A Monk of Fife

by Various

  CHAPTER XVII--HOW ELLIOT LOST HER JACKANAPES

  The Maid's confessor, Pasquerel, stood in the chamber where we had met,with his eyes bent on the ground, so that Elliot and I had no more freespeech at that time. Therefore I said farewell, not daring to ask of herwhen her mind was to visit my hosts, and, indeed, my trust was that shemight leave this undone, lest new cause of sorrow should arise. Thus weparted, with very courtly leave-taking, the priest regarding us in hismanner, and I was carried in the litter through the streets, that hadbeen so quiet when I came forth in the morning, but now they were full ofmen and of noise. Herds of cattle were being driven for the food of thearmy marching against Jargeau; there were trains of carts full ofvictual, and the citizens having lent the Maid their great pieces ofordnance, the bombard called "The Shepherdess," and the gun "Montargis,"these were being dragged along by clamorous companies of apprentices, andthere were waggons charged with powder, and stone balls, and boxes ofarrows, spades and picks for trenching, and all manner of munition ofwar. By reason of the troops of horses and of marching men, they thatbore me were often compelled to stop. Therefore, lest any who knew meshould speak with me, I drew the curtains of the litter, for I had muchmatter to think on, and was fain to be private. But this was to be of noavail, for I heard loud voices in my own tongue.

  "What fair lady is this who travels so secretly?" and, with this, onedrew the curtains, and there was the face of Randal Rutherford, withothers behind him. Then he uttered a great cry--

  "Faith, it is our lady of the linen-basket, and no other"; and leaningwithin, he gave me a rough embrace and a kiss of his bearded lips. "Whyso early astir, our sick man?" he cried. "Get yourself healed anon, andbe with us when we take Paris town, Norman, for there is booty enough tofurnish all Scotland. Shalt thou be with us yet?"

  "If my strength backs my will, Randal; and truly your face is a sight forsair eyne, and does me more good than all the powers of the apothecary."

  "Then here is to our next merry meeting," he cried, "under Paris walls!"

  With that the Scots gave a shout, and, some of them crowding round topress my hand, they bade me be of good cheer, and all went onward,singing in the tune of "Hey, tuttie tattie," which the pipers played whenwe broke the English at Bannockburn.

  So I was borne back to the house of Jacques Boucher, and, in the sunnycourtyard, there stood Charlotte, looking gay and fair, yet warlike, as Ideemed. She was clad in a long garment of red over a white robe, and hadsleeves of green, so that she wore the spring's own colours, and she wassinging a French ditty concerning a lady who has a lover, and vows thatshe will never be a nun.

  Seray-je nonnette, oui ou non, Serray-je nonnette, je croy que non!

  Seeing me, she stinted in her singing, and in feeding a falcon that wasperched on her wrist.

  "You are early astir for a sick man," she said. "Have you been onpilgrimage, or whither have you been faring?"

  "The Maid sent for me right early, for to-day she rides to Jargeau, andto you she sends a message of her love,"--as indeed she had done, "but,for the great press of affairs she might not visit you."

  "And Mistress Elliot Hume, has she forgiven her lover yet? nay, I see byyour face that you are forgiven! And you go south, this very day, is itnot so?"

  "Indeed," I said, "if it is your will that we part, part we must, thoughI sorrow for it; but none has given me the word to march, save you, myfair nurse and hostess."

  "Nay, it is not I who shall speed you; nevertheless the Maid is not theonly prophetess in this realm of France, and something tells me that wepart this day. But you are weary; will you get you to your chamber, orsit in the garden under the mulberry-tree, and I shall bring you out acup of white wine."

  Weary I was indeed, and the seat in the garden among the flowers seemed ahaven most desirable. So thither I went, leaning on her shoulder, andshe returned to bring the wine, but was some while absent, and I sat deepin thought. I was marvelling, not only as to what my mistress would nextdo, and when I should see her again (though that was uppermost in mymind), but also concerning the strange words of the Maid, that I aloneshould be with her when all forsook her and fled. How might this be, andwas she not to be ever victorious, and drive the English forth of France?To my thinking the Maid dwelt ever in two worlds, with her brethren ofParadise, and again with sinful men. And I have often considered thatshe did not always remember, in this common life, what had befallen her,and what she knew when, as the Apostle says, she "was out of the body."For I have heard her say, more than once, that she "would last but oneyear, or little more," and, again, she would make plans for three yearsto come, or four, which is a mystery.

