +Nuncio; and you must cry David! and get thee to the quarry." + +Lempriere stared at him swelling with rage; but the quaint smiling of the +fool conquered him, and instead of turning on his heel, he spread himself +like a Colossus and looked down in grandeur. "And wherefore cry David! +and get quarrying?" he asked. "Come, what sense is there in thy words, +when I am wroth with yonder nobleman?" + +"Oh, Nuncio, Nuncio, thou art a child of innocence and without history. +The salt held not the bird for the net of thy anger, Nuncio; so it is +meet that other ways be found. David the ancient put a stone in a sling +and Goliath laid him down like an egg in a nest--therefore, Nuncio, get +thee to the quarry. Obligato, which is to say Leicester yonder, hath no +tail--the devil cut it off and wears it himself. So let salt be damned, +and go sling thy stone!" + +Lempriere was good-humoured again. He fumbled in his purse and brought +forth a gold-piece. "Fool, thou hast spoken like a man born sensible and +infinite. I understand thee like a book. Thou hast not folly and thou +shalt not be answered as if thou wast a fool. But in terms of gold shalt +thou have reply." He put the gold-piece in the fool's hand and slapped +him on the shoulder. + +"Why now, Nuncio," answered the other, "it is clear that there is a fool +at Court, for is it not written that a fool and his money are soon +parted? And this gold-piece is still hot with running 'tween thee and +me." + +Lempriere roared. "Why, then, for thy hit thou shalt have another gold- +piece, gossip. But see"--his voice lowered--"know you where is my +friend, Buonespoir, the pirate? Know you where he is in durance?" + +"As I know marrow in a bone I know where he hides, Nuncio, so come with +me," answered the fool. + +"If De Carteret had but thy sense, we could live at peace in Jersey," +rejoined Lempriere, and strode ponderously after the light-footed fool +who capered forth singing: + + "Come hither, O come hither, + There's a bride upon her bed; + They have strewn her o'er with roses, + There are roses 'neath her head: + Life is love and tears and laughter, + But the laughter it is dead + Sing the way to the Valley, to the Valley! + Hey, but the roses they are red!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The next day at noon, as her Majesty had advised the Seigneur, De la +Foret was ushered into the presence. The Queen's eye quickened as she +saw him, and she remarked with secret pleasure the figure and bearing of +this young captain of the Huguenots. She loved physical grace and +prowess with a full heart. The day had almost passed when she would +measure all men against Leicester in his favour; and he, knowing this +clearly now, saw with haughty anxiety the gradual passing of his power, +and clutched futilely at the vanishing substance. Thus it was that he +now spent his strength in getting his way with the Queen in little +things. She had been so long used to take his counsel--in some part wise +and skilful--that when she at length did without it, or followed her own +mind, it became a fever with him to let no chance pass for serving his +own will by persuading her out of hers. This was why he had spent an +hour the day before in sadly yet vaguely reproaching her for the slight +she put upon him in the presence-chamber by her frown; and another in +urging her to come to terms with Catherine de Medici in this small +affair--since the Frenchwoman had set her revengeful heart upon it--that +larger matters might be settled to the gain of England. It was not so +much that he had reason to destroy De la Foret, as that he saw that the +Queen was disposed to deal friendly by him and protect him. He did not +see the danger of rousing in the Queen the same unreasoning tenaciousness +of will upon just such lesser things as might well be left to her +advisers. In spite of which he almost succeeded, this very day, in +regaining, for a time at least, the ground he had lost with her. He had +never been so adroit, so brilliant, so witty, so insinuating; and he left +her with the feeling that if he had his way concerning De la Foret--a +mere stubborn whim, with no fair reason behind it--his influence would +be again securely set. The sense of crisis was on him. + +On Michel de la Foret entering the presence the Queen's attention had +become riveted. She felt in him a spirit of mastery, yet of unselfish +purpose. Here was one, she thought, who might well be in her household, +or leading a regiment of her troops. The clear fresh face, curling hair, +direct look, quiet energy, and air of nobility--this sort of man could +only be begotten of a great cause; he were not possible in idle or +prosperous times. + +Elizabeth looked him up and down, then affected surprise. "Monsieur de +la Foret," she said, "I do not recognise you in this attire"--glancing +towards his dress. + +De la Foret bowed, and Elizabeth continued, looking at a paper in her +hand: "You landed on our shores of Jersey in the robes of a priest of +France. The passport for a priest of France was found upon your person +when our officers in Jersey made search of you. Which is yourself-- +Michel de la Foret, soldier, or a priest of France?" + +De la Foret replied gravely that he was a soldier, and that the priestly +dress had been but a disguise. + +"In which papist attire, methinks, Michel de la Foret, soldier and +Huguenot, must have been ill at ease--the eagle with the vulture's wing. +What say you, Monsieur?" + +"That vulture's wing hath carried me to a safe dove-cote, your gracious +Majesty," he answered, with a low obeisance. + +"I'm none so sure of that, Monsieur," was Elizabeth's answer, and +she glanced quizzically at Leicester, who made a gesture of annoyance. +"Our cousin France makes you to us a dark intriguer and conspirator, a +dangerous weed in our good garden of England, a 'troublous, treacherous +violence'--such are you called, Monsieur." + +"I am in your high Majesty's power," he answered, "to do with me as it +seemeth best. If your Majesty wills it that I be returned to France, +I pray you set me upon its coast as I came from it, a fugitive. Thence +will I try to find my way to the army and the poor stricken people of +whom I was. I pray for that only, and not to be given to the red hand of +the Medici." + +"Red hand--by my faith, but you are bold, Monsieur!" + +Leicester tapped his foot upon the floor impatiently, then caught the +Queen's eye, and gave her a meaning look. + +De la Foret saw the look and knew his enemy, but he did not quail. "Bold +only by your high Majesty's faith, indeed," he answered the Queen, with +harmless guile. + +Elizabeth smiled. She loved such flattering speech from a strong man. +It touched a chord in her deeper than that under Leicester's finger. +Leicester's impatience only made her more self-willed on the instant. + +"You speak with the trumpet note, Monsieur," she said to De la Foret. +"We will prove you. You shall have a company in my Lord Leicester's army +here, and we will send you upon some service worthy of your fame." + +"I crave your Majesty's pardon, but I cannot do it," was De la Foret's +instant reply. "I have sworn that I will lift my sword in one cause +only, and to that I must stand. And more--the widow of my dead chief, +Gabriel de Montgomery, is set down in this land unsheltered and alone. +I have sworn to one who loves her, and for my dead chief's sake, that I +will serve her and be near her until better days be come and she may +return in quietness to France. In exile we few stricken folk must stand +together, your august Majesty." + +Elizabeth's eye flashed up. She was impatient of refusal of her favour. +She was also a woman, and that De la Foret should flaunt his devotion to +another woman was little to her liking. The woman in her, which had +never been blessed with a noble love, was roused. The sourness of a +childless, uncompanionable life was stronger for the moment than her +strong mind and sense. + +"Monsieur has sworn this, and Monsieur has sworn that," she said +petulantly--" and to one who loveth a lady, and for a cause--tut, tut, +tut!--" + +Suddenly a kind of intriguing laugh leaped into her eye, and she turned +to Leicester and whispered in his ear. Leicester frowned, then smiled, +and glanced up and down De la Foret's figure impertinently. + +"See, Monsieur de la Foret," she added; "since you will not fight, you +shall preach. A priest you came into my kingdom, and a priest you shall +remain; but you shall preach good English doctrine and no Popish folly." + +De la Foret started, then composed himself, and before he had time to +reply, Elizabeth continued: "Partly for your own sake am I thus gracious; +for as a preacher of the Word I have not need to give you up, according +to agreement with our brother of France. As a rebel and conspirator I +were bound to do so, unless you were an officer of my army. The Seigneur +of Rozel has spoken for you, and the Comtesse de Montgomery has written a +pleading letter. Also I have from another source a tearful prayer--the +ink is scarce dry upon it--which has been of service to you. But I +myself have chosen this way of escape for you. Prove yourself worthy, +and all may be well--but prove yourself you shall. You have prepared +your own brine, Monsieur; in it you shall pickle." + +She smiled a sour smile, for she was piqued, and added: "Do you think I +will have you here squiring of distressed dames, save as a priest? You +shall hence to Madame of Montgomery as her faithful chaplain, once I have +heard you preach and know your doctrine." + +Leicester almost laughed outright in the young man's face now, for he had +no thought that De la Foret would accept, and refusal meant the exile's +doom. + +It seemed fantastic that this noble gentleman, this very type of the +perfect soldier, with the brown face of a picaroon and an athletic valour +of body, should become a preacher even in necessity. + +Elizabeth, seeing De la Foret's dumb amazement and anxiety, spoke up +sharply: "Do this, or get you hence to the Medici, and Madame of +Montgomery shall mourn her protector, and Mademoiselle your mistress +of the vermilion cheek, shall have one lover the less; which, methinks, +our Seigneur of Rozel would thank me for." + +De la Foret started, his lips pressed firmly together in effort of +restraint. There seemed little the Queen did not know concerning him; +and reference to Angele roused him to sharp solicitude. + +"Well, well?" asked Elizabeth impatiently, then made a motion to +Leicester, and he, going to the door, bade some one to enter. + +There stepped inside the Seigneur of Rozel, who made a lumbering +obeisance, then got to his knees before the Queen. + +"You have brought the lady safely--with her father?" she asked. + +Lempriere, puzzled, looked inquiringly at the Queen, then replied: "Both +are safe without, your infinite Majesty." + +De la Foret's face grew pale. He knew now for the first time that Angele +and her father were in England, and he looked Lempriere suspiciously in +the eyes; but the swaggering Seigneur met his look frankly, and bowed +with ponderous and genial gravity. + +Now De la Foret spoke. "Your high Majesty," said he, "if I may ask +Mademoiselle Aubert one question in your presence--" + +"Your answer now; the lady in due season," interposed the Queen. + +"She was betrothed to a soldier, she may resent a priest," said De la +Foret, with a touch of humour, for he saw the better way was to take the +matter with some outward ease. + +Elizabeth smiled. "It is the custom of her sex to have a fondness for +both," she answered, with an acid smile. "But your answer?" + +De la Foret's face became exceeding grave. Bowing his head, he said: +"My sword has spoken freely for the Cause; God forbid that my tongue +should not speak also. I will do your Majesty's behest." + +The jesting word that was upon the royal lips came not forth, for De la +Foret's face was that of a man who had determined a great thing, and +Elizabeth was one who had a heart for high deeds. "The man is brave +indeed," she said under her breath, and, turning to the dumfounded +Seigneur, bade him bring in Mademoiselle Aubert. + +A moment later Angele entered, came a few steps forward, made obeisance, +and stood still. She showed no trepidation, but looked before her +steadily. She knew not what was to be required of her, she was a +stranger in a strange land; but persecution and exile had gone far +to strengthen her spirit and greaten her composure. + +Elizabeth gazed at the girl coldly and critically. To women she was not +over-amiable; but as she looked at the young Huguenot maid, of this calm +bearing, warm of colour, clear of eye, and purposeful of face, some thing +kindled in her. Most like it was that love for a cause, which was more +to be encouraged by her than any woman's love for a man, which as she +grew older inspired her with aversion, as talk of marriage brought +cynical allusions to her lips. + +"I have your letter and its protests and its pleadings. There were fine +words and adjurations--are you so religious, then?" she asked brusquely. + +"I am a Huguenot, your noble Majesty," answered the girl, as though that +answered all. + +"How is it, then, you are betrothed to a roistering soldier?" asked the +Queen. + +"Some must pray for Christ's sake, and some must fight, your most +christian Majesty," answered the girl. "Some must do both," rejoined the +Queen, in a kinder voice, for the pure spirit of the girl worked upon +her. "I am told that Monsieur de la Foret fights fairly. If he can pray +as well, methinks he shall have safety in our kingdom, and ye shall all +have peace. On Trinity Sunday you shall preach in my chapel, Monsieur de +la Foret, and thereafter you shall know your fate." + +She rose. "My Lord," she said to Leicester, on whose face gloom had +settled, "you will tell the Lord Chamberlain that Monsieur de la Foret's +durance must be made comfortable in the west tower of my palace till +chapel-going of Trinity Day. I will send him for his comfort and +instruction some sermons of Latimer." + +She stepped down from the dais. "You will come with me, mistress," she +said to Angele, and reached out her hand. + +Angele fell on her knees and kissed it, tears falling down her cheek, +then rose and followed the Queen from the chamber. She greatly desired +to look backward towards De la Foret, but some good angel bade her not. +She realised that to offend the Queen at this moment might ruin all; and +Elizabeth herself was little like to offer chance for farewell and love- +tokens. + +So it was that, with bowed head, Angele left the room with the Queen of +England, leaving Lempriere and De la Foret gazing at each other, the one +bewildered, the other lost in painful reverie, and Leicester smiling +maliciously at them both. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Every man, if you bring him to the right point, if you touch him in the +corner where he is most sensitive, where he most lives, as it were; if +you prick his nerves with a needle of suggestion where all his passions, +ambitions and sentiments are at white heat, will readily throw away the +whole game of life in some mad act out of harmony with all he ever did. +It matters little whether the needle prick him by accident or blunder or +design, he will burst all bounds, and establish again the old truth that +each of us will prove himself a fool given perfect opportunity. Nor need +the occasion of this revolution be a great one; the most trivial event +may produce the great fire which burns up wisdom, prudence and habit. + +The Earl of Leicester, so long counted astute, clearheaded, and well- +governed, had been suddenly foisted out of balance, shaken from his +imperious composure, tortured out of an assumed and persistent urbanity, +by the presence in Greenwich Palace of a Huguenot exile of no seeming +importance, save what the Medici grimly gave him by desiring his head. +It appeared absurd that the great Leicester, whose nearness to the throne +had made him the most feared, most notable, and, by virtue of his +opportunities, the most dramatic figure in England, should have sleepless +nights by reason of a fugitive like Michel de la Foret. On the surface +it was preposterous that he should see in the Queen's offer of service to +the refugee evidence that she was set to grant him special favours; it +was equally absurd that her offer of safety to him on pledge of his +turning preacher should seem proof that she meant to have him near her. +Elizabeth had left the presence-chamber without so much as a glance at +him, though she had turned and looked graciously at the stranger. He had +hastily followed her, and thereafter impatiently awaited a summons which +never came, though he had sent a message that his hours were at her +Majesty's disposal. Waiting, he saw Angele's father escorted from the +palace by a Gentleman Pensioner to a lodge in the park; he saw Michel de +la Foret taken to his apartments; he saw the Seigneur of Rozel walking in +the palace grounds with such possession as though they were his own, +self-content in every motion of his body. + +Upon the instant the great Earl was incensed out of all proportion to the +affront of the Seigneur's existence. He suddenly hated Lempriere only +less than he hated Michel de la Foret. As he still waited irritably for +a summons from Elizabeth, he brooded on every word and every look she had +given him of late; he recalled her manner to him in the ante-chapel the +day before, and the admiring look she cast on De la Foret but now. He +had seen more in it than mere approval of courage and the self-reliant +bearing of a refugee of her own religion. + +These were days when the soldier of fortune mounted to high places. He +needed but to carry the banner of bravery, and a busy sword, and his way +to power was not hindered by poor estate. To be gently born was the one +thing needful, and Michel de la Foret was gently born; and he had still +his sword, though he chose not to use it in Elizabeth's service. My Lord +knew it might be easier for a stranger like De la Foret, who came with no +encumbrance, to mount to place in the struggles of the Court, than for an +Englishman, whose increasing and ever-bolder enemies were undermining on +every hand, to hold his own. + +He began to think upon ways and means to meet this sudden preference of +the Queen, made sharply manifest as he waited in the ante-chamber, by a +summons to the refugee to enter the Queen's apartments. When the refugee +came forth again he wore a sword the Queen had sent him, and a packet of +Latimer's sermons were under his arm. Leicester was unaware that +Elizabeth herself did not see De la Foret when he was thus hastily +called; but that her lady-in-waiting, the Duke's Daughter, who figured +so largely in the pictures Lempriere drew of his experiences at Greenwich +Palace, brought forth the sermons and the sword, with this message from +the Queen: + +"The Queen says that it is but fair to the sword to be by Michel de la +Foret's side when the sermons are in his hand, that his choice have every +seeming of fairness. For her Majesty says it is still his choice between +the Sword and the Book till Trinity Day." + +Leicester, however, only saw the sword at the side of the refugee and the +gold-bound book under his arm as he came forth, and in a rage he left the +palace and gloomily walked under the trees, denying himself to every one. + +To seize De la Foret, and send him to the Medici, and then rely on +Elizabeth's favour for his pardon, as he had done in the past? That +might do, but the risk to England was too great. It would be like the +Queen, if her temper was up, to demand from the Medici the return of De +la Foret, and war might ensue. Two women, with two nations behind them, +were not to be played lightly against each other, trusting to their +common sense and humour. + +As he walked among the trees, brooding with averted eyes, he was suddenly +faced by the Seigneur of Rozel, who also was shaken from his discretion +and the best interests of the two fugitives he was bound to protect, by a +late offence against his own dignity. A seed of rancour had been sown in +his mind which had grown to a great size and must presently burst into a +dark flower of vengeance. He, Lempriere of Rozel, with three dovecotes, +the perquage, and the office of butler to the Queen, to be called a +"farmer," to be sneered at--it was not in the blood of man, not in the +towering vanity of a Lempriere, to endure it at any price computable to +mortal mind. + +Thus there were in England on that day two fools (there are as many now), +and one said: + +"My Lord Leicester, I crave a word with you." + +"Crave on, good fellow," responded Leicester with a look of boredom, +making to pass by. + +"I am Lempriere, lord of Rozel, my lord--" + +"Ah yes, I took you for a farmer," answered Leicester. "Instead of that, +I believe you keep doves, and wear a jerkin that fits like a king's. +Dear Lord, so does greatness come with girth!" + +"The King that gave me dove-cotes gave me honour, and 'tis not for the +Earl of Leicester to belittle it." + +"What is your coat of arms?" said Leicester with a faint smile, but in +an assumed tone of natural interest. + +"A swan upon a sea of azure, two stars above, and over all a sword with a +wreath around its point," answered Lempriere simply, unsuspecting irony, +and touched by Leicester's flint where he was most like to flare up with +vanity. + +"Ah!" said Leicester. "And the motto?" + +"Mea spes supra stella--my hope is beyond the stars." + +"And the wreath--of parsley, I suppose?" + +Now Lempriere understood, and he shook with fury as he roared: + +"Yes, by God, and to be got at the point of the sword, to put on the +heads of insolents like Lord Leicester!" His face was flaming, he was +like a cock strutting upon a stable mound. + +There fell a slight pause, and then Leicester said: "To-morrow at +daylight, eh?" + +"Now, my lord, now!" + +"We have no seconds." + +"'Sblood! 'Tis not your way, my lord, to be stickling in detail of +courtesy." + +"'Tis not the custom to draw swords in secret, Lempriere of Rozel. Also +my teeth are not on edge to fight you." + +Lempriere had already drawn his sword, and the look of his eyes was as +that of a mad bull in a ring. "You won't fight with me--you don't think +Rozel your equal?" His voice was high. + +Leicester's face took on a hard, cruel look. "We cannot fight among the +ladies," he said quietly. Lempriere followed his glance, and saw the +Duke's Daughter and another in the trees near by. + +He hastily put up his sword. "When, my lord?" he asked. + +"You will hear from me to-night," was the answer, and Leicester went +forward hastily to meet the ladies--they had news no doubt. + +Lempriere turned on his heel and walked quickly away among the trees +towards the quarters where Buonespoir was in durance, which was little +more severe than to keep him within the palace yard. There he found the +fool and the pirate in whimsical converse. + +The fool had brought a letter of inquiry and warm greeting from Angele to +Buonespoir, who was laboriously inditing one in return. When Lempriere +entered the pirate greeted him jovially. + +"In the very pinch of time you come," he said. "You have grammar and +syntax and etiquette." + +"'Tis even so, Nuncio," said the fool. "Here is needed prosody +potential. Exhale!" + +The three put their heads together above the paper. