St. George and St. Michael (Volume 1) online

now from my heart to seek my lady's, but your
lordship frighted it.'

' And so it flew back to Paradise — eh,
mistress Dorothy ? ' said lord Herbert, smiling
archly.

The supper bell rang, and instead of reply-
ing, Dorothy looked up for her dismissal.

* Go to supper, my lady,' said lord Herbert.
* I have but just dined, and will see what
Caspar is about.'

' I want no supper but my Herbert,' returned
lady Margaret. ' Thou wilt not go to that
hateful workshop } '

* I have so little time at home now '

' That you must spend it from your lady ?—
Go to supper, Dorothy.'



CHAPTER XV.



HUSBAND AND WIFE.




HAT an old-fashioned damsel It is !'
said lord Herbert when Dorothy-
had left the room.

' She has led a lonely life,'
answered lady Margaret, 'and has read a many
old-fashioned books.'

' She seems a right companion for thee,
Peggy, and I am glad of it, for I shall be much
from thee — more and more, I fear, till this bitter
weather be gone by.'

' Alas, Ned ! hast thou not been more than
much from me already ? Thou wilt certainly
be killed, though thou hast not yet a scratch on
thy blessed body. I would it were over and
all well !' .

' So would I — and heartily, dear heart ! In



Htisband and Wife. 223

very truth I love fighting as little as thou. But
it is a thing that hath to be done, though small
honour will ever be mine therefrom, I greatly
fear me. It is one of those affairs in which
liking goes farther than goodwill, and as I say,
I love it not, only to do my duty. Hence
doubtless it comes that no luck attends me.
God knows I fear nothing a man ought not to
fear — he is my witness — but what good service
of arms have I yet rendered my king ? It is
but thy face, Peggy, that draws the smile from
me. My heart is heavy. See how my rascally
Welsh yielded before Gloucester, when the
rogue Waller stole a march upon them — and I
must be from thence ! Had I but been there
instead of at Oxford, thinkest thou they would
have laid down their arms nor struck a single
blow ? I like not killing, but I can kill, and I
can be killed. Thou knowest, sweet wife, thy
Ned would not run.'

' Holy mother !' exclaimed lady Margaret.

' But I have no good luck at fighting,' he
went on. ' And how again at Monmouth, the
hare-hearts with which I had thought to garrison
the place fled at the bare advent of that same
parliament beagle. Waller ! By St. George ! it



2 24 St. George and St, Michael.

were easier to make an engine that should mow
down a thousand brave men with one sweep of
a scythe — and I could make It — than to put
courage into the heart of one runaway rascal.
It makes me mad to think how they have
disgraced me!'

* But Monmouth is thine own again, Herbert!'

* Yes — thanks to the love they bear my father,
not to my generalship ! Thy husband is a poor
soldier, Peggy : he cannot make soldiers.'

' Then why not leave the field to others, and
labour at thy engines, love ? If thou wilt, I
tell thee what — I will doff my gown, and in
wrapper and petticoat help thee, sweet. I will
to it with bare arms like thine own.'

' Thou wouldst like Una make a sunshine
in the shady place, Margaret. But no. Poor
soldier as I am, I will do my best, even where
good fortune fails me, and glory awaits not my
coming. Thou knowest that at fourteen days'
warning I brought four thousand foot and eight
hundred horse again to the siege of Gloucester.
It would ill befit my fathers son to spare what
he can when he is pouring out his wealth like
water at the feet of his king. No, wife ; the
king shall not find me wanting, for in serving



Husband and Wife. 225

my king, I serve my God ; and if I should fail,
it may hold that an honest failure comes nigh
enough a victory to be set down in the chronicles
of the high countries. But in truth it presses
on me sorely, and I am troubled at heart that I
should be so given over to failure.'

' Never heed it, my lord. The sun comes
out clear at last maugre all the region fogs.'

' Thanks, sweet heart ! Things do look up a
little in the main, and if the king had but a
dozen more such friends as my lord marquis,
they would soon be well. Why, my dove of
comfort, wouldst thou believe it ? — I did this
day, as I rode home to seek thy fair face, I did
count up what sums he hath already spent for
his liege ; and indeed I could not recollect them
all, but I summed up, of pounds already spent
by him on his majesty's behalf, well towards a
hundred and fifty thousand ! And thou knowest
the good man, that while he giveth generously
like the great Giver, he giveth not carelessly,
but hath respect to what he spendeth.'

