In the Days of Chivalry
by
Evelyn Everett-Green
Part 7 out of 8
CHAPTER XXVIII. GASTON'S SEARCH.
"He would get better far more quickly could the trouble be removed from
his mind."
Gaston raised his head quickly, and asked:
"What trouble?"
Father Paul's face, thin and worn as of old, with the same keen,
kindling glance of the deep-set eyes, softened almost into a smile as he
met the questioning glance of Gaston's eyes.
"Thou shouldst know more of such matters than I, my son, seeing that
thou art in youth's ardent prime, whilst I wear the garb of a monk. Sure
thou canst not have watched beside thy brother's sickbed all these long
weeks without knowing somewhat of the trouble in his mind?"
"I hear him moan and talk," answered Gaston; "but he knows not what he
says, and I know not either. He is always feeling at his neck, and
calling out for some lost token. And then he will babble on of things I
understand not. But how I may help him I know not. I have tarried long,
for I could not bear to leave him thus; and yet I am longing to carry to
the King my tale of outrage and wrong. With every week that passes my
chance of success grows less. For Peter Sanghurst may have been before
me, and may have told his own false version of the tale ere I may have
speech with King or Prince. I know not what to do -- to stay beside
Raymond, or to hasten to England ere time be farther flown. Holy Father,
wilt thou not counsel me? I feel that every day lost is a day lived in
vain, ere I be revenged upon Raymond's cruel foes!"
The youth's eyes flashed. He clenched his hands, and his teeth set
themselves fast together. He felt like an eagle caged, behind these
protecting walls. For his brother's sake he was right glad of the
friendly shelter; but for himself he was pining to be free.
And yet how was he to leave that dearly-loved brother, whose eyes
followed him so wistfully from place to place, who brightened up into
momentary life when he entered the room, and took so little heed of what
passed about him, unless roused by Gaston's touch or voice? Raymond had
been very, very near to the gates of death since he had been brought
into the Monastery, and even now, so prostrated was he by the long
attack of intermittent fever which had followed his wonderful escape
from Saut, that those about him scarce knew how the balance would turn.
The fever, which had at first run high and had been hard to subdue, had
now taken another turn, and only recurred at intervals of a few days;
but the patient was so fearfully exhausted by all he had undergone that
he seemed to have no strength to rally. He would lie in a sort of trance
of weakness when the fever was not upon him, scarce seeming to breathe
unless he was roused to wakefulness by some word or caress from Gaston;
whilst on the days when the fever returned, he would lie muttering
indistinctly to himself, sometimes breaking forth into eager rapid
speech difficult to follow, and often trying to rise and go forth upon
some errand, no one knew what, and struggling hard with those who held
him back.
Father Paul had watched over the first stages of the illness with the
utmost care and tenderness, after which his duties called him away, and
he had only returned some three days since. The long hot summer in
Bordeaux had been a very trying one for the patient, whose state
prohibited any attempt at removal to a cooler, fresher air. But as
August was merging into September, and the days were growing shorter and
the heat something less oppressive, it was hoped that there might be a
favourable change in the patient's state; and much was looked for also
from Father Paul's skill, which was accounted something very great.
Gaston and Roger had remained within the Monastery walls in close
attendance upon the patient; but the restraint had been terribly irksome
to the temper of the young knight, and he was panting to be free to
pursue his quest, and to tell his story in the King's ears. He could not
but dread that in his absence some harm might befall his Constanza.
Suppose those two remorseless men suspected her to be concerned in the
flight of their victim, what form might not their vengeance take? It was
a thing that would scarce bear thinking of. Yet what could he do to save
her and to win her until he could make an organized attack upon Saut,
armed with full authority from England's King?
And now that Father Paul was back, might it not be possible that this
could be done? Gaston felt torn in twain betwixt his love for his
brother and his love for his betrothed. Father Paul would be able to
advise him wisely and well.
The Father looked earnestly into the ardent and eager face of the youth,
and answered quietly:
"Methinks thou hast been here long enough, my son. Thou mayest do better
for Raymond by going forth upon the mission thou hast set thyself. But
first I would ask of thee a few questions. Who is this lady of whom thy
brother speaks so oft?"
"Lady?" questioned Gaston, his eyes opening wide in surprise. "Does he
indeed speak of a lady?"
The Father smiled at the question.
"Thy thoughts must have been as wandering as his if thou dost not know
as much as that," he said, with a look that brought the hot blood into
Gaston's cheek, for he well knew where his own thoughts had been whilst
he sat beside his brother, scarce heeding the ceaseless murmur which
babbled from his unconscious lips.
It had never occurred to him that he could learn aught by striving to
catch those indistinct utterances; and his mind had been full to
overflowing with his own affairs.
"I knew not that he spoke of any lady," said the young knight, wondering
for a moment, with love's irrational jealousy, whether Raymond could
have seen his Constanza and have lost his heart to her.
Had she not spoken of having slipped once into his cell to breathe in
his ear a word of hope? Might not even that passing glimpse at such a
time have been enough to subjugate his heart? He drew his breath hard,
and an anxious light gleamed in his eye. But the Father continued
speaking, and a load seemed to roll from his spirit with the next words.
"It is of a lady whose name is Joan that he speaks almost ceaselessly
when the fever fit is on him. Sometimes he speaks, too, of his cousin,
that John de Brocas who lost his life in the Black Death through his
ceaseless labours amongst the sick. He is in sore trouble, as it seems,
by the loss of some token given him by the lady. He fears that some foul
use may be made by his foes of this same token, which he would sooner
have died than parted from. If thou knowest who this lady is and where
she may be found, it would do more for thy brother to have news of her
than to receive all the skilled care of the best physicians in the
world. I misdoubt me whether we shall bring him back to life without her
aid. Wherefore, if thou knowest where she may be found, delay not to
seek her. Tell her her lover yet lives, and bring him some message from
her that may give him life and health."
Gaston's eyes lighted. To be given anything to do -- anything but this
weary, wearing waiting and watching for the change that never came --
put new life into him forthwith.
"It must sure be Mistress Joan Vavasour thou meanest, Father," he said.
"Raymond spoke much of her when we were on shipboard together. I knew
not that his heart was so deeply pledged; but I see it all now. It is of
her that he is dreaming night and day. It is the loss of her token that
is troubling him now.
"Stop! what have I heard? Methinks that this same Peter Sanghurst was
wooing Mistress Joan himself once. Sure I see another motive in his
dastard capture of my brother. Perchance he had in him not only a rival
for the lands of Basildene, but for the hand of the lady. Father, I see
it all! Would that I had seen it before! It is Peter Sanghurst who has
robbed Raymond of his token, and he may make cruel use of what he has
treacherously filched away. I must lose not a day nor an hour. I must to
England in the wake of this villain. Oh, why did I not understand
before? What may he not have done ere I can stop his false mouth? The
King shall hear all; the King shall be told all the tale! I trow he will
not tarry long in punishing the coward traitor!"
Father Paul was less certain how far the King would interest himself in
a private quarrel, but Peter Sanghurst's recent action with regard to
Raymond might possibly be such as to stir even the royal wrath. At least
it was time that some watch should be placed upon the movements of the
owner of Basildene, for he would be likely to make a most unscrupulous
use of any power he might possess to injure Raymond or gain any hold
over the lady they both loved.
Roger being called in to the conference, and giving his testimony
clearly enough as to the frequent intercourse which had existed between
Mistress Joan Vavasour and Raymond de Brocas, and the evident attraction
each bore for the other, the matter appeared placed beyond the
possibility of all doubt. Gaston's resolve was quickly taken, and he
only waited till his brother could be aroused to fuller consciousness,
to start forth upon his double quest after vengeance and after Joan.
"Brother," he said, taking Raymond's hands in his, and bending tenderly
over him, "I am going to leave thee, but only for a time. I am going to
England to find thy Joan, and to tell her that thou art living yet, and
how thou hast been robbed of thy token."
A new light shone suddenly in Raymond's eyes. It seemed as though some
of the mists of weakness rolled away, leaving to him a clearer
comprehension. He grasped his brother's hand with greater strength than
Gaston believed him to possess, and his lips parted in a flashing smile.
"Thou wilt seek her and find her? Knowest thou where she is?"
"No; but I will go to seek her. I shall get news of her at Guildford. I
will to our uncle's house forthwith. Sir Hugh Vavasour can easily be found."
"He has been wandering in foreign lands this long while," answered
Raymond. "I know not whether he may have returned home. Gaston, if thou
findest her, save her from the Sanghurst. Tell her that I yet live --
that for her sake I will live to protect her from that evil man. He has
robbed me of the pledge of her love; I am certain of it. It was a
trinket not worth the stealing, and I had it ever about my neck. It was
taken from me when I was a prisoner and at their mercy, when I did not
know what befell me. He has it -- I am assured of that -- and what evil
use he may make of it I know not. Ah, if thou canst but find her ere he
can reach her side!"
"I will find her," answered Gaston, firmly and cheerfully. "Fear not,
Raymond; I have had harder tasks than this to perform ere now. Be it thy
part to shake off this wasting sickness. I will seek out thy Joan, and
will bring her to thy side. But let her not find thee in such sorry
plight. Thou lookest yet rather a corpse than a man. Thou wouldst fright
her by thy wan looks an she came to thee now."
Wan and white and wasted did Raymond indeed appear, as though a breath
would blow him away. Upon his face was that faraway, ethereal look of
one who has been lingering long beside the portal of another world, and
scarce knows to which he belongs. It sometimes seemed as though the
angel song of the unseen realm was oftener heard and understood by him
than the voices of those about him. But the fever cloud was slowly
lifting from his brain, and today the first impulse to a real recovery
had been given by these few words with his brother.
Raymond's recollection of past events was coming back to him
connectedly, and the thought of Joan acted like a tonic upon him. For
her sake he would live; for her sake he would make a battle for his
life. Had he not vowed himself to her service? and did any woman stand
more in need of her lover's strong arm than the daughter of Sir Hugh
Vavasour?
Raymond had gauged the character of that knight before, and knew that he
would sell his daughter without scruple to any person who would make it
worth his while. It had been notorious in old days that the Sanghursts
had some peculiar hold upon him, and was it likely that Peter Sanghurst,
who was plainly resolved to make Joan his wife, would allow that power
to rest unused when it might be employed for the furtherance of his
purpose? To send Gaston forth upon the quest for Joan was much; but he
himself must fight this wasting sickness, that he might be ready to go
to her when the summons came that she was found, and was ready to
welcome her faithful knight.
From that hour Raymond began to amend; and although his progress was
slow, and seemed doubly slow to his impatience, it was steady and sure,
and he was as one given back from the dead.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Mistress Joan Vavasour, boy? why, all the world is making that inquiry.
How comes it that thou, by thine own account but just home from Gascony,
shouldst be likewise asking the same question?"
Master Bernard de Brocas turned his kindly face towards Gaston with a
look of shrewd inquiry in his eyes. His nephew had arrived but a short
half-hour at his house, somewhat jaded by rapid travelling, and after
hurriedly removing the stains of the journey from his person, was seated
before a well-supplied board, whilst the cleric sat beside him, always
eager for news, and exceedingly curious to know the history of the twin
brothers, who for the past six months seemed to have vanished from the
face of the earth. But for the moment Gaston was too intent upon asking
questions to have leisure to answer any.
"How?" he questioned; "what mean you, reverend Sir? Everybody asking
news of her? How comes that about?"
"Marry, for the reason that the lady hath disappeared these last three
weeks from her father's house, and none can tell whither she has fled,
or whether she has been spirited away, or what hath befallen her. Sir
Hugh is in a mighty taking, for he had just arranged a marriage betwixt
her and Peter Sanghurst, and the lady had given her consent (or so it is
said, albeit there be some who doubt the truth of that), and he is
sorely vexed to know what can have become of her."
