"You are very right, sir," said Wildrake. "I reckon myself, now, a
pretty good speaker of their cursed jargon - no offence, young gentleman;
and yet, when I took a turn with some of Montrose's folk, in the South
Highlands, as they call their beastly wildernesses, (no offence again,)
I chanced to be by myself, and to lose my way, when I said to a
shepherd-fellow, making my mouth as wide, and my voice as broad as I
could, _whore am I ganging till?_ - confound me if the fellow could
answer me, unless, indeed, he was sulky, as the bumpkins will be now and
then to the gentlemen of the sword."
This was familiarly spoken, and though partly addressed to Albert, was
still more directed to his immediate neighbour, the young Scotsman, who
seemed, from bashfulness, or some other reason, rather shy of his
intimacy. To one or two personal touches from Wildrake's elbow,
administered during his last speech, by way of a practical appeal to him
in particular, he only answered, "Misunderstandings were to be expected
when men converse in national deealects."
Wildrake, now considerably drunker than he ought to have been in civil
company, caught up the phrase and repeated it: - "Misunderstanding,
sir - Misunderstanding, sir? - I do not know how I am to construe that,
sir; but to judge from the information of these scratches on your
honourable visnomy, I should augur that you had been of late at
misunderstanding with the cat, sir."
"You are mistaken, then, friend, for it was with the dowg," answered the
Scotsman, dryly, and cast a look towards Albert.
"We had some trouble with the watch-dogs in entering so late in the
evening," said Albert, in explanation, "and this youth had a fall among
some rubbish, by which he came by these scratches."
"And now, dear Sir Henry," said Dr. Rochecliffe, "allow us to remind you
of your gout, and our long journey. I do it the rather that my good
friend your son has been, during the whole time of supper, putting
questions to me aside, which had much better be reserved till
to-morrow - May we therefore ask permission to retire to our night's
rest?"
"These private committees in a merry meeting," said Wildrake, "are a
solecism in breeding. They always put me in mind of the cursed
committees at Westminster. - But shall we roost before we rouse the
night-owl with a catch?"
"Aha, canst thou quote Shakspeare?" said Sir Henry, pleased at
discovering a new good quality in his acquaintance, whose military
services were otherwise but just able to counterbalance the intrusive
freedom of his conversation. "In the name of merry Will," he
continued, - "whom I never saw, though I have seen many of his comrades,
as Alleyn, Hemmings, and so on, - we will have a single catch, and one
rouse about, and then to bed."
After the usual discussion about the choice of the song, and the parts
which each was to bear, they united their voices in trolling a loyal
glee, which was popular among the party at the time, and in fact
believed to be composed by no less a person than Dr. Rochecliffe
himself.
GLEE FOR KING CHARLES.
Bring the bowl which you boast,
Fill it up to the brim;
'Tis to him we love most,
And to all who love him.
Brave gallants, stand up.
And avauant, ye base carles!
Were there death in the cup,
Here's a health to King Charles!
Though he wanders through dangers,
Unaided, unknown,
Dependent 'on strangers,
Estranged from his own;
Though 'tis under our breath,
Amidst forfeits and perils,
Here's to honour and faith,
And a health to King Charles!
Let such honours abound
As the time can afford.
The knee on the ground,
And the hand on the sword;
But the time shall come round.
When, 'mid Lords, Dukes, and Earls,
The loud trumpets shall sound
Here's a health to King Charles!
After this display of loyalty, and a final libation, the party took
leave of each other for the night. Sir Henry offered his old
acquaintance Wildrake a bed for the evening, who weighed the matter
somewhat in this fashion: "Why, to speak truth, my patron will expect me
at the borough - but then he is used to my staying out of doors a-nights.
Then there's the Devil, that they say haunts Woodstock; but with the
blessing of this reverend Doctor, I defy him and all his works - I saw
him not when I slept here twice before, and I am sure if he was absent
then, he has not come back with Sir Henry Lee and his family. So I
accept your courtesy, Sir Henry, and I thank you, as a cavalier of
Lunsford should thank one of the fighting clerks of Oxon. God bless the
King! I care not who hears it, and confusion to Noll and his red nose!"
Off he went accordingly with a bottle-swagger, guided by Joceline, to
whom Albert, in the meantime, had whispered, to be sure to quarter him
far enough from the rest of the family.