' Thy father, Ned, is loyalty and generosity
incarnate. If thou be but half so good a
husband as thy father is a subject, I am a
happy woman.'

VOL. I. p



2 26 St. George and St. Michael.

* What ! know'st thou not yet thy husband,
Peggy ? '

* In good soberness, though, Ned, surely the
saints in heaven will never let such devotion
fail of its end.'

* My father is but one, and the king's foes are
many. So are his friends — but they are luke-
warm compared to my father — the rich ones of
them, I mean. Would to God I had not lost
those seven great troop-horses that the pudding-
fisted clothiers of Gloucester did rob me of !
I need them sorely now. I bought them with
mine own — or rather with thine, sweet heart.
I had been saving up the money for a carcanet
for thy fair neck.'

' So my neck be fair in thine eyes, my lord,
it may go bare and be well clad. I should, in
sad earnest, be jealous of the pretty stones
didst thou give my neck one look the more for
their presence. Here ! thou may'st sell these
the next time thou goest London-wards.'

As she spoke, she put up her hand to un-
clasp her necklace of large pearls,- but he laid
his hand upon it, saying,

' Nay, Margaret, there is no need. My
father is like the father in the parable : he hath



Husband and Wife. 227

enough and to spare. I did mean to have
the money of him again, only as the vaunted
horses never came, but were swallowed up of
Gloucester, as Jonah of the whale, and have
not yet been cast up again, I could not bring
my tongue to ask him for it ; and so thy neck
is bare of emeralds, my dove.'

' Back and sides go bare, go bare,'

sang lady Margaret with a merry laugh ;

' Both foot and hand go cold ; '

here she paused for a moment, and looked
down with a shining thoughtfulness ; then sang
out clear and loud, with bold alteration of
bishop Stills' drinking song,

* But, heart, God send thee love enough,
Of the new that will never be old. '

* Amen, my dove !' said lord Herbert.

' Thou art in doleful dumps, Ned. If we
had but a masque for thee, or a play, or even
some jugglers with their balls ! '

' Puh, Peggy ! thou art masque and play
both in one ; and for thy jugglers, I trust I can
juggle better at my own hand than any troop



2 28 SL George and St. Michael,

of them from furthest India. Sing me a song,
sweet heart.'

' I will, my love/ answered lady Margaret.

Rising, she went to the harpsichord, and sang,
in sweet unaffected style, one of the songs of
her native country, a, merry ditty, with a
breathing of sadness in the refrain of it, like a
twilight wind in a bed of bulrushes.

* Thanks, my love,' said lord Herbert, when
she had finished. ' But I would I could tell its
hidden purport ; for I am one of those who
think music none the worse for carrying with it
an air of such sound as speaks to the brain as
well as the heart*

Lady Margaret gave a playful sigh.

* Thou hast one fault, my Edward — thou art
a stranger to the tongue in which, through my
old nurse's tales, I learned the language of love.
I cannot call it my mother-tongue, but it is my
love-tongue. Why, when thou art from me,
I am loving thee in Irish all day long, and thou
never knowest what my heart says to thee! It
is a sad lack in thy all-completeness, dear heart.
But, I bethink me, thy new cousin did sing a
fair song in thy own tongue the other day, the
which if thou canst understand one straw better



Husband a7td Wife. 229

than my Irish, I will learn it for thy sake,
though truly it is Greek to me. I will send for
her. Shall I ? '

As she spoke she rose and rang the bell on
the table, and a little page, in waiting in the
antechamber, appeared, whom she sent to desire
the attendance of mistress Dorothy Vaughan.

' Come, child,' said her mistress as she
entered, ' I would have thee sing to my lord
the song that wandering harper taught thee.'

* Madam, I have learned of no wandering
harper: your ladyship means mistress Amanda's
Welsh song! shall I call her?' said Dorothy,
disappointed.

' I mean thee, and thy song, thou green
linnet!' rejoined lady Margaret. 'What song
was it of which I said to thee that the singer
deserved, for his very song's sake, that whereof
he made his moan ? Whence thou hadst it,
from harper or bagpiper, I care not.'

' Excuse me, madam, but why should I sing
that you love not to hear ?'

' It is not I would hear it, child, but I would
have my lord hear it. I would fain prove to
him that there are songs in plain English, as
he calls it, that have as little import, even to an



2 30 SL Geo7^ge and St. Michael.

English ear, as the plain truth-speaking Irish
ditties which he will not understand. I say
** will not," because our bards tell us that Irish
was the language of Adam and Eve while yet
in Paradise, and therefore he could by instinct
understand it an' he would, even as the chickens
understand their mother-tongue.'

