CHAPTER XXV
AN INTERLUDE
Master Hymn-of-Praise Busy was vastly perturbed. Try how he might, hehad been unable to make any discovery with regard to the mysteriousevents, which he felt sure were occurring all round him, a discoverywhich--had he but made it--would have enabled him to apply with morechance of success, for one of the posts in my Lord Protector's secretservice, and moreover, would have covered his name with glory.
This last contingency was always uppermost in his mind. Not from anyfeeling of personal pride, for of a truth vanity is a mortal sin, butbecause Mistress Charity had of late cast uncommonly kind eyes on thatcringing worm, Master Courage Toogood, and the latter, emboldened by theminx's favors, had been more than usually insolent to his betters.
To have the right to administer serious physical punishment to theyouth, and moral reproof to the wench, was part of Master Busy'scomprehensive scheme for his own advancement and the confusion of allthe miscreants who dwelt in Acol Court. For this he had glued both eyeand ear to draughty keyholes, had lain for hours under cover of pricklythistles in the sunk fence which surrounded the flower garden. For thishe now emerged, on that morning of November 2, accompanied by a terrificclatter and a volley of soot from out the depth of the monumentalchimney in the hall of Acol Court.
As soon as he had recovered sufficient breath, and shaken off some ofthe soot from his hair and face, he looked solemnly about him, and wasconfronted by two pairs of eyes round with astonishment and two mouthsagape with surprise and with fear.
Mistress Charity and Master Courage Toogood--interrupted in the midst oftheir animated conversation--were now speechless with terror, at sightof this black apparition, which, literally, had descended on them fromthe skies.
"Lud love ye, Master Busy!" ejaculated Mistress Charity, who was thefirst to recognize in the sooty wraith the manly form of her betrothed,"where have ye come from, pray?"
"Have you been scouring the chimney, good master?" queried MasterCourage, with some diffidence, for the saintly man looked somewhat outof humor.
"No!" replied Hymn-of-Praise solemnly, "I have not. But I tell ye boththat my hour hath come. I knew that something was happening in thishouse, and I climbed up that chimney in order to find out what it was."
Pardonable curiosity caused Mistress Charity to venture a little nearerto the soot-covered figure of her adorer.
"And did you hear anything, Master Busy?" she asked eagerly. "I did seeSir Marmaduke and the mistress in close conversation here thismorning."
"So they thought," said Master Hymn-of-Praise with weird significance.
"Well? ... And what happened, good master?"
"Thou beest in too mighty an hurry, mistress," he retorted with quietdignity. "I am under no obligation to report matters to thee."
"Oh! but Master Busy," she rejoined coyly, "methought I was to be your... hem ... thy partner in life ... and so ..."
"My partner? My partner, didst thou say, sweet Charity? ... Nay, then,an thou'lt permit me to salute thee with a kiss, I'll tell thee all Iknow."
And in asking for that chaste salute we may assume that MasterHymn-of-Praise was actuated with at least an equal desire to pleaseMistress Charity, to gratify his own wishes, and to effectually annoyMaster Courage.
But Mistress Charity was actuated by curiosity alone, and withoutthought of her betrothed's grimy appearance, she presented her cheek tohim for the kiss.
The result caused Master Courage an uncontrollable fit of hilarity.
"Oh, mistress," he said, pointing to the black imprint left on her faceby her lover's kiss, "you should gaze into a mirror now."
But already Mistress Charity had guessed what had occurred, her goodhumor vanished, and she began scouring her cheek with her pinner.
"I'll never forgive you, master," she said crossly. "You had no right to... hem ... with your face in that condition.... And you have not yettold us what happened."
"What happened?"
"Aye! you promised to tell me if I allowed you to kiss me. 'Tisdone...."
"I well nigh broke my back," said Master Busy sententiously. "I hurt myknee ... that is what happened.... I am well-nigh choked with soot....Ugh! ... that is what happened."
"Lud love you, Master Busy," she retorted with a saucy toss of her head,"I trust your life's partner will not need to hide herself in chimneys."
"Listen, wench, and I'll tell thee. No kind of servant of my LordProtector's should ever be called upon to hide in chimneys. They are notcomfortable and they are not clean."
"Bless the man!" she cried angrily, "are you ever going to tell us whatdid happen whilst you were there?"
"I was about to come to that point," he said imperturbably, "hadst thounot interrupted me. What with holding on so as not to fall, and the sootfalling in my ears...."
"Aye! aye! ..."
"I heard nothing," he concluded solemnly. "Master Courage," he addedwith becoming severity, seeing that the youth was on the verge ofmaking a ribald remark, which of necessity had to be checked betimes,"come into my room with me and help me to clean the traces of mydifficult task from off my person. Come!"
And with ominous significance, he approached the young scoffer, his handon an exact level with the latter's ear, his right foot raised toindicate a possible means of enforcing obedience to his commands.
On the whole, Master Courage thought it wise to repress both hishilarity and his pertinent remarks, and to follow the pompous, ifbegrimed, butler to the latter's room upstairs.
The Nest of the Sparrowhawk: A Romance of the XVIIth Century Page 25
