Leatherface: A Tale of Old Flanders

by Baroness Emmuska Orczy Orczy

  V

  The clock of the Cloth-Hall tower chimed the ninth hour. Lenora raisedher head and once more peered out into the night.

  Nine o'clock! If Michel Daens had done his duty, he must be more thanhalf-way to Brussels by now. It almost seemed to Lenora'ssupersensitive nerves at this moment that she could hear the tramp ofhis horse's hoofs upon the muddy road--Hammer! Hammer! Hammer! Surely,surely she could hear it, or was it her own heart-beats that she wascounting?

  Hammer! Hammer! Hammer! Two horses, each with a rider, were speedingalong the road: one to Brussels--Michel Daens the butcher-messenger,bearing the letter for don Juan de Vargas which would raise in its traila harvest of death for traitors ... and along the road to Ghent Markspeeding too, to warn those traitors to remain in hiding--or to fleewhile there was yet time--for justice Was on their track. Mark had goneto Ghent, of this Lenora was sure; she had burned his letter, but sheremembered its every word. He spoke of meeting the ox-wagon which wason its way from Ghent! besides which, of course, he was bound to goback. Was he not the paid spy of the Prince of Orange--his mentor andhis friend?

  And mentally Lenora strained her ears to listen ... to hear which ofthose two riders would first reach his destination. And as she listenedit seemed as if that monotonous hammer! hammer! was beating against herheart, and with every blow was crushing to death more of her life, moreof her youth ... and all her hopes of happiness.

  VI

  Inez--tired out with the jolting of the wagon, wet to the skin, faggedand cold--found her mistress still sitting by the open window, withstreaming hair and eyes glowing as with inward fever. The devoted soulvery quickly forgot her own discomfort in view of her young mistress'sorry plight. She chafed the ice-cold hands and combed the drippinghair; she took off the heavy gown, and the leather shoes and silkstockings. She bathed the hot brow and little cold feet, and finallygot Lenora into bed and had the satisfaction of seeing her smile.

  "There now, my saint," she said cheerily, "you feel better, do you not?I tell you when I met Messire van Rycke and he told me that you werehere and that we were to get to you at once, I nearly swooned withfright ... I wanted to ask him a dozen questions ... but he had riddenaway out into the darkness before I could speak a single word...."

  The pillow was fresh and smelt sweetly of lavender. Lenora had closedher eyes and a sense of physical well-being was--despite heart-ache andmental agony--gradually creeping into her bones.

  "Where did you meet Messire van Rycke, Inez?" she asked quietly.

  "Oh! a long way from here, my saint. We did not start from Ghent tillfour o'clock in the afternoon, and have been jogging along at foot-paceever since. Oh! these interminable roads, and horrible, jolting wagons!It was about two hours ago that we came on Messire van Rycke riding likeone possessed."

  "He was riding toward Ghent?"

  "Toward Ghent, my saint. And as I told you--as soon as he had given Janhis orders, he flew by like the wind. The roads were quite lonely afterthat. I tell you, my saint, I was passing glad that we had a goodescort--two mounted men you know rode beside the wagon--or I should havebeen mightily afraid of malefactors."

  "You gave the sealed packet to Messire Laurence van Rycke," askedLenora, "as I had directed?"

  "I gave him the packet two hours after you had started."

  "And what did he say?"

  "He said nothing, my saint."

  With a weary sigh, Lenora turned her head away. She kept her eyesclosed resolutely, and after a while Inez thought that she slept. Soshe tip-toed quietly out of the room, having drawn the coverlet wellover her mistress' form. She left the lamp in the room, for she hadenough understanding to know that Lenora was perturbed and anxious, andin times of anxiety darkness is oft an evil counsellor.

  BOOK THREE: GHENT

  CHAPTER XII

  REPRISALS

  I

  It is to the seigneur de Vaernewyck--that excellent and faithfulchronicler--that we are indebted for the most detailed account of allthe events which occurred in the city of Ghent during those fewmemorable days in October.

  The weather, he tells us, had been perpetually rainy, and the days weredrawing in rapidly, for it was then the 19th of the month, and what withthe sky so perpetually overcast it was nearly dark when close upon fiveo'clock in the afternoon the ensigns of the companies of Walloonsoldiery first entered the city by the Waalpoort. They demandedadmittance in the name of the King, the Regent and theLieutenant-Governor, and the guard at the gate would certes never haveventured to refuse what they asked.

  At first the townsfolk were vastly entertained at seeing so many troops;nothing was further from their mind than the thought that these had beensent into the city with evil intent. So the gaffers and gossips stoodabout in the streets and open places staring at the fine pageant, andthe women and children gaped at the soldiers from the windows of theirhouses, all in perfect good humour and little dreaming of the terriblemisery which these soldiers were bringing in their train into thebeautiful city of Ghent.

  No one thought of civil strife then.

