live one hundred years I shallnever forget it, the little urchin looked so resolved and spiteful."
I smiled somewhat sadly, I ween, but with better cheer when sherelated how tender a heart Basil had from his infant years toward thepoor, taking off his clothes for to give them to the beggars he met,and one day, she said, praying very hard Mrs. Wells for to harbor astrolling man which had complained he had no lodging.
"'Mistress,' quoth he, 'you have many chambers in your house, and hehath not so much as a bed to lie in tonight;' and would not becontented till she had charged a servant to get the fellow a lodging.And me he once abused very roundly in his older years for the samecause. There was one Jack Morris, an old man which worked sometimes inMr. Wells's stable, but did lie at a cottage out of the town. And oneday in winter, when it snowed, Master Basil would have me make thisfellow sleep in the house, because he was sick, he said, and he wouldgive him his own bed and lie himself on straw in the stable; and wentinto so great a passion when I said he should not do so, for that hewas a mean person and could not lie in a gentleman's chamber, that myyoung master cries out, 'Have a care. Mistress Mason, I do not come inthe night and shake you out of your own bed, for to give you a tasteof the cold floor, which yet is not, I promise you, so cold as thestreet into which you would turn this poor diseased man.' And then hefell to coaxing of me till I consented for to send a mattress and awarm rug to the stable for this pestilent old man, who I warrant youwas not so sick as he did assume to be, but had sufficient cunning forto cozen Master Basil out of his money. Lord bless the lad! I haveseen him run out with his dinner in his hand, if he did but see aragged urchin in the streets, and gift him with it; and then wouldslug lustily about the house--methinks I do hear him now--
'Dinner, O dinner's a rare good thing Alike for a beggar, alike for a king.'"
Basil opened then his eyes and stared about him.
"Why, Mistress Mason," he cried, "beshrew me if you are not rehearsinga rare piece of poesy!--the only one I ever did indite." At the whichspeech we all laughed; but our merriment was short; for time had spedfaster than we thought, and Basil said he must needs return to theBorough to forecast with Mr. Hodgson and Tom Price means to convey Mr.Watson to the ship, which was out at sea nigh unto the shore, and aboat must be had to carry them there, and withal such appliancesprocured as should ease his broken limbs.
"Is there not danger" I asked, "in moving him so soon?"
"Yea," he said, "but a less fearful danger than in long tarrying inthis country."
This was too true to be gainsayed; and so thanking the goodhousekeeper we left the house, which had seemed for those few hourslike onto a harbor from a stormy sea, wherein both our barks,shattered by the waves, had refitted in peace.
"Farewell, Basil," I mournfully said; "God knoweth for how long."
"Not for very long," he answered. "In three months I shall have creptout of my wardship. Then, if it please God, I will return, and so dealwith your good uncle that we shall soon after that be married."
"Yea," I answered, "if so be that my father is then in safety."
He said he meant not otherwise, but that he had great confidence itshould then be so. When at last we parted he went down Holborn Hillvery fast, and I slowly to Ely Place, many times stopping for to catchone more sight of him in the crowd, which howsoever soon hid him fromme.
When I arrived at home I found Muriel in great affliction, for newshad reached her that Mistress Ward had been apprehended and throwninto prison. Methinks we had both looked for no other issue than this,which she had herself most desired; but nevertheless, when thecertainty thereof was confirmed to us, it should almost have seemed asif we were but ill-prepared for it. The hope I had conceived a shorttime before that she should escape in the same vessel with Basil andMr. Watson, made me less resigned to this mishap than I should havebeen had no means of safety been at hand, and the sword, as it were,hanging over her head from day to day. The messenger which had broughtthis evil news being warranted reliable by a letter from Mr. Hodgson,I intrusted him with a few lines to Basil, in which I informed him notto stay his departure on her account, who was now within the walls ofthe prison which Mr. Watson had escaped from, and that her bestcomfort now should be to know he was beyond reach of his pursuers. Therest of the day was spent in great heaviness of spirit. Mr. Congletonsent a servant to Mr. Roper for to request him to come to London, andwrote likewise to Mr. Lacy for to return to his house in town, andconfer with some Catholics touching Mistress Ward's imprisonment.Muriel's eyes thanked him, but I ween she had no hope therein and didresign herself to await the worst tidings. Her mother's unceasingasking for her, whose plight she dared not so much as hint at in herpresence, did greatly aggravate her sufferings. I have often thoughtMuriel did then undergo a martyrdom of the heart as sharp in its kindas that which Mistress Ward endured in prison, if the reports whichdid reach us were true. But more of that anon. The eventful day, whichhad opened with so much of fear and sorrow, had yet in store otherhaps, which I must now relate.
