and in this casethe effect of this impression suddenly checked the joy which at myfirst arrival I had experienced. O, how much secret discipline shouldbe needed for to rule that little unruly kingdom within us, which manylook not into till serious rebellions do arise, which need fire andsword to quell them for lack of timely repression! Her ladyship setbefore me some food, and constrained me to eat, which I did merely forto content her. She appeared to me somewhat restless: beginning asentence, and then breaking off suddenly in the midst thereof; goingin and out of the chamber; laughing at one time, and then seeming asif about to weep. "When I had finished eating, and a servant hadremoved the dishes, she sat down by my side and took my hand in hers.Then the tears truly began to roll down her cheeks.
"O, for God's sake, what aileth you, dearest lady?" I said, uneasilygazing on her agitated countenance.
"Nothing ails me," she answered; "only I fear to frighten thee, albeitin a joyful manner."
"Frightened with joy!" I sadly answered. "O, that should be a rarefright, and an unwonted one to me of late."
"Therefore," she said, smiling through her tears, "peradventure themore to be feared."
"What joy do you speak of? I pray you, sweet lady, keep me not insuspense."
"If, for instance," she said in a low voice, pressing my hands veryhard,--"if I was to tell thee Constance, that thy Basil was here,shouldst thou not be affrighted?"
Methinks I must have turned very white; leastways, I began to tremble.
"Is he here?" I said, almost beside myself with the fearful hope herwords awoke.
"Yea," she said. "Since three days he is here."
For a moment I neither spoke nor moved.
"How comes it about? how doth it happen?" I began to say; but apassion of tears choked my utterance. I fell into her arms, sobbing onher breast; for verily I had no power to restrain myself. I heard hersay, "Master Rookwood, come in." Then, after those sad long wearyyears, I again heard his cheerful voice; then I saw his kind eyesspeaking what words could never have uttered, or one-half so wellexpressed. Then I felt the happiness which is most like, I ween,of any on earth to that of heaven: after long parting, to meet againone intensely loved--each heart overflowing with an unspoken joy andwith an unbounded thankfulness to God. Amazement did so fill me atthis unlooked-for good, that I seemed content for a while to think ofit as of a dream, and only feared to be awoke. But oh, with how manysweet tears of gratitude--with what bursts of wonder and admiration--Isoon learnt how Lady Arundel had formed this kind plot, to whichMuriel had been privy, for to bring together parted lovers, andprocure to others the happiness she so often lacked herself--thecompany of the most loved person in the world. She had herself writtento Basil, and related the cause of my apparent change; a cause, shesaid, at no time sufficient for to warrant a desperate action, andeven then passing away. But that had it forever endured, she was ofopinion his was a love would survive any such accident as touched onlythe exterior, when all else was unimpaired. She added, that when Mr.Congleton, who was then at the point of death, should have expired,and Muriel gone beyond seas to fulfil her religious intent, she woulduse all the persuasion in her power to bring me to reside with her,which was the thing she most desired in the world; and that if heshould think it possible under another name for to cross the seas andland at some port in Sussex, he should be the welcomest guestimaginable at Arundel Castle, if even, like St. Alexis, he should hidehis nobility under the garb of rags, and come thither begging on foot;but yet she hoped, for his sake, it should not so happen, albeitnothing could be more honorable if the cause was a good one. It neededno more inducement than what this letter contained for to move Basilto attempt this secret return. He took the name of Martingale, andprocured a passage in a small trading craft, which landed him at theport of a small town named Littlehampton, about three or four milesfrom Arundel. Thence he walked to the castle, where the countessfeigned him to be a leech sent by my lord to prescribe remedies for apain in her head, which she was oftentimes afflicted with, and as suchentertained him in the eyes of strangers as long as he continuedthere, which did often move us to great merriment; for some of theneighbors which she was forced to see, would sometimes ask for toconsult the countess's physician; and to avoid misdoubts, Basil onceor twice made up some innocent compounds, which an old gentleman and amaiden lady in the town vowed had cured them, the one of a fit of thegout, and the other of a very sharp disorder in her stomach. But toreturn to the blissful first day of our meeting, one of the happiest Ihad yet known; for a paramount affection doth so engross the heart,that other sorrows vanish in its presence like dewdrops in thesunshine. I can never forget the smallest particle of its many joys.The long talk between Basil and me, first in Lady Arundel's chamber,and then in the gallery of the castle, walking up and down, and when Iwas tired, I sitting and he standing by the window which looked on thefair valley and silvery river Arun, running toward the sea, throughpleasant pastures, with woody slopes on both sides, a fair and apeaceful scene; fair and peaceful as the prospect Basil unfolded to methat day, if we could but once in safety cross the seas; for hisdebtors had remitted to him in France the moneys which they owed him,and he had purchased a cottage in a very commodious village near thetown of Boulogne-sur-Mer, with an apple-orchard and a garden storedwith gay flowers and beehives, and a meadow with two largewalnut-trees in it. "And then bethink thee," he added, "mine own dearlove, that right in front of this fine mansion doth stand the parishchurch, where God is worshipped in a Catholic manner in peaceand freedom; and nothing greater or more weighty need, methinks, to besaid in its praise."