Young Lee then saluted his sister, and, with the formality of those
times, asked and received his father's blessing with an affectionate
embrace. His page seemed desirous to imitate one part of his example,
but was repelled by Alice, who only replied to his offered salute with a
curtsy. He next bowed his head in an awkward fashion to her father, who
wished him a good night. "I am glad to see, young man," he said, "that
you have at least learned the reverence due to age. It should always be
paid, sir; because in doing so you render that honour to others which
you will expect yourself to receive when you approach the close of your
life. More will I speak with you at leisure, on your duties as a page,
which office in former days used to be the very school of chivalry;
whereas of late, by the disorderly times, it has become little better
than a school of wild and disordered license; which made rare Ben Jonson
exclaim" -
"Nay, father," said Albert, interposing, "you must consider this day's
fatigue, and the poor lad is almost asleep on his legs - to-morrow he
will listen with more profit to your kind admonitions. - And you, Louis,
remember at least one part of your duty - take the candles and light
us - here Joceline comes to show us the way. Once more, good night, good
Dr. Rochecliffe - good night, all."
* * * * *
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST.
_Groom._ Hail, noble prince!
_King Richard._ Thanks, noble peer;
The cheapest of us is a groat too dear.
RICHARD II
Albert and his page were ushered by Joceline to what was called the
Spanish Chamber, a huge old scrambling bedroom, rather in a dilapidated
condition, but furnished with a large standing-bed for the master, and a
truckle-bed for the domestic, as was common at a much later period in
old English houses, where the gentleman often required the assistance of
a groom of the chambers to help him to bed, if the hospitality had been
exuberant. The walls were covered with hangings of cordovan leather,
stamped with gold, and representing fights between the Spaniards and
Moriscoes, bull-feasts, and other sports peculiar to the Peninsula, from
which it took its name of the Spanish Chamber. These hangings were in
some places entirely torn down, in others defaced and hanging in
tatters. But Albert stopped not to make observations, anxious, it
seemed, to get Joceline out of the room; which he achieved by hastily
answering his offers of fresh fuel, and more liquor, in the negative,
and returning, with equal conciseness, the under-keeper's good wishes
for the evening. He at length retired, somewhat unwillingly, and as if
he thought that his young master might have bestowed a few more words
upon a faithful old retainer after so long absence.
Joliffe was no sooner gone, than, before a single word was spoken
between Albert Lee and his page, the former hastened to the door,
examined lock, latch, and bolt, and made them fast, with the most
scrupulous attention. He superadded to these precautions that of a long
screw-bolt, which he brought out of his pocket, and which he screwed on
to the staple in such a manner as to render it impossible to withdraw
it, or open the door, unless by breaking it down. The page held a light
to him during the operation, which his master went through with much
exactness and dexterity. But when Albert arose from his knee, on which
he had rested during the accomplishment of this task, the manner of the
companions was on the sudden entirely changed towards each other. The
honourable Master Kerneguy, from a cubbish lout of a raw Scotsman,
seemed to have acquired at once all the grace and ease of motion and
manner, which could be given by an acquaintance of the earliest and most
familiar kind with the best company of the time.
He gave the light he held to Albert, with the easy indifference of a
superior, who rather graces than troubles his dependent by giving him
some slight service to perform. Albert, with the greatest appearance of
deference, assumed in his turn the character of torch-bearer, and
lighted his page across the chamber, without turning his back upon him
as he did so. He then set the light on the table by the bedside, and
approaching the young man with deep reverence, received from him the
soiled green jacket, with the same profound respect as if he had been a
first lord of the bedchamber, or other officer of the household of the
highest distinction, disrobing his Sovereign of the Mantle of the
Garter. The person to whom this ceremony was addressed endured it for a
minute or two with profound gravity, and then bursting out a-laughing,
exclaimed to Albert, "What a devil means all this formality? - thou
complimentest with these miserable rags as if they were silks and
sables, and with poor Louis Kerneguy as if he were the King of Great
Britain!"
"And if your Majesty's commands, and the circumstances of the time, have
made me for a moment seem to forget that you are my sovereign, surely I
may be permitted to render my homage as such while you are in your own
royal palace of Woodstock?"
