The Caged Lion

by Charlotte M. Yonge

  CHAPTER VIII: THE CAPTURE

  The seven months' siege ended at last, but it was not until thebrightness of May was on the fields outside, and the deadly blight offamine on all within, that a haggard, wasted-looking deputation came downfrom the upper city to treat with the King.

  Henry was never severe with the inhabitants of French cities, and exactedno harsh terms, save that he insisted that Vaurus, the robber captain,and his two chief lieutenants, should be given up to him to suffercondign punishment. The warriors who had shut themselves up to hold outthe place by honourable warfare for the Dauphin must be put to ransom asprisoners of war; but the burghers were to be unmolested, on condition oftheir swearing allegiance to Henry as regent for, and heir of, CharlesVI.

  To this the deputies consented, and the next day was fixed for thesurrender. The difficulty was, as Henry had found at Harfleur, Rouen,and many other places, to enforce forbearance on his soldiery, whoregarded plunder as their lawful prey, the enemy as their natural game,and the trouble a city had given them as a cause for unmercifulness. Themore time changed his army from the feudal gathering of English countrygentlemen and yeomen to mercenary bands of men-at-arms, the mere greedy,rapacious, and insubordinate became their temper. Well knowing thegreatness of the peril, and that the very best of his captains hadscarcely the will, if they had the power, to restrain the license thatsoon became barbarity unimaginable, he spoke sadly overnight of his dreadof the day of surrender, when it might prove impossible to prevent deedsthat would be not merely a blot on his scutcheon, but a shame to humannature; looking back to the exultation with which he had entered Harfleuras a mere effect of boyish ignorance and thoughtlessness.

  Having taken all possible precautions, he stood in his full armour, withthe fox's brush in his helmet, under the great elm in the market-place,received the keys, accepted the sword of the captain commissioned byCharles with royal courtesy, gave his hand to be kissed by the mayor; andthen, with grave inexorable air, like a statue of steel, watched as thefreebooter Vaurus and his two chief companions were led down with theirhands tied, halters round their necks, and priests at their sides,preparing them to be hung on that very tree. They were proud hard men,and uttered no entreaty for grace. They had hung too many travellersupon these same branches not to expect their own turn, and they were nocravens to abase themselves.

  That act of justice ended, Henry mounted his warhorse and rode in at thegates. His wont was to go straight to the principal church, and thereattend a solemn mass of thanksgiving; but experience had taught him thathis devotions were the very opportunity of his men's rapine: he hadtherefore arranged that as soon as he should have arrived in the choir ofthe cathedral, James should take his place, and he slip out by a sidedoor, so as to return to the scene of action.

  In full procession he and his suite reached the chief door, and theredismounted in an immense crowd, which thronged in at the doors.

  'Come, Glenuskie,' said Ralf Percy, as the two youths were pushed chosetogether in the press; 'if you have a fancy for being smothered in theminster, I have none. We shall never be missed. 'Twill be sport to walkround and see how these hardy rogues contrived to hold out.'

  Malcolm willingly turned aside with him, and looked down the slopingstreet, which was swarming with comers and goers. The whole place was inan inflammable state. Soldiers were demanding quarters, which thecitizens unwillingly gave. A refusal or expostulation against a roughentry led to violence; and ever as the two youths walked farther from thecathedral, there was more of excitement, more rude oaths of soldiers,more shrieking of women, often crying out even before any harm was doneto them or their houses.

  At last, before a tall overhanging house, there was an immense press, anda frightful din of shouts and imprecations, filling both the new-comerswith infectious eagerness.

  'How now? how now?' called Percy. 'Keep the peace, good fellows.'

  'Sir,' cried a number of voices, passionately, 'the French villains havebarred their door. There's a lot of cowardly Armagnacs hid there withtheir gold, trying to balk honest men of their ransom.'

  Such was the cry resounding on all sides. 'Have at them! There's therogue at the windows. Out on the fellows! Burn down the door! 'TisVaurus himself and all his gold. Treason! treason!'

  The clamour was convincing to the spirit, if not to the senses. The twolads believed in the concealed Armagnacs, or perhaps more truly werecarried away by the vehemence around them; and with something of thespirit of the chase, threw themselves headlong into the affair.

  'Open! open!' shouted Ralf. 'Open, in the name of King Henry!'

  An old man's face peeped through a little wicket in the door, and atsight of the two youths, evidently of high rank, said in a tremblingvoice, 'Alas! alas! Sir, bid these cruel men go away. I have nothinghere--no one--only my sick daughter.'

  'You hear,' said Malcolm, turning round; 'only his sick daughter.'

  'Sick daughter!--old liar! Here's an honest tinker makes oath he hashoards of gold laid up for Vaurus, and ten Armagnacs hidden in his house.Have at him! Bring fire!'