"Peter Sanghurst! that arch-villain!" cried Gaston, involuntarily laying
his hand on the hilt of his dagger. "Mine uncle, I have come to ask
counsel of thee about that same miscreant. I am glad that he at least
has not fled the country. He shall not escape the fate he so richly merits."
And then, with flashing eyes and words eloquent through excess of
feeling, Gaston related the whole story of the past months: the
appearance on board the vessel of the Black Visor; the concerted action
against Raymond carried out by Sanghurst, thus disguised, and the Sieur
de Navailles; and the cruelty devised against him, from which he had
escaped only by something of a miracle.
And as Master Bernard de Brocas listened to this tale of treachery,
planned and carried out against one of his own name and race, an
answering light shone in his eyes, and he smote his palms together,
crying out in sudden wrath:
"Gaston, the King shall hear of this! Thou shalt tell to him the tale as
thou hast told it to me. He will not hear patiently of such indignities
offered to a subject of his, not though the King of France himself had
done it! That Sieur de Navailles is no friend to England. I know him
well, and his false, treacherous ways. I have heard much of him ere now,
and the King has his eye upon him. Gaston, this hollow truce cannot long
continue. The nobles and the King are alike weary of a peace which is no
peace, and which the King of France or his lords are continually
breaking. A very little, and the flame of war will burst out anew. It
may be that even this tale of thine may put the spark to the train (as
they say of these new artillery engines that are so astonishing men by
their smoke and noise), and that the Prince, when he hears of it, will
urge his father to march once more into France, and put an end to the
petty annoyances and treacherous attacks which are goading the royal
lion of England to wrath and fury."
"Pray Heaven it may!" cried Gaston, starting to his feet and pacing up
and down the hall. "Thou knowest, uncle mine, how the Prince and the
King did long ago confirm to me the rights of the De Brocas to the
ancient Castles of Orthez and Saut. If he would but give me his royal
warrant for mustering men and recovering mine own, I trow, be the walls
of Saut never so strong, that I would speedily make mine entrance within
them! Uncle, the Sieur de Navailles is hated and feared and reviled by
all men for miles around his walls. I trow that, even amongst those who
bear arms for him, some would be found who would gladly serve another
master. Stories of the punishments he is wont to inflict upon all who
fall beneath his displeasure have passed from mouth to mouth, and bitter
is the rage burning in the breasts of those whose helpless kinsfolk have
suffered through his tyrant cruelty. I trow an armed band, coming in the
name of the English King, could soon smoke that old fox out of his hole;
whilst all men would rejoice at his fall. Let me to the King -- let me
tell my tale! I burn to be on the wing once more! Where may his Majesty
be found?"
"Softly, softly, boy! We must think somewhat more of this. And we have
two foes, not one alone, to deal with. Peter Sanghurst is, as it were,
beneath our very hand. He is at Basildene, fuming like a wild thing at
the sudden disappearance of Mistress Joan. There be, nevertheless, some
who say that this wrath is all assumed; that he has captured the lady,
and holds her a prisoner in his hands, all the while pretending to know
naught of her. I know not what truth there may be in such rumours. The
Sanghurst bears an evil name, and many are the stories whispered about him."
"What!" almost shouted Gaston, in the fierceness of his excitement,
"Mistress Joan a prisoner in Basildene, the captive of that miscreant!
Uncle, let us lose not an hour! Let us forthwith to the King. He will
give us his royal warrant, and armed with that we will to Basildene, and
search for her there, and free her ere the set of sun. Oh, it would be
like him -- it would be all in a piece with his villainy! I cannot rest
nor breathe till I know all. Uncle, may we not set forth this very day
-- this same night?"
The worthy ecclesiastic laid a hand upon Gaston's shoulder.
"Boy," he said, "I will myself to the King this very day. The moon will
soon be up, and the way is familiar to me and my men. But thou shalt
tarry here. Thou hast travelled far today, and art weary and in need of
rest. Perchance, in this matter of the Sanghurst, I shall do better
without thee. Thou shalt see the King anon, and shalt tell him all thy
tale; but methinks this matter of Basildene had best be spoken of
betwixt him and me alone. Thou knowest that I have for long been in the
King's favour and confidence, and have managed many state matters for
him. Thou mayest therefore leave thy cause in my hands. I have all the
papers safe that thou broughtest from Gascony long since, and have left
in my care these many years. I have been awaiting my opportunity to lay
the matter of Basildene before the King, and now I trow that the hour
has come."
Gaston stopped short in his restless pacing, a bright light in his eyes.
"Thou thinkest to oust the Sanghurst thence -- to gain Basildene for
Raymond?"
"Ay, verily I do. It is your inheritance by right; the papers prove it.
Ye were deprived of it by force, and now the hour of restitution has
come. As to thee are secured the Gascon lands, when they can be wrested
from the hand of the foe, so shall Basildene be secured to Raymond,
albeit he has not won his spurs as thou hast done, boy, and that right
lustily. But I know much good of Raymond. He will worthily fill his
place. Go now to rest, boy, and leave this matter in mine hands. I
warrant thee the cause shall not suffer for being intrusted to me. Get
thee to rest. Fear not; and ere two days be passed thou shalt have
tidings of some sort from me."
Gaston would fain have been his uncle's companion on the road, but he
knew better than to insist. Master Bernard de Brocas well knew what he
was about, and was plainly deeply interested in the story he had heard.
Raymond had long been high in his favour. To cause to recoil upon the
head of the treacherous Sanghurst the vengeance he had plotted against
his own nephew, to punish him for his treachery -- to wrest from his
rapacious grasp the lands and the Manor of Basildene, was a task
peculiarly agreeable to the statesman, who knew well what he was about
and the master whom he served. Basildene was no great possession, but it
might be greatly increased in value, and there was rumour of buried
hoards there which might speedily restore the old house to more than its
former splendour. At any rate, its lands and revenues would be a modest
portion for a younger son, who still had the flower of his life before
him, and was like to rise in the King's favour. The romantic story of
his love, his sufferings, his rescue from the two foes of his house, was
certain to appeal to the King and his son, whilst the treachery of those
foes would equally rouse the royal wrath.
Master Bernard departed for Windsor with the rising of the moon; and
Gaston passed a restless night and day wondering what was passing at
Windsor, and feeling, when he retired to rest upon the second night, as
though his excitement of mind must drive slumber from his eyes. Nor did
sleep visit him till the tardy dawn stole in at the window, and when he
did sleep he slept long and soundly.
He was aroused by the sound of a great trampling in the courtyard below;
and springing quickly from his couch, he saw the place full of
men-at-arms, all wearing either the badge of the De Brocas or else that
of the Prince of Wales.
Throwing on his clothes in great haste, and scarce tarrying to buckle on
his sword, Gaston strode from his chamber and hastened down the great
staircase. At the foot of this stood one whom well he knew, and with an
inarticulate exclamation of delight he threw himself upon one knee
before the young Prince, and pressed his lips to the hand graciously
extended to him.
"Nay, Gaston; thy friend and comrade, not thy sovereign!" cried the
handsome youth gaily, as he raised Gaston and looked smilingly into his
face, his own countenance alight with satisfaction and excitement. "Ah,
thou knowest not how glad I am to welcome thee once more! For the days
be coming soon when I must needs rally all my brave knights about me,
and go forth to France for a new career of glory there. But today
another task is ours, and not as thy Prince, but thy good comrade, have
I come. I will forth with thee to the den of this foul Sanghurst, and
together will we search his house for the lady men say he has so
cunningly spirited away; and if she be found indeed languishing in
captivity there, then in very truth shall the Sanghurst feel the wrath
of the royal Edward. He shall live to feel the iron hand of the King he
has outraged and defied! But he shall pay the forfeit of his life.
England shall be rid of one of her greatest villains when Peter
Sanghurst feels the halter about his neck!"
CHAPTER XXIX. THE FALL OF THE SANGHURST.
"Is that the only answer you have for me, sweet lady?"
"The only one, Sir; and you will never have another. Strive as you will,
keep me imprisoned as long as you will, I will never yield. I will never
be yours; I belong to another --"
A fierce gleam was in Sanghurst's eyes, though he retained the suave
softness of speech that he had assumed all along.
"He is dead, fair mistress."
"Living or dead, I am yet his," answered Joan unfalteringly; "and were I
as free as air -- had I never pledged my faith to him -- I should yet
have none other answer for you. Think you that your evil deeds have not
been whispered in mine ear? Think you that this imprisonment in which
you think fit to keep me is like to win my heart?"
"Nay, sweetest lady, call it not by that harsh name. Could a princess
have been better served or tended than you have been ever since you came
beneath my humble roof? It is no imprisonment; it is but the watchful
care of one who loves you, and would fain save you from the peril into
which you had recklessly plunged. Lady, had you known the dangers of
travel in these wild and lawless days, you never would have left the
shelter of your father's house with but one attendant to protect you.
Think you that those peerless charms could ever have been hidden beneath
the dress of a peasant lad? Well was it for you, lady, that your true
love was first to follow and find you, ere some rude fellow had betrayed
the secret to his fellows, and striven to turn it to their advantage.
Here you are safe; and I have sent to your father to tell him you are
found and are secure. He, too, is searching for you; but soon he will
receive my message, and will come hastening hither. Then will our
marriage be solemnized with all due rites. Your obstinate resistance
will avail nothing to hinder our purpose. But I would fain win this
lovely hand by gentle means; and it will be better for thee, Joan
Vavasour, to lay down thine arms and surrender while there is yet time."
There was a distinct accent of menace in the last words, and the
underlying expression upon that smiling face was evil and threatening in
the extreme. But Joan's eyes did not falter beneath the searching gaze
of her would-be husband. Her face was set in lines of fearless
resolution. She still wore the rough blue homespun tunic of a peasant
lad, and her chestnut locks hung in heavy natural curls about her
shoulders. The distinction in dress between the sexes was much less
marked in those days than it has since become. Men of high degree
clothed themselves in flowing robes, and women of humble walk in life in
short kirtles; whilst the tunic was worn by boys and girls alike, though
there was a difference in the manner of the wearing, and it was
discarded by the girl in favour of a longer robe or sweeping supertunic
with the approach of womanhood. In the lower ranks of life, however, the
difference in dress between boy and girl was nothing very distinctive;
and the disguise had been readily effected by Joan, who had only to cut
somewhat shorter her flowing locks, clothe herself in the homespun tunic
and leather gaiters of a peasant boy, and place a cloth cap jauntily on
her flowing curls before she was transformed into as pretty a lad as one
could wish to see.
With the old henchman Nat to play the part of father, she had journeyed
fearlessly forth, and had made for the coast, which she would probably
have reached in safety had it not been for the acuteness of Peter
Sanghurst, who had guessed her purpose, had dogged her steps with the
patient sagacity of a bloodhound, and had succeeded in the end in
capturing his prize, and in bringing her back in triumph to Basildene.
He had not treated her badly. He had not parted her from the old servant
under whose escort she had travelled. Perhaps he felt he would have
other opportunities of avenging this insult to himself; perhaps there
was something in the light in Joan's eyes and in the way in which she
sometimes placed her hand upon the hilt of the dagger in her belt which
warned him not to try her too far. Joan was something of an enigma to
him still. She was like no other woman with whom he had ever come in
contact. He did not feel certain what she might say or do. It was rather
like treading upon the crust of some volcanic crater to have dealings
with her. At any moment something quite unforeseen might take place, and
cause a complete upheaval of all his plans. From policy, as well as from
his professed love, he had shown himself very guarded during the days of
their journey and her subsequent residence beneath the roof of
Basildene; but neither this show of submission and tenderness, nor
thinly-veiled threats and menaces, had sufficed to bend her will to his.
It had now come to this -- marry him of her own free will she would not.
Therefore the father must be summoned, and with him the priest, and the
ceremony should be gone through with or without the consent of the lady.
