by Walter Scott
CHAPTER XXXVI.
I have said This is an adulteress--I have said with whom: More, she's a traitor, and Camillo is A federary with her, and one that knows What she should shame to know herself. --WINTER'S TALE.
They were no sooner in the Earl's cabinet than, taking his tablets fromhis pocket, he began to write, speaking partly to Varney, and partlyto himself--"There are many of them close bounden to me, and especiallythose in good estate and high office--many who, if they look backtowards my benefits, or forward towards the perils which maybefall themselves, will not, I think, be disposed to see me staggerunsupported. Let me see--Knollis is sure, and through his means Guernseyand Jersey. Horsey commands in the Isle of Wight. My brother-in-law,Huntingdon, and Pembroke, have authority in Wales. Through Bedford Ilead the Puritans, with their interest, so powerful in all the boroughs.My brother of Warwick is equal, well-nigh, to myself, in wealth,followers, and dependencies. Sir Owen Hopton is at my devotion; hecommands the Tower of London, and the national treasure deposited there.My father and grand-father needed never to have stooped their heads tothe block had they thus forecast their enterprises.--Why look you sosad, Varney? I tell thee, a tree so deep-rooted is not so easily to betorn up by the tempest."
"Alas! my lord," said Varney, with well-acted passion, and then resumedthe same look of despondency which Leicester had before noted.
"Alas!" repeated Leicester; "and wherefore alas, Sir Richard? Doth yournew spirit of chivalry supply no more vigorous ejaculation when a noblestruggle is impending? Or, if ALAS means thou wilt flinch from theconflict, thou mayest leave the Castle, or go join mine enemies,whichever thou thinkest best."
"Not so, my lord," answered his confidant; "Varney will be foundfighting or dying by your side. Forgive me, if, in love to you, I seemore fully than your noble heart permits you to do, the inextricabledifficulties with which you are surrounded. You are strong, my lord,and powerful; yet, let me say it without offence, you are so only bythe reflected light of the Queen's favour. While you are Elizabeth'sfavourite, you are all, save in name, like an actual sovereign. But lether call back the honours she has bestowed, and the prophet's gourd didnot wither more suddenly. Declare against the Queen, and I do not saythat in the wide nation, or in this province alone, you would findyourself instantly deserted and outnumbered; but I will say, that evenin this very Castle, and in the midst of your vassals, kinsmen, anddependants, you would be a captive, nay, a sentenced captive, should sheplease to say the word. Think upon Norfolk, my lord--upon the powerfulNorthumberland--the splendid Westmoreland;--think on all who have madehead against this sage Princess. They are dead, captive, or fugitive.This is not like other thrones, which can be overturned by a combinationof powerful nobles; the broad foundations which support it are in theextended love and affections of the people. You might share it withElizabeth if you would; but neither yours, nor any other power, foreignor domestic, will avail to overthrow, or even to shake it."
He paused, and Leicester threw his tablets from him with an air ofreckless despite. "It may be as thou sayest," he said? "and, in sooth,I care not whether truth or cowardice dictate thy forebodings. But itshall not be said I fell without a struggle. Give orders that those ofmy retainers who served under me in Ireland be gradually drawn into themain Keep, and let our gentlemen and friends stand on their guard, andgo armed, as if they expected arm onset from the followers of Sussex.Possess the townspeople with some apprehension; let them take arms, andbe ready, at a given signal, to overpower the Pensioners and Yeomen ofthe Guard."
"Let me remind you, my lord," said Varney, with the same appearance ofdeep and melancholy interest, "that you have given me orders to preparefor disarming the Queen's guard. It is an act of high treason, but youshall nevertheless be obeyed."
"I care not," said Leicester desperately--"I care not. Shame is behindme, ruin before me; I must on."
Here there was another pause, which Varney at length broke with thefollowing words: "It is come to the point I have long dreaded. I musteither witness, like an ungrateful beast, the downfall of the best andkindest of masters, or I must speak what I would have buried in thedeepest oblivion, or told by any other mouth than mine."
"What is that thou sayest, or wouldst say?" replied the Earl; "we haveno time to waste on words when the times call us to action."
"My speech is soon made, my lord--would to God it were as soon answered!Your marriage is the sole cause of the threatened breach with yourSovereign, my lord, is it not?"
"Thou knowest it is!" replied Leicester. "What needs so fruitless aquestion?"