  Blows hailed thick on the door; a flaming torch was handed over the headsof the throng; horrible growls and roars pervaded them. Malcolm andRalf, furious at the cheat, stood among the foremost, making so muchnoise themselves between thundering and reviling, and calling out, 'Whereare the Armagnacs? Down with the traitors!' that they were not aware ofa sudden hush behind them, till a buffet from a heavy hand fell onMalcolm's shoulder, and a mighty voice cried 'Shame! shame! What, youtoo!'

  'There are traitors hid here, Sir,' said Percy, in angryself-justification.

  'And what an if there are? Back, every one of you! rogues that yoube!--Here, Fitzhugh, see those villains back to the camp. Let their armsbe given up to the Provost-marshal.--Kites and crows as you are! Away,out with you!'

  Henry pointed to the broken door, and the cowed and abashed soldiersslunk away from the terrible light of his eyes. No man could standbefore the face of the King.

  There was a stillness. He stood leaning on his sword, his chest heavingwith his panting breaths. He was naturally as fleet as the swift-footedAchilles, but the winter had told upon him, and the haste with which hehad rushed to the rescue left him breathless and speechless, while heseemed as it were to nail the two lads to the spot by his steady gaze ofmingled distress and displeasure.

  Neither could brook his eye: Percy hung his head like a boy in a scrape;Malcolm quailed with terror, but at the same time felt a keen sense ofinjury in being thus treated as a plunderer, and the blow under which hisshoulder ached seemed an indignity to his royal blood.

  'Boys,' said Henry, still low and breathlesly, but all the moreimpressively, 'what is to become of honour and mercy if such as you mustneeds become ravening wolves at scent of booty?'

  'It was not booty, Sir; they said traitors were hid here,' said Percy,sulkily.

  'Tush! the old story! Ever the plea for rapine and bloodthirstiness.After the warnings of last night you should have known better; but youare all alike in frenzy for a sack. You have both put off yourknighthood till you have learnt not to become a shame thereto.'

  'I take not knighthood at your hands, Sir,' burst out Malcolm, goadedwith hot resentment, but startled the next moment at the sound of his ownwords.

  'I cry you mercy,' said King Henry, in a cold, short tone.

  Malcolm turned on his heel and walked away, without waiting to see howthe poor old man in the house threw himself at the King's feet with apiteous history of his sick daughter and her starving children, nor howRalf hurried off headlong to the lower town to send them immediate reliefin bread, wine, and doctors. The gay, good-natured, thoughtless lad nomere harboured malice for the chastisement than if his tutor had caughthim idling; but things went deeper with Malcolm. True, he had undergonemany a brutal jest and cruel practical joke from his cousins; but thatwas all in the family, not like a blow from an alien king, and one notapologized for, but followed up by a rebuke that see
med to him unjust,lowering him in his own eyes and those of Esclairmonde, and making himready to gnaw himself with moody vexation.

  'You here, Malcolm!' said King James, entering his quarters; 'did youmiss me in the throng? I have not seen you all day.'

  'I have been insulted, Sir,' said Malcolm. 'I pray your license todepart and carry my sword to my kinsmen in the French camp.'

  'How now! Is it the way to treat an insult to run away from it?'

  'Not when the world judges men to be on equal terms, my lord.'

  'What! Who has done you wrong, you silly loon?'

  'King Henry, Sir; he struck me with his fist, and rated me like hishound; and I will not eat another morsel of his bread unless he wouldanswer it to me in single combat.'

  'Little enough bread you'd eat after that same answer!' ejaculated James.'Oh! I understand now. You were with young Hotspur and the rest thatset on the poor townsmen, and Harry made small distinction of persons!Nay, Malcolm, it was ill in you, that talked of so loathing spulzie!'

  'I wanted no spulzie. There were Armagnacs hid in the house, and theKing would not hear us.'

  'He knew that story too well. Were you asleep or idling last night, whenhe warned all, on no plea whatever, to break into a house, but, if theold tale of treachery came up, to set a guard, and call one of thecaptains? Did you hear him--eh?'

  'I can take chiding from you, Sir, but neither words nor blows from anyother king in Christendom, still less when he threatens me that I havedeferred my knighthood! As if I would have it from him!'

  'From me you will not have it until he have pardoned Ralf Percy,' saidJames, dryly. 'Malcolm, I had not thought you such a fule body! Under acaptain's banner, what can be done but submit to his rule? I should doso myself, were Salisbury or March in command.'

  'Then, Sir,' said Malcolm, much hurt that the King did not take his part,'I shall carry my service elsewhere.'

