timesever come back to this realm of England, with your careful nursing, itmay once more be made as profitable as of yore. You know my wishes,good Roger; I can speak no more. Especially in that one point ofmarriage guide the boy aright. Lift me up. How goes the fight? Let mebehold the white rose of York once more triumphant. See--see--theycharge forward! No--alas! they turn and fly. Then welcome death!" Theold knight, pressing Roger's hand, uttered the word, "Remember," andfell back and died.
The brave serving-man, rising to his feet, stood over the dead body ofhis master with drawn sword, to protect it from spoliation, andultimately succeeded in bearing it off from the field, so as to give ithonoured sepulture in the precincts of the neighbouring church. Thepriests were desirous to keep the knight's armour in pawn, that massesmight be said for the repose of his soul.
"Thanks, reverend and worthy gentlemen," answered Roger, quietly. "Butmy dear master was as hearty a prayer as he was a fighter, and methinksif he's failed while he lived to make his peace with Heaven, nothingthat you or any other can say will aid him now that he is gone, andknows more about the matter than you and all the world besides puttogether."
"What rank heresy is this you are speaking?" exclaimed the priest. "Theprayers of the Church not of use to the dead, do you say? This savoursstrongly of the abominable tenets of Wycliffe. Why, you must belong tothe abominable sect of the Lollards, Master Roger."
"Nay, but I was only speaking in the case of my good master," answeredthe latter, in his quiet tone. "I said that he was a hearty prayer; andwhat is the use of a man's praying if his prayers are not to be heard?But if my master's prayers were heard--and I am sure they were--thenthere is no further need of any one praying for him. I am a true son ofHoly Mother Church. I know nothing of Master Wycliffe, and concludethat he has been dead no small number of years."
The priest, not accustomed in those days to controversy, had nothing tosay in reply to Roger's remarks, though, still suspecting him stronglyto be a Lollard, he would have liked to entrap him, and have the powerto bring down punishment on his head. Honest Roger, however, not awareof the feelings of animosity he had excited, frankly wished the irateecclesiastic farewell, and with the arms and armour of his late master,all that remained of him, took his departure for the now mourning castleof Beauville.
It is not necessary to describe the grief of the Lady Beauville, nor ofthe young Herbert, who was of an age to feel deeply the loss he hadsuffered. As may have been suspected, Roger Bertram was a Lollard, aswas also the mistress of the castle, though they had found it necessaryto conceal their opinions. Young Herbert was accordingly brought up inthe principles of Wycliffe, a copy of whose New Testament was one of themost prized possessions of his mother. It was her chief delight toinstruct her son in the glorious truths it contained. Alas! however,the shock she received on hearing of the death of her beloved lord, andthe complete overthrow of the cause for which he had so long striven andfought, was so great, that from that time she sank gradually, and erelong followed her husband to the grave.
Roger Bertram thoroughly carried out his promise to his master. YoungHerbert de Beauville grew up into a noble-looking youth, who, though hedid not possess any large amount of book-learning, was the leader in allthe manly exercises of the period. He was brave and open-hearted, of akind and generous disposition, and had ever proved himself affectionateand obedient to the guardian placed over him. He had, however, adetermined will of his own, and Roger discovered that, if he wished toretain his influence over his ward, he must not pull the reins ofauthority too tightly.