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"I would know your story. How came you and yours to this pass? Where +were you born? Of what degree are you? And this Michel de la Foret, +when came he to your feet--or you to his arms? I would know all. Begin +where life began; end where you sit here at the feet of Elizabeth. This +other cushion to your knees. There--now speak. We are alone." + +Elizabeth pushed a velvet cushion towards Angele, where she half-knelt, +half-sat on the rush-strewn floor of the great chamber. The warm light +of the afternoon sun glowed through the thick-tinted glass high up, and, +in the gleam, the heavy tapestries sent by an archduke, once suitor for +Elizabeth's hand, emerged with dramatic distinctness, and peopled the +room with silent watchers of the great Queen and the nobly-born but poor +and fugitive Huguenot. A splendid piece of sculpture--Eleanor, wife of +Edward--given Elizabeth by another royal suitor, who had sought to be her +consort through many years, caught the warm bath of gold and crimson from +the clerestory and seemed alive and breathing. Against the pedestal the +Queen had placed her visitor, the red cushions making vivid contrast to +her white gown and black hair. In the half-kneeling, half-sitting +posture, with her hands clasped before her, so to steady herself to +composure, Angele looked a suppliant--and a saint. Her pure, +straightforward gaze, her smooth, urbane forehead, the guilelessness +that spoke in every feature, were not made worldly by the intelligence +and humour reposing in the brown depths of her eyes. Not a line vexed +her face or forehead. Her countenance was of a singular and almost +polished smoothness, and though her gown was severely simple by +comparison with silks and velvets, furs and ruffles of a gorgeous Court +at its most gorgeous period, yet in it here and there were touches of +exquisite fineness. The black velvet ribbon slashing her sleeves, the +slight cloud-like gathering of lace at the back of her head, gave a +distinguished softness to her appearance. + +She was in curious contrast to the Queen, who sat upon heaped-up +cushions, her rich buff and black gown a blaze of jewels, her yellow +hair, now streaked with grey, roped with pearls, her hands heavy with +rings, her face past its youth, past its hopefulness, however noble and +impressive, past its vivid beauty. Her eyes wore ever a determined look, +were persistent and vigilant, with a lurking trouble, yet flooded, too, +by a quiet melancholy, like a low, insistent note that floats through an +opera of passion, romance, and tragedy; like a tone of pathos giving deep +character to some splendid pageant, which praises whilst it commemorates, +proclaiming conquest while the grass has not yet grown on quiet houses +of the children of the sword who no more wield the sword. Evasive, +cautious, secretive, creator of her own policy, she had sacrificed her +womanhood to the power she held and the State she served. Vain, +passionate, and faithful, her heart all England and Elizabeth, the hunger +for glimpses of what she had never known, and was never to know, thrust +itself into her famished life; and she was wont to indulge, as now, in +fancies and follow some emotional whim with a determination very like to +eccentricity. + +That, at this time, when great national events were forward, when +conspiracies abounded, when Parliament was grimly gathering strength to +compel her to marry; and her Council were as sternly pursuing their +policy for the destruction of Leicester; while that very day had come +news of a rising in the North and of fresh Popish plots hatched in +France--that in such case, this day she should set aside all business, +refuse ambassadors and envoys admission, and occupy herself with two +Huguenot refugees seemed incredible to the younger courtiers. To such +as Cecil, however, there was clear understanding. He knew that when she +seemed most inert, most impassive to turbulent occurrences, most careless +of consequences, she was but waiting till, in her own mind, her plans +were grown; so that she should see her end clearly ere she spoke or +moved. Now, as the great minister showed himself at the door of the +chamber and saw Elizabeth seated with Angele, he drew back instinctively, +expectant of the upraised hand which told him he must wait. And, in +truth, he was nothing loth to do so, for his news he cared little to +deliver, important though it was that she should have it promptly and act +upon it soon. He turned away with a feeling of relief, however, for this +gossip with the Huguenot maid would no doubt interest her, give new +direction to her warm sympathies, which if roused in one thing were ever +more easily roused in others. He knew that a crisis was nearing in the +royal relations with Leicester. In a life of devotion to her service he +had seen her before in this strange mood, and he could feel that she was +ready for an outburst. As he thought of De la Foret and the favour with +which she had looked at him he smiled grimly, for if it meant aught it +meant that it would drive Leicester to some act which would hasten his +own doom; though, indeed, it might also make another path more difficult +for himself, for the Parliament, for the people. + +Little as Elizabeth could endure tales of love and news of marriage; +little as she believed in any vows, save those made to herself; little +as she was inclined to adjust the rough courses of true love, she was the +surgeon to this particular business, and she had the surgeon's love of +laying bare even to her own cynicism the hurt of the poor patient under +her knife. Indeed, so had Angele impressed her that for once she thought +she might hear the truth. Because she saw the awe in the other's face +and a worshipping admiration of the great protectress of Protestantism, +who had by large gifts of men and money in times past helped the Cause, +she looked upon her here with kindness. + +"Speak now, mistress fugitive, and I will listen," she added, as Cecil +withdrew; and she made a motion to musicians in a distant gallery. + +Angele's heart fluttered to her mouth, but the soft, simple music helped +her, and she began with eyes bent upon the ground, her linked fingers +clasping and unclasping slowly. + +"I was born at Rouen, your high Majesty," she said. "My mother was a +cousin of the Prince of Passy, the great Protestant--" + +"Of Passy--ah!" said Elizabeth amazed. "Then you are Protestants +indeed; and your face is no invention, but cometh honestly. No, no, +'tis no accident--God rest his soul, great Passy!" + +"She died--my mother--when I was a little child. I can but just remember +her--so brightly quiet, so quick, so beautiful. In Rouen life had little +motion; but now and then came stir and turmoil, for war sent its message +into the old streets, and our captains and our peasants poured forth to +fight for the King. Once came the King and Queen--Francis and Mary--" + +Elizabeth drew herself upright with an exclamation. "Ah, you have seen +her--Mary of Scots," she said sharply. "You have seen her?" + +"As near as I might touch her with my hand, as near as is your high +Majesty. She spoke to me--my mother's father was in her train;--as yet +we had not become Huguenots, nor did we know her Majesty as now the world +knows. They came, the King and Queen--and that was the beginning." + +She paused, and looked shyly at Elizabeth, as though she found it hard to +tell her story. + +"And the beginning, it was--?" said Elizabeth, impatient and intent. + +"We went to Court. The Queen called my mother into her train. But it +was in no wise for our good. At Court my mother pined away--and so she +died in durance." + +"Wherefore in durance?" + +"To what she saw she would not shut her eyes; to what she heard she would +not close her soul; what was required of her she would not do." + +"She would not obey the Queen?" + +"She could not obey those whom the Queen favoured. Then the tyranny that +broke her heart--" + +The Queen interrupted her. + +"In very truth, but 'tis not in France alone that Queen's favourites +grasp the sceptre and speak the word. Hath a Queen a thousand eyes--can +she know truth where most dissemble?" + +"There was a man--he could not know there was one true woman there, who +for her daughter's sake, for her desired advancement, and because she was +cousin of Passy, who urged it, lived that starved life; this man, this +prince, drew round her feet snares, set pit-falls for her while my father +was sent upon a mission. Steadfast she kept her soul unspotted; but it +wore away her life. The Queen would not permit return to Rouen--who can +tell what tale was told her by one whom she foiled? And so she stayed. +In this slow, savage persecution, when she was like a bird that, thinking +it is free, flieth against the window-pane and falleth back beaten, so +did she stay, and none could save her. To cry out, to throw herself upon +the spears, would have been ruin of herself, her husband and her child; +and for these she lived." + +Elizabeth's eyes had kindled. Perhaps never in her life had the life at +Court been so exposed to her. The simple words, meant but to convey the +story, and with no thought behind, had thrown a light on her own Court, +on her own position. Adept in weaving a sinuous course in her policy, +in making mazes for others to tread, the mazes which they in turn +prepared had never before been traced beneath her eyes to the same +vivid and ultimate effect. + +"Help me, ye saints, but things are not at such a pass in this place!" +she said abruptly, but with weariness in her voice. "Yet sometimes I +know not. The Court is a city by itself, walled and moated, and hath a +life all its own. 'If there be found ten honest men within the city yet +will I save it,' saith the Lord. By my father's head, I would not risk +a finger on the hazard if this city, this Court of Elizabeth were set +'twixt the fire from Heaven and eternal peace. In truth, child, I would +lay me down and die in black disgust were it not that one might come +hereafter would make a very Sodom or Gomorrah of this land: and out +yonder--out in all my counties, where the truth of England is among my +poor burgesses, who die for the great causes which my nobles profess but +risk not their lives--out yonder all that they have won, and for which I +have striven, would be lost. . . . Speak on. I have not heard so +plain a tongue and so little guile these twenty years." + +Angele continued, more courage in her voice. "In the midst of it all +came the wave of the new faith upon my mother. And before ill could fall +upon her from her foes, she died and was at rest. Then we returned to +Rouen, my father and I, and there we lived in peril, but in great +happiness of soul until the day of massacre. That night in Paris +we were given greatly of the mercy of God." + +"You were there--you were in the massacre at Paris?" + +In the house of the Duke of Langon, with whom was resting after a +hazardous enterprise, Michel de la Foret." + +"And here beginneth the second lesson," said the Queen with a smile on +her lips; but there was a look of scrutiny in her eyes, and something +like irony in her tone. "And I will swear by all the stars of Heaven +that this Michel saved ye both. Is it not so?" + +"It is even so. By his skill and bravery we found our way to safety, +and in a hiding-place near to our loved Rouen watched him return from the +gates of death." + +"He was wounded then?" + +"Seven times wounded, and with as little blood left in him as would fill +a cup. But it was summer, and we were in the hills, and they brought us, +our friends of Rouen, all that we had need of; and so God was with us. + +"But did he save thy life, except by skill, by indirect and fortunate +wisdom? Was there deadly danger upon thee? Did he beat down the sword +of death?" + +"He saved my life thrice directly. The wounds he carried were got by +interposing his own sword 'twixt death and me." + +"And that hath need of recompense?" + +"My life was little worth the wounds he suffered; but I waited not until +he saved it to owe it unto him. All that it is was his before he drew +the sword." + +"And 'tis this ye would call love betwixt ye--sweet givings and takings +of looks, and soft sayings, and unchangeable and devouring faith. Is't +this--and is this all?" + +The girl had spoken out of an innocent heart, but the challenge in the +Queen's voice worked upon her, and though she shrank a little, the +fulness of her soul welled up and strengthened her. She spoke again, +and now in her need and in her will to save the man she loved, by making +this majesty of England his protector, her words had eloquence. + +"It is not all, noble Queen. Love is more than that. It is the waking +in the poorest minds, in the most barren souls, of something greater than +themselves--as a chemist should find a substance that would give all +other things by touching of them a new and higher value; as light and +sun draw from the earth the tendrils of the seed that else had lain +unproducing. 'Tis not alone soft words and touch of hand or lip. This +caring wholly for one outside one's self kills that self which else would +make the world blind and deaf and dumb. None hath loved greatly but hath +helped to love in others. Ah, most sweet Majesty, for great souls like +thine, souls born great, this medicine is not needful, for already hath +the love of a nation inspired and enlarged it; but for souls like mine +and of so many, none better and none worse than me, to love one other +soul deeply and abidingly lifts us higher than ourselves. Your Majesty +hath been loved by a whole people, by princes and great men in a +different sort--is it not the world's talk that none that ever reigned +hath drawn such slavery of princes, and of great nobles who have courted +death for hopeless love of one beyond their star? And is it not written +in the world's book also that the Queen of England hath loved no man, but +hath poured out her heart to a people; and hath served great causes in +all the earth because of that love which hath still enlarged her soul, +dowered at birth beyond reckoning?" Tears filled her eyes. "Ah, your +supreme Majesty, to you whose heart is universal, the love of one poor +mortal seemeth a small thing, but to those of little consequence it is +the cable by which they unsteadily hold over the chasm 'twixt life and +immortality. To thee, oh greatest monarch of the world, it is a staff +on which thou need'st not lean, which thou hast never grasped; to me +it is my all; without it I fail and fall and die." + +She had spoken as she felt, yet, because she was a woman and guessed +the mind of another woman, she had touched Elizabeth where her armour +was weakest. She had suggested that the Queen had been the object of +adoration, but had never given her heart to any man; that hers was the +virgin heart and life; and that she had never stooped to conquer. +Without realising it, and only dimly moving with that end in view, she +had whetted Elizabeth's vanity. She had indeed soothed a pride wounded +of late beyond endurance, suspecting, as she did, that Leicester had +played his long part for his own sordid purposes, that his devotion was +more alloy than precious metal. No note of praise could be pitched too +high for Elizabeth, and if only policy did not intervene, if but no +political advantage was lost by saving De la Foret, that safety seemed +now secure. + +"You tell a tale and adorn it with good grace," she said, and held out +her hand. Angele kissed it. "And you have said to Elizabeth what none +else dared to say since I was Queen here. He who hath never seen the +lightning hath no dread of it. I had not thought there was in the world +so much artlessness, with all the power of perfect art. But we live to +be wiser. Thou shalt continue in thy tale. Thou hast seen Mary, once +Queen of France, now Queen of Scots--answer me fairly; without if, or +though, or any sort of doubt, the questions I shall put. Which of us +twain, this ruin-starred queen or I, is of higher stature?" + +"She hath advantage in little of your Majesty," bravely answered Angele. + +"Then," answered Elizabeth sourly, "she is too high, for I myself am +neither too high nor too low. . . . And of complexion, which is the +fairer?" + +"Her complexion is the fairer, but your Majesty's countenance hath truer +beauty, and sweeter majesty." Elizabeth frowned slightly, then said: + +"What exercises did she take when you were at the Court?" + +"Sometimes she hunted, your Majesty, and sometimes she played upon the +virginals." + +"Did she play to effect?" + +"Reasonably, your noble Majesty." + +"You shall hear me play, and then speak truth upon us, for I have known +none with so true a tongue since my father died." + +Thereon she called to a lady who waited near in a little room to bring an +instrument; but at that moment Cecil appeared again at the door, and his +face seeming to show anxiety, Elizabeth, with a sigh, beckoned him to +enter. + +"Your face, Cecil, is as long as a Lenten collect. What raven croaks in +England on May Day eve?" Cecil knelt before her, and gave into her hand +a paper. + +"What record runs here?" she asked querulously. "A prayer of your +faithful Lords and Commons that your Majesty will grant speech with their +chosen deputies to lay before your Majesty a cause they have at heart." + +"Touching of--?" darkly asked the Queen. + +"The deputies wait even now--will not your Majesty receive them? They +have come humbly, and will go hence as humbly on the instant, if the hour +is ill chosen." + +Immediately Elizabeth's humour changed. A look of passion swept across +her face, but her eyes lighted, and her lips smiled proudly. She avoided +troubles by every means, fought off by subtleties the issues which she +must meet; but when the inevitable hour came none knew so well to meet it +as though it were a dearest friend, no matter what the danger, how great +the stake. + +"They are here at my door, these good servants of the State--shall they +be kept dangling?" she said loudly. "Though it were time for prayers +and God's mercy yet should they speak with me, have my counsel, or my +hand upon the sacred parchment of the State. Bring them hither, Cecil. +Now we shall see--Now you shall see, Angele of Rouen, now you shall see +how queens shall have no hearts to call their own, but be head and heart +and soul and body at the will of every churl who thinks he serves the +State and knows the will of Heaven. Stand here at my left hand. Mark +the players and the play." + +Kneeling, the deputies presented a resolution from the Lords and Commons +that the Queen should, without more delay, in keeping with her oft- +expressed resolve and the promise of her Council, appoint one who should +succeed to the throne in case of her death "without posterity." Her +faithful people pleaded with her gracious Majesty to forego unwillingness +to marry and seek a consort worthy of her supreme consideration, to be +raised to a place beside her near that throne which she had made the +greatest in the world. + +Gravely, solemnly, the chief members of the Lords and Commons spoke, and +with as weighty pauses and devoted protestations as though this were the +first time their plea had been urged, this obvious duty had been set out +before her. Long ago in the flush and pride of her extreme youth and the +full assurance of the fruits of marriage, they had spoken with the same +sober responsibility; and though her youth had gone and the old certainty +had for ever disappeared, they spoke of her marriage and its consequences +as though it were still that far-off yesterday. Well for them that they +did so, for though time had flown and royal suitors without number had +become figures dim in the people's mind, Elizabeth, fed upon adulation, +invoked, admired, besieged by young courtiers, flattered by maids who +praised her beauty, had never seen the hands of the clock pass high noon, +and still remained under the dearest and saddest illusion which can rest +in a woman's mind. Long after the hands of life's clock had moved into +afternoon, the ancient prayer was still gravely presented that she should +marry and give an heir to England's crown; and she as solemnly listened +and dropped her eyes, and strove to hide her virgin modesty behind a high +demeanour which must needs sink self in royal duty. + +"These be the dear desires of your supreme Majesty's faithful Lords and +Commons and the people of the shires whose wills they represent. Your +Majesty's life, God grant it last beyond that of the youngest of your +people so greatly blessed in your rule! But accidents of time be many; +and while the world is full of guile, none can tell what peril may beset +the crown, if your Majesty's wisdom sets not apart, gives not to her +country, one whom the nation can surround with its care, encompass +lovingly by its duty." + +The talk with Angele had had a curious influence upon the Queen. +It was plain that now she was moved by real feeling, and that, though +she deceived herself, or pretended so to do, shutting her eyes to sober +facts, and dreaming old dreams--as it were, in a world where never was a +mirror nor a timepiece--yet there was working in her a fresher spirit, +urging her to a fairer course than she had shaped for many a day. + +"My lords and gentlemen and my beloved subjects," she answered presently, +and for an instant set her eyes upon Angele, then turned to them again, +"I pray you stand and hear me. . . . Ye have spoken fair words to my +face, and of my face, and of the person of this daughter of great Henry, +from whom I got whatever grace or manner or favour is to me; and by all +your reasoning you do flatter the heart of the Queen of England, whose +mind indeed sleeps not in deed or desire for this realm. Ye have drawn a +fair picture of this mortal me, and though from the grace of the picture +the colours may fade by time, may give by weather, may be spoiled by +chance, yet my loyal mind, nor time with her swift wings shall overtake, +nor the misty clouds may darken, nor chance with her slippery foot may +overthrow. It sets its course by the heart of England, and when it +passeth there shall be found that one shall be left behind who shall be +surety of all that hath been lying in the dim warehouse of fate for +England's high future. Be sure that in this thing I have entered into +the weigh-house, and I hold the balance, and ye shall be well satisfied. +Ye have been fruitful in counsel, ye have been long knitting a knot never +tied, ye shall have comfort soon. But know ye beyond peradventure that I +have bided my time with good reason. If our loom be framed with rotten +hurdles, when our web is well-ny done, our work is yet to begin. Against +mischance and dark discoveries my mind, with knowledge hidden from you, +hath been firmly arrayed. If it be in your thought that I am set against +a marriage which shall serve the nation, purge yourselves, friends, of +that sort of heresy, for the belief is awry. Though I think that to be +one and always one, neither mated nor mothering, be good for a private +woman, for a prince it is not meet. Therefore, say to my Lords and +Commons that I am more concerned for what shall chance to England when I +am gone than to linger out my living thread. I hope, my lords and +gentlemen, to die with a good Nunc Dimittis, which could not be if I did +not give surety for the nation after my graved bones. Ye shall hear +soon--ye shall hear and be satisfied, and so I give you to the care of +Almighty God." + +Once more they knelt, and then slowly withdrew, with faces downcast and +troubled. They had secret knowledge which she did not yet possess, but +which at any moment she must know, and her ambiguous speech carried no +conviction to their minds. Yet their conference with her was most +opportune, for the news she must presently receive, brought by a +messenger from Scotland who had outstripped all others, would no doubt +move her to action which should set the minds of the people at rest, and +go far to stem the tide of conspiracy flowing through the kingdom. + +Elizabeth stood watching them, and remained gazing after they had +disappeared; then rousing herself, she turned to leave the room, and +beckoned to Angele to follow. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +As twilight was giving place to night Angele was roused from the reverie +into which she had fallen, by the Duke's Daughter, who whispered to her +that if she would have a pleasure given to but few, she would come +quickly. Taking her hand the Duke's Daughter--as true and whimsical a +spirit as ever lived in troubled days and under the aegis of the sword- +led her swiftly to the Queen's chamber. They did not enter, but waited +in a quiet gallery. + +"The Queen is playing upon the virginals, and she playeth best when +alone; so stand you here by this tapestry, and you shall have pleasure +beyond payment," said the Duke's Daughter. + +Angele had no thought that the Queen of her vanity had commanded that she +be placed there as though secretly, and she listened dutifully at first; +but presently her ears were ravished; and even the Duke's Daughter showed +some surprise, for never had she heard the Queen play with such grace and +feeling. The countenance of the musician was towards them, and at last, +as though by accident, Elizabeth looked up and saw the face of her lady. + +"Spy, spy," she cried. "Come hither--come hither, all of you!" + +When they had descended and knelt to her, she made as if she would punish +the Duke's Daughter by striking her with a scarf that lay at her hand, +but to Angele she said: + +"How think you then, hath that other greater skill--Darnley's wife I +mean?" + +"Not she or any other hath so delighted me," said Angele, with worship in +her eyes--so doth talent given to majesty become lifted beyond its +measure. + +The Queen's eyes lighted. "We shall have dancing, then," she said. "The +dance hath charms for me. We shall not deny our youth. The heart shall +keep as young as the body." + +An instant later the room was full of dancers, and Elizabeth gave her +hand to Leicester, who bent every faculty to pleasing her. His face had +darkened as he had seen Angele beside her, but the Queen's graciousness, +whether assumed or real, had returned, and her face carried a look of +triumph and spirit and delight. Again and again she glanced towards +Angele, and what she saw evidently gave her pleasure, for she laughed and +disported herself with grace and an agreeable temper, and Leicester lent +himself to her spirit with adroit wit and humility. He had seen his +mistake of the morning, and was now intent to restore himself to favour. + +He succeeded well, for the emotions roused in Elizabeth during the day, +now heightened by vanity and emulation, found in him a centre upon which +they could converge; and, in her mind, Angele, for the nonce, was +disassociated from any thought of De la Foret. Leicester's undoubted +gifts were well and cautiously directed, and his talent of assumed +passion--his heart was facile, and his gallantry knew no bounds--was +put to dexterous use, convincing for the moment. The Queen seemed +all complaisance again. Presently she had Angele brought to her. + +"How doth her dance compare-she who hath wedded Darnley?" + +"She danceth not so high nor disposedly, with no such joyous lightness as +your high Majesty, but yet she moveth with circumspection." + +"Circumspection--circumspection, that is no gift in dancing, which should +be wilful yet airily composed, thoughtless yet inducing. Circumspection! +--in nothing else hath Mary shown it where she should. 'Tis like this +Queen perversely to make a psalm of dancing, and then pirouette with +sacred duty. But you have spoken the truth, and I am well content. So +get you to your rest." + +She tapped Ange'le's cheek. "You shall remain here to-night. 'Tis too +late for you to be sent abroad." She was about to dismiss her, when +there was a sudden stir. Cecil had entered and was making his way to the +Queen, followed by two strangers. Elizabeth waited their approach. + +"Your gracious Majesty," said Cecil, in a voice none heard save +Elizabeth, for all had fallen back at a wave of her hand, "the Queen of +Scots is the mother of a fair son." + +Elizabeth's face flushed, then became pale, and she struck her knee with +her clinched hand. "Who bringeth the news?" she inquired in a sharp +voice. + +"Sir Andrew Melvill here." + +"Who is with him yonder?" + +"One who hath been attached to the Queen of Scots." + +"He hath the ill look of such an one," she answered, and then said below +her breath bitterly: "She hath a son--and I am but a barren stock." + +Rising, she added hurriedly: "We will speak to the people at the May Day +sports to-morrow. Let there be great feasting." + +She motioned to Sir Andrew Melvill to come forward, and with a gesture of +welcome and a promise of speech with him on the morrow she dismissed +them. + +Since the two strangers had entered, Angele's eyes had been fastened on +the gentleman who accompanied Sir Andrew Melvill. Her first glance at +him had sent a chill through her, and she remained confused and +disturbed. In vain her memory strove to find where the man was set in +her past. The time, the place, the event eluded her, but a sense of +foreboding possessed her; and her eyes followed him with strained anxiety +as he retired from the presence. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +As had been arranged when Lempriere challenged Leicester, they met soon +after dawn among the trees beside the Thames. A gentleman of the court, +to whom the Duke's Daughter had previously presented Lempriere, gaily +agreed to act as second, and gallantly attended the lord of Rozel in his +adventurous enterprise. There were few at Court who had not some grudge +against Leicester, few who would not willingly have done duty at such a +time; for Leicester's friends were of fair-weather sort, ready to defend +him, to support him, not for friendship but for the crumbs that dropped +from the table of his power. The favourite himself was attended by the +Earl of Ealing, a youngster who had his spurs to win, who thought it +policy to serve the great time-server. Two others also came. + +It was a morning little made for deeds of rancour or of blood. As they +passed, the early morning mists above the green fields of Kent and Essex +were being melted by the summer sun. The smell of ripening fruit came on +them with pungent sweetness, their feet crashed odorously through clumps +of tiger-lilies, and the dew on the ribbon-grass shook glistening drops +upon their velvets. Overhead the carolling of the thrush came swimming +recklessly through the trees, and far over in the fields the ploughmen +started upon the heavy courses of their labour; while here and there +poachers with bows and arrows slid through the green undergrowth, like +spies hovering on an army's flank. + +To Lempriere the morning carried no impression save that life was well +worth living. No agitation passed across his nerves, no apprehension +reached his mind. He had no imagination; he loved the things that his +eyes saw because they filled him with enjoyment; but why they were, or +whence they came, or what they meant or boded, never gave him meditation. +A vast epicurean, a consummate egotist, ripe with feeling and rich with +energy, he could not believe that when he spoke the heavens would not +fall. The stinging sweetness of the morning was a tonic to all his +energies, an elation to his mind; he swaggered through the lush grasses +and boskage as though marching to a marriage. + +Leicester, on his part, no more caught at the meaning of the morning, at +the long whisper of enlivened nature, than did his foe. The day gave to +him no more than was his right. If the day was not fine, then Leicester +was injured; but if the day was fine, then Leicester had his due. Moral +blindness made him blind for the million deep teachings trembling round +him. He felt only the garish and the splendid. So it was that at +Kenilworth, where his Queen had visited him, the fetes that he had held +would far outshine the fete which would take place in Greenwich Park on +this May Day. The fete of this May Day would take place, but would he +see it? The thought flashed through his mind that he might not; but he +trod it under foot; not through an inborn, primitive egotism like that +of Lempriere, but through an innate arrogance, an unalterable belief that +Fate was ever on his side. He had played so many tricks with Fate, had +mocked while taking its gifts so often, that, like the son who has +flouted his indulgent father through innumerable times, he conceived that +he should never be disinherited. It irked him that he should be fighting +with a farmer, as he termed the Seigneur of the Jersey Isle; but there +was in the event, too, a sense of relief, for he had a will for murder. +Yesterday's events were still fresh in his mind; and he had a feeling +that the letting of Lempriere's blood would cool his own and be some cure +for the choler which the presence of these strangers at the Court had +wrought in him. + +There were better swordsmen in England than he, but his skill was +various, and he knew tricks of the trade which this primitive Norman +could never have learnt. He had some touch of wit, some biting +observation, and, as he neared the place of the encounter, he played upon +the coming event with a mordant frivolity. Not by nature a brave man, +he was so much a fatalist, such a worshipper of his star, that he had +acquired an artificial courage which had served him well. The unschooled +gentlemen with him roared with laughter at his sallies, and they came to +the place of meeting as though to a summer feast. + +"Good-morrow, nobility," said Leicester with courtesy overdone, and +bowing much too low. "Good-morrow, valentine," answered Lempriere, +flushing slightly at the disguised insult, and rising to the moment. + +"I hear the crop of fools is short this year in Jersey, and through no +fault of yours--you've done your best most loyally," jeered Leicester, as +he doffed his doublet, his gentlemen laughing in derision. + +"'Tis true enough, my lord, and I have come to find new seed in England, +where are fools to spare; as I trust in Heaven one shall be spared on +this very day for planting yonder." + +He was eaten with rage, but he was cool and steady. + +He was now in his linen and small clothes and looked like some untrained +Hercules. + +"Well said, nobility," laughed Leicester with an ugly look. "'Tis seed +time--let us measure out the seed. On guard!" + +Never were two men such opposites, never two so seemingly ill-matched. +Leicester's dark face and its sardonic look, his lithe figure, the +nervous strength of his bearing, were in strong contrast to the bulking +breadth, the perspiring robustness of Lempriere of Rozel. It was not +easy of belief that Lempriere should be set to fight this toreador of a +fighting Court. But there they stood, Lempriere's face with a great-eyed +gravity looming above his rotund figure like a moon above a purple cloud. +But huge and loose though the Seigneur's motions seemed, he was as intent +as though there were but two beings in the universe, Leicester and +himself. A strange alertness seemed to be upon him, and, as Leicester +found when the swords crossed, he was quicker than his bulk gave warrant. +His perfect health made his vision sure; and, though not a fine +swordsman, he had done much fighting in his time, had been ever ready for +the touch of steel; and had served some warlike days in fighting France, +where fate had well befriended him. That which Leicester meant should be +by-play of a moment became a full half-hour's desperate game. Leicester +found that the thrust--the fatal thrust learned from an Italian master-- +he meant to give, was met by a swift precision, responding to quick +vision. Again and again he would have brought the end, but Lempriere +heavily foiled him. The wound which the Seigneur got at last, meant to +be mortal, was saved from that by the facility of a quick apprehension. +Indeed, for a time the issue had seemed doubtful, for the endurance and +persistence of the Seigneur made for exasperation and recklessness in his +antagonist, and once blood was drawn from the wrist of the great man; but +at length Lempriere went upon the aggressive. Here he erred, for +Leicester found the chance for which he had manoeuvred--to use the feint +and thrust got out of Italy. He brought his enemy low, but only after a +duel the like of which had never been seen at the Court of England. The +toreador had slain his bull at last, but had done no justice to his +reputation. Never did man more gallantly sustain his honour with +heaviest odds against him than did the Seigneur of Rozel that day. + +As he was carried away by the merry gentlemen of the Court, he called +back to the favourite: + +"Leicester is not so great a swordsman after all. Hang fast to your +honours by the skin of your teeth, my lord." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +It was Monday, and the eyes of London and the Court were turned towards +Greenwich Park, where the Queen was to give entertainment to the French +Envoy who had come once more to urge upon the Queen marriage with a son +of the Medici, and to obtain an assurance that she would return to France +the widow of the great Montgomery and his valiant lieutenant, Michel de +la Foret. The river was covered with boats and barges, festooned, +canopied, and hung with banners and devices; and from sunrise music and +singing conducted down the stream the gaily dressed populace--for those +were the days when a man spent on his ruff and his hose and his russet +coat as much as would feed and house a family for a year; when the fine- +figured ruflier with sables about his neck, corked slipper, trimmed +buskin, and cloak of silk or damask furred, carried his all upon his +back. + +Loud-voiced gallants came floating by; men of a hundred guilds bearing +devices pompously held on their way to the great pageant; country +bumpkins up from Surrey roystered and swore that there was but one land +that God had blessed, and challenged the grinning watermen from Gravesend +and Hampton Court to deny it; and the sun with ardour drove from the sky +every invading cloud, leaving Essex and Kent as far as eye could see +perfect green gardens of opulence. + +Before Elizabeth had left her bed, London had emptied itself into +Greenwich Park. Thither the London Companies had come in their varied +dazzling accoutrements--hundreds armed in fine corselets bearing the long +Moorish pike; tall halberdiers in the unique armour called Almainrivets, +and gunners or muleteers equipped in shirts of mail with morions or steel +caps. Here too were to come the Gentlemen Pensioners, resplendent in +scarlet, to "run with the spear;" and hundreds of men-at-arms were set +at every point to give garish bravery to all. Thousands of citizens, +openmouthed, gazed down the long arenas of green festooned with every +sort of decoration and picturesque invention. Cages of large birds from +the Indies, fruits, corn, fishes, grapes, hung in the trees, players +perched in the branches discoursed sweet music, and poets recited their +verses from rustic bridges or on platforms with weapons and armour hung +trophy-wise on ragged staves. Upon a small lake a dolphin four-and- +twenty feet in length came swimming, within its belly a lively orchestra; +Italian tumblers swung from rope to bar; and crowds gathered at the +places where bear and bull-baiting were to excite the none too fastidious +tastes of the time. + +All morning the gay delights went on, and at high noon the cry was +carried from mouth to mouth: "The Queen! The Queen!" + +She appeared on a balcony surrounded by her lords and ladies, and there +received the diplomatists, speaking at length to the French Envoy in a +tone of lightness and elusive cheerfulness which he was at a loss to +understand and tried in vain to pierce by cogent remarks bearing on +matters of moment involved in his embassage. Not far away stood +Leicester, but the Queen had done no more than note his presence by a +glance, and now and again with ostentatious emphasis she spoke to Angele, +whom she had had brought to her in the morning before chapel-going. Thus +early, after a few questions and some scrutiny, she had sent her in +charge of a gentleman-at-arms and a maid of the Duke's Daughter to her +father's lodging, with orders to change her robe, to return to the palace +in good time before noon, and to bring her father to a safe place where +he could watch the pleasures of the people. When Angele came to the +presence again she saw that the Queen was wearing a gown of pure white +with the sleeves shot with black, such as she herself had worn when +admitted to audience yesterday. Vexed, agitated, embittered as Elizabeth +had been by the news brought to her the night before, she had kept her +wardrobers and seamstresses at work the whole night to alter a white +satin habit to the simplicity and style of that which Angele had worn. + +"What think you of my gown, my lady refugee?" she said to Angele at +last, as the Gentlemen Pensioners paraded in the space below, followed by +the Knights Tilters--at their head the Queen's Champion, Sir Henry Lee: +twenty-five of the most gallant and favoured of the courtiers of +Elizabeth, including the gravest of her counsellors and the youngest +gallant who had won her smile, Master Christopher Hatton. Some of these +brave suitors, taken from the noblest families, had appeared in the tilt- +yard every anniversary of the year of her accession, and had lifted their +romantic office, which seemed but the service of enamoured knights, into +an almost solemn dignity. + +The vast crowd disposed itself around the great improvised yard where the +Knights Tilters were to engage, and the Queen, followed by her retinue, +descended to the dais which had been set up near the palace. Her white +satin gown, roped with pearls only at the neck and breast, glistened in +the bright sun, and her fair hair took on a burnished radiance. As +Angele passed with her in the gorgeous procession, she could not but view +the scene with admiring eye, albeit her own sweet sober attire, a pearly +grey, seemed little in keeping; for the ladies and lords were most richly +attired, and the damask and satin cloaks, crimson velvet gowns, silk +hoods, and jewelled swords and daggers made a brave show. She was like +some moth in a whorl of butterflies. + +Her face was pale, and her eye had a curious disturbed look, as though +they had seen frightening things. The events of last evening had tried +her simple spirit, and she shrank from this glittering show; but the +knowledge that her lover's life was in danger, and that her happiness was +here and now at stake, held her bravely to her place, beset as it was +with peril; for the Queen, with that eccentricity which had lifted her up +yesterday, might cast her down to-day, and she had good reason to fear +the power and influence of Leicester, whom she knew with a sure instinct +was intent on Michel's ruin. Behind all her nervous shrinking and her +heart's doubt, the memory of the face of the stranger she had seen last +night with Sir Andrew Melvill tortured her. She could not find the time +and place where she had seen the eyes that, in the palace, had filled +her with mislike and abhorrence as they looked upon the Queen. Again +and again in her fitful sleep had she dreamt of him, and a sense of +foreboding was heavy upon her--she seemed to hear the footfall of coming +disaster. The anxiety of her soul lent an unnatural brightness to her +eyes; so that more than one enamoured courtier made essay to engage her +in conversation, and paid her deferential compliment when the Queen's +eyes were not turned her way. Come to the dais, she was placed not far +from her Majesty, beside the Duke's Daughter, whose whimsical nature +found frequent expression in what the Queen was wont to call "a merry +volt." She seemed a privileged person, with whom none ventured to take +liberties, and against whom none was entitled to bear offence, for her +quips were free from malice, and her ingenuity in humour of mark. She it +was who had put into the Queen's head that morning an idea which was +presently to startle Angele and all others. + +Leicester was riding with the Knights Tilters, and as they cantered +lightly past the dais, trailing their spears in obeisance, Elizabeth +engaged herself in talk with Cecil, who was standing near, and appeared +not to see the favourite. This was the first time since he had mounted +to good fortune that she had not thrown him a favour to pick up with his +spear and wear in her honour, and he could scarce believe that she had +meant to neglect him. He half halted, but she only deigned an +inclination of the head, and he spurred his horse angrily on with a +muttered imprecation, yet, to all seeming, gallantly paying homage. + +"There shall be doings ere this day is done. 'Beware the Gipsy'!" said +the Duke's Daughter in a low tone to Angele, and she laughed. lightly. + +"Who is the Gipsy?" asked Angele, with good suspicion, however. + +"Who but Leicester," answered the other. "Is he not black enough?" + +"Why was he so called? Who put the name upon Who but the Earl of Sussex +as he died--as noble a chief, as true a counsellor as ever spoke truth to +a Queen. But truth is not all at Court, and Sussex was no flatterer. +Leicester bowed under the storm for a moment when Sussex showed him in +his true colours; but Sussex had no gift of intrigue, the tide turned, +and so he broke his heart, and died. But he left a message which I +sometimes remember with my collects. 