  So I was pondering, when I looked up, and saw Charlotte standing in theentrance between the court and garden, looking at me and smiling, as sheshaded her eyes with her hand from the sun, and then she ran to melightly as a lapwing.

  "They are coming down the street, looking every way for our house, yourlady and her father," she said, putting the wine-cup into my hand. "Nowis it war or peace?" and she fled back again within the house.

  My heart stood still, for now everything was on the fall of the dice.Would this mad girl be mocking or meek? Would she anger my lady to myruin with her sharp tongue? For Charlotte was of a high temper, and wontto rule all the house by reason of her beauty and kind wild ways. Norwas Elliot the meekest of women, as well I knew, and a word, nay a smile,or a glance of mockery, might lightly turn her heart from me again forever. Oh! the lot of a lover is hard, at least if he has set all hisheart on the cast, as I had done, and verily, as our Scots saw runs,"women are kittle cattle." It is a strange thing that one who haslearned not to blench from a bare blade, or in bursting of cannon-ballsand flight of arrows, should so easily be daunted where a weak girl isconcerned; yet so it was in my case. I know not if I feared more thannow when Brother Thomas had me in the still chamber, alone at his mercy.

  So the minutes went by, the sun and shade flickering through the boughsof the mulberry-tree, and the time seemed long. Perchance, I thought,there had been war, as Charlotte had said, and my lady had departed inanger with her father, and I was all undone. Yet I dared not go to seekthem in the house, not knowing how matters were passing, and whether Ishould do good or harm. So I waited, and at length Charlotte came forthalone. Now she walked slowly, her eyes bent on the ground, and, as shedrew near, I saw that they were red, and I guessed that she had beenweeping. So I gave up all for lost, and my heart turned to water withinme.

  "I am sent to bid you come in," she said gravely.

  "What has passed?" I cried. "For the saints' sake, tell me all!"

  "This has passed, that I have seen such a lady as I never dreamed Ishould see, and she has made me weep--foolish that I am!"

  "Why, what did she? Did she speak unkindly then, to my kind nurse?"

  For this I could in no manner have endured, nor have abased myself tolove one that was unjust, how dear soever; and none could be dearer thanElliot. Yet unjust she might have been; and this thought to me was thegreatest torment.

  "Speak unkind words? Oh, I remember my foolish talk, how I said that shewould never forgive me while the world stands. Nay, while her father waswith mine and with my mother, thanking them for what they did for you,she led me apart to devise with me, and I took her to my chamber, andthere, with tears in her eyes, and in the sweetest manner, she prayed meto pardon her for that she had been mad for a moment; and so, lookingmeek as an angel, she awaited my word. And I could not but weep, thoughto weep is never my way, and we embraced each the other, and I told herhow all your converse had ever been of her, even when you were besideyourself, in your fever, and how never was so faithful a lover. Nay, Ibid you be glad, for I never deemed that any woman living on earth wouldso repent and so confess herself to another, where she herself had firstbeen wroth, but would blame all the world rather, and herself--never. Sowe women are not all alike, as I thought; for I would hardly haveforgiven, if I know myself; and yet I am n
o worse than another. Truly,she has been much with the Maid, and has caught from her this, to be likeher, who is alone among women, and of the greatest heart."

  Here she ceased to speak very gravely, as she had till now done, andbreaking out into a sweet laughter, she cried--

  "Nevertheless I am not wholly a false prophetess, for to-day you go withthem southward, to Tours, to change the air, as the physician counsels,and so now we part. O false Scot!" she said, laughing again, "how haveyou the ill courtesy to look so joyous? Nay, I shall change your cheer";and with that she stooped and kissed my cheek, saying, "Go, and joy gowith you, as joy abides with me, to see my sick man look so strong again.Come, they are waiting for us, and you know we must not tarry."