About four of the clock Hubert came to Ely Place, and found me alonein the parlor, my fingers busied with some stitching, my thoughtshaving wandered far away, where I pictured to myself the mouth of theriver, the receding tide, the little vessel which was to carry Basilaway once more to a foreign land, with its sails flapping in the wind;and boats passing to and fro, plying on the fair bosom of the broadriver, and not leaving so much as a trace of their passage. And hisboat with its freight more precious than gold--the rescued life boughtat a great price--methought I saw it glide in the dark amidst thosehundred other boats unobserved (so I hoped), unstayed on its course.Methought that so little bark should be a type of some lives whichcarry with them, unwatched, undiscerned, a purpose, which doth freightthem on their way to eternity--somewhat hidden, somewhat close totheir hearts, somewhat engaging their whole strength; and all the while they seem to be doing the like of what others do; and Godonly knoweth how different shall be the end!
"Ah, Hubert," I exclaimed when the door opened, "is it you? Methinksin these days I see no one come into this house but a fear or a hopedoth seize me. What bringeth you? or hath nothing occurred?"
"Something may occur this day," he answered, "if you do but will it tobe so, Constance."
"What?" I asked eagerly; "what may occur?"
"Your father's deliverance," he said.
"Oh, Hubert," I cried, "it is not possible!"
"Go to!" he said in a resolved manner. "Don your most becoming suit,and follow my directions in all ways. Lady Ingoldsby, I thank God,hath not left London, and will be here anon to carry you to SirFrancis Walsingham's house, where her familiar friend, Lady Sydney,doth now abide during Sir Philip's absence. You shall thus get speechwith Sir Francis; and if you do behave with diffidency, and beware ofthe violence of your nature and exorbitancy of your tongue, checkingneedless speeches, and answering his questions with as many words ascourtesy doth command, and as few as civility doth permit, I doubt notbut you may obtain your father's release in the form of a sentence ofbanishment; for he is not ill-disposed thereunto, having receivednotice that his health is sinking under the hardships of hisconfinement, and his strength so impaired that, once beyond seas, heis not like to adventure himself again in this country."
"Alas!" I cried, "mine eyes had discerned in his shrunken form andhollow cheeks tokens of such a decay as you speak of; and I pray GodMr. Secretary may deal mercifully with him before it shall be toolate."
"I'll warrant you," he replied, "that if you do rightly deal with him,he win sign an order which shall release this very night your fatherfrom prison, and send him safe beyond seas before the week is ended."
"Think you so?" I said, my heart beating with an uncertain kind ofhope mixed with doubting.
"I am assured of it," Hubert confidently replied.
"I must ask my uncle's advice," doubtfully said, "before I go withPolly."
A contemptuous smile curled his lip. "Yea," he said, "Be directed inthese weighty matters, I do
advise you, by your aunt also, and thesaintly Muriel, and twenty hundred others beside, if you list; and thewhile this last chance shall escape, and your father be doomed todeath. I have done my part, God knoweth. If he perish, his blood willnot be on my head; but mark my words, if he be not presently released,he will appear before the council in two days, and the oath betendered to him, which you best know if he will take, and his refusalwithout fail will send him to the scaffold."
"God defend," I exclaimed, greatly moved, "I should delay to do thatwhich may yet save him. I will go, Hubert. But I pray you, who arefamiliar with Sir Francis, what means should be best for to
Constance Sherwood: An Autobiography of the Sixteenth Century Page 69