* I will sing it at your desire, madam ; but I
fear the worse fault will lie in the singing.'

She seated herself at the harpsichord, and
sang the following spng with much feeling and
simplicity. The refrain of the song, if it may
be so called, instead of closing each stanza,
preluded it.

O fair, O sweet, when I do look on thee,
In whom all joys so well agree,
Heart and soul do sing in me.

This you hear is not my tongue,
Which once said M'hat I conceived,
For it was of use bereaved,
With a cruel answer stung.

No, though tongue to roof be cleaved,
Fearing lest he chastis'd be,
Heart and soul do sing in me.

O fair, O sweet, &c.

Just accord all music makes :

In thee just accord excelleth.

Where each part in such peace dwelleth,

One of other beauty takes.

Since then truth to all minds telleth



Husband a7id Wife. 231

That in thee lives harmony,
Heart and soul do sing in me.

O fair, O sweet, &c.

They that heaven have known, do say
That whoso that grace obtaineth
To see what fair sight there reigneth.
Forced is to sing alway ;

So then, since that heaven remaineth

In thy face, I plainly see.

Heart and soul do sing in me.

O fair, O sweet, &c.

Sweet, think not I am at ease.
For because my chief part singeth ;
This song from death's son-ow springeth,
As to Swan in last disease ;

For no dumbness nor death bringeth

Stay to true love's melody :

Heart and soul do sing in me.

' There ! ' cried lady Margaret, with a merry
laugh. ' What says the English song to my
English husband ?'

' It says much, Margaret,' returned lord Her-
bert, who had been listening intently ; ' it tells
me to love you for ever. — What poet is he who
wrote the song, mistress Dorothy ? He is not
of our day — that I can tell but too plainly. It
is a good song, and saith much.'

' I found it near the end of the book called
'* The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia,'" replied
Dorothy.



232 SL George a7id St. Michael.

* And I knew it not ! Methought I had read
all that man of men ever wrote,' said lord Her-
bert. * But I may have read it, and let it slip.
But now that, by the help of the music and thy
singing, cousin Dorothy, I am come to under-
stand it, truly I shall forget it no more. Where
got'st thou the music, pray ?'

' It says in the book it was fitted to a certain
Spanish tune, the name of which I knew not,
and yet know not how to pronounce ; but I had
the look of the words in my head, and when I
came upon some Spanish songs in an old chest
at home, and, turning them over, saw those
words, I knew I had found the tune to sir
Philip's verses.'

' Tell me then, my lord, why you are pleased
with the song,' said lady Margaret, very quietly.

* Come, mistress Dorothy,' said lord Herbert,
' repeat the song to my lady, slowly, line by line,
and she will want no exposition thereon.'

When Dorothy had done as he requested,
lady Margaret put her arm round her husband's
neck, laid her cheek to his, and said,

* I am a goose, Ned. It is a fair and sweet
song. I thank you, Dorothy. You shall sing
it to me another time when my lord is away,



Husband and Wife, 233

and I shall love to think my lord was ill content
with me when I called it a foolish thing. But
my Irish was a good song too, my lord.'

* Thy singing of it proves it, sweet heart. —
But come, my fair minstrel, thou hast earned a
good guerdon : what shall I give thee in return
for thy song ?'

' A boon, a boon, my lord !' cried Dorothy.

* It is thine ere thou ask it,' returned his lord-
ship, merrily following up the old-fashioned
phrase with like formality.

' I must then tell my lord what hath been in
my foolish mind ever since my lady took me to
the keep, and I saw his marvellous array of
engines. I would glady understand them, my
lord. Who can fail to delight in such inven-
tions as brinof about that which before seemed
impossible ? '

Here came a little sigh with the thought of
her old companion Richard, and the things they
had together contrived. Already, on the mist
of gathering time, a halo had begun to glimmer
about his head, puritan, fanatic, blasphemer even,
as she had called him.

Lord Herbert marked the soundless sigh.

' You shall not sigh in vain, mistress Dorothy,*



234 ^^' George and St. Michael.

he said, ' for anything I can give you. To one
who loves inventions it is easy to explain them.
I hoped you had a hankering that way when I
saw you look so curiously at the cross-bow ere
you discharged it.'

' Was it then charged, my lord ?'