"Truly," replied the disguised Monarch, "the sovereign and the palace
are not ill matched; - these tattered hangings and my ragged jerkin suit
each other admirably. - _This_ Woodstock! - _this_ the bower where the
royal Norman revelled with the fair Rosamond Clifford! - Why, it is a
place of assignation for owls." Then, suddenly recollecting himself,
with his natural courtesy, he added, as if fearing he might have hurt
Albert's feelings - "But the more obscure and retired, it is the fitter
for our purpose, Lee; and if it does seem to be a roost for owls, as
there is no denying, why we know it has nevertheless brought up eagles."
He threw himself as he spoke upon a chair, and indolently, but
gracefully, received the kind offices, of Albert, who undid the coarse
buttonings of the leathern gamashes which defended his legs, and spoke
to him the whilst: - "What a fine specimen of the olden time is your
father, Sir Henry! It is strange I should not have seen him before; - but
I heard my father often speak of him as being among the flower of our
real old English gentry. By the mode in which he began to school me, I
can guess you had a tight taskmaster of him, Albert - I warrant you never
wore hat in his presence, eh?"
"I never cocked it at least in his presence, please your Majesty, as I
have seen some youngsters do," answered Albert; "indeed if I had, it
must have been a stout beaver to have saved me from a broken head."
"Oh, I doubt it not," replied the king; "a fine old gentleman - but with
that, methinks, in his countenance, that assures you he would not hate
the child in sparing the rod. - Hark ye, Albert - Suppose the same
glorious Restoration come round - which, if drinking to its arrival can
hasten it, should not be far distant, - for in that particular our
adherents never neglect their duty, suppose it come, therefore, and that
thy father, as must be of course, becomes an Earl and one of the Privy
Council, oddsfish, man, I shall be as much afraid of him as ever was my
grandfather Henri Quatre of old Sully. - Imagine there were such a
trinket now about the Court as the Fair Rosamond, or La Belle Gabrielle,
what a work there would be of pages, and grooms of the chamber, to get
the pretty rogue clandestinely shuffled out by the backstairs, like a
prohibited commodity, when the step of the Earl of Woodstock was heard
in the antechamber!"
"I am glad to see your Majesty so - merry after your fatiguing journey."
"The fatigue was nothing, man," said Charles; "a kind welcome and a good
meal made amends for all that. But they must have suspected thee of
bringing a wolf from the braes of Badenoch along with you, instead of a
two-legged being, with no more than the usual allowance of mortal
stowage for provisions. I was really ashamed of my appetite; but thou
knowest I had eat nothing for twenty-four hours, save the raw egg you
stole for me from the old woman's hen-roost - I tell thee, I blushed to
show myself so ravenous before that high-bred and respectable old
gentleman your father, and the very pretty girl your sister - or cousin,
is she?"
"She is my sister," said Albert Lee, dryly, and added, in the same
breath, "Your Majesty's appetite suited well enough with the character
of a raw northern lad. - Would your Majesty now please to retire to
rest?"
"Not for a minute or two," said the King, retaining his seat. "Why, man,
I have scarce had my tongue unchained to-day; and to talk with that
northern twang, and besides, the fatigue of being obliged to speak every
word in character, - Gad, it's like walking as the galley-slaves do on
the Continent, with a twenty-four pound shot chained to their legs - they
may drag it along, but they cannot move with comfort. And, by the way,
thou art slack in paying me my well-deserved tribute of compliment on my
counterfeiting. - Did I not play Louis Kerneguy as round as a ring?"
"If your Majesty asks my serious opinion, perhaps I may be forgiven if I
say your dialect was somewhat too coarse for a Scottish youth of high
birth, and your behaviour perhaps a little too churlish. I thought
too - though I pretend not to be skilful - that some of your Scottish
sounded as if it were not genuine."
"Not genuine? - there is no pleasing thee, Albert. - Why, who should speak
genuine Scottish but myself? - Was I not their King for a matter of ten
months? and if I did not get knowledge of their language, I wonder what
else I got by it. Did not east country, and south country, and west
country, and Highlands, caw, croak, and shriek about me, as the deep
guttural, the broad drawl, and the high sharp yelp predominated by
turns? - Oddsfish, man, have I not been speeched at by their orators,
addressed by their senators, rebuked by their kirkmen? Have I not sate
on the cutty-stool, mon, [again assuming the northern dialect,] and
thought it grace of worthy Mrs John Gillespie, that I was permitted to
do penance in my own privy chamber, instead of the face of the
congregation? and wilt thou tell me, after all, that I cannot speak
Scotch enough to baffle an Oxon Knight and his family?"