As Herbert increased in years this became more and more evident,especially when the youth mixed in the world, and there were not wantingthose who urged him to assert his own independence, and who hinted that,now he had grown nearly to man's estate, it was no longer incumbent onhim to obey implicitly one who had merely been placed in authority towatch over him while he was a boy. Good Roger Bertram, though he wasable conscientiously to do his duty with regard to watching over hisyoung charge, found that it was a difficult matter to restore a fallenhouse, and to bring long-neglected lands again into cultivation. Theold retainers and tenants who once cultivated the fields had beencarried off by their feudal lord to the wars, and their bones laybleaching on many a battle-field. The lands could not be let, and nomoney was therefore forthcoming to restore the dilapidated castle fastcrumbling to pieces. It had never been restored since the last siegelaid to it by the Lancastrians. At that time a large portion of thewalls had been battered by cannon, then only recently introduced, andanother part had been undermined: the enemy, indeed, were on the pointof forcing an entrance, when it was relieved by the appearance of theYorkist party. Roger's hope, therefore, was that as soon as his younglord was of age he would retrieve his fortunes by a wealthy marriage.Unfortunately there would, he knew, be much difficulty in finding abride for him among the fallen Yorkist families, us greedy King Henrytook good care to confiscate all the property he could from any excuselay hands on. Roger was also himself much attached to the principles ofthe Lollards, and he wished, if possible, that the young Herbert shouldmarry into a family which held them. There were many families at thattime who read Wycliffe's Bible and Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales"--more,indeed, than are generally supposed. The English, as a nation, neverbowed the neck very readily to Rome, and even in the darkest days therewere some who put no faith in her assumptions and pretensions. The moreenlightened had also ere this discovered what a clog to the prosperityand progress of the country existed in the many thousands of lazy andidle monks and friars, and other members of what were called religiousorders. Still it may be considered that the lower classes generally,and many of the upper, were ignorant in the extreme, and believed in allthose gross superstitions which have ever been the direct result of theteaching of the Church of Rome, where no counteracting influences are atwork. As Roger did not himself possess much book-learning, he wascompelled to leave young Herbert under the instruction of Father Mathew,the curate of the parish, to whom Sir Herbert had confided the charge ofhis education. Not that the knight had any great esteem for thelearning of the father, but simply that he knew of no one else underwhom he could place his son.
Father Mathew was not a learned man, but he had cleverness enough toconceal his ignorance, and Sir Herbert, who, though a brave soldier, wasno clerk, was not likely to find it out. If the truth must be said, thecurate was himself fonder of hawk and hound than of his books, and itwas whispered that if a fat pullet came in his way, even on a fast day,he did not always turn aside from the temptation. He could, however, domore than many of his brethren, for he could not only read his breviary,but write a neat hand and copy manuscripts with precision--an art he hadlearned in the cloister, and which was still the chief mode ofmultiplying books; for printing had only been introduced into Englandabout twenty years before. Such was Father Mathew; in the main, withall his faults, an honest man. Roger, who had more shrewdness than hislate lord, was not altogether satisfied with him, but he consoledhimself with the thought that his young charge might have had a worsepreceptor when he saw him growing into a fine handsome young man, withmany noble and generous qualities, though certainly more addicted tofield sports and athletic exercises than to the study of any of thosebranches of knowledge by which he might restore the fallen fortunes ofhis house.
Meantime, Roger was not unmindful of his purpose to secure a rich wifefor his young lord. He looked about in every direction, far and near;but the only damsel he could hear of at all likely to prove suitable wasthe Lady Barbara, the only child of the stout Baron Fitz Osbert. Shewas said to be fair to look on, and pious and good, and possessed of allthe accomplishments which distinguished well-brought-up young ladies inthose days. There were difficulties to be overcome, however. Herberthad not seen her, and might not be willing to wed her when he did. Herfather, the baron, had been a stout Lancastrian, and, although the rivalhouses of York and Lancaster were now united under Tudor rule, he wasvery likely to be prejudic
ed against the son of an old opponent. Whilethe honest Roger was travelling about the country and troubling himselfgreatly in search of the desired heiress, an event occurred which seemedlikely to bring his schemes to naught. Herbert was one day returningfrom hawking--the quarry having led him a long distance from home--when,as he was passing through a wood of some extent, he heard a cry and loudshouts for help. Urging on his steed over the green sward, he saw twopersons on horseback endeavouring to escape from three armed men onfoot. That the latter were robbers he had little doubt--Cornishmen,from Lord Audley's wild troops, after the fight at Blackheath. One ofthe persons on horseback was a country damsel, and, from the panniersbetween which she sat, it appeared she had been to dispose of theproduce of her farm at market; the other was a serving-man, orfarm-servant, apparently, for he also had a
Foxholme Hall, and Other Tales Page 7