  In the forefront marched men and young boys who carried javelins intheir hands and had round shields swung upon their arm; these shieldswere bordered with a rich fringe of crimson silk and they glittered likesteel in the damp atmosphere. After these men came a company ofhalberdiers from the garrisons of Mechlin and Alost, and they lookedsplendid in their striped doublets, their plumed bonnets slung behindtheir backs, their enormous boots reaching half-way up their thighs. Inthe midst of them rode the Master of the Camp on his cream charger; theends of his crimson and yellow scarf, soaked through with the rain anddriven by the wind, flapped unremittingly against his steel cuirass,whilst the plumes on his felt hat hung--bedraggled--into his face.

  Then came the arquebusiers, marching five abreast, and there wereseveral thousands of them, for it took half an hour for them all tocross the bridge. These were followed by a vast number of elegantfoot-soldiers carrying their huge lances upon their shoulders,well-armed, magnificently accoutred, their armour highly polished andrichly engraved and wearing gauntlets and steel bonnets. Finally camethree companies of artillery with culverines and falconets and with fivewagons, and behind them the massed drummers and fifers who brought upthe rear playing gay music as they marched.

  The troops assembled on the Kouter which was thronged to overflowingwith gaffers and idlers. Everyone was talking and jesting then, no onehad a thought of what was to come, no one looked upon these gaily-deckedtroops with any sinister prescience of coming evil. They were nearlyall Walloons, from the provinces of Antwerp and Brabant, and many ofthem spoke the Flemish tongue in addition to their own--and when afterinspection they stood or walked at ease on the Kouter, the girlsexchanged jests and merry sallies with them.

  II

  Two hours later the Duke of Alva entered the city. It was a very darknight, but the rain had left off. The Lieutenant-Governor had a companyof lancers with him, and these were Spanish, every man of them. Onehundred torch-bearers accompanied the Duke and his escort and they hadmuch difficulty in keeping their torches alight in the damp night air;the flames spluttered and sizzled and the men waved the torches about sothat sparks flew about in every direction to the grave danger of thepeaceable citizens who were in the foremost ranks of the crowd.

  It was to be supposed that the High-Bailiff and Sheriffs of the city hadbeen warned of the arrival of His Highness, for they met him at theWaalpoort, attired despite the threatening weather in their magnificentcivic robes. The Duke who rode a black charger paused just inside thegates and listened in silence to the loyal address which thesedignitaries presented to him. The sizzling torches threw a weird,unsteady light upon the scene, distorting every form into a grotesqueshape, half-concealing, half-illumining the
stern face of theLieutenant-Governor draped in his velvet robe.

  When the loyal address had been duly presented, and further speeches ofwelcome delivered by the senior sheriff and by the Schout, theLieutenant-Governor demanded that the keys of the city be within thehour brought to him on the Kouter where he would be inspecting thetroops. This demand greatly astonished the sheriffs and aldermen, butthey did not dare to raise any objections and promised that they wouldmost dutifully comply with His Highness' request.

  "With my commands," the Duke corrected them curtly.

  Nor would he dismiss the grave seigneurs, but kept them kneeling therebefore him in the mud, until they had humbly assured him that they wouldexecute his commands.

  Whereupon the Duke proceeded to the Kouter.

  The troops had been aligned for his inspection, and a very gay and gaudythrong they looked in the flickering torch-light. All the houses roundthe Place were lighted up from within by now, and crowds thronged infrom all the side streets. It was many years since Ghent had seen sogay a sight. There were three hundred torch-bearers on the paradeground by now, each with huge resin torches, and so brightly illuminedwas the Place that you could have deciphered a letter out in the openjust as easily as you would in daylight. Lances and halberds held erectformed a shimmering background to the picture like a forest of straighttall stems, and their metal heads glimmered like little tongues of fire,throwing out strange and unexpected flashes of light as the men movedwho held them.

  In the centre of the picture the Duke of Alva on horseback. Theendurance of the man was absolutely wonderful! He had ridden all theway from Brussels that day--starting at daybreak--a matter of nineleagues and more. He had tired two horses out, but not himself--and hewas a man of sixty. The chronicler goes on to tell us that the Duke'sface looked grim and determined, but not fatigued, and in his prominenteyes under their drooping lids was a glitter like steel--hard and crueland triumphant too.

  He held the reins of his charger with one hand, the other was on hiship. He wore a felt hat which he had pulled down upon his brow, and ahuge cape of dark woollen stuff lined with purple silk which covered hisshoulders and fell right round him over his saddle-bow. A group ofcavaliers surrounded him in fantastic multi-coloured doublets and hose,all slashed and pinked, and enormous bonnets covered with giganticplumes, and behind these stood the standard bearers. The autumn windhad caught the folds of the huge ensigns which were grouped in halfdozens close together, so that the great folds interlocked from time totime and spread themselves out like a monster moving, waving mass ofcrimson and yellow with the devices of the companies embroidered thereonin black and silver.

  It was indeed a fine and picturesque spectacle, arranged with a view tomaking it impressive and to strike awe into the hearts of the citizens.The civic dignitaries had returned by now, and the High-Bailiff hadbrought the keys of the town upon a velvet cushion. He and the tensheriffs and the Schout, the fifteen Vroedschappen who were the citycouncillors and the Schepens who were the aldermen all approached theLieutenant-Governor with back nearly bent double in their loyalty andhumility.