"May it please your Majesty, - I begun by saying I was no judge of the
Scottish language."
"Pshaw - it is mere envy; just so you said at Norton's, that I was too
courteous and civil for a young page - now you think me too rude."
"And there is a medium, if one could find it," said Albert, defending
his opinion in the same tone in which the King attacked him; "so this
morning, when you were in the woman's dress, you raised your petticoats
rather unbecomingly high, as you waded through the first little stream;
and when I told you of it, to mend the matter, you draggled through the
next without raising them at all."
"O, the devil take the woman's dress!" said Charles; "I hope I shall
never be driven to that disguise again. Why, my ugly face was enough to
put gowns, caps, and kirtles, out of fashion for ever - the very dogs
fled from me - Had I passed any hamlet that had but five huts in it, I
could not have escaped the cucking-stool. - I was a libel on womankind.
These leathern conveniences are none of the gayest, but they are
_propria quae maribus_; and right glad am I to be repossessed of them. I
can tell you too, my friend, I shall resume all my masculine privileges
with my proper habiliments; and as you say I have been too coarse
to-night, I will behave myself like a courtier to Mistress Alice
to-morrow. I made a sort of acquaintance with her already, when I seemed
to be of the same sex with herself, and found out there are other
Colonels in the wind besides you, Colonel Albert Lee."
"May it please your Majesty," said Albert - and then stopped short, from
the difficulty of finding words to express the unpleasant nature of his
feelings. They could not escape Charles; but he proceeded without
scruple. "I pique myself on seeing as far into the hearts of young
ladies as most folk, though God knows they are sometimes too deep for
the wisest of us. But I mentioned to your sister in my character of
fortune-teller, - thinking, poor simple man, that a country girl must
have no one but her brother to dream about, - that she was anxious about
a certain Colonel. I had hit the theme, but not the person; for I
alluded to you, Albert; and I presume the blush was too deep ever to be
given to a brother. So up she got, and away she flew from me like a
lap-wing. I can excuse her - for, looking at myself in the well, I think
if I had met such a creature as I seemed, I should have called fire and
fagot against it. - Now, what think you, Albert - who can this Colonel be,
that more than rivals you in your sister's affection?"
Albert, who well knew that the King's mode of thinking, where the fair
sex was concerned, was far more gay than delicate, endeavoured to put a
stop to the present topic by a grave answer.
"His sister," he said, "had been in some measure educated with the son
of her maternal uncle, Markham Everard; but as his father and he himself
had adopted the cause of the roundheads, the families had in consequence
been at variance; and any projects which might have been formerly
entertained, were of course long since dismissed on all sides."
"You are wrong, Albert, you are wrong," said the King, pitilessly
pursuing his jest. "You Colonels, whether you wear blue or orange
sashes, are too pretty fellows to be dismissed so easily, when once you
have acquired an interest. But Mistress Alice, so pretty, and who wishes
the restoration of the King with such a look and accent, as if she were
an angel whose prayers must needs bring it down, must not be allowed to
retain any thoughts of a canting roundhead - What say you - will you give
me leave to take her to task about it? - After all, I am the party most
concerned in maintaining true allegiance among my subjects; and if I
gain the pretty maiden's good will, that of the sweetheart's will soon
follow. This was jolly King Edward's way - Edward the Fourth, you know.
The king-making Earl of Warwick - the Cromwell of his day - dethroned him
more than once; but he had the hearts of the merry dames of London, and
the purses and veins of the cockneys bled freely, till they brought him
home again. How say you? - shall I shake off my northern slough, and
speak with Alice in my own character, showing what education and manners
have done for me, to make the best amends they can for an ugly face?"
"May it please your Majesty," said Albert, in an altered and embarrassed
tone, "I did not expect" -
Here he stopped, not able to find words adequate at the same time to
express his sentiments, and respectful enough to the King, while in his
father's house, and under his own protection.
"And what is it that Master Lee does not expect?" said Charles, with
marked gravity on his part.