'I am now passing to another +world,' said he, 'and must leave you to your fortunes and to the Queen's +grace and goodness; but beware the Gipsy, for he will be too hard for all +of you; you know not the beast so well as I do.' But my Lord Sussex was +wrong. One there is who knows him through and through, and hath little +joy in the knowing." + +The look in the eyes of the Duke's Daughter became like steel and her +voice hardened, and Angele realised that Leicester had in this beautiful +and delicate maid-of-honour as bitter an enemy as ever brought down the +mighty from their seats; that a pride had been sometime wounded, suffered +an unwarrantable affront, which only innocence could feel so acutely. +Her heart went out to the Duke's Daughter as it had never gone out to any +of her sex since her mother's death, and she showed her admiration in her +glance. The other saw it and smiled, slipping a hand in hers for a +moment; and then a look, half-debating, half-triumphant, came into her +face as her eyes followed Leicester down the green stretches of the +tilting-yard. + +The trumpet sounded, the people broke out in shouts of delight, the +tilting began. For an hour the handsome joust went on, the Earl of +Oxford, Charles Howard, Sir Henry Lee, Sir Christopher Hatton, and +Leicester challenging, and so even was the combat that victory seemed to +settle in the plumes of neither, though Leicester of them all showed not +the greatest skill, while in some regards greatest grace and deportment. +Suddenly there rode into the lists, whence, no one seemed to know, so +intent had the public gaze been fixed, so quickly had he come, a mounted +figure all in white, and at the moment when Sir Henry Lee had cried aloud +his challenge for the last time. Silence fell as the bright figure +cantered down the list, lifted the gauge, and sat still upon his black +steed. Consternation fell. None among the people or the Knights Tilters +knew who the invader was, and Leicester called upon the Masters of the +Ceremonies to demand his name and quality. The white horseman made no +reply, but sat unmoved, while noise and turmoil suddenly sprang up around +him. + +Presently the voice of the Queen was heard clearly ringing through the +lists. "His quality hath evidence. Set on." + +The Duke's Daughter laughed, and whispered mischievously in Angele's ear. + +The gentlemen of England fared ill that day in the sight of all the +people, for the challenger of the Knights Tilters was more than a match +for each that came upon him. He rode like a wild horseman of Yucatan. +Wary, resourceful, sudden in device and powerful in onset, he bore all +down, until the Queen cried: "There hath not been such skill in England +since my father rode these lists. Three of my best gentlemen down, and +it hath been but breathing to him. Now, Sir Harry Lee, it is thy turn," +she laughed as she saw the champion ride forward; "and next 'tis thine, +Leicester. Ah, Leicester would have at him now!" she added sharply, as +she saw the favourite spur forward before the gallant Lee. "He is full +of choler--it becomes him, but it shall not be; bravery is not all. And +if he failed "she smiled acidly--"he would get him home to Kenilworth and +show himself no more--if he failed, and the White Knight failed not! +What think you, dove?" she cried to the Duke's Daughter. "Would he not +fall in the megrims for that England's honour had been over thrown? +Leicester could not live if England's honour should be toppled down like +our dear Chris Hatton and his gallants yonder." + +The Duke's Daughter curtsied. "Methinks England's honour is in little +peril--your Majesty knows well how to 'fend it. No subject keeps it." + +"If I must 'fend it, dove, then Leicester there must not fight to-day. +It shall surely be Sir Harry Lee. My Lord Leicester must have the place +of honour at the last," she called aloud. Leicester swung his horse +round and galloped to the Queen. + +"Your Majesty," he cried in suppressed anger, "must I give place?" + +"When all have failed and Leicester has won, then all yield place to +Leicester," said the Queen drily. The look on his face was not good to +see, but he saluted gravely and rode away to watch the encounter between +the most gallant Knight Tilter in England and the stranger. Rage was in +his heart, and it blinded him to the certainty of his defeat, for he was +not expert in the lists. But by a sure instinct he had guessed the +identity of the White Horseman, and every nerve quivered with desire to +meet him in combat. Last night's good work seemed to have gone for +naught. Elizabeth's humour had changed; and to-day she seemed set on +humiliating him before the nobles who hated him, before the people who +had found in him the cause why the Queen had not married, so giving no +heir to the throne. Perturbed and charged with anger as he was, however, +the combat now forward soon chained his attention. Not in many a year +had there been seen in England such a display of skill and determination. +The veteran Knight Tilter, who knew that the result of this business +meant more than life to him, and that more than the honour of his +comrades was at stake--even the valour of England which had been +challenged--fought as he had never fought before, as no man had fought +in England for many a year. At first the people cried aloud their +encouragement; but as onset and attack after onset and attack showed that +two masters of their craft, two desperate men, had met, and that the +great sport had become a vital combat between their own champion and the +champion of another land--Spain, France, Denmark, Russia, Italy?--a hush +spread over the great space, and every eye was strained; men gazed with +bated breath. + +The green turf was torn and mangled, the horses reeked with sweat and +foam, but overhead the soaring skylark sang, as it were, to express the +joyance of the day. During many minutes the only sound that broke the +stillness was the clash of armed men, the thud of hoofs, and the snorting +and the wild breathing of the chargers. The lark's notes, however, +ringing out over the lists freed the tongue of the Queen's fool, who +suddenly ran out into the lists, in his motley and cap and bells, and in +his high trilling voice sang a fool's song to the fighting twain: + + "Who would lie down and close his eyes + While yet the lark sings o'er the dale? + Who would to Love make no replies, + Nor drink the nut-brown ale, + While throbs the pulse, and full 's the purse + And all the world 's for sale?" + +Suddenly a cry of relief, of roaring excitement, burst from the people. +Both horsemen and their chargers were on the ground. The fight was over, +the fierce game at an end. That which all had feared, even the Queen +herself, as the fight fared on, had not come to pass--England's champion +had not been beaten by the armed mystery, though the odds had seemed +against him. + + "Though wintry blasts may prove unkind, + When winter's past we do forget; + Love's breast in summer time is kind, + And all 's well while life 's with us yet + Hey, ho, now the lark is mating, + Life's sweet wages are in waiting!" + +Thus sang the fool as the two warriors were helped to their feet. +Cumbered with their armour, and all dust-covered and blood-stained, +though not seriously hurt, they were helped to their horses, and rode to +the dais where the Queen sat. + +"Ye have fought like men of old," she said, "and neither had advantage +at the last. England's champion still may cry his challenge and not be +forsworn, and he who challenged goeth in honour again from the lists. +You, sir, who have challenged, shall we not see your face or hear your +voice? For what country, for what prince lifted you the gauge and +challenged England's honour?" + +"I crave your high Majesty's pardon"--Angele's heart stood still. Her +love had not pierced his disguise, though Leicester's hate had done so on +the instant--"I crave your noble Majesty's grace," answered the stranger, +"that I may still keep my face covered in humility. My voice speaks for +no country and for no prince. I have fought for mine own honour, and to +prove to England's Queen that she hath a champion who smiteth with strong +arm, as on me and my steed this hath been seen to-day." + +"Gallantly thought and well said," answered Elizabeth; "but England's +champion and his strong arm have no victory. If gifts were given they +must needs be cut in twain. But answer me, what is your country? I will +not have it that any man pick up the gauge of England for his own honour. +What is your country? + +"I am an exile, your high Majesty; and the only land for which I raise my +sword this day is that land where I have found safety from my enemies." + +The Queen turned and smiled at the Duke's Daughter. "I knew not where my +own question might lead, but he hath turned it to full account," she +said, under her breath. "His tongue is as ready as his spear. Then ye +have both laboured in England's honour, and I drink to you both," she +added, and raised to her lips a glass of wine which a page presented. +"I love ye both--in your high qualities," she hastened to add with dry +irony, and her eye rested mockingly on Leicester. + +"My lords and gentlemen and all of my kingdom," she added in a clear +voice, insistent in its force, "ye have come upon May Day to take delight +of England in my gardens, and ye are welcome. Ye have seen such a sight +as doeth good to the eyes of brave men. It hath pleased me well, and I +am constrained to say to you what, for divers great reasons, I have kept +to my own counsels, labouring for your good. The day hath come, however, +the day and the hour when ye shall know that wherein I propose to serve +you as ye well deserve. It is my will--and now I see my way to its good +fulfilment--that I remain no longer in that virgin state wherein I have +ever lived." + +Great cheering here broke in, and for a time she could get no further. +Ever alive to the bent of the popular mind, she had chosen a perfect +occasion to take them into her confidence--however little or much she +would abide by her words, or intended the union of which she spoke. In +the past she had counselled with her great advisers, with Cecil and the +rest, and through them messages were borne to the people; but now she +spoke direct to them all, and it had its immediate reward--the +acclamations were as those with which she was greeted when she first +passed through the streets of London on inheriting the crown. + +Well pleased, she continued: "This I will do with expedition and +weightiest judgment, for of little account though I am, he that sits +with the Queen of England in this realm must needs be a prince indeed.... +So be ye sure of this that ye shall have your heart-most wishes, and +there shall be one to come after me who will wear this crown even as +I have worn, in direct descent, my father's crown. Our dearest sister, +the Queen of the Scots, hath been delivered of a fair son; and in high +affection the news thereof she hath sent me, with a palfry which I shall +ride among you in token of the love I bear her Majesty. She hath in her +time got an heir to the throne with which we are ever in kinship and +alliance, and I in my time shall give ye your heart's desire." + +Angele, who had, with palpitating heart and swimming head, seen Michel de +la Foret leave the lists and disappear among the trees, as mysteriously +as he came, was scarce conscious of the cheers and riotous delight that +followed Elizabeth's tactful if delusive speech to the people. A few +whispered words from the Duke's Daughter had told her that Michel had +obeyed the Queen's command in entering the lists and taking up the +challenge; and that she herself, carrying the royal message to him and +making arrangements for his accoutrement and mounting, had urged him to +obedience. She observed drily that he had needed little pressure, and +that his eyes had lighted at the prospect of the combat. Apart from his +innate love of fighting, he had realised that in the moment of declining +to enter the Queen's service he had been at a disadvantage, and that his +courage was open to attack by the incredulous or malicious. This would +have mattered little were it not that he had been given unusual +importance as a prisoner by the Queen's personal notice of himself. He +had, therefore, sprung to the acceptance, and sent his humble duty to the +Queen by her winsome messenger, who, with conspicuous dramatic skill, had +arranged secretly, with the help of a Gentleman Pensioner and the Master +of the Horse, his appearance and his exit. That all succeeded as she had +planned quickened her pulses, and made her heart still warmer to Angele, +who, now that all was over, and her Huguenot lover had gone his +mysterious ways, seemed lost in a troubled reverie. + +It was a troubled reverie indeed, for Angele's eyes were on the stranger +who was present with Sir Andrew Melvill the night before. Her gaze upon +him now became fixed and insistent, for the sense of foreboding so heavy +on her deepened to a torturing suspense. Where had she seen this man +before? To what day or hour in her past did he belong? What was there +in his smooth, smiling, malicious face that made her blood run cold? As +she watched him, he turned his head. She followed his eyes. The horse +which Mary Queen of Scots had sent with the message of the birth of her +son was being led to the Queen by the dark browed, pale-faced churl who +had brought it from Scotland. She saw a sharp dark look pass between the +two. + +Suddenly her sight swam, she swayed and would have fainted, but +resolution steadied her, and a low exclamation broke from her lips. +Now she knew! + +The face that had eluded her was at last in the grasp of horrified +memory. It was the face of one who many years ago was known to have +poisoned the Due de Chambly by anointing the pommel of his saddle with a +delicate poison which the rider would touch, and touching would, perhaps, +carry to his nostrils or mouth as he rode, and die upon the instant. She +herself had seen the Due de Chambly fall; had seen this man fly from +Paris for his life; and had thereafter known of his return to favour at +the court of Mary and Francis, for nothing could be proved against him. +The memory flashed like lightning through her brain. She moved swiftly +forward despite the detaining hand of the Duke's Daughter. The Queen was +already mounted, her hand already upon the pommel of the saddle. + +Elizabeth noted the look of anguished anxiety in Angele's eyes, her +face like that of one who had seen souls in purgatory; and some swift +instinct, born of years upon years of peril in old days when her life was +no boon to her enemies, made her lean towards the girl, whose quick +whispered words were to her as loud as thunder. She was, however, +composed and still. Not a tremor passed through her. + +"Your wish is granted, mistress," she said aloud, then addressed a word +to Cecil at her side, who passed on her command. Presently she turned +slowly to the spot where Sir Andrew Melvill and the other sat upon their +horses. She scanned complacently the faces of both, then her eyes +settled steadily on the face of the murderer. Still gazing intently she +drew the back of her gloved fingers along the pommel. The man saw the +motion, unnoted and unsignificant to any other save Angele, meaningless +even to Melvill, the innocent and honest gentleman at his side; and he +realised that the Queen had had a warning. Noting the slight stir among +the gentlemen round him, he knew that his game was foiled, that there was +no escape. He was not prepared for what followed. + +In a voice to be heard only at small distance, the Queen said calmly: + +"This palfry sent me by my dear sister of Scotland shall bear me among +you, friends; and in days to come I will remember how she hath given new +life to me by her loving message. Sir Andrew Melvill, I shall have +further speech with you; and you, sir,"--speaking to the sinister figure +by his side--"come hither." + +The man dismounted, and with unsteady step came forward. Elizabeth held +out her gloved hand for him to kiss. His face turned white. It was come +soon, his punishment. None knew save Angele and the Queen the doom that +was upon him, if Angele's warning was well-founded. He knelt, and bent +his head over her hand. + +"Salute, sir," she said in a low voice. + +He touched his lips to her fingers. She pressed them swiftly against his +mouth. An instant, then he rose and stepped backwards to his horse. +Tremblingly, blindly, he mounted. + +A moment passed, then Elizabeth rode on with her ladies behind her, her +gentlemen beside her. As she passed slowly, the would-be regicide swayed +and fell from his horse, and stirred no more. + +Elizabeth rode on, her hand upon the pommel of the saddle. So she rode +for a full half-hour, and came back to her palace. But she raised not +her gloved right hand above the pommel, and she dismounted with exceeding +care. + +That night the man who cared for the horse died secretly as had done his +master, with the Queen's glove pressed to his nostrils by one whom Cecil +could trust. And the matter was hidden from the Court and the people; +for it was given out that Melvill's friend had died of some heart +trouble. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Each of us will prove himself a fool given perfect opportunity +No note of praise could be pitched too high for Elizabeth +She had never stooped to conquer + + + + + + +MICHEL AND ANGELE + +[A Ladder of Swords] + +By Gilbert Parker + +Volume 3. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +It seemed an unspeakable smallness in a man of such high place in the +State, whose hand had tied and untied myriad knots of political and court +intrigue, that he should stoop to a game which any pettifogging hanger-on +might play-and reap scorn in the playing. By insidious arts, Leicester +had in his day turned the Queen's mind to his own will; had foiled the +diplomacy of the Spaniard, the German and the Gaul; had by subterranean +means checkmated the designs of the Medici; had traced his way through +plot and counter-plot, hated by most, loved by none save, maybe, his +Royal mistress to whom he was now more a custom than a cherished friend. +Year upon year he had built up his influence. None had championed him +save himself, and even from the consequences of rashness and folly he had +risen to a still higher place in the kingdom. But such as Leicester are +ever at last a sacrifice to the laborious means by which they achieve +their greatest ends-means contemptible and small. + +To the great intriguers every little detail, every commonplace +insignificance is used--and must be used by them alone--to further their +dark causes. They cannot trust their projects to brave lieutenants, to +faithful subordinates. They cannot say, "Here is the end; this is the +work to be done; upon your shoulders be the burden!" They must "stoop to +conquer." Every miserable detail becomes of moment, until by-and-by the +art of intrigue and conspiracy begins to lose proportion in their minds. +The detail has ever been so important, conspiracy so much second nature, +that they must needs be intriguing and conspiring when the occasion is +trifling and the end negligible. + +To all intriguers life has lost romance; there is no poem left in nature; +no ideal, personal, public or national, detains them in its wholesome +influence; no great purpose allures them; they have no causes for which +to die--save themselves. They are so honeycombed with insincerity and +the vice of thought, that by-and-by all colours are as one, all pathways +the same; because, whichever hue of light breaks upon their world they +see it through the grey-cloaked mist of falsehood; and whether the path +be good or bad they would still walk in it crookedly. How many men and +women Leicester had tracked or lured to their doom; over how many men and +women he had stepped to his place of power, history speaks not carefully; +but the traces of his deeds run through a thousand archives, and they +suggest plentiful sacrifices to a subverted character. + +Favourite of a Queen, he must now stoop to set a trap for the ruin of +as simple a soul as ever stepped upon the soil of England; and his dark +purposes had not even the excuse of necessity on the one hand, of love or +passion on the other. An insane jealousy of the place the girl had won +in the consideration of the Queen, of her lover who, he thought, had won +a still higher place in the same influence, was his only motive for +action at first. His cruelty was not redeemed even by the sensuous +interest the girl might arouse in a reckless nature by her beauty and her +charm. + +So the great Leicester--the Gipsy, as the dead Sussex had called him--lay +in wait in Greenwich Park for Angele to pass, like some orchard thief in +the blossoming trees. Knowing the path by which she would come to her +father's cottage from the palace, he had placed himself accordingly. +He had thought he might have to wait long or come often for the perfect +opportunity; but it seemed as if Fate played his game for him, and that +once again the fruit he would pluck should fall into his palm. Bright- +eyed, and elated from a long talk with the Duke's Daughter, who had given +her a message from the Queen, Angele had abstractedly taken the wrong +path in the wood. Leicester saw that it would lead her into the maze +some distance off. Making a detour, he met her at the moment she +discovered her mistake. The light from the royal word her friend had +brought was still in her face; but it was crossed by perplexity now. + +He stood still as though astonished at seeing her, a smile upon his face. +So perfectly did he play his part that she thought the meeting +accidental; and though in her heart she had a fear of the man and knew +how bitter an enemy he was of Michel's, his urbane power, his skilful +diplomacy of courtesy had its way. These complicated lives, instinct +with contradiction, have the interest of forbidden knowledge. The dark +experiences of life leave their mark and give such natures that touch of +mystery which allures even those who have high instincts and true +feelings, as one peeps over a hidden depth and wonders what lies beyond +the dark. So Angele, suddenly arrested, was caught by the sense of +mystery in the man, by the fascination of finesse, of dark power; and it +was womanlike that all on an instant she should dream of the soul of +goodness in things evil. + +Thus in life we are often surprised out of long years of prejudice, and +even of dislike and suspicion, by some fortuitous incident, which might +have chanced to two who had every impulse towards each other, not such +antagonisms as lay between Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and this +Huguenot refugee. She had every cue to hate hum. Each moment of her +life in England had been beset with peril because of him-peril to the +man she loved, therefore peril to herself. And yet, so various is the +nature of woman, that, while steering straitly by one star, she levies +upon the light of other stars. Faithful and sincere, yet loving power, +curious and adventurous, she must needs, without intention, without +purpose, stray into perilous paths. + +As Leicester stepped suddenly into Angele's gaze, she was only, as it +were, conscious of a presence in itself alluring by virtue of the history +surrounding it. She was surprised out of an instinctive dislike, and the +cue she had to loathe him was for the moment lost. + +Unconsciously, unintentionally, she smiled at him now, then, realising, +retreated, shrinking from him, her face averted. Man or woman had found +in Leicester the delicate and intrepid gamester, exquisite in the choice +of detail, masterful in the breadth of method. And now, as though his +whole future depended on this interview, he brought to bear a life-long +skill to influence her. He had determined to set the Queen against her. +He did not know--not even he--that she had saved the Queen's life on that +auspicious May Day when Harry Lee had fought the white knight Michel de +la Foret and halved the honours of the lists with him. If he had but +known that the Queen had hid from him this fact--this vital thing +touching herself and England, he would have viewed his future with a +vaster distrust. But there could be no surer sign of Elizabeth's growing +coldness and intended breach than that she had hid from him the dreadful +incident of the poisoned glove, and the swift execution of the would-be +murderer, and had made Cecil her only confidant. But he did know that +Elizabeth herself had commanded Michel de la Foret to the lists; and his +mad jealousy impelled him to resort to a satanic cunning towards these +two fugitives, who seemed to have mounted within a few short days as far +as had he in thrice as many years to a high place in the regard of the +Majesty of England. + +To disgrace