Constance Sherwood: An Autobiography of the Sixteenth Century
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mother in her bed, and payingtheir respects to their father, whom they found asleep in his chair,his prayer-book, with which he was engaged most of the day, lying openby his side. Polly kissed his forehead, and then the picture of ourBlessed Lady in the first page of this much-used volume; which suddenacts of hers comforted me not a little.
Muriel came out of her mother's chamber to greet them, but would notsuffer them to see her at this unexpected time, for that the leastchange in her customable habits disordered her; and then whispered tome that she had often asked for Mistress Ward, and complained of herabsence.
At the last Sir Ralph came, but not Mr. Lacy, who he said was tiredwith his long ride, and had gone home to bed. Thereupon Kate began toweep; for she said she would not go without him to this fine ball, forit was an unbecoming thing for a woman to be seen abroad when herhusband was at home, and a thing she had not yet done, nor did intendto do. But that it was a very hard thing she should have been at thepains to dress herself so handsomely, and not so much as one person tosee her in this fine suit; and she wished she had not been so foolishas to be persuaded to it, and that Polly was very much to blametherein. At the which, "I' faith, I think so too," Polly exclaimed;"and I wish you had stayed in the country, my dear."
Kate's pitiful visage and whineful complaint moved me, in my thenapprehensive humor, to an unmerry but not to be resisted fit oflaughter, which she did very much resent; but I must have laughed ordied, and yet it made me angry to hear her utter such lamentations whohad no true cause for displeasure.
When they were gone,--she, still shedding tears, in a chair Sir Ralphsent for to convey her to Gray's Inn Lane, and he and Polly in theircoach to Mrs. Yates's,--the relief I had from their absence proved sogreat that at first it did seem to ease my heart. I went slowly up tomine own chamber, and stood there a while at the casement looking atthe quiet sky above and the unquiet city beneath it, and chiefly inthe distant direction where I knew the prison to be, picturing tomyself my father in his bare cell. Mistress Ward regaining her obscurelodging, Mr. Watson's dangerous descent, and mostly the boat whichBasil was to row,--that boat freighted with so perilous a burthen.These scenes seemed to rise before mine eyes as I remained motionless,straining their sight to pierce the darkness of the night and ofthe fog which hung over the town. When the clock struck twelve, ashiver ran through me, for I thought of the like striking at LynnCourt, and what had followed. Upon which I betook myself to myprayers, and thinking on Basil, said, "Speak for him, O Blessed VirginMary! Entreat for him, O ye apostles! Make intercession for him, allye martyrs! Pray for him, all ye confessors and all ye company ofheaven, that my prayers for him may take effect before our Lord JesusChrist!" Then my head waxed heavy with sleep, and I sank on thecushion of my kneeling-stool. I wot not for how many hours I slumberedin this wise; but I know I had some terrible dreams.
When I awoke it was daylight. A load knocking at the door of the househad aroused me. Before I had well bethought me where I was, Muriel'swhite face appeared at my door. The pursuivants, she said, were cometo seek for Mistress Ward.
CHAPTER XIX.
My first thought, when Muriel had announced to me the coming of thepursuivants in search of Mistress Ward, was to thank God she wasbeyond their reach, and with so much prudence had left us in ignoranceof her abode. Then making haste to dress--for I apprehended theseofficers should visit every chamber in the house--I quickly repairedto my aunt's room, who was persuaded by Muriel that they had sent forto take an inventory of the furniture, which she said was a verycommendable thing to do, but she wished they had waited until suchtime as she had had her breakfast. By an especial mercy, it sohappened that these officers--or, leastways, two out of three ofthem--were quiet, well-disposed men, who exercised their office withas much mildness as could be hoped for, and rather diminished by theirbehavior than in any way increased the hardships of this invasion ofdomestic privacy. We were all in turns questioned touching MistressWard's abode except my aunt, whose mental infirmity was pleaded for toexempt her from this ordeal. The one officer who was churlish said,"If the lady's mind be unsound, 'tis most like she will let the catout of the bag," and would have forced questions on her; but theothers forcibly restrained him from it, and likewise from openlyinsulting us, when we denied all knowledge of the place she hadresorted to. Howsoever, he vented his displeasure in scornful looksand cutting speeches. They carried away sundry prayer-books, andnotably the "Spiritual Combat," which Mrs. Engerfield had gifted mewith, when I slept at her house at Northampton, the loss of whichgrieved me not a little, but yet not so much as it would have done atanother time, for my thoughts were then wholly set on discovering whohad betrayed Mistress Ward's intervention, and what had been Mr.Watson's fate, and if Basil also had been implicated. I addressedmyself to the most seemly of the three men, and asked him what heroffence had been.
