CHAPTER X. THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY OF THE EARL--THE ROYAL CAPTIVE IN THETOWER--THE MEETING BETWEEN KING-MAKER AND KING.
All in the chambers of the metropolitan fortress exhibited the greatestconfusion and dismay. The sentinels, it is true, were still at theirposts, men-at-arms at the outworks, the bombards were loaded, the flagof Edward IV. still waved aloft from the battlements; but the officersof the fortress and the captains of its soldiery were, some assembledin the old hall, pale with fear, and wrangling with each other; some hadfled, none knew whither; some had gone avowedly and openly to join theinvading army.
Through this tumultuous and feeble force, Nicholas Alwyn was conductedby a single faithful servitor of the queen's (by whom he was expected);and one glance of his quick eye, as he passed along, convinced him ofthe justice of his counsels. He arrived at last, by a long and windingstair, at one of the loftiest chambers, in one of the loftiest towers,usually appropriated to the subordinate officers of the household.
And there, standing by the open casement, commanding some extended viewof the noisy and crowded scene beyond, both on stream and land, he sawthe queen of the fugitive monarch. By her side was the Lady Scrope,her most familiar friend and confidant, her three infant children,Elizabeth, Mary, and Cicely, grouped round her knees, playing with eachother, and unconscious of the terrors of the times; and apart from therest stood the Duchess of Bedford, conferring eagerly with Friar Bungey,whom she had summoned in haste, to know if his art could not yet prevailover enemies merely mortal.
The servitor announced Alwyn, and retired; the queen turned--"What news,Master Alwyn? Quick! What tidings from the lord mayor?"
"Gracious my queen and lady," said Alwyn, falling on his knees, "youhave but one course to pursue. Below yon casement lies your barge, tothe right see the round gray tower of Westminster Sanctuary; you havetime yet, and but time!"
The old Duchess of Bedford turned her sharp, bright, gray eyes from thepale and trembling friar to the goldsmith, but was silent. The queenstood aghast. "Mean you," she faltered, at last, "that the city ofLondon forsakes the king? Shame on the cravens!"
"Not cravens, my lady and queen," said Alwyn, rising. "He must have ironnails that scratches a bear,--and the white bear above all. The king hasfled, the barons have fled, the soldiers have fled, the captains havefled,--the citizens of London alone fly not; but there is nothing savelife and property left to guard."
"Is this thy boasted influence with the commons and youths of the city?"
"My humble influence, may it please your Grace (I say it now openly,and I will say it a year hence, when King Edward will hold his court inthese halls once again), my influence, such as it is, has been usedto save lives which resistance would waste in vain. Alack, alack! 'Nogaping against an oven,' gracious lady! Your barge is below. Again I saythere is yet time,--when the bell tolls the next hour that time will bepast!"
"Then Jesu defend these children!" said Elizabeth, bending over herinfants, and weeping bitterly; "I will go!"
"Hold!" said the Duchess of Bedford, "men desert us, but do the spiritsalso forsake us?--Speak, friar! canst thou yet do aught for us?--and ifnot, thinkest thou it is the right hour to yield and fly?"
"Daughter," said the friar, whose terror might have moved pity, "as Isaid before, thank yourself. This Warner, this--in short, the lessermagician hath been aided and cockered to countervail the greater, as Iforewarned. Fly! run! fly! Verily and indeed it is the prosperest of alltimes to save ourselves; and the stars and the book and my familiar allcall out, 'Off and away!'"
"'Fore heaven!" exclaimed Alwyn, who had hitherto been dumb withastonishment at this singular interlude, "sith he who hath shipped thedevil must make the best of him, thou art for once an honest man and awise counsellor. Hark! the second gun! The earl is at the gates of thecity!"
The queen lingered no longer; she caught her youngest child in her arms;the Lady Scrope followed with the two others. "Come, follow, quick,Master Alwyn," said the duchess, who, now that she was compelled toabandon the world of prediction and soothsaying, became thoroughly thesagacious, plotting, ready woman of this life; "come, your face and namewill be of service to us, an' we meet with obstruction."
Before Alwyn could reply, the door was thrown abruptly open, andseveral of the officers of the household rushed pell-mell into the royalpresence.
"Gracious queen!" cried many voices at once, each with a differentsentence of fear and warning, "fly! We cannot depend on the soldiers;the populace are up,--they shout for King Henry; Dr. Godard is preachingagainst you at St. Paul's Cross; Sir Geoffrey Gates has come out of thesanctuary, and with him all the miscreants and outlaws; the mayor is nowwith the rebels! Fly! the sanctuary, the sanctuary!"
"And who amongst you is of highest rank?" asked the duchess, calmly;for Elizabeth, completely overwhelmed, seemed incapable of speech ormovement.
"I, Giles de Malvoisin, knight banneret," said an old warrior armedcap-a-pie, who had fought in France under the hero Talbot.
"Then, sir," said the duchess, with majesty, "to your hands I confidethe eldest daughter of your king. Lead on!--we follow you. Elizabeth,lean on me."
With this, supporting Elizabeth, and leading her second grandchild, theduchess left the chamber.
The friar followed amidst the crowd, for well he knew that if thesoldiers of Warwick once caught hold of him, he had fared about ashappily as the fox amidst the dogs; and Alwyn, forgotten in the generalconfusion, hastened to Adam's chamber.
The old man, blessing any cause that induced his patroness to dispensewith his astrological labours and restored him to the care of hisEureka, was calmly and quietly employed in repairing the mischiefeffected by the bungling friar; and Sibyll, who at the first alarmhad flown to his retreat, joyfully hailed the entrance of the friendlygoldsmith.
Alwyn was indeed perplexed what to advise, for the principal sanctuarywould, no doubt, be crowded by ruffians of the worst character; andthe better lodgments which that place, a little town in itself,[the Sanctuary of Westminster was fortified] contained, be alreadypreoccupied by the Yorkists of rank; and the smaller sanctuaries werestill more liable to the same objection. Moreover, if Adam should berecognized by any of the rabble that would meet them by the way, hisfate, by the summary malice of a mob, was certain. After all, theTower would be free from the populace; and as soon as, by a few rapidquestions, Alwyn learned from Sibyll that she had reason to hope herfather would find protection with Lord Warwick, and called to mind thatMarmaduke Nevile was necessarily in the earl's train, he advised them toremain quiet and concealed in their apartments, and promised to seeand provide for them the moment the Tower was yielded up to the newgovernment.
The counsel suited both Sibyll and Warner. Indeed, the philosopher couldnot very easily have been induced to separate himself again from thebeloved Eureka; and Sibyll was more occupied at that hour withthoughts and prayers for the beloved Hastings,--afar, a wanderer and anexile,--than with the turbulent events amidst which her lot was cast.
In the storms of a revolution which convulsed a kingdom and hurledto the dust a throne, Love saw but a single object, Science but itstranquil toil. Beyond the realm of men lies ever with its joy andsorrow, its vicissitude and change, the domain of the human heart.In the revolution, the toy of the scholar was restored to him; in therevolution, the maiden mourned her lover. In the movement of the mass,each unit hath its separate passion. The blast that rocks the treesshakes a different world in every leaf.
The Last of the Barons — Complete Page 82