them both; to sow distrust of the girl in the Queen's mind; +to make her seem the opposite of what she was; to drop in her own mind +suspicion of her lover; to drive her to some rash act, some challenge of +the Queen herself--that was his plan. He knew how little Elizabeth's +imperious spirit would brook any challenge from this fearless girl +concerning De la Foret. But to convince her that the Queen favoured +Michel in some shadowed sense, that De la Foret was privy to a dark +compact--so deep a plot was all worthy of a larger end. He had well +inspired the Court of France through its ambassador to urge the Medici to +press actively and bitterly for De la Foret's return to France and to the +beheading sword that waited for him; and his task had been made light by +international difficulties, which made the heart of Elizabeth's foreign +policy friendship with France and an alliance against Philip of Spain. +She had, therefore, opened up, even in the past few days, negotiations +once again for the long-talked-of marriage with the Duke of Anjou, the +brother of the King, son of the Medici. State policy was involved, and, +if De la Foret might be a counter, the pledge of exchange in the game, +as it were, the path would once more be clear. + +He well believed that Elizabeth's notice of De la Foret was but a fancy +that would pass, as a hundred times before such fancies had come and +gone; but against that brighter prospect there lay the fact that never +before had she shown himself such indifference. In the past she had +raged against him, she had imprisoned him; she had driven him from her +presence in her anger, but always her paroxysms of rage had been +succeeded by paroxysms of tenderness. Now he saw a colder light in the +sky, a greyer horizon met his eye. So at every corner of the compass he +played for the breaking of the spell. + +Yet as he now bowed low before Angele there seemed to show in his face a +very candour of surprise, of pleasure, joined to a something friendly and +protective in his glance and manner. His voice insinuated that bygones +should be bygones; it suggested that she had misunderstood him. It +pleaded against the injustice of her prejudice. + +"So far from home!" he said with a smile. + +"More miles from home," she replied, thinking of never-returning days in +France, "than I shall ever count again." + +"But no, methinks the palace is within a whisper," he responded. + +"Lord Leicester knows well I am a prisoner; that I no longer abide in the +palace," she answered. + +He laughed lightly. "An imprisonment in a Queen's friendship. I bethink +me, it is three hours since I saw you go to the palace. It is a few +worthless seconds since you have got your freedom." + +She nettled at his tone. "Lord Leicester takes great interest in my +unimportant goings and comings. I cannot think it is because I go and +come." + +He chose to misunderstand her meaning. Drawing closer he bent over her +shoulder. "Since your arrival here, my only diary is the tally of your +coming and going." Suddenly, as though by an impulse of great frankness, +he added in a low tone: + +"And is it strange that I should follow you--that I should worship grace +and virtue? Men call me this and that. You have no doubt been filled +with dark tales of my misdeeds. Has there been one in the Court, even +one, who, living by my bounty or my patronage, has said one good word of +me? And why? For long years the Queen, who, maybe, might have been +better counselled, chose me for her friend, adviser--because I was true +to her. I have lived for the Queen, and living for her have lived for +England. Could I keep--I ask you, could I keep myself blameless in the +midst of flattery, intrigue, and conspiracy? I admit that I have played +with fiery weapons in my day; and must needs still do so. The +incorruptible cannot exist in the corrupted air of this Court. You have +come here with the light of innocence and truth about you. At first I +could scarce believe that such goodness lived, hardly understood it. The +light half-blinded and embarrassed; but, at last, I saw! You of all this +Court have made me see what sort of life I might have lived. You have +made me dream the dreams of youth and high unsullied purpose once again. +Was it strange that in the dark pathways of the Court I watched your +footsteps come and go, carrying radiance with you? No--Leicester has +learned how sombre, sinister, has been his past, by a presence which is +the soul of beauty, of virtue, and of happy truth. Lady, my heart is +yours. I worship you." + +Overborne for the moment by the eager, searching eloquence of his words, +she had listened bewildered to him. Now she turned upon him with panting +breath and said: + +"My lord, my lord, I will hear no more. You know I love Monsieur de la +Foret, for whose sake I am here in England--for whose sake I still +remain." + +"'Tis a labour of love but ill requited," he answered with suggestion in +his tone. + +"What mean you, my lord?" she asked sharply, a kind of blind agony in +her voice; for she felt his meaning, and though she did not believe him, +and knew in her soul he slandered, there was a sting, for slander ever +scorches where it touches. + +"Can you not see?" he said. "May Day--why did the Queen command him to +the lists? Why does she keep him here-in the palace? Why, against the +will of France, her ally, does she refuse to send him forth? Why, +unheeding the laughter of the Court, does she favour this unimportant +stranger, brave though he be? Why should she smile upon him? . . . +Can you not see, sweet lady?" + +"You know well why the Queen detains him here," she answered calmly now. +"In the Queen's understanding with France, exiles who preach the faith +are free from extradition. You heard what the Queen required of him-- +that on Trinity Day he should preach before her, and upon this preaching +should depend his safety." + +"Indeed, so her Majesty said with great humour," replied Leicester. "So +indeed she said; but when we hide our faces a thin veil suffices. The +man is a soldier--a soldier born. Why should he turn priest now? I pray +you, think again. He was quick of wit; the Queen's meaning was clear to +him; he rose with seeming innocence to the fly, and she landed him at the +first toss. But what is forward bodes no good to you, dear star of +heaven. I have known the Queen for half a lifetime. She has wild whims +and dangerous fancies, fills her hours of leisure with experiences--an +artist is the Queen. She means no good to you." + +She had made as if to leave him, though her eyes searched in vain for the +path which she should take; but she now broke in impatiently: + +"Poor, unnoted though I am, the Queen of England is my friend," she +answered. "What evil could she wish me? From me she has naught to fear. +I am not an atom in her world. Did she but lift her finger I am done. +But she knows that, humble though I be, I would serve her to my last +breath; because I know, my Lord Leicester, how many there are who serve +her foully, faithlessly; and there should be those by her who would serve +her singly." + +His eyes half closed, he beat his toe upon the ground. He frowned, as +though he had no wish to hurt her by words which he yet must speak. With +calculated thought he faltered. + +"Yet do you not think it strange," he said at last, "that Monsieur de la +Foret should be within the palace ever, and that you should be banished +from the palace? Have you never seen the fly and the spider in the web? +Do you not know that they who have the power to bless or ban, to give joy +or withhold it, appear to give when they mean to withhold? God bless us +all--how has your innocence involved your judgment!" + +She suddenly flushed to the eyes. "I have wit enough," she said acidly, +"to feel that truth which life's experience may not have taught me. It +is neither age nor evil that teaches one to judge 'twixt black and white. +God gives the true divination to human hearts that need." + +It was a contest in which Leicester revelled--simplicity and single- +mindedness against the multifarious and double-tongued. He had made many +efforts in his time to conquer argument and prejudice. When he chose, +none could be more insinuating or turn the flank of a proper argument by +more adroit suggestion. He used his power now. + +"You think she means well by you? You think that she, who has a thousand +ladies of a kingdom at her call, of the best and most beautiful--and +even," his voice softened, "though you are more beautiful than all, that +beauty would soften her towards you? When was it Elizabeth loved beauty? +When was it that her heart warmed towards those who would love or wed? +Did she not imprison me, even in these palace grounds, for one whole year +because I sought to marry? Has she not a hundred times sent from her +presence women with faces like flowers because they were in contrast to +her own? Do you see love blossoming at this Court? God's Son! but she +would keep us all like babes in Eden an' she could, unmated and unloved." + +He drew quickly to her and leant over her, whispering down her shoulder. +"Do you think there is any reason why all at once she should change her +mind and cherish lovers?" + +She looked up at him fearlessly and firmly. + +"In truth, I do. My Lord Leicester, you have lived in the circle of her +good pleasure, near to her noble Majesty, as you say, for half a +lifetime. Have you not found a reason why now or any time she should +cherish love and lovers? Ah, no, you have seen her face, you have heard +her voice, but you have not known her heart!" + +"Ah, opportunity lacked," he said in irony and with a reminiscent smile. +"I have been busy with State affairs, I have not sat on cushions, +listening to royal fingers on the virginals. Still, I ask you, do you +think there is a reason why from her height she should stoop down to +rescue you or give you any joy? Wherefore should the Queen do aught to +serve you? Wherefore should she save your lover?" + +It was on Angele's lips to answer, "Because I saved her life on May Day." +It was on her lips to tell of the poisoned glove, but she only smiled, +and said: + +"But, yes, I think, my lord, there is a reason, and in that reason I have +faith." + +Leicester saw how firmly she was fixed in her idea, how rooted was her +trust in the Queen's intentions towards her; and he guessed there was +something hidden which gave her such supreme confidence. + +"If she means to save him, why does she not save him now? Why not end +the business in a day--not stretch it over these long mid-summer weeks?" + +"I do not think it strange," she answered. "He is a political prisoner. +Messages must come and go between England and France. Besides, who +calleth for haste? Is it I who have most at stake? It is not the first +time I have been at Court, my lord. In these high places things are +orderly,"--a touch of sarcasm came into her tone,--"life is not a mighty +rushing wind, save to those whom vexing passion drives to hasty deeds." + +She made to move on once more, but paused, still not certain of her way. + +"Permit me to show you," he said with a laugh and a gesture towards a +path. "Not that--this is the shorter. I will take you to a turning +which leads straight to your durance--and another which leads elsewhere." + +She could not say no, because she had, in very truth, lost her way, and +she might wander far and be in danger. Also, she had no fear of him. +Steeled to danger in the past, she was not timid; but, more than all, the +game of words between them had had its fascination. The man himself, by +virtue of what he was, had his fascination also. The thing inherent in +all her sex, to peep over the hedge, to skirt dangerous fires lightly, to +feel the warmth distantly and not be scorched--that was in her, too; and +she lived according to her race and the long predisposition of the ages. +Most women like her--as good as she--have peeped and stretched out hands +to the alluring fire and come safely through, wiser and no better. But +many, too, bewildered and confused by what they see--as light from a +mirror flashed into the eye half blinds--have peeped over the hedge and, +miscalculating their power of self-control, have entered in, and returned +no more into the quiet garden of unstraying love. + +Leicester quickly put on an air of gravity. "I warn you that danger lies +before you. If you cross the Queen--and you will cross the Queen when +you know the truth, as I know it--you will pay a heavy price for refusing +Leicester as your friend." + +She made a protesting motion and seemed about to speak, but suddenly, +with a passionate gesture, Leicester added: "Let them go their way. +Monsieur de la Foret will be tossed aside before another winter comes. +Do you think he can abide here in the midst of plot and intrigue, and +hated by the people of the Court? He is doomed. But more, he is +unworthy of you; while I can serve you well, and I can love you well." +She shrank away from him. "No, do not turn from me, for in very truth, +Leicester's heart has been pierced by the inevitable arrow. You think I +mean you evil?" + +He paused with a sudden impulse continued: "No! no! And if there be a +saving grace in marriage, marriage it shall be, if you will but hear me. +You shall be my wife--Leicester's wife. As I have mounted to power so I +will hold power with you--with you, the brightest spirit that ever +England saw. Worthy of a kingdom with you beside me, I shall win to +greater, happier days; and at Kenilworth, where kings and queens have +lodged, you shall be ruler. We will leave this Court until Elizabeth, +betrayed by those who know not how to serve her, shall send for me again. +Here--the power behind the throne--you and I will sway this realm through +the aging, sentimental Queen. Listen, and look at me in the eyes-- +I speak the truth, you read my heart. You think I hated you and hated De +la Foret. By all the gods, it's true I hated him, because I saw that he +would come between me and the Queen. A man must have one great passion. +Life itself must be a passion. Power was my passion--power, not the +Queen. You have broken all that down. I yield it all to you--for your +sake and my own. I would steal from life yet before my sun goes to its +setting a few years of truth and honesty and clear design. At heart I am +a patriot--a loyal Englishman. Your cause--the cause of Protestantism-- +did I not fight for it at Rochelle? Have I not ever urged the Queen to +spend her revenue for your cause, to send her captains and her men to +fight for it?" + +She raised her head in interest, and her lips murmured: "Yes, yes, I know +you did that." + +He saw his advantage and pursued it. "See, I will be honest with you-- +honest, at last, as I have wished in vain to be, for honesty was +misunderstood. It is not so with you--you understand. Dear, light of +womanhood, I speak the truth now. I have been evil in my day I admit it +--evil because I was in the midst of evil. I betrayed because I was +betrayed; I slew, else I should have been slain. We have had dark days +in England, privy conspiracy and rebellion; and I have had to thread my +way through dreadful courses by a thousand blind paths. Would it be no +joy to you if I, through your influence, recast my life--remade my +policy, renewed my youth--pursuing principle where I have pursued +opportunity? Angele, come to Kenilworth with me. Leave De la Foret to +his fate. The way to happiness is with me. Will you come?" + +He had made his great effort. As he spoke he almost himself believed +that he told the truth. Under the spell of his own emotional power it +seemed as though he meant to marry her, as though he could find happiness +in the union. He had almost persuaded himself to be what he would have +her to believe he might be. + +Under the warmth and convincing force of his words her pulses had beat +faster, her heart had throbbed in her throat, her eyes had glistened; +but not with that light which they had shed for Michel de la Foret. +How different was this man's wooing--its impetuous, audacious, tender +violence, with that quiet, powerful, almost sacred gravity of her +Camisard lover! It is this difference--the weighty, emotional +difference--between a desperate passion and a pure love which has ever +been so powerful in twisting the destinies of a moiety of the world to +misery, who otherwise would have stayed contented, inconspicuous and +good. Angele would have been more than human if she had not felt the +spell of the ablest intriguer, of the most fascinating diplomatist of his +day. + +Before he spoke of marriage the thrill--the unconvincing thrill though it +was--of a perilous temptation was upon her; but the very thing most meant +to move her only made her shudder; for in her heart of hearts she knew +that he was ineradicably false. To be married to one constitutionally +untrue would be more terrible a fate for her than to be linked to him in +a lighter, more dissoluble a bond. So do the greatest tricksters of this +world overdo their part, so play the wrong card when every past +experience suggests it is the card to play. He knew by the silence that +followed his words, and the slow, steady look she gave him, that she was +not won nor on the way to the winning. + +"My lord," she said at last, and with a courage which steadied her +affrighted and perturbed innocence, "you are eloquent, you are fruitful +of flattery, of those things which have, I doubt not, served you well in +your day. But, if you see your way to a better life, it were well you +should choose one of nobler mould than I. I am not made for sacrifice, +to play the missioner and snatch brands from the burning. I have enough +to do to keep my own feet in the ribbon-path of right. You must look +elsewhere for that guardian influence which is to make of you a paragon." + +"No, no," he answered sharply, "you think the game not worth the candle +--you doubt me and what I can do for you; my sincerity, my power you +doubt." + +"Indeed, yes, I doubt both," she answered gravely, "for you would have me +believe that I have power to lead you. With how small a mind you credit +me! You think, too, that you sway this kingdom; but I know that you +stand upon a cliff's edge, and that the earth is fraying 'neath your +tread. You dare to think that you have power to drag down with you the +man who honours me with--" + +"With his love, you'd say. Yet he will leave you fretting out your soul +until the sharp-edged truth cuts your heart in twain. Have you no pride? +I care not what you say of me--say your worst, and I will not resent it, +for I will still prove that your way lies with me." + +She gave a bitter sigh, and touched her forehead with trembling fingers. +"If words could prove it, I had been convinced but now, for they are well +devised, and they have music too; but such a music, my lord, as would +drown the truth in the soul of a woman. Your words allure, but you have +learned the art of words. You yourself--oh, my lord, you who have tasted +all the pleasures of this world, could you then have the heart to steal +from one who has so little that little which gives her happiness?" + +"You know not what can make you happy--I can teach you that. By God's +Son! but you have wit and intellect and are a match for a prince, not +for a cast off Camisard. I shall ere long be Lord--Lieutenant of +these Isles-of England and Ireland. Come to my nest. We will fly far +--ah, your eye brightens, your heart leaps to mine--I feel it now, I--" + +"Oh, have done, have done," she passionately broke in; "I would rather +die, be torn upon the rack, burnt at the stake, than put my hand in +yours! And you do not wish it--you speak but to destroy, not to cherish. +While you speak to me I see all those"--she made a gesture as though to +put something from her "all those to whom you have spoken as you have +done to me. I hear the myriad falsehoods you have told--one whelming +confusion. I feel the blindness which has crept upon them--those poor +women--as you have sown the air with the dust of the passion which you +call love. Oh, you never knew what love meant, my lord! I doubt if, +when you lay in your mother's arms, you turned to her with love. You +never did one kindly act for love, no generous thought was ever born in +you by love. Sir, I know it as though it were written in a book; your +life has been one long calculation--your sympathy or kindness a +calculated thing. Good-nature, emotion you may have had, but never the +divine thing by which the world is saved. Were there but one little +place where that Eden flower might bloom within your heart, you could not +seek to ruin that love which lives in mine and fills it, conquering all +the lesser part of me. I never knew of how much love I was capable until +I heard you speak today. Out of your life's experience, out of all that +you have learned of women good and evil, you--for a selfish, miserable +purpose--would put the gyves upon my wrists, make me a pawn in your dark +game; a pawn which you would lose without a thought as the game went on. + +"If you must fight, my lord, if you must ruin Monsieur de la Foret and a +poor Huguenot girl, do it by greater means than this. You have power, +you say. Use it then; destroy us, if you will. Send us to the Medici: +bring us to the block, murder us--that were no new thing to Lord +Leicester. But do not stoop to treachery and falsehood to thrust us +down. Oh, you have made me see the depths of shame to-day! But yet," +her voice suddenly changed, a note of plaintive force filled it--"I have +learned much this hour--more than I ever knew. Perhaps it is that we +come to knowledge only through fire and tears." She smiled sadly. +"I suppose that sometime some day, this page of life would have scorched +my sight. Oh, my lord, what was there in me that you dared speak so to +me? Was there naught to have stayed your tongue and stemmed the tide in +which you would engulf me?" He had listened as in a dream at first. She +had read him as he might read himself, had revealed him with the certain +truth, as none other had done in all his days. He was silent for a long +moment, then raised his hand in protest. + +"You have a strange idea of what makes offence and shame. I offered you +marriage," he said complacently. "And when I come to think upon it, +after all that you have said, fair Huguenot, I see no cause for railing. +You call me this and that; to you I am a liar, a rogue, a cut-throat, +what you will; and yet, and yet, I will have my way--I will have my way +in the end." + +"You offered me marriage--and meant it not. Do I not know? Did you rely +so little on your compelling powers, my lord, that you must needs resort +to that bait? Do you think that you will have your way to-morrow if you +have failed to-day?" + +With a quick change of tone and a cold, scornful laugh he rejoined: "Do +you intend to measure swords with me?" + +"No, no, my lord," she answered quietly; "what should one poor unfriended +girl do in contest with the Earl of Leicester? But yet, in very truth, +I have friends, and in my hour of greatest need I shall go seeking." + +She was thinking of the Queen. He guessed her thought. + +"You will not be so mad," he said urbanely again. "Of what can you +complain to the Queen? Tut, tut, you must seek other friends than the +Majesty of England!" + +"Then, my lord, I will," she answered bravely. "I will seek the help of +such a Friend as fails not when all fails, even He who putteth down the +mighty from their seats and exalteth the humble." + +"Well, well, if