CHAPTER XXI
SANCTUARY
Rogier was pacing up and down in the house of which he had takenpossession. On the table lay, heaped in bags of woven grass, the finethat had been imposed on the tribe. All had been paid. The elders hadendeavored hard to induce him to accept two-thirds from them and to levythe remainder on Cadell; but he bade them squeeze their Archpriest--hewas not going to trouble himself to do that--and the rest of the silverwas produced. The men hoped to be able to recoup themselves later bydeducting this third from their payments to the pastor thrust upon them.
As Pabo had been secured, Rogier had released those who were detained inthe court-house; they had returned to their homes.
It was anticipated that now the Norman would withdraw along with hismen; he had no further excuse for remaining. But he gave not thesmallest token of an intention to remove.
Cadell had entered. He also wished to know how long the foreigners wouldtarry in the place. So long as they were there it would be impossiblefor him to come to friendly terms with his flock. Yet, though he desiredthat the bulk of the men-at-arms, along with their captain, shouldwithdraw, he did not by any means desire to be left completely alone inthe midst of a population that regarded him with a malevolent eye, wereunwilling to receive his ministrations, acknowledge his authority, andeven show him ordinary civility.
He had accordingly entered the house in the hopes of arranging with thebishop's brother terms whereby he might have two or four men left inCaio to support him in emergencies without being ostensibly hisservants.
A plea might easily be found in the refractory humor of the people for asmall guard to be left till they proved more complaisant.
Near the door, against the wall, Morwen was seated, pale but resolved,with her hands folded.
"You seem to be in a vast impatience to see my back," said Rogier, "butlet me tell you, Master Chaplain, I like this place. It lyeth well tothe sun, the soil is fertile and amply watered. It is suitably timbered,and methinks there is building-stone here that might serve to constructa stronghold. I have looked about me and fancied Pen-y-ddinas. It criethout for a castle to stand upon it--dominating, as it doth, the wholevalley."
"A castle for the bishop?"
"Oh! save your presence and clergy. It is well for one to feather one'sown nest first. As to the Church, hers is downy enough without needingto pluck more geese to make her easier."
"Then for whom?"
"For myself, of course. This is a fair district; it is girded about withmountains; it has been occupied for centuries by a thrifty people whohave hoarded their silver. Methinks I could soon contrive to make of ita barony of Caio for myself."
"But," said Cadell, aghast, "these be Church lands. You would not robthe Church?"
"By no means are they Church lands. This is tribal land, and it sochances that the head of the tribe has been for some time--how long Iknow not--an ecclesiastic. But that is an accident."
"It is the sanctuary of David."
"But not the property of the see of David. It is the sanctuary ofCynwyl, I take it; and it has so fallen out that the inheritor of thechieftainship has been for some years--it may be centuries--in priestlyorders. But as to belonging to the see, that it never did. Now I takeit, there shall be a separation of powers, and I will assume the secularrule, and constitute myself Baron of Caio--and thou, if it please thee,shalt be Archpriest, and exercise ecclesiastical authority. It will bebest so--then I and my bull-dogs will be ever hard by to help thee inthy difficulties."
"The bishop will never agree to this."
"He must. Am I going to fight his battles and not be paid for it, andfix my price?"
"Does he know of thy purpose?"
"I care not whether he do or not. I shall take my course, and he cannotoppose me, because he dare not. By the soul of the Conqueror, SirChaplain, these fat farmers ooze with money. I have but given them alittle squeeze, and they have run out silver--it is yonder, dost markit? Hast thou seen cider made? They make it in my country. The applesare chopped up and cast into a broad, stone-grooved trough, and a leveris brought to bear, laden with immense weights, to crush them. Youshould see, man, how the juice runs out, and you would say that therewas never another drop of liquor in them. Then the lever is raised, andthe weight shifted; next with a knife the apple-cheese is pared allround and the parings are cast up in the middle. Again the lever isworked, and out flows as much as at first, till again it appears thatall is drained away. And this process is renewed to five times, andevery time out pours the generous and sweet must. It is not with applesas with grapes. These latter once well pressed yield all--apples must bepressed to six and even seven times. My Cadell--these peasants are juicyapples. If I send this first squeeze to my brother, I reserve the afteroutgushes for mine own drinking."
Cadell looked down disconcerted. He knew very well that Rogier's schemewould mean the shrinkage to but little of his power and profits.
"You do not understand this people," said he, after some consideration."You will drive them to desperation with your rough treatment. They area kindly and a gentle folk that are easily led, but ill driven."
"Well, now," said Rogier, and laughed. He halted, leaned against thetable, and folded his arms; "it is so; but I have a scheme such as willreconcile the tribe of Cynwyl to my rule. And thou art come heresuitably at this moment to assist me in carrying it out."
"What wouldest thou?" asked Cadell sulkily.
"It is even this," answered Rogier, and again he laughed. "Dost see? Ihave been courting a pretty wench. But it is bad wooing when I cannotspeak a word of Welsh and she as little of French. Now, Sir Priest, bemy go-between, and say sweet and tender words to her from me, and bringme back her replies of the same savor."