Such marriages were not so very unusual in days when daughters were
looked upon as mere chattels to be disposed of as their parents or
guardians desired. It was usual, indeed, to marry them off at an earlier
age, when reluctance had not developed into actual resistance; but still
it could be done easily enough whatever the lady might say or do.
Peter Sanghurst, confident that the game was now entirely in his own
hands, could even afford to be indulgent and patient. In days to come he
would be amply avenged for all the slights now inflicted upon him. He
often pictured the moment when he should tell to Joan the true story of
his possession of the love token she had bestowed upon Raymond. He
thought that she would suffer even more in the hearing of it than he had
done upon the rack; and his wife could not escape him as his other
victim had. He could wring her heartstrings as he had hoped to wring the
nerves of Raymond's sensitive frame, and none could deliver her out of
his hand.
But now he was still playing the farce of the suppliant lover, guessing
all the while that she knew as well as he what a farce the part was. He
strove to make her surrender, but was met by an invincible firmness.
"Do what you will, Peter Sanghurst," she said: "summon my father, call
the priest, do what you will, your wife I will never be. I have told you
so before; I tell it you again."
He smiled a smile more terrible than his frown.
"We shall see about that," was his reply, as he turned on his heel and
strode from the room.
When he was gone Joan turned suddenly towards the old man, who was all
this while standing with folded arms in a distant window, listening in
perfect silence to the dialogue. She made a few swift paces towards him
and looked into his troubled face.
"Nat," she said, in a low voice, "thou hast not forgotten thy promise
made to me?"
"My mistress, I have not forgotten."
"And thou wilt keep thy word?"
"I will keep it."
He spoke with manifest effort; but Joan heaved a sigh of relief. She
came one step nearer, and laid her soft hand upon the old servant's
shoulder, looking into his face with affectionate solicitude.
"I know not if I should ask it of thee; it may cost thee thy life."
"My life is naught, if I can but save thee from that monster, sweet
mistress; but oh, if it might be by another way!"
"Nay, say not so; methinks now this is the best, the sweetest way. I
shall the sooner find him, who will surely be waiting for me upon the
farther shore. One blow, and I shall be free for ever. O Nat, this world
is a sore place for helpless women to dwell in. Since he has gone, what
is there for me to live for? I almost long for the hour which shall set
my spirit free. They will let me see the Holy Father, who comes to wed
us. I shall receive the Absolution and the Blessing; and methinks I am
not unprepared. Death has no terrors for me: I have seen him come so oft
in the guise of a friend. Nay, weep not, good Nat; the day will come
when we all must die. Thou wouldst rather see me lying dead at thy feet
than the helpless captive of the Sanghurst, as else I must surely be?"
"Ay, lady," answered the old man, between his shut teeth, "ten thousand
times rather, else would not this fond hand strike the blow that will
lay thy fair young head in the dust. But sooner than know thee the wife
of yon vile miscreant, I would slay thee ten times over. Death is soon
past -- death comes but once; but a life of helpless misery and agony,
that I could not bear for thee. Let them do what they will to me, I will
set thee free first."
Joan raised the strong, wrinkled hand to her lips and kissed it, before
the old retainer well knew what she was doing. He withdrew it in some
confusion.
"Good Nat, I know not how to thank thee; but what I can do to save thee
I will. I do not think my father will suffer thee to be harmed if when I
am dead thou wilt give him this packet I now give to thee. In it I have
told him many things he would not listen to whilst I lived, but he will
read the words that have been penned by a hand that is cold and stiff in
death. To his old love for me I have appealed to stand thy friend,
telling him how and why the deed has been done, and thy hand raised
against me. I think he will protect and pardon thee -- I think it truly.
"How now, Nat? What seest thou? What hearest thou? Thy thoughts are not
with me and with my words. What is it? Why gazest thou thus from the
casement? What is there to see?"
"Armed men, my mistress -- armed men riding towards Basildene!" answered
the old man, in visible excitement. "I have seen the sunlight glinting
on their headpieces. I am certain sure there be soldiers riding to this
very door. What is their business? How have they come? Ah, lady, my
sweet mistress, pray Heaven they have come to set thee free! Pray Heaven
they have come as our deliverers!"
Joan started and ran to the casement. She was just in time to see the
flash of the November sunlight upon the steel caps of the last of the
band of horsemen whose approach had been observed by Nat. Only a very
small portion of the avenue leading to Basildene could be seen from
these upper casements, and the riders must have been close to the house
before their approach was marked by the old man.
Now Joan flung open the casement in great excitement, and leaned far out.
"Hark!" she exclaimed, in great excitement, "I hear the sound of heavy
blows, and of voices raised in stern command."
"Open in the King's name; open to the Prince of Wales!"
These words were distinctly borne to Joan's listening ears as she stood
with her head thrust through the lattice, every faculty absorbed in the
strain of eager desire to hear.
"The King! the Prince!" she cried, her breath coming thick and fast,
whilst her heart beat almost to suffocation. "O Nat, good Nat! what can
it mean? The Prince! what can have brought him hither?"
"Doubtless he comes to save thee, sweet lady," cried the old retainer,
to whom it seemed but natural that the heir of England should come forth
to save his fair young mistress from her fate.
But Joan shook her head, perplexed beyond measure, yet not able to
restrain the wildest hopes.
The Prince -- that noble youth so devoted to chivalry, so generous and
fearless, and the friend of the twin brothers, one of whom was her lost
Raymond! Oh, could it be that some rumour had reached his ears? Could it
be that he had come to set her free? It seemed scarce possible, and yet
what besides could have brought him hither? And at least with help so
near she could surely make her woeful case known to him!
For the first time for many days hope shot up in Joan's heart -- hope of
release from her hated lover by some other means than that of death; and
with that hope came surging up the love of life so deeply implanted in
human nature, the wild hope that her lover might yet live, that she had
been tricked and deceived by the false Sanghurst --all manner of vague
and unformed hopes, to which there was no time to give definite form
even in her thoughts. She was only conscious that a ray of golden
sunshine had fallen athwart her path, and that the darkness in which she
had been enwrapped was changing -- changing to what?
There were strange sounds in the house -- a tumult of men's voices, the
clash of arms, cries and shouts, and the tread of many feet upon the stairs.
Joan's colour came and went as she listened. Yes, surely she heard a
voice -- a voice that sent thrills all through her -- and yet it was not
Raymond's voice; it was deeper, louder, more authoritative. But the
footsteps were approaching, were mounting the turret stair, and Joan,
with a hasty movement, flung over her shoulders a sweeping supertunic
lined with fur, which Peter Sanghurst had placed in the room for her
use, but which she had not hitherto deigned to wear. She had but just
secured the buckle and girdle, and concealed her boy's garb by the means
of these rich folds of velvet, before a hand was upon the latch of the
door, and the same thrilling voice was speaking through the panels in
urgent accents.
"Lady -- Mistress Joan -- art thou there?"
"I am within this turret -- I am here, fair sir," answered Joan, as
calmly as her beating heart would allow. "But I cannot open to thee, for
I am but a captive here -- the captive of Peter Sanghurst."
"Now a prisoner bound, and answering for his sins before the Prince and
some of the highest nobles of the land. Lady, I and my men have come to
set thee free. I come to thee the bearer of a message from my brother --
from Raymond de Brocas. Give my stout fellows but a moment's grace to
batter down this strong door, and we will set thee free, and take thee
to the Prince, to bear witness against the false traitor, who stands in
craven terror before him below!"
But these last words were quite lost upon Joan. She had sunk, trembling
and white, upon a couch, overcome by the excess of joy with which she
had heard her lover's name pronounced. She heard heavy blows dealt upon
the oaken panels of the door. She knew that her deliverance was at hand;
but a mist was before her eyes, and she could think of nothing but those
wonderful words just spoken, until the woodwork fell inwards with a loud
crash, and Gaston, springing across the threshold, knelt at her feet.
"Lady, it is many years since we met, and then we met but seldom; but I
come from him whom thou lovest and therefore I know myself welcome. Fair
mistress, my brother has been sorely sick -- sick unto death -- or he
would be here himself to claim this fair hand. He has been sick in body
and sick in mind -- sick with fear lest that traitor and villain who
robbed him of your token should make foul use of it by deceiving thee
with tales of his death or falsity.
"Lady, he was robbed by Peter Sanghurst of that token. Sanghurst and our
ancient foe of Navailles leagued themselves together and carried off my
brother by treachery. He was their prisoner in the gloomy Tower of Saut.
They would have done him to death in cruel fashion had not we found a
way to save and rescue him from their hands. They had done him some hurt
even then, and they had robbed him of what had become almost dearer to
him than life itself; but he was saved from their malice. It was long
ere he could tell us of his loss, tell us of thee; for he lay sick of a
wasting fever for many a long month, and we knew not what the trouble
was that lay so sore upon him. But no sooner had he recovered so as to
speak more plainly than we learned all, and I have been seeking news of
thee ever since. I should have been here long ago but for the contrary
winds which kept us weeks at sea, unable to make the haven we sought.
But I trow I have not come too late. I find thee here at Basildene; but
sure thou art not the wife of him who calls himself its lord?"
"Wife! no -- ten thousand times no!" answered Joan, springing to her
feet, and looking superb in her stately beauty, the light of love and
happiness in her eyes, the flush of glad triumph on her cheek. "Sir
Knight, thou art Raymond's brother, thou art my saviour, and I will tell
thee all. I was fleeing from Sanghurst -- fleeing to France, to learn
for myself if the tale he told of Raymond's death were true; for sorely
did I misdoubt me if those false lips could speak truth. He guessed my
purpose, followed and brought me back hither a captive. To force me to
wed him has long been his resolve, and he has won my father to take his
side. He was about to summon my father and a priest and make me his
wife, here in this very place, and never let me stir thence till the
chain was bound about me. But I had a way of escape. Yon faithful
servant, who shared my perils and my wanderings, had given me his word
to strike me dead ere he would see me wedded to Sanghurst. No false vow
should ever have passed my lips; no mockery of marriage should ever have
been consummated. I have no fear of death. I only longed to die that I
might go to my Raymond, and be with him for ever."
"But now thou needest not die to be with him!" cried Gaston, enchanted
at once by her beauty, her fearless spirit, and her loyalty and devotion
to Raymond. "My brother lives! He lives for thee alone! I have come to
lead thee to him, if thou wilt go. But first, sweet mistress, let me
take thee to our Prince. It is our noble Prince who has come to see into
this matter his own royal self. I had scarce hoped for so much honour,
and yet I ever knew him for the soul of generosity and chivalry. Let me
lead thee to him. Tell him all thy tale. We have the craven foe in our
hands now, and this time he shall not escape us!"
Gaston ground his teeth, and his eyes flashed fire, as he thought of all
the wickedness of Peter Sanghurst. He was within the walls of Basildene,
his brother's rightful inheritance; the memory of the cruelty and the
treachery of this man was fresh in his mind. The Prince was hearing all
the tale; the Prince would judge and condemn. Gaston knew well what the
fate of the tyrant would be, and there was no room for aught in his
heart beside a great exultant triumph.
Giving his arm to Joan, who was looking absolutely radiant in her
stately beauty, he led her down into the hall below, where the Prince
was seated with some knights and nobles round him -- Master Bernard de
Brocas occupying a seat upon his right hand -- examining witnesses and
looking at the papers respecting the ownership of Basildene which were
now laid before him. At the lower end of the hall, his hands bound
behind him, and his person guarded by two strong troopers, stood Peter
Sanghurst, his face a chalky-white colour, his eyes almost starting from
his head with terror, all his old ease and assumption gone, the innate
cowardice of his nature showing itself in every look and every gesture.