I have not touched your heart," he answered gallantly, +"I at least have touched your wit and intellect. Once more I offer you +alliance. Think well before you decline." + +He had no thought that he would succeed, but it was ever his way to +return to the charge. It had been the secret of his life's success so +far. He had never taken a refusal. He had never believed that when man +or woman said no that no was meant; and, if it were meant, he still +believed that constant dropping would wear away the stone. He still held +that persistence was the greatest lever in the world, that unswerving +persistence was the master of opportunity. + +They had now come to two paths in the park leading different ways. + +"This road leads to Kenilworth, this to your prison," he said with a slow +gesture, his eyes fixed upon hers. "I will go to my prison, then," she +said, stepping forward, "and alone, by your leave." + +Leicester was a good sportsman. Though he had been beaten all along the +line, he hid his deep chagrin, choked down the rage that was in him. +Smiling, he bowed low. + +"I will do myself the honour to visit your prison to-morrow," he said. + +"My father will welcome you, my lord," she answered, and, gathering up +her skirt, ran down the pathway. + +He stood unmoving, and watched her disappear. "But I shall have my way +with them both," he said aloud. + +The voice of a singer sounded in the green wood. Half consciously +Leicester listened. The words came shrilling through the trees: + + "Oh, love, it is a lily flower, + (Sing, my captain, sing, my lady!) + The sword shall cleave it, + Life shall leave it + Who shall know the hour? + (Sing, my lady, still!)" + +Presently the jingling of bells mingled with the song, then a figure in +motley burst upon him. It was the Queen's fool. + +"Brother, well met--most happily met!" he cried. "And why well met, +fool?" asked Leicester. "Prithee, my work grows heavy, brother. I seek +another fool for the yoke. Here are my bells for you. I will keep my +cap. And so we will work together, fool: you for the morning, I for the +afternoon, and the devil take the night-time! So God be with you, +Obligato!" + +With a laugh he leaped into the undergrowth, and left Leicester standing +with the bells in his hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Angele had come to know, as others in like case have ever done, how +wretched indeed is that poor man that hangs on princes' favours. She had +saved the Queen's life upon May Day, and on the evening of that day the +Queen had sent for her, had made such high and tender acknowledgment of +her debt as would seem to justify for her perpetual honour. And what +Elizabeth said she meant; but in a life set in forests of complications +and opposing interests the political overlapped the personal in her +nature. Thus it was that she had kept the princes of the world dangling, +advancing towards marriage with them, retreating suddenly, setting off +one house against the other, allying herself to one European power +to-day, with another to-morrow, her own person and her crown the pawn +with which she played. It was not a beautiful thing in a woman, but it +was what a woman could do; and, denied other powers given to men--as to +her father--she resorted to astute but doubtful devices to advance her +diplomacy. Over all was self-infatuation, the bane of princes, the curse +of greatness, the source of wide injustice. It was not to be expected, +as Leicester had said, that Elizabeth, save for the whim of the moment, +would turn aside to confer benefit upon Angele or to keep her in mind, +unless constrained to do so for some political reason. + +The girl had charmed the Queen, had, by saving her life, made England +her long debtor; but Leicester had judged rightly in believing that the +Queen might find the debt irksome; that her gratitude would be corroded +by other destructive emotions. It was true that Angele had saved her +life, but Michel had charmed her eye. He had proved himself a more +gallant fighter than any in her kingdom; and had done it, as he had said, +in her honour. So, as her admiration for Michel grew, her debt to Angele +became burdensome; and, despite her will, there stole into her mind the +old petulance and smothered anger against beauty and love and marriage. +She could ill bear that one near her person should not be content to +flourish in the light and warmth of her own favour, setting aside all +other small affections. So it was that she had sent Angele to her father +and kept De la Foret in the palace. Perplexed, troubled by new +developments, the birth of a son to Mary Queen of Scots, the demand of +her Parliament that she should marry, the pressure of foreign policy +which compelled her to open up again negotiations for marriage with the +Duke of Anjou--all these combined to detach her from the interest she had +suddenly felt in Angele. But, by instinct, she knew also that Leicester, +through jealousy, had increased the complication; and, fretful under the +long influence he had had upon her, she steadily lessened intercourse +with him. The duel he fought with Lempriere on May Day came to her ears +through the Duke's Daughter, and she seized upon it with sharp petulance. +First she ostentatiously gave housing and care to Lempriere, and went to +visit him; then, having refused Leicester audience, wrote to him. + +"What is this I hear," she scrawled upon the paper, "that you have forced +a quarrel with the Lord of Rozel, and have well-ny ta'en his life! Is +swording then your dearest vice that you must urge it on a harmless +gentle man, and my visitor? Do you think you hold a charter of freedom +for your self-will? Have a care, Leicester, or, by God! you shall know +another sword surer than your own." + +The rage of Leicester on receiving this knew no bounds; for though he had +received from Elizabeth stormy letters before, none had had in it the +cold irony of this missive. The cause of it? Desperation seized him. +With a mad disloyalty he read in every word of Elizabeth's letter, Michel +de la Foret, refugee. With madder fury he determined to strike for the +immediate ruin of De la Foret, and Angele with him--for had she not +thrice repulsed him as though he had been some village captain? After +the meeting in the maze he had kept his promise of visiting her "prison." +By every art, and without avail, he had through patient days sought to +gain an influence over her; for he saw that if he could but show the +Queen that the girl was open to his advances, accepted his protection, +her ruin would be certain--in anger Elizabeth would take revenge upon +both refugees. But however much he succeeded with Monsieur Aubert, he +failed wholly with Angele. She repulsed him still with the most certain +courtesy, with the greatest outward composure; but she had to make her +fight alone, for the Queen forbade intercourse with Michel, and she must +have despaired but for the messages sent now and then by the Duke's +Daughter. + +Through M. Aubert, to whom Leicester was diligently courteous, and whom +he sought daily, discussing piously the question of religion so dear to +the old man's heart, he strove to foster in Angele's mind the suspicion +he had ventured at their meeting in the maze, that the Queen, through +personal interest in Michel, was saving his life to keep him in her +household. So well did he work on the old man's feelings that when he +offered his own protection to M. Aubert and Angele, whatever the issue +with De la Foret might be, he was met with an almost tearful response of +gratitude. It was the moment to convey a deep distrust of De la Foret to +the mind of the old refugee, and it was subtly done. + +Were it not better to leave the Court where only danger surrounded them, +and find safety on Leicester's own estate, where no man living could +molest them? Were it not well to leave Michel de la Foret to his fate, +what ever it would be? Thrice within a week the Queen had sent for De la +Foret--what reason was there for that, unless the Queen had a secret +personal interest in him? Did M. Aubert think it was only a rare touch +of humour which had turned De la Foret into a preacher, and set his fate +upon a sermon to be preached before the Court? He himself had long held +high office, had been near to her Majesty, and he could speak with more +knowledge than he might use--it grieved him that Mademoiselle Aubert +should be placed in so painful a position. + +Sometimes as the two talked Angele would join them; and then there was +a sudden silence, which made her flush with embarrassment, anxiety or +anger. In vain did she assume a cold composure, in vain school herself +to treat Leicester with a precise courtesy; in vain her heart protested +the goodness of De la Foret and high uprightness of the Queen; the +persistent suggestions of the dark Earl worked upon her mind in spite +of all. Why had the Queen forbidden her to meet Michel, or write to him, +or to receive letters from him? Why had the Queen, who had spoken such +gratitude, deserted her? And now even the Duke's Daughter wrote to her +no more, sent her no further messages. She felt herself a prisoner, and +that the Queen had forgotten her debt. She took to wandering to that +part of the palace-grounds where she could see the windows of the tower +her lover inhabited. Her old habit of cheerful talk deserted her, and +she brooded. It was long before she heard of the duel between the +Seigneur and Lord Leicester--the Duke's Daughter had kept this from her, +lest she should be unduly troubled--and when, in anxiety, she went to the +house where Lempriere had been quartered, he had gone, none could tell +her whither. Buonespoir was now in close confinement, by secret orders +of Leicester, and not allowed to walk abroad; and thus with no friend +save her father, now so much under the influence of the Earl, she was +bitterly solitary. Bravely she fought the growing care and suspicion in +her heart; but she was being tried beyond her strength. Her father had +urged her to make personal appeal to the Queen; and at times, despite her +better judgment, she was on the verge of doing so. Yet what could she +say? She could not go to the Queen of England and cry out, like a silly +milk-maid: "You have taken my lover--give him back to me!" What proof +had she that the Queen wanted her lover? And if she spoke, the +impertinence of the suggestion might send back to the fierce Medici that +same lover, to lose his head. + +Leicester, who now was playing the game as though it were a hazard for +states and kingdoms, read the increasing trouble in her face; and waited +confidently for the moment when in desperation she would lose her self- +control and go to the Queen. + +But he did not reckon with the depth of the girl's nature and her true +sense of life. Her brain told her that what she was tempted to do she +should not; that her only way was to wait; to trust that the Queen of +England was as much true woman as Queen, and as much Queen as true woman; +and that the one was held in high equipoise by the other. Besides, +Trinity Day would bring the end of it all, and that was not far off. She +steeled her will to wait till then, no matter how dark the sky might be. + +As time went on, Leicester became impatient. He had not been able to +induce M. Aubert to compel Angele to accept a quiet refuge at Kenilworth; +he saw that this plan would not work, and he deployed his mind upon +another. If he could but get Angele to seek De la Foret in his apartment +in the palace, and then bring the matter to Elizabeth's knowledge with +sure proof, De la Foret's doom would be sealed. At great expense, +however; for, in order to make the scheme effective, Angele should visit +De la Foret at night. This would mean the ruin of the girl as well. +Still that could be set right; because, once De la Foret was sent to the +Medici the girl's character could be cleared; and, if not, so much the +surer would she come at last to his protection. What he had professed in +cold deliberation had become in some sense a fact. She had roused in him +an eager passion. He might even dare, when De la Foret was gone, to +confess his own action in the matter to the Queen, once she was again +within his influence. She had forgiven him more than that in the past, +when he had made his own mad devotion to herself excuse for his rashness +or misconduct. + +He waited opportunity, he arranged all details carefully, he secured the +passive agents of his purpose; and when the right day came he acted. + +About ten o'clock one night, a half-hour before the closing of the palace +gates, when no one could go in or go out save by permit of the Lord +Chamberlain, a footman from a surgeon of the palace came to Angele, +bearing a note which read: + + "Your friend is very ill, and asks for you. Come hither alone; and + now, if you would come at all." + +Her father was confined to bed with some ailment of the hour, and asleep +--it were no good to awaken him. Her mind was at once made up. There +was no time to ask permission of the Queen. She knew the surgeon's +messengers by sight, this one was in the usual livery, and his master's +name was duly signed. In haste she made herself ready, and went forth +into the night with the messenger, her heart beating hard, a pitiful +anxiety shaking her. Her steps were fleet between the lodge and the +palace. They were challenged nowhere, and the surgeon's servant, +entering a side door of the palace, led her hastily through gloomy halls +and passages where they met no one, though once in a dark corridor some +one brushed against her. She wondered why there were no servants to show +the way, why the footman carried no torch or candle; but haste and +urgency seemed due excuse, and she thought only of Michel, and that she +would soon see him-dying, dead perhaps before she could touch his hand! +At last they emerged into a lighter and larger hallway, where her guide +suddenly paused, and said to Angel, motioning towards a door: "Enter. +He is there." + +For a moment she stood still, scarce able to breathe, her heart hurt her +so. It seemed to her as though life itself was arrested. As the +servant, without further words, turned and left her, she knocked, opened +the door without awaiting a reply, and stepping into semidarkness, said +softly: + +"Michel! Michel!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +At Angle's entrance a form slowly raised itself on a couch, and a voice, +not Michel's, said: "Mademoiselle--by our Lady, 'tis she!" + +It was the voice of the Seigneur of Rozel, and Angle started back amazed. + +"You, Monsieur--you!" she gasped. "It was you that sent for me?" + +"Send? Not I--I have not lost my manners yet. Rozel at Court is no +greater fool than Lempriere in Jersey." + +Angle wrung her hands. "I thought it De la Foret who was ill. The +surgeon said to come quickly." Lempriere braced himself against the +wall, for he was weak, and his fever still high. "Ill?--not he. As +sound in body and soul as any man in England. That is a friend, that De +la Foret lover of yours, or I'm no butler to the Queen. He gets leave +and brings me here and coaxes me back to life again--with not a wink of +sleep for him these five days past till now." + +Angel had drawn nearer, and now stood beside the couch, trembling and +fearful, for it came to her mind that she had been made the victim of +some foul device. The letter had read: "Your friend is ill." True, +the Seigneur was her friend, but he had not sent for her. + +"Where is De la Foret?" she asked quickly. "Yonder, asleep," said +the Seigneur, pointing to a curtain which divided the room from one +adjoining. Angel ran quickly towards the door, then stopped short. No, +she would not waken him. She would go back at once. She would leave the +palace by the way she came. Without a word she turned and went towards +the door opening into the hallway. With her hand upon the latch she +stopped short again; for she realised that she did not know her way +through the passages and corridors, and that she must make herself known +to the servants of the palace to obtain guidance and exit. As she stood +helpless and confused, the Seigneur called hoarsely: "De la Foret--De la +Foret!" Before Angele could decide upon her course, the curtain of the +other room was thrust aside, and De la Foret entered. He was scarce +awake, and he yawned contentedly. He did not see Angele, but turned +towards Lempriere. For once the Seigneur had a burst of inspiration. +He saw that Angele was in the shadow, and that De la Foret had not +observed her. He determined that the lovers should meet alone. + +"Your arm, De la Foret," he grunted. "I'll get me to the bed in yonder +room--'tis easier than this couch." "Two hours ago you could not bear +the bed, and must get you to the couch--and now! Seigneur, do you know +the weight you are?" he added, laughing, as he stooped, and helping +Lempriere gently to his feet, raised him slowly in his arms and went +heavily with him to the bedroom. Angele watched him with a strange +thrill of timid admiration and delight. Surely it could not be that +Michel--her Michel--could be bought from his allegiance by any influence +on earth. There was the same old simple laugh on his lips, as, with +chaffing words, he carried the huge Seigneur to the other room. Her +heart acquitted him then and there of all blame, past or to come. + +"Michel!" she said aloud involuntarily--the call of her spirit which +spoke on her lips against her will. + +De la Foret had helped Lempriere to the bed again as he heard his name +called, and he stood suddenly still, looking straight before him into +space. Angele's voice seemed ghostly and unreal. + +"Michel!" he heard again, and he came forward into the room where she +was. Yet once again she said the word scarcely above a whisper, for the +look of rapt wonder and apprehension in his manner overcame her. Now he +turned towards her, where she stood in the shadow by the door. He saw +her, but even yet he did not stir, for she seemed to him still an +apparition. + +With a little cry she came forward to him. "Michel--help me!" she +murmured, and stretched out her hands. With a cry of joy he took her in +his arms and pressed her to his heart. Then a realisation of danger came +to him. + +"Why did you come?" he asked. + +She told him hastily. He heard with astonishment, and then said: "There +is some foul trick here. Have you the message?" She handed it to him. +"It is the surgeon's writing, verily," he said; "but it is still a +trick, for the sick man here is Rozel. I see it all. You and I +forbidden to meet--it was a trick to bring you here." + +"Oh, let me go!" she cried. "Michel, Michel, take me hence." She +turned towards the door. + +"The gates are closed," he said, as a cannon boomed on the evening air. + +Angele trembled violently. "Oh, what will come of this?" she cried, in +tearful despair. + +"Be patient, sweet, and let me think," he answered. At that moment there +came a knocking at the door, then it was thrown open, and there stepped +inside the Earl of Leicester, preceded by a page bearing a torch. + +"Is Michel de la Foret within?" he called; then stopped short, as though +astonished, seeing Angele. "So! so!" he said, with a contemptuous +laugh. Michel de la Foret's fingers twitched. He quickly stepped in +front of Angele, and answered: "What is your business here, my lord?" + +Leicester languorously took off a glove, and seemed to stifle a yawn in +it; then said: "I came to take you into my service, to urge upon you for +your own sake to join my troops, going upon duty in the North; for I fear +that if you stay here the Queen Mother of France will have her way. But +I fear I am too late. A man who has sworn himself into service d'amour +has no time for service de la guerre." + +"I will gladly give an hour from any service I may follow to teach the +Earl of Leicester that he is less a swordsman than a trickster." + +Leicester flushed, but answered coolly: "I can understand your chagrin. +You should have locked your door. It is the safer custom." He bowed +lightly towards Angele. "You have not learned our English habits of +discretion, Monsieur de la Foret. I would only do you service. I +appreciate your choler. I should be no less indignant. So, in the +circumstances, I will see that the gates are opened, of course you did +not realise the flight of time,--and I will take Mademoiselle to her +lodgings. You may rely on my discretion. I am wholly at your service +--tout a vous, as who should say in your charming language." + +The insolence was so veiled in perfect outward courtesy that it must have +seemed impossible for De la Foret to reply in terms equal to the moment. +He had, however, no need to reply, for the door of the room suddenly +opened, and two pages stepped inside with torches. + +They were followed by a gentleman in scarlet and gold, who said, "The +Queen!" and stepped aside. + +An instant afterwards Elizabeth, with the Duke's Daughter, entered. + +The three dropped upon their knees, and Elizabeth waved without the pages +and the gentleman-in-waiting. When the doors closed, the Queen eyed the +three kneeling figures, and as her glance fell on Leicester a strange +glitter came into her eyes. She motioned all to rise, and with a hand +upon the arm of the Duke's Daughter, said to Leicester: + +"What brings the Earl of Leicester here?" + +"I came to urge upon Monsieur the wisdom of holding to the Sword and +leaving the Book to the butter-fingered religious. Your Majesty needs +good soldiers." + +He bowed, but not low, and it was clear he was bent upon a struggle. He +was confounded by the Queen's presence, he could not guess why she should +have come; and that she was prepared for what she saw was clear. + +"And brought an eloquent pleader with you?" She made a scornful gesture +towards Angele. + +"Nay, your Majesty; the lady's zeal outran my own, and crossed the +threshold first." + +The Queen's face wore a look that Leicester had never seen on it before, +and he had observed it in many moods. + +"You found the lady here, then?" + +"With Monsieur alone. Seeing she was placed unfortunately, I offered to +escort her hence to her father. But your Majesty came upon the moment." + +There was a ring of triumph in Leicester's voice. No doubt, by some +chance, the Queen had become aware of Angele's presence, he thought. +Fate had forestalled the letter he had already written on this matter +and meant to send her within the hour. Chance had played into his hands +with perfect suavity. The Queen, less woman now than Queen, enraged by +the information got he knew not how, had come at once to punish the gross +breach of her orders and a dark misconduct-so he thought. + +The Queen's look, as she turned it on Angele, apparently had in it what +must have struck terror to even a braver soul than that of the helpless +Huguenot girl. + +"So it is thus you spend the hours of night? God's faith, but you are +young to be so wanton!" she cried in a sharp voice. "Get you from my +sight and out of my kingdom as fast as horse and ship may carry you--as +feet may bear you." Leicester's face lighted to hear. "Your high +Majesty," pleaded the girl, dropping on her knees, "I am innocent. As +God lives, I am innocent." + +"The man, then, only is guilty?" the Queen rejoined with scorn. "Is it +innocent to be here at night, my palace gates shut, with your lover- +alone?" Leicester laughed at the words. + +"Your Majesty, oh, your gracious Majesty, hear me. We were not alone-- +not alone--" + +There