* Indeed, as it happened, it was. A great
steel-headed arrow lay in the groove. I ought
to have taken that away when I bent it. Some
passing horseman may have carried it with him
in the body of his plunging steed.'

* Oh, my lord ! ' cried Dorothy, aghast.

' Pray, do not be alarmed, cousin : I but
jested. Had anything happened, we should
have heard of it. It was not in the least likely.
You will not be long in this house before you
learn that we do not speak by the card here.
We jest not a little. But in truth I was disap-
pointed when I found your curiosity so easily
allayed.'

* Indeed, my lord, it was not allayed, and is
still unsatisfied. But I had no thought who it
was offered me the knowledge I craved. Had
I known, I should never have refused the lesson
so courteously offered. But I was a stranger
in the castle, and I thought — I feared — I '



Husband a?id Wife. 235

' You did even as prudence required, cousin
Dorothy. A young maiden cannot be too chary
of unbucldlng her enchanted armour so long as
the country is unknown to her. But It would
be hard if she were to suffer for her modesty.
You shall be welcome to my cave. I trust you
will not find it as the cave of Trophonlus to
you. If I am not there — and it is not now as
it has been, when you might have found me in
it every day, and almost every hour of the day ;
but if I be not there, do not fear Caspar Kaltoff,
who Is a worthy man, and as my right hand to
do the things my brain deviseth. I will speak
to him of thee. He is full of trust and worthi-
ness, and, although not of gentle blood, is
sprung from a long race of artificers, the cloak
of whose gathered skill seems to have fallen on
him. He hath been in my service now for
many years, but you will be the first lady, gentle
cousin, who has ever in all that time wished us
good speed in our endeavours. How few
know,' he went on thoughtfully, after a pause,
* what a joy lies In making things obey thoughts!
in calling out of the mind, as from the vasty
deep, and setting In visible presence before the
bodily eye, that which till then had neither local



236 S^. George and St. Michael.

habitation nor name ! Some such marvels I
have to show — for marvels I must call them,
although it Is my voice they have obeyed to
come ; and I never lose sight of the marvel
even while amusing myself with the merest toy
of my own invention.'

He paused, and Dorothy ventured to speak.

' I thank you, my lord, with all my heart.
When have I leave to visit those marvels ?'

' When you please. If I am not there, Caspar
will be. If Caspar is not there, you will find
the door open, for to enter that chamber without
permission would be a breach of law such as
not a soul in Raglan would dare be guilty of.
And were it not so, there are few indeed in the
place who would venture to set foot in it if I
were absent, for it is not outside the castle walls
only that I am looked upon as a magician. The
armourer firmly believes that with a word
uttered in my den there, I could make the
weakest wall of the castle impregnable, but that
it would be at too great a cost. If you come
to-morrow morning you will find me almost
certainly. But In case you should find neither
of us — do not touch anything ; be content with
looking — for fear of mischance. Engines are



* Husband and Wife. 237

as tickle to meddle with as incantations them
selves.'

' If I know myself, you may trust me, my
lord,' said Dorothy, to which he replied with a
smile of confidence.




CHAPTER XVI.



Dorothy's initiation.




HERE was much about the castle
itself to interest Dorothy. She had
already begun the attempt to gather
a clear notion of its many parts and
their relations, but the knowledge of the build-
ing could not well advance more rapidly than
her acquaintance with its inmates, for little was
to be done from the outside alone, and she could
not bear to be met in strange places by strange
people. So that part of her education — I use
the word advisedly, for to know all about the
parts of an old building may do more for the
education of minds of a certain stamp than the
severest course of logic — must wait upon time
and opportunity.

Every day, often twice, sometimes thrice, she



Dorothy s Initiation. 239

would visit the stable-yard, and have an Inter-
view first with the chained Marquis, and then
with her little horse. After that she would
seldom miss looking In at the armourer's shop,
and spending a few minutes In watching him at
his work, so that she was soon familiar with all
sorts of armour favoured In the castle. The
blacksmiths' and the carpenters' shops were also
an attraction to her, and it was not long before
she knew all the artisans about the place.
There were the farm and poultry yards too,
with which kinds of place she was familiar —
especially with their animals and all their ways.
The very wild beasts In their dens in the solid
basement of the kitchen tower — a panther, two
leopards, an ounce, and a toothless old Hon had
already begun to know her a little, for she never
went near their cages without carrying them
something to eat. For all these visits there was
plenty of room, lady Margaret never requiring
much of her time in the early part of the day,
and finding the reports she brought of what
was going on always amusing. And now the
orchards and gardens would soon be inviting,
for the heart of the world was already sending
up Its blood to dye the apple blossoms.