  'So,' said James, much vexed, 'this is the meek lad that wanted to hidein a convent from an ill world, flying off from his king and kinsman thathe may break down honest men's doors at his will.'

  'That I may be free from insult, Sir.'

  'You think John of Buchan like to cosset you! You found the BlackDouglas so courtly to me the other day as to expect him to be tender tothis nicety of yours! Malcolm, as your prince and guardian, I forbidthis folly, and command you to lay aside this fit of malice and do yourdevoir. What! sobbing, silly lad--where's your manhood?'

  'Sir, Sir, what will they think of me--the Lady Esclairmonde and all--ifthey hear I have sat down tamely with a blow?'

  'She will never think about you at all but as a sullen malapert ne'er-do-weel, if you go off to that camp of _routiers_, trying to prop a badcause because you cannot take correction, nor observe discipline.'

  A sudden suspicion came over Malcolm that the King would not thus makelight of the offence, if it had really been the inexpiable insult he hadsupposed it, and the thought was an absolute relief; for in effect theparting from James, and joining the party opposed to Esclairmonde'sfriends, would have been so tremendous a step, that he could hardly havecontemplated it in his sober senses, and he murmured, 'My honour, Sir,'in a tone that James understood.

  'Oh, for your honour--you need not fear for that! Any knight in the armycould have done as much without prejudice to your honour. Why, you sillyloon, d'ye think I would not have been as angered as yourself, if yourhonour had been injured?'

  Malcolm's heart felt easier, but he still growled. 'Then, Sir, if youassure me that I can do so without detriment to my honour, I will notquit you.'

  James laughed. 'It might have been more graciously spoken, my goodcousin, but I am beholden to you.'

  Malcolm, ashamed and vexed at the sarcastic tone, held his tongue for alittle while, but presently exclaimed, 'Will the Bishop of Therouennehear of it?'

  James laughed. 'Belike not; or, if he should, it would only seem to himthe reasonable training of a young squire.'

  The King did not say what crossed his own mind, that the Bishop ofTherouenne was more likely to think Henry over-strict in discipline, andabsurdly rigorous.

  The prelate, Charles de Luxemburg, brother to the Count de St. Pol, hadmade several visits to the English camp. He was one of these princelyyounger sons, who, like Beaufort at home, took ecclesiastical prefermentsas their natural provision, and as a footing whence they might becomestatesmen. He was a great admirer of Henry's genius, and, as the chiefFrench prelate who was heartily on the English side, enjoyed a muchgreater prominence than he could have done at either the French orBurgundian Court. He and his brother of St. Pol were Esclairmonde'snearest kinsmen--'oncles a la mode de Bretagne,' as they call therelationship which is here sometimes termed Welsh uncle, or first cousinsonce removed--and from him James had obtained much more completeinformation about Esclairmonde than he could ever get from the flightyDuchess.

  Her mother, a beautiful Walloon, had been heiress to wide domains inHainault, her father to great estates in Flanders, all which were atpresent managed by the politic Bishop. Like most of thestatesman-secular-clergy, the Bishop hated nothing so much as themonastic orders, and had made no small haste to remove his fair niecefrom the convent at Dijon, where she had been educated, lest theCistercians should become possessed of her lands. He had one scheme forher marriage; but his brother, the Count, had wished to give her to hisown second son, who was almost an infant; and the Duke of Burgundy haddesigns on her for his half-brother Boemond; and among these variousdisputants, Esclairmonde had never failed to find support againstwhichever proposal was forced upon her, until the coalition between theDukes of Burgundy and Brabant becoming too strong, she had availedherself of Countess Jaqueline's discontent to evade them both.

  The family had, of course, been much angered, and had fully expected thather estates would go to some great English abbey, or to some English lordwhose haughty reserve and insularity would be insupportable. It wastherefore a relief to Monseigneur de Therouenne to hear James's designs;and when the King further added, that he would be willing to let theclaims on the Hainault part of her estates be purchased by the Count deSt. Pol, and those in Flanders by the Duke of Burgundy, the Bishop wasdelighted, and declared that, rather than such a negotiation should fail,he would himself advance the sum to his brother; but that the Duke ofBurgundy's consent was more doubtful, only could they not do without it?

  And he honoured Malcolm with a few words of passing notice from time totime, as if he almost regarded him as a relation. No doubt it would havebeen absurd to fly from such chances as these to Patrick Drummond and theopposite camp; and yet there were times when Malcolm felt as if he shouldget rid of a load on his heart if he were to break with all his presentlife, hurry to Patrick, confess the whole to him, and then--hide his headin some hermitage, leaving his pledge unforfeited!

  That, however, could not be. He was bound to the King, and might notdesert him, and it was not unpleasant to brood over the sacrifice of hisown displeasure.