"Pardon me, my lord," said Varney; "the use lies here. Men will wagertheir lands and lives in defence of a rich diamond, my lord; but were itnot first prudent to look if there is no flaw in it?"
"What means this?" said Leicester, with eyes sternly fixed on hisdependant; "of whom dost thou dare to speak?"
"It is--of the Countess Amy, my lord, of whom I am unhappily bound tospeak; and of whom I WILL speak, were your lordship to kill me for myzeal."
"Thou mayest happen to deserve it at my hand," said the Earl; "but speakon, I will hear thee."
"Nay, then, my lord, I will be bold. I speak for my own life as well asfor your lordship's. I like not this lady's tampering and tricksteringwith this same Edmund Tressilian. You know him, my lord. You know he hadformerly an interest in her, which it cost your lordship some pains tosupersede. You know the eagerness with which he has pressed on the suitagainst me in behalf of this lady, the open object of which is to driveyour lordship to an avowal of what I must ever call your most unhappymarriage, the point to which my lady also is willing, at any risk, tourge you."
Leicester smiled constrainedly. "Thou meanest well, good Sir Richard,and wouldst, I think, sacrifice thine own honour, as well as that of anyother person, to save me from what thou thinkest a step so terrible. Butremember"--he spoke these words with the most stern decision--"you speakof the Countess of Leicester."
"I do, my lord," said Varney; "but it is for the welfare of the Earl ofLeicester. My tale is but begun. I do most strongly believe that thisTressilian has, from the beginning of his moving in her cause, been inconnivance with her ladyship the Countess."
"Thou speakest wild madness, Varney, with the sober face of a preacher.Where, or how, could they communicate together?"
"My lord," said Varney, "unfortunately I can show that but too well.It was just before the supplication was presented to the Queen, inTressilian's name, that I met him, to my utter astonishment, at thepostern gate which leads from the demesne at Cumnor Place."
"Thou met'st him, villain! and why didst thou not strike him dead?"exclaimed Leicester.
"I drew on him, my lord, and he on me; and had not my foot slipped, hewould not, perhaps, have been again a stumbling-block in your lordship'spath."
Leicester seemed struck dumb with surprise. At length he answered,"What other evidence hast thou of this, Varney, save thine ownassertion?--for, as I will punish deeply, I will examine coolly andwarily. Sacred Heaven!--but no--I will examine coldly and warily--coldlyand warily." He repeated these words more than once to himself, as if inthe very sound there was a sedative quality; and again compressing hislips, as if he feared some violent expression might escape from them, heasked again, "What further proof?"
"Enough, my lord," said Varney, "and to spare. I would it rested with mealone, for with me it might have been silenced for ever. But my servant,Michael Lambourne, witnessed the whole, and was, indeed, the means offirst introducing Tressilian into Cumnor Place; and therefore I took himinto my service, and retained him in it, though something of a debauchedfellow, that I might have his tongue always under my own command." Hethen acquainted Lord Leicester how easy it was to prove the circumstanceof their interview true, by evidence of Anthony Foster, with thecorroborative testimonies of the various persons at Cumnor, who hadheard the wager laid, and had seen Lambourne and Tressilian set offtogether. In the whole narrative, Varney hazarded nothing fabulous,exce
pting that, not indeed by direct assertion, but by inference, he ledhis patron to suppose that the interview betwixt Amy and Tressilian atCumnor Place had been longer than the few minutes to which it was inreality limited.
"And wherefore was I not told of all this?" said Leicester sternly. "Whydid all of ye--and in particular thou, Varney--keep back from me suchmaterial information?"
"Because, my lord," replied Varney, "the Countess pretended to Fosterand to me that Tressilian had intruded himself upon her; and I concludedtheir interview had been in all honour, and that she would at her owntime tell it to your lordship. Your lordship knows with what unwillingears we listen to evil surmises against those whom we love; and I thankHeaven I am no makebate or informer, to be the first to sow them."
"You are but too ready to receive them, however, Sir Richard," repliedhis patron. "How knowest thou that this interview was not in all honour,as thou hast said? Methinks the wife of the Earl of Leicester mightspeak for a short time with such a person as Tressilian without injuryto me or suspicion to herself."