Again Albert attempted a reply, but advanced no farther than, "I would
hope, if it please your Majesty" - when he again stopped short, his deep
and hereditary respect for his sovereign, and his sense of the
hospitality due to his misfortunes, preventing his giving utterance to
his irritated feelings.
"And what does Colonel Albert Lee hope?" said Charles, in the same dry
and cold manner in which he had before spoken. - "No answer? - Now, I
_hope_ that Colonel Lee does not see in a silly jest anything offensive
to the honour of his family, since methinks that were an indifferent
compliment to his sister, his father, and himself, not to mention
Charles Stewart, whom he calls his King; and I _expect_, that I shall
not be so hardly construed, as to be supposed capable of forgetting that
Mistress Alice Lee is the daughter of my faithful subject and host, and
the sister of my guide and preserver. - Come, come, Albert," he added,
changing at once to his naturally frank and unceremonious manner, "you
forget how long I have been abroad where men, women, and children, talk
gallantry morning, noon, and night, with no more serious thought than
just to pass away the time; and I forget, too, that you are of the
old-fashioned English school, a son after Sir Henry's own heart, and
don't understand raillery upon such subjects. - But I ask your pardon,
Albert, sincerely, if I have really hurt you."
So saying, he extended his hand to Colonel Lee, who, feeling he had been
rather too hasty in construing the King's jest in an unpleasant sense,
kissed it with reverence, and attempted an apology.
"Not a word - not a word," said the good-natured Prince, raising his
penitent adherent as he attempted to kneel; "we understand each other.
You are somewhat afraid of the gay reputation which I acquired in
Scotland; but I assure you, I will be as stupid as you or your cousin
Colonel could desire, in presence of Mistress Alice Lee, and only bestow
my gallantry, should I have any to throw away, upon the pretty little
waiting-maid who attended at supper - unless you should have monopolized
her ear for your own benefit, Colonel Albert?"
"It is monopolized, sure enough, though not by me, if it please your
Majesty, but by Joceline Joliffe, the under-keeper, whom we must not
disoblige, as we have trusted him so far already, and may have occasion
to repose even entire confidence in him. I half think he suspects who
Louis Kerneguy may in reality be."
"You are an engrossing set, you wooers of Woodstock," said the King,
laughing. "Now, if I had a fancy, as a Frenchman would not fail to have
in such a case, to make pretty speeches to the deaf old woman I saw in
the kitchen, as a pisaller, I dare say I should be told that her ear was
engrossed for Dr. Rochecliffe's sole use?"
"I marvel at your Majesty's good spirits," said Albert, "that after a
day of danger, fatigue, and accidents, you should feel the power of
amusing yourself thus."
"That is to say, the groom of the chambers wishes his Majesty would go
to sleep? - Well, one word or two on more serious business, and I have
done. - I have been completely directed by you and Rochecliffe - I have
changed my disguise from female to male upon the instant, and altered my
destination from Hampshire to take shelter here - Do you still hold it
the wiser course?"
"I have great confidence in Dr. Rochecliffe," replied Albert, "whose
acquaintance with the scattered royalists enables him to gain the most
accurate intelligence. His pride in the extent of his correspondence,
and the complication of his plots and schemes for your Majesty's
service, is indeed the very food he lives upon; but his sagacity is
equal to his vanity. I repose, besides, the utmost faith in Joliffe. Of
my father and sister I would say nothing; yet I would not, without
reason, extend the knowledge of your Majesty's person farther than it is
indispensably necessary."
"Is it handsome in me," said Charles, pausing, "to withhold my full
confidence from Sir Henry Lee?"
"Your Majesty heard of his almost death-swoon of last night - what would
agitate him most deeply must not be hastily communicated."
"True; but are we safe from a visit of the red-coats - they have them in
Woodstock as well as in Oxford?" said Charles.
"Dr. Rochecliffe says, not unwisely," answered Lee, "that it is best
sitting near the fire when the chimney smokes; and that Woodstock, so
lately in possession of the sequestrators, and still in the vicinity of
the soldiers, will be less suspected, and more carelessly searched, than
more distant corners, which might seem to promise more safety. Besides,"
he added, "Rochecliffe is in possession of curious and important news
concerning the state of matters at Woodstock, highly favourable to your
Majesty's being concealed in the palace for two or three days, till
shipping is provided. The Parliament, or usurping Council of State, had
sent down sequestrators, whom their own evil conscience, assisted,
perhaps, by the tricks of some daring cavaliers, had frightened out of
the Lodge, without much desire to come back again. Then the more
formidable usurper, Cromwell, had granted a warrant of possession to
Colonel Everard, who had only used it for the purpose of repossessing
his uncle in the Lodge, and who kept watch in person at the little
borough, to see that Sir Henry was not disturbed."