  Then, giving me her arm, she led me in, and if one of us twain had ashamefaced guise, verify it was not Charlotte Boucher.

  "I yield you back your esquire, fair lady," she said merrily, makingobeisance to Elliot, who stood up, very pale, to receive us.

  "He has got no ill in the bower of the enchantress," said my master;whereat, Elliot seeming some deal confused, and blushing, Charlottebustled about, bringing wine and meat, and waiting upon all of us, and onher father and mother at table. A merry dinner it was among the elderfolk, but Elliot and I were somewhat silent, and a great joy it was tome, and a heavy weight off my heart, I do confess, when, dinner beingended, and all courtesies done and said, my raiment was encased inwallets, and we all went through the garden, to Loire side; and so, withmany farewells, took boat and sailed down the river, under the Bridge ofOrleans, towards Blois. But Charlotte I never saw again, nor did I everspeak of her to Elliot, nor Elliot of her to me, from that day forth.

  But within short space came tidings, how that Charlotte was wedding ayoung burgess of Orleans, with whom, as I hear, she dwelt happily, andstill, for all I know, dwells in peace. As I deem, she kept her lord ina merry life, yet in great order and obedience. So now there is no moreto tell of her, save that her picture comes back before me--a tall, browngirl, with black hair and eyes like the hue of hazel boughs glassed inrunning water, clad in white and green and red, standing smiling beneaththe red-and-white blossoms of an apple-tree, in the green garden ofJacques Boucher.

  Elliot was silent enough, and sat telling her beads, in the beginning ofour journey down the water-way, that is the smoothest and the easiestvoyaging for a sick man. She was in the stern of the boat, her fingers,when her beads were told, trailing in the smooth water, that was greenwith the shade of leaves. But her father stood by me, asking manyquestions concerning the siege, and gaping at the half-mended arch of thebridge, where through we sailed, and at the blackened walls of LesTourelles, and all the ruin that war had wrought. But now masons andcarpenters were very busy rebuilding all, and the air was full of thetinkling of trowels and hammers. Presently we passed the place where Ihad drawn Brother Thomas from the water; but thereof I said no word, forindeed my dreams were haunted by his hooded face, like that of the snakewhich, as travellers tell, wears a hood in Prester John's country, and isthe most venomous of beasts serpentine. So concerning Brother Thomas Iheld my peace, and the barque, swinging round a corner of the bank, soonbrought us into a country with no sign of war on it, and here the poplar-trees had not been felled for planks to make bulwarks, but whispered bythe riverside.

  The wide stream carried many a boat, and shone with sails, white, andcrimson, and brown; the boat-men sang, or hailed each other from afar.There was much traffic, stores being carried from Blois to the army. Somemile or twain above Beaugency we were forced to land, and, I being bornein a litter, we took a cross-path away from the stream, joining it againtwo miles below Beaugency, because the English held that town, though notfor long. The sun had set, yet left all his gold shining on the waterwhen we entered Blois, and there rested at a hostel for the night. Nextday--one of the goodliest of my life, so soft and clear and warm it was,yet with a cool wind on the water--we voyaged to Tours; and now Elliotwas glad enough, making all manner of mirth.

  Her desire, she said, was to meet a friend that she had left at theirhouse in Tours, one that she had known as long as she knew me, my friendhe was too, yet I had never spoken of him, or asked how he did. Now I,being wrapped up wholly in her, and in my joy to see her kind again, andso beautiful, had no memory of any such friend, wherefore she mocked me,and rebuked me for a hard heart and ungrateful. "This friend of mine,"she said, "was the first that made us known each to other. Yea, but forhim, the birds might have pecked out your eyne, and the ants eaten yourbones bare, yet"--with a sudden anger, and tears in her eyes at the wordsshe spoke--"you have clean forgotten him!"

  "Ah, you mean the jackanapes. And how is the little champion?"

  "Like the lads of Wamfray, aye for ill, and never for good," said mymaster; but she frowned on him, and said--

  "Now you ask, because I forced you on it; but, sir, I take it very illthat you have so short a memory for a friend. Now, tell me, in all thetime since you left us at Chinon, how often have you thought of him?"