"I cannot! I will not!" exclaimed the chaplain indignantly.
"I ask of thee nothing dishonest," said Rogier; "far otherwise. I have afancy to make the pretty Morwen my wife--and Baroness Caio. Tell herthat--all in good sooth and my purpose honorable, the Church shall becalled to bless us."
"She is another man's wife!"
"Nay, nay, a priest's leman--that is all. And if that stick in thythroat, be conscience-smoothed. By this time Pabo is no more. I know mybrother's temper. He is a man who never forgives; and the loss of a pairof teeth is not that he will pass over."
"But he does not hold that this man you have sent him is Pabo."
"Pshaw! he knows better. Whether he be Pabo, or whether he be not,Bernard will never suffer him to live a week after he has him betweenhis two palms. Therefore, seeing Morwen is a widow, and free, now, allis plain, my intent is good. If I marry her--who has been the wife ofthe chieftain of the tribe, I enter upon all his rights so far as theyare secular; those that be ecclesiastical I leave to thee."
"Not so," said Cadell sharply. "She is no heiress. She is not of theblood."
"Oh! she shall be so esteemed. Scripture is with me--man and wife be nomore twain but one flesh, so that she enters into all his rights, and Itake them over along with her. It will smooth the transfer. The peoplewill like it, or will gulp down what is forced on them, and pretend tobe content."
"This is preposterous--the heir to the tribal rights is Goronwy, thecousin of Pabo."
"That cripple? The people would not have him before to rule over them.They will not now. Let them look on him and then on me; there can be butone decision. If there be a doubt, I shall contrive to get the weaselout of the way. And, moreover," said Rogier, who chuckled over hisscheme, "all here are akin--that is why there was such a to-do about theseven degrees. It hit them all. I warrant ye, when gone into, it will befound that she has in her the blood of----. What is the name?"
"Cunedda."
"Aye, of that outlandish old forefather. If not, I can make it so. Thereis a man here--Meredith they call him--a bard and genealogist. I have apair of thumb-screws, and I can spoil his harping forever unless hediscover that the pretty wench whom I design for myself, to be myBaroness Caio, be lineally descended from--I cannot m
ind the name--andbe, after Goronwy, the legitimate heir to all the tribal rights. Cadell,you can make a man say and swear to anything with the persuasion ofthumb-screws. A rare institution."
The chaplain said nothing to this. It was a proposition that did notadmit of dispute.
A good many of the Norman barons had taken the Welsh heiresses to themas a means of disarming the opposition they encountered, perhaps feelinga twinge of compunction at their methods of appropriation of lands bythe sword. Gerald of Windsor, as we have seen, was married to aprincess of the royal race of Dyfed, though not, indeed, an heiress. Aknight occupying a subordinate position, if he chanced to secure as wifethe heiress of some Welsh chief, at once claimed all her lands andrights, and sprang at once into the position of a great baron.
"Come, sweetheart!" exclaimed Rogier boisterously, and went up to Morwenand caught her by the chin. "Look me in the face and say 'Aye!' and Iwill put a coronet of pearls on thy black hair."
She shrank from him--not indeed, understanding his words, butcomprehending that she was treated with disrespect.
"Speak to her, you fool!" said Rogier angrily. "She must be told what Ipurpose. If not by you then by Pont l'Espec, whom I will call in. But bythe Conqueror's paunch, I do not care to do my wooing through the mouthof a common serving-man."
Cadell stood up from the seat into which he had lowered himself andapproached Morwen.
"Hark y'!" said the Norman; "no advice of thine own. I can see thoulikest not my design. Say my words, give my message, and bear me backher reply--and thrust in naught of thy mind, and thy suasion."
"What, then, shall I say?"
"Tell her that I am not one to act with violence unless thwarted, and inthis particular thwarted I will not be. Tell her that I desire that sheshall be my wife; and say that I will make myself baron over thisdistrict of Caio--King Henry will deny me nothing I wot--and she shallrule and reign the rest of her days by a soldier's side, instead of bythat of a cassocked clerk."
Cadell translated the offer.
Morwen's large deep eyes were fixed on him intently as he spoke, and herlips trembled.
"I must give an answer," said the priest.
Then Morwen rose and replied: "He will surely give me time to consider."
"Aye, aye, till to-morrow," said Rogier when her words were translatedto him.
Thereupon Morwen bowed and left the house.
Rogier took a step towards the door, but Cadell stayed him. "Give hertill to-morrow to be alone."
"Well," said he, "to-morrow shall settle it."
Cadell left, and instead of seeking his lodging he went into the church.
There, to his surprise, he saw a woman--it was Morwen, clinging to thewicker-work screen.
"It is sanctuary! It is sanctuary!" she cried, as she saw him. "Theyshall not tear me hence."
"Nay," said Cadell; "that they dare not. I will maintain thy right tosanctuary. It is well. To Cynwyl thou hast appealed. Cynwyl shallprotect thee."
Pabo, the Priest: A Novel Page 21