"What! Mistress Alice's Colonel?" said the King - "that sounds
alarming; - for grant that he keeps the other fellows at bay, think you
not, Master Albert, he will have an hundred errands a-day, to bring him
here in person?"
"Dr. Rochecliffe says," answered Lee, "the treaty between Sir Henry and
his nephew binds the latter not to approach the Lodge, unless
invited; - indeed, it was not without great difficulty, and strongly
arguing the good consequences it might produce to your Majesty's cause,
that my father could be prevailed on to occupy Woodstock at all; but be
assured he will be in no hurry to send an invitation to the Colonel."
"And be you assured that the Colonel will come without waiting for one,"
said Charles. "Folk cannot judge rightly where sisters are
concerned - they are too familiar with the magnet to judge of its powers
of attraction. - Everard will be here, as if drawn by cart-ropes -
fetters, not to talk of promises, will not hold him - and then, methinks,
we are in some danger."
"I hope not," said Albert. "In the first place, I know Markham is a
slave to his word: besides, were any chance to bring him here, I think I
could pass your Majesty upon him without difficulty, as Louis Kerneguy.
Then, although my cousin and I have not been on good terms for these
some years, I believe him incapable of betraying your Majesty; and
lastly, if I saw the least danger of it, I would, were he ten times the
son of my mother's sister, run my sword through his body, ere he had
time to execute his purpose."
"There is but another question," said Charles, "and I will release you,
Albert: - You seem to think yourself secure from search. It may be so;
but, in any other country, this tale of goblins which is flying about
would bring down priests and ministers of justice to examine the reality
of the story, and mobs of idle people to satisfy their curiosity."
"Respecting the first, sir, we hope and understand that Colonel
Everard's influence will prevent any immediate enquiry, for the sake of
preserving undisturbed the peace of his uncle's family; and as for any
one coming without some sort of authority, the whole neighbours have so
much love and fear of my father, and are, besides, so horribly alarmed
about the goblins of Woodstock, that fear will silence curiosity."
"On the whole, then," said Charles, "the chances of safety seem to be in
favour of the plan we have adopted, which is all I can hope for in a
condition where absolute safety is out of the question. The Bishop
recommended Dr. Rochecliffe as one of the most ingenious, boldest, and
most loyal sons of the Church of England; you, Albert Lee, have marked
your fidelity by a hundred proofs. To you and your local knowledge I
submit myself. - And now, prepare our arms - alive I will not be taken; -
yet I will not believe that a son of the King of England, and heir of
her throne, could be destined to danger in his own palace, and under the
guard of the loyal Lees."
Albert Lee laid pistols and swords in readiness by the King's bed and
his own; and Charles, after some slight apology, took his place in the
larger and better bed, with a sigh of pleasure, as from one who had not
lately enjoyed such an indulgence. He bid good night to his faithful
attendant, who deposited himself on his truckle; and both monarch and
subject were soon fast asleep.
* * * * *
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND.
Give Sir Nicholas Threlkeld praise;
Hear it, good man, old in days,
Thou tree of succour and of rest
To this young bird that was distress'd;
Beneath thy branches he did stay;
And he was free to sport and play,
When falcons were abroad for prey.
WORDSWORTH.
The fugitive Prince slept, in spite of danger, with the profound repose
which youth and fatigue inspire. But the young cavalier, his guide and
guard, spent a more restless night, starting from time to time, and
listening; anxious, notwithstanding Dr. Rochecliffe's assurances, to
procure yet more particular knowledge concerning the state of things
around them, than he had been yet able to collect.
He rose early after daybreak; but although he moved with as little noise
as was possible, the slumbers of the hunted Prince were easily
disturbed. He started up in his bed, and asked if there was any alarm.