A thoroughly cruel man is always at heart a coward, and Peter Sanghurst,
who had taken the liveliest delight in inflicting pain of every kind
upon those in his power, now stood shivering and almost fainting with
apprehension at the fate in store for himself. As plentiful evidence had
been given of his many acts of barbarity and tyranny, there had been
fierce threats passed from mouth to mouth that hanging was too good for
him -- that he ought to taste what he had inflicted on others; and the
wretched man stood there in an agony of apprehension, every particle of
his swaggering boldness gone, and without a vestige of real courage to
uphold him in the hour of his humiliation.
As the Prince saw the approach of Joan, he sprang to his feet, and all
the assembled nobles did the same. With that chivalrous courtesy for
which he became famous in history, the Prince bent the knee before the
lady, and taking her by the hand, led her to a seat of honour beside
himself, asking her of herself and her story, and listening with
respectful attention to every word she spoke.
Gaston then stood forward and told again his tale of Raymond's capture,
and deep murmurs of indignation ran through the hall as he did so. The
veins swelled upon the Prince's forehead as he heard the tale, and his
eyes emitted sparks of fierce light as they flashed from time to time
upon the trembling prisoner.
"Methinks we have heard enough, gentlemen," said he at length, as
Gaston's narrative drew to a close.
"Marshal, bring hither your prisoner.
"This man, gentlemen, is the hero of these brave deeds of valour of
which we have been hearing. This is the man who dares to waylay and
torture English subjects to wring from them treasure and gold; the man
who dares to bring this vilely-won wealth to purchase with it the favour
of England's King; the man who wages war on foreign soil with the
friends of England, and treacherously sells them into the hand of
England's foe; who deals with them as we have heard he dealt and would
have dealt with Raymond de Brocas had not Providence worked almost a
miracle in his defence. This is the man who, together with his father,
drove from this very house the lawful owner, because that she was a
gentle, tender woman, and was at that moment alone and unable to defend
herself from them. This is the man who is not ashamed to call himself
the master of Basildene, and who has striven to compass by the foulest
ends the death of the true owner of the property -- though Raymond de
Brocas braved the terrors of the Black Death to tend and soothe the last
dying agonies of that man's father. This is the man who would wed by
force this fair maiden, and strove to deceive her by the foulest tricks
and jugglery. Say, gentlemen, what is the desert of this miscreant? What
doom shall we award him as the recompense of his past life?"
A score of hideous suggestions were raised at once, and the miserable
Peter Sanghurst shook in his shoes as he saw the fierce, relentless
faces of the soldiers making a ring round him. Those were cruel days,
despite the softening influence of their vaunted chivalry, and the face
of the Prince was stern and black. It was plain that he had been deeply
roused by the story he had heard.
But Joan was there, and she was a woman; and vile as had been this man's
life, and deeply as he had injured her and him she loved tenfold more
than her own life, he was still a human creature, and a creature without
a hope either in this world or the world to come. She could not but pity
him as he stood there cowering and shuddering, and she turned swiftly
towards the Prince and spoke to him in a rapid undertone.
Young Edward listened, and the dark cloud passed from his brow. He was
keenly susceptible to the nobler emotions, and an appeal to his
generosity was not unheeded. Raising his hand in token that he demanded
silence, he turned towards the quaking criminal, and thus addressed him:
"Peter Sanghurst, you stand convicted of many and hideous crimes --
witchcraft, sorcery, treachery to your King, vile cruelty to his
subjects -- crimes for which death alone is scarce punishment enough.
You well merit a worse fate than the gallows. You well merit some of
those lingering agonies that you have inflicted upon your wretched
victims, and have rejoiced to witness. But we in England do not torture
our prisoners, and it is England's pride that this is so. This fair
lady, who owes you naught but grievous wrong, has spoken for you; she
says that were Raymond de Brocas here, he would join with her in praying
that your fate might be swift and merciful. Therefore I decree that you
are led forth without the gates of Basildene, and hanged upon the first
tree out of sight of its walls.
"See to it, marshal. Let there be no delay. It is not fit that such a
wretch should longer cumber the earth. Away with him, I say!"
The soldiers closed around the condemned man and bore him forth, one of
the marshals following to see the deed done. Joan had for a moment
covered her face with her hand, for even so it was rather terrible to
see this tyrant and oppressor led forth from his own house to an
ignominious death, and she was unused to such stern scenes. But those
around the table were already turning their attention to other matters,
and the Prince was addressing himself to certain men who had come into
the hall covered with cobweb and green mould.
"Has the treasure been found?" he asked.
"Yes, Sire," answered the leader of this strange-looking band. "It was
cleverly hidden, in all truth, in the cellars of the house, and we
should scarce have lighted on it but for the help of some of the people
here, who, so soon as they heard that their master was doomed to certain
death, were as eager to help us as they had been fearful before. It has
all been brought up for you to see; and a monstrous hoard it is. It must
almost be true, I trow, that the old man had the golden secret. So much
gold I have never seen in one place."
"It is ill-gotten gold," said the Prince, sternly, as he rose, and,
followed by the nobles and Master Bernard de Brocas, went to look at the
coffers containing the treasure hoarded up and amassed by the Sanghursts
during a long period of years. "But I trow since the Black Death has so
ravaged these parts, it would be idle to strive to seek out the owners,
and it would but raise a host of false claims that no man might sift.
"Master Bernard de Brocas, I award this treasure to Raymond de Brocas,
the true lord of Basildene, to whom and to whose heirs shall be secured
this house and all that belongs to it. Into your hands I now intrust the
gold and the lands, to be kept by you until the rightful owner appears
to lay claim to them. Let a part of this gold be spent upon making fit
this house for the reception of its master and this fair maiden, who
will one day be the mistress here with him. Let it be thy part, good
Master Bernard, to remove from these walls the curse which has been
brought upon them by the vile sorceries and cruelties of this wicked
father and more wicked son. Let Holy Church do her part to cleanse and
purify the place, and then let it be made meet for the reception of its
lord and lady when they shall return hither to receive their own."
The good Bernard's face glowed with satisfaction at this charge. It was
just such a one as pleased him best, and such as he was well able to
fulfil. Nobody more capable could well have been found for the
guardianship and restoration of Basildene; and with this hoard to draw
upon, the old house might well grow to a beauty and grandeur it had
never known before.
"Gracious Prince, I give you thanks on behalf of my nephew, and I will
gladly do all that I may to carry out your behest. The day will come
when Raymond de Brocas shall come in person to thank you for your
princely liberality and generosity."
"Tush, man, the gold is not mine; and some of it may have been come by
honestly, and belong fairly enough to the Sanghurst family. You say the
mother of these bold Gascon youths was a Sanghurst: it follows, then,
that Basildene and all pertaining to it should be theirs. Raymond de
Brocas has suffered much from the Sanghursts. By every law of right and
justice, it is he who should reap the reward, and find Basildene
restored to its former beauty before he comes to dwell within it."
"And he shall so find it if I have means to compass it," answered the
uncle, with glad pride.
His eye was then drawn to another part of the hall; for Sir Hugh
Vavasour had just come galloping up to the door in hot haste, having
heard all manner of strange rumours: the first being that his daughter
had been found, and was in hiding at Basildene; the second, which had
only just reached his ears, that Peter Sanghurst was dead -- hanged by
order of the Prince, and that Basildene had been formally granted as the
perpetual right of Raymond de Brocas and his heirs.
"And Raymond de Brocas is the plighted husband of thy daughter, good Sir
Hugh," said Master Bernard, coming up to help his old friend out of his
bewilderment -- "plighted, that is, by themselves, by the right of a
true and loyal love. Thy daughter will still be the Lady of Basildene,
and I think that thou wilt rather welcome my nephew as her lord than yon
miscreant, whose body is swinging on some tree not far away. Thou wert
something too willing, my friend, to sell thy daughter for wealth; but
fortune has been kind to her as well as to thee, and thou hast gained
for her the wealth, and yet hast not sacrificed her brave young heart.
Go to her now, and give her thy blessing, and tell her she may wed young
Raymond de Brocas so soon as he comes to claim her hand."
CHAPTER XXX. WITH THE PRINCE.[i]
"Sanghurst dead! Joan free! her father's consent won! I the Lord of
Basildene! Gaston, thou takest away my breath! Art sure thou art not
mocking me?"
"Art sure that thou art indeed thyself, my lord of Basildene?" was
Gaston's merry response, as he looked his brother over from head to foot
with beaming face; "for, in sooth, I scarce should know thee for the
brother I left behind -- that wan and wasted creature, more like a
corpse than a man. The good Brothers have indeed done well by thee,
Raymond. Save that thou hast not lost thine old saintly look, which
stamps thee as something different from the rest of us, I should scarce
have thought it could be thee. This year spent in thine own native clime
has made a new man of thee!"
"In truth I think it has," answered Raymond, who was indeed wonderfully
changed from the time when Gaston had left him, rather more than ten
months before. "We had no snow and no cold in the winter gone by, and I
was able to take the air daily, and I grew strong wondrous fast. Thou
hadst told me to be patient, to believe that all was well if I heard
nothing from thee; and I strove to follow thy maxim, and that with good
success. I knew that thou wouldst not let me go on hoping if hope meant
but a bitterer awaking. I knew that silence must mean there was work
which thou wert doing. Many a time, as a white-winged vessel spread her
sails for England's shores, have I longed to step on board and follow
thee across the blue water to see how thou wast faring; but then came
always the thought that thou mightest be on thy way hither, and that
thou wouldst chide me for having left these sheltering walls. And so I
stayed on day after day, and week after week, until months had rolled
by; and I began to say within myself that, if thou camest not before the
autumn storms, I must e'en take ship and follow thee, for I could wait
no longer for news of thee -- and her."
"And here I am with news of her, and news that to me is almost better.
Raymond, I have not come hither alone. The Prince and the flower of our
English chivalry are here at Bordeaux this day. The hollow truce is at
an end. Insult upon insult has been heaped upon England's King by the
King of France, the King of Navarre (who called himself our ally till he
deserted us to join the French King, who will yet avenge upon him his
foul murder of Charles of Spain), and the Count of Blois in Brittany.
England has been patient. Edward has listened long to the pleadings of
the Pope, and has not rushed into war; but he cannot wait patiently for
ever. They have roused the lion at last, and he will not slumber again
till he has laid his foes in the dust.
"Listen, Raymond: the Prince is here in Bordeaux. The faithful Gascon
nobles -- the Lord of Pommiers, the Lord of Rosen, the Lord of Mucident,
and the Lord de l'Esparre -- have sent to England to say that if the
Prince will but come to lead them, they will make gallant war upon the
French King. John has long been striving to undermine England's power in
his kingdom, to rid himself of an enemy's presence in his country, to be
absolute lord over his vassals without their intermediate allegiance to
another master. It does not suffice that our great King does homage for
his lands in France (though he by rights is King of France himself). He
knows that here, in these sunny lands of the south, the Roy Outremer is
beloved as he has never been. He would fain rob our King of all his
lands; he is planning and plotting to do it."
"But the Roy Outremer is not to be caught asleep," cried Raymond, with a
kindling glance, "and John of France is to learn what it is to have
aroused the wrath of the royal Edward and of his brave people of England."
"Ay, verily; and our good Gascons are as forward in Edward's cause as
his English subjects," answered Gaston quickly. "They love our English
rule, they love our English ways; they will not tamely be transformed
into a mere fief of the French crown. They will fight for their feudal
lord, and stand stanchly by his banner. It is their express request that
brings the Prince hither today. The King is to land farther north -- at
Cherbourg methinks it was to be; whilst my Lord of Lancaster has set
sail for Brittany, to defend the Countess of Montford from the Count of
Blois, who has now paid his ransom and is free once more. His Majesty of
France will have enough to do to meet three such gallant foes in the field.
"And listen still farther, Raymond, for the Prince has promised this
thing to me -- that as he marches through the land, warring against the
French King, he will pause before the Castle of Saut and smoke out the
old fox, who has long been a traitor at heart to the English cause. And
the lands so long held by the Navailles are to be mine, Raymond -- mine.