I said I thought so too, and that the picture he drew of it liked mewell.
"But," quoth Basil suddenly, "I must tell thee, sweetheart, I likednot well thy behavior touching thine altered face, and the misleadingletter thou didst send me at that time. No!" he exclaimed with greatvehemency, "it mislikes me sorely that thou shouldst have doubted mylove and faith, and dealt with me so injuriously. If I was now by someaccident disfigured, I must by that same token expect thine affectionfor me should decay."
"O Basil!" I cried, "that would be an impossible thing!"
"Wherefore impossible?" he replied; "you thought such a changepossible in me?"
"Because," I said, smiling, "women are the most constant creatures inthe world, and not fickle like unto men, or so careful of a goodcomplexion in others, or a fine set of features."
"Tut, tut!" he cried, "I do admire that thou shouldst dare to utter sogreat a . . . ." then he stopped, and, laughing, added, "the last halfof Raleigh's name, as the queen's bad riddle doth make it." [Footnote 5]
[Footnote 5: "The bane of the stomach, and the word of disgrace. Is the name of the gentleman with the bold."]
Well, much talk of this sort was ministered between us; but albeit Ifind pleasure in the recalling of it, methinks the reading thereofshould easily weary others; so I must check my pen, which, like unto agarrulous old gossip, doth run on, overstepping the limits ofdiscretion.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Before I arrived, Lady Arundel had made Basil privy to a great secret,with warrant to impart it to me. In a remote portion of the castle'sbuildings was concealed at that time Father Southwell, a man who hadnot his like for piety and good parts; a sweet poet also, whose piecesof verse, chiefly written in that obscure chamber in Arundel Castle,have been since done into print, and do win great praise from allsorts of people. Adjoining to his room, which only one servant in thehouse, who carried his meals to him, had knowledge of, and from whichhe could not so much as once look out of the window for fear of beingseen, was a small oratory where he said mass every day, and by asecret passage Lady Arundel went from her apartments for to hear it.That same evening after supper she led me thither for to get this goodpriest's blessing, and also his counsel touching my marriage; for bothher ladyship and Basil were urgent for it to take place in a privatemanner at the castle before we left England. For, they argued, ifthere should be danger in this departure, it were best encounteredtogethe
r; and except we were married it should be an impossible thingfor me to travel in his company and land with him in France. Catholicscould be married in a secret manner now that the needs of the times,and the great perils many were exposed to, gave warrant for it. Aftersome talk with Father Southwell and Lady Arundel, I consented to theirwishes with more gladness of heart, I ween, than was seemly toexhibit; for verily I was better contented than can be thought of tothink I should be at last married to my dear Basil, and nevermore topart from him, if it so pleased God that we should land safely inFrance, which did seem to me then the land of promise.
The next days were spent in forecasting means for a safe departure, assoon as these secret nuptials should have
Constance Sherwood: An Autobiography of the Sixteenth Century Page 97