"None, please your Majesty," replied Lee; "only, thinking on the
questions your Majesty was asking last night, and the various chances
there are of your Majesty's safety being endangered from unforeseen
accidents, I thought of going thus early, both to communicate with Dr.
Rochecliffe, and to keep such a look-out as befits the place, where are
lodged for the time the Fortunes of England. I fear I must request of
your Majesty, for your own gracious security, that you have the goodness
to condescend to secure the door with your own hand after I go out."
"Oh, talk not to Majesty, for Heaven's sake, dear Albert!" answered the
poor King, endeavouring in vain to put on a part of his clothes, in
order to traverse the room. - "When a King's doublet and hose are so
ragged that he can no more find his way into them than he could have
travelled through the forest of Deane without a guide, good faith, there
should be an end of Majesty, until it chances to be better accommodated.
Besides, there is the chance of these big words bolting out at unawares,
when there are ears to hear them whom we might think dangerous."
"Your commands shall be obeyed," said Lee, who had now succeeded in
opening the door; from which he took his departure, leaving the King,
who had hustled along the floor for that purpose, with his dress wofully
ill arranged, to make it fast again behind him, and begging him in no
case to open to any one, unless he or Rochecliffe were of the party who
summoned him.
Albert then set out in quest of Dr. Rochecliffe's apartment, which was
only known to himself and the faithful Joliffe, and had at different
times accommodated that steady churchman with a place of concealment,
when, from his bold and busy temper, which led him into the most
extensive and hazardous machinations on the King's behalf, he had been
strictly sought after by the opposite party. Of late, the inquest after
him had died entirely away, as he had prudently withdrawn himself from
the scene of his intrigues. Since the loss of the battle of Worcester,
he had been afloat again, and more active than ever; and had, by friends
and correspondents, and especially the Bishop of - - , been the means of
directing the King's flight towards Woodstock, although it was not until
the very day of his arrival that he could promise him a safe reception
at that ancient mansion.
Albert Lee, though he revered both the undaunted spirit and ready
resources of the bustling and intriguing churchman, felt he had not been
enabled by him to answer some of Charles's questions yesternight, in a
way so distinct as one trusted with the King's safety ought to have
done; and it was now his object to make himself personally acquainted,
if possible, with the various bearings of so weighty a matter, as became
a man on whom so much of the responsibility was likely to descend.
Even his local knowledge was scarce adequate to find the Doctor's secret
apartment, had he not traced his way after a genial flavour of roasted
game through divers blind passages, and up and down certain very useless
stairs, through cupboards and hatchways, and so forth, to a species of
sanctum sanctorum, where Joceline Joliffe was ministering to the good
Doctor a solemn breakfast of wild-fowl, with a cup of small beer stirred
with a sprig of rosemary, which Dr. Rochecliffe preferred to all strong
potations. Beside him sat Bevis on his tail, slobbering and looking
amiable, moved by the rare smell of the breakfast, which had quite
overcome his native dignity of disposition.
The chamber in which the Doctor had established himself was a little
octangular room, with walls of great thickness, within which were
fabricated various issues, leading in different directions, and
communicating with different parts of the building. Around him were
packages with arms, and near him one small barrel, as it seemed, of
gunpowder; many papers in different parcels, and several keys for
correspondence in cipher; two or three scrolls covered with
hieroglyphics were also beside him, which Albert took for plans of
nativity; and various models of machinery, in which Dr. Rochecliffe was
an adept. There were also tools of various kinds, masks, cloaks, and a
dark lantern, and a number of other indescribable trinkets belonging to
the trade of a daring plotter in dangerous times. Last, there was a
casket with gold and silver coin of different countries, which was left
carelessly open, as if it were the least of Dr. Rochecliffe's concern,
although his habits in general announced narrow circumstances, if not
actual poverty. Close by the divine's plate lay a Bible and Prayer-book,
with some proof sheets, as they are technically called, seemingly fresh
from the press. There was also within the reach of his hand a dirk, or
Scottish poniard, a powder-horn, and a musketoon, or blunderbuss, with a
pair of handsome pocket-pistols. In the midst of this miscellaneous
collection, the Doctor sat eating his breakfast with great appetite, as
little dismayed by the various implements of danger around him, as a
workman is when accustomed to the perils of a gunpowder manufactory.