And a De Brocas will reign once more at Saut, as of old! What dost thou
think of that?"
"Brother, I am glad at heart. It seemeth almost like a dream. Thou the
lord of Saut and I of Basildene! Would that she were living yet to see
the fulfilment of her dream!"
"Ay, truly I would she were. But, Raymond, thou wilt join the Prince's
standard; thou wilt march with us to strike a blow for England's honour
and glory? Basildene and fair Mistress Joan are safe. No harm will come
to them by thine absence. And thou owest all to the Prince. Surely thou
wilt not leave him in the hour of peril; thou wilt march beneath his
banner and take thy share of the peril and the glory?"
Gaston spoke with eager energy, looking affectionately into his
brother's face; and as he saw that look, Raymond felt that he could not
refuse his brother's request. For just a few moments he hesitated, for
the longing to see Joan once again and to clasp her in his arms was very
strong within him; but his brother's next words decided him.
"Thy brother and the Prince have won Basildene for thee; surely thou
wilt not leave us till Saut has yielded to me!"
Raymond held out his hand and grasped that of Gaston in a warm clasp.
"We will go forth together once again as brothers in arms," he said,
with brightening eyes. "It may be that our paths in life may henceforth
be divided; wherefore it behoves us in the time that remains to us to
cling the more closely together. I will go with thee, brother, as thy
faithful esquire and comrade, and we will win back for thee the right to
call the old lands thine. How often we have dreamed together in our
childhood of some such day! How far away it then appeared! and yet the
day has come."
"And thou wilt then see my Constanza," said Gaston, in low, exultant
tones -- "my lovely and gentle mistress, to whom thou, my brother, owest
thy life. It is meet that thou shouldst be one to help to set her free
from the tyranny of her rude uncle and the isolation of her dreary life
in yon grim castle walls. Thou hast seen her, hast thou not? Tell me,
was she not the fairest, the loveliest object thine eyes had ever looked
upon, saving of course (to thee) thine own beauteous lady?"
"Methought it was some angel visitor from the unseen world," answered
Raymond, "flitting into yon dark prison house, where it seemed that no
such radiant creature could dwell. There was fever in my blood, and all
I saw was through a misty veil, I scarce believed it more than a sweet
vision; but I will thank her now for the whispered word of hope breathed
in mine ear in the hour of my sorest need."
"Ay, that thou shalt do!" cried Gaston, with all a lover's delight in
the thought of the near meeting with the lady of his heart. "And when,
in days to come, thou and I shall bring our brides to Edward's Court,
men will all agree that two nobler, lovelier women never stepped this
earth before -- my fairy Constanza, a creature of fire and snow; thy
Joan, a veritable queen amongst women, stately, serene, full of dignity
and courage, and beautiful as she is noble."
"And thou art sure that she is safe?" questioned Raymond, his heart
still longing for the moment of reunion after the long separation,
albeit those were days when the separation of years was no infrequent
thing, even betwixt those most closely drawn by bonds of love. "There is
none else to come betwixt her and me? Her father will not strive to
sunder us more?"
"Her father is but too joyous to be free from the power of the
Sanghurst; and the Prince spoke words that brought the flush of shame
tingling to his face. An age of chivalry, and a man selling his daughter
for filthy lucre to one renowned for his evil deeds and remorseless
cruelties! A lady forced to flee her father's house and brave the perils
of the road to escape a terrible doom! I would thou hadst heard him,
Raymond our noble young Prince, with scorn in his voice and the light of
indignation in his eyes. And thy Joan stood beside him; he held her hand
the while, as though he would show to all men that the heir of England
was the natural protector of outraged womanhood, that the upholder of
chivalry would stand to his colours, and be the champion of every
distressed damsel throughout the length and the breadth of the land. And
the lady looked so proud and beautiful that I trow she might have had
suitors and to spare in that hour; but the Prince, still holding her
hand, told her father all the story of her plighted troth to thee --
that truest troth plight of changeless love. And he told him how that
Basildene and all its treasure had been secured to thee, and asked him
was he willing to give his daughter to the Lord of Basildene? And Sir
Hugh was but too glad that no more than this was asked of him, and in
presence of the Prince and of us all he pledged his daughter's hand to
thee, I standing as thy proxy, as I have told thee. And now thy Joan is
well-nigh as fully thine as though ye had joined your hands in holy
wedlock. Thou hast naught to fear from her father's act. He is but too
much rejoiced with the fashion in which all has turned out. His word is
pledged before the Prince; and moreover thou art the lord of Basildene
and its treasure, and what more did he ever desire? It was a share in
that gold for which he would have sold his daughter."
Raymond's face took a new look, one of shrinking and pain.
"I like not that treasure, Gaston," he said. "It is like the price of
blood. I would that the King had taken it for his own. It seemeth as
though it could never bring a blessing with it."
"Methinks it could in thy hands and Joan's," answered Gaston, with a
fond, proud glance at his brother's beautiful face; "and as the Prince
truly said, since this scourge has swept through the land, claiming a
full half of its inhabitants, it would be a hopeless task to try to
discover the real owners; and moreover a part may be the Sanghurst
store, which men have always said is no small thing, and which in very
truth is now thine. But thou canst speak to Father Paul of all that. The
Church will give thee holy counsel. Methinks that gold in thy hands
would ever be used so as to bring with it a blessing and not a curse.
"But come now with me to the Prince. He greatly desires to see thee
again. He has not forgot thee, brother mine, nor that exploit of thine
at the surrender of Calais."
Father Paul was not at that time within the Monastery walls, his duties
calling him hither and thither, sometimes in one land and sometimes in
another. Raymond had enjoyed a peaceful time of rest and mental
refreshment with the good monks, but he was more than ready to go forth
into the world again. Quiet and study were congenial to him, but the
life of a monk was not to his taste. He saw clearly the evils to which
such a calling was exposed, and how easy it was to forget the high
ideal, and fall into self indulgence, idleness, and sloth.
Not that the abuses which in the end caused the monastic system to fall
into such contempt were at that time greatly developed; but the germs of
the evil were there, and it needed a nature such as that of Father Paul
and men of his stamp to show how noble the life of devotion could be
made. Ordinary men fell into a routine existence, and were in danger of
letting their duties and even their devotions become purely mechanical.
Raymond said adieu to his hospitable entertainers with some natural
regrets, yet with a sense that there was a wider work for him to do in
the world than any he should ever find between Monastery walls. Even
apart from all thoughts of love and marriage, there was attraction for
him in the world of chivalry and warfare. His ambition took a different
form from that of the average youth of the day, but none the less for
that did it act upon him like a spur, driving him forth where strife and
conflict were being waged, and where hard blows were to be struck.
Gaston's brother was warmly welcomed in the camp of the Prince. Many
there were who remembered the dreamy-faced lad, who had seemed like a
young Saint Michael amongst them, and still bore about with him
something of that air of remoteness which was never without its effect
even upon the rudest of his companions. Indeed the ordeal through which
he had passed had left an indelible stamp upon him. If the face looked
older than of yore, it was not that the depth and spirituality of the
expression had in any wise diminished.
The two brothers standing together formed a perfect picture in
contrasted types -- the bronzed, stalwart soldier in his coat of mail,
looking every inch the brave knight he was; and the slim, pale-faced
Raymond, with the haunting eyes and wonderful smile, which irradiated
his face like a gleam of light from another world, bearing about with
him that which seemed to stamp him as somewhat different from his
fellows, and yet which always commanded from them not only admiration,
but affection and respect.
The Prince's greeting was warm and hearty. He felt towards Raymond all
that goodwill which naturally follows an act of generous interference on
behalf of an injured person. He made him sit beside him in his tent at
supper time, and tell him all his history; and the promise made to
Gaston with reference to the tyrant Lord of Saut was ratified anew as
the wine circulated at table. The chosen comrades of the Prince, who had
most of them known the twin brothers for many years, vowed themselves to
the enterprise with hearty goodwill; and had the Lord of Navailles been
there to hear, he might well have trembled for his safety, despite the
strong walls and deep moat that environed Saut.
"Let his walls be never so strong, I trow we can starve or smoke the old
fox out!" quoth young Edward, laughing. "There be many strong citadels,
many a fortified town, that will ere long open their gates at the
summons of England's Prince. How say ye, my gallant comrades? Shall the
old Tower of Saut defy English arms? Shall we own ourselves beaten by
any Sieur de Navailles?"
The shout with which these words were answered was answer sufficient.
The English and Gascon lords, assembled together under the banner of the
Prince, were bent on a career of glory and plunder. The inaction of the
long truce, with its perpetual sources of irritation and friction, had
been exasperating in the extreme. It was an immense relief to them to
feel that war had at last been declared, and that they could unfurl
their banners and march forth against their old enemy, and enrich
themselves for life at his expense.
With the march of the Prince through south France we have little concern
in this history. It was one long triumphal progress, not over and above
glorious from a military standpoint; for there were no real battles, and
the accumulation of plunder and the infliction of grievous damage upon
the French King's possessions seemed the chief object of the expedition.
Had there been any concerted resistance to the Prince's march, doubtless
he might have shown something of his great military talents in directing
his forces in battle; but as it was, the country appeared paralyzed at
his approach: place after place fell before him, or bought him off by a
heavy price; and though there were several citadels in the vanquished
towns which held out for France, the Prince seldom stayed to subdue
them, but contented himself with plundering and burning the town. Not a
very glorious style of warfare for those days of vaunted chivalry, yet
one, nevertheless, characteristic enough of the times. Every
undertaking, however small, gave scope for deeds of individual gallantry
and the exercise of individual acts of courtliness and chivalry; and
even the battles were often little more than a countless number of
hand-to-hand conflicts carried on by the individual members of the
opposing armies. The Prince and his chosen comrades, always on the watch
for opportunities of showing their prowess and of exercising their
knightly chivalry towards any miserable person falling in their own way,
were doubtless somewhat blinded to the ignoble side of such a campaign.
However that may be, Raymond often felt a sinking at heart as he saw
their path marked out by blazing villages and wasted fields; and almost
all his own energies were concentrated in striving to do what one man
could achieve to mitigate the horrors of war for some of its helpless
victims.
Narbonne, on the Gulf of Lions, was the last place attacked and taken by
the Prince, who then decided to return with his spoil to Bordeaux, and
pass the remainder of the winter in the capture of certain places that
would be useful to the English.
Nothing had all this time been spoken as to Saut, which lay out of the
line of their march in the heart of friendly Gascony. But the project
had by no means been abandoned, and the Prince was but waiting a
favourable opportunity to carry it into effect.
The Sieur de Navailles had not attempted to join the Prince's standard,
as so many of the Gascon nobles had done, but had held sullenly aloof,
probably watching and waiting to see the result of this expedition, but
by no means prepared to adventure his person into the hands of a feudal
lord against whom his own sword had more than once been drawn. He was
well aware, no doubt, that there were pages in his past history with
regard to his relations with France that would not bear inspection by
English eyes, and perhaps he trusted to the remoteness and obscurity of
his two castles to save him from the notice of the Prince.
The terror inspired by the English arms in France is a thing that must
always excite the wonder and curiosity of the readers of history. It was
displayed on and after the Battle of Crecy, when Edward's army, if
numbers counted for anything, ought to have been simply annihilated by
the vast musters of the French, who were in their own land surrounded by
friends, whilst the English were a small band in the midst of a hostile
and infuriated population. This same thing was seen again in the march
of the Prince of Wales, soon to be called the Black Prince, when city
after city bought him off, hopeless of resisting his progress; and when
the army mustered by the Count of Armagnac to oppose the retreat of the
English to Bordeaux with their spoil was seized with a panic after the
merest skirmish, and fled, leaving the Prince to pursue his way unmolested.
If the conduct of the English army was somewhat inglorious, certainly
the behaviour of their foes was still more so. The English were always
ready to fight if they could find an enemy to meet them. Possibly the
doubtful character of the Prince's first campaign was less his fault
than that of his pusillanimous enemies.