  But when they were within speaking distance of the Duke they all had tokneel--just as before--in the mud and the dirt. The Master of the Campwas there to direct them and they had not the pluck to resist. Then theHigh-Bailiff was made to advance alone with the cushion in both hishands and upon the cushion the keys of the city, and he was made tokneel close to the Duke's stirrup and humbly present him with the keys.

  The Lieutenant-Governor said curtly: "'Tis well!" and ordered the chiefgentleman of his body-guard to take possession of the keys. Then hesaid in a loud voice so that every one could hear:

  "The gates of this city shall be closed this night, and will so remainuntil such time as the order which I am about to give to the inhabitantsis complied with."

  There was a prolonged roll of drums; and the gentleman of the bodyguardrode away from the Place with a company of halberdiers, and he carriedthe keys of the city with him. He was going to close the gates of thecity as the Lieutenant-Governor directed.

  When the roll of the drums had died away there was a moment's silence onthe huge overcrowded Kouter through which you might have heard athousand hearts beating in sudden deathly anxiety. Here then was noordinary pageant, no mere display of soldiery and of arms such as theSpaniards were overfond of. Something momentous was about to happenwhich in these days of perpetual strife and continuous oppression couldbut mean sorrow and humiliation to this proud city and to herfreedom-loving children. The High-Bailiff and the Schout and the towncouncillors were all kept kneeling, though they were elderly men most ofthem, and the ground was very damp; and the people crowded in all roundthe soldiers, as near as they could, in order to hear what His Highnesswished to say.

  "Citizens of Ghent," he began in his harsh and strident voice whichcould be heard from end to end of the Kouter. "It has come to myknowledge that William of Nassau Prince of Orange is dwelling in thiscity, and that, contrary to the ordinance of our Sovereign Lord theKing, he hath attempted to levy troops within these gates for anunlawful purpose. Those who have thus in defiance of all law and orderenrolled themselves under a standard of rebellion and have taken up armsagainst our Sovereign Lord and King will be dealt with summarily. Butin the meanwhile understand that any one who henceforth harbours underhis roof the said William of Nassau Prince of Orange, or assists or aidshim to leave this city, is guilty of rebellion, and will be punishedwith death. Understand also that it is my desire that the person of thePrince of Orange be delivered unto me within forty-eight hours at theKasteel where I shall be lodging, and that I have ordered that the gatesof the city be closed until the expiration of that time. And finallyunderstand that if within forty-eight hours the person of William ofNassau Prince of Orange is not delivered unto me, then will the wholecity of Ghent be guilty of treason and rebellion, and every man, womanand child in it will be punishable with death; and the town itself willbe dealt with as summarily as were Mons and Valenciennes and Mechlin.God bless our gracious and merciful King!"

  He raised his hat and lifted his face up to heaven, and his lips wereseen to move as if in prayer. The Master of the Camp gave the signalfor a huge and prolonged roll of drums which echoed from end to end ofthe Kouter and into every corner of the city, and all the soldiers setup a lusty shout of "God bless our Sovereign Lord and King!" But thepeople were silent. No one uttered a word, no one joined in theshouting. Men looked at one another with scared, wide-open eyes; theboldest had become as pale as death. Some of the women swooned withterror, others broke into terrified sobs; even the children realisedthat something very terrible had occurred; they clung weeping to theirmothers' skirts.

  The Lieutenant-Governor, having spoken, wheeled round his horse and rodeslowly across the Kouter closely surrounded by his bodyguard and historch-bearers. Just then, so Messire de Vaernewyck assures us, thewind, which had been very boisterous all the evening, suddenly dropped,and the air became very still and strangely oppressive. A few hugedrops of rain fell making a loud patter upon the steel bonnets andcuirasses of the soldiers, and then a streak of vivid lightning rent theblack clouds right out over the Leye and a terrific clap of thundershook the very houses of the city upon their foundation. The Duke ofAlva's horse reared and nearly threw him; there was momentary confusion,too, among the bodyguard. Those who were devout Catholics promptlycrossed themselves; those who were superstitious at once saw in thatcurious and unexpected phenomenon a warning from God Himself.

  Then the rain came down in torrents and speedily dispersed the crowd.The civic magistrates and councillors were at last able to struggle totheir feet--most of them felt cramped from the lengthy kneeling. Theyassembled in groups and whispered with one another; the townsfolk lookedon them with eyes full of anxiety; it was to them that the poorer peoplemust look for help in this awful calamity which threatened them all.

  III

  After the Lieutenant-Gove
rnor and his cortege had left the Kouter thesoldiers broke ground and ran wild throughout the city. No speciallodgings had been allotted to them, but apparently they had been toldthat they could quarter themselves where they listed. They began bytaking possession of the covered markets--and this could easily havebeen tolerated; but many of them raided the houses of peaceful citizensin a manner most unseemly and often brutal, making terrible noise andconfusion throughout the city. They treated the owners of the houses asif the latter were nought but menials and they themselves the masters ofthe place; so much so indeed that several families left their homes inthe possession of these soldiery, and took refuge with relations who hadnot been thus inflicted.