  'See,' said Henry, in the evening, as he came into the refectory andwalked up to James, 'I have found my signet. It was left in the fingerof my Spanish glove, which I had not worn since the beginning of winter.Thanks to all who took vain pains to look for it.'

  But Malcolm did not respond with his pleased look to the thanks. He wasnot in charity with Henry, and crept out of hearing of him, while Jameswas saying, 'You had best destroy one or the other, or they will makemischief. Here, I'll crush it with the pommel of my sword.'

  'Ay,' said Henry, laughing, 'you'd like to shew off one of your sledge-hammer blows--Sir Bras de Fer! But, Master Scot, you shall not smash theEnglish shield so easily. This one hangs too loose to be safe; I shallkeep it to serve me when we have fattened up at Paris, after the leannessof our siege.'

  'Hal,' said James, seeing his gay temper restored, 'you have grievouslyhurt that springald of mine. His northern blood cannot away with thetaste he got of your fist.'

  'Pretty well for your godly y
oung monk, to expect to rob unchecked!'laughed Henry.

  'He will do well at last,' said James. 'Manhood has come on him with arush, and borne him off his feet; nor would I have him over-tame.'

  'There spake the Scot!' said Henry. 'By my faith, Jamie, we should havehad you the worst robber of all had we not caught you young! Well, whatam I do for this sprig of royalty? Say I struck unawares? Nay, had Iknown him, I'd have struck with as much of a will as his slight boneswould bear.'

  'An you love me, Hal, do something to cool his ill blood, and remove thesense of shame that sinks a lad in his own eyes.'

  'Methought,' said Henry, 'there was more shame in the deed than in thebuffet.'

  Nevertheless the good-natured King took an occasion of saying: 'My Lordof Glenuskie, I smote without knowing you. It was no place for aprince--nay, for any honest man; otherwise no hand should have been laidon my guest or my brother's near kinsman. And whereas I hear that bothyou and my fiery hot Percy verily credited the cry that prisoners werehid in that house, let me warn you that never was place yielded oncomposition but some villain got up the shout, and hundreds of foolsfollowed it, till they learnt villainy in their turn. Therefore I everchastise transgression of my command to touch neither dwelling norinhabitant. You have both learnt your lesson, and the lion rampant andhe of the straight tail will both be reined up better another time.'

  Malcolm had no choice but to bend his head, mutter something, and let theKing grasp his hand, though to him the apology seemed none at all, butrather to increase the offence, since the blame was by no means takenback again, while the condescension was such as could not be rejected,and thus speciously took away his excuse for brooding over his wrath. Hishand lay so unwillingly in that strong hearty clasp that the King droppedit, frowned, shrugged his shoulders, and muttered to himself, 'Sullenyoung dog! No Scot can let bygones be bygones!' and then he turned awayand cast the trifle from his memory.

  James was amazed not to see the moody face clear up, and asked of Malcolmwhether he were not gratified with this ample satisfaction.

  'I trow I must be, Sir,' said Malcolm.

  'I tell thee, boy,' said James, 'not one king--nay, not one man--in athousand would have offered thee the frank amends King Harry hath donethis day: nay, I doubt whether even he could so have done, were it notthat the hope of his wife's coming hath made him overflow with joy andcharity to all the world.'

  Malcolm did not make much reply, and James regarded him with somedisappointment. The youth was certainly warmly attached to him, butthese tokens of superiority to the faults of his time and country whichhad caused the King to seek him for a companion seemed to have vanishedwith his feebleness and timidity. The manhood that had been awakened wasnot the chivalrous, generous, and gentle strength of Henry and hisbrothers, but the punctilious pride and sullenness, and almost somethingof the license, of the Scot. The camp had not proved the school ofchivalry that James, in his inexperience, had imagined it must be underHenry, and the tedium and wretchedness of the siege had greatly added toits necessary evils by promoting a reckless temper and willingness tosnatch at any enjoyment without heed to consequences. Close attendanceon the kings had indeed prevented either Malcolm or Percy from evenhaving the temptation of running into any such lengths as those gentrywho had plundered the shrine of St. Fiacre at Breuil, or were continuallygalloping off for an interval of dissipation at Paris; but they were bothon the outlook for any snatch of stolen diversion, for in ceasing frommonastic habits Malcolm seemed to have laid aside the scruples of areligious or conscientious youth, and specially avoided Dr. Bennet, theKing's almoner.

  James feared he had been mistaken, and looked to the influence ofEsclairmonde to repair the evil, if perchance she should follow the Queento France. And this it was almost certain she must do, since she wasentirely dependent upon the Countess of Hainault, and could not obtainadmission to a nunnery without recovering a portion of her estates.