Bordeaux reached, however, and the Gascon soldiers dismissed to their
homes for the winter months, the Prince promising to lead them next year
upon a more glorious campaign, in which fresh spoil was to be won and
more victories achieved, there was time for the consideration of objects
of minor importance, and a breathing space wherein private interests
could be considered.
Gaston had repressed all impatience during the march of the Prince. He
had not looked that his own affairs should take the foremost place in
the Prince's scheme. Moreover, he saw well that it would give a false
colour to the expedition if the first march of the Prince had been into
Gascony; nor was the capture of so obscure a fortress as the Castle of
Saut a matter to engross the energies of the whole of the allied army.
But now that the army was partially disbanded, whilst the English
contingent was either in winter quarters in Bordeaux or engaged here and
there in the capture of such cities and fortresses as the Prince decided
worth the taking, the moment appeared to be favourable for that
long-wished-for capture of Saut; and Gaston, taking his brother aside
one day, eagerly opened to him his mind.
"Raymond, I have spoken to the Prince. He is ready and willing to give
me men at any time I ask him. Perchance he will even come himself, if
duty calls him not elsewhere. The thing is now in mine own hands.
Brother, when shall the attempt be made?"
Raymond smiled at the eager question.
"Sir Knight, thou art more the warrior than I. Thou best knowest the day
and the hour for such a matter."
Gaston passed his hand through his hair, and a softer light shone in his
eyes. His brother knew of whom he was thinking, and he was not surprised
at the next words.
"Raymond, methinks before I do aught else I must see her once more. My
heart is hungry for her. I think of her by day and dream of her by
night. Perchance there might be some more peaceful way of winning
entrance to Saut than by battering down the walls, and doing by hap some
hurt to the precious treasure within. Brother, wilt thou wander forth
with me once again -- thou and I, and a few picked men, in case of peril
by the way, to visit Saut by stealth? We would go by the way of Father
Anselm's and our old home. I have a fancy to see the dear old faces once
again. Thou hast, doubtless, seen them all this year that has passed by,
but I not for many an one."
"I saw Father Anselm in Bordeaux," answered Raymond; "and good Jean,
when he heard I was there, came all the way to visit me. But I
adventured not myself so near the den of Navailles. The Brothers would
not permit it. They feared lest I might fall again into his power.
Gladly, indeed, would I come and see them once again. I have pictured
many times how, when thou art Lord of Saut, I will bring my Joan to
visit thee, and show her to good Jean and Margot and saintly Father
Anselm. I would fain talk to them of that day. They ever feel towards us
as though we were their children in very truth."
There was no difficulty in obtaining the Prince's sanction to this
absence from Bordeaux. He gave the brothers free leave to carry out
their plan by any means they chose, promising if they sent him word at
any time that they were ready for the assault, he would either come
himself or send a picked band of veterans to their aid; and saying that
Gaston was to look upon himself as Lord of Saut, by mandate from the
English King, who would enforce his right by his royal power if any
usurping noble dared to dispute it with him.
Thus fortified by royal warrant, and with a heart beating high with hope
and love, Gaston set out with some two score soldiers as a bodyguard to
reconnoitre the land; and upon the evening of the second day, the
brothers saw, in the fast-fading light of the winter's day, the red
roofs of the old mill lying peacefully in the gathering shadows of the
early night.
Their men had been dismissed to find quarters in the village for
themselves, and Roger was their only attendant, as they drew rein before
the door of the mill, and saw the miller coming quickly round the angle
of the house to inquire what these strangers wanted there at such an hour.
"Jean!" cried Gaston, in his loud and hearty tones, the language of his
home springing easily to his lips, though the English tongue was now the
one in which his thoughts framed themselves. "Good Jean, dost thou not
know us?"
The beaming welcome on the miller's face was answer enough in itself;
and, indeed, he had time to give no other, for scarce had the words
passed Gaston's lips before there darted out from the open door of the
house a light and fairy-like form, and a silvery cry of rapture broke
from the lips of the winsome maiden, whilst Gaston leaped from his horse
with a smothered exclamation, and in another moment the light fairy form
seemed actually swallowed up in the embrace of those strong arms.
"Constanza my life -- my love!"
"O Gaston, Gaston! can it in very truth be thou?"
Raymond looked on in mute amaze, turning his eyes from the lovers
towards the miller, who was watching the encounter with a beaming face.
"What means it all?" asked the youth breathlessly.
"Marry, it means that the maiden has found her true knight," answered
Jean, all aglow with delight; but then, understanding better the drift
of Raymond's question, he turned his eyes upon him again, and said:
"You would ask how she came hither? Well, that is soon told. It was one
night nigh upon six months agone, and we had long been abed, when we
heard a wailing sound beneath our windows, and Margot declared there was
a maiden sobbing in the garden below. She went down to see, and then the
maid told her a strange, wild tale. She was of the kindred of the Sieur
de Navailles, she said, and was the betrothed wife of Gaston de Brocas;
and as we knew somewhat of her tale through Father Anselm, who had heard
of your captivity and rescue, we knew that she spoke the truth. She said
that since the escape, which had so perplexed the wicked lord, he had
become more fierce and cruel than before, and that he seemed in some
sort to suspect her, though of what she scarce knew. She told us that
his mind seemed to be deserting him, that she feared he was growing
lunatic. He was so fierce and wild at times that she feared for her own
life. She bore it as long as her maid, the faithful Annette, lived; but
in the summer she fell sick of a fever, and died -- the lady knew not if
it were not poison that had carried her off -- and a great terror seized
her. Not two days later, she fled from her gloomy home, and not knowing
where else to hide her head, she fled hither, trusting that her lover
would shortly come to free her from her uncle's tyranny, as he had
sworn, and believing that the home which had sheltered the infancy of
the De Brocas brothers would give her shelter till that day came."
"And you took her in and guarded her, and kept her safe from harm,"
cried Raymond, grasping the hand of the honest peasant and wringing it
hard. "It was like you to do it, kind, good souls! My brother will thank
you, in his own fashion, for such service. But I must thank you, too.
And where is Margot? for I trow she has been as a mother to the maid. I
would see her and thank her, for Gaston has no eyes nor ears for any one
but his fair lady."
Gaston, indeed, was like one in a dream. He could scarce believe the
evidence of his senses; and it was a pretty sight to see how the winsome
Constanza clung to him, and how it seemed as though she could not bear
to let her eyes wander for a moment from his face.
Only at night, when the brothers stood together in the room they had
occupied of yore, and clasped each other by the hand in warm
congratulation, did Raymond really know how this meeting affected the
object of their journey; then Gaston, looking grave and thoughtful,
spoke a few words of his purpose.
"The Sieur de Navailles is a raging madman. That I can well divine from
what Constanza says. Tomorrow we will to Saut, to see what we may
discover there on the spot. It may be we may have no bloody warfare to
wage; it may be that Saut may be won without the struggle we have
thought. His own people are terrified before him. Constanza thinks that
I have but to declare myself and show the King's warrant to be
proclaimed by all as Lord and Master of Saut."
CHAPTER XXXI. THE SURRENDER OF SAUT.
"In the King's name!"
The old seneschal at the drawbridge eyed with glances of awed suspicion
the gallant young knight who had ridden so boldly up to the walls of
Saut and had bidden him lower the bridge. A few paces behind the leader
was a compact little body of horsemen, all well mounted and well armed,
though it was little their bright weapons could do against the solid
walls of the grim old fortress, girdled as it was with its wide and deep
moat. The pale sunshine of a winter's day shone upon the trappings of
the little band, and lighted up the stone walls with something of
unwonted brightness. It revealed to those upon the farther side of the
moat the perplexed countenance of the old seneschal, who did not meet
Gaston's bold demand for admittance with defiance or refusal, but stood
staring at the apparition, as if not knowing what to make of it; and
when the demand had been repeated somewhat more peremptorily, he still
stood doubtful and hesitating, saying over and over to himself the same
words:
"In the King's name! in the King's name!"
"Ay, fellow, in the King's name," repeated Gaston sternly. "Wilt thou
see his warrant? I have it here. Thou hadst best have a care how thou
settest at defiance the King's seal and signet. Knowest thou not that
his royal son is within a few leagues of this very spot?"
The old man only shook his head, as if scarce comprehending the drift of
these words, and presently he looked up to ask:
"Of which King speak you, good Sir Knight?"
"Of the English King, fellow, the only King I acknowledge! Whose servant
doth thy master call himself? Thou hadst better go and tell him that
King Edward of England has sent a message to him."
"Tell my master!" repeated the seneschal, with a strange gesture, as he
lifted his hand and touched his head. "To what good would that be? My
master understands no word that is said to him. He raves up and down the
hall day by day, taking note of naught about him. Thou hadst best have a
care how thou beardest him, Sir Knight. We go in terror of our very
lives through him."
"Ye need go no longer in that fear," cried Gaston, with a kindling of
the eyes, as he bared his noble head and looked forth at the old man
with his fearless glance, "for in me ye will find a master whom none
need fear who do their duty by him and by the King. Seneschal, I stand
here the lawful Lord of Saut -- lord by hereditary right, and by the
mandate of England's King, the Roy Outremer, as you call him. I am
Gaston de Brocas, of the old race who owned these lands long before the
false Navailles had set foot therein. I have come back armed with the
King's warrant to claim mine own.
"Say, men, will ye have me for your lord? or will ye continue to serve
yon raging madman till England's King sends an army to raze Saut to the
ground, and slay the rebellious horde within these ancient walls?"
Gaston had raised his voice as he had gone on speaking, for he saw that
the dialogue with the old seneschal had attracted the attention of a
number of men-at-arms, who had gradually mustered about the gate to hear
what was passing.
Gaston spoke his native dialect like one of themselves. The name of De
Brocas was known far and wide in that land, and was everywhere spoken
with affection and respect. The fierce rapacity of the Navailles was
equally feared and hated. Even the stout soldiers who had followed his
fortunes so long regarded him with fear and distrust. No man in those
days felt certain of his life. If he chanced to offend the madman, a
savage blow from that strong arm might fell him to the earth; whilst
some amongst their companions had from time to time mysteriously
disappeared, and their fate had never been disclosed.
A sense of fearfulness and uncertainty had long reigned at Saut. The mad
master had his own myrmidons in the Tower, who would do his bidding
whatever that bidding might be; and that there were dark secrets hidden
away in those underground dungeons and secret chambers everybody in the
Castle well knew. Hardly one of the men now gathered on the opposite
side of the moat but had awakened at some time or other from a horrid
dream, believing himself to have been spirited down into those gloomy
subterranean places, there to expiate some trifling offence, according
as their savage lord should give order. Many of these men had assisted
at scenes which seemed frightful to them when they pictured themselves
the victims of the cruelty of the fierce man they had long served, but
whom now they had grown to fear and distrust.
A sense of horror had long been hanging over Saut, and since the
disappearance of the maiden who once had brightened the grim place by
her presence, this horror had perceptibly deepened. Not one of all the
men-at-arms dared even to his fellow to propose the remedy. Each feared
that if he breathed what was in his own mind, the very walls would
whisper it in the ears of their lord, and that the offender would be
doomed to some horrible death, to act as a warning to others like-minded
with himself. Since the loss of his niece, almost as mysterious to him
as the escape of Raymond de Brocas from the prison, the clouds of doubt
and suspicion had closed more and more darkly round the miserable man,
who had let himself become the slave of his passions until these had
increased to absolute madness. His unbridled fury and fits of maniac
rage had estranged from him even the most attached of his old retainers,
and in proportion as he felt this with the instinct of cunning and
madness, the more did he exact from those about him protestations of
zeal and faithfulness, the more did he watch the words and actions of
his servants, and mark the smallest attempt on their part to restrain or
thwart him.