was a rustle of curtains, a heavy footstep, and Lempriere of Rozel +staggered into the room. De la Foret ran to help him, and throwing an +arm around him, almost carried him towards the couch. Lempriere, +however, slipped from De la Foret's grasp to his knees on the floor +before the Queen. + +"Not alone, your high and sacred Majesty, I am here--I have been here +through all. I was here when Mademoiselle came, brought hither by trick +of some knave not fit to be your immortal Majesty's subject. I speak the +truth, for I am butler to your Majesty and no liar. I am Lempriere of +Rozel." + +No man's self-control could meet such a surprise without wavering. +Leicester was confounded, for he had not known that Lempriere was housed +with De la Foret. For a moment he could do naught but gaze at Lempriere. +Then, as the Seigneur suddenly swayed and would have fallen, the instinct +of effective courtesy, strong in him, sent him with arms outstretched to +lift him up. Together, without a word, he and De la Foret carried him to +the couch and laid him down. That single act saved Leicester's life. +There was something so naturally (though, in truth, it was so +hypocritically) kind in the way he sprang to his enemy's assistance that +an old spirit of fondness stirred in the Queen's breast, and she looked +strangely at him. When, however, they had disposed of Lempriere and +Leicester had turned again towards her, she said: "Did you think I had no +loyal and true gentlemen at my Court, my lord? Did you think my leech +would not serve me as fair as he would serve the Earl of Leicester? You +have not bought us all, Robert Dudley, who have bought and sold so long. +The good leech did your bidding and sent your note to the lady; but there +your bad play ended and Fate's began. A rabbit's brains, Leicester--and +a rabbit's end. Fate has the brains you need." + +Leicester's anger burst forth now under the lash of ridicule. "I cannot +hope to win when your Majesty plays Fate in caricature." + +With a little gasp of rage Elizabeth leaned over and slapped his face +with her long glove. "Death of my life, but I who made you do unmake +you!" she cried. + +He dropped his hand on his sword. "If you were but a man, and not--" he +said, then stopped short, for there was that in the Queen's face which +changed his purpose. Anger was shaking her, but there were tears in her +eyes. The woman in her was stronger than the Queen. It was nothing to +her at this moment that she might have his life as easily as she had +struck his face with her glove; this man had once shown the better part +of himself to her, and the memory of it shamed her for his own sake now. +She made a step towards the door, then turned and spoke: + +"My Lord, I have no palace and no ground wherein your footstep will not +be trespass. Pray you, remember." + +She turned towards Lempriere, who lay on his couch faint and panting. +"For you, my Lord of Rozel, I wish you better health, though you have +lost it somewhat in a good cause." + +Her glance fell on De la Foret. Her look softened. "I will hear you +preach next Sunday, sir." + +There was an instant's pause, and then she said to Angele, with gracious +look and in a low voice: "You have heard from me that calumny which the +innocent never escape. To try you I neglected you these many days; to +see your nature even more truly than I knew it, I accused you but now. +You might have been challenged first by one who could do you more harm +than Elizabeth of England, whose office is to do good, not evil. Nets +are spread for those whose hearts are simple, and your feet have been +caught. Be thankful that we understand; and know that Elizabeth is your +loving friend. You have had trials--I have kept you in suspense--there +has been trouble for us all; but we are better now; our minds are more +content; so all may be well, please God! You will rest this night with +our lady-dove here, and to-morrow early you shall return in peace to your +father. You have a good friend in our cousin." She made a gentle motion +towards the Duke's Daughter. "She has proved it so. In my leech +she has a slave. To her you owe this help in time of need. She hath +wisdom, too, and we must listen to her, even as I have done this day." + +She inclined her head towards the door. Leicester opened it, and as she +passed out she gave him one look which told him that his game was lost, +if not for ever, yet for time uncertain and remote. "You must not blame +the leech, my lord," she said, suddenly turning back. "The Queen of +England has first claim on the duty of her subjects. They serve me for +love; you they help at need as time-servers." + +She stepped on, then paused again and looked back. "Also I forbid +fighting betwixt you," she said, in a loud voice, looking at De la Foret +and Leicester. + +Without further sign or look, she moved on. Close behind came Angele and +the Duke's Daughter, and Leicester followed at some distance. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Not far from the palace, in a secluded place hidden by laburnum, roses, +box and rhododendrons, there was a quaint and beautiful retreat. High +up on all sides of a circle of green the flowering trees and shrubs +interlaced their branches, and the grass, as smooth as velvet, was of +such a note as soothed the eye and quieted the senses. In one segment of +the verdant circle was a sort of open bower made of poles, up which roses +climbed and hung across in gay festoons; and in two other segments mossy +banks made resting-places. Here, in days gone by, when Robert Dudley, +Earl of Leicester, first drew the eyes of his Queen upon him, Elizabeth +came to listen to his vows of allegiance, which swam in floods of +passionate devotion to her person. Christopher Hatton, Sir Henry Lee, +the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Sussex, a race of gallants, had knelt +upon this pleasant sward. Here they had declared a devotion that, +historically platonic, had a personal passion which, if rewarded by no +personal requital, must have been an expensive outlay of patience and +emotion. + +But those days had gone. Robert Dudley had advanced far past his +fellows, had locked himself into the chamber of the Queen's confidence, +had for long proved himself necessary to her, had mingled deference and +admiration with an air of monopoly, and had then advanced to an air of +possession, of suggested control. Then had begun his decline. England +and England's Queen could have but one ruler, and upon an occasion in the +past Elizabeth made it clear by the words she used: "God's death, my +Lord, I have wished you well; but my favour is not so locked up for you +that others shall not partake thereof; and, if you think to rule here, +I will take a course to see you forthcoming. I will have here but one +mistress and no master." + +In these words she but declared what was the practice of her life, the +persistent passion of her rule. The world could have but one sun, and +every man or woman who sought its warmth must be a sun-worshipper. There +could be no divided faith, no luminaries in the sky save those which +lived by borrowed radiance. + +Here in this bright theatre of green and roses poets had sung the praises +of this Queen to her unblushing and approving face; here ladies thrice as +beautiful as she had begged her to tell them the secret of her beauty, so +much greater than that of any living woman; and she was pleased even when +she knew they flattered but to gain her smile--it was the tribute that +power exacts. The place was a cenotaph of past romance and pleasure. +Every leaf of every tree and flower had impressions of glories, of love, +ambition and intrigue, of tears and laughter, of joyousness and ruin. +Never a spot in England where so much had been said and done, so far +reaching in effect and influence. But its glory was departed, its day +was done, it was a place of dreams and memories: the Queen came here no +more. Many years had withered since she had entered this charmed spot; +and that it remained so fine was but evidence of the care of those to +whom she had given strict orders seven years past, that in and out of +season it must be ever kept as it had erstwhile been. She had never +entered the place since the day the young Marquis of Wessex, whom she had +imprisoned for marrying secretly and without her consent, on his release +came here, and, with a concentrated bitterness and hate, had told her +such truths as she never had heard from man or woman since she was born. +He had impeached her in such cold and murderous terms as must have made +wince even a woman with no pride. To Elizabeth it was gall and wormwood. +When he at last demanded the life of the young wife who had died in +enforced seclusion, because she had married the man she loved, Elizabeth +was so confounded that she hastily left the place, saying no word in +response. This attack had been so violent, so deadly, that she had +seemed unnerved, and forbore to command him to the Tower or to death. + +"You, in whose breast love never stirred, deny the right to others whom +God blessed with it," he cried. "Envious of mortal happiness that dare +exist outside your will or gift, you sunder and destroy. You, in whose +hands was power to give joy, gave death. What you have sown you shall +reap. Here on this spot I charge you with high treason, with treachery +to the people over whom you have power as a trust, which trust you have +made a scourge." + +With such words as these he had assailed her, and for the first time in +her life she had been confounded. In safety he had left the place, and +taken his way to Italy, from which he had never returned, though she had +sent for him in kindness. Since that day Elizabeth had never come +hither; and by-and-by none of her Court came save the Duke's Daughter, +and her fool, who both made it their resort. Here the fool came upon the +Friday before Trinity Day, bringing with him Lempriere and Buonespoir, +to whom he had much attached himself. + +It was a day of light and warmth, and the place was like a basket of +roses. Having seen the two serving-men dispose, in a convenient place, +the refreshment which Lempriere's appetite compelled, the fool took +command of the occasion and made the two sit upon a bank, while he +prepared the repast. + +Strangest of the notable trio was the dwarfish fool with his shaggy black +head, twisted mouth, and watchful, wandering eye, whose foolishness was +but the flaunting cover of shrewd observation and trenchant vision. +Going where he would, and saying what he listed, now in the Queen's inner +chamber, then in the midst of the Council, unconsidered, and the butt of +all, he paid for his bed and bounty by shooting shafts of foolery which +as often made his listeners shrink as caused their laughter. The Queen +he called Delicio, and Leicester, Obligato--as one who piped to another's +dance. He had taken to Buonespoir at the first glance, and had +frequented him, and Lempriere had presently been added to his favour. +He had again and again been messenger between them, as also of late +between Angele and Michel, whose case he viewed from a stand-point of +great cheerfulness, and treated them as children playing on the sands-- +as, indeed, he did the Queen and all near to her. But Buonespoir, the +pirate, was to him reality and the actual, and he called him Bono +Publico. At first Lempriere, ever jealous of his importance, was +inclined to treat him with elephantine condescension; but he could not +long hold out against the boon archness of the jester, and he collapsed +suddenly into as close a friendship as that between himself and +Buonespoir. + +A rollicking spirt was his own fullest stock-in-trade, and it won him +like a brother. + +So it was that here, in the very bosom of the forest, lured by the pipe +the fool played, Lempriere burst forth into song, in one hand a bottle +of canary, in the other a handful of comfits: + + "Duke William was a Norman + (Spread the sail to the breeze!) + That did to England ride; + At Hastings by the Channel + (Drink the wine to the lees!) + Our Harold the Saxon died. + If there be no cakes from Normandy, + There'll be more ale in England!" + +"Well sung, nobility, and well said," cried Buonespoir, with a rose by +the stem in his mouth, one hand beating time to the music, the other +clutching a flagon of muscadella; "for the Normans are kings in England, +and there's drink in plenty at the Court of our Lady Duchess." + +"Delicio shall never want while I have a penny of hers to spend," quoth +the fool, feeling for another tune. "Should conspirators prevail, and +the damnedest be, she hath yet the Manor of Rozel and my larder," urged +Lempriere, with a splutter through the canary. + +"That shall be only when the Fifth wind comes--it is so ordained, +Nuncio!" said the fool blinking. Buonespoir set down his flagon. +"And what wind is the Fifth wind?" he asked, scratching his bullethead, +his child-like, widespread eyes smiling the question. + +"There be now four winds--the North wind and his sisters, the East, the +West, and South. When God sends a Fifth wind, then conspirators shall +wear crowns. Till then Delicio shall sow and I shall reap, as is +Heaven's will." + +Lempriere lay back and roared with laughter. "Before Belial, there never +was such another as thou, fool. Conspirators shall die and not prevail, +for a man may not marry his sister, and the North wind shall have no +progeny. So there shall be no Fifth wind." + +"Proved, proved," cried the fool. "The North wind shall go whistle for a +mate--there shall be no Fifth wind. So, Delicio shall still sail by the +compass, and shall still compass all, and yet be compassed by none; for +it is written, Who compasseth Delicio existeth not." + +Buonespoir watched a lark soaring, as though its flight might lead him +through the fool's argument clearly. Lempriere closed his eye, and +struggled with it, his lips outpursed, his head sunk on his breast. +Suddenly his eyes opened, he brought the bottle of canary down with a +thud on the turf. "'Fore Michael and all angels, I have it, fool; I +travel, I conceive. De Carteret of St. Ouen's must have gone to the +block ere conceiving so. I must conceive thus of the argument. He who +compasseth the Queen existeth not, for compassing, he dieth." + +"So it is by the hour-glass and the fortune told in the porringer. You +have conceived like a man, Nuncio." + +"And conspirators, I conceive, must die, so long as there be honest men +to slay them," rejoined the Seigneur. + +"Must only honest men slay conspirators? Oh, Shadrach, Meshach, and +Abednego!" wheezed Buonespoir with a grin. He placed his hand upon his +head in self-pity. "Buonespoir, art thou damned by muscadella?" he +murmured. + +"But thou art purged of the past, Bono Publico," answered the fool. +"Since Delicio hath looked upon thee she hath shredded the Tyburn lien +upon thee--thou art flushed like a mountain spring; and conspirators +shall fall down by thee if thou, passant, dost fall by conspirators in +the way. Bono Publico, thou shalt live by good company. Henceforth +contraband shall be spurned and the book of grace opened." + +Buonespoir's eyes laughed like a summer sky, but he scratched his head +and turned over the rose-stem in his mouth reflectively. "So be it, +then, if it must be; but yesterday the Devon sea-sweeper, Francis Drake, +overhauled me in my cottage, coming from the Queen, who had infused him +of me. 'I have heard of you from a high masthead,' said he. 'If the +Spanish main allure you, come with me. There be galleons yonder still; +they shall cough up doubloons.' 'It hath a sound of piracy,' said I. +'I am expurgated. My name is written on clean paper now, blessed be the +name of the Queen!' 'Tut, tut, Buonesperado,' laughed he, 'you shall +forget that Tyburn is not a fable if you care to have doubloons reminted +at the Queen's mint. It is meet Spanish Philip's head be molted to +oblivion, and Elizabeth's raised, so that good silver be purged of Popish +alloy.' But that I had sworn by the little finger of St. Peter when the +moon was full, never to leave the English seas, I also would have gone +with Drake of Devon this day. It is a man and a master of men that Drake +of Devon." + +"'Tis said that when a man hath naught left but life, and hath treated +his honour like a poor relation, he goes to the Spanish main with Drake +and Grenville," said Lempriere. + +"Then must Obligato go, for he hath such credentials," said the fool, +blowing thistle-down in the air. "Yesterday was no Palm Sunday to +Leicester. Delicio's head was high. 'Imperial Majesty,' quoth Obligato, +his knees upon the rushes, 'take my life but send me not forth into +darkness where I shall see my Queen no more. By the light of my Queen's +eyes have I walked, and pains of hell are my Queen's displeasure.' +'Methinks thy humbleness is tardy,' quoth Delicio. 'No cock shall crow +by my nest,' said she. 'And, by the mantle of Elijah, I am out with sour +faces and men of phlegm and rheum. I will be gay once more. So get thee +gone to Kenilworth, and stray not from it on thy peril. Take thy malaise +with thee, and I shall laugh again.' Behold he goeth. So that was the +end of Obligato, and now cometh another tune." + +"She hath good cheer?" asked Lempriere eagerly. "I have never seen +Delicio smile these seven years as she smiled to-day; and when she kissed +Amicitia I sent for my confessor and made my will. Delicio hath come to +spring-time, and the voice of the turtle is in her ear." "Amicitia--and +who is Amicitia?" asked Lempriere, well flushed with wine. + +"She who hath brought Obligato to the diminuendo and finale," answered +the fool; "even she who hath befriended the Huguenottine of the black +eyes." + +"Ah, she, the Duke's Daughter--v'la, that is a flower of a lady! Did she +not say that my jerkin fitted neatly when I did act as butler to her +adorable Majesty three months syne? She hath no mate in the world save +Mademoiselle Aubert, whom I brought hither to honour and to fame." + +"To honour and fame, was it--but by the hill of desperandum, Nuncio," +said the fool, prodding him with his stick of bells. + +"'Desperandum'! I know not Latin; it amazes me," said Lempriere, waving +a lofty hand. + +"She--the Huguenottine--was a-mazed also, and from the maze was played by +Obligato." + +"How so! how so!" cried the Seigneur, catching at his meaning. "Did +Leicester waylay and siege? 'Sblood, had I known this, I'd have broached +him and swallowed him even on crutches." + +"She made him raise the siege, she turned his own guns upon him, and in +the end hath driven him hence." By rough questioning Lempriere got from +the fool by snatches the story of the meeting in the maze, which had left +Leicester standing with the jester's ribboned bells in his hand. Then +the Seigneur got to his feet, and hugged the fool, bubbling with +laughter. + +"By all the blood of all the saints, I will give thee burial in my own +grave when all's done," he spluttered; "for there never was such fooling, +never such a wise fool come since Confucius and the Khan. Good be with +you, fool, and thanks be for such a lady. Thanks be also for the Duke's +Daughter. Ah, how she laid Leicester out! She washed him up the shore +like behemoth, and left him gaping." + +Buonespoir intervened. "And what shall come of it? What shall be the +end? The Honeyflower lies at anchor--there be three good men in waiting, +Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and--" + +The Seigneur interrupted. "There's little longer waiting. All's well! +Her high hereditary Majesty smiled on me when she gave Leicester conge +and fiery quittance. She hath me in favour, and all shall be well with +Michel and Angele. O fool, fool, fantastic and flavoured fool, sing me +a song of good content, for if this business ends not with crescendo and +bell-ringing, I am no butler to the Queen nor keep good company!" + +Seating themselves upon the mossy bank, their backs to the westward sun, +the fool peered into the green shadows and sang with a soft melancholy an +ancient song that another fool had sung to the first Tudor: + + "When blows the wind and drives the sleet, + And all the trees droop down; + When all the world is sad, + 'tis meet Good company be known: + And in my heart good company + Sits by the fire and sings to me. + + "When warriors return, and one + That went returns no more; + When dusty is the road we run, + And garners have no store; + One ingle-nook right warm shall be + Where my heart hath good company. + + "When man shall flee and woman fail, + And folly mock and hope deceive, + Let cowards beat the breast and wail, + I'll homeward hie; I will not grieve: + I'll draw the blind, I'll there set free + My heart's beloved boon company. + + "When kings shall favour, ladies call + My service to their side; + When roses grow upon the wall + Of life, with love inside; + I'll get me home with joy to be + In my heart's own good company!" + +"Oh, fool, oh, beneficent fool, well done! 'Tis a song for a man-- +'twould shame De Carteret of St. Ouen's to his knees," cried Lempriere. + +"Oh, benignant fool, well done! 