  "Nigh as often as I thought of you," I answered. "For when you came intomy mind (and that was every minute), as in a picture, thither too cameyour playfellow, climbing and chattering, and holding out his little bowlfor a comfit."

  "Nay, then you thought of me seldom, or you would have asked how hedoes."

  Here she turned her face from me, half in mock anger. But, just as it iswith children, so it was with Elliot, for indeed my dear was ever much ofa child, wherefore her memory is now to me so tender. And as childrenmake pretence to be in this humour or that for sport, and will affect tobe frighted till they really fear and weep, so Elliot scarce knew howdeep her own humour went, and whether she was acting like a player in aMystery, or was in good earnest. And if she knew not rightly what herhumour was, far less could I know, so that she was ever a puzzle to me,and kept me in a hundred pretty doubts and dreads every day. Alas! howsorely, through all these years, have I longed to hear her rebuke me inmirth, and put me adread, and laugh at me again I for she was, as itwere, wife and child to me, at once, and I a child with her, and as happyas a child.

  Thus, nothing would now jump with her humour but to be speaking of herjackanapes, and how he would come louting and leaping to welcome her, andforsake her old kinswoman, who had followed with them to Tours. And shehad much to report concerning his new tricks: how he would leap over arod for the Dauphin or the Maid, but not if adjured in the name of theEnglish King, or the Duke of Burgundy. Also, if you held him, he wouldmake pretence to bite any that you called Englishman or false Frenchman.Moreover, he had now been taught to fetch and carry, and would climb intoElliot's window, from the garden, and bring her little basket of silks,or whatsoever she desired, or carry it thither, as he was commanded.

  "And he wrung the cat's neck," quoth my master; but Elliot bade him holdhis peace.

  In such sport the hours passed, till we were safely come to Tours, and soto their house in a street running off the great place, where thecathedral stands. It was a goodly dwelling, with fair carved-work on thebeams, and in the doorway stood the old Scots kinswoman, smiling wide andtoothless, to welcome us. Elliot kissed her quickly, and she fondledElliot, and held a hand out over her shoulder to greet me.

  "But where is my jackanapes, that should have been here to salute hismistress?" Elliot cried.

  "Out and alas!" said the old wife in our country tongue--"out and alas!for I have ill news. The poor beast is missing these three days past,and we fear he is stolen away by some gangrel bodies, for the town isfull of them. There came two to our door, three days agone, and one wasa blind man, and the other a one-armed soldier, maimed in the wars, and Igave them bite and sup, as a Christian should do. Now, they had not beengone but a few minutes, and I was in the spence, putting away the dishes,when I heard a whistle in the street, and anon another. I thought littleof it, and so was about my business for an hour, when I missed thejackanapes. And then there was a hue and cry, and all the house wassearched, and the neig
hbours were called on, but since that day there hasbeen no word of the jackanapes. But, for the blind man and the armlesssoldier, the town guard saw them leaving by the North Gate, with a violerwoman and her husband, an ill-looking loon, in their company." Elliotsat her down and wept sore. "They have stolen my little friend," shecried, "and now he that was so fat I called him Tremouille will go hungryand lean, and be whipped to make him do his tricks, and I shall never seehim more."

  Then she ran out of the chamber, to weep alone, as I guessed, for she waspitiful and of very tender affection, and dumb things came near about herheart, as is the manner of many women.

  But I made no doubt in my mind that the husband of the ape's old mistresshad stolen him, and I, too, sorrowed for the poor beast that my mistressloved, and that, in very deed, had been the saving of my own life. ThenI spoke to my master, and said that we must strive to buy her a new ape,or a little messan dog, to be her playfellow.

  But he shook his head. "Say nothing more of the beast," he muttered,"unless she speaks of him first, and that, methinks, will be never. Forit is not her wont to speak of what lies very deep in her heart, and ifyou talk of the beast it will please her little."

  And, indeed, I heard no word more of the jackanapes from Elliot, savethat, coming back from the minster next day, she whispered, "I haveprayed for him," and so fled to her own chamber.