Small wonder was it, then, when Gaston de Brocas stood forth in the
sunshine, the King's warrant in his hand, words of good augury upon his
lips, and a compact little body of armed men at his back, proclaiming
himself the Lord of Saut, and inviting to his service the men who were
now trembling before the caprices and cruel cunning of a madman, that
they exchanged wondering glances, and spoke in eager whispers together,
fearful lest the Navailles should approach from behind ere they were
aware of it, and feeling that there was here such a chance of escape
from miserable bondage as might never occur again.
And whilst they still hesitated -- for the fear of treachery was never
absent from the minds of those bred up in habits and thoughts of
treachery -- another wonder happened. Out from the little knot a few
paces behind the young knight two more figures pressed forward, and the
men-at-arms rubbed their eyes and looked on in silent wonder: for one of
the pair was none other than the fairy maiden who had lived so long
amongst them, and had endeared herself even to these rude spirits by her
grace and sweetness and undefinable charm; the other, that youth with
the wonderful eyes and saint-like face who had been captured and borne
away to Saut after the battle before St. Jean d'Angely, and whose body
they all believed had long ago been lying beneath the sullen waters of
the moat, where so many victims of their lord's hatred had found their
last resting place.
And as they stared and looked at one another and stared again, a silvery
voice was uplifted, and they all held their breath to listen.
"My friends," said the lady, urging her palfrey till she reached
Gaston's side, and could feel his hand upon hers, "I have come hither
with this noble knight, Sir Gaston de Brocas, because he is my betrothed
husband and liege lord, and I have the right to be at his side even in
the hour of peril, but also because you all know me; and when I tell you
that every word he has spoken is true, I trow ye will believe it. There
he stands, the lawful Lord of Saut, and if ye will but own him as your
lord, you will find in him a wise, just, and merciful master, who will
protect you from the mad fury of yon miserable man whom now ye serve,
and will lead you to more glorious feats of arms than any ye have
dreamed of before. Hitherto ye have been little better than robbers and
outlaws. Have ye no wish for better things than ye have won under the
banner of Navailles?"
The men exchanged glances, and visibly wavered. They compared their
coarse and stained garments, their rusty arms and battered
accoutrements, with the brilliant appearance of the little band of
soldiers standing on the opposite side of the moat, their armour shining
in the sunlight, their steeds well fed and well groomed, arching their
necks and pawing the ground, every man and every horse showing plainly
that they came from a region of abundance of good things; whilst the
military precision of their aspect showed equally well that they would
be antagonists of no insignificant calibre, if the moment should come
when they were transformed from friends to foes.
Constanza saw the wavering and hesitation amongst her uncle's men. She
well knew their discontent at their own lot, their fearful distrust of
their lord. She knew, too, that it was probably some fear of treachery
alone that withheld them from making cause at once with the De Brocas --
treachery having been only too much practised amongst them by their own
fierce master -- and again her voice rang out clear and sweet.
"Men, listen again to me. I speak to counsel you for your good; for
fierce and cruel as ye have been to your foes, ye have ever been kind
and gentle to me when I was with you in these walls. What think ye to
gain by defying the great King of England? Think ye that he will spare
you if ye arouse him to anger by impotent resistance? What more could
King have done for you than send to be your lord a noble Gascon knight;
one of your own race and language; one who, as ye all must know, has a
far better right to hold these lands than any of the race of Navailles?
Here before you stands Sir Gaston de Brocas, offering you place in his
service if ye will but swear to him that allegiance he has the right to
claim. The offer is made in clemency and mercy, because he would not
that any should perish in futile resistance. Men, ye know that he comes
to this place with the King's mandate that Saut be given up to him. If
it be not peaceably surrendered, what think ye will happen next?
"I will tell you. Ye have heard of the Prince of Wales, son of the Roy
Outremer; doubtless even to these walls has come the news of that
triumphal march of his, where cities have surrendered or ransomed
themselves to him, and nothing has been able to stay the might of his
conquering arm. That noble Prince and valiant soldier is now not far
away. We have come from his presence, and are here with his knowledge
and sanction. If we win you over, and gain peaceable possession of these
walls, good; no harm will befall any living creature within them. But if
ye prove obdurate; if ye will not listen to the voice of reason; if ye
still hold with rebellious defiance to the lord ye have served, and who
has shown himself so little worthy of your service, then will the Prince
and his warriors come with all their wrath and might to inflict
chastisement upon you, and take vengeance upon you, as enemies of the King.
"Say, men, how can ye hope to resist the might of the Prince's arm? Say,
which will ye do -- be the free servants of Gaston de Brocas, or die
like rats in a hole for the sake of yon wicked madman, whose slaves ye
have long been? Which shall it be -- a De Brocas or a Navailles?"
Something in this last appeal stirred the hearts of the men. It seemed
as though a veil were torn from their eyes. They seemed to see all in a
moment the hopelessness of their position as vassals of Navailles, and
the folly of attempting resistance to one so infinitely more worthy to
be called their lord. It was no stranger coming amongst them -- it was
one of the ancient lords of the soil; and the sight of the youthful
knight, sitting there on his fine horse, with his fair lady beside him,
was enough to stir the pulses and awaken the enthusiasm of an ardent
race, even though the nobler instincts had been long sleeping in the
breasts of these men. They hated and distrusted their old lord with a
hatred he had well merited; and degraded as they had become in his
service, they had not yet sunk so low but that they could feel with the
keenness of instinct, rather than by any reasoning powers they
possessed, that this young knight was a man to be trusted and be loved
-- that if they became his vassals they would receive vastly different
treatment from any they had received from the Sieur de Navailles.
There was one long minute's pause, whilst looks and whispered words were
exchanged, and then a shout arose:
"De Brocas! De Brocas! We will live and die the servants of De Brocas!"
whilst at the same moment the drawbridge slowly descended, and Gaston,
at the head of his gallant little band, with Raymond and Constanza at
his side, rode proudly over the sounding planks, and found himself, for
the first time in his life, in the courtyard of the Castle of Saut.
"De Brocas! De Brocas!" shouted the men, all doubt and hesitation done
away with in a moment at sight of the gallant show thus made, enthusiasm
kindling in every breast as the sweet lady rained smiles and gracious
words upon the rough men, who had always had a soft spot in their heart
for her; whilst Raymond's earnest eyes and Gaston's courtly and
chivalrous bearing were not without effect upon the ruder natures of
these lonely residents of Saut. It seemed to them as though they had
been invaded by some denizens from another world, and murmurs of wonder
and reverent admiration mingled with the cheering with which Gaston de
Brocas was received as Lord of Saut.
But there was still one more person to be faced. The men had accepted
the sovereignty of a new lord, and were already rejoicing in the escape
from the dreaded tyranny they had not had the resolution to shake off
unprompted; but there was still the Sieur de Navailles to be dealt with,
and impotent as he might be in the desertion of his old followers, it
was necessary to see and speak with him, and decide what must be done
with the man who was believed by those about him to be little better
than a raging maniac.
"Where is your master?" asked Gaston of the old seneschal, who stood at
his bridle rein, his eyes wandering from his face to that of Raymond and
Constanza and back again; "I marvel that this tumult has not brought him
forth."
"The walls are thick," replied the old man, "and he lives for days
together in a world of his own, no sound or sight from without
penetrating his understanding. Then again he will awaken from his dream,
and show us that he has heard and seen far more than we have thought.
And if any man amongst us has dropped words that have incensed him --
well, there have been men who have disappeared from amongst us and have
never been seen more; and tales are whispered of horrid cries and groans
that have issued as from the very bowels of the earth each time
following their spiriting away."
Constanza shuddered, and a black frown crossed Gaston's face as he gave
one quick glance at his brother, who had so nearly shared that
mysterious and terrible doom.
"The man is a veritable fiend. He merits scant mercy at our hands. He
has black crimes upon his soul. Seneschal, lead on. Take us to him ye
once owned as sovereign lord. I trow ye will none of you lament the day
ye transferred your allegiance from yon miscreant to Gaston de Brocas!"
Another cheer, heartier than the last, broke from the lips of all the
men. They had been joined now by their comrades within the Castle, and
in the sense of freedom from the hateful tyranny of their old master all
were rejoicing and filled with enthusiasm.
For once they were free from all fear of treachery. Gaston's own picked
band of stalwart veterans was guarantee enough that might as well as
right was on the side of the De Brocas. The sight of those well-equipped
men-at-arms, all loyal and full of affectionate enthusiasm for their
youthful lord, showed these rude retainers how greatly to their
advantage would be this change of masters; and before Gaston had
dismounted and walked across the courtyard towards the portal of the
Castle, he felt, with a swelling of the heart that Raymond well
understood, that Saut was indeed his own.
"This is the way to the Sieur de Navailles," said the old seneschal, as
they passed beneath the frowning doorway into a vaulted stone hall. "He
spends whole days and nights pacing up and down like a wild beast in a
cage. He scarce leaves the hall, save when he wanders forth into the
forest, and that has not happened since the cold winds have blown hard.
You will find him within those doors, good gentlemen. Shall I make known
your presence to him?"
It was plain that the old man had no small fear of his master, and would
gladly be spared this office. Gaston looked round to see that some of
his own followers were close behind and on the alert, and then taking
Constanza's hand in his, and laying his right hand upon the hilt of his
sword, he signed to the seneschal to throw open the massive oaken doors,
and walked fearlessly in with Raymond at his side.
They found themselves in the ancient banqueting hall of the fortress --
a long, lofty, rather narrow room, with a heavily-raftered ceiling, two
huge fireplaces, one at either end, and a row of very narrow windows cut
in the great thickness of the wall occupying almost the whole of one
side of the place; whilst a long table was placed against the opposite
wall, with benches beside it, and another smaller table was placed upon
a small raised dais at the far end of the apartment. On this dais was
also set a heavy oaken chair, close beside the glowing hearth; and at
this moment it was plain that the occupant of the chair had been
disturbed by the commotion from without, and had suddenly risen to his
feet, for he stood grasping the oaken arms, his wild gray hair hanging
in matted masses about his seamed and wrinkled face, and his hollow
eyes, in which a fierce light blazed, turned upon the intruders in a
glare of impotent fury.
"Who are ye who thus dare to intrude upon me here? What is all this
tumult I hear in mine own halls?
"Seneschal, art thou there? Send hither to me my soldiers; bid them bind
these men, and carry them to the dungeons. I will see them there. Ha,
ha! I will talk with them there. I will deal with them there. What ho!
Send me the jailer and his assistants! Let them light the fires and heat
hot the irons. Let them prepare our welcome for guests to Saut. Ha, ha!
Ho, ho! These brave gallants shall taste our hospitality. Who brought
them in? Where were they found? Methinks they will prove a rich booty.
Would that good Peter Sanghurst were here to help me in the task of
entertaining these new guests!"
The man was a raving lunatic; that was plain to the most inexperienced
eye from the first moment. He knew not his own niece, he knew not the De
Brocas brothers, though Raymond's face must have been familiar to him
had he been in his right senses. He was still in fancy the undisputed
lord of these wide lands, scouring the country for English travellers or
prisoners of meaner mould; acting here in Gascony much the same part as
the Sanghursts had more cautiously done in England, and as the Barons of
both France and England had long done, though their day of irresponsible
and autocratic power was well-nigh at an end.
He glared upon the brothers and their attendants with savage fury, still
calling out to his men to carry them to the dungeons, still believing
them to be a band of travellers taken prisoners by his own orders,
raving and raging in his impotent fury till the gust of passion had worn
itself out, and in a sullen amaze he sank into his seat, still gazing
out from under his shaggy brows at the intruders, but the passion and
fury for a moment at an end.
"He will understand better what you say to him now, Sir Knight,"
whispered the old seneschal, who alone of the men belonging to the
Castle dared to enter the hall where their maniac master was. "His mind
comes back to him sometimes after he has raved himself quiet. We dread
his sullen moods almost more than his wild ones.