'twould draw me from my meals," said a +voice behind the three; and, turning hastily about, they saw, smiling and +applausive, the Duke's Daughter. Beside her was Angele. + +The three got to their feet, and each made obeisance after his kind- +Buonespoir ducking awkwardly, his blue eyes bulging with pleasure, +Lempriere swelling with vanity and spreading wide acknowledgment of their +presence, the fool condescending a wave of welcome. "Oh! abundant +Amicitia!" cried the fool to the Duke's Daughter, "thou art saved by so +doing. So get thee to thanksgiving and God's mercy." + +"Wherefore am I saved by being drawn from my meals by thy music, fool?" +she asked, linking her arm in Angele's. + +"Because thou art more enamoured of lampreys than of man; and it is +written that thou shalt love thy fellow man, and he that loveth not is +lost: therefore thou art lost if thou lingerest at meals." + +"Is it so, then? And this lady--what thinkest thou? Must she also +abstain and seek good company?" + +"No, verily, Amicitia, for she is good company itself, and so she may +sleep in the larder and have no fear." + +"And what think you--shall she be happy? Shall she have gifts of fate?" + +"Discriminately so, Amicitia. She shall have souvenirs and no suspicions +of Fate. But she shall not linger here, for all lingerers in Delicio's +Court are spied upon--not for their soul's good. She shall go hence, +and--" + +"Ay, princely lady, she shall go hence," interposed Lempriere, who had +panted to speak, and could bear silence no longer. "Her high Majesty +will kiss her on the brow, and in Jersey Isle she shall blossom and bloom +and know bounty--or never more shall I have privilege and perquage." + +He lumbered forward and kissed Angele's hand as though conferring +distinction, but with great generosity. "I said that all should go well, +and so it shall. Rozel shall prevail. The Queen knows on what rock to +build, as I made warrant for her, and will still do so." + +His vanity was incorrigible, but through it ran so child-like a spirit +that it bred friendship and repulsed not. The Duke's Daughter pressed +the arm of Angele, who replied: + +"Indeed it has been so according to your word, and we are--I am--shall +ever be beholden. In storm you have been with us, so true a pilot and so +brave a sailor; and if we come to port and the quiet shore, there shall +be spread a feast of remembrance which shall never grow cold, Seigneur." + + "One ingle-nook right warm shall be + Where my heart hath good company," + +sang the fool, and catching by the arm Buonespoir, who ducked his head in +farewell, ran him into the greenwood. Angele came forward as if to stay +Buonespoir, but stopped short reflectively. As she did so, the Duke's +Daughter whispered quickly into Lempriere's ear. + +Swelling with pride he nodded, and said: "I will reach him and discover +myself to him, and bring him, if he stray, most undoubted and infallible +lady," and with an air of mystery he made a heavily respectful exit. + +Left alone, the two ladies seated themselves in the bower of roses, and +for a moment were silent. Presently the Duke's Daughter laughed aloud. + +"In what seas of dear conceit swims your leviathan Seigneur, heart's- +ease?" + +Angele stole a hand into the cool palm of the other. "He was builded for +some lonely sea all his own. Creation cheated him. But God give me ever +such friends as he, and I shall indeed 'have good company' and fear no +issue." She sighed. + +"Remains there still a fear? Did you not have good promise in the +Queen's words that night?" + +"Ay, so it seemed, and so it seemed before--on May Day, and yet--" + +"And yet she banished you, and tried you, and kept you heart-sick? +Sweet, know you not how bitter a thing it is to owe a debt of love to one +whom we have injured? So it was with her. The Queen is not a saint, but +very woman. Marriage she hath ever contemned and hated; men she hath +desired to keep her faithful and impassioned servitors. So does power +blind us. And the braver the man, the more she would have him in her +service, at her feet, the centre of the world." + +"I had served her in a crisis, an hour of peril. Was naught due me?" + +The Duke's Daughter drew her close. "She never meant but that all should +be well. And because you had fastened on her feelings as never I have +seen another of your sex, so for the moment she resented it; and because +De la Foret was yours--ah, if you had each been naught to the other, how +easy it would have run! Do you not understand?" + +"Nay, then, and yea, then--and I put it from me. See, am I not happy +now? Upon your friendship I build." + +"Sweet, I did what I could. Leicester filled her ears with poison +every day, mixed up your business and great affairs with France, +sought to convey that you both were not what you are; until at last I +countermarched him." She laughed merrily. "Ay, I can laugh now, but it +was all hanging by a thread, when my leech sent his letter that brought +you to the palace. It had grieved me that I might not seek you, or write +to you in all those sad days; but the only way to save you was by keeping +the Queen's command; for she had known of Leicester's visits to you, of +your meeting in the maze, and she was set upon it that alone, all alone, +you should be tried to the last vestige of your strength. If you had +failed--" + +"If I had failed--" Angele closed her eyes and shuddered. "I had not +cared for myself, but Michel--" "If you had failed, there had been no +need to grieve for Michel. He then had not grieved for thee. But see, +the wind blows fair, and in my heart I have no fear of the end. You +shall go hence in peace. This morning the Queen was happier than I have +seen her these many years: a light was in her eye brighter than showeth +to the Court. She talked of this place, recalled the hours spent here, +spoke even softly of Leicester. And that gives me warrant for the +future. She has relief in his banishment, and only recalls older and +happier days when, if her cares were no greater, they were borne by the +buoyancy of girlhood and youth. Of days spent here she talked until mine +own eyes went blind. She said it was a place for lovers, and if she knew +any two lovers who were true lovers, and had been long parted, she would +send them here." + +"There be two true lovers, and they have been long parted," murmured +Angele. + +"But she commanded these lovers not to meet till Trinity Day, and she +brooks not disobedience even in herself. How could she disobey her own +commands? But"--her eyes were on the greenwood and the path that led +into the circle--"but she would shut her eyes to-day, and let the world +move on without her, let lovers thrive, and birds be nesting without heed +or hap. Disobedience shall thrive when the Queen connives at it--and so +I leave you to your disobedience, sweet." + +With a laugh she sprang to her feet, and ran. Amazed and bewildered +Angele gazed after her. As she stood looking she heard her name called +softly. + +Turning, she saw Michel. They were alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +When De la Foret and Angele saw the Queen again it was in the royal +chapel. + +Perhaps the longest five minutes of M. de la Foret's life were those in +which he waited the coming of the Queen on that Trinity Sunday which was +to decide his fate. When he saw Elizabeth enter the chapel his eyes +swam, till the sight of them was lost in the blur of colour made by the +motions of gorgeously apparelled courtiers and the people of the +household. When the Queen had taken her seat and all was quiet, he +struggled with himself to put on such a front of simple boldness as he +would wear upon day of battle. The sword the Queen had given him was at +his side, and his garb was still that of a gentleman, not of a Huguenot +minister such as Elizabeth in her grim humour, and to satisfy her bond +with France, would make of him this day. + +The brown of his face had paled in the weeks spent in the palace and in +waiting for this hour; anxiety had toned the ruddy vigour of his bearing; +but his figure was the figure of a soldier, and his hand that of a strong +man. He shook a little as he bowed to her Majesty, but that passed, and +when at last his eye met that of the Duke's Daughter he grew steady; for +she gave him as plainly as though her tongue spoke, a message from +Angele. Angele herself he did not see--she was kneeling in an obscure +corner, her father's hand in hers, all the passion of her life pouring +out in prayer. + +De la Foret drew himself up with an iron will. No nobler figure of a man +ever essayed to preach the Word, and so Elizabeth thought; and she +repented of the bitter humour which had set this trial as his chance of +life in England and his freedom from the hand of Catherine. The man +bulked larger in her eyes than he had ever done, and she struggled with +herself to keep the vow she had made to the Duke's Daughter the night +that Angele had been found in De la Foret's rooms. He had been the +immediate cause, fated or accidental, of the destined breach between +Leicester and herself; he had played a significant part in her own life. +Glancing at her courtiers, she saw that none might compare with him, the +form and being of calm boldness and courage. She sighed she knew scarce +why. + +When De la Foret first opened his mouth and essayed to call the +worshippers to prayer, no words came forth--only a dry whisper. Some +ladies simpered, and more than one courtier laughed silently. Michel +saw, and his face flamed up. But he laid a hand on himself, and a moment +afterwards his voice came forth, clear, musical, and resonant, speaking +simple words, direct and unlacquered sentences, passionately earnest +withal. He stilled the people to a unison of sentiment, none the less +interested and absorbed because it was known that he had been the cause +of the great breach between the Queen and the favourite. Ere he had +spoken far, flippant gallants had ceased to flutter handkerchiefs, to +move their swords idly upon the floor. + +He took for his text: "Stand and search for the old paths." The +beginning of all systems of religion, the coming of the Nazarene, the +rise and growth of Christianity, the martyrdoms of the early church, the +invasion of the truth by false doctrine, the abuses of the Church, the +Reformation, the martyrdom of the Huguenots for the return to the early +principles of Christianity, the "search for the old paths," he set forth +in a tone generous but not fiery, presently powerful and searching, yet +not declamatory. At the last he raised the sword that hung by his side, +and the Book that lay before him, and said: + +"And what matter which it is we wield--this steel that strikes for God, +or this Book which speaks of Him? For the Book is the sword of the +Spirit, and the sword is the life of humanity; for all faith must be +fought for, and all that is has been won by strife. But the paths +wherein ye go to battle must be the old paths; your sword shall be your +staff by day, and the Book your lantern by night. That which ye love ye +shall teach, and that which ye teach ye shall defend; and if your love be +a true love your teaching shall be a great teaching, and your sword a +strong sword which none may withstand. It shall be the pride of +sovereign and of people; and so neither 'height, nor depth, nor any other +creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.'" + +Ere he had ended, some of the ladies were overcome, the eyes of the +Duke's Daughter were full of tears, and Elizabeth said audibly, when he +ceased speaking: "On my soul, I have no bishop with a tongue like his. +Would that my Lord of Ely were here to learn how truth should be spoke. +Henceforth my bishops shall first be Camisards." + +Of that hour's joyful business the Queen wrote thus to the Medici before +the day was done: + +Cancelling all other letters on the matter, this M. de la Foret shall +stay in my kingdom. I may not be the headsman of one of my faith--as +eloquent a preacher as he was a brave soldier. Abiding by the strict +terms of our treaty with my brother of France, he shall stay with us in +peace, and in our own care. He hath not the eloquence of a Knox, but he +hath the true thing in him, and that speaks. + +To the Duke's Daughter the Queen said: "On my soul, he shall be married +instantly, or my ladies will carry him off and murder him for love." + +And so it was that the heart of Elizabeth the Queen warmed again and +dearly towards two Huguenot exiles, and showed that in doing justice she +also had not so sour a heart towards her sex as was set down to her +credit. Yet she made one further effort to keep De la Foret in her +service. When Michel, once again, declined, dwelt earnestly on his duty +towards the widow of his dead chief, and begged leave to share her exile +in Jersey, Elizabeth said: "On my soul, but I did not think there was any +man on earth so careless of princes' honours!" + +To this De la Foret replied that he had given his heart and life to one +cause, and since Montgomery had lost all, even life, the least Michel de +la Foret could do was to see that the woman who loved him be not +unprotected in the world. Also, since he might not at this present fight +for the cause, he could speak for it; and he thanked the Queen of England +for having shown him his duty. All that he desired was to be quiet for a +space somewhere in "her high Majesty's good realm," till his way was +clear to him. + +"You would return to Jersey, then, with our friend of Rozel?" Elizabeth +said, with a gesture towards Lempriere, who, now recovered from his +wound, was present at the audience. + +De la Foret inclined his head. "If it be your high Majesty's pleasure." + +And Lempriere of Rozel said: "He would return with myself your noble +Majesty's friend before all the world, and Buonespoir his ship the +Honeyflower." + +Elizabeth's lips parted in a smile, for she was warmed with the luxury of +doing good, and she answered: + +"I know not what the end of this will be, whether our loyal Lempriere +will become a pirate or Buonespoir a butler to my Court; but it is too +pretty a hazard to forego in a world of chance. By the rood, but I have +never, since I sat on my father's throne, seen black so white as I have +done this past three months. You shall have your Buonespoir, good Rozel; +but if he plays pirate any more--tell him this from his Queen--upon an +English ship, I will have his head, if I must needs send Drake of Devon +to overhaul him." + +That same hour the Queen sent for Angele, and by no leave, save her own, +arranged the wedding-day, and ordained that it should take place at +Southampton, whither the Comtesse de Montgomery had come on her way to +Greenwich to plead for the life of Michel de la Foret, and to beg +Elizabeth to relieve her poverty. Both of which things Elizabeth did, +as the annals of her life record. + +After Elizabeth--ever self-willed--had declared her way about the +marriage ceremony, looking for no reply save that of silent obedience, +she made Angele sit at her feet and tell her whole story again from first +to last. They were alone, and Elizabeth showed to this young refugee +more of her own heart than any other woman had ever seen. Not by words +alone, for she made no long story; but once she stooped and kissed Angele +upon the cheek, and once her eyes filled up with tears, and they dropped +upon her lap unheeded. All the devotion shown herself as a woman had +come to naught; and it may be that this thought stirred in her now. She +remembered how Leicester and herself had parted, and how she was denied +all those soft resources of regret which were the right of the meanest +women in her realm. For, whatever she might say to her Parliament and +people, she knew that all was too late--that she would never marry and +that she must go childless and uncomforted to her grave. Years upon +years of delusion of her people, of sacrifice to policy, had at last +become a self-delusion, to which her eyes were not full opened yet--she +sought to shut them tight. But these refugees, coming at the moment of +her own struggle, had changed her heart from an ever-growing bitterness +to human sympathy. When Angele had ended her tale once more, the Queen +said: + +"God knows, ye shall not linger in my Court. Such lives have no place +here. Get you back to my Isle of Jersey, where ye may live in peace. +Here all is noise, self-seeking and time-service. If ye twain are not +happy I will say the world should never have been made." + +Before they left Greenwich Palace--M. Aubert and Angele, De la Foret, +Lempriere, and Buonespoir--the Queen made Michel de la Foret the gift of +a chaplaincy to the Crown. To Monsieur Aubert she gave a small pension, +and in Angele's hands she placed a deed of dower worthy of a generosity +greater than her own. + +At Southampton, Michel and Angele were married by royal license, +and with the Comtesse de Montgomery set sail in Buonespoir's boat, +the Honeyflower, which brought them safe to St. Helier's, in the Isle +of Jersey. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Followed several happy years for Michel and Angele. The protection of +the Queen herself, the chaplaincy she had given De la Foret, the +friendship with the Governor of the island; and the boisterous tales +Lempriere had told of those days at Greenwich Palace quickened the +sympathy and held the interest of the people at large; while the simple +lives of the two won their way into the hearts of all, even, at last, to +that of De Carteret of St. Ouen's. It was Angele herself who brought the +two Seigneurs together at her own good table; and it needed all her tact +on that occasion to prevent the ancient foes from drinking all the wine +in her cellar. + +There was no parish in Jersey that did not know their goodness, but +mostly in the parishes of St. Martin's and Rozel were their faithful +labours done. From all parts of the island people came to hear Michel +speak, though that was but seldom; and when he spoke he always wore the +sword the Queen had given him, and used the Book he had studied in her +palace. It was to their home that Buonespoir the pirate--faithful to his +promise to the Queen that he would harry English ships no more came +wounded, after an engagement with a French boat sent to capture him, +carried thither by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It was there he +died, after having drunk a bottle of St. Ouen's muscadella, brought +secretly to him by his unchanging friend, Lempriere, so hastening the +end. + +The Comtesse de Montgomery, who lived in a cottage near by, came +constantly to the little house on the hillside by Rozel Bay. She had +never loved her own children more than she did the brown-haired child +with the deep-blue eyes, which was the one pledge of the great happiness +of Michel and Angele. + +Soon after this child was born, M. Aubert had been put to rest in St. +Martin's churchyard, and there his tombstone might be seen so late as a +hundred years ago. So things went softly by for seven years, and then +Madame de Montgomery journeyed to England, on invitation of the Queen and +to better fortune, and Angele and De la Foret were left to their quiet +life in Jersey. Sometimes this quiet was broken by bitter news from +France, of fresh persecution, and fresh struggle on the part of the +Huguenots. Thereafter for hours, sometimes for days, De la Foret would +be lost in sorrowful and restless meditation; and then he fretted against +his peaceful calling and his uneventful life. But the gracious hand of +his wife and the eyes of his child led him back to cheerful ways again. + +Suddenly one day came the fearful news from England that the plague had +broken out, and that thousands were dying. The flight from London was +like the flight of the children of Israel into the desert. The dead- +carts filled with decaying bodies rattled through the foul streets, to +drop their horrid burdens into the great pit at Aldgate; the bells of +London tolled all day and all night for the passing of human souls. +Hundreds of homes, isolated because of a victim of the plague found +therein, became ghastly breeding-places of the disease, and then silent, +disgusting graves. If a man shivered in fear, or staggered from +weakness, or for very hunger turned sick, he was marked as a victim, and +despite his protests was huddled away with the real victims to die the +awful death. From every church, where clergy were left to pray, went up +the cry for salvation from "plague, pestilence, and famine." Scores of +ships from Holland and from France lay in the Channel, not allowed to +touch the shores of England, nor permitted to return whence they came. +On the very day that news of this reached Jersey, came a messenger from +the Queen of England for Michel de la Foret to hasten to her Court for +that she had need of him, and it was a need which would bring him honour. +Even as the young officer who brought the letter handed it to De la Foret +in the little house on the hill-side above Rozel Bay, he was taken +suddenly ill, and fell at the Camisard's feet. + +De la Foret straightway raised him in his arms. He called to his wife, +but, bidding her not come near, he bore the doomed man away to the lonely +Ecrehos Rocks lying within sight of their own doorway. Suffering no one +to accompany him, he carried the sick man to the boat which had brought +the Queen's messenger to Rozel Bay. The sailors of the vessel fled, and +alone De la Foret set sail for the Ecrehos. + +There upon the black rocks the young man died, and Michel buried him in +the shore-bed of the Maitre Ile. Then, after two days--for he could bear +suspense no longer--he set sail for Jersey. Upon that journey there is +no need to dwell. Any that hath ever loved a woman and a child must +understand. A deep fear held him all the way, and when he stepped on +shore at Rozel Bay he was as one who had come from the grave, haggard and +old. + +Hurrying up the hillside to his doorway, he called aloud to his wife, to +his child. Throwing open the door, he burst in. His dead child lay upon +a couch, and near by, sitting in a chair, with the sweat of the dying on +her brow, was Angele. As he dropped on his knee beside her, she smiled +and raised her hand as if to touch him, but the hand dropped and the head +fell forward on his breast. She was gone into a greater peace. + +Once more Michel made a journey-alone--to the Ecrehos, and there, under +the ruins of the old Abbey of Val Richer, he buried the twain he had +loved. Not once in all the terrible hours had he shed a tear; not once +had his hand trembled; his face was like stone, and his eyes burned with +an unearthly light. + +He did not pray beside the graves; but he knelt and kissed the earth +again and again. He had doffed his robes of peace, and now wore the garb +of a soldier, armed at all points fully. Rising from his knees, he +turned his face towards Jersey. + +"Only mine! Only mine!" he said aloud in a dry, bitter voice. + +In the whole island, only his loved ones had died of the plague. The +holiness and charity and love of Michel and Angele had ended so! + +When once more he set forth upon the Channel, he turned his back on +Jersey and shaped his course towards France, having sent Elizabeth his +last excuses for declining a service which would have given him honour, +fame and regard. He was bent upon a higher duty. + +Not long did he wait for the death he craved. Next year, in a Huguenot +sortie from Anvers, he was slain. He died with these words on his lips: + +"Maintenant, Angele!" + +In due time the island people forgot them both, but the Seigneur of Rozel +caused a stone to be set up on the highest point of land that faces +France, and on the stone were carved the names of Michel and Angele. +Having done much hard service for his country and for England's Queen, +Lempriere at length hung up his sword and gave his years to peace. From +the Manor of Rozel he was wont to repair constantly to the little white +house, which remained as the two had left it,--his own by order of the +Queen,--and there, as time went on, he spent most of his days. To the +last he roared with laughter if ever the name of Buonespoir was mentioned +in his presence; he swaggered ever before the Royal Court and De Carteret +of St. Ouen's; and he spoke proudly of his friendship with the Duke's +Daughter, who had admired the cut of his jerkin at the Court of +Elizabeth. But in the house where Angele had lived he moved about as +though in the presence of a beloved sleeper he would not awake. + +Michel and Angele had had their few years of exquisite life and love, +and had gone; Lempriere had longer measure of life and little love, and +who shall say which had more profit of breath and being? The generations +have passed away, and the Angel of Equity hath a smiling pity as she +scans the scales and the weighing of the Past. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Never believed that when man or woman said no that no was meant +Slander ever scorches where it touches + + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS FOR THE ENTIRE "MICHEL AND ANGELE": + +Boldness without rashness, and hope without vain thinking +Each of us will prove himself a fool given perfect opportunity +Never believed that when man or woman said no that no was meant +No note of praise could be pitched too high for Elizabeth +Nothing is futile that is right +Religion to him was a dull recreation invented chiefly for women +She had never stooped to conquer +Slander ever scorches where it touches + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHEL AND ANGELE, COMPLETE *** + +******** This file should be named gp80w10.txt or gp80w10.zip ******** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, gp80w11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, gp80w10a.txt + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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