"Questionless, my lord," answered Varney, "Had I thought otherwise,I had been no keeper of the secret. But here lies the rub--Tressilianleaves not the place without establishing a correspondence with a poorman, the landlord of an inn in Cumnor, for the purpose of carrying offthe lady. He sent down an emissary of his, whom I trust soon to havein right sure keeping under Mervyn's Tower--Killigrew and Lambsbey arescouring the country in quest of him. The host is rewarded with a ringfor keeping counsel--your lordship may have noted it on Tressilian'shand--here it is. This fellow, this agent, makes his way to the placeas a pedlar; holds conferences with the lady, and they make their escapetogether by night; rob a poor fellow of a horse by the way, such wastheir guilty haste, and at length reach this Castle, where the Countessof Leicester finds refuge--I dare not say in what place."
"Speak, I command thee," said Leicester--"speak, while I retain senseenough to hear thee."
"Since it must be so," answered Varney, "the lady resorted immediatelyto the apartment of Tressilian, where she remained many hours, partly incompany with him, and partly alone. I told you Tressilian had a paramourin his chamber; I little dreamed that paramour was--"
"Amy, thou wouldst say," answered Leicester; "but it is false, false asthe smoke of hell! Ambitious she may be--fickle and impatient--'tis awoman's fault; but false to me!--never, never. The proof--the proof ofthis!" he exclaimed hastily.
"Carrol, the Deputy Marshal, ushered her thither by her own desire, onyesterday afternoon; Lambourne and the Warder both found her there at anearly hour this morning."
"Was Tressilian there with her?" said Leicester, in the same hurriedtone.
"No, my lord. You may remember," answered Varney, "that he was thatnight placed with Sir Nicholas Blount, under a species of arrest."
"Did Carrol, or the other fellows, know who she was?" demandedLeicester.
"No, my lord," replied Varney; "Carrol and the Warder had never seen theCountess, and Lambourne knew her not in her disguise. But in seekingto prevent her leaving the cell, he obtained possession of one of hergloves, which, I think, your lordship may know."
He gave the glove, which had the Bear and Ragged Staff, the Earl'simpress, embroidered upon it in seed-pearls.
"I do--I do recognize it," said Leicester. "They were my own gift. Thefellow of it was on the arm which she threw this very day around myneck!" He spoke this with violent agitation.
"Your lordship," said Varney, "might yet further inquire of the ladyherself respecting the truth of these passages."
"It needs not--it needs not," said the tortured Earl; "it is writtenin characters of burning light, as if they were branded on my veryeyeballs! I see her infamy-I can see nought else; and--graciousHeaven!--for this vile woman was I about to commit to danger the livesof so many noble friends, shake the foundation of a lawful throne, carrythe sword and torch through the bosom of a peaceful land, wrong thekind mistress who made me what I am, and would, but for that hell-framedmarriage, have made me all that man can be! All this I was ready to dofor a woman who trinkets and traffics with my worst foes!--And thou,villain, why didst thou not speak sooner?"
"My lord," said Varney, "a tear from my lady would have blotted outall I could have said. Besides, I had not these proofs until this verymorning, when Anthony Foster's sudden arrival with the examinationsand declarations, which he had extorted from the innkeeper Gosling andothers, explained the manner of her flight from Cumnor Place, and my ownresearches discovered the steps which she had taken here."
"Now, may God be praised for the light He has given! so full, sosatisfactory, that there breathes not a man in England who shall callmy proceeding rash, or my revenge unjust.--And yet, Varney, so young,so fair, so fawning, and so false! Hence, then, her hatred to thee, mytrusty, my well-beloved servant, because you withstood her plots, andendangered her paramour's life!"
"I never gave her any other cause of dislike, my lord," replied Varney."But she knew that my counsels went directly to diminish her influencewith your lordship; and that I was, and have been, ever ready to perilmy life against your enemies."
"It is too, too apparent," replied Leicester "yet with what an air ofmagnanimity she exhorted me to commit my head to the Queen's mercy,rather than wear the veil of falsehood a moment longer! Methinks theangel of truth himself can have no such tones of high-souled impulse.Can it be so, Varney?--can falsehood use thus boldly the language oftruth?--can infamy thus assume the guise of purity? Varney, thou hastbeen my servant from a child. I have raised thee high--can raisethee higher. Think, think for me!--thy brain was ever shrewd andpiercing--may she not be innocent? Prove her so, and all I have yet donefor thee shall be as nothing--nothing, in comparison of thy recompense!"