  As then I deemed it a strange thing, and scarcely to be approved by HolyChurch, that my lady should pray for a dumb beast who had no soul to besaved. But a faithful, loving prayer is not unavailing or unheard of Himwho made the beasts, as well as He made us; for whose sin, or the sin ofour father Adam, they now suffer, silently. And the answer to thisprayer was to be known in the end.

  As the week went on, tidings came that made Elliot glad again, if beforeshe had been sad enough. For this was that great week of wonders whichshall never be forgotten while France is France, and the lilies bloom.

  On June the thirteenth the Maid took Jargeau, whence the famed Bastard ofOrleans had been driven some weeks agone; and the Earl of Suffolk yieldedhim her prisoner, saying that she was "the most valiant woman in theworld." Scarce had tidings of this great victory come, when messengersfollowed, declaring that the Maid had seized the Bridge of Meun anddriven the English into the Castle.

  Next she marched against Beaugency, and, at midnight of June theseventeenth, the English made terms, that they might go forth with theirlives, but without baggage or arms, and with but one mark of silverapiece. Next morning came Talbot, the best knight then on ground, andFastolf, the wariest of captains, with a great army of English. Firstthey made for Jargeau, but they came too late, and then they rode toMeun, and would have assailed the French in the bridge-fort, but, eventhen, they heard how Beaugency had yielded to La Pucelle, and how thegarrison was departed into Normandy, like pilgrims, without swords, andstaff in hand. Thus all the Loire and the water-way was in the power ofFrance, wherefore the English marched off through the country called LaBeauce, which then lay desert and overgrown with wild wood, by reason ofthe war. And there, in a place named Coynce, near Patay, the Maidovertook the English, having with her La Hire and Xaintrailles, and shecharged them so rudely, that ere the English could array them in order ofbattle, they were already flying for their lives. There were Talbot andWarwick taken and held to ransom, but Fastolf fled as fast as his horsecould carry him.

  Thus in one week, between June the eleventh and June the eighteenth, theMaid had delivered three strong towns from the English, and had utterlyrouted them in fair field. Then, at Orleans, on June the nineteenth, thearmy went to the churches, thanking God, and the Blessed Virgin, and allthe saints, for such great signs and marvels wrought through the Maidonly.

  Sorrow it is to me to write of such things by report, and not to haveseen them done. But, as Talbot said to the Duc d'Alencon, when they tookhim at Patay, "it is fortune of war."

  But, as day by day messengers came, their horses red with spurring, tothe cross in the market-place of Tours, and as we that gathered roundheard of some fresh victory, you may consider whether we rejoiced,feasted, filled the churches with our thanksgivings, and deemed that, ina few weeks, there would be no living Englishman on French soil. And ofall that were glad my lady was the happiest, for she had believed in theMaid from the very beginning, when her father mocked. And a hard lifeshe now led him with her sallies, day by day, as more and ever more gladtidings were brought, and we could hear Elliot singing through the house.

  Yea, I found her once dancing in the garden all alone, a beautiful sightto look upon, as the sun fell on her and the shadow, she footing it as ifto music, but the music was made by her own heart. Leaning against anapple-tree, I watched her, who waved her hand to me, and still danced on;this was after we had heard the news of Beaugency. As she so swayed andmoved, dancing daintily, came a blast of a trumpet and a gay peal fromthe minster bells. Then forth rushed Elliot, and through the house, anddown the street into the market-place, nor did I know where I was, till Ifound myself beside her, and heard the Maire read a letter to all thefolk, telling how the English were routed at Pathay in open field.Thereon the whole multitude fell a-dancing, and I, for all my malady, wasfain to dance with them; but Elliot led me home, her head high, and bluerays darting from her eyes. From that day my life seemed to come back tome, and I was no longer the sick man. So the weeks went by, in alldelight, my master working hard, and I helping him in my degree, for newbanners would be wanted when the Dauphin went for his sacring to his goodtown of Reims. As we all deemed, this could no longer be delayed; andthereafter our armies would fall on Paris, and so strong grew I, that Iwas in hopes to be with them, where, at last, fortune was to be won. Butof this my hope I said little to Elliot, waiting till I could weararmour, and exercising myself thereat privately in the garden, beforefolk had risen in the mornings.