"She assisted," he answered, "in the escape of a prisoner fromBridewell."
"In what manner?" I said, with so much of indifferency as I couldassume.
"By the smuggling of a rope into his cell," he answered, "which wasfound yet hanging unto his window, and which none other than thatpestilent woman could have furnished him with."
Alas! this was what I feared would happen, when she first formed thisproject; but she had assured us Mr. Watson would let himself down,holding the two ends of the cord in his hands, and so would be enabledto carry it away with him after he had got down, and so it would neverbe discovered by what means he had made his escape.
"And this prisoner hath then escaped?" I said, in a careless manner.
"Marry, out of one cage," he answered; "but I'll warrant you he is bythis time lodged in a more safe dungeon, and with such bracelets onhis hands and feet as shall not suffer him again to cheat thegallows."
I dared not question him further; and finding nothing more totheir purpose, the pursuivants retired.
When Mr. Congleton, Muriel, and I afterward met in the parlor, none ofus seemed disposed to speak. There be times when grief is loquacious,but others when the weight of apprehension doth check speech. At lastI broke this silence by such words as "What should now be done?" and"How can we learn what hath occurred?"
Then Mr. Congleton turned toward me, and with much gravity and unusualvehemency,
"Constance," quoth he, "when Margaret Ward resolved on this boldaction, which in the eyes of some savored of rashness, I warned her tocount the cost before undertaking it, for that it was replete withmany dangers, and none should embark in it which was not prepared tomeet with a terrible death. She told me thereupon that for many pastyears her chief desire had been to end her life by such a death, if itshould be for the sake of religion, and that the day she should besentenced to it would prove the joyfullest she had yet known. This shesaid in an inflamed manner, and I question not but it was her truethinking. I do not gainsay the merit of this pining, though I couldwish her virtue had been of a commoner sort. But such being her aim,her choice, and desire, I am not of opinion that I should now disturbthe peace of my wife's helpless days or mine own either (who have not,I cry God mercy for it, the same wish to suffer the pains reserved torecusants, albeit I hope in him he would give me strength, to do so ifconscience required it), not to speak of you and Muriel and my otherdaughters, for the sake of unavailing efforts in her so desperatecase, who hath made her own bed (and I deny it not to be a gloriousone) and, as she hath made it, must lie on it. So I will betake myselfto prayer for her, which she said was the whole scope of the favor shedesired from her friends, if she fell into trouble, and dreadednothing so much as any other dealings in her behalf; and if Mr. Roper,or Brian Lacy, or young Rookwood, have any means by which to send hermoney for her convenience in prison, I will give it; but othermeasures I will not take, nor by any open show of interest in her fatedraw down suspicions on us as parties and abettors in her so-calledtreason."
Neither of us replied to this speech; and after that our short mealwas ended, Muriel went to her mother's chamber, and I set myself toconsider what I shoul
d do; for to sit and wait in this terribleignorance of what had happened seemed an impossible thing. So takingmy maid with me, albeit it rained a little, I walked to Kate's house,and found she and her husband had left it an hour before for to returnto Mr. Benham's seat. Polly and Sir Ralph, who slept there also, wereyet abed, and had given orders, the servant said, not to be disturbed.So I turned sorrowfully from the door, doubting whither to applymyself; for Mr. Roper lived at Richmond, and Mr. and Mrs. Wells wereabroad. I thought to go to Mr. Hodgson, whose boatman had drawn Basilinto this enterprise, and was standing forecasting which way to turn,when all of a sudden who should I see but Basil himself coming downthe lane toward me! I tried to go for to meet him, but my legs failedme, and I was forced to lean against my maid till he