The agony with which his master spoke had some effect even on thehardened Varney, who, in the midst of his own wicked and ambitiousdesigns, really loved his patron as well as such a wretch was capableof loving anything. But he comforted himself, and subdued hisself-reproaches, with the reflection that if he inflicted upon the Earlsome immediate and transitory pain, it was in order to pave his way tothe throne, which, were this marriage dissolved by death or otherwise,he deemed Elizabeth would willingly share with his benefactor. Hetherefore persevered in his diabolical policy; and after a moment'sconsideration, answered the anxious queries of the Earl with amelancholy look, as if he had in vain sought some exculpation for theCountess; then suddenly raising his head, he said, with an expressionof hope, which instantly communicated itself to the countenance of hispatron--"Yet wherefore, if guilty, should she have perilled herselfby coming hither? Why not rather have fled to her father's, orelsewhere?--though that, indeed, might have interfered with her desireto be acknowledged as Countess of Leicester."
"True, true, true!" exclaimed Leicester, his transient gleam of hopegiving way to the utmost bitterness of feeling and expression; "thouart not fit to fathom a woman's depth of wit, Varney. I see it all. Shewould not quit the estate and title of the wittol who had wedded her.Ay, and if in my madness I had started into rebellion, or if the angryQueen had taken my head, as she this morning threatened, the wealthydower which law would have assigned to the Countess Dowager of Leicesterhad been no bad windfall to the beggarly Tressilian. Well might shegoad me on to danger, which could not end otherwise than profitably toher,--Speak not for her, Varney! I will have her blood!"
"My lord," replied Varney, "the wildness of your distress breaks forthin the wildness of your language."
"I say, speak not for her!" replied Leicester; "she has dishonouredme--she would have murdered me--all ties are burst between us. She shalldie the death of a traitress and adulteress, well merited both by thelaws of God and man! And--what is this casket," he said, "which was evennow thrust into my hand by a boy, with the desire I would convey itto Tressilian, as he could not give it to the Countess? By Heaven! thewords surprised me as he spoke them, though other matters chased themfrom my brain; but now they return with double force. It is her casket
of jewels!--Force it open, Varney--force the hinges open with thyponiard!"
"She refused the aid of my dagger once," thought Varney, as heunsheathed the weapon, "to cut the string which bound a letter, but nowit shall work a mightier ministry in her fortunes."
With this reflection, by using the three-cornered stiletto-blade as awedge, he forced open the slender silver hinges of the casket. TheEarl no sooner saw them give way than he snatched the casket from SirRichard's hand, wrenched off the cover, and tearing out the splendidcontents, flung them on the floor in a transport of rage, while heeagerly searched for some letter or billet which should make thefancied guilt of his innocent Countess yet more apparent. Then stampingfuriously on the gems, he exclaimed, "Thus I annihilate the miserabletoys for which thou hast sold thyself, body and soul--consigned thyselfto an early and timeless death, and me to misery and remorse forever!--Tell me not of forgiveness, Varney--she is doomed!"
So saying, he left the room, and rushed into an adjacent closet, thedoor of which he locked and bolted.
Varney looked after him, while something of a more human feeling seemedto contend with his habitual sneer. "I am sorry for his weakness," hesaid, "but love has made him a child. He throws down and treads onthese costly toys-with the same vehemence would he dash to pieces thisfrailest toy of all, of which he used to rave so fondly. But that tastealso will be forgotten when its object is no more. Well, he has no eyeto value things as they deserve, and that nature has given to Varney.When Leicester shall be a sovereign, he will think as little of thegales of passion through which he gained that royal port, as everdid sailor in harbour of the perils of a voyage. But these tell-talearticles must not remain here--they are rather too rich vails for thedrudges who dress the chamber."
While Varney was employed in gathering together and putting them into asecret drawer of a cabinet that chanced to be open, he saw the door ofLeicester's closet open, the tapestry pushed aside, and the Earl's facethrust out, but with eyes so dead, and lips and cheeks so bloodlessand pale, that he started at the sudden change. No sooner did his eyesencounter the Earl's, than the latter withdrew his head and shut thedoor of the closet. This manoeuvre Leicester repeated twice, withoutspeaking a word, so that Varney began to doubt whether his brain wasnot actually affected by his mental agony. The third time, however, hebeckoned, and Varney obeyed the signal. When he entered, he soonfound his patron's perturbation was not caused by insanity, but bythe fullness of purpose which he entertained contending with variouscontrary passions. They passed a full hour in close consultation;after which the Earl of Leicester, with an incredible exertion, dressedhimself, and went to attend his royal guest.