"So, young gentleman," he said, getting up and extending his hand, "are
you come to breakfast with me in good fellowship, or to spoil my meal
this morning, as you did my supper last night, by asking untimely
questions?"
"I will pick a bone with you with all my heart," said Albert; "and if
you please, Doctor, I would ask some questions which seem not quite
untimely."
So saying he sat down, and assisted the Doctor in giving a very
satisfactory account of a brace of wild-ducks and a leash of teal.
Bevis, who maintained his place with great patience and insinuation, had
his share of a collop, which was also placed on the well-furnished
board; for, like most high-bred dogs, he declined eating waterfowl.
"Come hither then, Albert Lee," said the Doctor, laying down his knife
and fork, and plucking the towel from his throat, so soon as Joceline
was withdrawn; "thou art still the same lad thou wert when I was thy
tutor - never satisfied with having got a grammar rule, but always
persecuting me with questions why the rule stood so, and not otherwise -
over-curious after information which thou couldst not comprehend, as
Bevis slobbered and whined for the duck-wing, which he could not eat."
"I hope you will find me more reasonable, Doctor," answered Albert; "and
at the same time, that you will recollect I am not now _sub ferula_, but
am placed in circumstances where I am not at liberty to act upon the
_ipse dixit_ of any man, unless my own judgment be convinced. I shall
deserve richly to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, should any misfortune
happen by my misgovernment in this business."
"And it is therefore, Albert, that I would have thee trust the whole to
me, without interfering. Thou sayest, forsooth, thou art not _sub
ferula_; but recollect that while you have been fighting in the field, I
have been plotting in the study - that I know all the combinations of the
King's friends, ay, and all the motions of his enemies, as well as a
spider knows every mesh of his web. Think of my experience, man. Not a
cavalier in the land but has heard of Rochecliffe, the Plotter. I have
been a main limb in every thing that has been attempted since
forty-two - penned declarations, conducted correspondence, communicated
with chiefs, recruited followers, commissioned arms, levied money,
appointed rendezvouses. I was in the Western Riding; and before that, in
the City Petition, and in Sir John Owen's stir in Wales; in short,
almost in every plot for the King, since Tomkins and Challoner's
matter."
"But were not all these plots unsuccessful?" said Albert; "and were not
Tomkins and Challoner hanged, Doctor?"
"Yes, my young friend," answered the Doctor, gravely, "as many others
have been with whom I have acted; but only because they did not follow
my advice implicitly. You never heard that I was hanged myself?"
"The time may come, Doctor," said Albert; "The pitcher goes oft to the
well. - The proverb, as my father would say, is somewhat musty. But I,
too, have some confidence in my own judgment; and, much as I honour the
Church, I cannot altogether subscribe to passive obedience. I will tell
you in one word what points I must have explanation on; and it will
remain with you to give it, or to return a message to the King that you
will not explain your plan; in which case, if he acts by my advice, he
will leave Woodstock, and resume his purpose of getting to the coast
without delay."
"Well, then," said the Doctor, "thou suspicious monster, make thy
demands, and, if they be such as I can answer without betraying
confidence, I will reply to them."
"In the first place, then, what is all this story about ghosts, and
witch-crafts, and apparitions? and do you consider it as safe for his
Majesty to stay in a house subject to such visitations, real or
pretended?"
"You must be satisfied with my answer _in verbo sacerdotis_ - the
circumstances you allude to will not give the least annoyance to
Woodstock during the King's residence. I cannot explain farther; but for
this I will be bound, at the risk of my neck."
"Then," said Lee, "we must take Dr. Rochecliffe's bail that the devil
will keep the peace towards our Sovereign Lord the King - good. Now there
lurked about this house the greater part of yesterday, and perhaps slept
here, a fellow called Tomkins, - a bitter Independent, and a secretary,
or clerk, or something or other, to the regicide dog Desborough. The man
is well known - a wild ranter in religious opinions, but in private
affairs far-sighted, cunning, and interested even as any rogue of them
all."
"Be assured we will avail ourselves of his crazy fanaticism to mislead
his wicked cunning; - a child may lead a hog, if it has wit to fasten a
cord to the ring in its nose," replied the Doctor.
"You may be deceived," said Albert; "the age has many such as this
fellow, whose views of the spiritual and temporal world are so
different, that they resemble the eyes of a squinting man; one of which,