"Have a care how you approach him. He is as cunning as a fox, and as
crafty as he is cruel. He always has some weapon beneath his robe. Have
a care, I say, how you approach him."
Gaston nodded, but he was too fearless by nature to pay much heed to the
warning; he felt himself more than a match for that bowed-down old man.
Giving Constanza into Raymond's charge, he stepped boldly up to the
dais, and doffing his headpiece, addressed himself to his adversary in
firm though courteous accents.
"My Lord of Navailles," he said, "I am come to claim mine own. If thou
knowest me not, I will tell thee who I am -- Gaston de Brocas, the Lord
of Saut in mine own right, and by the mandate of the King which I hold
in mine hand. Long hast thou held lands to which thou hadst no right,
but the day has come when I claim mine own again, and am prepared to do
battle for it to the death. But here is no battle needed. Thine own men
have called me lord; they have obeyed the mandate of the King, and have
opened their gates to me. I stand here the Lord of Saut. Thy power and
thy reign are over for ever. Grossly hast thou abused that power when it
was thine. Now, like all tyrants, thou art finding that thy servants
fall away in the hour of peril, and that thou, who hast been a cruel
master, canst command no service from them in the time of need. I, and I
alone, am Lord of Saut. Hast thou aught to say ere thou yieldest
dominion to me?"
Did he understand? Those standing round and breathlessly watching the
curious scene could scarce be sure; but there was a look of
comprehension and of intense baffled rage and malice in those cavernous
eyes that sent a shiver through Constanza's light frame.
"Have a care, Gaston; have a care!" she cried, with sudden shrillness,
as she saw a quick movement of those knotted sinewy hands beneath the
coarse robe the old man wore; and in another moment both she and Raymond
had sprung forward, for there was a flash of keen steel, and the madman
had flung himself upon Gaston with inconceivable rapidity of motion.
For a moment there was a hideous scuffle. Blood was flowing, they knew
not whose. Gaston acted solely on the defensive. He would not raise his
hand against one who was old and lunatic, and near in blood to her whom
he held dear; but he wrestled valiantly in the iron grip of arms
stronger than his own, and he felt that some struggle was going on above
him, though for the moment his own breath seemed suspended, and his very
life pressed out of him.
Then came a sudden sense of release. His enemy had relaxed his bear-like
clasp. Gaston sprang to his feet to see his enemy falling backwards in a
helpless collapse, the hilt of a dagger clasped between his knotted
hands -- the sharp blade buried in his own heart.
"He has killed himself!" cried Constanza, with eyes dilated with horror,
as she sprang to Gaston's side. It had all been so quick that it was
hard to tell what had befallen in those few seconds of life-and-death
struggle. Gaston was bleeding from a slight flesh wound in the arm, but
that was the only hurt he had received; whilst his foe --
"He strove to plunge the dagger in thy breast, Gaston," said Raymond,
who was supporting the head of the dying man; "and failing that, he
thought to smother thee in his bear-like clasp, that has crushed the
life out of enemies before now, as we have ofttimes heard. When he felt
other foes around him unloosing that clasp, and knew himself balked of
his purpose, he clutched the weapon thou hadst dashed from his hand and
buried it in his own body. As he has lived, so has he died -- defiant to
the very end. But the madness-cloud may have hung long upon his spirit.
Perchance some of the worst of his crimes may not be laid to his charge."
As Raymond spoke, the dying man opened his eyes, and fixed them upon the
face bending over him. The light of sullen defiance which had shone
there but a few short moments ago changed to something strange and new
as he met the calm, compassionate glance of those expressive eyes now
fixed upon him. He seemed to give a slight start, and to strive to draw
himself away.
"Thou here!" he gasped -- "thou! Hast thou indeed come from the spirit
world to mock me in my last moments? I know thee now, Raymond de Brocas!
I have seen thee before -- thou knowest how and where. Methinks the very
angels of heaven must have spirited thee away. Why art thou here now?"
"To bid thee ask forgiveness for thy sins with thy dying breath,"
answered Raymond, gently yet firmly; "to bid thee turn thy thoughts for
one last moment towards thy Saviour, and though thou hast scorned and
rebelled against Him in life, to ask His pardoning mercy in death. He
has pardoned a dying miscreant ere now. Wilt thou not take upon thy lips
that dying thief's petition, and cry 'Lord, remember me;' or this
prayer, 'Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner'?"
A gray shadow was creeping over the rugged face, the lips seemed to
move, but no words came forth. There was no priest at hand to listen to
a dying confession, or to pronounce a priestly absolution, and yet
Raymond had spoken as if there might yet be mercy for an erring,
sin-stained soul, if it would but turn in its last agony to the
Crucified One -- the Saviour crucified for the sins of the whole world.
It must be remembered that there was less of priestcraft -- less of what
we now call popery -- in those earlier days than there came to be later
on; and the springs of truth, though somewhat tainted, were not
poisoned, as it were, at the very source, as they afterwards became.
Something of the purity of primitive times lingered in the minds of men,
and here and there were always found pure spirits upon whom the errors
of man obtained no hold -- spirits that seemed to rise superior to their
surroundings, and hold communion direct with heaven itself. Such a
nature and such a mind was Raymond's; and his clear, intense faith had
been strengthened and quickened by the vicissitudes through which he had
passed. He did not hesitate to point the dying soul straight to the
Saviour Himself, without mediation from the Blessed Virgin or the Holy
Saints. Love and revere these he might and did; but in the presence of
that mighty power of death, in that hour when flesh and heart do fail,
he felt as he had felt when he believed his own soul was to be called
away -- when it seemed as though no power could avail to save him from a
fearful fate -- that to God alone must the cry of the suffering soul be
raised; that into the Saviour's hands alone could the departing soul be
committed. He did not speak to others of these thoughts -- thoughts
which in later days came to be branded with the dreaded name of "heresy"
-- but he held them none the less surely in the depths of his own
spirit; and now, when all but he would have stood aside with pitiful
helplessness, certain that nothing could be done for the dying man in
absence of a priest, Raymond strove to lead his thoughts upwards, that
though his life had been black and evil, he might still die with his
face turned Godwards, with a cry for mercy on his lips.
Nor was this hope in vain; for at the last the old man raised himself
with a strength none believed him to possess, and raising his hand he
clasped that of Raymond, and said:
"Raymond de Brocas, I strove to compass thy death, and thou hast come to
me in mine hour of need, and spoken words of hope. If thou canst forgive
-- thou so cruelly treated, so vilely betrayed -- it may be that the
Saviour, whose servant thou art, can forgive yet greater crimes.
"Christ have mercy upon me! Lord have mercy upon me! Christ have mercy
upon me! My worldly possessions are fled: let them go; they are in good
hands. May Christ pardon my sins, and receive me at last to Himself!"
He looked earnestly at Raymond, who understood him, and whispered the
last prayers of the Church in his ear. A look of calm and peace fell
upon that wild and rugged face; and drawing one sigh, and slightly
turning himself towards his former foe, the old ruler of Saut fell
asleep, and died with the two De Brocas brothers standing beside him.
CHAPTER XXXII. ON THE FIELD OF POITIERS.
The face of the Prince was dark and grave. He had posted his gallant
little army in the strongest position the country afforded; but his men
were ill-fed, and though brave as lions and eager for the battle, were
but a handful of troops compared with the vast French host opposed to them.
Eight thousand against fifty or even sixty thousand! Such an inequality
might well make the stoutest heart quail. But there was no fear in young
Edward's eyes, only a glance of stern anxiety slightly dashed with
regret; for the concessions just made to the Cardinal de Perigord, who
was earnestly striving to arrange terms between the rival armies and so
avoid the bloodshed of a battle, went sorely against the grain of the
warrior prince, and he was almost disposed to repent that he had been
induced to make them.
But his position was sufficiently critical, and defeat meant the
annihilation of the gallant little army who had followed his fortunes
through two campaigns, and who were to a man his devoted servants. He
had led them, according to promise, upon another long march of unopposed
plunder and victory, right into the very heart of France; whilst another
English army in Normandy and Brittany had been harassing the French
King, and averting his attention from the movements of his son.
Perhaps young Edward's half-matured plan had been to join the other
English forces in the north, for he was too much the general and the
soldier to think of marching upon Paris or of attacking the French army
with his own small host. Indeed, a few reverses had recently taught him
that he had already ventured almost too far into the heart of a hostile
country; and he was, in fact, retreating upon Bordeaux, believing the
French army to be behind him, when he discovered that it was in front of
him, intercepting his farther progress, and he was made aware of this
unwelcome fact by seeing the advance guard of his own army literally cut
to pieces by the French soldiers before he could come to their assistance.
Realizing at once the immense peril of his position, the Prince had
marched on till he reached a spot where he could post his men to some
advantage amongst hedges and bushes that gave them shelter, and would
serve to embarrass an attacking foe, and in particular any charge of
cavalry. The place selected was some six miles from Poitiers, and
possessed so many natural advantages that the Prince felt encouraged to
hope for a good issue to the day, albeit the odds were fearfully to his
disadvantage.
He had looked to be speedily attacked by the French King, who was in
person leading his host; but the Saturday passed away without any
advance, and on Sunday morning the good Cardinal de Perigord began to
strive to bring matters to a peaceable issue.
Brave as the young Prince was, and great as his reliance on his men had
always been, his position was perilous in the extreme, and he had been
willing to listen to the words of the Cardinal. Indeed, he had made
wonderful concessions to the messenger of peace, for he had at last
consented to give up all the places he had taken, to set free all
prisoners, and to swear not to take up arms against the King of France
for seven years; and now he stood looking towards the French host with a
frown of anxious perplexity upon his face, for the Cardinal had gone
back to the French King with this message, and already the Prince was
half repentant at having conceded so much. He had been persuaded rather
against his will, and he was wondering what his royal father would say
when he should hear.
He had been thinking rather of his brave soldiers' lives than his own
military renown, when he had let himself be won over by the good
Cardinal. Had he, after all, made a grand mistake?
His knights stood around, well understanding the conflict going on in
his breast, and sympathizing deeply with him in this crisis of his life,
but not knowing themselves what it were best to do. The sun was creeping
to the horizon before the Cardinal was seen returning, and his face was
grave and sorrowful as he was ushered into the presence of the Prince.
"My Liege," he said, in accents of regret, "it is but sorry news I have
to bring you. My royal master of his own will would have gladly listened
to the terms to which your consent has been won, save for the vicious
counsel of my lord Bishop of Chalons, Renaud Chauveau, who hates your
nation so sorely that he has begged the King, even upon his bended
knees, to slay every English soldier in this realm rather than suffer
them to escape just when they had fallen into his power, rather than
listen to overtures of submission without grasping the victory of blood
which God had put into his hands. Wherefore my liege the King has vowed
that he will consent to nothing unless you yourself, together with one
hundred of your knights, will give yourselves up into his hand without
condition."
Young Edward's eyes flashed fire. A look more like triumph than dismay
crossed his noble face. Looking at the sorrowful Cardinal, with the
light of battle in his eyes, he said in ringing tones:
"My Lord Cardinal, I thank you for your goodwill towards us. You are a
good and holy man, an ambassador of peace, and as such you are
fulfilling your Master's will. But I can listen no longer to your words.
Go back to the King of France, and tell him that I thank him for his
last demand, because it leaves me no choice but to fight him to the
death; and ten thousand times would I rather fight than yield, albeit
persuaded to submit to terms by your eloquent pleading. Return to your
lord, and tell him that Edward of England defies him, and will meet him
in battle so soon as it pleases him to make the attack. I fear him not.
The English have found no such mighty antagonists in the French that
they should fear them now.
"Go, my Lord Cardinal, and carry back my message of defiance. Ere
another sun has set I hope to meet John of France face to face in the
foremost of the fight!"
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