240 S/. George and St. Michael.

But all the opportunities she yet had were
less than was needful for the development of
such a mind as Dorothy's, which, powerful in
itself, needed to be roused, and was slow in its
movements except when excited by a quick
succession of objects, or the contact of a kin-
dred but busier nature. It was lacking not
only in generative, but in self - moving
energy. Of self - sustaining force she had
abundance.

There was a really fine library in the castle,
to which she had free access, and whence, now
and then, lady Margaret would make her bring a
book from which to read aloud, while she and
her other ladies were at work ; but books were
not enough to rouse Dorothy, and when inclined
to read she would return too exclusively to
what she already knew, making little effort to
extend her gleaning-ground.

From this fragment of analysis it will be
seen that the new resource thus opened to her
might prove of more consequence than, great as
were her expectations from it, she was yet able
to anticipate. But infinitely greater good
than any knowledge of his mechanical triumphs
could bring her, was on its way to Dorothy



Dorothy s Initiation. 241

along the path of growing acquaintance with
the noble-minded inventor himself.

The next morning, then, she was up before
the sun, and, sitting at her window, awaited his
arrival. The moment he shone upon the gilded
cock of the bell tower, she rose and hastened
out, eager to taste of the sweets promised her ;
stood a moment to gaze on the limpid stream
ever flowing from the mouth of the white horse,
and wonder whence that and the whale-spouts
he so frequently sent aloft from his nostrils
came ; then passing through the archway and
over the bridge, found herself at the magician's
door. For a moment she hesitated : from
within came such a tumult of hammering, that
plainly it was of no use to knock, and she could
not at once bring herself to enter unannounced
and uninvited. But confidence in lord Herbert
soon aroused her courage, and gently she
opened the door and peeped in. There he
stood, in a linen frock that reached from his
neck to his knees, already hard at work at a
small anvil on a bench, while Caspar was still
harder at work at a huge anvil on the ground
in front of a forge. This, with the mighty
bellows attached to it, occupied one of the six

VOL. I. Q



242 S^. George and St. Michael.

sides of the room, and the great roaring, hissing
thing that had so frightened lady Margaret,
now silent and cold, occupied another. Neither
of the men saw her. So she entered, closed the
door, and approached lord Herbert, but he
continued unaware of her presence until she
spoke. Then he ceased his hammering, turned,
and greeted her with his usual smile of sincerity
absolute.

' Are you always as true to your appoint-
ments, cousin ?' he said, and resumed his
hammering.

' It was hardly an appointment, my lord, and
yet here I am,' said Dorothy.

' And you mean to infer that V

' An appointment is no slight matter, my lord,
or one that admits of breaking.'

' Right,' returned his lordship, still hammering
at the thin plate of whitish metal growing
thinner and thinner under his blows. Dorothy
glanced around her for a moment.

' I would not be troublesome, my lord,' she
said ; ' but would you tell me in a few words
what it is you make here ?'

' Had I three tongues, and thou three ears,'
answered lord Herbert, ' I coulci not. But look



Dorothy s hiitiation. 243

round thee, cousin, and when thou splest the
thing that draws thine eye more than another,
ask me concerning that, and I will tell thee.'

Hardly had Dorothy, in obedience, cast her
eyes about the place, ere they lighted on the
same huge wheel which had before chiefly
attracted her notice.

* What is that great wheel for, with such a
number of weights hung to it ?' she asked.

' For a memorial,' replied lord Herbert, ' of
the folly of the man who placeth his hopes in
man. That wonderful engine ; it is now nearly
three years since I showed it to his blessed
majesty in the Tower of London, also with him
to the dukes of Richmond and Hamilton, and
two extraordinary ambassadors besides, but of
them all no man hath ever sought to look upon
it again. It is a form of the Proteus-like per-
petMum mobile — a most incredible thing if not
seen.'

He then proceeded to show her how, as every
spoke passed the highest point, the weight
attached to it immediately hung a foot farther
from the centre of the wheel, and as every spoke
passed the lowest point, its weight returned a
foot nearer to the centre, thus causiuLT the



244 '5'/. George and St. Michael,

leverage to be greater always on one and the
same side of the wheel. Few of my readers
will regret so much as myself that I am unable
to give them the constructive explanation his
lordship gave Dorothy as to the shifting of the
weights. Whether she understood it or not, I
cannot tell either, but that is of less conse-